Support NeoGAF

[Grief.exe]

No, they knew about the cuts long ago but simply chose to keep showing unrepresentative footage of the game without disclosing it as such.

As for the "all developers do this", show me another game where such a massive downgrade was kept secret right until a couple of weeks before release. One.

The message from From seemed fairly consistent starting in ~mid January.

They began only showing footage representative of the console retail release. There are some inconsistencies, but these seem to mainly stem from ignorance or oversight on Bandai's part rather than a malicious effort to trick the consumer.

The main problem is journalism outlets still showing TGS footage up until ~February, but, again, that was probably mainly due to ignorance than anything else.

 

[iRAWRasaurus]

Geez already 28 pages? Honestly I understand where many people are coming from with the issues of the graphics and in the defensive of why the graphics were downgraded. But why don't everyone just relax until the PC version comes out. I don't see why complaining still at this point is going to solve anything IMO.

Wrong thread, there are too many dark souls thread haha.

 

[DrROBschiz]

The message from From seemed fairly consistent starting in ~mid January.

They began only showing footage representative of the console retail release. There are some inconsistencies, but these seem to mainly stem from ignorance or oversight on Bandai's part rather than a malicious effort to trick the consumer.

The main problem is journalism outlets still showing TGS footage up until ~February, but, again, that was probably mainly due to ignorance than anything else.

Bingo

Can the misinformation stop please? We have a clear picture of many of the facts at this point in the discussion

 

[Metroid-Squadron]

The message from From seemed fairly consistent starting in ~mid January.

They began only showing footage representative of the console retail release. There are some inconsistencies, but these seem to mainly stem from ignorance or oversight on Bandai's part rather than a malicious effort to trick the consumer.

The main problem is journalism outlets still showing TGS footage up until ~February, but, again, that was probably mainly due to ignorance than anything else.

Not really. In the PS Access video "5 things we learned" one of the guys talking says that he went to Namco "a week ago" (this was in January) and the resulting footage is from the PS3 version (In the mirror knight video he says the footage is captured directly from PS3).

From only showed the real game until February but no media of previously shown areas so that people couldn't confirm the downgrade.

And zero up-to-date footage of the PC version.

 

[Grief.exe]

Not really. In the PS Access video "5 things we learned" one of the guys talking says that he went to Namco "a week ago" (this was in January)

I mean, that is exactly what I said.

~mid January From started solely showing retail console footage. There were some misses, but the message was very consistent from that point onward.

 

[HyperBitHero]

 

[Metroid-Squadron]

Too much for PS3 and XB360 to handle.

 

[Hydranockz]

If you sit still and really try and listen, you can hear Metroid-Squadron's tears gently splashing on his keyboard.

 

[Metroid-Squadron]

If you sit still and really try and listen, you can hear Metroid-Squadron's tears gently splashing on his keyboard.

Yes, I'm so very sad for all the people that were swindled by From.

 

[soontroll]

 

[Paracelsus]

Some people say this needed to be on PS4XB1, this looks like it could run on PSV.

 

[Persona7]

Some people say this needed to be on PS4XB1, this looks like it could run on PSV.

Are you really judging this entire game by a bad texture

 

[Haunted]

clearly a bug, textures haven't loaded in yet

Spoiler

pls

 

[zephervack]

Its obvious they ran out of time, that's disgusting.

 

[CheesecakeRecipe]

What exactly is the context of that though? Perhaps a LOD model not loading correctly? It seems to be in a naturally well-lit area so I don't know why something that bad would be left sticking out.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

fucking lol, perfect response...

 

[Paracelsus]

Are you really judging this entire game by a bad texture

Are you telling me Dark Souls is impressive from any point other than art direction? Even looking at the environments you often wonder what's going on that stops the machine from running full blown dynamic lighting.

 

[Valnen]

This image looks doctored somehow, why is the UI pixelated? The UI looks pretty crisp in other shots.

But yeah that pretty much looks like a PSP game in that shot.

 

[WheelHoss1]

Next gen version please

 

[legacyzero]

Holy fuck that's awful...

Are you really judging this entire game by a bad texture

I mean, the player looks like they're wearing bacon.

 

[HyperBitHero]

This image looks doctored somehow, why is the UI pixelated? The UI looks pretty crisp in other shots.

But yeah that pretty much looks like a PSP game in that shot.

Nah, it was just a weird deinterlacing mode I had on my player. Didn't notice that. Here is a better quality shot.

 

[Aesthet1c]

From.

they kept showing that superior looking demo for months and hid what the game actually look like till a week or so before the release.

Maybe I'm too optimistic, but is this really that bad? Is it possible they were in crunch time trying to finish the game and didn't have time to build all this footage?

They still showed what the game actually looked like before release. Yeah they could have been more transparent, but I don't think it's a requirement for a company to make a post on twitter every time they make graphical changes to a game.

 

[mjontrix]

Nah, it was just a weird deinterlacing mode I had on my player. Didn't notice that. Here is a better quality shot.

Can't tell if joking or serious. The game really look bad!

 

[TheCongressman1]

Nah, it was just a weird deinterlacing mode I had on my player. Didn't notice that. Here is a better quality shot.

