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Assasins Creed: Syndicate - EGX Demo technical analysis (NX Gamer)

these early tech analysis video's are so unbelievable pointless.
Not really. A possible case of it helping was when DF pointed out some issues with Destiny's frame pacing and Bungie fixed it. I mean, they might not have read it but they did fix it after DF posted about it.
 

GHG

Gold Member
these early tech analysis video's are so unbelievable pointless.

In an era where a lot of people feel the urge to pre order games months in advance (for reasons unbeknown to me) these early analysis videos are absolutely pivotal IMO.

It gives people at least an idea of how much of a risk they are taking in pre-ordering a particular game.
 

KORNdoggy

Member
In an era where a lot of people feel the urge to pre order games months in advance (for reasons unbeknown to me) these early analysis videos are absolutely pivotal IMO.

It gives people at least an idea of how much of a risk they are taking in pre-ordering a particular game.

except it doesn't. because the game isn't finished. all it potentially does is scare away potential buyers because they think the game is going to run like a bag of spanners, only for it to run perfectly fine come release. it's like judging a new car while it's half built. it doesn't benefit anyone.
 

Klossen

Banned
except it doesn't. because the game isn't finished. all it potentially does is scare away potential buyers because they think the game is going to run like a bag of spanners, only for it to run perfectly fine come release. it's like judging a new car while it's half built. it doesn't benefit anyone.

A bit of scepticisim would definitely be recommended if you're a fan of this series. It's not like the series has a flawless record of optimization. And there's nothing stopping anyone from buying this on release if the game runs actually properly. All it does is impact pre-orders, which I personally don't see as a negative. Generally, I'd be against this, but this particular series has such a troubled history that having more than just Ubisoft's word is desirable.
 
all of ubis current gen engines are quite bad. this game is downgraded from unity in virtually every way and the performance is still bad.
 

Kezen

Banned
all of ubis current gen engines are quite bad. this game is downgraded from unity in virtually every way and the performance is still bad.

There seems to be POM on some ground textures, Unity has very little of those from my recollection. Otherwise it's very strange that the lighting is worse, and the model themselves are not as rich, the environment is barren and lacking in detail, not many NPCs on screen.

I maintain that on the whole this is a technologically sound production but it's not really a new benchmark like Unity was. I'm still stunned by how gorgeous it can look on max PC settings.

Syndicate on PC will most likely not differ much at all, I would not be surprised if there are not any bells and whistles to be found. Oh well at least it should be a piece of cake to "max out".
 

omonimo

Banned
More things I see and more worrying this engine appears to my eyes. That's incredible expensive if it can't stay steady 30 fps with so many downgrade. They need to do something. I don't see any enthusiastic tech to justify such performance.
 

Xpliskin

Member
"Pre-alpha"

2 months away from release

~1 month from going gold


OK


I mean it's like telling us we're dumbasses.


At least just say it's a beta.
 
except it doesn't. because the game isn't finished. all it potentially does is scare away potential buyers because they think the game is going to run like a bag of spanners, only for it to run perfectly fine come release. it's like judging a new car while it's half built. it doesn't benefit anyone.
If they weren't selling the game with screenshots and video of an unfinished product then it would be unfair to judge it on that basis. You can't turn around and say 'Here is an incomplete game but its totes awesome and you should buy it now' and then Cry foul when someone looks at the same footage and says 'No it's not'.

Before preorder culture took hold I was in favour of giving devs the benefit of the doubt on preview code and generally letting performance issues pass uncommented on. Now that we live in a world where companies think it's OK to sell games on preview code it's fair game to say 'the preview ran like shit'.
 

CHC

Member
Pretty good breakdown, this is really not looking too nice though. It's too bad it has all the problems of AC Unity, but then again, why wouldn't it? The games are made on an alternating basis, and I'm sure that they've barely had enough time to adapt to the feedback about AC Unity as they develop this game.

The pressure for a year off is really building to the point that it's a common sentiment. I'll be interested to see what happens if this launches as a complete buggy nightmare. Also, "pre-alpha" is a joke. For a multi-million dollar game that really isn't where you should be just a month or two from launch.
 

RulkezX

Member
these early tech analysis video's are so unbelievable pointless.


The demo that they're analysing exists soley to get people to pre order/ buy the game. Ubi created it to let people judge the game, so tech analysis is perfectly fine.

If Ubi ate stupid enough to put out a poorly performing demo for expos after the Unity fuck up then that's on them.
 

ogbg

Member
Does it tick udpate or rather update in 4 preset intervals? Like morning, midday, evening, night?

It's a tic update as far as I can tell.

First, here the developer says they are 'bringing back' the day/night cycle:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...iner-points-of-assassins-creed-syndicate.aspx
which implies it will be the same as it was in Black Flag.

Second, there are time-lapse cut scenes when a mission starts at a different time to the current time.
 
I think the engine they are working with produces solid visuals (although this game currently has worse character models and performance capture than unity somehow) but they are completely targetting the wrong performance on consoles. They should either pare things back or decrease some of the detail to get it to a solid 30. Below 30 is completely unacceptable especially since they are apparently targetting 1600X900.

I do not think it is an "optimization" issue, like the hardware is underutilized, but rather a design problem where they are not targetting proper performance.
It's a tic update as far as I can tell.

First, here the developer says they are 'bringing back' the day/night cycle:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...iner-points-of-assassins-creed-syndicate.aspx
which implies it will be the same as it was in Black Flag.

