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Dark Souls II |OT| The Dark Souls of Dark Souls

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Dresden

Member
Then again, the only people who have (noticeably) complained about it thus far are those who have watched the game second-hand through streams (since those playing the game are probably too absorbed right now), so it will be interesting to hear their opinions as well. (Then again, they'll probably mostly have positive impressions this early on.)

From someone who has been playing the game:

I'm five hours in. This game is astonishingly ugly on all fronts. The art direction is inconsistent and the textures are abominable. Decent-looking areas are connected with wooden, gray anus tunnels that all look the same. Lighting is practically nonexistent, and when it does exist it slows the framerate to the low double digits and single digits. I have only seen the framerate touch 30fps in unlit tiny rooms. It fluctuates like crazy during gameplay and it makes combat difficult.

Speaking of combat: there's one encounter design so far. Walk into area -> see cluster of guys -> just kidding there's also one far away with a bow! Either that, or single BIG SLOW dudes. It's not varied at all.
 

Ellite25

Member
well i prefer elaborate criticism (even from watching streams) much more then blind two-sentence-hype ala "its awesome. so much fun".

im huge fan myself, but i like to keep my expectations in check. if the game lives up to the hype, then thats awesome. but im too old to hype myself in delusional states.
Yeah I'm not expecting anything life changing, which I guess is partly where I'm coming from. From the bit of streams I've watched, the game looks better to me than prior iterations. And there were a lot of "grey" and bland environments in those too. But this is a huge game with areas I'm sure (most) people haven't even seen yet, especially just from watching streams.
 

JoeFenix

Member
So, have you seen it in person (i.e. on a tv sitting in front of you playing) or are you just watching streams? Because if it is the latter, then I think your comment about the game looking worse than Lost Izalith is really hyperbolic. I have in fact watched the streams myself and haven't seen anything to that degree of sloppy. Seriously, you should go back and play that area again on console, as well as Dark Root Basin climbing up to Dark Root Garden. Nothing in the streams, even with their shit quality looks even remotely that bad.

As I've said before, your mileage will vary. I'm fully aware of what compression does to a game's image quality.

I stand by everything I've said. I've replayed the Souls games very recently, it's all fresh in memory. Some of the stuff in DS1 isn't incredibly attractive but none of it looked anywhere near as bad as some of what I've seen in DS2. I'm sure some people will disagree of course.

I had some of the same visual complaints in the Beta actually, I wasn't a fan of the Huntsman Copse or whatever it's called. It was thoroughly uninspiring but it didn't look awful. I think some of the stuff I've seen on that stream looked straight up bad. It made that area look good in retrospect.

I don't see the point in arguing further before the game launches and we can post direct feed shots and all that jazz though. I'm aware that the stream guy might have had the gamma jacked up or something similar which doesn't help but the problems would still be there regardless.

I'm sure this is going to be analyzed to death come next week so let's just wait until then!

Man I think a lot of people are thinking the worst right now. Earlier people were excited because word of mouth from people playing early and reviewers sounded good and now the lighting doesn't look as good so the game in bland and uninspired. The first two games are some of my favorite ever, and I trust From to make an amazing game. Maybe the lighting won't look as good but to be fair I never thought the Souls games were all that good looking anyways and I never cared. Keep in mind, most of the negative impressions are from the JoeFenix guy and he hasn't even played the game, just watched streams (I don't mean that to offend him).

This game is going to come out and people are going to love it like they have the other games, I have no doubt about that. Let's not get caught up in the negativity.

I hope I've atleast managed to make my position very clear. I still think the game looks fun and I'm still buying it on PS3 next week!

I'm just very much bothered by certain aspects of it from what I've seen. I'm not trying to turn people off or kill the hype, it's not going to be a bad game people!

I appreciate the fact that the game isn't out yet and that my opinion can't be fully formed at this point but I don't think I'm spewing hyperbole or just straight up bashing the game. That's not the point here, I'm a fan of the series and want DS2 to be amazing just like everyone else.

I know people get invested in these games (I do too) so I understand that it can sound frustrating to hear negative opinions about something you're looking forward to. I just felt like I needed to talk about this stuff here because trying to bring up this topic anywhere else just leads to lots of name calling and pure hate. I still feel like I've seen enough to be able to discuss certain aspects of the final build and that's what I was trying to do here.

That's all there is to it!
 

MilkBeard

Member
Hrm... I think the elevated area of Darkroot Basin isn't that bad. It's a bit empty, but it still has the hunter armor set, a crystal gecko, a black knight, the Grass Crest Shield, and a bonfire that leads to the Valley of the Drakes.

Lost Izalith on the other hand is wretched.

I'd also like to give a shout to world 3-2's swamp, which nearly ruins an otherwise good level.

