In addition to full-speed 4K gaming and a host of next-gen graphics techniques, PlayStation 5 will be characterized by being extremely fast. Loading times will almost disappear in most games, something that will allow players to discover a new gaming experience never before seen on a console. But what if PS4 had it too?
The New Patch of TLOU Remastered
Not having enough to launch what is possibly the best game of the current generation, Naughty Dog have decided to improve previous works, and for them they have worked on a new patch for the remastered version of The Last Of Us , update 1.11, with which has achieved especially surprising improvements.
As you can see in the video below, the new version of the game has drastically reduced loading times on PS4, going from the minute and 30 seconds it takes to start a new game to an incredible 13.86 seconds after the patch.
In addition, the loading times are also improved when loading a previously saved game, since from 2 minutes and 3 seconds it goes to another spectacular 13.86 seconds, curiously the same figure as in the new game.
Good news for speedruns
This finding has been discovered by a person who will greatly appreciate these improvements, since the news came from Anthony Calabrese, a well-known speedrunner who stands out for achieving record times when completing the game. This user has assured that this patch has allowed him to reduce the time of the game by 18 seconds thanks to the improved loading times during the scene of the fight with David.
Patch 1.11 of TLOU made it so loading screens are basically non-existent on PS4. This is for both ssd and hdd. Sections load in asap and I can save almost 18 seconds in the David fight. Everyone go and check. Was this the patch’s intention? @Naughty_Dog @BadData_ @arnemeyer
– Anthony Calabrese (@AnthonyCaliber) October 24, 2020
Why these changes?
That Naughty Dog releases a patch of a well-established game and manages to increase the performance of it considerably, is something quite strange. The company may want to close the loop by leaving everything to perfection, or it may be preparing the backward compatibility of the game to run smoothly on PS5. But, if PS4 has benefited so much from these changes, does that mean we’ll see more examples like this in other games?
If super-fast loading times is one of the PS5’s biggest selling points, getting a feature like that to match on PS4 would slow down some sales, as users might be satisfied with the performance the new games offer. In addition, taking into account that to get the most out of PS5 we need a television with HDMI 2.1 or a monitor with HDMI 2.1 (which do not exist today), it may be that the large outlay that is needed stops many and they choose to continue playing with your PS4, even more so with these types of improvements. We will see what happens, but if it is for the good of the users, welcome.