Watch Dogs visual downgrades causing a stir on neogaf.

[Khanht Cope]

#Note - Many of the images are gifs or are quite large, and I've put most of them in spoilers for the sake of your CPU.

Ubisoft seems to have found itself in an awkward position from its management of expectations after some of the more recent footage of the game has apparently compared shockingly poorly with that E3 2012 reveal that I'm sure many of you will recall.

Watch Dogs made a big splash at E3 2012, and was widely praised as the game of the show. Much of the anticipation of the title has formed from the early impression of the visuals and advanced effects and animations shown then, which was a few months before rumours of another console generation began to ripple.

For reference:

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At the time this was touted as real time gameplay, and like has become common at these events; I believe the footage was claimed to be running on PC, but at "current gen spec" (PS360) equivalence.

Many were sceptical of those kinds of visuals and effects being possible for PS360 without omissions and compromises, but it was a standard expected of the game on a high-end PC; and when it became clear that a PS4 and a new X Box were on the horizon, folks figured: "okay, it'll be a next gen game." (that looks truly next gen)

When the delay was announced just ahead of the launch of PS4 & XBone, it was said to be to ensure the high quality of the release. This had worked quite well for Tomb Raider, and it was speculated it was also a move to distance the release from GTAV.

However, some of the footage released subsequently has caught attention for exhibiting some quite stunningly weaker and more dated graphics than shown initially:

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Since the footage in the driving gif was unofficially disclosed to be from PS4:

and because Far Cry 3 didn't quite live up to its reveal footage even when maxed on PC; some people are wondering about the game's state of development, and whether the footage from 2012 reflected progress and ambition on the game in a real sense, rather than a contained "vertical slice".

It could be said that in demonstrating visuals that are not practical in the final version, Ubisoft could be riding the initial hype train until release.

Consider the glorious-looking The Division:

Announced:

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Released:

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In the meantime, lets hope Watch Dogs doesn't get delayed again:

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Joking aside, while some images may look quite scary; a lot of this could just be hyperbolic hearsay.

Thoughts, reactions?

 

[Weaver]

My thoughts are: Was this everyone's first E3 or something?

I haven't trusted convention footage in at least 14 years. It's always bullshit screenshots or pre-rendered. I can't think of a high profile game this hasn't happened with. This always happens. You can't trust this industry at all and I have no idea why anyone still does.

Remember when Unreal Engine 3 was supposed to look like this?

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Remember when ID was boasting about how smart the RAGE AI was going to be? Remember the infamous Spaceworld 2000 Zelda tech demo?

 

[Brownie80]

My thoughts are: Was this everyone's first E3 or something?

I haven't trusted convention footage in at least 14 years. It's always bullshit screenshots or pre-rendered. I can't think of a high profile game this hasn't happened with. This always happens. You can't trust this industry at all and I have no idea why anyone still does.

Remember when Unreal Engine 3 was supposed to look like this?

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Remember when ID was boasting about how smart the RAGE AI was going to be? Remember the infamous Spaceworld 2000 Zelda tech demo?

Yeah! Oh, and remember the Killzone 2 trailer? How that was supposed to be an accurate representation of the PS3 hardware? Well, then it came out it was made by some company in Scandinavia who thought they were working on Killzone 1 DLC cinematics. However as long as Watch Dogs dosen't look like a 2003 GameCube shovelware game I think I can handle it.
Though realistic graphics are always a plus.

 

[BrotherRool]

I do think this sucks and is unfair. On the other hand, we're watching trailers and gameplay a year or more before a games release date and we expect them to have finished graphics? If any game announced at E3 was really finished footage representative of the whole game and not just a vertical slice, well then every game would only be announced when they're halfway through gold.


It's cruddy of publishers. They're lying and being dishonest and often putting pressure on developers to do work that they'll have to redo again when they make the game 'properly'. But equally as a viewing audience you should never believe that a trailer represents the finished product unless it's a month away from launch. Until then what you're seeing is an image of what the developers hope it will look like at the end of their work.

If the launch trailers are touched up, or if the touched up trailers are so far away from the truth that it's night and day, that's when people need to mob up.

Afterall Bioshock Infinite and Half Life 2* also famously had trailers unrepresentative of the final product.


*I think it was 2. It might have been one of the episodes

 

[The Lunatic]

It's hard to say what really happened here.

