Witcher 3

Denaut · May 9, 2015

I took a look at those screenshot comparisons and it looks mostly like optimizations to me. You'd be surprised how much good looking stuff has to be cut in order to get the game to run well when do or die time comes.

It really sucks when that happens but developers don't know how good the average user hardware (not the best hardware) is going to be when they release a game, and sometimes you are off the mark. Graphics options are a help, but there aren't the resources to optimize for every level, so studios tend to optimize most for the median level and the high end usually suffers for it by getting cuts instead of optimizations. Also, some optimizations needed for the median quality level will end up impacting the highest ones.

There is also budget stuff, it costs more to make higher quality assets and if you are running behind schedule you might have to sacrifice a little quality for quantity. There is always a balance to be had here, and it leads to difficult decisions.

mixtilplix · May 9, 2015

Kedwyn_sl said:
I'm not surprised the graphics got a downgrade from 2. The scope of the game world is much larger and I'll gladly take that for open world vs the corridors of 1 and 2. Still looks fine to me.

I actually wish there was more of a compromise between open world and the, earlier more narrative based, witcher games. I mean that is what drew me into the series in the first place. The second one was all about the set pieces and yeah the narrow corridors worked against it but it was such a rich looking world.

Droigan · May 10, 2015

View. Think it is from the PS4 version. Video gif was taken from has been removed.

Vorph · May 10, 2015

That is the worst [over]use of motion blur I have ever seen, and I say that as someone who owns FF Type-0 HD. I haven't seen it look that bad in any of the other videos, which is kind of strange. GIF conversion wouldn't magically create that kind of effect either.

I knew there was something I was forgetting when weighing the pros and cons of PC vs. PS4 -- I need to be able to shut off eyecancer like motion blur, bokeh depth of field, chromatic aberration, etc. and there's pretty much zero chance of a console game having video options other than gamma.

Droigan · May 10, 2015

Vorph_sl said:
That is the worst [over]use of motion blur I have ever seen, and I say that as someone who owns FF Type-0 HD. I haven't seen it look that bad in any of the other videos, which is kind of strange. GIF conversion wouldn't magically create that kind of effect either.

I knew there was something I was forgetting when weighing the pros and cons of PC vs. PS4 -- I need to be able to shut off eyecancer like motion blur, bokeh depth of field, chromatic aberration, etc. and there's pretty much zero chance of a console game having video options other than gamma.

Might be clipping issues too. Notice the medallion + fence when it focuses on Geralt. I believe both shots are from the PS4 video that was removed. I'm certainly getting the PC version. I'm using a laptop connected to my TV with a DS4, so no difference in comfort compared to the PS4.

Penance · May 10, 2015

So what kind of rig you think is going to be needed to run this at semi max settings (don't need 4k, I have a 1440p monitor though). I just got a new setup, z99 chipset, 5820k intel 5th gen, 16GB DDR4 and a 4GB 980GT. However, I don't know if that will be enough....

Might have to get another 980 0.o

Droigan · May 10, 2015

Penance_sl said:
So what kind of rig you think is going to be needed to run this at semi max settings (don't need 4k, I have a 1440p monitor though). I just got a new setup, z99 chipset, 5820k intel 5th gen, 16GB DDR4 and a 4GB 980GT. However, I don't know if that will be enough....

Might have to get another 980 0.o

The youtubers that were there trying it recently (while obviously on computers set up by CDPR) it was fairly well optimized except some stutters that the devs said were due to a bug that was already fixed, but not on the dev build that was available for playing on.

Maxed settings with a steady 60fps with all options except the hair thing turned on, which lowered the framerates significantly. Which is the same thing Witcher 2 had with its ubersampling.

Point being, I think the rigs that the youtubers got to play on were fairly similar to yours. 16 gig ram and 980gts. Can't recall hearing any of them mention that they were SLI 980s.

I have a 880gtx with 16 gig ram ASUS laptop. Not the best, but still expect it to look and run better than my PS4. I hope companies start ripping off the way GTA 5 handles graphical options. The visual memory slider is a great addition to any options menu.

