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Spider-Man graphics downgrade?

DryvBy

Member
Oh look. Gamers being cringe worthy gamers again. Fucks sake people, it's a videogame. "Wah the shader on the wall pips is different!!!". Get over it. Enjoy the game.

Wah, false advertisement isn't a big deal! Wah, get over it when corporations lie to you to take your money. Wahhhh.
 
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subtropisch

Neo Member
I didn't mean to single you out. The Digital Foundry thing has been driving me crazy for years, as it seems so many people feel dependent on it to decide if a game looks good or not.

If it looks good to you before a DF video, that shouldn't change your mind. And if it doesn't impress you before, a DF video shouldn't change your mind either.

We are at a point where graphical improvements are less and less noticeable. I don't get why we sweat over small things in AAA games, but can still enjoy Undertale and Celeste.


I think it is definitely going to far. This is the reason CD Projekt said "this is a work in progress" 5 times during the Cyberpunk presentation. Games will change. Yes there are extreme cases of deception like with Watch Dogs, but some games just (have to) change during development. I actually played spider man at Gamescom on a PS4 pro and if it wasn't for threads like these and news I wouldn't have even noticed anything.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Wah, false advertisement isn't a big deal! Wah, get over it when corporations lie to you to take your money. Wahhhh.

How is it false advertisement when your (ill-considered) judgement is based before/after on promotional materials both officially released by the publisher pre-release? /facepalm
 

Fbh

Member
I think it is definitely going to far. This is the reason CD Projekt said "this is a work in progress" 5 times during the Cyberpunk presentation. Games will change. Yes there are extreme cases of deception like with Watch Dogs, but some games just (have to) change during development. I actually played spider man at Gamescom on a PS4 pro and if it wasn't for threads like these and news I wouldn't have even noticed anything.

I think the problem is how the games are advertised and what devs say about this when they are found out.
I understand games being graphically downgraded and I don't mind too much (unless it's a ridiculously large downgrade) but companies should be more open about it.
My problem with the Witcher 3, for example, is that despite the obvious downgrade if you went to PSN days before the game launched they were still using old trailers with pre-downgrade gameplay footage to sell the game. Or there were cases like Dark Souls 2 were we only got to see a massive downgrade weeks before release.

In this case I think it's not that bad because they have had frequent and lengthy showings of how the game currently looks. I'd just like Insomniac to be honest, just release a generic "things change during development and we have made adjustments to ensure the best possible performance" statement . But when they start insisting that there was no downgrade it just feels dishonest
 

subtropisch

Neo Member
I think the problem is how the games are advertised and what devs say about this when they are found out.
I understand games being graphically downgraded and I don't mind too much (unless it's a ridiculously large downgrade) but companies should be more open about it.
My problem with the Witcher 3, for example, is that despite the obvious downgrade if you went to PSN days before the game launched they were still using old trailers with pre-downgrade gameplay footage to sell the game. Or there were cases like Dark Souls 2 were we only got to see a massive downgrade weeks before release.

In this case I think it's not that bad because they have had frequent and lengthy showings of how the game currently looks. I'd just like Insomniac to be honest, just release a generic "things change during development and we have made adjustments to ensure the best possible performance" statement . But when they start insisting that there was no downgrade it just feels dishonest

That I can get behind I just think that a lot of gamers at this point are borderline paranoid about how the industry works against them (obviously for good reason because of a lot of cases of bs) that no studio is safe anymore. I also don't think that anyone will remember this particular case in 3 months
 
I didn't mean to single you out. The Digital Foundry thing has been driving me crazy for years, as it seems so many people feel dependent on it to decide if a game looks good or not.

If it looks good to you before a DF video, that shouldn't change your mind. And if it doesn't impress you before, a DF video shouldn't change your mind either.

We are at a point where graphical improvements are less and less noticeable. I don't get why we sweat over small things in AAA games, but can still enjoy Undertale and Celeste.

The purpose for consulting a DF video, in this case would be to seek an analysis of *why* it looks different, more than *if* it looks different.

The premise here, is that it “looks different” because of a conspiracy by Insomniac and Sony to cover up their early exaggerated claims in order to trick us into buying a game which was destined to be gorgeous, by a masterful studio, licensing one of the most recognizable characters, and published by one of the most powerful forces in gaming. So yes, you may break out the tinfoil hats.

Devs take shots at targets. Sometimes in order to have consistent performance tweaks have to be made, sometimes tweaks are made for artistic reasons, either way the idea that this is grand deception is literally sad.

In the end, this game will rank among, probably the top ten best looking games of the gen. It will have achieved this by missing some targets and exceeding others, but if you think that Insomniac of all studios would pull a cheap trick to impress the very same E3 viewers that are known for doing the very same necropsies of old trailers that we’re engaged in now, in 2018, you really aren’t using logic.

