Dark Souls II Hi-Fidelity Screenshots Removed From Steam

[GAunderrated]

So the developers got lazy and didn't feel like putting in the work to make the best PC port they could. That's fine I'll just pick up DSII like I did with DS... in the bargain bin of $5 or less. You get paid the effort you put in

 

[SecondPrize]

And now I'm laughing my ass off at all the PC elitist cry babies on here crying and pointing their fingers at consoles, claiming its their fault, and which a lot of you are claiming the game isn't worth a buy if it isn't in "SUPERULTRA GRAPHICAL MODE ACTIVATE OMG" I beat dark souls 2 in a few days, its not that spectacular, a forgettable story, a ton of bosses and plenty of dying. Thats. About. it.

Seriously PC elitists, try to enjoy a game for once in your life without sounding like an over opinionated spoilt rich kid?

Like we won't be able to download something to fix this shit. Why do you care anyways?

 

[Grabehn]

so where are the watchdogs graphics angry mob whne you need them?

snip

except they(from software) is getting your money to do a job they promissed and its not the modders job to do it and guess what the modders will get in return for this.
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people shouldnt take good will from fans for granted. not even the companies who create the product.

The things is, I'm not saying that developers should rely on modders to do their job, nor that "all" people should stop caring about stuff like this, but rather that there's always going to be someone that cares enough about making the game look "better" in order to put the effort into it, not saying "this devs get a free pass" on the subject or anything like that, but I didn't see any "this is going to be THE graphical monster" like Watch Dogs did a long time ago, but a simple "it'll look better on PC" which it will probably do anyways, since it isn't that hard to make it look better than on a 7(?) year old console, but just not in the "Extremely HD" way that some people might've expected.

 

[In Search of Username]

Disappointing. I mean I guess it'll still load a lot faster (those fucking loading screens are unbearable) and have a better frame rate, but those lighting effects in the early trailers did look SO GODDAMN COOL, and it would have been nice to see them. Still, there's hope yet with mods I guess.

 

[QuicklyAcross]

Hopefully this will all be sorted out by the modding community once again because pc mustard rice and what we do not get we will either take or make for our own with hd packs

 

[Itsthefuzz]

Whelp, I bought the PS3 version first because DS was my favorite game of allll time. I planned on getting the PC version too if they kept the dynamic lighting and the likes. It's sad that they can't, but at least they changed the screenshots a month in advance for people who pre-ordered but would find the graphics change a deal breaker. Another good example on why not to pre-order! Hell, I bet I'll still buy the PC version on sale one day.

 

[Lunar Templar]

*shrugs*

I figure the only people that will and do seem to be upset about this, are the people who don't under stand what the term 'work in progress' means, or that From isn't a PC games developer.

As for me, didn't know the changed em, and don't rightly care, but then I'm one of those weird. people that don't have any issue with the Dark Souls 1 port.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Sigh, I am really disappointed in them. Why on earth would you give parity with a platform that is 10 times more powerful than old gen? I just don't understand.

They even bragged about PC being lead platform even so that implies that they have certain standards (increased textures, lighting, 60 fps, AA etc) they must adhere to and now they are trying to pull a bait and switch.

Oh well, I guess we must seek Durante's help yet again to come and save this game from inferior quality.

Captcha: bee line..no shit captcha.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Personally, I was a little bothered by the "Easy Mode" idea because I think people mistake the difficulty from coming strictly from enemy damage/defense when it's not and that's all that the people saying "Well why not add an easy mode?" were offering. Most of the difficulty of the games comes in it punishing you for mistakes that are easy to point out in hindsight if you sprung them or easily spotted if you take the game at a slower pace, as intended, not from slogging through a monster with high health and damage.

I'm all for ways that make the game more approachable to newcomers or offer some help to people who need it, but it should be done within the game, not a menu. That's why they added stuff like the Way of the Blue/Blue Sentinels, that's why they changed the matchmaking system in NG to stop the low level griefing, and that's why they have a more thorough tutorial zone. Just adding "easy" isn't going to do anybody, especially new players, any good with the way this series is built.

Just had to quote this because it's, well, the truth.

