Indeed, I agree. My apologies I thought you were attributing the various issues solely to the PS3. It's funny, I actually really would like to defend users of low/mid range PCs. My i7 laptop can run the game, but thanks to a weak mobile GPU I have to limit the effects I see. The way I see it, players on weaker PCs and PS3 face similar issues, and ultimately they should upgrade when they can. I'm sure you'd agree with defending both, because there are a great many good players using such systems.
I guess it doesn't matter to you that your opinion is objectively and technically wrong? See the thing is, you can argue using a contemporary gaming rig that even the PS4 is low powered compared to the PC master race uber game rig. However, that PC you might tout to support your argument is not the target platform of the game. A much more modestly spec'd PC is the target platform, and the PS4 is a match for that spec. I could get into all of the technicalities, but that would be a waste of everyone's time. Suffice it to say, you are very wrong.
Zone transition in a large open world without loading screens can, and has been done on PS3. Load screens between zones are something that will always plague games if that is now they are architected.
Source?
None of those things are restrictions due to the PS3. Optional texture packs for one platform or another have no impact on other platforms. Nor do platform specific graphics options such as anti-aliasing, otherwise DX11 would never have happened. None of these thongs are related to PS3.
Believe it or not, PS3 can handle physics, the SPEs on the Cell BE have single precision Floating point performance to make your eyes bleed, physics or the lack there of, is not a PS3 limitation.
visual effects on PC, Mac, and PS4 have nothing to do with PS3, so you're still barking up the wrong tree.
None of which in any way is related to the PS3 or the assumed limitations it presents.
Oh, I can and will tell you that. The PS3 is a different platform, the game engine on PS3 is different. although the core gameplay and mechanics are the same, and the UI is the same to maintain platform uniformity. Everything you mentioned starting with HD textures and touching on everything from physics, volumetric effects, anti-aliasing, etc is platform specific and not in any way affected by the PS3. As I said above, if PS3 was that much of a sticking point, the DX11 client would not be available.
Now, I'm perfectly happy to acknowledge the limitations that the PS3 does have - memory. The RSX is a very weak GPU by modern standards, on the flipside the CellBE SPEs are capable of everything from running simple code, through handling physics , sound and graphics. It was literally designed that way on purpose. But there is only so much you can do with 256MB of memory, which in turn presents limitations on the PS3 game client, and that is the one area where the PS3 can be said to limit things - such as the TP bar not having numbers.
None of this matters because a) objectively speaking the PS3 does not in any way prevent physics, particle effects or post processing from happening for PC, Mac and/or PS4; and b) Yoshi-P has already stated categorically that if there was something large that the team wanted/needed to implement that the PS3 could not handle, that would be when the future of PS3 support would be decided, as in it would cease.
You and numerous posters always attribute all these various sins to PS3, when in fact the majority of them have little to nothing to do with PS3 in the least. The simple fact that SE implemented the DX11 client for PCs demonstrates that the PS3 is not holding anything back. If you can have a DX11 client, you can sure as hell have HD textures - without caring what the PS3 (or for that matter PS4 and low end PCs) use. As it happens many of the improvements in the DX11 client are in the PS4 client implemented using it's equivalent APIs, so it's not exactly holding PCs back either.
This stupid platform bickering is pointless. The decision regarding PS3 support is a business decision. All the assumption and inaccurate hand waving of PC players with a chip on their shoulder about the PS3 are meaningless. Right now, PS3 is a legitimate asset to the game because it both holds open the door for players with less powerful PCs, and because there are sufficient PS3 users to hold SE's interest. Just 1 further tidbit. PS4 sold 36 million units to date (give or take a couple hundred thousand units) world wide. In Japan it's sold 2 million. In platform terms it's still minor compared to PS3. SE has the actual numbers, but based on that I have to consider that a sizeable proportion of Japanese players are on PS3, and until they show signs of moving, things won't change much. No business in their right mind would kick off a significant number of customers because of prejudice against a platform.