The weirdest part isn't even the downgrade, imo, they must have their reasons, whatever those are, but the fact that they were leading people to believe it was only getting better from there. Every interview they pretty much said "yeah, it looks great, and it's still our old renderer, just placeholder".
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Witcher 3 downgrade arguments in here and nowhere else
- Thread starter Jigolo
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Not sure if already posted, but another comparison video (german):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkQ_moS4tTg
Comparison proper starts at around 2:30.
Man, definite downgrade.
EDIT: Man, the comments on that video Just a bunch of console gamers in denial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkQ_moS4tTg
Comparison proper starts at around 2:30.
Man, definite downgrade.
EDIT: Man, the comments on that video Just a bunch of console gamers in denial.
BigTnaples
Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Hot damn that whole at few minutes at night in the woods looks freaking amazing. And hairworks looks so fantastic. Especially on the bear, horse, and griffin. Looks great on Geralt too.
AstroNut325
Member
When I stepped into the world of project management, all of my mentors ingrained into me this lesson: Set realistic expectations from the FIRST time you introduce your product to your target audience. If you fail to deliver on the original promise, you'll lose big time. If you deliver a better product that exceeds the first unveil, you will hit it big. I have followed this advice for my projects and it has served me very well. Too bad the gaming industry at large completely fails at this.
People keep falling for it, so why would they change it?
Really? I'm a PC gamer, but if a had a PS4, I would be so glad that that version looks so great as it does
It should come as no surprise that PC is superior graphically, I don't think it is fair to call downgrade unless we are comparing PC to PC at max settings.
My philosophy has always been "under promise, over deliver". Unfortunately for us, the game industry over promises and under delivers pretty consistently.
On topic, the most curious thing to me is the color saturation change. The final build seems over saturated in comparison to the E3 build from last year.
I thought someone above said that the devs claimed same assets and LOD etc across all versions?
I assumed that meant PC was basically this + better IQ and AA. Am I wrong?
chromatic9
Member
Some streaming issue there with NPCs in the tavern.
Torch lighting switches off once passed you and switches on once you turn back, or in other words its removed. I'm getting quite distracted with the NPCs teleporting in like Star Trek, small trees disappearing and reappearing right next to you and now torches being removed once its behind you. It's like the matrix is glitching out all around you at every turn.
Seems more like bugs and maybe resources issue than helping your combat, that's just a by product of how quick they want to remove stuff, We'll take that torch light now you've passed it thank you very much sir.
EDIT: Looks like the infamous castle wall has been changed at least in the PS4 version to a flat texture like was shown in that screenshot. Still need to see if PC retains that 2014 gameplay demo castle.
Made a GIF. It really shows how important time of day and weather is going to be in order to do 1:1 comparisons
I am not sure if that argument holds true. This looks great no matter what time of day/lighting.
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I honestly don't understand the logic some people here are employing to claim the current game can look just as impressive, especially in tech, as our first glimpses with the other lighting and foliage. How could you possibly explain away the game's inability to match the footage people were most impressed by, with even their selective bull shots since the changes?
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I don't know anyone who can't tell the difference in day and night. A game shouldn't look like disappointment embodied just because it's a different time of day. Those images don't suggest quality differences at all over TOD changes, and do not invalidate the widespread disappointment in the thread. The game just plain doesn't look as good as the original lighting, LOD, and FOLIAGE assets and they had said there would be no downgrades but were clearly wrong, as multiple major components of the visuals went down.Made a GIF. It really shows how important time of day and weather is going to be in order to do 1:1 comparisons
Yea PS4 version is no slouch, CDPR have done a pretty good job it seems.
+1
To Far Away Times
Member
Reminds me of the Dark Souls 2 downgrade.
I wonder if it will be possible to get the original assets and lighting through PC mods?
I wonder if it will be possible to get the original assets and lighting through PC mods?
I guess...if you forgot everything about the DkS2 downgrade.
CyberPunked
Member
Aren't these pre-downgrade shots?
No idea. All I know is it's new and released by GI today.
What argument? Are you saying considering it as a factor is not important?
I didn't say it invalidates the disappointment did I? No need to turn everything into an argument. I'm just highlighting how significant TOD and weather can make while doing comparisons.
Some of you guys have really drawn the line in the sand and take every comment as either with you or against you. Relax. Don't read between the lines.
Doesn't look like it.
Anton Sugar
Member
No, but it looks like they've been run through CDPR's sharpening filter, though (which people...like?).
Lol no.
Gormenghast
Member
If you see a bluish or reddish tint covering all the background then it's all post downgrade
The smog is a recent addition.
Someone else mentioned this on Beyond3D before i thought of it, but isn't it more to do with the lowest configurations of PC users than the consoles which are probably using all kinds of settings to achieve their performance metric?
I think on the contrary, without the consoles this kind of open world game could not be created on PC only due to the limitations imposed on the lower end of the spectrum, and that's just from a development perspective, not to mention what publishers would spend on a game that wasn't backed by 2 major publishers on their HW + PC.
