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How the FUCK do devlopers keep getting away with visual downgrades? latest example, Forspoken

As long as people keep buying downgraded games, developers will keep downgrading them.
True but most people (who are not videogame enthusiasts like on this forum) who buy video games won't care for these things. So unfortunately the games will continue to sell and devs will keep doing this.
 
No!
Forspoken-Demo_20221209194326-scaled.jpg

Forspoken-Demo_20221211113733-scaled.jpg

1*VVYn3FP-9gmCyz0TZEHiYQ.jpeg

Forspoken-Screenshot-Embargo-Sep-12-at-6am-PT-(22).jpeg

OMG this is crazy. What happened here?

I hope the devs get interviewed about this. This is early PS4/Xbox One graphical quality level.
 

Sakura

Member
I don't think there was much of a downgrade.
You can't compare shots from a different location, time etc and claim downgrade. Like the picture in the OP comparing the the image of her facing off against wolves at close range, verses the image of her staring far over a cliff looking at an ugly swamp. What's the point of that comparison?
And let's be real here, the game never really looked that good to begin with.
 

ZoukGalaxy

Member
It's like everywhere in life, does your Big Mac look like the photo ?

I don't care anymore, I'm tired and it's a waste of energy, there's more important things in life, just vote with your wallet, that's the only language they understand.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
He's serious
Then he's either on Square's payroll, has a marketing contract or is blind as a bat.
I found this exact location in the demo. quality 40fps/120hz mode.
Wtf have you done to this poo screenshot? You really have to try hard to compress it this much.

This is how it looks on my end... even better in hdr in fact.
yeah this
R62Tqq5.png

is the same as this
e7DUNk3.jpg





+A screenshot that I thought looked nice right around the corner from that place above.
fWZm73I.jpg
Now I'm 100% convinced you're a marketing troll. The only possible way you could be so delusional to call anything of that anything but complete shit. It looks horrible.
 
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And? The developers should've made some smarter technical decisions then than to put all their rendering budget onto a VFX shitshow that turns any combat into an illegible mess at the expense of the environmental detail and the complexity of their lighting model (two aspects that were fucking stellar in the Project Athia reveal trailer), not to mention how the game is an embarrassment for the PS5 in terms of image quality and output resolution.
Yup and don't forget that if you want to play it at 30 fps to have decent image quality, you have to deal with some of the worst input lag in any game this gen. I've yet to see some of this games proponents even address this: Rofif- Are you going to deal with the input delay or are you going to play the vasseline smeared mess at 60 fps? It's gotta be the 30 fps mode, right? Surely nobody thinks this games performance mode looks good ....
 

shiru

Banned
I love how it’s phrased, too. “Keep getting away with”. Lmao. Like there’s a Visual Downgrade Earth Defense Force whose job it is so swoop in and shield all us gamers from the horrors of visual downgrades of videogames.

Oh, the horror of it all!
It's always great to have bootlickers ready to white knight publishers from evil consumers calling them out.
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
[QUO
And? The developers should've made some smarter technical decisions then than to put all their rendering budget onto a VFX shitshow that turns any combat into an illegible mess at the expense of the environmental detail and the complexity of their lighting model (two aspects that were fucking stellar in the Project Athia reveal trailer), not to mention how the game is an embarrassment for the PS5 in terms of image quality and output resolution.

Yeah, you didn't read what I wrote and instead just last focused on a single thing as if it and it alone were the sum and substance of my post. The heavy particle effects on magic is just one of the reasons why the game no doubt has to dial it down in certain areas.

. . .but you've already reached your position on this game and you're not moving so discussing what this game could reasonably look like given the core points of its gameplay seems pointless.
 
It's always great to have bootlickers ready to white knight publishers from evil consumers calling them out.
No, it’s called not being entitled. No one owes you anything. It’s an enthusiast hobby. Buy things or don’t buy things, literally no one cares.

God, sometimes gamers can just be so cringe. Ugh
 
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So people can't complain about shitty industry practices now? Wanting honesty from publishers makes them entitled?
It’s literally been happening since the dawn of 3D games. Early target/ pre-alpha footage literally never looks the same as the final product. Hence the language used in every roll of preview footage in every game “this is not representative of the final product”.

*eye roll*

Not to mention the fact that developers don’t intentionally want their games to look worse. They do the best they can with the time and resources they have. For real, people need to get a grip.
 
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shiru

Banned
It’s literally been happening since the dawn of 3D games.
And that somehow makes it ok and people should just shut up and accept it?
Early target/ pre-alpha footage literally never looks the same as the final product. Hence the language used in every roll of preview footage in every game “this is not representative of the final product”.

