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#DarkSoulsDowngrade and #YOULIED \\ a.k.a You got some splainin' to do, Namco

The first rule that was discussed in my management class a long while back was to set customer expectations appropriately right from the beginning. Not doing so can have catastrophic effects later on and will likely ruin customer relations.

It seems like the video game industry doesn't understand the basic tenants of customer expectation management. And that, my friends, is down right pathetic.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
We wont hear anything, they are hoping people wont learn about this, the 2 weeks after release are key for them, the less they acknowledge it the better.



You see no problems here, be honest


iAcNAxIIIs2ZF.gif
ibsVq2ZYL0M5Tz.gif


Reveal
1. Amazing Lightning
2. Atmospheric shadows/Lightning reflected on the ground/walls/characters etc
3. Torches on walls and other details throughout

Retail
1. All stuff on the reveal completely gone or reduced (worse blur, smoke effects)
2. Weird green/grey hue everywhere

Im missing tons of stuff in the comparisons too, they are completely different

The funny thing is that when DS2 was revealed, a lot of the comments I read were
Stage 1: "WOW THAT CGI HOT!"

Stage 2: "Well damn, a huge step up from the original!"

Stage 3:"Not doing too hot on polys or textures anymore, but damn the lighting is fine"

Stage 4: "Well what do you guys want the game is just fine without the lighting and torch gameplay that they advertised "
 

marrec

Banned
iAcNAxIIIs2ZF.gif
ibsVq2ZYL0M5Tz.gif


Yep, no major changes in sight.

The lighting is clearly different, but it's impossible to see if the textures are drastically different without similar lighting... as is they look pretty similar.

I'm not saying you don't have the right to mad as hell, but I cannot see sufficient justification for what I see as an overreaction. I'll be expressing my opinion as much in other places as well. (probably an article, which is why I'm trying to gather as much information as possible about this.)
 

Geedorah

Member
Stop crying, play the fucking game. its awesome!

Missing the point entirely I'm afraid, this is really a question of how they are able to "bait-and-switch" with target renders, and we as consumers are just expected to roll with it.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
To those saying the game is fine on consoles....are you playing on PS3? The framerate is garbage right from the beginning

This is what confuses me the most, since the Network Test was done on PS3's right? I don't remember people saying the framerate was atrocious in the network builds.

Edit: DS2 with the lighting all fucked up destroys the atmosphere as much as playing Amnesia in a fully lit room full of cute kittens and puppies playing around.
 

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
Stop crying, play the fucking game. its awesome!

Not the point of the thread. This is a false advertising and should not just pass like it's nothing. what was showing, hyped and people to believe it's what the game look like turn not ture at all. and Gearbox and SEGA got sued for Colonial Marines downgrade it wasn't because the game sucked but was because it was downgraded completely then the first demo so the same as this situation.
 

atr0cious

Member
The first rule that was discussed in my management class a long while back was to set customer expectations appropriately right from the beginning. Not doing so can have catastrophic effects later on and will likely ruin customer relations.

It seems like the video game industry doesn't understand the basic tenants of customer expectation management. And that, my friends, is down right pathetic.
That's because you have people in this forum, shaming their fellow customers, for the honor of a game developer.

And I don't see how all the downgraded features coming back for the PC is a good thing, when they showed the game off a month before release on PS3, with the bells and whistles.

It's embarrassing that people here will willingly give up their rights to play a good game.
 
Dynamic Lighting is still in the game. From just tuned down the necessity of using torches and dynamic light sources as it causes performance issues on console.

It's a joke, bro. I put a lit matchstick in the hand of the DSII knight figurine and "unlocked" dynamic lighting (IRL). :/
 
I just started playing, and whilst I think it looks amazing - I mean right from the start it's pretty jaw dropping imo - The first time I lit one of the permanent stone torches I got a blip in the framerate, so it's pretty obvious why they did what they did. Not excusing them hiding it up to release, just an observation after playing it a very short while.
 
Stop crying, play the fucking game. its awesome!

You're right. Let's all shut up, bend over and take it.

You don't understand what this is about, do you?

This "movement" is embarrassing.

This isn't a "movement" and neither is it embarrassing to call FROM and Namco out on false advertising.

You don't understand. For some people it is way more fun and cathartic to complain about things on message boards than to play videogames.

