The use of colour was a promise of theirs though. Some people complained that Dark Souls was monocolour in certain areas.
They probably overdid it though.
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Dark Souls 2 Lighting changes/Downgrade
- Thread starter Moral Panic
- Start date
The use of colour was a promise of theirs though. Some people complained that Dark Souls was monocolour in certain areas.
They probably overdid it though.
The thing that has me wondering is if From Software properly changed the colour palette or just quickly changed it so close to release to brighten it that it's fucked with the balance in the rest of the game.
From anyone that's playing it does it feel like the games initial mechanic of using torch or shield in the darkness has been compromised ? It just seemed such a big part of the game going into pitch black areas that it makes me wonder if/how much they compromised for the last generation.
From anyone that's playing it does it feel like the games initial mechanic of using torch or shield in the darkness has been compromised ? It just seemed such a big part of the game going into pitch black areas that it makes me wonder if/how much they compromised for the last generation.
Garcia
Member
I finally got out of the first area and reached the main hub
Majula
I suppose this is what everyone means when they say the game moves from one beautiful area to a terrible looking one. I just experienced the first notorious transition of quality and it's just been over an hour.
Excuse me while I play my perfect South Park game.
Metalingus5150
Member
No real pitch black areas in my game, with the in game brightness turned all the way off.
The demo that showed going down the staircase into the darkness. Yeah it's not like that at all.
HOly mother of God that's 2006 right there. Stop blaming the Last gen consoles, they surpassed this yeeeeears ago. For shame.When I said "the missing lightning" I meant stuff like the torches and the ambient lightning they produce which is missing on the columns in this GIF:
But you are right, the lighting changes completely kill the mood and atmosphere they achieved in the Demo.
Look at the ground in those GIFs, the orange casted light is completely missing from the Retail, and thats just a small example of all the stuff they took out for some reason.
BadAss2961
Member
The downgrade from the early footage has been apparent for months.
Garcia
Member
I encountered more than 10 sconces in the tutorial area, yet I didn't have to light any. You can perfectly see around you.
You should've just turned off your TV and navigated that way
jimmypython
Member
is it even possible to turn on the lighting/shadowing through a patch??
There's no official word besides a vague tweet stating that the PC version will have improvements over the console versions. From/Namco haven't acknowledged the downgrades either.
It's obvious right away that this mechanic is worthless but meant to be more than it is. You don't have to have obsessed over previews to figure it out quickly. It's a part of the game that was essentially gutted but the remnants of it are constantly in your face.
Graphics wise, its pretty crazy that we had games like Killzone 2&3, God of War, the Last of Us, Halo 4 and then in the final breath of the consoles, we get Dark Souls 2. Granted that I am comparing 1st party to 3rd party, but still... the difference in graphics is absolutely monumental. I know that Xbox360 and PS3 are more than capable of handling MUCH higher fidelity titles. I think (nm, I know) that the technical side of programming is not one of FROM's strong areas.
I personally believe that Namco or From is delaying PC version to prevent piracy once the PC version hits (this is my personal opinion; I'm not looking to convince anyone).
Pirated copy =/= lost sale, but I think they're hoping to force some would-be pirates to buckle and pay for the console versions. I don't think their real aim is to reel in double-dippers.
Pirated copy =/= lost sale, but I think they're hoping to force some would-be pirates to buckle and pay for the console versions. I don't think their real aim is to reel in double-dippers.
I'm pretty sure it isn't. Doesn't matter, at this point I believe they only had the lighting working for the demo portions and stuck with their original plan for the rest of the game, then the main team made the demo portions like the rest (a B team probably made the demo).
TheCongressman1
Member
I don't see why not, it's apparently running on the same engine we saw in the beta. It would be quite a patch and not as simple as just turning them on, but yeah. Either way, I don't see this happening.
EatinOlives
Member
As you mentioned before, lighting has a giant effect on the way that the rest of the environment looks, color-wise. If the greens, oranges, blues, or what have you were meant to be in dark places, with the torch's warm yellow light flooding over the room, that's going to have an effect on the color of the original textures. If you gut that lighting and hastily up the ambient lighting everywhere, it won't look anywhere near the same.
