Watch Dogs visual downgrades causing a stir on neogaf.

[Vivi22]

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 actually really easy to say what happened here, and what happens in 99% of cases like this: Ubisoft's reveal in 2012 wasn't actual functioning game code but a bullshit proof of concept video demo they threw together to show what they wanted to do without spending any time considering if it would actually be doable.

This happens all of the time in the industry and I'm really sick of it.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Oh dang thats a huge drop off if those comparisons are close to being right. That said its easy to make open world games look good or like ass. GTA5 looks like crap most of the time, but you can frame scenes to look awesome. Same with far cry, and crysis. Easy to get WOW screens and moments but then its all sorta meh the more you play the faults come out.

 

[Robert Marrs]

Well I was not going to pre-order it anyways but at least now I know to wait for the pc screenshots. If it really is that different I won't buy it on principal.

 

[Kingjackl]

What on earth is everyone's problem here? It looks exactly the same, and more to the point, it still looks fine.

 

[Ml33tninja]

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

We were all born yesterday.

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?

I think what people expect is for people to not flat-out lie. I don't think that's unreasonable.

I'm personally neither surprised nor do I really think this downgrade is the end of the world, but it really sucks that people have become so complacent that we've gone from people being skeptical about exaggerated claims to being completely complacent about flat-out lies.

This is why we get games like Aliens: Colonial Marines.

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.

So it's not that you can't do anything, it's that you won't do anything.

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.

That's not claiming that the whole movie is like that, or claiming it's in-movie footage when it's not. In fact, it's pretty rare to see any affirmative claim that trailer footage is even from the movie. So yeah. Not the same thing.

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

What do you mean "nowadays?" This has been a thing since at least the 40s. Regardless, when's the last time you saw a movie claim "actual in-movie footage" or "actual in-movie dialogue" in the trailer?

Maybe the PC version will still look that good though? If this is footage from PS4 I mean. The PC specs they announced were pretty high-end. Still, a shame if the console versions end up looking last-gen.

But consoles are forcing devs to dumb down PC games and graphics and stuff.

I for one am tired of hear about Colonial Marines like that was the first game that screwed people over. It has been happening long before that game. Also when were people NOT complacent about flat-out lies?! Do you even remember older games with their insane commercials? Terrible games for sell that were pieces of shit did not start in the last console generation. It is like a never-ending circle.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

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?

Spoiler

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

Remember the Final Fantasy 7 Tech demo, I never understood why people care so much about E3 footage. I love the horror stories more so then the footage.

 

[Trucken]

That 'released' pic, isn't that Freedom Fighters? I'm pretty goddamn sure that's Freedom Fighters.

Yes, I used to have a demo of it on PS2 way back. As I recall, I thought it was pretty darn enjoyable and really laboured on the fence about whether to buy the full game. For reasons that aren't particularly clear anymore, I never bought it. To be fair, I was a kid then with less disposable income, and I was much more into Japanese fantasy and hack & slash games rather than western military type games, or even most games with shooting for that matter.

Even these days, I've still leaned much stronger towards games like Assassin's Creed, Prototype, Batman Arkham games, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Rising and fighting games over most other types.

Well, the point I was trying to make was that you used that screen from Freedom Fighters and saying it was how The Division looked when it was finished. I'm guessing you made an error somewhere, but it's OK, mistakes happen.

 

[svenjl]

Seems to me to be another case of cross gen games being dragged down by the lowest common denominator. Of course a polished demo will be of highest quality. I just picked up GTA 5, which I reckon looks amazing on 360, so I would anticipate that Watch Dogs will be of similar quality on last gen consoles. But when you're trying to produce gameplay that is the same across generations and platforms you have to compromise. For me, gameplay will always ultimately make or break a game so the discrepancies highlighted above are nitpicky at best. Occasional pop in or low res textures doesn't ruin a great gameplay experience.

 

[Khanht Cope]

Well, the point I was trying to make was that you used that screen from Freedom Fighters and saying it was how The Division looked when it was finished. I'm guessing you made an error somewhere, but it's OK, mistakes happen.

How could you not see it's meant in humour? it's in reference to how jarring some of the images have been in some cases; where it's seemed like instead of simply being brought down to earth, some things have back-pedalled all the way back in time to look like early PS3 quality. Behold:

Spoiler: Here is a legit in-game shot of Ass Creed Revelations (2011)

That's should have been shown clearly enough in the last image in my OP.

 

[Robot Number V]

.....Seriously?


Did a single person watch the first trailer for "Watchdogs" and think for a second that the finished product would look that good? Guys, this shit happens damn near every single E3. Are you guys really surprised?

 

[Zakarath]

Eh. Still looks fine to me.

 

[Trucken]

Well, the point I was trying to make was that you used that screen from Freedom Fighters and saying it was how The Division looked when it was finished. I'm guessing you made an error somewhere, but it's OK, mistakes happen.

How could you not see it's meant in humour? it's in reference to how jarring some of the images have been in some cases; where it's seemed like instead of simply being brought down to earth, some things have back-pedalled all the way back in time to look like early PS3 quality. Behold:

Spoiler: Here is a legit in-game shot of Ass Creed Revelations (2011)

That's should have been shown clearly enough in the last image in my OP.

I didn't get that it was a joke since there was no way for me to know that you meant it as a joke. Sure, you end your post with an image from some game that looks like it's from the early PS2-era and a 'j/k', but prior to that everything you had written seemed like you meant it with no hint of humour at all. This is simply a misunderstanding between you and me which can easily be explained by the old saying "Irony is difficult, especially when written" (I might be paraphrasing). Anyway, I apologize if I offended or upset you, it wasn't my intention at all. I just thought you had made an error when you were actually making a joke.

 

[JettMaverick]

Yeah! Oh, and remember the Killzone 2 trailer?

Did anyone see any of the Wii-U footage of Watch_Dogs?

 

[Jandau]

Well, at least we know the PC version will be really pretty...

 

[Khanht Cope]

It was only slight frustration. Since there was you and one other guy, who mentioned I needed to 'check my sources'. I'll take the point that I should have done a better job in establishing a change in tone.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

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

To be fair, in the last decade we have seen plenty of movie trailers with scenes and dialog not in the final movie. "Cutting room floor" content it's usually called.

Just look at the new X-Men movie. The trailer clearly shows Anna Paquin returning as Rogue. You won't see her in the movie though, they literally filmed ONE scene with her and then cut it. We won't see it until it comes out on disk in the deleted scenes.

 

[Flammablezeus]

I still don't get why publishers do this. Is there any better way to make people more disappointed in your game? When footage it released two years before the game, what we see should be work-in-progress visuals. The finished game should ALWAYS look better than old footage. When it doesn't, it only leaves people wondering why you'd show one thing only to disappoint people later on.

 

[Dragonbums]

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?

Spoiler

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

The issue wasn't that nobody has seen an E3 trailer before. The problem was that this game was apparently a trailer that was aping a legitimate gameplay footage trailer. Those tend to be authentic in how the game look.