In the past 5 years nearly every single one of these downgrade stories turned out to be massively blown out of proportion. Will people ever learn?
 

DryvBy

Member
How is it false advertisement when your (ill-considered) judgement is based before/after on promotional materials both officially released by the publisher pre-release? /facepalm

"This is gameplay footage." - Insomniac, E3

HoW iS tHiS fAlSe AdVeRtIsEmEnT?

Mocking-Spongebob.jpg
 

Ar¢tos

Member
IF there is a downgrade, seems to be something that will be barely noticeable during gameplay. Are gamers this shallow nowadays that they can't even understand the reasons such small change/downgrade might be necessary? (like hardware limitations of retail units)
Have we evolved into such graphic whores that panic at the smallest lighting change?
Things like this almost make me want to quit gaming or at least Internet news/communities.
Gameplay should ALWAYS be more important than graphics.
 

Foxbat

Banned
There is an obvious downgrade between not only the shots shown in the OP, but a few others as well.
It's easily apparent. The game still looks fine though. I don't think this game was ever meant to be some sort of graphical showcase to begin with. It was the gameplay loop that is the main draw.

That being said. Anyone denying that there are downgrades here, and especially those who are saying it's improved are simply eroding their credibility. The downgrades are obvious. Suggesting that they're not there doesn't change anything. The proof is right there. Any unbiased person can easily spot it.
 

AgentP

Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
Every big release, especially an exclusive is going to have its drama. I laugh every-time this BS comes up with games. Judge the final product, anything before that is an unfinished game. This is standard development. If you are a skeptic, then wait until release before buying.

Half of you are no better than Twitter SJW who need a cause to scream about on the internet.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I'm kinda surprised that people just don't want to wait for the game to come out first.
 
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Enzo88

Member
Are we judging this from one, blurry pic? Maybe they had to change just that area/scene? Maybe the lighting is a bit different in that specific instant? I don't know, i am waiting for more material, but downgrade or not i am sure the final game It's gonna look really good. This situation reminds me of what happened with The Witcher 3 and Uncharted 4. Games changed, still looked awesome though.
 

Kacho

Member
One looks like the pro and the other is base ps4???

More like one looks like it was running on PC hardware and the other is a real video game on the PS4. The reduced detail in the numerous comparisons posted is beyond noticeable. Nothing that should be a dealbreaker mind you, but the butthurt and denial from the same people who would go in hard if this was an EA/Ubisoft game is hilarious.
 

theHFIC

Member
the game doesn't have a woman on the cover, any known lootboxes or pay to win schemes, isn't being released in early access, and the company didn't take down or apologize for any tweets that may have offended any groups. Because of this, the true gaming purists among us that are beacons for how gaming should be have to really scrape the bottom of the barrel to find things to complain about.

From this primordial soup, puddlegate is born.
 

DryvBy

Member
Every big release, especially an exclusive is going to have its drama. I laugh every-time this BS comes up with games. Judge the final product, anything before that is an unfinished game. This is standard development. If you are a skeptic, then wait until release before buying.

Half of you are no better than Twitter SJW who need a cause to scream about on the internet.

I agree with you and I'm doing just that. I wrote on Twitter that I just don't trust Insomniac right now with the DLC and this issue popping up. I'm going to wait for some user reviews and screenshots first before I spent $60. If it was just the graphics and not DLC too, I'd just buy it.
 

Imtjnotu

Member
More like one looks like it was running on PC hardware and the other is a real video game on the PS4. The reduced detail in the numerous comparisons posted is beyond noticeable. Nothing that should be a dealbreaker mind you, but the butthurt and denial from the same people who would go in hard if this was an EA/Ubisoft game is hilarious.
Only question I have is do we know it was running on a pc? It's not like dev kits were scarce or new at the time development started on this?

I'll wait for df to pass Judgement
 

MP!

Member
you want frames or puddles? you can't have both.
This is part of optimization folks.

My question is why there was so much water inside a building to begin with
 
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Kacho

Member
Only question I have is do we know it was running on a pc? It's not like dev kits were scarce or new at the time development started on this?

I'll wait for df to pass Judgement

We don’t know 100% for sure but devs aren’t ever going to admit it. Insomniac has been out there firmly denying any and all downgrades when I can see clearly with my eyes that it isn’t the case. I also wouldn’t put too much stock in DF. They’re not infallible and they’ve already established that they side with the “not a downgrade group.” The guy covering this game is the same one who melted down when he got some things wrong about the resolution in the Wolf2 Switch port. He was all woe is me talking about quitting and shit.