I was talking particularly the spot in Dark Root Basin near the Hydra, where you climb a latter, cross a river that literally looks like a N64 texture floating by. The other areas of the forest aren't bad, although the spot where you go over to the big cats is pretty bad. Hit detection is terrible there and frame rate takes a big nose dive just because of those creatures. The game is extremely rough in some areas, and I think people mostly remember the best areas in Dark Souls, and forget about this shitty ones besides Blighttown which really isn't that bad besides the framerate.
 
How have the stream reactions overnight gone from 'it looks like the sequel we all wanted' to 'ugly, one-dimensional, poorly designed mess with an abysmal framerate'?
 
How have the stream reactions overnight gone from 'it looks like the sequel we all wanted' to 'ugly, one-dimensional, poorly designed mess with an abysmal framerate'?
Couple that with it being both the hardest and the easiest Souls game of all time, and we have the game in a nutshell.
 

K.Sabot

Member
This happens for nearly every game lol, I've been here for pre-release threads and this isn't the first merry-go-round.
 

Toxi

Banned
I was talking particularly the spot in Dark Root Basin near the Hydra, where you climb a latter, cross a river that literally looks like a N64 texture floating by. The other areas of the forest aren't bad, although the spot where you go over to the big cats is pretty bad. Hit detection is terrible there and frame rate takes a big nose dive just because of those creatures. The game is extremely rough in some areas, and I think people mostly remember the best areas in Dark Souls, and forget about this shitty ones besides Blighttown which really isn't that bad besides the framerate.
Agreed on Blighttown. The area gets a lot of shit despite being great once you get the framerate in order. It's not as good as the Valley of Defilement, but it's got a really neat complex structure and tons of treasures to find.
 

derwalde

Member
From someone who has been playing the game:

well, i havent preorderd yet (i had i semi-bad feeling playing the beta) and i will wait till the reviews and especially the gaffers opinion drop. looking at my backlog i have no reason to rush....

yep im kinda worried about DS2 and its a sad feeling. :-(
 

perorist

Unconfirmed Member
Been watching streams for about 4 days and can't say much about the environments (I think they look fine), but what I do have to say is the game is larger than I had ever imagined. You are getting your money's worth in terms of content for sure. This game is easily more than double the size of Dark Souls 1 with DLC.
 

Ellite25

Member
This happens for nearly every game lol, I've been here for pre-release threads and this isn't the first merry-go-round.
Yeah, I think things are getting a bit blown out of proportion here myself. Who knows, it could be disappointing though. Every impression before this thread from people that had played seemed positive.
 
Dang so he's saying single digits in areas with a lot of lighting? I've haven't seen that in the streams but I haven't played it. Hopefully it's not that bad.

Agreed. I mean, I won't avoid a game just because someone else doesn't seem to like it, but if there are technical issues present that make it a struggle to even play the game, then I might have to pass.
 

Garcia

Member
Lol, we've literally heard people say both extremes, as well as the graphics look like shit/look great.

My head is gonna explode! ha ha.

I'm honestly glad I kept myself away from the hype all this time. I was starting to get excited earlier today having read that Famitsu review but now I'm keeping myself at bay until the game gets released.

I won't double dip and if the console version is as bad a some people are making it look, I will wait for the PC release instead.
 

MilkBeard

Member
Well, if it was mine I wouldn't put it in quotes.

Some people quote their old posts when they repeat something so I was just being sure. Anyway, the comment about gameplay was extremely vague and one could easily come up with something like that for Dark Souls.

'Every time you turn around a corner there are 2-3 hollow soldiers/lizards etc. standing waiting. And oh wait, there's another hiding in the opposite corner!' etc.
 

Screaming Meat

Unconfirmed Member
We have said time and time again that we have seen the demoed version run on PS3's fine. Don't kid yourself into thinking that Dark Souls 2 is such a graphically intense game that PS360 can't handle it lol.

It's not unheard of (at least at the end of last gen) for a game to take a downgrade from their demo's quality. Demo's are smaller and much more controlled.
 

MilkBeard

Member
I'm honestly glad I kept myself away from the hype all this time. I was starting to get excited earlier today having read that Famitsu review but now I'm keeping myself at bay until the game gets released.

I won't double dip and if the console version is as bad a some people are making it look, I will wait for the PC release instead.

I'm still excited, honestly, and these negative comments come off as really wonky to me. Not that the game won't have faults, but I expect it to be at least in a similar manner to Dark Souls. I've seen enough of the stream as well to know what it's going to look like, and I was not disappointed in the environments, animations, graphics, or enemy placement. It seemed like another Souls game.

That being said, I'm looking forward to DS II but I wasn't super extremely hyped for the past few weeks, but after hearing about it and watching it my hype has only increased.
 