Most of the complaints about the difficulty in DS come from a position of not understanding two things, where the difficulty in the game comes from and why that difficulty is there. First off, the difficulty is part of the very basic design of the game. It's not about enemies that have tons of HP, can kill the player in one hit and who attack with totally random unavoidable attacks. It's about deadly enemies that can kill the player quickly, sure, but it's also about where they're located and how they attack in combination with abilities that a player can learn to avoid. It's about levels designed in such a way that even combat against simple enemies can be deadly if approached in the wrong way. It's about, all told, just being patient and careful, and knowing your strengths and weaknesses. Secondly, the difficulty is part of the lore, story and setting. You're not playing as a lost hero or superhero, you're just playing as a cursed human who happens to be (un)lucky enough to struggle through the challenges placed in front of you. You're not even the one "hero," you're just one of many that may find more success than the others. Removing the difficulty from DS, even in an optional mode, would at the least require a complete rebalancing of the game if not even more drastic changes to things like core level design. It would also break the setting and storyline. And, at it's core, FromSoft is already a fairly small developer with much more limited resources than others. They don't have the resources to essentially create two or three games in one just to add an Easy mode that would actually work with the experience they want to put forward.

In addition to all of the above, there are actually numerous ways already in the Souls games to make the game both easier and harder if you want. They're just internal choices and not something you find in the option menu. Want an easier game? Try a super high armour character with a great shield and giant club, and pump all your points into stats that enhance your physicality. Oh, and play along with a guide or walkthough so that you know what challenges are coming up next. There you go, easy mode Souls without any fuss or muss.

 

[shrekfan246]

What exactly is it you don't like? I can tell you, from the inside, it's about as good a fan base as I've been a part of. We get characterised as "elitist" yet if you need help and put a query out there you will get a number of detailed, helpful, friendly responses.

I imagine it has more to do with the general comments you find on Dark Souls playthroughs, either on Youtube or streamed on Twitch.

Pretty much the worst thing a human being can do is record/stream their first, blind playthrough of a Souls game, because a great number of the fans of the series will rage and ***** and moan to heaven and back about how the player didn't know every little thing about the areas and enemies and items and weapons and armor and how to level.

And really, try not to attribute generalizations to other player-bases if you're going to try refuting the existence of a similar group in your own. The only reason you see less "Learn 2 play teh game, noob" comments about Dark Souls compared to World of Warcraft is because World of Warcraft has roughly five times the userbase (and that's just going by actual sales of the game, which is almost assuredly a much higher percentage than people who still play/play online/will post on dedicated forums). Yes, much hostility is brought in by the people who will vehemently oppose those they think are 'shoving' Dark Souls in their faces, but many fans of Dark Souls tend to be just as ardent in their defense of it.

OT: As long as it runs on my PC, I really couldn't care less about this. In fact, I would assume this makes it more likely that I'll be able to play Dark Souls II, which I'm perfectly okay with because current plans in my life mean that I may be 1,500 miles away from my consoles in four or five months, so I'm trying to avoid buying new games for them.

 

[cliff excellent]

Meh, I was hoping the Pc version would be darker and that's it really, no point in the torches at all on the console versions except to activate a few traps and what not. Apart from that it looks beautiful anyway (dem billowing cloaks) so the increase in resolution will be nice but the difference wont be huge. Art styles always more important than poly count.

Captcha: First World

You said it captcha

 

[Branindain]

What exactly is it you don't like? I can tell you, from the inside, it's about as good a fan base as I've been a part of. We get characterised as "elitist" yet if you need help and put a query out there you will get a number of detailed, helpful, friendly responses.

I imagine it has more to do with the general comments you find on Dark Souls playthroughs, either on Youtube or streamed on Twitch.

Pretty much the worst thing a human being can do is record/stream their first, blind playthrough of a Souls game, because a great number of the fans of the series will rage and ***** and moan to heaven and back about how the player didn't know every little thing about the areas and enemies and items and weapons and armor and how to level.

