It is pretty clear that this game got a massive change in art direction, along with a significant graphics downgrade. I do not really care about the drop in graphics, but the change from a dark and gritty art style to a more colourful one really bothers me. This has been apparent for quite a while now. Personally, I cancelled my preorder of the Collectors Edition many months ago. There is no way I am walking into to this game completely blind. I will probably pick it up later when the inevitable Enhanced Edition hits.
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Witcher 3 downgrade arguments in here and nowhere else
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Kenzodielocke
Banned
It won't, there is a thread for this now.
Killzone:SF and Infamous Second Son as well,also The Order 1886 looked better than its announce trailer
IMO it's not such a bad industry from the consumer point of view. The worst part are free to launch games engineered to squeeze money out of the player base.
CDProjekt scaling back on the initial vision is a sad reality of development, but the fact that they don't admit to it is really more of "damned if they do, damned if they don't" case, where openly stating it would generate as much bad press as denying it.
Fuz
Banned
Maybe because CDPR has always been pro-consumer(Ok, let's forget for a minute that xbone CE fuckup), while ubisoft always did things like this:
Maybe?
And maybe because the downgrade, if there's really one, is just not as big as watch dogs' one?
Edit: Holy shit, 23 pages already?
Miles Quaritch
Member
Hey now, Order isn't crap. Not in the slightest, but it was rather an acquired taste...
Does anyone remember that gif of Geralt walking through a dungeon's door with a torch?
That's one of the gifs that completely floored me back in 2013 when it was first shown.
[edit]
fuuuuck
What could have been.
Yea that and the bath house scene made me realise the downgrade was there, incase you wanted to knwo they are in 1:22-1:25 of the sword of destiny trailer
Chû Totoro
Member
Don't be stupid... don't buy games mostly for their visuals. Enjoy games for all they have to offer.
I'm waiting U4 since they promised a lot of changes in the gameplay and I was bored with the 3rd one. Now graphics look awesome in their trailers but if there is a "downgrade" but gameplay keeps being interesting and even better if it's so we can have 60fps or constant 30fps with no tearing I'm more than ok for a little downgrade. Still I wish devs and editors would be less stupid pushing people to focus on graphics with their stupid trailers and PR communication :/
I'm waiting U4 since they promised a lot of changes in the gameplay and I was bored with the 3rd one. Now graphics look awesome in their trailers but if there is a "downgrade" but gameplay keeps being interesting and even better if it's so we can have 60fps or constant 30fps with no tearing I'm more than ok for a little downgrade. Still I wish devs and editors would be less stupid pushing people to focus on graphics with their stupid trailers and PR communication :/
Fuz
Banned
They also have GOG. Which is extremely pro-consumer.
MatrixMan.EXE
Member
The art style change doesn't bother me too much, but I think its more apparent than the actual downgrade that's happened. As I've said earlier in the thread, the game STILL looks incredible, but it looks almost 'cartoony' and stylised rather than the darker, more muted colour palette that matches the first to Witcher games, that we were originally shown in 2013-2014.
Sanctuary
Member
Chû Totoro;163393108 said:
You can't make mass market advertisements for 60fps or tactical gameplay in a matter of 20s that will grab people's attention.
This is still pretty stupid. They haven't even been a known commodity for ten years yet, while these other companies have had ages to tarnish their once good reputations.
Hans.Gruber
Banned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzBJPOcmke0
My AC Unity on X1 didn't run nearly as smooth. I would have actually liked it if they downgraded the visuals in favor of the FPS.
But yeah, the other games you named did not differentiate much.
CyberPunked
Member
It's always been a thing
The game's clearly been downgraded in some areas, and improved in some. Some areas look better, and some look worse. I think the point at which the game looked best was probably E3 2014.
But we as consumers have accepted false advertisement as the norm. Or at least if GAF is to be a measuring stick, it is slowly becoming an accepted behavior for the industry to engage in. If you are a highly regarded company you get an even easier pass for that behavior as evidence of the backlash against witcher downgrade posts.
I actually think it is about the most corporate friendly entertainment industry around right now. it's like if the entire movie industry was basically just E! style coverage at every outlet.
The movie and music industry would LOVE to get the sort of success rate the games industry has in terms of acceptance to their monetization attempts and freedom of consequences from marketing deception.
Fahrenheit
Banned
They are just holding back the settings till launch
right? ;(
Denton
Member
CDP is 20 years old company that has always done great things, even if there were couple mistakes along the way.
Which other shops give you credit for purchasing from more expensive regions?
It's good that we have a dedicated thread for this, as I too don't want this talk to dominate in any form in the OT thread when the game comes. Let us not pollute the other threads with this stuff but let's also not pollute this thread with "it doesn't matter to me" posts either that don't actually discuss about whether there has been a downgraded or not.
I can see clearly the change in art direction. Not talking about a technical downgrade necessarily here. The colors are a lot more saturated now and less "realistic". I think this one comes down to personal taste however. I myself really preferred the old less cartoony direction. Thing is, I do actually like the way it is now too, but if given the choice between the two I would choose the older style.