Are you joking?
 

nbthedude

Member
Stop crying, play the fucking game. its awesome!

You don't understand. For some people it is way more fun and cathartic to complain about things on message boards than to play videogames.

There is a mystery here that it would be interesting to get to the bottom, but I find how indignant people are being over it more than a little absurd.
 

Foffy

Banned
As I've said: I've stripped graphical features out *two weeks* before submission on titles. It's a useful emergency measure if you absolutely need more RAM or GPU cycles unexpectedly.

Not that that's what I think happened here, just indicating that sometimes, last-minute kludges are necessary (and this'd be a monster of one!)

Even if so, a response would be fair. I appreciate sincerity. If they came out and said "well, we had to pull back on some of this stuff due to (insert reasons here)" I'd be absolutely content. Nobody here is saying the game is bad, but that this sudden change deserves a response.

Playing ghost about it does nobody any fucking favors, and to me, this is the issue. This information is only being raised by consumers, not the developer or publisher.
 

Exalted

Member
Judging by some of the responses here, some people probably wouldn't mind if developers released CGI footage and claimed it as actual gameplay until release.
 

jyx

Member
Yes. The souls games have never been known for its graphics. The gameplay is among the best around. I would have bought the game no matter what. When you look at the reviews all over and the response from players this game has done something special. its a game not a big budget special effect movie
 

Nzyme32

Member
Sorry I haven't followed this at all but is there any evidence that the PC version is downgraded, or is it still believe to be as in this gif?

iQouT4P80ziv8.gif
 

SparkTR

Member
Yes. The souls games have never been known for its graphics. The gameplay is among the best around. I would have bought the game no matter what. When you look at the reviews all over and the response from players this game has done something special. its a game not a big budget special effect movie

Then couldn't they have just shown that instead of all the smoke and mirrors, during pre-release?
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
Yes. The souls games have never been known for its graphics.
I don't know man, ds1 is one of the best looking games I'm playing right now. From what I've seen of the new one it looks pretty impressive too, even with the ugly lighting.
 

mnannola

Member
Sorry I haven't followed this at all but is there any evidence that the PC version is downgraded, or is it still believe to be as in this gif?

iQouT4P80ziv8.gif

If the doorframe has those bricks on it in the PC version but not in the PS3 version I will be amazed.
 

atr0cious

Member
Yes. The souls games have never been known for its graphics. The gameplay is among the best around. I would have bought the game no matter what. When you look at the reviews all over and the response from players this game has done something special. its a game not a big budget special effect movie

It's the third entry in a hugely popular series. To say that FROM, a company formed in 1986, doesn't know what they did was dishonest, is taking credit from where credit is due.

Everyone knows the game is good, it's the fact that they talked about features in the game to sell to returning customers, and in the end, pulled it out, and sold a basic repackage of the first one.

Then dont buy the game

Please read the thread.

How are we supposed to know this happened, when no one is talking about it!? And the people here are shaming the person bringing up this issue! What happens if he had your attitude, and we just allowed FROM to lie to us?

We have an industry predicated on graphic fidelity, they know this. If they can't bring it, why lie about it?
 
Sorry I haven't followed this at all but is there any evidence that the PC version is downgraded, or is it still believe to be as in this gif?

iQouT4P80ziv8.gif

Most likely downgraded because this reveal demo is probably just a portion of the game built entirely for marketing from another team.
 

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
Yes. The souls games have never been known for its graphics. The gameplay is among the best around. I would have bought the game no matter what. When you look at the reviews all over and the response from players this game has done something special. its a game not a big budget special effect movie

Again. it's about deceptive advertising, not graphics, not how good the game is or not. They showed something completely different, give journalist completely different demo to play and led people to believe it's what the game going to be like just to change that completely and show it just a week before the release.
 

ultron87

Member
Sorry I haven't followed this at all but is there any evidence that the PC version is downgraded, or is it still believe to be as in this gif?

*gif*

It probably won't have the pitch blackness since that vastly changes the way the game plays.
 

Joqu

Member
The lighting is clearly different, but it's impossible to see if the textures are drastically different without similar lighting... as is they look pretty similar.

I'm not saying you don't have the right to mad as hell, but I cannot see sufficient justification for what I see as an overreaction. I'll be expressing my opinion as much in other places as well. (probably an article, which is why I'm trying to gather as much information as possible about this.)