At this point it's not surprising that the texture work is pretty shoddy. The rock is one thing, but what armor set is that? I've seen a lot of pictures of it, and it has a really bad texture. Is it supposed to be leather covered in blood?

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

At this point it's not surprising that the texture work is pretty shoddy. The rock is one thing, but what armor set is that? I've seen a lot of pictures of it, and it has a really bad texture. Is it supposed to be leather covered in blood?

It's Vengarl's armor set. Given the condition Vengarl is in, yeah it's probably covered in blood.

 

[TheCongressman1]

It's Vengarl's armor set. Given the condition Vengarl is in, yeah it's probably covered in blood.

Oh ok, that's what I figured.

 

[Leon S. Kennedy]

And they're right. The series is popular now.



Sad. Dark Souls I was perfect on the PS3, yet they fuck up the sequel on the same console.

No, there were serious framerate issues for Dark Souls 1 on the PS3.

 

[Soriku]

Sad. Dark Souls I was perfect on the PS3, yet they fuck up the sequel on the same console.

Dark Souls 1 did not run perfectly on PS3 lol.

 

[caleb1915]

Or perhaps it was the game running on a PC. I doubt they took time out of their schedule to work on a seperate build to deceive people. Quite an extreme and absurd conclusion to jump to.

Its happened before with even more popular games. Halo, Bioshock Infinite, I believe some of the gameplay demos that first showed the Last of Us were made just for E3 as well.

Developers do it a lot, it can be a quick way to show off the premise of a game.

 

[Totobeni]

Shit mountain finally got its rival, the mighty Shit wall.

Maybe I'm too optimistic, but is this really that bad? Is it possible they were in crunch time trying to finish the game and didn't have time to build all this footage?

They still showed what the game actually looked like before release. Yeah they could have been more transparent, but I don't think it's a requirement for a company to make a post on twitter every time they make graphical changes to a game.

2 weeks before release is not enough. PlayStation Access video (remember media can't be posted without Namco/From premonition) got published in 29 jan. so they were still advertising a non-downgraded version of the game as the real deal less than two months ago.

 

[phantomspiker]

2 weeks before release is not enough. PlayStation Access video (remember media can't be posted without Namco/From premonition) got published in 29 jan. so they were still advertising a non-downgraded version of the game as the real deal less than two months ago.

6 weeks actually. IGN, Gamespot and Eurogamer all published previews around the same time Playstation Access published theirs. All three of those previews show a build that closely resemble what we got for the console launch.

The question is, why did Playstation Access publish a preview of an old demo?

 

[BPoole]

This game has some of the worst textures I've ever seen on PS3/360. I've been waqtching Brad and Vinny's DS2 playthrough on Giant Bomb and can't believe how bad it looks at times

 

[Mengy]

It's almost depressing to read; I suppose they pretty much deserve to be treated like *sheep both by the developers and publishers who will keep charging full prices for incomplete products:

Unpolished, downgraded version (PS3/X360): $60
PC version, (still not there, but pretty close): $50
Final, "complete/platinum" version (PS4/XB1): $60

Some people are willing to pay $170 dollars for the same game. I don't care at all about what you do with your money but if you're unable to see the big picture here then I guess you're better off being constantly deceived and milked.

It is a sad state of affairs.

Or, just do what I'm doing, and wait. Don't buy the game yet. Wait until it's out on all platforms: last gen, PC, and next gen. Hell I may even wait until the DLC and Prepare to Die Again Edition is out a year or two from now. Then I'll be able to make an educated decision on my purchase, and I'll have options for which version to buy, plus I'll most likely get it during a sale and save some money.

If there's one thing I've learned in 30 years of video gaming, it's that patience in this hobby ALWAYS pays off. Always.

 

[OneEyeTwoHead]

Or, just do what I'm doing, and wait. Don't buy the game yet. Wait until it's out on all platforms: last gen, PC, and next gen. Hell I may even wait until the DLC and Prepare to Die Again Edition is out a year or two from now. Then I'll be able to make an educated decision on my purchase, and I'll have options for which version to buy, plus I'll most likely get it during a sale and save some money.

If there's one thing I've learned in 30 years of video gaming, it's that patience in this hobby ALWAYS pays off. Always.

Well, yeah, of course it does. But I also get the thrill of the video game by enjoying it at the same time as everyone else--and discussing it--and taking part in it when it's hot and fresh.

 

[Eusis]

Or, just do what I'm doing, and wait. Don't buy the game yet. Wait until it's out on all platforms: last gen, PC, and next gen. Hell I may even wait until the DLC and Prepare to Die Again Edition is out a year or two from now. Then I'll be able to make an educated decision on my purchase, and I'll have options for which version to buy, plus I'll most likely get it during a sale and save some money.

If there's one thing I've learned in 30 years of video gaming, it's that patience in this hobby ALWAYS pays off. Always.

Ehhh, depends on what you're after and just HOW patient you don't mind being. Even some stupidly expensive, rare or rare-ish games become available again, but it's not a sure thing and can take a helluva long time (nearly twenty for Earthbound!)

