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[GodofWine]

So basically, it will run on anything. Which is a good move. Everyone with a fancy GPU is all up in here saying "why would they do this", THIS doesn't concern you in any way shape or form, and will only benefit you by increasing the player base.


I would think a 20fps lock would be better, 15 is getting into choppy land, 20 is at least sorta OK, but if this lets everyone play that wants too, fine with me.

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

The keyword here is "optional", so what's the problem? I don't understand the criticism...

NeoGAF.

 

[rodrigolfp]

60fps is fine, but some people say that 30fps is fine, so why 15 is not fine too?

 

[ArtHands]

Bloodborne fans

lol damn

 

[Raven77]

I don't understand the hate that this is getting and honestly it's very disappointing to me. They are trying to do something new-ish with their game (the genre and gameplay) and are just getting hate for it saying it's a "desperate attempt to get into the news".

So it's okay for someone to want to make a "retro" game by making it look like an NES or SNES game but it isn't okay to have a game with 540p resolution which is retro in it's own way? Like someone else said, we don't know what else this mode might end up having visually. Added fog would actually make it look like an N64 game like someone else mentioned.

And as for the 15 fps mode, maybe it has a whole ton of extra visual bells and whistles. I would gladly play a game at 15 fps if it looked incredible. I had a shitty PC for a year and got very used to games that run sub 20 fps.

 

[Videospel]

People with really shitty computers/laptops who still want to try the game.

I still don't see the need to lock the frame rate.

If you're facing the choice between 10-20 FPS and a locked 15, you might pick it

So instead you'll get 10-15 fps?

I mean, the 15 fps lock is not a guarantee you'll even reach 15 fps. It's only a guarantee you won't surpass it.

 

[TLZ]

I like playing 1 frame per second.

Support me Rare.

 

[JigglesBunny]

Had no idea this was running on Unity.

as for the 15 fps mode, maybe it has a whole ton of extra visual bells and whistles. I would gladly play a game at 15 fps if it looked incredible.

Ah yes, the Ubisoft school of game design.

 

[Theorry]

Had no idea this was running on Unity.

It runs on Unreal 4.

edit: Wait i get it now.

 

[Gestault]

I still don't see the need to lock the frame rate.

Even at high numbers, I hate when framerates jump around erratically. I assume it's just the normal framerate lock settings, but if they're actually optimizing inputs and render pacing to play better at particular lower framerates, that's an interesting option.

The idea of a "toilet" setting for graphics so it can run on basically anything is cool in my book.

 

[Paz]

Resolution minimums are about UI and detail visibility thresholds which is fine, they might have it genuinely play well at 540p (though I'm not sure what that exact resolution is depending on aspect ratio/inference).

But offering a 15fps lock is a bit out there, it implies that they genuinely believe their game plays well at that kind of framerate because it'd be a really weird thing for a developer to implement options for players to experience an awful version of their game, that's usually why we have extremely well vetted min specs and recommendations so that players know what they need to not have a shitty experience.

So I find this whole thing a bit odd, maybe Sea of Thieves just doesn't require much moment to moment interaction?

 

[D4Danger]

...you know what?

Show me a YouTube video of it doing 15fps at 540p. I'm curious how it would look in motion.

here's the E3 footage at 540p 15fps

https://streamable.com/t8tg8

maybe not the best comparison but you get the idea.

 

[Videospel]

The idea of a "toilet" setting for graphics so it can run on basically anything is cool in my book.

This I agree on. Games in the last couple of years haven't really had the option of low graphics. Mostly thinking of multi-platform games.

 

[Patch13]

Since when is deriding the option to lock your framerate below the minimum human motion perception threshold on otherwise more capable hardware an 'ivory tower' privilege situation? You don't need a 1080Ti for that.

There isn't really a "minimum human motion perception threshold". 24fps, for movies, is a good balance between saving money on film and providing a decent illusion of motion to most of the audience, but that doesn't mean that persistence of vision doesn't work for anything below 24fps -- it's an analog illusion, not a digital phenomenon. Similarly, 30fps, for games, is an okay balance between being able to pump out a relatively high fidelity image on medium powered hardware, and being able to fit the frames consistently within the 60Hz refresh rate of a typical monitor. This doesn't mean that 30fps is the only functional low-end framerate.