You had said, "It really shows how important time of day and weather is going to be in order to do 1:1 comparisons"
That was the argument I am not so sure of.
The IQ looks great in all the pics you posted and the assets are the same, so I am not sure that we have to compare everything with 1:1 time of day and weather for it to remain a fair comparison.
Moon_frogger
Member
ok, downgrades and bullshots are a worrying trend......but does anybody remember sony passing off killzone 2 target renders as in game footage? Like...they literally said it was in game. This doesn't strike me as particularly problematic. The game still looks mind blowing.
Of course we have to. People compare draw distances when one of them has fog and other doesn't. In fact, there are comparisons in this very thread where one of it is daylight and the other is evening/night and people go on and on about why things look dull or shadows are missing. That makes no sense right? A fair comparison absolutely needs to be the same TOD and weather. The reason IQ is consistent in my comparison is because the source is the same. Compress even one of them and it becomes impossible to tell anything meaningful.
Or CDPR could have just kept the same assets as the 2013 one for PC ULTRA/HIGH settings and use the 2014 assets/quality for PC MEDIUM/CONSOLES
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Either you were implying people were too dumb to understand how the sun works and don't know what they are talking about in this thread, or you are deflecting and acting like you can't tell if one thing looks better than another without 1:1 alignments.
I don't even... Never mind, dude. You won't hear from me again. Don't bother responding to my posts.
Why do people keep saying this? We HAVE PC ultra footage on YouTube. There's nothing that suggests PC was any better off than PS4. It's the same shit. Pretty sure CDPR also said themselves that the difference between PC ultra and PS4 was minimal except for hairworks.
Edit: Or are you suggesting that's what they should have done? Because in that case I'd agree with you.
Callibretto
Member
Sony got called out for that and they've been shying away from cg trailer that look like gameplay since then. The worst they did nowaday is basically calling their video and screenshots as "in-engine" which is not lying I guess.
wanderingprostheyltite
Member
Wouldn't this have resulted in a lot more man hours though? My guess as others have pointed out is the 2013 material was likely vertical slice stuff that wasn't really implemented in a lot of areas. I have no development know how so I don't know how hard it would be to do something at that quality level for a game of this size given the time they've had, the skus they've had to develop for, and their team size. I'm thinking it was purely a time/resources decision. And yes, it sucks.
But they look good! The game is ugly now, ugly!
Anton Sugar
Member
I'm not sure why they're jumping on your case. You're right.
Light can absolutely affect the quality of an image, because light reacts uniquely with unique materials. A texture map can look completely different (flat vs textured) in different light. That's why lighting, in games as well as film, is considering an art.
It is possible for very few shadows to appear on the surface of an object when viewed (or lit) from one angle vs another. Maybe when textures were "only" flat (I mean, I guess they still are) it didn't matter, but now I think it does, since shaders and other tech allow for accurate material simulation.
Now, the actual geometry or assets? Time of day probably doesn't affect those as much, I agree.
Weather can impact it, simply because it can completely change the screen color temperature--and of course, cloudy lighting will have completely different characteristics than direct, hard sunlight.
I mean, what we actually need is an accurate technical comparison, and why wouldn't you want there be as few variables present, outside of the actual devices/platforms?
Your second sentence contradicts your first so I'm not too sure what exactly it is you're trying to say.
Gunslinger
Member
How much you want to bet that PC version will not look like the first pic? and will probably look slightly better than the 2nd pic....
NowhereFaded
Member
This is phenomenal. 30+ years of gaming to reach this point. Good times ahead!Made a GIF. It really shows how important time of day and weather is going to be in order to do 1:1 comparisons
That is definitely not the point I was making.
Other than grass and some characters' faces, the assets pretty much are the same.
If you go back and do a comparison, the character models, buildings, and other objects have stayed the same since the very first 2013 screenshots. They've just been lit differently.
Gunslinger
Member
ok i know what you mean now, But still the PC version won't be much different from the ps4 version. maybe 15% better with some more draw distance. So that comparison is almost 90% accurate i would say.
This is true but you have to remember, we are looking at these close up on PC monitors.
Console gamers play this sitting a bit further back then this and on HDTVs, so it won't look that bad as looking at it close-up on monitors and also the heavily compressed 'ps4 share' capture.
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This again purports we don't know that shadows on surfaces change with lighting.
It's one thing to say an accurate tech analysis should use 1:1, and another to deflect from the actual problems people point out in a casual discussion board by suggesting that people can't tell if the game looks worse since they haven't done a 1:1 analysis and assuming there's a lack of consideration for TOD. You can tell if a game looks worse when you have many glimpses at it and see that in over a year it has failed to match a previous impression in any scenario since. That doesnt take a 1:1 in depth comparison to see or hold valid, it didn't for Watch Dogs, and it doesn't here.
I sincerely hope I am missing the point because it really can't be that you think people forgot about TOD when they looked at the past year of images for W3.
Cave Johnson
Member
Do they? Last I checked, the AAA industry is struggling to the point the majority would partner up for console exclusives just to keep their franchiseS alive.
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