 

[ProphessorX]

Well, yeah, of course it does. But I also get the thrill of the video game by enjoying it at the same time as everyone else--and discussing it--and taking part in it when it's hot and fresh.

Cliffy B just wrote a blog post about exactly that. To be honest, I do kind of miss out on jumping in with the rest at launch. I've never really done that before. Like Fez, I assume Dark Souls is something special to explore together, like all the new griefing opportunities...

 

[OneEyeTwoHead]

Cliffy B just wrote a blog post about exactly that. To be honest, I do kind of miss out on jumping in with the rest at launch. I've never really done that before. Like Fez, I assume Dark Souls is something special to explore together, like all the new griefing opportunities...

Especially Dark Souls.

 

[TheCongressman1]

Cliffy B just wrote a blog post about exactly that. To be honest, I do kind of miss out on jumping in with the rest at launch. I've never really done that before. Like Fez, I assume Dark Souls is something special to explore together, like all the new griefing opportunities...

Games with social aspects are especially good to hop on at launch. I didn't get into DS1 until almost two years after it came out, so pretty much everything had been discussed online. But the good thing was even though I didn't really have an online group to get involved with, all my friends got into it at the same time.

 

[Eusis]

Yeah, some kinds of games are also just better to do at once, especially online ones. When there's a lot to the game to discover and people are figuring it out online it can be really exciting, even without online play Dark Souls would be that kind of game. But with the online stuff, yeah, it's a huge part of the experience.

 

[RK9039]

You have to change your TV colour settings.

 

[Daante]

My take on this.

Game was primarly developed for PC and PS4/XB1 , but From/Namco didnt want to take a chance to not release it on PS3/360 since the user base is much larger there = better changes for profit.

All the demos/videos they have showed have been from the PC/PS4/XB1 version, but they have remain silent about this since they want to maximize the profit for the PS3/360 version. Maby they need to make profit on PS3/360/PC versions to internally justifice a PS4/XB1 version (?)

 

[UnrealEck]

Its happened before with even more popular games. Halo, Bioshock Infinite, I believe some of the gameplay demos that first showed the Last of Us were made just for E3 as well.

Developers do it a lot, it can be a quick way to show off the premise of a game.

I'd have to see these examples and proof they weren't just another build of the actual games.
I believe I know what Last of Us demo you're referring to (and why you're referring to it) and that looked like the game to me. To be clear, I wasn't saying flat out it doesn not happen. I am very skeptical it has in this instance.

Not at all. It's perfectly reasonable. Also dark10x confirmed that the demo ran on real PS3s.


Yep, the Dark Souls 2 that ran fine at E3 and TGS but not on consumers homes.

I don't know dark10x.
So you know what I'm talking about when I say Dark Souls 2 is different from every single other game ever made and can't be compared. Just because you think X game looks better than Y game doesn't mean Y game will or necessarily should run better than X game. There's a number of factors going into what X and Y are asking of the hardware.

 

[Garcia]

Nah, it was just a weird deinterlacing mode I had on my player. Didn't notice that. Here is a better quality shot.

Awesome.

For people wondering if this is just an isolated case of a bad texture put right in front of your face: You could go pic-hunting for hours and you will always, constantly find bad textures. The game delivers!

Can't tell if joking or serious. The game really look bad!

Yes, it does.

Visual inconsistency is present throughout the whole game. It is always: Awful > Not so bad > Yikes > Beautiful > Eww (ad nauseam).

 

[Parsnip]

I mean, the player looks like they're wearing bacon.

You know, sometimes I wish I was wearing bacon.
So this all works out for me.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Awesome.

For people wondering if this is just an isolated case of a bad texture put right in front of your face: You could go pic-hunting for hours and you will always, constantly find bad textures. The game delivers!

And Demon's/Dark didn't?

This is indeed an isolated screenshot, but of course people will go rabid as if it somehow proves anything.

 

[Metroid-Squadron]

I don't know dark10x.
So you know what I'm talking about when I say Dark Souls 2 is different from every single other game ever made and can't be compared. Just because you think X game looks better than Y game doesn't mean Y game will or necessarily should run better than X game. There's a number of factors going into what X and Y are asking of the hardware.

The E3/TGS demos show that with sufficient optimization, the game can run perfectly on PS3 while looking good.

 

[yiepekaiyei]

The E3/TGS demos show that with sufficient optimization, the game can run perfectly on PS3 while looking good.

That demo could be an alpha demo running on pc using a ds3, if you're talking about their presentation alone.

 

[Forkball]

Nah, it was just a weird deinterlacing mode I had on my player. Didn't notice that. Here is a better quality shot.

I think you need this:

 

[Metroid-Squadron]

That demo could be an alpha demo running on pc using a ds3, if you're talking about their presentation alone.

No, dark10x confirmed it was running on PS3s at Gamescom (the demo is the same for E3 and TGS).

 

[Rising_Hei]

So... the reasons are what we all thought at the start

I think FROM shouldn't have done a PS360 version of this game and go all out with PS4/PC

Many companies are commiting the same mistake... imo

When having a weak console affect what game should've been, that's not good... PS3 and 360 are already so old for today's standards and devs should move on