Dark Souls II Was "Unplayable" Before Graphics Downgrade

[Elfgore]

Well, it's always nice to see PC players not get screwed over. But I'm not a big fan of how people are just giving this a free pass because it's Dark Souls. Seems slightly biased to me.

I honestly don't see this as a free pass. The xbox360 and Ps3, are old old tech, we have seen the difference between last and this gen of games for months now. Everyone of them is way better looking on current consoles. If you pick up a game on the last gen you should know out right the game isn't going to look as good, period. All I see here is a company that made sure last gen players still got a stable, playable game. I think they deserve props for going the extra mile to give their best to very system out there.

I didn't see any message released by the Dark Souls' team that said the graphics would be lowered for consoles before release. This is something you need to tell your playerbase. Even if it is obvious that the graphics will be lowered. Shadow of Mordor did that a couple months ago. Warning players that the nemesis system would be dumbed down for older consoles. They got so much respect for me for doing that.

 

[enriquetnt]

nobody plays dark souls for the graphics anyway, even the trailer graphics werent that good to begin with and certainly not in PC, PS4, XB1 league (maybe XB1 league cause we all know it sucks, and PC is like then leagues better than ps4/xb1) so in the end we have a poor graphics on EVERY platform but then again WHO CARES? im sure playint it no matter the graphics (i am holdin out for pc version tough not so much for fidelity but for framerate i still have headaches from the blightown debacle on ps3)

 

[sXeth]

The graphics downgrade didn't bother me too much. The leftover mechanical artefacts are more then a little irritating. Nothing like trying to figure out why your lock on keeps vanishing inxplicably (because the guy is hiding in shadows that are no longer there)

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Sorry, but Konami themselfs did this trailer:

And for this case the same could have been done to inform everyone of what the product was actually going to be like instead of waiting for release day and go all "Oh wait, you thought THAT was on consoles? I know we let you play like that in the Betas and never made clear if the previews were from the PC or not but please, have some dignity"

Hadn't seen this before! Makes a very strong case for current gen, actually IMHO!!!
Perhaps the difference would be better if that YT video was 1600p instead of 1080p, but all this does to me is show hardly any visual difference between gens. That will grow once they get the new engines tuned in years to come, but it's still all sub-par as far as PC fidelity goes.

Good on Konami for making this game look big and fun on all four systems either way!!!

 

[nevarran]

"You know that fake vid, we showed you to build up the hype for out game? Yeah, we lied, our game looks worse."
"But for the PC release, we promise you, the game will be exactly as you saw it on that video..." "...unless we have issues with the framerate, but worry not, we're good on making PC ports, right?..."

 

[misg]

I didn't see any message released by the Dark Souls' team that said the graphics would be lowered for consoles before release. This is something you need to tell your playerbase. Even if it is obvious that the graphics will be lowered. Shadow of Mordor did that a couple months ago. Warning players that the nemesis system would be dumbed down for older consoles. They got so much respect for me for doing that.

Did EA with Battlefield4? Did Activision with with CoD Ghost? Did Ubisoft with AC4? Did any of the other companies with games built for both consoles say on the box, "this game is better visually on new console" Simply no they didn't. Come on people would be hopping mad if their was no difference between generations.

Youtube, and a thousand other site have had videos and comparisons showing the improved graphics and FPS difference for a lone time on many different games. As a gamer I understand that when I buy a game and my system is older, I may not get all the shiny particular effects, I may have to settle for mid/high setting instead of ultra because I want a smooth game play over choppy prettiness. PC gamers are very familiar with this, maybe if you've only played console you aren't and I guess you could get mad about this. But end of the day, older hardware, almost always means less game in one way or another. This isn't news and maybe I missed it but never did I see Darksouls2 being advertised at experience exactly the same on both gens of consoles.

This is an unfortunate understanding at it's worst, and remember although gaming isn't as pure as it seemed years ago with micro transactions and such. But still many people in this industry truly want to just making a great game, I don't think this was a ploy, or something to try and sell more copies. It seems to me some gamers need to do a bit more research, and try not to be quite so quick to call foul on these type of articles.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

although it doesnt look like this will effect me (preorder on PC), i will say; From could have walked from this smelling of roses if they'd have made an announcement about this before release.

I'd be willing to bet they'd have gained a lot of respect for their honesty, and 99% of fans would have kept their preorder

 

[WWmelb]

Regardless of the downgrade.... the look and feel of ds2 so far is amazing. The aesthetic works..which is the most important thing

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

Well, it's always nice to see PC players not get screwed over. But I'm not a big fan of how people are just giving this a free pass because it's Dark Souls. Seems slightly biased to me.

maybe because graphics are not important the gameplay seems to be top notch

hell even if the graphics are not that good on PC, if the game is still moddable (as it should be, come on namco is the only reason the first game is playable) you could even tweak the graphic to make the game look even better... or do this