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[Amir0x]

Yikes, was it that bad?

It's such an insane downgrade from what they've been advertising I honestly don't know what reviewers were doing in their overviews of this game. Reading the reviews, you'd think this is the game we were getting as advertised. Instead, scores of features have been toned down or removed completely, visual effects so dramatically impacted it looks like some parody version at times.

I'm genuinely furious at Namco and From for this, if the PC version is not what the videos have been advertising all this time I might be done with the series without a complete apology.

 

[Wolfe]

We don't know the reasoning indeed. Doesn't change the fact that they certainly never told us about these changes, and, something which is stranger and arguably more serious is that no video game site whatsoever mentionned those changes (at least one of them should have noticed something). People were misleaded, and to put it bluntly something stinks.

Yeah the whole thing is a bit odd to me. Hopefully someone gives an answer because while the game still may be thoroughly enjoyable it's not the same game that was being shown for the majority of development.

 

[HK-47]

It's such an insane downgrade from what they've been advertising I honestly don't know what reviewers were doing in their overviews of this game. Reading the reviews, you'd think this is the game we were getting as advertised. Instead, scores of features have been toned down or removed completely, visual effects so dramatically impacted it looks like some parody version at times.

I'm genuinely furious at Namco and From for this, if the PC version is not what the videos have been advertising all this time I might be done with the series without a complete apology.

All the reviewers were so ready to jump on the positive hype bandwagon their good scores would get them they forgot to compare the game to the demos

 

[Amir0x]

All the reviewers were so ready to jump on the positive hype bandwagon their good scores would get them they forgot to compare the game to the demos

and not one of them had the presence of mind to think "hey, something seems off here... like... this doesn't look the way I remember it looking in our previews before..."?

I can't believe almost none of them had the forethought to remember that shit. Sad state of affairs if so

 

[jacobeid]

I'm glad I decided to wait for this given all of the disappointment.

 

[Nohar]

and not one of them had the presence of mind to think "hey, something seems off here... like... this doesn't look the way I remember it looking in our previews before..."?

I can't believe almost none of them had the forethought to remember that shit. Sad state of affairs if so

The question is: did they not remember, did they review a different version of the game, or did they hide that on purpose?
At least one of them should have noticed something. But it seems no one did, despite the fact that most reviewers probably payed close attention to the evolution of the game. How strange, really. What are the odds?

 

[pa22word]

EGM's review mentioned the downgraded lighting and gutted torch mechanics their review IIRC.

 

[eot]

All the reviewers were so ready to jump on the positive hype bandwagon their good scores would get them they forgot to compare the game to the demos

Why should they compare it to demos? I think they should review the game for what it is. Not that they shouldn't point out false advertising, but I don't think the review is the place for that.

 

[pa22word]

Why should they compare it to demos? I think they should review the game for what it is. Not that they shouldn't point out false advertising, but I don't think the review is the place for that.

It is when the torch mechanics, a touted feature since the game was revealed, are obviously completely worthless in game because of it.

 

[Fallout-NL]

and not one of them had the presence of mind to think "hey, something seems off here... like... this doesn't look the way I remember it looking in our previews before..."?

I can't believe almost none of them had the forethought to remember that shit. Sad state of affairs if so

Yeah it is extremely disappointing, hard to believe none of 'em noticed anything.

 

[Gbraga]

There were reviews that mentioned the downgrade, they just didn't think the game should recieve a low score because of that.

 

[Ill Saint]

It is when the torch mechanics, a touted feature since the game was revealed, are obviously completely worthless in game because of it.

It's not completely worthless. There are areas where it's still extremely useful, or even needed. Actually, as I've been playing through it, I have the distinct feeling that if the pitch black areas were not brightened up a bit, the game would have been exceedingly difficult, frustrating, and perhaps quite imbalanced. Just a hunch, but maybe this is what they discovered during late stage playtesting and so lessened the reliance on the torch mechanic.

 

[Garcia]

There were reviews that mentioned the downgrade, they just didn't think the game should recieve a low score because of that.

Which shocks me because they "somehow" forgot about all the distracting bugs that are abundant everywhere. There are even input lag problems during gameplay which is completely unacceptable for a game of this nature (many people are starting to notice this in the OT).

Some of those very same review sites lower their scores because of the overall look of many other games but for Dark Souls they just decided to ignore this completely.

No professional site so far mentions the notorious differences between both the PS3 and X360 versions. I can only speak for the PS3 one when I say the framerate went down to the mid 10s (dangerously getting close to Blightown) while fighting one boss with other 2 players helping me out. It always, constantly fluctuates between 20-30 to 60 FPS.

