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Dark Souls 2 Lighting changes/Downgrade
- Thread starter Moral Panic
- Start date
Oh, for fuck sake. Posts like this are why people are calling you guys crazy. Justifiably so.
I've been complaining about the downgrade as well. Just trying to counterpoint some of the severe hyperbole.
Check it out again, not being hard on Brad, calling out people for, frankly, embarrassing comments and behavior on Twitter.
CountAntonius
Member
I have absolutely no faith in anything more than higher resolution textures and some better lighting. I think they were too ambitious and the consoles held them back. It's disappointing but I guess it had to happen.
dark_prinny
Banned
Is not even about the graphics anymore is just about straight up false advertising. I´m not your average PC Gamer graphic whore, but I´m not stupid and I don´t like to be treated as such. The only messages these companies get is the message of money, and with this kind of practices their are not getting a cent from me.
What a hero.
Blargonaut
Banned
I'm totally calm, I just like dramatic emphasis.
It's fine that you're satisfied, but I'm not...
Yes, I know that's my problem, but FROM and Namco-Bandai shouldn't be allowed to continue to falsely advertise the game with the old superior footage and victimise potentially unwary buyers. Retailers and reviewers should also be held to this. This needs to be vocalised, even if the majority of players are okay with playing this downgraded version. Look at this:
http://www.darksoulsii.com/us/media.html
http://www.darksoulsii.com/us/media.html#!/videos/2
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DGZDFLW/?tag=neogaf0e-20
http://store.namcobandaigames.com/s...APnL5DcAAAEW&rests=1394658580277#.Uxi3a-ddWTo
http://store.steampowered.com/app/236430/
http://www.game.co.uk/webapp/wcs/st...toreId=10151&cm_sp=home-_-banner-_-darksouls2
http://www.gamestop.com/ps3/games/dark-souls-ii/107210
(^interesting that this one does indeed have a video by Vaati showing the downgraded version, but scroll down and notice that all the media below it is of the old superior version. Potentially confusing, right?)
Every single one of these links to retailers showcases the old superior version of the game, not the current downgraded retail version. That's not cool.
So you may be happy with it, I may be unhappy with it, but imagine some poor innocent sucker who's never touched a Souls game before and sees all this great shiny footage at the store-front. They buy the console version of their choice, bring it home, pop it in and get this shit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhckus8ktgE
That person may be fine playing it or not, but they were still wrongly misled.
[edit:] Toned down the dramatic lens flare, anti-aliasing and camera shake of my sentences...
EvilKatarn
Member
Hah.
But seriously - it's infuriating when journalists won't give an issue all ripe for picking and writing about a glance. It's childish.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Yeah, they said PC was the lead platform right? I'm guessing is that they developed for PC first, overestimated the consoles and then realized it was too ambitious and had to severely cut back.
The only other explanation is that the demo was built by a different team and purposefully pumped up to entice buyers, but that sounds too shady (heh, heh, *snorts*) to be true. I really hope that's not what happened. Considering several areas of the games seem affected and not just the demo areas, I'm guessing the former explanation is most likely true.
dark_prinny
Banned
What a slave.
I want to play the game. I'm having a lot of fun doing so. I really don't give a shit.
God I want this on PC.
dark_prinny
Banned
More power to you. Enjoy it then.
CountAntonius
Member
I just hope the backlash doesn't scare them away from making the PC the lead in the future. They were really proud about making a good product for PC and these are guys are new to PC development from what I've read. People tend to forget that. I think they really struggled to make things work on console and couldn't.
I think it's also important to realize if they had just went with the previous engine we probably wouldn't have had a game that looks as good as the existing one(minus the areas that were effected by lighting). The real issue was it was never made clear how drastic the changes were prior to release.
toddhunter
Member
From: "Damn...we are hitting massive performance issues with our engine. This is going to take some time to sort out"
Namco: "Strip all that shit out and just ship it. You can delay the PC version a month to try to make it better or at least add options."
From: "No, we are not going to compromise the quality of our game."
Namco: "Crystal caves..."
From: "...Shipped!"
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
The gameplay is one thing, and I'm still interested in the game because of that, but the vastly improved visuals were a HUGE part of the appeal and the pitch from Namco. Remember the initial coverage by Game Informer and such talking about how the visuals looked like they could be next-gen? The lighting, in particular, was massively important. Many people were very impressed that FROM managed to get that stuff working on current gen consoles. Namco talked up the new engine and how it allowed them to polish the graphics to create a better atmosphere that wasn't possible before.
The Dark Souls II that was released in stores looks like shit in many areas. It's just not what we were sold originally.
The Dark Souls II that was released in stores looks like shit in many areas. It's just not what we were sold originally.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
What's wrong with the Crystal Caves? I liked that area... >_>
I'm okay with this.
I'm guessing horrible performance on console.
loganclaws
Plane Escape Torment
Why are you even posting here?
CadetMahoney
Member
At first I thought it was just lighting, but the other stuff is horrendous too.