*eye roll*

Not to mention the fact that developers don’t intentionally want their games to look worse. They do the best they can with the time and resources they have. For real, people need to get a grip.
Bullshit. This is a clear case of bullshot marketing meant to mislead people with the quality of a product. I don't know why you're trying so hard to defend it.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
And that somehow makes it ok and people should just shut up about it and accept it?

Bullshit. This is a clear case of bullshot marketing meant to mislead people with the quality of a product. I don't know why you're trying so hard to defend it.
Exactly.

The defenders' key motto is: "Dont go on game trailers or images the dev has released the past few years. Just go by the latest demo a week ago"

If that's the case, what's the point of all the media the past year or two for the game?
 

sandbood

Banned
I found this exact location in the demo. quality 40fps/120hz mode.
Wtf have you done to this poo screenshot? You really have to try hard to compress it this much.

This is how it looks on my end... even better in hdr in fact.
yeah this
R62Tqq5.png

is the same as this
e7DUNk3.jpg
It looks exactly the same with a little bit zoom out lol.
 

OsirisBlack

Banned
Posted from someone that has the game:








Ry8HP7.png


Ry8O4b.png




Ry836C.png



Its looks fine. Its not gonna win any Digital Foundry awards. I’ve seen far worse looking games released this past year
Some of the pictures of this game actually look good. Definitely not as good as the reveal but not bad either. Also not interested in the game the demo didn’t help.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Some of the pictures of this game actually look good. Definitely not as good as the reveal but not bad either. Also not a fake I’m interested in the demo didn’t help.
The game has good particle effects. If someone likes all kind of colourful flash and bits exploding, that part looks decent. The rest of game looks meh. The main character animation looks retarded running around with giant steps.
 

Pimpbaa

Member
I call bullshit, that’s halo infinite hacked with forspoken character model. Seriously tho, at least halo infinite had the excuse of being cross-gen. I expect any current gen only game to easily look much better than it.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I call bullshit, that’s halo infinite hacked with forspoken character model. Seriously tho, at least halo infinite had the excuse of being cross-gen. I expect any current gen only game to easily look much better than it.
That assumes SE doesn’t pull a Godfall and suddenly announces a PS4 cross gen game later in 2023.

You never know. A PS4 version might be around the corner.
 

sandbood

Banned
Maybe cause I’m looking at these in my iPhone but I can’t tell which pics are supposed to be the bad ones vs the good ones?
Did you use a phone with 2 inch screen? Because the differences are too big. From flat lighting, low poly structural geometries, foliages, shadows, assets, draw distance, and etc.

They were lying about the graphical fidelity in that announcement trailer.
 

b0uncyfr0

Member
Safe to say the game never looked like that in the first place.

The PC version got tweaked to hell and back (that was used for the promo material) - as usual.

Dont buy it - vote with your wallet folks.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Safe to say the game never looked like that in the first place.

The PC version got tweaked to hell and back (that was used for the promo material) - as usual.

Dont buy it - vote with your wallet folks.
overreacting.

Graphics are not important.
But when graphics are a slight/maybe downgrade compared to first trailer with "might still change" title.... OH FUCK THIS, GRAPHICS ARE BAD DO NOT BUY
 

Nydius

Member
The PS4 version of Horizon Forbidden West looks better than Forspoken.

But since Forspoken is a PS5 only title, we have to compare like-for-like where HFW's PS5 optimized version makes Forspoken look like a 2014 game.

Graphics are not important.
Ah yes, the ultimate cope of someone desperately trying to defend a game.

Graphics are not important -- they just use graphics to sell people $500 boxes and then wonder why people get upset when they deliver last-gen visuals.

But at least they have people like you who are all too happy to lower your standards to shill for them.
 
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b0uncyfr0

Member
overreacting.

Graphics are not important.
But when graphics are a slight/maybe downgrade compared to first trailer with "might still change" title.... OH FUCK THIS, GRAPHICS ARE BAD DO NOT BUY
Let me fix that for you - Graphics are not important 'To you'.

You realize the "might still change" or "subject to change" moniker is just a way to get around delivering an inferior product right?

Just as they are subject to change visuals - i am not subject to pay for a product I view as inferior to what was advertised. I dont enjoy being misled.

PC review copies are not out there (or barely, if any), that's a giant red flag for me and another reason i won't be buying it.
 
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Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
I don't believe it either but Phil once said he aim for long-term sales , gamers do look for older games and that's a fact , scarcity do create sales , most buying decisions by consumers aren't used to be smart either , it happens by multiple factors , or constraints to them , whatever you call it , it really hurts them and shorten the lifespan of many released games.

Most Game sales are front loaded, meaning most games bring in most of their revenue at launch.

Gamers always want the highest fidelity possible. Always.

If you could put out the most beautiful game ever seen, it stands to reason that (assuming it's fun to play) you could expect to bring in lots of money. More than older games who are selling in much smaller numbers than new games.

