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The Witcher 3 – Fans Claim ‘Downgrade-ation’ Is In Full Effect After Latest Trailer

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At the end of the day the majority of people that buy this game will be more concerned with the orgies they can get Geralt into than the graphics. And the "Skyrim" world to explore. I do hope this does well for cdprojekt, they're a great dev, plus I really want to see cyberpunk knock everybody's socks off.
 
My god, some people are impossible to please. People have to realize that things change in development and not everything is gonna be "10/10 best graphics ever OMG". Kinda childish to NOT expect these changes at this point.

Agreed, getting tiresome. I'm going back to playing Pix the Cat.

It seems so much worse this generation versus last generation. People freaking out about UC4, Bloodborne, The Order saying they expected more when I'm like "I thought it looked fantastic and ran beautifully"
 
At the end of the day the majority of people that buy this game will be more concerned with the orgies they can get Geralt into than the graphics. And the "Skyrim" world to explore. I do hope this does well for cdprojekt, they're a great dev, plus I really want to see cyberpunk knock everybody's socks off.

Anyone know exactly how big the CD Projekt team is overall, that they can't split teams on both projects?
 

vpance

Member
I don't know.

Just saying that the Watchdogs downgrade thread was a bloodybath of people furious, in this case I see more calmed responses...

Every case is different, and biases are different. At a glance I see this as being far worse than any Ubi downgrade but this title hasn't been on my radar much.
 

raphier

Banned
But I'm dead serious

In the grand scheme of things, even in the context of just this one game, why does a supposed downgrade matter? So a couple textures look worse, maybe the shading had to take a hit

Who gives a shit
Your mind will blow after you play dragon age Inquisition then
 

Applebite

Member
This downgrade shit has become some of the most insufferable parts of discussing games. It's not that it doesn't matter, but the extent to which it dominates discussions of new games is just annoying.
And all it'd take for it to stop is for developers to not post footage that isn't indicative of the final product.
 

injurai

Banned
I'm amazed the take away is that it was downgraded, and not just running on lower settings.

Every multiplat game of last gen showed off a lesser console version in order to be platform agnostic in the game's marketing.
 
Anyone know exactly how big the CD Projekt team is overall, that they can't split teams on both projects?

According to their LinkedIn page 238, though I'm sure that's everybody from Joe game dev to Klaus the maintenance man. I'm assuming they probably shuffle people as needed, the majority are probably on W3 right now for final bug crunch but who knows, I have zero idea what state cyberpunk is in right now.
 

Momentary

Banned
And all it'd take for it to stop is for developers to not post footage that isn't indicative of the final product.

Agreed, getting tiresome. I'm going back to playing Pix the Cat.

It seems so much worse this generation versus last generation. People freaking out about UC4, Bloodborne, The Order saying they expected more when I'm like "I thought it looked fantastic and ran beautifully"


At the end of the day the majority of people that buy this game will be more concerned with the orgies they can get Geralt into than the graphics. And the "Skyrim" world to explore. I do hope this does well for cdprojekt, they're a great dev, plus I really want to see cyberpunk knock everybody's socks off.


Yet the game still looks great. More or less this was the console version shown in the trailer from the looks of it. PC version will deliver, CDPR always do.

If I didn't buy any game that had graphical downgrades from the reveal trailers to release, I would play maybe 4 games a year.

No thanks. I'll take a "downgraded" experience any day over a game that runs like crap and looks incredible. Sacrifices must be made somewhere.

But I'm dead serious

In the grand scheme of things, even in the context of just this one game, why does a supposed downgrade matter? So a couple textures look worse, maybe the shading had to take a hit

Who gives a shit

Your saying people who think the issue is overblown are dumb? If devs have to downgrade it is out of necessity, it's not like graphics are horrible, games look great this gen. It is bring overblown.

The Witcher 2 looked fantastic on both pc and Xbox 360.

If it looks just as good or better , I'm happy.

Gamers need to grow up and stop complaining about every detail. The workload to make a game of the scale it claims to be is a lot of time. It just sucks when putting a product out with all your energy to only be shot down by people that don't seem to want to enjoy what it's really meant for. The story.
Thanks CDprojekt

I dont think this is even comparable to the watchdogs downgrade. This is a few textures and shaders. Watchdogs downgrade was massive.

Agreed. If the downgrade is truly massive it's one thing, I can understand being disappointed, but the nitpicky stuff like this... I just can't understand.

cancel the god damn generation.

Honestly I dont see the problem. Looks pretty good to me. Ha ha, maybe I need new glasses or something

To be fair

who gives a shit

Anyone who by now doesn't just assume every game will get a downgrade from the initial reveal is incredibly naive.

They are trying to hype people up with the first impression so naturally you get bullshots, CG claimed as real-time and false statements about frame rate. It's just the times we live in now.

