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Witcher 3 downgrade arguments in here and nowhere else

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If you play on PC, at least there are ways to make the color palette closer to what was shown in those original trailers:

1431653192_6451807932.jpg

1431653193_2839107654.png


http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/126903

Yep, I'll look up for ReShade configs at day one.
We can actually match 2013 lighting & visual with one.

ENB doesn't work with DX11 renderers.

We use ReShade instead for DX11.
GTA V ReShade configs are amazing.
 
Well, I think I've reached the 'acceptance' phase. It happened a lot faster than I expected. I blame it on being old and easily tired. :p Now I just want the game (in whatever form). I'm now going to retreat to the comfort of my chair and pipe, and patiently await next week.
 
It is cute that people keep suggesting this as a viable strategy.

Isn't this how the Witcher 2 was operated? But go on, tell me otherwise why it isn't. This is a typical example of a mid-tier studio expanding to AAA and failing to see the demand required to push through.
 

Aroll

Member
It is just to build up hype. This is what I mean by people not actually knowing what they want. Even if "we" were to ask for super duper early footage - which "we" didn't - it's always the wrong choice. There's hardly anything of relevance in early media beyond the fact that the game exists at the time the footage was compiled. Those sneak peeks will become obsolete.

It's not that things become obsolete, it's that obsolete things become marketing because every big game has to be announced and shown 50 years early. Battlefront is a great example, and I'm glad they haven't shown much of it, though were I to be honest it'll probably look much worse than what they've shown now. But to go years without showing much of a game? Or alternatively, to go years showing bits and pieces of an unfinished game? That's really what consumers want? I mean wow, I guess I didn't get the memo.

The general consumer? No. They just watch a few trailers, maybe see a review, and go buy the game.

The thing is, we the gamers are beating developers and publishers over the head for more information all the time. I run really close to the Zelda fan base and I know this all too well. New game came out? Great! We're already asking for information about the new one as soon as we can, and asking when we can see it. This is what people do. We want our cake and to eat it too.

So developers will push things out fast (maybe it's not them, it could be the PR department pushing for it) and we end up with something that doesn't represent the final game.

I am not saying that happened in this case or any specific case, but it is true that we are always demanding more from them as soon as possible.
 
I really cannot see how the lighting is flatter than the 2013 screenshots, which to my eyes is objectively worse on a technical level. That shot above Lunar15 posted is a great example.

I did say on average, as there are certainly unflattering screens. The sharpening in particular comes across rly bad in some. I guess i should ammend my statement to specifically focus on the vgx and nvidia trailers. Those are far beyond current footage in nearly every way.
 

tuxfool

Banned
Isn't this how the Witcher 2 was operated? But go on, tell me otherwise why it isn't. This is a typical example of a mid-tier studio expanding to AAA and failing to see the demand required to push through.

Marketing budgets for starters. W2 on the 360 went under the radar because it wasn't well advertised. Remind me of any AAA studio that has used the methodology you suggested.
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
I did say on average, as there are certainly unflattering screens. The sharpening in particular comes across rly bad in some. I guess i should ammend my statement to specifically focus on the vgx and nvidia trailers. Those are far beyond current footage in nearly every way.

Indeed. The VGX and Nvidia trailers had all the new tech. The e32013 trailer had the old renderer intermixed with footage from the Nvidia trailer. The game looks better than it did in 90% of the debut trailer, but is missing the wow of the Nvidia scenes.
 

x3sphere

Member
Personally I think on some level, the 2013 trailers did indeed depict a game that was playable internally at CDPR. At worst E3 2013 and VGX 2013 were target renders with in-game assets. And even Ubisoft has been direct with customers whenever showing off target renders.

The E3 2013 build did represent actual gameplay footage - I was there when CDPR did a demonstration. Looked incredible, it was easily the best thing I saw at the show that year.

Don't think the footage was uploaded anywhere - it was like 15-20 mins of gameplay, they didn't allow video to be taken.
 

Mandon

Banned
The E3 2013 build did represent actual gameplay footage - I was there when CDPR did a demonstration. Looked incredible, it was easily the best thing I saw at the show that year.

Don't think the footage was uploaded anywhere - it was like 15-20 mins of gameplay, they didn't allow video to be taken.

Angry Joe also claimed that he got to try the game out in 2013... Since he has a good relationship with the devs, I believe him. A 2013 build definitely existed.
 

pushBAK

Member
PC footage is getting out there, so I did some comparison shots between PS4 (top) and PC (bottom).

PC was said to be running on Ultra from a 970. Framerate obviously better on PC, but I'm really not sure how this disparity is possible...

http://imgur.com/a/h7hot

UzymyV9.png

Boac4Fa.png

xiyjHRr.png

UqCTxfv.png
 

tuxfool

Banned
PC footage is getting out there, so I did some comparison shots between PC and PS4. PC's the shots with cursors. Framerate obviously better on PC, but I'm really not sure how this disparity is possible.