Column_sl · May 10, 2015

Every single PC game I've bought has been vastly superior to the PS4 version (minus Mortal Kombat X, but that is the devs fault). If you have a good gaming rig, I have no idea why you want to game on the PS4. The whole controller thing is over with now since every game is optimized to use a gaming pad out of the box, and the "I want to game on a large screen excuse" is played out since monitors are so large now with a better resolution/refresh rate.

Then there is all the other pluses of a PC, like better voice chat apps, and being able to use multi monitors for maps, watching streams when farming etc.

Not to mention PC games are half price at launch.

If I had a choice I would go 100% PC, and never look back. It's such a vastly superior gaming experience now.

Quaid · May 10, 2015

For the family man who doesn't wish to seclude himself for long periods of time, couch gaming is the only real option. Unless of course your significant other doesn't mind you hunched over a keyboard with your dual monitor setup gaming rig in the living room.

The real trick is convincing your woman that cuddling while you are playing vidya actually counts as spending time together. Graphical and feature arguments are all well and good, but low wife-agro is where consoles really pull ahead.

Column_sl · May 10, 2015

Meh, I'm a family man. You would think you would have more problems dominating the TV while your significant other does nothing. All she is going to do is complain to her friends that you game all the time anyway. It's a losing war.

And let's be honest, you are not with a girlfriend anymore. You are married, probly with kids so you have barely any social life that doesn't involve them ,or the gym.

The best thing you can do is build an office for yourself. It's not like your kids can't come hang out with you anyway.

If your wife is so sensitive she can't deal with you even being by yourself in your own house for budgeted time then you have way more problems then gaming imo.

Denaut · May 10, 2015

Quaid_sl said:
For the family man who doesn't wish to seclude himself for long periods of time, couch gaming is the only real option. Unless of course your significant other doesn't mind you hunched over a keyboard with your dual monitor setup gaming rig in the living room.

The real trick is convincing your woman that cuddling while you are playing vidya actually counts as spending time together. Graphical and feature arguments are all well and good, but low wife-agro is where consoles really pull ahead.

I play PC games on my TV all the time, just plug it into HDMI. I specifically built my PC to be very portable for just that reason, but you can do it with any modern computer really. My only major issue is that I am still waiting for the XB1 widi drivers for the PC

Might be waiting a while though...

Quaid · May 10, 2015

Column_sl said:
Meh, I'm a family man. You would think you would have more problems dominating the TV while your significant other does nothing. All she is going to do is complain to her friends that you game all the time anyway. It's a losing war.

And let's be honest, you are not with a girlfriend anymore. You are married, probly with kids so you have barely any social life that doesn't involve them ,or the gym.

The best thing you can do is a build an office for yourself. It's not like your kids can't come hang out with you anyway.

If your wife is so sensitive she can't deal with you even being by yourself in your own house for budgeted time then you have way more problems then gaming imo.

My wife has a tablet, and dual crippling addictions of Twitter and My Singing Monsters. She loves when I leave her to herself to do that... For a certain period of time. If I PC game alone, I find she starts to bug me after 2 or so hours to hang out/do something. She thinks that's a very reasonable amount of time for a gaming session, and she's not wrong. But I want to play for fucking 3 hours cuz I love me some vidya. I wanna do this 3-4 nights a week once the kid is in bed. It's way easier to attain this for me without potential resentment if I'm at least in the physical presence of my wife, if not the emotional one.

Quaid · May 10, 2015

Denaut_sl said:
I play PC games on my TV all the time, just plug it into HDMI. I specifically built my PC to be very portable for just that reason, but you can do it with any modern computer really. My only major issue is that I am still waiting for the XB1 widi drivers for the PC

Might be waiting a while though...

My case is full ATX, and I'm not upgrading until a compelling PC exclusive comes out that warrants it.

Xexx · May 10, 2015

Quaid_sl said:
For the family man who doesn't wish to seclude himself for long periods of time, couch gaming is the only real option. Unless of course your significant other doesn't mind you hunched over a keyboard with your dual monitor setup gaming rig in the living room.