I think, likely the most probably outcome, is simply that the PS4 and Xbone are significantly less powerful than Ubisoft was expecting.

It's unfortunate, as the graphical precedent set by the new systems effectively limits what a more powerful PC would be able to produce as no developer is going to take the time to effectively remodel and re-texture all the assets in the game, for the sole purpose of the PC release.

And that's before we even get on to the changes which would have to happen to the engine.

 

[Elfgore]

Though I don't agree with the this practice, there is nothing I can do to stop that. And no I will not boycott for something as silly as this. Hollywood does this all the time. In that two minute trailer all we see is the action and explosions, not the other 90% of the movie that is not action. It's called embellishing. Do graphics matter, depends on the game but for AAA games they just need to be acceptable. These look acceptable.

 

[Zhukov]

I disapprove of false or glitzed up advertising, y'know, just on general principles.

That said, I really can't bring myself to give a damn.

"OH MY GOD, guys! There's a video game with a slightly misleading preview/trailer! SEND IN THE ARMY!

Oh, and I say this as someone with only the vaguest will-probably-buy-it-on-sale interest in the game, so I'm not defending it out of pre-release fanboyism.

 

[lacktheknack]

Eh, add a decent screen filter and it'll look great.

Also, considering that the footage we saw was made before the game's graphics were even done, I have no idea why people were expecting them to be that good. Again.

It's better than releasing unfinished footage, at any rate. I remember when Dragon Age II released early screenshots:

http://brutalgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DA22.jpg

...and people thought they were final screenshots showing the full range of graphics, which of course will stop devs from showing what they really have if people can't read the blanking "Work In Progress" caption. Because people don't understand how anything is produced. ANYTHING.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

It's hard to say what really happened here.

I think, likely the most probably outcome, is simply that the PS4 and Xbone are significantly less powerful than Ubisoft was expecting.

It's unfortunate, as the graphical precedent set by the new systems effectively limits what a more powerful PC would be able to produce as no developer is going to take the time to effectively remodel and re-texture all the assets in the game, for the sole purpose of the PC release.

And that's before we even get on to the changes which would have to happen to the engine.

That would be a convincing excuse as to what happened if it wasn't for the fact that Ubisoft claimed that the 2012 E3 gameplay was being shown on PCs with PS3/Xbox 360 analogous hardware. Even if the ps4 and Xbox One aren't as powerful as they predicted the game would still look as good at the 2012 E3 footage since both consoles are still much more powerful than their predecessors. So in either case Ubisoft was lying about something, whether it's the game's capabilities on the PS3 and Xbox 360 (which people questioned the moment they heard them since they seemed ridiculous), or the game as a whole.

 

[Veylon]

Hollywood does this all the time. In that two minute trailer all we see is the action and explosions, not the other 90% of the movie that is not action. It's called embellishing. Do graphics matter, depends on the game but for AAA games they just need to be acceptable. These look acceptable.

No, Hollywood doesn't do this as their trailers contains real snippets of the film as opposed to content generated for marketing purposes.

And when the snippets aren't in the movie - e.g. The Last Airbender - moviegoers are rightfully upset. As videogamers have a right to be as well.

 

[ecoho]

......anyone else still just pissed that they delayed it like 3 weeks out and its taking them till may to get the dam thing out? Yeah if this game doesn't come with some seriously good looking graphics and an apology im gonna be rather angry at Ubisoft.

 

[Yopaz]

Remember when ID was boasting about how smart the RAGE AI was going to be? Remember the infamous Spaceworld 2000 Zelda tech demo?

While I didn't like RAGE the AI there was among the redeeming points of the game. They weren't smart, but they had fun reactions to being shot. Nothing Resident Evil 4 didn't manage before them, but I liked that.

OT: Honestly what did we expect here? We should know by now that the PS3 and the Xbox 360 don't have unlimited power and while they may be able to show such visuals as shown above they would be sacrificing a lot to make it do so such as stable framerate while moving and number of objects on screen at the same time.

I'd rather have toned down visuals and more objects on screen than the best visuals. Then again, I've got a PC so I could probably have both. Cue overused image of PC master race.

Now if they could just tell me when this hits Wii U I would be happy. Ubisoft is continually annoying me, but I like their games enough to not start hating them.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

The entire industry (especially the corporate side) is filled to the brim with liars, cheats, and scam artists. Why do people continue to be shocked by these kinds of revelations?

