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Dark Souls 2 Lighting changes/Downgrade

Clott

Member
I hope I am not alone when I am letting this stop me from buying the game. It's just too big of an oversight, I wish they had never shown a superior version, ignorance would have been bliss.
 

Squalor

Junior Member
A lot of people are going to be really upset when the PC version is a straight-up port.

As I said, Dark Souls II: Lightning Returns |OT| Waiting for the Mods
 

Peagles

Member
Sometimes I think people just don't read the OP. This thread is about graphics, and the unacceptable way in which they were represented until, well, release day. Some of this seems to have affected the gameplay (like the torch mechanic) but that's not the primary point of discussion here.
 
After playing at 50% health for a while: screw the torch mechanic. It would have sucked with the regular enemies in this game. Just go use the lantern in TotG and imagine doing that for hours on end. It wouldn't be fun or interesting.
 

JoeFenix

Member
Gameplay > Graphics i guess

That's obvious, I meant ACTUAL point. Like what does this bring to the discussion?

The game is still fun!

No shit.... I don't think anyone in this thread ever said it was broken or worthless or not worth playing. There's nothing wrong with holding out for the PC version, it's probably the smart thing to do.
 
To all the people crying about the graphics, I'd like to say that I'm having so much fun actually playing the game right now. Are you jealous?

Are you 12 or something?

We are discussing what the hell happened in the development of the game, I don't care about graphics and I'm pretty sure the game will be awesome and everything that we expected to be.
 
I work in the industry and it worries me the amount of faith some of you guys are having on the pc build.

If the Steam size of 14gb is right it would probably be a LOT bigger to re enable the tech you're seeing from the TGS Demo.
It's more likely to be higher res textures and uncompressed audio unfortunately.

I hope I'm wrong but experience says otherwise,altho I have all the faith in the world for the modding community to bring out the potential of the PC release.

I'm going to wait a little longer to see if any news about the PC version leaks... I fear for the worst, in which case I'll be asking GMG for a refund.

I'm sure the 'pretty' version of DS2 is being developed for PS4/XB1.. so instead of double-dipping I'll just wait for that version.

Not a graphics whore, just feel bad about the whole situation and Namco's shitty PR.
 

jett

D-Member
where-are-my-dragons.gif

Seriously WTF

:thumbsup
 
I don't know that the PC version will be what you all expect, if it does... then good!
The GAF anti-hype train almost made me not play it. I'm not regretting my decision to play it now, of course. It is a good game, though it might not be balanced on par with the last two.
 

JRW

Member
Anyone notice the 360 version having elevated black levels? ..when I start the game from dashboard the screen goes black as usual but just before the dark souls 2 loading screen appears the brightness ramps up and the black background now has a hint of grey, affects the whole game afterwards, other games don't do this.
 
Pretty Much.

Why would you even pre-order PC version without knowing for sure.
Given that the PC version is going to be (or has the capacity of being) the best version regardless, I don't see why not if someone plans on playing the game. It's not like a better version will pop up further down the line or that the game won't be worth playing anyway.
 

Bedlam

Member
To all the people crying about the graphics, I'd like to say that I'm having so much fun actually playing the game right now. Are you jealous?
I'm playing too right now and I'm still annoyed by these changes. The game is great, no question, but some areas look so much less atmospheric than in the demo footage due to these changes.
 

zma1013

Member
After playing at 50% health for a while: screw the torch mechanic. It would have sucked with the regular enemies in this game. Just go use the lantern in TotG and imagine doing that for hours on end. It wouldn't be fun or interesting.

I'm imagining it and I'm liking it. So dark, so oppressive, so OMG GIANT SKELETON!
 

Servbot24

Banned
If they were attempting to promote the game with deceiving footage, then I wonder why they released such horrible promo screenshots.

I feel like this whole issue is just FROM being genuinely clumsy with promo material rather than sinister.
 

JRW

Member
After playing at 50% health for a while: screw the torch mechanic. It would have sucked with the regular enemies in this game. Just go use the lantern in TotG and imagine doing that for hours on end. It wouldn't be fun or interesting.

Oh if people were hoping for TotG style darkness the whole time then I'd have to agree with you there.
 

epmode

Member
You imagined it... the devs imagined it, played it, and decided it wasn't good.