That is great and all. But you're not going to see much on such tiny compressed images from YT. Also, seemingly as of right now a lot of PC demos have some differentiating features turned off.
 

Squishy3

Member
There's gotta be something wrong with the PC capture, considering the YouTubers who got flown out recorded stuff, their videos look nothing like that. Unless they're part of the conspiracy.
 

DOWN

Banned
Optimization has always been 90% about downgrades.

Only console gamers think it's 100% about improving algorithmic efficiency.
In the public forum, optimization is meant to sound like behind the scenes improvement and that's exactly what it is once the heaviest marketing is going on for a game. Downgrade controversies come when the meaty front and center drops happen after the developer already made the mistake of drawing attention to their visuals way too soon to back.
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
PC footage is getting out there, so I did some comparison shots between PS4 (top) and PC (bottom).

PC was said to be running on Ultra from a 970. Framerate obviously better on PC, but I'm really not sure how this disparity is possible...

http://imgur.com/a/h7hot

UzymyV9.png

Boac4Fa.png

xiyjHRr.png

UqCTxfv.png


I'm on my phone but what disparity? The look oddly close if anything. Or am I missing something?


The only big difference I see from here is the bathtub texture looks better on PC and the Skin Tone looks better on PS4...
 

viveks86

Member
I'm on my phone but what disparity? The look oddly close if anything. Or am I missing something?


The only big difference I see from here is the bathtub texture looks better on PC and the Skin Tone looks better on PS4...

Geralt's hair in the first comparison is a dead giveaway. They are either not ordered correctly or the PC version is not running at ultra.
 
At first, I was like: that's gotta be reversed. PC is on top, PS4 is bottom. I mean, look at the hairline and that glowing ponytail:

UzymyV9.png


BUT--is the window blurrier because of a lower res PS4 texture, or better PC depth of field?

Boac4Fa.png


Shitty hair, great shirt texture, worse door details, worse AO (check the doorframe at the bottom of the door:

C8Yh3nh.png


Better hair, worse shirt texture, better door details, better AO...and a different mountain layout?

U9sMcCJ.png


The hell is going on here.
 

Zomba13

Member
Yeah, apart from some colour differences they look identical (minus the added bra in the PS4 version which I assume is due to the region of the copy that screen was grabbed from).

But yeah, I don't expect the PC version to look much better than the PS4 version. Higher resolution and framerate, probably better AF and AO, maybe textures at their nicest if they were compressed a bit for the PS4 version.

At this point, unless the game is a PC version first and foremost and then ported down to consoles games won't look much better on PC over their console versions. You will get higher res and higher frame rates and slight improvements, enough to see that it is better in direct comparisons but not enough to make you go "wow! next gen leap! so good!".
 

dreamfall

Member
Any word on DOF and Cinematic DOF options in the PC version? I really thought turning those off in The Witcher 2 made things look much clearer. Although it could be personal preference.
 

androvsky

Member
Why does that woman have a bra in one pic and not the other? Is there a nudity option, or did one the console version get cleaned up a bit?
 

viveks86

Member
Why does that woman have a bra in one pic and not the other? Is there a nudity option, or did one the console version get cleaned up a bit?

PS4 version is probably from the middle east.

So I guess that confirms that the order is correct. The only question left is if it's really running on ultra.
 

JAYSIMPLE

Banned
PC footage is getting out there, so I did some comparison shots between PS4 (top) and PC (bottom).

PC was said to be running on Ultra from a 970. Framerate obviously better on PC, but I'm really not sure how this disparity is possible...

http://imgur.com/a/h7hot

UzymyV9.png

Boac4Fa.png

xiyjHRr.png

UqCTxfv.png


They look sunburnt on ps4 but I can deffo see a difference between them. Hardly what I would like to see see. This is blatantly no longer a pc focused game. Not much difference on my phone and I mixed up typing on it
 

viveks86

Member
They look sunburnt on ps4 but I can deffo see a difference between them. Hardly what I would like to see see. This is blatantly no longer a pc focused game. Not much difference on my phone and I mixed up typing on it

Top versions are better, no doubt. Given that the ME has been playing the PS4 version for a while and we know they have the censored version, the likelihood of it being the PS4 version is pretty high. And since the source claims that it is indeed the case, the order of the shots is probably accurate. What may not be accurate is the settings and/or build for the PC version.
 

tuxfool

Banned
. Hardly what I would like to see see. This is blatantly no longer a pc focused game. Not much difference on my phone and I mixed up typing on it

Something amusing that I have just noticed. Nobody has made the comment that the reason the 360 port of W2 was so good was because the PC version wasn't as impressive technologically as people make out.