Second, there are time-lapse cut scenes when a mission starts at a different time to the current time.

Interesting. I guess we will probably see a lot less detailed indirect lighting since it will no longer be static.
 
The "pre-alpha" thing doesn't really hold up when the game is out in less than a month, lol.

Not defending Syndicate in anyway, however that is believable. This guy played the game at an event. A 20 minute slice. Its very possible that it was developed months ago when the game was in pre-alpha and this is the version they have been showing. Most developers aren't pressing fresh builds of the demo every few days.
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
Not defending Syndicate in anyway, however that is believable. This guy played the game at an event. A 20 minute slice. Its very possible that it was developed months ago when the game was in pre-alpha and this is the version they have been showing. Most developers aren't pressing fresh builds of the demo every few days.

You don't show off a game with pre-alpha footage one month away from release.
 

Catdaddy

Member
Love AC games, but I'm going to wait until reviews come out before buying. I didn't have that many problems last year with Unity, but playing it cautious.....and I have enough to keep me busy if I delay buying it.
 
You don't show off a game with pre-alpha footage one month away from release.

That's not true. A lot of companies do. Yeah sometimes they will let the public play with the full game with the latest build but here, he is very clear in stating that this was a self contained slice. It was probably split off from development months ago so marketing had something to show.
 

Stuart444

Member
Not to defend Ubi because I won't be buying it day 1 (though I will get it once I know whatever day 1 issues have been sorted) but saying "It's 2 months away from release/etc" doesn't really work here when we don't know how old the build is.

The build could be months old for all we know (of course it could also be a few weeks old but the point is we don't know for sure).

Just keep that in mind when considering any issues seen just now could easily be fixed by launch. Game development moves pretty fast, especially during crunch when things are being fixed (and broken) daily to get it ready for launch.

Still, I wasn't disappointed with Unity and I quite enjoyed it and I hope to enjoy this one as well but it's still not a day 1 purchase until I know how the launch goes and until obvious issues that the game will inevitably have are fixed.

That's not true. A lot of companies do. Yeah sometimes they will let the public play with the full game with the latest build but here, he is very clear in stating that this was a self contained slice. It was probably split off from development months ago so marketing had something to show.

Pretty much. Each demo build requires some man power to make. Doing a new one for every single event (press or public wise) would take away man power from the actual game.
 

Yoday

Member
these early tech analysis video's are so unbelievable pointless.
Yep, this video was completely pointless. He was just talking about the demo he saw, which was the same one from Gamescom. We already have hours upon hours of footage from the more recent event, and the game looks to be running fine. Hell, even in this video he is merely judging the performance of the video that he is showing and claiming that it is about on par with Unity performance wise, which just isn't true. I'm sure people will just bash the game based on this pointless out dated crap though, so whatever.
 

Stuart444

Member
Yep, this video was completely pointless. He was just talking about the demo he saw, which was the same one from Gamescom. We already have hours upon hours of footage from the more recent event, and the game looks to be running fine. Hell, even in this video he is merely judging the performance of the video that he is showing and claiming that it is about on par with Unity performance wise, which just isn't true. I'm sure people will just bash the game based on this pointless out dated crap though, so whatever.

Pointless yes but I can understand the worry considering Unity and the complaints at launch.

That said, Syndicate will be out soon enough so the game will speak for itself be it good or bad.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
This phrase prealpha has lost all meaning to me. Why don't they just say "unfinished"? Isn't prealpha super early?
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
This phrase prealpha has lost all meaning to me. Why don't they just say "unfinished"? Isn't prealpha super early?

Incredibly early. Like, earlier than this is pre-production.

But that depends on the company. Differents standards and all.
 

Setsuna

Member
This phrase prealpha has lost all meaning to me. Why don't they just say "unfinished"? Isn't prealpha super early?

Not really it just means they weren't finished developing content for the game. Beta implies that the game is finished and they are just fixing bugs
 

Stuart444

Member
This game comes out in a month or so right? How is this considered early?

Because we don't know how old the build is?

Plus some could say that it's early because it's not the final version of the game. Lots can change and be fixed (or broken) during crunch and all.

Not really it just means they weren't finished developing content for the game. Beta implies that the game is finished and they are just fixing bugs

And where does Alpha come into it then? Since that's just skipping right from prealpha to beta.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
This phrase prealpha has lost all meaning to me. Why don't they just say "unfinished"? Isn't prealpha super early?

Yes. Alpha is generally the first playable state of software for when bug crunching and feature testing can begin, so shit can be changed/removed/whatever before hitting feature complete and complete dedication to bug crunching beta.

To be prealpha is to basically present a bug riddled vertical slice of a full product that isn't remotely near finished.
 
Not really it just means they weren't finished developing content for the game. Beta implies that the game is finished and they are just fixing bugs
With less than a month to go it should definitely be in beta. :p
Not defending Syndicate in anyway, however that is believable. This guy played the game at an event. A 20 minute slice. Its very possible that it was developed months ago when the game was in pre-alpha and this is the version they have been showing. Most developers aren't pressing fresh builds of the demo every few days.
This is absolutely NOT a pre-alpha build. Pre-alpha happens much, much earlier in development. Unless they've been using this demo build for the past 9 months, it's not "pre-alpha".
 

ogbg

Member
these early tech analysis video's are so unbelievable pointless.

Based on last year I don't think it's a problem to look at the early build but calling this video a technical analysis is misleading when there are no metrics. He should just say early impressions or something like that.
 
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