We need some Dark Souls rule 34's to make the circle complete.
Was that necessary?
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
I don't recall that. Nothing like Blighttown anyway.
toddhunter
Member
Not really, mostly just comedic timing.
Holy shit. At the beginning I didn't even believe that was the same area. The textures are completely different and much of the geometry is gone.
EvilKatarn
Member
We don't know. There is no way of knowing. Guesswork is pointless.
CountAntonius
Member
I'm pretty sure that entire aspect has been downplayed. Even if the PC can handle it I doubt they would want the games to play so differently.
Zomba13
Member
I'm trying to wait out till the PC version without spoiling myself too much but had to check that. It really does look like a completely different, much worse looking place.
Also the PC version will just be the console version but higher res with better frame rate.
It won't have the extra level geometry that was removed, won't feature the better lighting and won't have a darker world with more emphasis on the torches and lighting the way. It's be exactly the same just at a higher resolution with maybe some AO and better textures.
Is there supposed to be cross-platform multiplayer between PC and console versions? If not, then I don't see why the graphics and performance differences even matter.
Also, just changing the brightness setting in any of the previous Souls games already altered how you play it.
Edit:
I should have worded this a bit better! I meant that it shouldn't matter in terms of "making another build for PC that plays differently from the console release". In my opinion, if there isn't going to be cross-platform multi, then there's no reason not to have them be different.
Also, just changing the brightness setting in any of the previous Souls games already altered how you play it.
Edit:
I should have worded this a bit better! I meant that it shouldn't matter in terms of "making another build for PC that plays differently from the console release". In my opinion, if there isn't going to be cross-platform multi, then there's no reason not to have them be different.
SilverBullet
Member
Not denying the obvious downgrade but this image just looks washed out from high gamma values and lack of contrast.
CadetMahoney
Member
So the only improvements will be 1080p60fps? All the other downgrades like geometry and other stuff previously shown will also be downgraded in PC version?
Metalingus5150
Member
Putting the brightness to 0 on this game doesn't really have an effect.
CountAntonius
Member
Well It's just my opinion but I doubt we will see anything more than some better lighting and higher res textures.So the only improvements will be 1080p60fps? All the other downgrades like geometry and other stuff previously shown will also be downgraded in PC version?
JRW
Member
There's something weird about the brightness in this game, the black levels are elevated unlike other games Ive played on 360, Even the title screen has a slight greyish black background instead of the deep black I'm used to seeing (Kuro plasma). adjusting the in-game brightness slider doesn't help this either.
CountAntonius
Member
Curious_George
Neo Member
I hope it will but I'm not optimistic. I fear player complaints or Namco might have led to the blackness nerf. But I really hope if they re-release the game on PS4/XB1 it'll be a director's cut version in which they return the pitch black elements to the game. I want to play the Dark Souls 2 the directors had in mind when they showed the torch and sconce aspect of the game and it actually was integral to the gameplay.
Please.. Let's pretend now that immersion is not a big part of the Souls series.
Immersion is directly affected by graphics and art direction.
To me a game is not all about graphics nor is it all about gameplay, it's a mix of those two and many other factors, the "gameplay vs graphics" debate has always ringed very childish and close minded to me.
SargerusBR
I love Pokken!
From the Steam page
Minimum:
OS: Windows XP SP3, Vista SP2, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8
Processor: AMD® Phenom II X2 555 3.2Ghz or Intel® Pentium Core 2 Duo E8500 3.17Ghz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600GT, ATI Radeon HD 5870
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 14 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9 sound device
Additional Notes: Controller support: Microsoft Xbox 360® Controller for Windows® (or equivalent) recommended
Recommended:
OS: Windows 7 SP1
Processor: Intel® CoreTM i3 2100 3.10GHz or AMD® A8 3870K 3.0GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 465 or higher, ATI Radeon HD 6870 or higher
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 14 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9 sound device
Additional Notes: Controller support: Microsoft Xbox 360® Controller for Windows® (or equivalent) recommended
zephervack
Member
Well they showed the game in January and i still had the light, thats last second to me.
mickcenary
Member
Is that beautiful metal sheen/glisten on the weapons/armours all but gone? That looked so good in DS1. I especially loved how certain areas had their own colour profile, i.e. that electric blue in Firelink.
Sanctuary
Member
Maybe they were still showing off a older build. Or the demo build they created.
Did they specifically mention that they were showing off the latest version of the game in january?
Facism
Member
where are you linking from? Steam store within the steam client shows 14gb.
CountAntonius
Member
Yeah the minimum requirements that went around say 8 but steam says 14. Not sure what's going on.
Gads, if the lighting and such is THAT horrible it will be a SEVERE downgrade from Dark Souls. Imagine the Tomb of the Giants if you could see everything??? ALL horror is subsequently lost. I really hope the PC version has pitch black segments where you need spells or special items to see with. Even Dragon's Dogma did night's darkness extremely well.