I can see clearly the change in art direction. Not talking about a technical downgrade necessarily here. The colors are a lot more saturated now and less "realistic". I think this one comes down to personal taste however. I myself really preferred the old less cartoony direction. Thing is, I do actually like the way it is now too, but if given the choice between the two I would choose the older style.
Gormenghast
Member
The interesting part is always the automatic backpedaling that spontaneously arises in people's mind:
- There isn't going to be any downgrade!
- There is no downgrade, it was just a trailer!
- It's because youtube compressed the video!
- If there was a downgrade it was just about tiny details and artistic choice!
- It is only on the vegetation!
- The game still looks beautiful!
- Even if it doesn't look as promised it's the gameplay that matters!
As time passes wishful thinking has to face truth, does it mean people learn? Nope, they only adapt perception and their own desires. If at one time you desired a wonderful game, after that isn't possible you'll just accept as willingly a lower compromise.
If people wanted grapes but only got sour grapes, they'll still tell you it's the sour grapes they wanted all along. The mind conforms to reality.
People want to BELIEVE The Witcher 3 to be great more than they want to know if it's actually true.
Next time, next game it will be all over again, believing the pre-rendered videos and screenshots and expecting them to actually tell anything meaningful about the final game.
We'll also see about the 200 hours length claim. That too will have to face reality at some point.
- There isn't going to be any downgrade!
- There is no downgrade, it was just a trailer!
- It's because youtube compressed the video!
- If there was a downgrade it was just about tiny details and artistic choice!
- It is only on the vegetation!
- The game still looks beautiful!
- Even if it doesn't look as promised it's the gameplay that matters!
As time passes wishful thinking has to face truth, does it mean people learn? Nope, they only adapt perception and their own desires. If at one time you desired a wonderful game, after that isn't possible you'll just accept as willingly a lower compromise.
If people wanted grapes but only got sour grapes, they'll still tell you it's the sour grapes they wanted all along. The mind conforms to reality.
People want to BELIEVE The Witcher 3 to be great more than they want to know if it's actually true.
Next time, next game it will be all over again, believing the pre-rendered videos and screenshots and expecting them to actually tell anything meaningful about the final game.
We'll also see about the 200 hours length claim. That too will have to face reality at some point.
Darkstorne
Member
Which becomes a problem when you advertise your game with visuals superior to what it ships with. And the advantage of PCs is they have settings menus for visuals. If it doesn't run well yet on Ultra, no problem, leave it in for the next generation or two of GPUs. That worked out pretty damn well for Crysis. Scale it down for consoles, but please not for PC, and especially not when you're advertising it with settings beyond what it ships with.
Heck, they're still using screenshots from the early trailers on their store page. None of their screenshots advertise the current downgraded build:
Don't forget "oh, put that is just not the same area" and 'different weather' like it's cool argument. Although come on guys, Don't be so synical, It's still better looking than skyrim and that's enough for me.
Maybe because CDPR has always been pro-consumer(Ok, let's forget for a minute that xbone CE fuckup), while ubisoft always did things like this:
Maybe?
And maybe because the downgrade, if there's really one, is just not as big as watch dogs' one?
Edit: Holy shit, 23 pages already?
As always, when someone posts this misleading crap: get the game on playstation + the season pass, and you get EVERYTHING (minus physical junk).
Fahrenheit
Banned
What about the other platforms?
I think it is same.
It is disappointing the game wont look as atmospheric( that's what annoys me, it looks so good because it looked so alive,real and gritty), clean and visually stunning as the earlier videos made us believe but it will still be a gorgeous game with so much to do and a lot of fun will be had.
The noticeable difference is that the game goes from being atmospheric, real and gritty to cartoony and looks like a game ( I know its a came but still) ..
The noticeable difference is that the game goes from being atmospheric, real and gritty to cartoony and looks like a game ( I know its a came but still) ..
Fahrenheit
Banned
I see a lot of "PlayStation Only" in that graph.
Yeah, downgrade aside, I really do not like the artistic shift in tone of the game. The original reveal and early footage had a gritty but still colorful tone to it. Now it looks more cartoonish.
With the amount of comments about it I am optimistic that mods will hopefully do a fairly decent job at tackling it though.
NaDannMaGoGo
Member
You could also add something along the lines of "Really, I'm fine with this downgrade because it's from one of my favorite devs, CDPR, not the EA & co. scumbags that screw us over all the time!"
It's not like they made some common mistake or anything, CPDR intentionally deceived (or tried to) everyone with the initial footage and has since uphold the lie that supposedly nothing was downgraded. In the grand scheme of things that doesn't have to mean CDPR is now a bad developer or anything, but please call out scummy practices for what they are.
Let's just wait before it releases before we decide that it looks like crap, ok? It can still look amazingly beautiful.
Hell, even Watch_Dogs looked great with everything turned up. No, it didn't look like the E3 trailer, but come on, it were definitely no PS2 graphics (or whatever the hell you want to compare them with).
Always these discussions... Growing tired of them.