You accept much lower "framerates" in sprite animations for games like Doom and Super Mario Brothers -- Mario's walk cycle is only 3 frames in SMB, for example, and I'm pretty certain he doesn't take 20 steps per second. Audiences used to dig stop motion animation in movies, even when it was done at 12fps, rather than 24. 15fps is going to look a little bit choppy, but it's also going to be consistent, which makes it easier to adjust to than a framerate that wanders between, say 15fps and 25fps. People rocking potatoes, kids rocking hand me downs, and travelers rocking non gaming laptops are going to be grateful to have the option, even if it seems silly to someone who only games on a hobbyist rig.

 

[Bsigg12]

The 15fps lock is a very Rare thing to do.

 

[Conkerkid11]

These don't make sense as things to highlight as features, especially when there's probably less people running at these settings than there are running at ultra.

Also, most games have a large list of resolution options, and a slider for locking your framerate. I've never seen these two things in a game and thought, "wow, this is a great dev!".

 

[Jtrizzy]

They are trolling us right? Pretty funny if so.

 

[Marcel]

I have never seen that asked for anywhere ever.

 

[Theorry]

They are trolling us right? Pretty funny if so.

Its just Rare. They are crazy and funny like that.

 

[gamechanger87]

They are trolling us right? Pretty funny if so.

This isn't a twitch type game. It won't be pretty at those resolutions and fps but it will be perfectly playable.

 

[flkraven]

SoT: Survival Evolved

 

[blackjaw]

I'm playing right now and I'm under NDA but you know what? Fuck it; have a gif about how it looks

I laughed

 

[ClosingADoor]

here's the E3 footage at 540p 15fps

https://streamable.com/t8tg8

maybe not the best comparison but you get the idea.

I played way worse growing up. This is fine for kids on crappy PCs when their parents refuse or can't buy an upgrade.

 

[Jonneh3003]

here's the E3 footage at 540p 15fps

https://streamable.com/t8tg8

maybe not the best comparison but you get the idea.

It isn't so bad after a while. A consistent frame rate is something you can get used to.

 

[GuitarAtomik]

It reads like an Onion article lol. Still, better that it's supported for people who otherwise couldn't play rather than not. My only concern is the fact that this is a multiplayer game and anyone with a player like that in their crew is going to be at a disadvantage.

 

[gamechanger87]

It reads like an Onion article lol. Still, better that it's supported for people who otherwise couldn't play rather than not. My only concern is the fact that this is a multiplayer game and anyone with a player like that in their crew is going to be at a disadvantage.

If you've played that game you will see that is not really the case. This isn't a twitch shooter, fighting game or racing game. A good crew needs to know their roles, be able to man the sails, guns or patch holes, navigate or just be fun to sail the sea with.

120 fps won't make you a better player in this game. Knowing how to arc shots to hit long distance ships and patch holes when you need to or defend you ship matters much more.

 

[Par Score]

here's the E3 footage at 540p 15fps

https://streamable.com/t8tg8

maybe not the best comparison but you get the idea.

Looks perfectly playable to me. Better than it juddering and jerking between 18 and 24 FPS all the time.

Considering the most popular card was the 970 and IIRC is now the 1060, no. Most people will be playing this at 1080p 60fps. Rare just seemed to make a setting for someone who was basically trolling them, or desperately wanted to be in the news.

The Mode says very little about the Median.

Even if the most popular card is a 1060, that could still mean most people are playing on cards with lower specs than a 660. I'm not saying that's the case, but it's possible.

Actually, fuck it, let's go look at the Steam HW Survey:

DirectX 10 GPUs: 8.30%
DirectX 9 Shader Model 2b and 3.0 GPUs: 0.35%
DirectX 9 Shader Model 2.0 GPUs: 0.04%
DirectX 8 GPUs and below: 2.21%

Total %age Steam users with garbage tier graphics cards: 10.9%

Now, Steam is a pretty hardcore gaming service, so in the wider world of the sort of people who play Minecraft and World of Warcraft we can probably double that percentage, at a guess?

Now, why on earth would you want to cater to a fifth of your audience? Crazy!

Joke post?

Because you sound ridiculous. If you're even remotely into Pc gaming you would have a GPU that could run this at least at 720p/30fps.

Fuck this elitist bullshit.

PC gaming is great because it caters to everyone. Being able to splash the cash on Nvidia's latest penis extension is not a requirement for entry.

It reads like an Onion article lol. Still, better that it's supported for people who otherwise couldn't play rather than not. My only concern is the fact that this is a multiplayer game and anyone with a player like that in their crew is going to be at a disadvantage.

