Dark Souls Port Brings Console Problems to PC

[Karloff]

Dark Souls Port Brings Console Problems to PC

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die players will have to put up with framerate and buffer shortcomings.

If there's one thing PC gamers like to talk about, it's graphics. Graphical fidelity is usually enhanced on the PC compared to console editions, which is one of the reasons many people hold out for a PC version of popular games. Enter Dark Souls: Prepare to Die, the latest From Software edition of the hardcore fantasy die-die-die game, that has already been rumored [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117754-From-Software-is-Having-Trouble-Porting-Dark-Souls] to be slightly on the problematic side. A rush to get the PC port out "as quickly as possible" - according to developer Daisuke Uchiyama - might, the rumors went, mean that frame rate problems and other concerns wouldn't get fixed.

Weeeell ... hard luck, PC gamers. "While the frame-rate's rough edges have been filed down," said Eurogamer, which has had access to a pre-release version, "you're still going to be playing at 30FPS out of the box." There doesn't appear to be an easy fix for that problem, but it gets worse. "On close inspection, it appears that Dark Souls PC uses the very same 1024x720 internal framebuffer as the console versions, regardless of which resolution has been set in the menus." There's no way to change that basic image quality, which means that "PC gamers will very much be getting the genuine console experience here, right down to the pixel."

Still, there's some comfort to be had. The game is still as difficult as it ever was, and there are extra areas for the player to poke around in - and die a lot - with new enemies prepared to squish you like a gnat. The visual tone is as striking as ever, and the frame rate is much smoother than it has been before. But, if you were looking for graphical greatness, better readjust your expectations. When Uchiyama said "we haven't been able to step up into doing any specific optimization for PC," he really meant it.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-09-dark-souls-pc-preview-the-devils-bargain]

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[Something Amyss]

Oh my God. Can PC gamers even ENJOY the game now?

 

[Scars Unseen]

I'm still probably going to get this, but now it's going to wait a bit, since I don't seem to be gaining anything over my PS3 version. Now that Way of the Samurai 4 has a definite(and imminent) release date, that's pretty much where my next game purchase is going.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

Well that just made my fence sitting much easier, or well, harder.

 

[cerebus23]

30 fps lulz, gods it like a throwback to the early console games when buying a port meant that your were getting half of a game that probably would never work properly.

it is nice of them to give pc gamers the game but they could take a bit more time and make the game work.

 

[CAPTCHA]

This is a game that I've been waiting to play for a while now. It's also one which I'll continue to wait to play. The graphics issue is annoying, but something I can learn to live with. The price tag on the other hand...

 

[Carnagath]

A classic case of "miscommunication", isn't it... When people asked for this game on the PC, they actually meant that they wanted a proper PC port, not a half-assed copy paste cash grab. I played Dark Souls to death on the PS3, but was still planning on buying it for the PC just so I could play it with many of my friends who are not console owners and yet were very interested in the game. Then, of course, they read shit like this and lost their interest, and so did I. So, all our sales are effectively lost for the company, and I'm pretty sure we're not the only ones who feel that way. Still, I feel that the game will do reasonably well, which is a shame. The ideal for me would be for it to tank hard and for clearly defined reasons that will be communicated to the devs/publisher, so that they know, for future reference, that if you plan on serving the PC crowd shit, they are not going to eat it. They had a very unique and, in my opinion, quite large niche of gamers to appeal to with this game. A niche that, even on consoles, is apparently large enough to support the development of a game of such ambitious scale like Dark Souls. A crowd which, on the side of PC gaming, is much, much larger and way more thirsty for a game like that. A great port might have potentially brought about changes of perspective in the industry. So much for that...

 

[Viper114]

Sure, bringing Dark Souls to the PC sounds like a good idea, but we're dealing with a company who have primarily worked on consoles with little to no experience with the PC. And as a result, they're putting out a copy of the game with not only no optimizations but with the same problems as the consoles. And Lord knows what the hell else may lurk in there...

I applaud them for trying to appease the fans, but I'm pretty certain they're not going to like how rabid the fans will get with this come release. If only they had either taken more time with it or handed it off to a team with previous PC experience, maybe it could have been cleaned up.

 

[Supernova1138]

Pfft, might as well not release it on PC at all then. Given the fact the game is locked at 720p and 30FPS since they can't take the time to fix that, I doubt the bug testing is going to be that great either. The port is probably going to be a buggy mess that crashes every 5 minutes.

Hell, we might even have a contender for a worse port than GTA IV here.

 

[gigastar]

Except for Games for Windows Live the PC version of Dark Souls is pretty much unrolling as id expect from a... 'rushed' PC port from a developer making its first foray into PC games with a publisher almost wholly unfamiliar to PC games.

My only personal issue is getting a controller, meaning i have to download that thing that lets me use a PS3 controller as a PC gamepad.

Pfft, might as well not release it on PC at all then. Given the fact the game is locked at 720p and 30FPS since they can't take the time to fix that, I doubt the bug testing is going to be that great either. The port is probably going to be a buggy mess that crashes every 5 minutes.

Hell, we might even have a contender for a worse port than GTA IV here.

If the game was a fetid mess i doubt that Eurogamer would have been able to provide us with the heads up about the FPS.

 

[Zaik]

I want to be irritated, but they've at least been completely honest about not having a fucking clue how to port to PC before they sold it.

I'm not really interested in it as is, maybe once it drops down in the $5 range and/or some modders that know how them newfangled personal computers work fix it up(and maybe as an added bonus rip all the GFWL garbage out of it like was made available for Fallout 3).

 

[Waaghpowa]

Even though it's highly likely someone will find a way to crack the FPS cap, like they did with LA Noir, I already decided to avoid this game because of GFWL. I could have put up with the poor optimization since there is always a way to tweak them.

 

[getoffmycloud]

Even though it's highly likely someone will find a way to crack the FPS cap, like they did with LA Noir, I already decided to avoid this game because of GFWL. I could have put up with the poor optimization since there is always a way to tweak them.

I think it uses steam now they changed it after the outcry.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Oh great, when I decided to pre-order this game, it gave me a good reason for me to cancel it and I'm quite tempting to do so right now. Ah forget it, I still gonna get it, I mean it's still the same game therefore nothing has been lost right?

 

[thethird0611]

Snip

A great change for the industry is coming. Its called PC gamers now see why you dont petition a developer who explicitly states, 'Hey, we suck at PC ports', and hope for freaking Crysis on their computer.

Oh my, you get EXACTLY the same as console gamers, as well as FREE, let me say again, -FREE- content that consoles have to pay for.

Man, they suck so much. Its all their fault and they should tank so every developer knows not to listen to the PC crowd about porting console games.

To everyone else, I support porting, but I mean cmon, if you dont support this developer, alot of developers wont bother. From Software seriously took a chance because of the PC petition, and im glad about that.

 

[Pipotchi]

Christ this is hardly the end of the world. They were quite frank that it was going to be a straight port and that PC gaming wasnt their forte. They have improved the bits of the game they were able to do and left the rest as is.

They never said all these quirks of the console edition would be worked out and that didnt stop everyone demanding it so either buy it or dont

Sure it would be nice for it to be super optimised and have every resolution available etc etc but that was never what they offered.