Sorry, but nobody ordered this visual downgrade to protect sales of games from a few years ago.

The most likely explanation is, once again, that PS5 is not capable of running the game at the fidelity shown in the original video. No other reason is even slightly likely.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Didn't he do the Walking Dead telltale game? It had great story and writing.
He did some good stuff. I think also has writing credits on the book of Eli also.

But he started getting internet fame and then turned into one of those types of people where it's more about agenda then story telling.

His personality was his political views instead of having an actual personality.

And since then everything he's touched has been hot shit
 

Mayar

Neo Member
One of the funniest cases:


Here the situation was funny because before the release of the game, a beta version of the game was available, and it was just with good and complete graphics. Neither videos nor screenshots taken from the beta version were removed from the site, just at the release of the game people were put in front of the fact that it would be like this. But everyone somehow quickly forgot this situation and bought the game anyway. And since there are sales and people continue to buy, then this situation will continue further and nothing will change.
 

GymWolf

Member
The moment this game became forspoken and showed its true colors it was pretty evident it was gonna be a dumpster fire... I mean Gary Whitta writing a square Enix game 🤣

When it was first shown as project athia was the only time this game had any sort of glimmer of hope..but then the protags went and started talking 🤣
He didn't wrote the game.

The rumor that him and henning writed the story was already debunked, they helped a little with the overworld but the writers are 2 other peoples.

Not that this change much really.
 

DragonNCM

Member
I can't understand why you guys preorder games at all. This days you can grab the game day one (digital or hard copy) without any problems. Not like you need to wait 24h line (like before 15 years). Bonus is you can watch youtube review even days before the launch. I stopped preorder games long time a go.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
The PS4 version of Horizon Forbidden West looks better than Forspoken.

But since Forspoken is a PS5 only title, we have to compare like-for-like where HFW's PS5 optimized version makes Forspoken look like a 2014 game.


Ah yes, the ultimate cope of someone desperately trying to defend a game.

Graphics are not important -- they just use graphics to sell people $500 boxes and then wonder why people get upset when they deliver last-gen visuals.

But at least they have people like you who are all too happy to lower your standards to shill for them.
Dude I am saying this to point out the stupidity. It’s not my opinion. Graphics are important to me.

This is one of most hate mongering and petty threads in a while. No matter what I say.

If I said that graphics are important it would be attacked anyway.

I think the game looks fantastic.
 
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How the fuck can anyone defend this? Yet just like always there are at least 50 people here trying to turn things around on the people who are calling out this incompetence, laziness, and dishonesty on the part of the developers and publishers of this shit show. The fact that this is a next gen only game is further insulting. Do we really want to accept this as being a "normal" part of development? Most of the defenders want to give them a pass just because they have us a demo. So they're not trying to land themselves a class action lawsuit. Yay, round of applause. What a great way to open up the New Year with its first truly next gen open world game.
I'm all for calling out the big corps whenever they do something questionable and/or anti-consumer bullshit, but in this case there was no dishonesty.

They were transparent from the get-go about the game. Its just some folks completely missed a plain as day notice on the footage and proceeded to fabricate some idea inside their mind that it must be representative of the final product. This is self-inflicted damage on those people that's what it is.
 
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SHA

Member
Most Game sales are front loaded, meaning most games bring in most of their revenue at launch.

Gamers always want the highest fidelity possible. Always.

If you could put out the most beautiful game ever seen, it stands to reason that (assuming it's fun to play) you could expect to bring in lots of money. More than older games who are selling in much smaller numbers than new games.

Sorry, but nobody ordered this visual downgrade to protect sales of games from a few years ago.

The most likely explanation is, once again, that PS5 is not capable of running the game at the fidelity shown in the original video. No other reason is even slightly likely.
But the pc requirements are questionable, mostly fake , and you can't just always use the phrase lazy devs , PC gamers aren't stupid to spend 2k plus for a new Rig for similar looking games except it's added with higher spec requirements, Jensen Huang can't get more stupid than this , he should take this issue seriously.
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
But the pc requirements are questionable, mostly fake , and you can't just always use the phrase lazy devs , PC gamers aren't stupid to spend 2k plus for a new Rig for similar looking games except it's added with higher spec requirements, Jensen Huang can't get more stupid than this , he should take this issue seriously.

I think you quoted the wrong post. I never talked about "lazy devs", PC gamers or anything else on your post.
 

JCK75

Member
overreacting.

Graphics are not important.
But when graphics are a slight/maybe downgrade compared to first trailer with "might still change" title.... OH FUCK THIS, GRAPHICS ARE BAD DO NOT BUY
The fact that this game takes 150 gigs of storage and requires a $1,000 graphics card minimum to run it and it looks like this... Ouch..
 
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