Hell, even Watch_Dogs looked great with everything turned up. No, it didn't look like the E3 trailer, but come on, it were definitely no PS2 graphics (or whatever the hell you want to compare them with).
Always these discussions... Growing tired of them.
Darkstorne
Member
Yep, they specifically promised there was no downgrade and there never would be. That if anything the game would look better than the screenshots:
"The final version of the game will look better than what can be seen in the latest screenshots – no matter the platform. As you probably know, when publishing screenshots, some of them can be subjectively less appealing than others (depending on one’s opinion), that’s perfectly normal. The most important thing here is that the game will come out looking gorgeous when we are done working on it. There will be no downgrade."
Majukun
Member
quoted for truth..it's absurd
I think the downgrade issue combined with the aesthetic change has pushed me to the point that I am not sure I will get the game day 1 anymore.
I kinda want to take a wait and see approach to see just how extensive the downgrade is and might wait a While until the mod community can get a few high quality mods out to clean up a bit of the downgraded assets and maybe try and match the tone of the initial trailers.
I have faith the underlying bones of the game will be excellent if history of their products is the judge, but I would of preferred to combine that experience with the sort of visual flair they originally promised.
I kinda want to take a wait and see approach to see just how extensive the downgrade is and might wait a While until the mod community can get a few high quality mods out to clean up a bit of the downgraded assets and maybe try and match the tone of the initial trailers.
I have faith the underlying bones of the game will be excellent if history of their products is the judge, but I would of preferred to combine that experience with the sort of visual flair they originally promised.
Are there games on this scale which look better?
Do you think the Ultra settings are going to be the maximum of graphical fidelity for the Witcher or will future updates and patches to the PC version allow it to scale further?
Personally Iooking at the game it looks fantastic, my PC is ready and I know for a fact that there is going to be plenty of FREE post launch support. I'm also not quite sure if we have seen the Witcher 3 MAXED out yet.
Do you think the Ultra settings are going to be the maximum of graphical fidelity for the Witcher or will future updates and patches to the PC version allow it to scale further?
Personally Iooking at the game it looks fantastic, my PC is ready and I know for a fact that there is going to be plenty of FREE post launch support. I'm also not quite sure if we have seen the Witcher 3 MAXED out yet.
OmegaDL50
Member
So are you saying despite the downgrade that the Witcher 3 won't be a wonderful game? Is that what it's come down to?
Have we gone beyond just criticizing just the downgrade but questioning the overall quality of the entire game itself.
I would say a 200 hour game length sounds kind of bloated, however The Witcher 3 unlike the previous games being open world may just have enough fill in content in it's world to make a completionist save file to have considerable length.
I mean in comparison The Witcher 2 is hub and act based and for for the sake of completion in doing absolutely every thing in the game, it can take upwards of 60 hours.
I don't necessarily believe that difference in The Witcher 3 being open world gives the potential to have 140 more hours of game length over The Witcher 2, so I'd definitely say a more realistic and fair estimate may be 75 to 80 hours.....100 hours if we are lucky, which is half of the estimated 200.
Majukun
Member
nobody decided that or even said that
JimmyRustler
Gold Member
It's only a few more days dude. Let it be. The dream is dead.
It's still not great. It's like paying £30k for a £20k car only for the dealer to give you back £10k in store credit, must use here, no withdrawals, etc.
Can't they just price shit fairly?
No need, implying it is enough.
How certain are we that the whole game has this "colourful" art style.
Could certainly be limited to the "White Orchard" sunny area in which the game begins... and that's what we've mostly seen footage and screenshots of so far.
Well it was on PC at least i think. Whenever you see PS only in Ubi title you can be sure that it will be on PC too
Exactly this. It only makes sense to compare raw gameplay footage to raw gameplay footage. If people want to start a "trailer wars" thread and argue the old trailers look better than the new trailers then that's one thing, but comparing highly cinematic, carefully edited trailers to raw uncut gameplay is pretty nonsensical.
I think why some people are convinced it looked better before, but can't really articulate why, is for this very reason.
In my opinion the recent gameplay trailer looks every bit as good as the earlier trailers anyway.
Exactly. This downgrade is significantly more obvious than most.
MistaBowaa
Member
I remember throwing this same criticism at Diablo 3 before its release. While it never matched the bloody, gothic style of Diablo 2, it still turned out alright.
Majukun
Member
all people are doing it's accusing the developers of false advertising,and that the game looks nowhere near as good as it looked before.
saying that and saying it looks like crap are not the same thing..he can look good,even amazing,and still look worse thatn what was promised to us.
Denton
Member
Those are completely different (not "similar") things, even if they all use the word "credit".
No other shop refunds you the currency regional difference, period.
I am digital distribution customer. I have over 100 games on GOG, over 400 on Steam, dozens on GMG, Gamergate, Gamesplanet, Amazon etc.
GOG is the current gold standard, for many reasons.
No, they cannot if they want to sell games whose authors disallow it.
His Majesty
Banned
Another image for OP.
PS: It's a joke
How was this 'promised' to us? It's always been a work in progress.
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