This is a rushed game that shouldn't have been released for consoles in its current state.

 

[RK9039]

What the hell, there's input lag as well? I guess that adds more enjoyment in the combat.

 

[Nohar]

It would be interesting to read and list the reviews which mentioned the graphical downgrade and the ones which didn't, in order to have a better and objective view of all this (though it still seems that most reviews don't mention that fact at all).

Could you please share with us which ones mentioned the downgrade (aside from EGM)?

As far as the french reviews go, neither Gamekult nor Jeuxvideo.fr mentioned it, though they do mention other important things, such as a very capricious framerate, and Gamekult noticed that the XBOX 360 version run more smoothly than its PS3 counterpart (however, they also wrote that the tearing on 360 is worse). No mention of bugs though.

 

[fierrotlepou]

WHAT

 

[Baraka in the White House]

What in the actual fuck...

 

[Garcia]

What the hell, there's input lag as well? I guess that adds more enjoyment in the combat.

It was clearly designed to be that way to make the game feel a little bit harder. ( )

There's a bug during a boss fight where the player gets stucks in a wall forever and you know how do I know this? Because it's happened to me, twice in a row. :-/

 

[Havel]

OP'd.

 

[Salcin]

Cancelling PC pre-order until I get an honest review from totalbiscuit!

 

[Evolved1]

That gif is.... damn.

 

[nOoblet16]

I've played the game for about 5 hours now and not once have I used my torch that I got at the start of the game (except for that one time when I got it to check it out).

 

[Alebrije]

Its a shame a game like this has those graphics , specially at the end of this generation when most of developers know how the PS3 /360 work and can be optimized.
This is pure laziness from Namco and From, there is no other explanation because I do not think they do not have te knowledge to deliver a good lighting and graphic detail over all the game at the end of this generation.

the best analogy about this :

 

[RK9039]

It was clearly designed to be that way to make the game feel a little bit harder. ( )

There's a bug during a boss fight where the player gets stucks in a wall forever and you know how do I know this? Because it's happened to me, twice in a row. :-/

Yeah but... that was a design choice as well.

Spoiler

 

[DarkoMaledictus]

What in the actual fuck...

Wow that's like next gen compared to last gen... if this is not how the pc looks I am going to be pissed!

 

[Garcia]

Its a shame a game like this has those graphics , specially at the end of this generation when most of developers know how the PS3 /360 work and can be optimized.
This is pure laziness from Namco and From, there is no other explanation because I do not think they do not have te knowledge to deliver a good lighting and graphic detail over all the game at the end of this generation.

Yeah, it's frustrating because Dark Souls 2 is extremely fun to play (online). It's just a big pile of wasted potential when you find out about all of the shortcomings and wrong choices.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

It was truly tough at first, especially since I knew I could buy Dark Souls II at any time via Live. But with every new gif showing the gulf of differences between what we were shown and and what we got, I'm ok with waiting.

I might even be ok with never playing a second of Dark Souls II.

 

[Nibel]

Yo

Shit is getting criminal

 

[anchorman128]

Yo

Shit is getting criminal

At this point, I am hoping that they had to scramble to put together less intensive assets for the 360/PS3 versions because of performance issues. Because honestly if the PC version comes out and looks nothing like the demo builds, I am definitely inclined to agree with you.

The fact that the game was downgraded is not the problem, the fact that the downgrade was completely unknown until release is the problem.

 

[Trey]

At this point, I am hoping that they had to scramble to put together less intensive assets for the 360/PS3 versions because of performance issues. Because honestly if the PC version comes out and looks nothing like the demo builds, I am definitely inclined to agree with you.

The fact that the game was downgraded is not the problem, the fact that the downgrade was completely unknown until release is the problem.

I hope Durante is on stand by.

 

[Eyeh4wk]

Drab Souls

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Drab Souls

It almost seems like an Xbox-to-Xbox360 comparison or some shit.

Everyone who has defended this needs a tag linking to one of these gifs.

 

[The Lamp]

It's not completely worthless. There are areas where it's still extremely useful, or even needed. Actually, as I've been playing through it, I have the distinct feeling that if the pitch black areas were not brightened up a bit, the game would have been exceedingly difficult, frustrating, and perhaps quite imbalanced. Just a hunch, but maybe this is what they discovered during late stage playtesting and so lessened the reliance on the torch mechanic.

They still should have done something more than just sloppily removed it.

For example

Spoiler

using a Pharros Lockstone in No Man's Wharf was supposed to be a huge deal because it lights up the whole map. But you didn't even need the light because it was never too dark to maneuver without it. So I felt like I wasted my lockstone using it.