I've done raids in WoW that I can say with almost complete certainty are more mechanically difficult than anything in Sea of Thieves will be.

I did those raids with plenty of people running the game sub-20 FPS. You never had to worry about the people on those crappy machines doing what they needed to, because if they were playing the game like that you knew damn well they wanted to be there.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

because when we were talking to the community some people were like: I'm actually happy playing 15 frames per second.

They shouldn't feed the trolls

 

[Detective]

Optional... guess it's pretty hard to understand that.

 

[Raylan Targaryen]

The keyword here is "optional", so what's the problem? I don't understand the criticism...

because devs can't be bothered to offer a 60fps option but gladly make a 540p, 15fps option.

 

[watership]

Already this is one of the biggest Sea if Thieves threads. Its like Rare suddenly figured out how to engage Gaf.

 

[visiblemode]

Ew. This sounds just awful.

 

[CuckFupertino]

Potato support confirmed.

 

[DrArchon]

Super nice of them to think about low spec users, but man, I can't imagine how shitty it would be to play any modern game at 15 fps.

I mean, I guess it's locked, so it's better than most N64 games?

 

[Patch13]

because devs can't be bothered to offer a 60fps option but gladly make a 540p, 15fps option.

Has Rare said that Sea of Thieves won't run at 60fps, or run unlocked, on PC?

 

[Marcel]

Super nice of them to think about low spec users, but man, I can't imagine how shitty it would be to play any modern game at 15 fps.

I mean, I guess it's locked, so it's better than most N64 games?

Great blurb to put in with the marketing material:

"Potato PC mode performs better than most N64 games!"

 

[shandy706]

So basically an N64 mode.

Funny, I'm going to try it on my i7/980Ti rig 😂😂

 

[CalamityPixel]

Only GAF could make this negative news. Christ

 

[Theorry]

Has Rare said that Sea of Thieves won't run at 60fps, or run unlocked, on PC?

Unlocked
Ultra Wide
4K
Full crossplay

PC ran at Gamescom at 4K max settings on locked 60fps if we can trust the impressions.

 

[Bsigg12]

Has Rare said that Sea of Thieves won't run at 60fps, or run unlocked, on PC?

No. It's uncapped and plays great.

But it's GAF and people will find something to complain about with even a completely optional, and completely in jest, setting.

 

[Patch13]

Unlocked
Ultra Wide
4K
Full crossplay

PC ran at Gamescom at 4K max settings on locked 60fps if we can trust the impressions.

Thx. That's what I thought -- that they were offering a full gamut of options, for PCs that range from fancy schmancy gaming rigs to potatoes. Not sure why 'Gaf is flipping out about the potato friendly parts of the plan

 

[Omnii-chan]

Maybe this is a joke about N64 era being sub HD and 15 fps games which is the era Rare is most famous for?

Or a joke about console gamers having many options to change game settings now like PC's?

 

[Dunkley]

wow. that first page. how can 50 people be so oblivious?

its clearly a riff on gaf and memes about how some people cant see the difference b/w 30 and 60 fps.

Well I didn't assume I would need to clarify but let it be known I do not actually believe people can't see more than 15FPS.

 

[10k]

I'd happily consume Sea of Thieves as a PowerPoint presentation. Give me 1 frame a second please.

 

[Alx]

Or a joke about console gamers having many options to change game settings now like PC's?

It's a mode aimed at PC gamers. Their whole answer explains how they're testing PC configurations even below the minimal requirements.

 

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

Good to see that Rare sense of humour is still there!

 

[Raide]

How many 540p in a 4k? Could do a crazy splitscreen version.

 

[cramoss]

I played games at 15 fps on my shitty computer back in the day

Spoiler

still had fun

 

[Phu]

Only GAF could make this negative news. Christ

.

 

[GuitarAtomik]

If you've played that game you will see that is not really the case. This isn't a twitch shooter, fighting game or racing game. A good crew needs to know their roles, be able to man the sails, guns or patch holes, navigate or just be fun to sail the sea with.

120 fps won't make you a better player in this game. Knowing how to arc shots to hit long distance ships and patch holes when you need to or defend you ship matters much more.

I've played it. I guess it depends. Granted, the game is no CoD, but combat (especially PvP sword or gun combat) would still be pretty choppy. I'd agree that it's not necessarily going to ruin the game for everyone though and probably wouldn't make a huge difference. I'd have to see what the game looks like at 15fps.