 

[Smooth Operator]

I don't know why we have to keep repeating this when it is common knowledge presentations run on hardware far beyond what anyone has, if you don't want to believe it then you will keep getting disappointed like this.
Now I wouldn't be overly fussed if the legit game didn't go that damn low, or if it had some style to compensate for the fact their fidelity can't stay at the desired level.

But the upside for me is that this is Ubisoft which I don't want to have dealings with and the game even with it's great graphics looked very dull to me.

 

[Amaror]

It's better than releasing unfinished footage, at any rate. I remember when Dragon Age II released early screenshots:

http://brutalgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DA22.jpg

...and people thought they were final screenshots showing the full range of graphics, which of course will stop devs from showing what they really have if people can't read the blanking "Work In Progress" caption. Because people don't understand how anything is produced. ANYTHING.

I don't think Dragon Age 2 is a really good example, since Dragon Age 2 ended up looking pretty much as shit as the screenshots.
And i even played with the "HD Textures" that you could download for the game.

 

[lacktheknack]

It's better than releasing unfinished footage, at any rate. I remember when Dragon Age II released early screenshots:

http://brutalgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DA22.jpg

...and people thought they were final screenshots showing the full range of graphics, which of course will stop devs from showing what they really have if people can't read the blanking "Work In Progress" caption. Because people don't understand how anything is produced. ANYTHING.

I don't think Dragon Age 2 is a really good example, since Dragon Age 2 ended up looking pretty much as shit as the screenshots.
And i even played with the "HD Textures" that you could download for the game.

Trust the graphics whore: The game did NOT look as utterly atrocious as the pre-alpha screenshots. The end product does not look "bad" by any stretch of the imagination.

You probably don't like the art style, which colors your perception of the graphics as a whole, but that's something entirely different.

 

[Amaror]

Trust the graphics whore: The game did NOT look as utterly atrocious as the pre-alpha screenshots. The end product does not look "bad" by any stretch of the imagination.

You probably don't like the art style, which colors your perception of the graphics as a whole, but that's something entirely different.

Well the starting area pretty much looks exactly like in the screenshots and the darkspawn look just as rediculous and stupid.
The City Kirkwall doesn't look much better. All Brown and grey without the shiny HD Textures and Models that other Games with brown and grey graphics normally have.
Granted the outside area had some passable skyboxes, but they got old pretty quick.
And the elfs look just horrible, even worse than the darkspawn in my opinion.

I am pretty sad that DAI seems to go for the same over-the-top anime bullshit graphic style, which just doesn't fit into "dark" fantasy at all.

 

[step1999]

I don't know why we have to keep repeating this when it is common knowledge presentations run on hardware far beyond what anyone has, if you don't want to believe it then you will keep getting disappointed like this.
Now I wouldn't be overly fussed if the legit game didn't go that damn low, or if it had some style to compensate for the fact their fidelity can't stay at the desired level.

But the upside for me is that this is Ubisoft which I don't want to have dealings with and the game even with it's great graphics looked very dull to me.

Quote from OP : I believe the footage was claimed to be running on PC, but at "current gen spec" (PS360) equivalence.

 

[BrotherRool]

No, Hollywood doesn't do this as their trailers contains real snippets of the film as opposed to content generated for marketing purposes.

Nowadays it's not uncommon to shoot scenes or record lines specifically for the trailer that you don't intend to go in the actual film. Even without the cynicism almost any film with sufficient trailers will include footage that isn't actually in the film, whether it's a deleted scene or an alternate cut or whatever. The entirety of the first Avatar: The Last Airbender trailer was stuff that didn't end up in the film

......anyone else still just pissed that they delayed it like 3 weeks out and its taking them till may to get the dam thing out? Yeah if this game doesn't come with some seriously good looking graphics and an apology im gonna be rather angry at Ubisoft.

No, this is what makes Ubisoft awesome. It's not like a publisher wants to waste millions of dollars trying to prevent you from playing their game. They tested it, the developers realised that the gameplay was fundamentally flawed and repetitive, and even though they were only 3 weeks from release Ubisoft said, okay guys we'll pay for you to take as long as you need to make this game fun.

EA can't even be bothered to bug test their games before releasing them. There's no way I'm going to have a got at Ubisoft for taking time to really make sure their games are fun before giving them to the public.

If you're interested Polygon did an article on what was going on and why they delayed the game
http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/6/5477236/watch-dogs-hands-on-video-interview-release-date