If that's the case, they would have discovered this a LONG time ago and they they would have built the game accordingly. They would never have left that awful ambient lighting, the shitty repeating textures in areas that should have been pitch black and there wouldn't have been tons of torches to light all over the place.
 

erawsd

Member
Pretty Much.

Why would you even pre-order PC version without knowing for sure.

I have it pre-ordered, but its not like it costs me anything. Honestly though, I don't really care if it has the lighting system or not. I expect that it wont, which is ok because the game still looks fun as shit and worth the $50.
 
FromSoftware lost my pre order until I see the final game running on a PC. If it's anything like the console version then I'll wait for a massive price drop before buying it.
 

Garcia

Member
Honestly if I have to use a torch in the PC version I'm gonna be upset. Sounds like an infuriating mechanic in this game where normal mobs are harder than most the bosses, and torch forces you to not 2hand or have a shield.

How about they bring back the torches and get rid of all those fucking snipers? They're just there to annoy you.
 
If the PC version is as improved as DS1 was with DSFix then I'll be happy. It's not the best case scenario of course but from watching a bunch of streams and youtube I can manage. Still wish they were more up front about it but it won't stop me from enjoying it.
 

Nohar

Member
I /facepalmed. This contributor from www.forbes.com, Eric Kain, completly fail to see the lingering problem behind this (ie. the false advertising), and is trying to justify this downgrade.

Sure, I can agree that they downgraded the graphics because of potential framerate issues (and/or perhaps gameplay issues too, but that remains to be confirmed). Everyone can realize that. The problem is that they purposely hid that fact between the last time the game was shown (January 2014) and its release.
 
After playing at 50% health for a while: screw the torch mechanic. It would have sucked with the regular enemies in this game. Just go use the lantern in TotG and imagine doing that for hours on end. It wouldn't be fun or interesting.

It wouldn't be like TotG because in there you don't have lamps, and wall torches to permanently light up the room.
That is the problem with the game now. It was clearly design to be dark and as you progress you bring light to the levels. I can only image the feeling of the added layer of accomplishment after having turned all the lights on on a level that was once super hard to navigate.
What the showed us before was a game of not only beating your enemies but also conquering the levels with a clear visual representation of your progress.
 

Facism

Member
didn't steam just have a reporting system put in? If they're showing old screens of better-looking builds maybe a feew false advertising reports wouldn't be amiss
 

ZenTzen

Member
it would be pretty interesting if the game still had the graphical fidelity of the gameplay reveal that instead of just having a torch in one hand for those dark areas, we could just throw it to the ground and it would stay there burning until the player picked it up again, coupling that with the lighting in the game it would look amazing and the player wouldnt be ampered down
 

Ifrit

Member
I wasn't too fond for the torch mechanic they showed on the previous demos, not a fan of nerfing the player really.

But I hate how downgraded everything looks graphically, trailers and playable demos looked amazing, why is most of the press ignoring this?
 

epmode

Member
If Namco comments on this now, I'm convinced that they're going to go with the gameplay angle even though it's clear that the torch mechanic was hastily gutted at the end of the project.

What kind of developer would come up with a torch system like that without playtesting to make sure that it was viable in the first place? If they determined that it was a bad idea, they would have changed the project's direction well before the game's layout was completed and a billion years before the areas were fully textured and lit. They also wouldn't mention the torches in every promotional interview ever. The fact that the previously dark areas now have ugly ambient light and lousy textures makes it obvious that this was a last second change.
 

Havel

Member
I feel as though I should email Namco about the fact they have trailers from the non existent reveal footage advertising the game on the Steam page. Explain to them about the UK's strict false adversing laws and see what they have to say.

I don't know about you guys but I want answers very soon and not less than a week before release.
 

A-V-B

Member
So all the media is coming out and defending this?

That's pretty much an unofficial confirmation that the PC version is going to be exactly the same, just with some higher res textures, right?
 

Servbot24

Banned
And the demo everyone played.

Also, there are RELEASE REVIEWS. Vaatiya or whatever his name is, got a "Review copy" WITH THE LIGHTING AND SHADOWS IN.

He has videos showing it off!

However, upon release day, after his review was sent, a patch downloaded and disabled it again, he's one of the biggest people crying out about this.


http://steamcommunity.com/app/236430/discussions/0/558750544109474619/

Is this true??

If this is true that the whole game had the original lighting in with desirable performance, and they chose to take it out, then it truly must have been a design decision and someone at FROM just has weird taste rather than being an evil advertising guru.
 
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