To clarify - I don’t give really give a shit about the downgrades. I just can’t stand the bold face denial, especially from shills hyping this game to infinity.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
you want frames or puddles? you can't have both.
This is part of optimization folks.

My question is why there was so much water inside a building to begin with
.

Has anybody answered this question yet?
 

Three

Member
There are still buddles in that area. They just removed them from that one place. This is from this year's E3 I think:
CACrXSr.gif

There is a clear difference between these reflections. These are SSR reflections you can see that things not visible on the screen are not reflected whereas things outside the screen are in the other shots (akin to raytracing). Now both may actually be in engine though (nextgen support even maybe) but still not gameplay, anybody who says that is the same as gameplay is wrong. Same goes for the MB in FH4 trailers.
 

Kacho

Member
Has Insomniac lied regarding something like this in the past?

I don’t think it’s come up before. This is easily their most high profile game ever and I assume it has the biggest budget too. The expectations are also through the roof.
 

A.Romero

Member
I don’t think it’s come up before. This is easily their most high profile game ever and I assume it has the biggest budget too. The expectations are also through the roof.

I hate bait and switching but I think Insomniac seems to have cred as a dev. Also JStevenson has cred here on Gaf (or used to, I guess he is not around anymore).

I've been waiting for this game since its announcement but if there are noticeable downgrades I'll be disappointed...
 

Kacho

Member
Spidey kinda has that Syphon Filter dooty pants run going in that gif lol

8RHKHYl.gif


I hate bait and switching but I think Insomniac seems to have cred as a dev. Also JStevenson has cred here on Gaf (or used to, I guess he is not around anymore).

I've been waiting for this game since its announcement but if there are noticeable downgrades I'll be disappointed...

Dude, I don't think it's that big a deal. The game is going to look plenty good regardless and I'm sure it will be fun. My only issue here is the way Insomniac has handled the situation. I think it's a really bad look. That's the only reason I care enough to comment on all this shit. Like the DLC side outrage is so whatever to me. That's AAA gaming for you.

Buy the game and enjoy it. I'm sure you'll love it.
 
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None of you "this downgrade is OUTRAGEOUS AND REPREHENSIBLE" get to say anything about anyone showing their game behind closed doors.

You are why we can't have nice things. Thanks a lot!
 

A.Romero

Member
Spidey kinda has that Syphon Filter dooty pants run going in that gif lol

8RHKHYl.gif




Dude, I don't think it's that big a deal. The game is going to look plenty good regardless and I'm sure it will be fun. My only issue here is the way Insomniac has handled the situation. I think it's a really bad look. That's the only reason I care enough to comment on all this shit. Like the DLC side outrage is so whatever to me. That's AAA gaming for you.

Buy the game and enjoy it. I'm sure you'll love it.

For sure! I pre-ordered a long time ago and I'm not cancelling.

Don't care about DLC, I never get DLC on PSN anyway.

I'm hyped as hell.
 

CJY

Banned
None of you "this downgrade is OUTRAGEOUS AND REPREHENSIBLE" get to say anything about anyone showing their game behind closed doors.

You are why we can't have nice things. Thanks a lot!

I can see it happening, and it would probably be a much better scenario for both those with logic and the devs. But studios have also always shown screenshots/bullshots, so we would have the same situation really. The devs can’t seem to win either way
 
I can see it happening, and it would probably be a much better scenario for both those with logic and the devs. But studios have also always shown screenshots/bullshots, so we would have the same situation really. The devs can’t seem to win either way

The only way to beat consistent outrage over every little stupid detail is to clamp up and only say the bare minimum. The outrage culture GAF cultivates will do nothing except backfire spectacularly.

This is exactly why CDPR did not do a public reveal for Cyberpunk 2077 at E3 and you can be sure they already regret revealing it with how stupid people are being over a freaking puddle of water.
 
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Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Given that this is a thread about GRAPHIC changes, what difference does that make?

You were the one quoting Insomniac that what they were showing was a GAMEPLAY demo.

Which is kinda what you do when you make a demo build, its an illustration of what the game is and how it plays, not a visual promise for paranoiacs and pedants to nit-pick over in minute detail on the internet!
 

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
If you are comparing that specific scene it's obvious the reflections, AO, shadows, and lighting have been downgraded. Even the suit looks nerfed, but I'll assume the textures are the same, and it's just the aforementioned settings being lowered.
 

Ar¢tos

Member
I can already imagine the outrage next time Ghost of Tsushima is shown. It will be "there are 5 less leaves falling from the tree! DESTROY SUCKER PUNCH! Burn it down!" "Pre-order cancelled!"
 
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