Everybody assumes as if CDPr achieved magic in 360 port, when in fact nobody actually can beat physics.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Aesthetically you might prefer the old look, which is a lot more desaturated and grimier. But I feel that the lighting/material technology is definitely outdated, more or less using the same rendering as The Witcher 2. CDPR hadn't implemented their new rendered at that point. The Sword of Destiny trailer first showcased the improved renderer.

The Sword of Destiny trailer still looks sharpened as hell compared to the current footage, but features the newer color saturation. The gameplay demo from around the same time even looks like it had more AO than the current footage. It seems like the color switch happened sometime in the first half of 2014, then CDPR dropped the sharpening, though I'm not sure when. SOD trailer has it, E314 gameplay doesn't (or has it but to a lesser degree).

I'm actually starting to think we STILL haven't seen what the game truly looks like with absolutely everything cranked up, and when it is cranked up it'll look very similar to the game we saw at E3 2014.
 
Marketing budgets for starters. W2 on the 360 went under the radar because it wasn't well advertised. Remind me of any AAA studio that has used the methodology you suggested.

Crytek (Crysis 1).

How does this stop porting from being "advertised"? 2nd, I don't really think CDPR were AAA (in the context compared to US marketing budget), they just happen to reach that mark the moment their budget escalated with the Witcher 3.
 

tuxfool

Banned
Crytek (Crysis 1).

How does this stop porting from being "advertised"? 2nd, I don't really think CDPR were AAA (in the context compared to US marketing budget), they just happen to reach that mark the moment their budget escalated with the Witcher 3.

Crysis 1 was never released on consoles (warhead doesn't count).

You port it a year later. Now you need two seperate marketing campaigns. They weren't AAA until witcher 3, which is precisely my point. The marketing budget has to grow to such a degree that it becomes a lot less cost efficient to dedicate the resources in two separate campaigns while doing justice to both. The mindshare gained by being available on all modern gaming systems shouldn't be underestimated.
 

DOWN

Banned
Crysis 1 was never released on consoles (warhead doesn't count).

You port it a year later. Now you need two seperate marketing campaigns. They weren't AAA until witcher 3, which is precisely my point. The marketing budget has to grow to such a degree that it becomes a lot less cost efficient to dedicate the resources in two separate campaigns while doing justice to both. The mindshare gained by being available on all modern gaming systems shouldn't be underestimated.
2428621-crysis_xbox.jpg
 
Why is the ps4 version missing a bra?

You have a good eye my friend, didn't realise that until you pointed that out.

I think we'll notice the differences when we're outdoors in the game world, things should be easier to spot. The game releases shortly.

I just hope for PC users we don't get a dodgy version, riddled with bugs and crashes.

Imagine what would happen if there's very little differennce between console and PC on ultra. I'm not expecting a brand new game but I hope it's more than some basic gfx toggles.
 

Mandon

Banned
I'm sorry but has ANYONE seen this game with NVIDIA hair physics enabled? Go look up Angry Joe's witcher gameplay before claiming the hair is worse on the PC version. It's complete bull and you need to go educate yourselves now.
 

Typomancer

Neo Member
Wow, those discrepancies can’t be right. The hair, certain texture, and lighting differences between PC and PS4 make me feel like the PC version needs the day one patch solely for the graphics…

Why is the ps4 version missing a bra?

No, the PS4 version has the bra (all the top screenshots are the PS4 versions), and I believe the source of that PS4 video was from an Arabic country.
 

Derp

Member
PS4 is a beast confirmed!

lol
CDPR did say there would be no difference between the console and PC versions aside from HairWorks and whatever resolution you play at.

I thought a 970 would stomp a PS4 in games. Apparently not. The difference is just one is a higher framerate. What explains this? Optimisation? Why is the PS4 so OP....?
 

viveks86

Member
CDPR did say there would be no difference between the console and PC versions aside from HairWorks and whatever resolution you play at.

I thought a 970 would stomp a PS4 in games. Apparently not. The difference is just one is a higher framerate. What explains this? Optimisation? Why is the PS4 so OP....?

The bottom pic is NOT the PC version on ultra. Heck, I'm not even sure if it's the PC version. The PC version has soft lighting that neither console version seems to have. And you don't need to run on ultra to see the difference. If it's the PC version, then it's probably running on medium. The fact that she has underwear on, but not the top makes it very suspicious as well. That's neither the censored final version nor the uncensored final version.
 

Genio88

Member
Parity gate here, at least Assassin's Creed Unity had parity on console versions while the PC one was way better than console's, if played in a good PC of course
 
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