And really, try not to attribute generalizations to other player-bases if you're going to try refuting the existence of a similar group in your own. The only reason you see less "Learn 2 play teh game, noob" comments about Dark Souls compared to World of Warcraft is because World of Warcraft has roughly five times the userbase (and that's just going by actual sales of the game, which is almost assuredly a much higher percentage than people who still play/play online/will post on dedicated forums). Yes, much hostility is brought in by the people who will vehemently oppose those they think are 'shoving' Dark Souls in their faces, but many fans of Dark Souls tend to be just as ardent in their defense of it.

OT: As long as it runs on my PC, I really couldn't care less about this. In fact, I would assume this makes it more likely that I'll be able to play Dark Souls II, which I'm perfectly okay with because current plans in my life mean that I may be 1,500 miles away from my consoles in four or five months, so I'm trying to avoid buying new games for them.

I'm not really "refuting" anything. My experience doesn't gel with what I've been hearing, so I honestly asked where people were finding these idiot Souls fans. You've answered that question: in the comments on YouTube. I don't read the comments on YouTube (because they tend to be morons in every case) so I believe that. However, there are still a ton of awesome Souls fans out there, many on this website alone.

 

[Strazdas]

Was beta gameplay live? because trailers can be prerendered quite easily to the point of allowing it to render the script for a day or needed. (and more, ect)

Yes, as in you could actually download and play it yourself in your PS3. It would have been expected that the full game would at least look the same or better, right?

Indeed. If they have given you a try and then downgraded the graphics afterwards then this is a perfect case of every suffers because there still are people using obsolete technology from 10 years ago (360 and PS3).

 

[porous_shield]

I imagine it has more to do with the general comments you find on Dark Souls playthroughs, either on Youtube or streamed on Twitch.

Pretty much the worst thing a human being can do is record/stream their first, blind playthrough of a Souls game, because a great number of the fans of the series will rage and ***** and moan to heaven and back about how the player didn't know every little thing about the areas and enemies and items and weapons and armor and how to level.

And really, try not to attribute generalizations to other player-bases if you're going to try refuting the existence of a similar group in your own. The only reason you see less "Learn 2 play teh game, noob" comments about Dark Souls compared to World of Warcraft is because World of Warcraft has roughly five times the userbase (and that's just going by actual sales of the game, which is almost assuredly a much higher percentage than people who still play/play online/will post on dedicated forums). Yes, much hostility is brought in by the people who will vehemently oppose those they think are 'shoving' Dark Souls in their faces, but many fans of Dark Souls tend to be just as ardent in their defense of it.

OT: As long as it runs on my PC, I really couldn't care less about this. In fact, I would assume this makes it more likely that I'll be able to play Dark Souls II, which I'm perfectly okay with because current plans in my life mean that I may be 1,500 miles away from my consoles in four or five months, so I'm trying to avoid buying new games for them.

Certain games seem to bring out the worse in people in that respect; games with stats and skills that people can't conceivably think of someone else playing differently than the way they played. There's no other way to beat a boss than with the weapon they used and with the build they used or you're playing the game wrong.

I remember watching Demon's Souls' videos on Youtube just after the game came out and they were rank with comments like you have described. I think there was some machoism, or something, going on with everyone trying to one up each other or being insulting. On the other hand, it's not just the Souls games because I have also watched a lets play of Persona 4, where the guys playing it went in pretty much blind, on a site with a comments section, usually, several degrees of magnitude better than Youtube and there was a lot of toxicity.

 

[Quellist]

I didn't really care until I read how the dynamic lighting system was tied into gameplay. Shiny graphics I can do without but when a central mechanic is just removed I get a bit miffed. Think I'll pass on this for the time being.

In all honesty it probably just makes the game play better. There are a few strange artifacts left, but not having much of the game require a torch seems like a big improvement. I would not actually be surprised if getting feed back the the all darkness was not a fun thing was one of the reason for the change.

Y'know if they just came out and said that i'd be a lot happier, but when the stuff just gets pulled with no explanation, people tend to assume the worst.

 

[Zendariel]

I have a massive grin on my face right now. I can't wait to see how the Dark Souls fans come justify this. (if it is true.) I'm expecting a lot of denial and "gameplay is all that matters." arguments.

Though I do hope it isn't true. I don't hate dark souls, I just really don't like the fanbase.

