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Digital Foundry - Watch Dogs vs. Watch Dogs 2012 Reveal

Kayant

Member
Yeah, but Ubi didn't supply them with a Xbone review copy:

Interesting is this because of the Ubi x Sony marketing deal? Or something else as they don't get last-gen versions also.


OT - Good to see the performance is pretty solid on the PS4 version. Face off should be interesting in a couple of days.

Eurogamer said:
Strip out the initial CG inserts and the final PS4 title hands in an overall experience that realises the E3 2012 reveal.

I can mostly agree with this after watching a few comparisons. So the game delivers all the things it showed in the trailer such as the hacking elements, detailed NPC profiles etc but with toned down effects.
 

Acheteedo

Member
Sorry, I edited it so it's just the verdict. But, everyone should read it all. Great article.

Cool, perfect.

Looking forward to the full comparison with the Xbox One version. As always I'm pretty sure going with the PS4 version was the right call. Still, it's interesting to see how developers are coping with the power gap as time goes on.
 

Newline

Member
I had a feeling that typical online gamers were crying over expectations which were actually unrealistic. Ubisoft delivered on their 2012 demo and then some more...

Watch Dogs redeemed, if the ps4 version lives up to the 2012 reveal then i'm all over the PC ultra settings. Looking forward to my copy arriving.
 

Gekidami

Banned
Did you read the article ?

Its mainly locked 30fps and you have to have lots of explosions / alpha / physics effects to get the frame rate to lower.

Have you read the PC performance thread ?

A GTX 770 4 GB getting down to 30 FPS with demanding scenes at 1080p at that's 3.2 TFlops....so what were you expecting from PS4 at 1.8 ?

Consoles when a steady 30 fps look fairly smooth.
Sounds more like shoddy optimisation on any platform than anything else imo. I mean, the fact that the games resolution just so happens to be the same as the ACIV port before it was patched sounds alarm bells to me. Also, is this game really that much better than Infamous Second Son that it has to run at a lower resolution? BF4 i can get, in MP its explosion central, so much shit going on at the same time and the game looks amazing, but this? Something tells me they could have pushed up the resolution if it was a native 'next gen' game.

Still waiting for Ubi's e3 wiiu reveal. If they don't by then, I am really canceling that preorder :)
You can stop waiting, Ubi wont be showing any games running on Nintendo systems.
 
Well crisis averted, As it's actually quite favourable too the ps4 at least, As the initial reveal was a clever mix of real time and CG, So all is well and now hopefully talk can begin on the gameplay.
 

ufo8mycat

Member
Here is my gripe with developers.

Why not keep the original 2012 reveal?

Keep the '2012 reveal' as the ULTRA settings for PC and just have what it looks like now for the PS4/XBONE versions

How hard is that?

A high-end PC can run the 2012 reveal anyway.

Can't be bothered optimizing?

I mean seriously. Infamous SS running on hardware that is way less powerful then a high-end PC, should never look better then something like Watch Dogs on PC.

Really no excuse

Don't get me wrong, it still looks good but seriously.. lol
 
I haven't seen anyone identify what they think the 2012 trailer is doing that the 2014 game can't. Can anyone clearly explain with reference to technical effects that are missing?
 

Setsuna

Member
The only differences I see between 2012 and release. Is that the gas station explosion has been made smaller, and depth of field effect reduced.
 

Newline

Member
Here is my gripe with developers.

Why not keep the original 2012 reveal?

Keep the '2012 reveal' as the ULTRA settings for PC and just have what it looks like now for the PS4/XBONE versions

How hard is that?

A high-end PC can run the 2012 reveal anyway.

Can't be bothered optimizing?
Did you even read the article? That is pretty much what they did...

ps4 is just about on par with the 2012 reveal, PC Ultra settings trumps it.
 

MaLDo

Member
I haven't seen anyone identify what they think the 2012 trailer is doing that the 2014 game can't. Can anyone clearly explain with reference to technical effects that are missing?

* Fixed and artist controlled TOD for eyecandy purposes instead of dynamic TOD.
* Bokeh DOF constantly activated instead of only when start hacking.
* Scripted long cinematic to show every game aspect in a 5 min run using insane asset density instead a fully accesible city with open gameplay.
 