Honest question: Does having a slightly worse texture on an NPC's sleeve have any real, discernable effect on how you guys play the game?

I just don't understand why people care about nitpicky stuff like this. If it looked like a previous gen game I could see the controversy, but a current gen game going from spectacular to slightly-less spectacular makes absolutely no difference to me.

More power to you if you'd rather focus on minor crap like this, I will be playing the game and nitpicking things like mission design, gameplay and narrative.

Man gamers are an insufferable bunch... The game will rock and look more then good enough.

This downgrade shit has become some of the most insufferable parts of discussing games. It's not that it doesn't matter, but the extent to which it dominates discussions of new games is just annoying.



I feel like the videogame industry is the only industry that can get away with misrepresenting a product and have consumers actually defend them for doing it. It's really weird.
 
I think The Witcher is a bad franchise, but knowing what W2 looked like on PC... It will be fine graphically and I do not expect downgrades from CDP.
 
I feel like the videogame industry is the only industry that can get away with misrepresenting a product and have consumers actually defend them for doing it. It's really weird.

The videogame industry is unique in many respects. I'd imagine it's extremely difficult to generate sustained marketing momentum for an any interactive medium with a long development time.

I'm not defending the downgrade, I'm merely accepting the realities of the industry. The only way this will change is if we don't buy games because of graphical downgrades, and I personally will not avoid buying a game simply because it doesn't look as good. I suspect many gamers have that mindset.
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Going by the OP the downgrade is real. If those were labeled console shots a lot of PC people would be snickering over them and everyone knows it.
 

Tovarisc

Member
I feel like the videogame industry is the only industry that can get away with misrepresenting a product and have consumers actually defend them for doing it. It's really weird.

And must be only industry where its consumers [read: gamers] keep pre-ordering / pre-purchasing games months ahead of release based on only marketing material generated hype. Months before game is finalised and optimised.

These consumers even know that industry has long track record of using unrealistic target renders, bullshots, overestimating what they can do etc., but still said consumer keep pre-ordering / pre-purchasing.

Then they complain loudly when e.g. downgrades happen during development.

I think if you pre-order game in modern video game industry you willingly accept gamble that you aren't purchasing what marketing is pushing at that particular time.
 

kingkaiser

Member
I feel like the videogame industry is the only industry that can get away with misrepresenting a product and have consumers actually defend them for doing it. It's really weird.

Yeah, it's called being realistic and not obsessed just with visuals.
 
Design a game with poor hardware (consoles) in mind, you're gonna get a turd.

I feel like the videogame industry is the only industry that can get away with misrepresenting a product and have consumers actually defend them for doing it. It's really weird.
How do you know it was on purpose? At that time it may have been what they were aiming and running at, either way it is expected, and the game will still be great, unless you think it will be so ugly as to be unplayable? This is ridiculous games r today look great downgrade or no. It is being overblown because it will still look great and the game will be good.

People like you act like they committed a mortal sin it is sad.
 
I feel like the videogame industry is the only industry that can get away with misrepresenting a product and have consumers actually defend them for doing it. It's really weird.

Sometimes movie trailers show scenes that don't make it in the final cut. Sometimes they even show special effects that will be polished/cleaned up by theatrical release

If you want game reveals and footage to be 1:1 with what the final game is going to look like without exception, then you don't want any footage until the game goes gold
 

Squire

Banned
It's clear this is what gaming is about for some people right now - resolution and frame rate. Prioritizing how a game performs above all else.

I'm glad I'm not like that. Seems like a miserable way to be.
 

Shengar

Member
This downgrade shit has become some of the most insufferable parts of discussing games. It's not that it doesn't matter, but the extent to which it dominates discussions of new games is just annoying.
The most insufferable part is that the game isn't even released yet.
 

erawsd

Member
And must be only industry where its consumers [read: gamers] keep pre-ordering / pre-purchasing games months ahead of release based on only marketing material generated hype. Months before game is finalised and optimised.

These consumers even know that industry has long track record of using unrealistic target renders, bullshots, overestimating what they can do etc., but still said consumer keep pre-ordering / pre-purchasing.

Then they complain loudly when e.g. downgrades happen during development.

I think if you pre-order game in modern video game industry you willingly accept gamble that you aren't purchasing what marketing is pushing at that particular time.

We're not the only ones that do it, but certainly the worst thing about videogame consumers is the way people whine about how others choose to spend their money.
 

RCSI

Member
A game that is still two months away probably has a number of models that have yet to be replaced with production ready textures and skins. Most likely already made, just haven't been linked to a particular section of the game based off previous cut scenes showing something better. Not too surprising given the circumstances with throwing the trailer together.
 

PFD

Member
I have faith in CDPR. I think I should just go on media blackout for this game and wait for reviews, because the fan reactions over previews are getting increasingly silly
 
The game has always been a mixed bag, visually speaking.