What exactly is it you don't like? I can tell you, from the inside, it's about as good a fan base as I've been a part of. We get characterised as "elitist" yet if you need help and put a query out there you will get a number of detailed, helpful, friendly responses. Compare that to so many other games (like WoW for instance) where daring to ask a question instantly marks you as a worthless noob to be sarcastically misled at best, and randomly abused at worst. Also, if you look at some old Souls threads, I think you'll find that if there's hostility in there it's usually being brought in from outside, from one of a number of passionate haters who believe their taste is objectively right for some reason.

And for my part, I genuinely don't give a flying fuck about graphics and never have, which is why I was content to buy the PS3 version in the first place. I guess PC Master Racers are likely to be annoyed though.

From the outside looking in, The Souls fanbase is very elitist. Remember the whole Dark Souls 2 easy mode fiasco? That was my first encounter with the fanbase. And I'll I saw was a bunch of people complaining about casuals entering their game. Then I've seen some people here scorn Watch_Dogs for lying about graphics, but not Dark Souls becuase all that matters is gameplay. I've seen some treat it like an idol that can do no wrong. That's why I don't care for the fanbase.

Note: These are once again just my view from outside the fanbase. I've never been a part of it, so feel free to enlighten me if anything is wrong. (this isn't sarcasm btw.)

You take the good with the bad sadly, i feel like this game has developed two different fanbases. One created by the social interaction, world design and lore. Basically the people who want to uncover everything in this game and speculate on theories and meanings of items and characters and locations. Some of them are more into it and some less, but this is generally a very helpful part of the community. Or the part that i can't really feel would ever give just the advice of "get gud" but would instead give tips or maybe offer to help with difficult sections of the game if asked.

Then there is the "difficulty fanbase" that can be divided into at least two parts, one part encompassing many self made or
community challenges. talking about weapon mechanics, pvp, speedruns and all that stuff. Generally pretty helpful people at least to my experience, but more into challenging self than teaming up with people.

And then there is a pretty vocal portion of the "this is the hardest game ever", "casuals stay away" and "get gud" which pretty much exists in all difficult games, but there is a large amount of them in this community because dark souls and demon's souls are perceived as super difficult games. Personally i think this part kind of hurts the game and the community but it's a part of gaming culture like it or not.

Edit: can't believe i forgot to mention this group but there is also a part of populace that identify by the name Sunbros and are looking for "jolly co-operation". It is kind of the co-op play part of the community, but i personally do very little coop so i can't really say anything about this part of the community. As far as i know they are also a very helpful bunch that mostly want to help others and have jolly good time. Helping in bosses earns them items that are needed to progress in their covenant. This is mostly inspired by solaire in dark souls and i don't know if it really existed before dark souls.

Someone adressed the easy mode already and like he/she said, the game can be made easier mostly through getting some knowledge by for example asking people or checking the wiki, but the enemies and such being less punishing would have hurt the atmosphere and narrative in many ways. It is truly a shame that many request for help result in the "get gud" response. Personally i would like way more people to experience the games but they do kind of demand from the player. And that is by design as one of the cornerstones of the games.

Someone else mentioned their first try being really soulcrushing and then ending at blightown, later playing through the game with new character almost year later and feeling like it was one of their favourite games. My first playthrough was kind of similar, i spent a lot of time in blighttown without finding a way out and being cursed in addition. And it's a really memorable experience, not necessarily fun, but really memorable. And if you want to stretch that a little, according to lore most undead lose their motivation to go forward, end up losing their mind for not ever dying totally. And then just wander around forever looking for souls to devour. First time completely through the game took me about 80 hours, fastest was little under 4 hours when i decided to do my first speedrun try in a game ever.




OT: yeah, it sucks and i was looking forward to how much the torch and darkness would change the atmosphere. The game can still be pretty damn dark if you set the brightness right, but if you set it a little too light you can kind of see everything. It was one of the reasons i've been postponing my NG+ to leave new things for that experience. But as stated earlier, from software is not really known for pc games, some of the reasons for postponing the pc version in the first place included being able to change resolution and remap key bindings, which for pc developers are really nobrainers but can be completely new for console developers. Can't remember the source, it was one of those pc release would be delayed but hopefully not too much after the console versions.