Certinty

Member
I want a comparison between the daytime footage shown in 2013 and the actual game, that there looks like a bigger downgrade graphically.
 

thematic

Member
am I the only one still think E3 2012 one more superior than retail 2014?

superior (dramatic) lightning, reflection (wet floor maybe?), and windy/moving foliage.

haven't seen graphics that good in my retail copy :(
dunno why more tech-savvy DF can't see those difference
 
* Fixed and artist controlled TOD for eyecandy purposes instead of dynamic TOD.
* Bokeh DOF constantly activated instead of only when start hacking.
* Scripted long cinematic to show every game aspect in a 5 min run using insane asset density instead a fully accesible city with open gameplay.

*POM

:p
 

rashbeep

Banned
* Fixed and artist controlled TOD for eyecandy purposes instead of dynamic TOD.
* Bokeh DOF constantly activated instead of only when start hacking.
* Scripted long cinematic to show every game aspect in a 5 min run using insane asset density instead a fully accesible city with open gameplay.

You're kidding yourself if you think those are the only differences. I think the game looks pretty good overall, but it's a massive difference from 2012. People should just accept that and move on.
 

Kamina

Golden Boy
900P 30FPS with occasional tearing and drops?

Disappointing tbh.
Ubisoft was never good with resource management.
I could max out most modern games, but Ghost Recon Future Soldier for example was running like ass even on mid settings.
Now imagine how consoles would hold up.
 

MarkV

Member

I swear, that's the biggest disappoint to me in regard of the graphics. The POM they showed in a early footage is gone and it was looking really good.
Probably they have removed it because the texture used for that very specific floor is used a lot across all the game and it probably may end up too costly in several situation.
 

rashbeep

Banned
So, what are the differences?

It's really all about the lighting. As someone mentioned before it seems to have much less of an effect on the atmosphere and has less volume. Look at the gas station for example how it seems to illuminate the rain more. Also, compare the spotlights. The lighting also seems more static. For example, the train casts a shadow of the tracks as it passes by. This effect is removed in the final game. Also, there just seems to be less particle effects in general. Dust effects, the rain dripping off the bridge aren't there either. The rain also seemed to be affected by wind (like when the helicopter arrives). I think that is still in, but it seems less noticeable.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
You're kidding yourself if you think those are the only differences. I think the game looks pretty good overall, but it's a massive difference from 2012. People should just accept that and move on.
We welcome your analysis. What else do you believe is missing?

Honestly a lot of it seems to come down to more subdued color usage and a perfect control over TOD and lighting.

Why not keep the original 2012 reveal?

Keep the '2012 reveal' as the ULTRA settings for PC and just have what it looks like now for the PS4/XBONE versions

How hard is that?

A high-end PC can run the 2012 reveal anyway.
Why is that hard? That was a demo, not a full game. We don't know how things worked out under the scenes. I don't believe it was simply a matter of adjusting settings. Besides, the PC version already runs rather poorly on many systems.

Creating a heavily scripted, tightly controlled demo is very different than delivering a full dynamic open world.
 

sunnz

Member
It's really the ground textures and lighting that the 2012 one is much better with ( and at night, the draw distance of lights being reflected by the surface is also greater and more noticeable)

End of the day, it still looks good.
 
* Fixed and artist controlled TOD for eyecandy purposes instead of dynamic TOD.
* Bokeh DOF constantly activated instead of only when start hacking.
* Scripted long cinematic to show every game aspect in a 5 min run using insane asset density instead a fully accesible city with open gameplay.

That was my list too. Main difference being the heavy use of bokeh DOF.


Heard POM mentioned. Don't remember seeing it?
 
2012 dynamic shadows from the NPCs in the nightclub. Completely gone from 2014 retail, no?

But the lighting is the biggest difference surely
 

Paganmoon

Member
I'd like a comparison video like the ones posted but with the exact same time/weather. Looks like they're bit different.
 
The comparison video with the PC is a bit better, but there is still definitely a downgrade that is not accounted for by TOD differences and such. I even doubt the TOD and weather effects make such an impact in the final game.

For one the amount of detail is a lot lower. It can easily be seen in the last part of the video. Look at the ground in the E3 and in the PC build. In the E3 build you got grates on the floor and some kind of plates for variety. In the final build the variety seems lower.

The web player isn't working too well for me, so I can't compare all too well, but there is definitely a difference.
 

Sayad

Member
Biggest crow eating moment in history of GAF?

So good.

Who is supposed to be eating crow and for what?
Final build isn't on bar with with 2012's yet it doesn't seem horribly off too(at least PC on ultra doesn't). It's really the least dramatic outcome possible. -__-
 
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