Some shots look incredible, others look lackluster. People just decided to focus on the best aspects of older trailers, just as they're doing with Uncharted 4.
 

kingocfs

Member
Why is it now a controversy when a game winds up looking worse than it did early in its development? Isn't this commonplace?
 
I really don't want to be a game dev.
If they release a game with great graphics but poor optimization, people will complain.
And vice versa, if they downgrade graphics for optimization, people will also complain.
I think devs should've stop teasing people with early builds.
 
What pisses me off the most is when Devs actually try to say it hasn't been downgraded at ALL...

I mean, really? That's like looking at a car without rims and the car makers saying that it DOES have rims... o_O
 
I really don't want to be a game dev.
If they release a game with great graphics but poor optimization, people will complain.
And vice versa, if they downgrade graphics for optimization, people will also complain.
I think devs should've stop teasing people with early builds.

A suggestion that pops up occasionally on GAF is that games should not be revealed until six months before release.

The idea is that it would give devs as long as they want to work on a project without a "vanishing game" scenario taking place and give devs/publishers the opportunity to avoid situations like The Last Guardian and Agent.

Projects that aren't announced are already quietly cancelled like we saw with the Aliens RPG from Obsidian and their other RPG from Microsoft that was cancelled, but the major snafus still draw attention to the problem. Obviously from the standpoint of large developers and publishers (CDPR, Sony) the attraction of drawing hype in the initial reveal is strong, but you would avoid the PR problems.

The biggest question is what would happen to launch sales. To my knowledge, there haven't been any studies that analyzed this issue.
 
After 0:37, the graphics seem to look better except whenever the snowy Wild Hunt dude shows up. But I haven't compared character models, so these are just screencaps.

imB4hTBHuQr89.png

ib0FDCExMFAd4I.png

ibblRChaC75noq.png

ibw1TAy1jT8HEP.png
 

Zarx

Member
The game has always been a mixed bag, visually speaking.

Some shots look incredible, others look lackluster. People just decided to focus on the best aspects of older trailers, just as they're doing with Uncharted 4.

Pretty much. The game has an incredibly ambitious scope, I am not sure why people seem to think that CDPR were going to be the first studio to make an open world game 100% consistent.

Far Cry 4 looks great but it still has crap like this
ibsMa5nIDi8Tp9.jpg

And TW3 promises to be several times bigger and has a lot more stuff going on like dynamic weather, giant cities etc.
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Huh

Anticipating this greatly on PC. This talk is utterly useless. Start enjoying games more instead of looking for new reasons to get by our knickers in a knot.
 
It looks great, but doesn't look like what's been shown before. This industry will never learn from the mistakes of others before them.
 

injurai

Banned
Pretty much. The game has an incredibly ambitious scope, I am not sure why people seem to think that CDPR were going to be the first studio to make an open world game 100% consistent.

Far Cry 4 looks great but it still has crap like this
ibsMa5nIDi8Tp9.jpg

And TW3 promises to be several times bigger and has a lot more stuff going on like dynamic weather, giant cities etc.

Have you looked at the trees in crysis? Some of them are still rectangular and hexagonal prism. But the textures look great and from a profile you would never notice.

It becomes exponential in processing to give everything 10,000 polygons when the average amount of pixels being pulled off it will be smaller than the total number of polygons.
 

Tovarisc

Member
I really don't want to be a game dev.
If they release a game with great graphics but poor optimization, people will complain.
And vice versa, if they downgrade graphics for optimization, people will also complain.
I think devs should've stop teasing people with early builds.

It has become increasingly no win situation for devs when it comes to "Graphics vs. Optimisation". I would like to know from where over few last years "demands" for what game has to offer graphically [read: mind blowing ultra super good graphics] while being insanely well optimised have come.

Maybe devs could "win" by not showing games off before just few months before release, when all assets are done and locked down, but that really isn't feasible tactic considering how long and extensive marketing campaigns are demanded by publishers.
 

Elios83

Member
This is easily one of my most wanted games next year but honestly it has been clear to me that they have been downgrading things technically while trying to tweak with the art style to conceil the differences.
This has been happening since the demo at the Microsoft conference.
Am I surprised? Not really, first impressions are important, they can make or break the hype around your product, thus many developers prefer to use scripted presentations faking gameplay running on very powerful PCs to showcase their games initially.
It is certainly more effective than showing buggy pre-alphas running on consoles although the price to pay is that eventually people will find out the differences.
Anyway I'm totally sure that the game will still look very impressive on consoles (even Dragon Age Inquisition which is an upgraded PS3/360 game has many impressive locations) and those with a top of the line PC will still be able to enjoy the game as initially intended:

2504400-7932559264-23989.gif
 
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