 

[Currygan]

yeah gonna sit out and wait for RPS to lay the claymore on this

 

[Nicktals]

Um, wow...That's drastic. Did they use the demo build to advertise the game? If they did, and it wasn't accompanied by small print like "footage shown not representative of game" or something, couldn't they actually be in some legal trouble?

 

[Zetta]

What in the hell . This gif has sold me into not buying the game for now. This is just getting ridiculous.

 

[IonicSnake]

This is Colonial Marines territory... Did not expect this from From.

 

[EatChildren]

It's already in the op, but I sized/cut the comparison together.

So yeah, I'm sticking with my theory that they'd prototyped the game and built together a vertical slice for presenting their fancy new engine and graphics, all running on PC, and thus in that respect it was entirely legitimate and an excellent method of showing off the impressive new lighting/shadow rendering and how important it is to gameplay.

Time passed and FROM hit massive barriers trying to get the this level of visual quality running on severely dated 360/PS3 tier hardware. The issues were so significant that they were required to not only downscale general texture/asset quality (not unusual at all from high end PC -> console), but also totally overhaul their lightning engine to be far less reliant on complex dynamics and gradient calculations, and instead rely on a more rudimentary lighting/shadow system not unusual for most 360/PS3 tier games. This in turn diminished the impact of the torch system, hence why it's so trivial in the final game.

 

[sirap]

What the fuck? I was actually ok with the lighting downgrades till I saw this. This looks like a straight up generation leap..

Anyone ask ENB about this yet? He spent a considerable amount of time with pre-retail builds when he worked on the guide.

 

[Gbraga]

What the fuck? I was actually ok with the lighting downgrades till I saw this. This looks like a straight up generation leap..

Anyone ask ENB about this yet? He spent a considerable amount of time with pre-retail builds when he worked on the guide.

Yep, he basically said "the game runs like shit", which is acceptable, I guess.

Vaati is hyping up the PC release as our new hope, he seems more disappointed with the warping and enemy despawn though.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

stuff

I just wanted to let you know that your tag/avatar combo made my day.

 

[Abdozer]

Do you guys really think the PC version will look like the demo gameplays we've seen? Just curious if that's possible. I don't seem to recall a game where the PC platform looked that significantly better, feel free to prove me wrong though lol.

 

[sirap]

Yep, he basically said "the game runs like shit", which is acceptable, I guess.

Vaati is hyping up the PC release as our new hope, he seems more disappointed with the warping and enemy despawn though.

Damn. I doubt the PC version will be any different, unless FROM decided to include the original textures and set pieces. That's pretty much unlikely though, but ram me in the ass if they do give us that.

Oh well, we always have DeS2 running on superior PS4 to look forward to!

 

[legacyzero]

It's already in the op, but I sized/cut the comparison together.

DAMN. Look at that wall texture!

 

[ElfArmy177]

Ugh can I get a refund from steam? Game sounds fucking terrible and here is the sad part...

Played and loved all the kings field games over.. And over again, played all the other from software games and loved them including armored core and chromehounds... Also played the hell out of demons souls and dark souls..

Fuck you from software and the new director for...

-enemy despawn

-pulling a large publisher move by not delivering on promised graphics.

-fucking warping to locations? Your games are about atmosphere and exploration.. Unless its mild warping as kings field had it late in game...

Enemy despawn is a huge fucking issue for me..

 

[RK9039]

DAMN. Look at that wall texture!

DEM reflections.

Enemy despawn doesn't seem like a huge issue because there's an item you can burn which respawns them

Spoiler

and makes them harder.

 

[viperman240]

Can anyone try and find a video of an early dark souls 2 presentation where they were talking about lighting? In which the presenter attacked a boarded up window and after he broke the wood covering the window, light shined into the room and lit everything up.

I tried finding this video and I just couldn't find it anywhere. I dont remember if it was on IGN or gamespot but its nowhere to be found.

When I saw that video I found it so amazing that you can just do that. Would be nice if someone remembers seeing this as well.

 

[TheRealTalker]

lol I kept on looking at this thread never really clicking on it

but now I eventually dived in





man was this worth it

 

[epmode]

Do you guys really think the PC version will look like the demo gameplays we've seen?

That's the big question. The only thing I want out of Namco is a real screenshot of the PC version. It sucks that the console versions were butchered but several of the big lighting changes seem to have happened at the last minute so there's a chance that the PC version still has them.

I think we're out of luck when it comes to the improved level geometry and textures though. We'll probably just get higher resolution versions of the existing textures. But even that would look a lot better if the improved lighting is retained.

 

[IonicSnake]

Sorry if posted already, here's a video showing the difference.

http://youtu.be/ykbT03r_9Zo