I can't speak for everyone but to me this isn't an overreaction because:
1) Gameplay has been affected by these cuts. Uselessness of the torches and the removed spell charging make for an objectively worse game.
2) Emphasis on the torch mechanic was an advertised feature and one I was excited about because it could have made for a whole different kind of game. Yes I was looking forward to that.
3) Game was advertised with the old lightning up to close to the release. This is blatant false advertising.
4) ^ Game is still being advertised with the old footage.
 
Yes. The souls games have never been known for its graphics. The gameplay is among the best around. I would have bought the game no matter what. When you look at the reviews all over and the response from players this game has done something special. its a game not a big budget special effect movie

Again. You seemingly don't understand. We simply wanted what they showed us all the time prior to release.

We were promised this:
iAcNAxIIIs2ZF.gif


What we got is this:
ibsVq2ZYL0M5Tz.gif


And you and other apologists tell us we should accept this crap.
 
Dynamic Lighting is still in the game. From just tuned down the necessity of using torches and dynamic light sources as it causes performance issues on console.

Do you have a source for that, or is that purely out of your ass conjecture? (not that dynamic lighting is still in, in a reduced capacity, but that there is an appreciable framerate difference)
 

elyetis

Member
You don't understand. For some people it is way more fun and cathartic to complain about things on message boards than to play videogames.
Luckily you are here, on a message boards, judging other people, probably because you find it more fun than playing videogames.
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
it's the fact that they talked about features in the game to sell to returning customers, and in the end, pulled it out, and sold a basic repackage of the first one.
Its posts like this that leave me smugly vindicated for thinking this outrage is unbecoming and stupid.
 

Grief.exe

Member
Do you have a source for that, or is that purely out of your ass conjecture? (not that dynamic lighting is still in, in a reduced capacity, but that there is an appreciable framerate difference)

Just from watching youtube videos.

A couple of the walkthroughs I was watching, the frame rate would drop whenever the player would walk into a room with a dynamic light source.
 

TheGrue

Member
Missing the point entirely I'm afraid, this is really a question of how they are able to "bait-and-switch" with target renders, and we as consumers are just expected to roll with it.

You don't have to buy the game. Game demos and trailers usually (and I think they should always) have disclaimers talking about how the footage or demo is not final and is subject to change. As someone who posts on NeoGAF, you should, above anyone, know this. If they have these screenshots on the back of the box, I think you could probably cry "false advertising." I don't know if they had that kind of disclaimer when they showed the videos, but I think it's in the best interest of all companies to do that, because things can totally change. Think of movie trailers that show scenes that aren't actually in the movie. Is that false advertising as well?

The other key here is to stop preordering and stop rushing out to get a game the second it releases. If you're so concerned about consumer rights and getting jacked over by companies, why not wait to see what other consumers say about a product and then make your decision to buy or not to buy? You should know you're sensitive about these kinds of issues in games, so why not set yourself up for success by being a little more prudent about your game purchases?
 

marrec

Banned
I can't speak for everyone but to me this isn't an overreaction because:
1) Gameplay has been affected by these cuts. Uselessness of the torches and the removed spell charging make for an objectively worse game.
2) Emphasis on the torch mechanic was an advertised feature and one I was excited about because it could have made for a whole different kind of game. Yes I was looking forward to that.
3) Game was advertised with the old lightning up to close to the release. This is blatant false advertising.
4) ^ Game is still being advertised with the old footage.

All valid points, though as I understand it the torch mechanic is still in the game, just at a reduced emphasis.

Also, I'm not sure if this would count as 'false advertising' from the courts perspective, would be interesting to see this litigated.
 

ultron87

Member
Again. You seemingly don't understand. We simply wanted what they showed us all the time prior to release.

We were promised this:

What we got is this:

And you and other apologists tell us we should accept this crap.

How late were they showing that dragon footage and other footage from the original reveal video? I really didn't follow much of the media in the lead up to the game.
 

Grief.exe

Member
You don't understand. For some people it is way more fun and cathartic to complain about things on message boards than to play videogames.

There is a mystery here that it would be interesting to get to the bottom, but I find how indignant people are being over it more than a little absurd.

See, you don't understand.

For some people, it is way more fun and cathartic to complain about people complaining on message boards than to play video games.
 
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