Hypron

Member
Indeed, but from what i have seen that guy is hyperboling quite a bit

Oh yeah. Some people start playing games with the mindset that the game is going to be bad. Unless the game is absolutely the opposite of what they expect, everything that's not too great about the game will reinforce their preconceptions. The exact same thing happens the other way around as well, some people will start playing a game wanting it to be excellent and turn a blind eye to its faults (as long as it's not completely terrible).

It's always hard to know whether the opinions you read before launch are due to one of those two modes of behaviour, or whether they come from people that don't really have any preconceptions. Once more people start playing the game you get a better picture.
 
Anyone share some info on exactly how the invasion rate will be. Will pretty much always be someone in your game now, once you are invaded, you can't be invaded again for a set amount of time? How does it work in that regard.
 

K.Sabot

Member
yeah, I just woke up and Im like "WTF happened here" reading the last pages lol

That lighting's not the same > it looked different in press demo > everything looks dreary and grey > everything looks bad > this game is terrible > this game fails on every level

We're doing the Statler and Waldorf sketch.
 

MilkBeard

Member
yeah, I just woke up and Im like "WTF happened here" reading the last pages lol

As someone said earlier...

2516508-5567548374-Fh3ro.gif
 
From someone who has been playing the game:

I will now be paying attention to reviews. If this is true FROM has royally fucked up.

It's not unheard of (at least at the end of last gen) for a game to take a downgrade from their demo's quality. Demo's are smaller and much more controlled.

Yes but this was like 6 months ago. DS2 does not look like a graphically intensive game. PS360 should be able to handle it fine. We have also seen better lighting on PS360 games. Something has happened and I do not believe it to be hardware related at all.
 
That lighting's not the same > it looked different in press demo > everything looks dreary and grey > everything looks bad > this game is terrible > this game fails on every level

We're doing the Statler and Waldorf sketch.

Posts like this should be banned. Who has said the following? Or are you just being hyperbolic to undermine the criticisms made by people who have played the game and watched the streams. If you don't believe it fair enough.
 

Screaming Meat

Unconfirmed Member
Yes but this was like 6 months ago. DS2 does not look like a graphically intensive game. PS360 should be able to handle it fine. We have also seen better lighting on PS360 games. Something has happened and I do not believe it to be hardware related at all.

Why, what do you think it is?

yeah, I just woke up and Im like "WTF happened here" reading the last pages lol

The only other OT I've followed as closely was probably GTA V. The same sort of shifting of opinions happened there too. I personally think it was one of the best looking and most playable games of the generation, so I'll reserve all judgements on DS 2 until I get my mitts on it.
 

JoeFenix

Member
This goes both ways guys, you need to read what people are actually writing instead of just latching on to certain parts.

Some of you talk about hyperbole but I've never once said that I thought the game was crap or terrible or the worst thing ever. I'm not in a position to judge many of its aspects yet anyway. I've only talked about certain aspects of it being questionable/not up to par and made sure to acknowledge the fact that some people won't see it that way. It's just MY opinion, it shouldn't mean that much to anyone beyond just being food for thought.

I've tried to make sure that I didn't come off as a blind hater but it seems some people still see it that way. I guess strong emotional reactions are to be expected. If you're hyped about playing more Dark Souls you can safely stay hyped. It's more Dark Souls and alot of it from what I've seen.

I'm excited for the PVP aspects and all the covenant stuff, the environments are pretty boxy and wide, lots of room to PVP and the dedicated servers worked really well in the Beta atleast. That aspect of the game is probably going to be really solid at the very least!
 

MilkBeard

Member
Posts like this should be banned. Who has said the following? Or are you just being hyperbolic to undermine the criticisms made by people who have played the game and watched the streams. If you don't believe it fair enough.

No, it shouldn't be banned. It was basically an overall direction of how the thread has gone. Poster was pretty accurate, even if there's a little bit of an exaggeration. Ever since the lighting thing as been known, it as if the game is the ugliest thing to grace video gaming. Or at least people speak in that hyperbolic fashion when they really don't mean it. Pretty shortly after that posts about the game being rough, badly designed, etc. started popping up, although they may not be directly related.

Anyway, the mood of the discussion changes with the drop of a hat so I don't really care all that much. We'll be playing the game soon enough so we will find out for ourselves then. I'm satisfied with what I have seen so far.
 
Here's the hyperbole.

Cute. Why don't you try answering my question? Who has said that? I want you to quote them.

Why, what do you think it is?

1) I have seen that exact place look great with the demo lighting on PS3 6 months ago. Ran fine.

2) The beta had great lighting as well and ran fine

3) There are games out there that are more graphically intensive, have better lighting engines and run decent on ps360.

If the downgrade was done for a stable FR I can understand. However from what people have been saying FR is even worse.
 
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