I wouldn't be surprised if the hideous-looking areas were supposed to be pitch-black ones. I'd wager those are the areas where the color palette was designed for them to look well with the torch light over them, and they obviously didn't go back to retexture the areas if they didn't even bother removing vestigial torches in the actual levels.
meanspartan
Member
Thanks for the preview on how my PC version will look next month! 
probably a bit of both.
Garcia
Member
The game is so visually inconsistent it really breaks any sense of immersion. The exteriors of
look really pretty, while the house interiors are sub par. You walk through dark corridors and suddently stumble upon highly illuminated trees. It really makes no sense at all.
Several parts look too cartoonish and oversaturated. Too much green followed by too much brown.
Majula
Several parts look too cartoonish and oversaturated. Too much green followed by too much brown.
Much of the discussion in this thread is centered around that point. We have no idea.
Did that @EpicNameBro guy every explain what he meant about his response to the lighting downgrade?
As for the downgrade itself, I don't care too much. The game is a Souls game and I have the brightness turned down enough that honestly in the first caves you go to, I couldn't see that great without using the torch. I definitely don't come to the games for graphics. I mean, I wish it had looked like the demo and such, yeah, but I imagine they probably had to cut it down for performance reasons.
As for the downgrade itself, I don't care too much. The game is a Souls game and I have the brightness turned down enough that honestly in the first caves you go to, I couldn't see that great without using the torch. I definitely don't come to the games for graphics. I mean, I wish it had looked like the demo and such, yeah, but I imagine they probably had to cut it down for performance reasons.
jimmypython
Member
Just for fun:
the full lighting system will be unlocked for the NG+ to boost difficulty..... - if it were a Kojima game
the full lighting system will be unlocked for the NG+ to boost difficulty..... - if it were a Kojima game
This has been done for the area in the reveal footage. It's like watching a step-by-step downgrade.
It goes: reveal footage - massive removal of textures and polygons from the environments - January footage - removal of pitch blackness/torchlight loses lots of lighting effects - retail
Metroid-Squadron
Banned
Found footage of the mansion of the dragons. There's no way anybody anywhere can't claim this game hasn't been completely gutted. Just look at this shit, LOOK AT THIS SHIT:
LOOK AT THE PLAYER'S SHADOW
LOOK AT THE PLAYER'S SHADOW
UnrealEck
Member
Very possible. The realtime lighting is part of the graphics engine. I doubt they went and changed the instructions for the lighting system much if at all. It would make more sense to simply turn them off.
All I can say is that if the PC version looks like those screenshots above (of the currently released build) I won't be buying it.
Outright Villainy
Member
CountAntonius
Member
The Dragon mansion was PC footage though. That was from the reveal. I think it would be fair to wait and compare them to the retail PC build.
Metroid-Squadron
Banned
Sure, compression completely changes the lighting, shadows, particle effects, textures and geometry of a level...
Of course, both videos are quite compressed so it's not an unfair comparison at all.
FaintDeftone
Junior Member
If the PC version truly does include the original lighting system, I will easily double dip and buy the PC version.
fizzelopeguss
Banned
FROM better spend this month frantically relighting torches for the PC version. That is fucking ludicrous.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
I am greatly enjoying the game but I will say: if the PC version looks like those shots (with better resolution and IQ taken into account) it seems to confirm the theory that the public was never shown a real game at any point. And a separate team worked on crafting a vertical slice that was bigger and more playable than most, full of not just better lighting but unique level geometry and visual assets.
Holy lord.
I mean that's not even SUBTLE, that's like a whole different game.
plz PC version.
Stone Ocean
Member
Holy fuck they completely destroyed the painting corridor's mood.
It went from eerie to just another passage.
It went from eerie to just another passage.
Confidence Man
Member
If a Wii version existed that's what it would look like.
Metroid-Squadron
Banned
Sorry guys, forgot one:
Sorry guys, forgot one:
lmao