• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Dark Souls II - Graphics Comparison - PC Preview

G

Grief.exe

Member
Moral Panic said:
Grief.exe said:
I don't think From, or even Namco for that matter, had any intentions to mislead us with their material.

Around mid January, they had a pretty consistent message and were only showing actual release console footage.

There have been some inconsistencies, such as journalists still running TGS footage into February, screenshots not reflecting the actual version. These seem to be tertiary to their main marketing push and can be chalked up to ignorance rather than ill intent.

Not all the marketers working at Namco, or those involved in putting the Amazon store page together will be following the game as religiously as we are. They will not realize that using TGS marketing material will not perfectly reflect the final game.
Click to expand...

Why didn't they update their official website or tell any of their stores/partners to replace their old material?
Click to expand...

Most likely oversight. You are latching onto some of the inconsistencies I was referring to. Do you actually believe the developers run their website? No, they have a community manager who handles that.

Starting ~mid January all of the demos and trade shows showcased the retail version.

DrROBschiz said:
I just want to know the point where they decided to scrap the original vision and why.

No reason they couldn't have delivered that on PC and wowed people. Im guessing they hit a damn wall in development and the deadline necessitated the change in quality.
Click to expand...

Money.

From knows how to pull a profit from a niche game. True that the Souls series has gained a massive following, but they may have been playing it safe with their investment.

Metroid-Squadron said:
Sure, that's why they created a tech demo that far surpasses the actual game and showed it at every trade show possible. Not to mention still using it to promote the PC version to this very day.
Click to expand...

Vertical slice. The retail build wasn't in a playable state at that point.
 
S

Sephzilla

Member
zephervack said:
How are those not doctored images, the retail product doesnt look like that.

usS28GN.png


The videos of the preview build were doctored to receive media attention and hype.
Click to expand...

Something 'doctored' is more akin to a model getting photoshopped.

Dark Souls 2 is more akin to a game that had a much grander visual scope, which was reduced.

Neither is especially good, but you're definitely not using doctored correctly.
 
B

BearPawB

Banned
I think it looks good.
Better textures? Awesome. Stable frame rate? even better.

Sure, the lighting would have been nice to bring back. but there is no doubt that the game looks better than the consoles. The pursuer looks fantastic.
 
S

Seanspeed

Banned
Krusenstern said:
I will rage like a goddamn mad man if that happens.
Click to expand...
I'll be pretty upset myself.

I didn't lose my shit over the #downgrade nonsense(which was disappointing, but nothing to be angry over), but if the PC gamers get shafted like this, I'll be fairly pissed off about it.
 
Z

zephervack

Member
BearPawB said:
I think it looks good.
Better textures? Awesome. Stable frame rate? even better.

Sure, the lighting would have been nice to bring back. but there is no doubt that the game looks better than the consoles. The pursuer looks fantastic.
Click to expand...


523399_467527213320328_123338009_n.jpg


SEzPzzi.png



The textures and geometry are worse than the reveal, this is not the same game they showed, at all.
 
S

Seanspeed

Banned
Metroid-Squadron said:
There's nothing common about downgrades of this level.
Click to expand...
Downgrades(in general) are common, though. But yes, this was an especially drastic one. FROM were obviously a little too ambitious. I think they really wanted to make the PC version look really good, but didn't know how to scale it down for the 360/PS3 and still have it look ok and run ok.
 
C

Cetra

Member
Solid 60FPS: Check.
At 1080p? Check.
Hi-Res Textures: Check

From delivered what they said they would on the PC front.

But after having played Dark Souls II, I'll wait for a sale. Dedicated Servers is all that they improved in the series, IMO. Everything else was a step back.
Covenants amount to not much more than PvP "Teams" anymore, enemies are broken (Here's looking at you Betwixt Ogres, the only interesting things in the lore of the weak connections to DkS1,
the list goes on)
 
B

Bojanman

Neo Member
What's with Japanese companies and blowing PC ports, what are they trying to tell me that no one plays PC games in Japan....
 
M

_machine

Member
Metroid-Squadron said:
Sure, that's why they created a tech demo that far surpasses the actual game and showed it at every trade show possible. Not to mention still using it to promote the PC version to this very day.
Click to expand...
That did not happen, the retail version is using the same engine, the same gameplay, the same mechanics as the demos. Yes, there are notable differences, but nothing more than downgrades in the complexity of the lighting (not the engine however) and the actual detail of levels. The nature of these demos just happens to be that you usually end up having more time to polish them to look as good as possible (closed scenario, less techincal requirements etc.), but come the release you end up scrambling to get the game completely playable rather than get everything on the same level. DS2 certainly came out the door a bit early, but that's hardly uncommon in the industry.
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
Seanspeed said:
I'll be pretty upset myself.

I didn't lose my shit over the #downgrade nonsense(which was disappointing, but nothing to be angry over), but if the PC gamers get shafted like this, I'll be fairly pissed off about it.
Click to expand...

The "downgrade nonsense" was bad because people had to find out by themselves, as Namco kept using bullshit material to promote the game long after launch.

In this case they're coming forward with the real graphics before release, so the same issue doesn't apply.
 
A

Arkanius

Member
So you literally think removing color through SweetFX is a solution?
That is as good as "You aren't sitting far enough from the TV" solutions.

The game is fucking downgraded, no amount of filters can fix that.
 
J

Jonm1010

Banned
Seanspeed said:
No, the game was downgraded. Its a common thing in game development. Nothing was 'doctored'.
Click to expand...
The guy showed you a pre-downgraded image from amazons store front and your still arguing that from didn't mislead customers. Pathetic.

Do I need to bring a retail box over to your house and circle the pre-downgraded image as well??

It's ok to like the game still but trying to defend this whole debacle makes people come off pretty pathetically.
 
Z

zephervack

Member
Durante said:
Yeah, I hope some HBAO+ profile works out of the box.
Click to expand...

How difficult would it be to release a DSFix for DS 2 to add the SSAO and supersampling using your method. None of the HUD fixes or anything else, just the super sampling and AO stuff.

I ask because AMD users are out of luck with driver based stuff that nVidia guys have and your DSFix worked wonders with my AMD card. So much easier to supersample with it than dealing with third party drivers and patchers.

Thanks !
 
Z

zma1013

Member
Did they at least add in shadows from all light sources? It's annoying my OCD when I go from one bonfire or torch that clearly makes the player cast shadows to another bonfire or torch that doesn't cast any at all. Also, are the shadow resolutions improved? DS2 has some horribly pixelated shadows.
 
C

CountAntonius

Member
Seanspeed said:
I'll be pretty upset myself.

I didn't lose my shit over the #downgrade nonsense(which was disappointing, but nothing to be angry over), but if the PC gamers get shafted like this, I'll be fairly pissed off about it.
Click to expand...

I would too but I honestly don't see it happening. How many developers have actually ever done this and why would from suddenly be amongst them? So Tomb raider fucks people over and now it's lead to some industry wide paranoia every time a game comes out that doesn't live up to early builds.

If there is a next gen port it will based on the {PC version if they implement the old lighting again there is no reason they could'nt just do it on PC as well. But why would they when the PC version as is would sell plenty find on next gen consoles with the framerate, resolution and loadtime fixes alone.

Also PS3/PC Side By side comparison
 
I

impact

Banned
ShockingAlberto said:
Gonna bet there's a PS4/Xbone version announced late this year with the lighting engine restored and no plans to ever bring it to PC.
Click to expand...
You people are nuts haha

Glad it's a competent port and glad I don't have to use a torch. Kinda burnt out from the PS3 version but I bet a dual wield build can make it exciting again. Also invasions should be fuuuuuun :)
 
R

Relaxed Muscle

Member
Arkanius said:
So you literally think removing color through SweetFX is a solution?
That is as good as "You aren't sitting far enough from the TV" solutions.

The game is fucking downgraded, no amount of filters can fix that.
Click to expand...

A better AO implementation could help, but the awul flat lighting is not gonna get fixed....
 
B

BearPawB

Banned
zephervack said:
523399_467527213320328_123338009_n.jpg


SEzPzzi.png



The textures and geometry are worse than the reveal, this is not the same game they showed, at all.
Click to expand...

I am not sure why you responded to me about this.

Did i deny the game changed?

The game changed. It doesn't look as good as the reveal. Shit happens. What matters to me is that this is better than the console version, which it clearly is.
 
J

John Rabbit

Banned
Bojanman said:
What's with Japanese companies and blowing PC ports, what are they trying to tell me that no one plays PC games in Japan....
Click to expand...

please explain how this is a "blown port". and no, the missing lighting engine is not a valid explanation ether. it's the console version of the game with better textures and framerate; i.e. - exactly the things you look for in a PC port. if you're still upset about apparently being lied to, that's fine, but this looks like anything but a "blown port". it's exactly what we wanted with the first Dark Souls PC version but only got after a third-party consumer plugin was released.
 
P

patapuf

Member
Seanspeed said:
I know. But when the entire game's development seems to have revolved around the 360/PS3 versions to such an extent that the game gets massively downgraded and looks a bit poo by 2014 standards on the PC, its very hard to not roll your eyes at the 'led on PC' claims we've heard, even if it is technically true.

BF4 is a game that was led on PC and it shows.
Click to expand...

As a long time fan of the series, I think the influence of the console ports are apparent in BF4, graphics are the only thing not affected.

Also, Dice is a lot bigger than from and what they do in BF is important for Frostbyte in general - which justifies the extra work the PC version.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
Bojanman said:
What's with Japanese companies and blowing PC ports, what are they trying to tell me that no one plays PC games in Japan....
Click to expand...

All signs point to the quality of the PC port being excellent though.

So that begs the question, what the hell are you talking about?
 
K

kick51

Banned
isn't this a publisher end problem? Seems possible that part of the publishing bargain is letting Namco handle all the PR, social media, and screenshot stuff.

just seems hasty to be all "Fuck From Software" about this
 
E

EGM1966

Member
Whelp I am disappointed. Yes they delivered what they said they would on PC but I'm really disappointed that the visuals originally shown - and which seemed possible to aim for on PC - have ended up totally abandoned and not just for console versions.
 
S

Seanspeed

Banned
UrbanRats said:
The "downgrade nonsense" was bad because people had to find out by themselves, as Namco kept using bullshit material to promote the game long after launch.

In this case they're coming forward with the real graphics before release, so the same issue doesn't apply.
Click to expand...
They did release images that showed the game in its real state, though. This wouldn't have happened if there was malicious intent to mislead people.

Jonm1010 said:
The guy showed you a pre-downgraded image from amazons store front and your still arguing that from didn't mislead customers. Pathetic.

Do I need to bring a retail box over to your house and circle the pre-downgraded image as well??

It's ok to like the game still but trying to defend this whole debacle makes people come off pretty pathetically.
Click to expand...
I don't think they handled it well, but people who act like FROM are just full of terrible people who were out to lie to us and intentionally mislead people are seriously overreacting and not being reasonable in the slightest.
 
P

Psycho_Mantis

Banned
Bwahahahaha I remember when all those posters were saying "oh you just wait the PC version is going to have the original lighting" lmao!

You guys never learn smh.
 
G

Gbraga

Member
kick51 said:
isn't this a publisher end problem? Seems possible that part of the publishing bargain is letting Namco handle all the PR, social media, and screenshot stuff.

just seems hasty to be all "Fuck From Software" about this
Click to expand...

Hmmm I don't know. From is publishing it in Japan, and honestly, if not for the TGS version, we'd all just accept that the april reveal was a vertical slice since all the assets are so different. The TGS build is the one that is a direct upgrade instead of a completely different game.
 
O

Omegasquash

Member
On the lighting thing: That's....dismaying. I wish we'd have been shown something closer to what we got, but what's done is done.

Anyway, it's still a magnificent game, and I'll be bagging the PC version too so I can get in on the community there. Better textures and a higher framerate are enough for me.
 
C

Confidence Man

Member
PC version compromised due to old consoles, the amount I'm willing to pay for it is equally compromised. Guess I'll be waiting for a cheap steam sale.
 
C

Conezays

Member
Able to get this game at $37.50 including soundtrack on GMG and run it at 60 FPS/1080P?

I'm not sure what there is to complain about here. Yeah, I get the lighting downgrade complaints, but come on.
 
O

OldAsUrSock

Banned
Cetra said:
Solid 60FPS: Check.
At 1080p? Check.
Hi-Res Textures: Check

From delivered what they said they would on the PC front.

But after having played Dark Souls II, I'll wait for a sale. Dedicated Servers is all that they improved in the series, IMO. Everything else was a step back.
Covenants amount to not much more than PvP "Teams" anymore, enemies are broken (Here's looking at you Betwixt Ogres, the only interesting things in the lore of the weak connections to DkS1,
the list goes on)
Click to expand...

Namco's marketing team needs to be looked over. From delivered, but because the marketing showed something else, we get this big hoopla.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Digital Foundry: Sea of Thieves Goes Multi-Plat: PS5 and Xbox Series X/S Tested!
2 3 4
190
10K
Physiognomonics replied
Digital Foundry: Gran Turismo 7 vs Forza Motorsport - The Duel - Digital Foundry Graphics Breakdown
11
1K
The Fartist replied
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora PC vs PS5 Graphics, Optimised Settings, FSR 3 Breakdown
2 3
120
8K
Zathalus replied
Digital Foundry: Kingdom Come Deliverance on Switch - The Most Ambitious Switch Port Yet? - DF Tech Review
2
50
3K
Heimdall_Xtreme replied
Digital Foundry: EA Sports WRC: PC/PS5/Xbox Series X/S - DF Tech Review - An Engine Change for Better or Worse?
2 3
105
8K
MadchesterManc replied
Top Bottom