The real trick is convincing your woman that cuddling while you are playing vidya actually counts as spending time together. Graphical and feature arguments are all well and good, but low wife-agro is where consoles really pull ahead.

I put a futon in the room with my 60inch and PC and w/ the Xbox controller everything is like couch gaming now. The only issue is converting my friends to doing the same.

While W3 looks awesome i dont see a problem with a single 980 pushing the game, at 1440p. Only time will tell for sure, i run a 295x2 and im pretty confident i could run it max.

Bondurant · May 10, 2015

joeboo_sl said:
This is worrisome

Witcher 3 - what happened? - Album on Imgur

We're having the same stuff every year (mostly from Reddit or 4chan) when some heavily anticipated game got released on both console and PC. Here's what's actually going on : people get mad because the game usually looks / runs better on PC and demos. They start a smear campaign because they can't afford a decent PC rig / can't be arsed to play on PC (whether you wanna spend your time with your family or your wife is a dragon doesn't matter). They post stuff on /v/, r/gaming or NeoGAF and they complain and bitch and complain and bitch until the game is on the shelves and they run like mad hyenas to the store to buy the fucker like there's no tomorrow.

If you play a PC game on a console and get upset because the game isn't as good as on PC, you're a dumb person.

This collection of screenshots don't say anything about The Witcher 3 final quality, most screenshots are from streams, the guy talks about "good devs can't be trusted anymore" and most comparisons don't make any sense, like some photoshopped screenshot and a youtube video. Bleh.

Noodleface · May 10, 2015

People being surprised that the final product looks much different than advertised game play in 2015 is the craziest thing I've ever heard. Every game is like this

Vorph · May 10, 2015

Bondurant_sl said:
We're having the same stuff every year (mostly from Reddit or 4chan) when some heavily anticipated game got released on both console and PC.

Well, to be fair, the uproar over Dark Souls 2 was absolutely justified, and Watch_Dogs was mostly justified. Both games looked significantly different at release than they did during PR events before that. Witcher 3 has clearly changed as well, though whether or not it's significant or not is still a question. People should probably reserve judgement until it's out and we get to mess with all the settings, dig around in ini-files, maybe tweak it with ReShade a bit, etc.

This collection of screenshots don't say anything about The Witcher 3 final quality, most screenshots are from streams, the guy talks about "good devs can't be trusted anymore" and most comparisons don't make any sense, like some photoshopped screenshot and a youtube video. Bleh.

Yeah, the "can't be trusted" part makes whoever created that imgur album look like an asshat. As do the videos at the end where he complains about lack of effects, except (duh) the second video is from the Xbone.

Noodlemod_sl said:
People being surprised that the final product looks much different than advertised game play in 2015 is the craziest thing I've ever heard. Every game is like this

Eh, I'm not really surprised that people hold CDPR to a higher standard. It's kind of like Crytek when released Crysis 2 and the graphics were arguably worse than the original game. id has been phoning it in for years, Crytek almost went under last year, and that leaves CDPR as the only major PC developer left really pushing the limits of hardware outside of the simulation genre.

jdfording · May 10, 2015

A single 980GTX should run it fine at 1080p. I just did a full upgrade to Haswell and 2 980GTX's. I just hope some of the missing eye candy can be turned on with config files or mods. No way I would play this game on PS4 or Xbox 1. I can run a 25ft display port cable to my 60" LED and use a controller. I played through the Witcher 2 with an Xbox controller and it was way better than with a mouse and keyboard.

Kreugen · May 10, 2015

I can't wait to see The Division comparison gifs. I mean, those demonstrations were totally live in-game footage running on actual consoles, right?

supertouch_sl · May 10, 2015

Column_sl said:
Every single PC game I've bought has been vastly superior to the PS4 version (minus Mortal Kombat X, but that is the devs fault). If you have a good gaming rig, I have no idea why you want to game on the PS4. The whole controller thing is over with now since every game is optimized to use a gaming pad out of the box, and the "I want to game on a large screen excuse" is played out since monitors are so large now with a better resolution/refresh rate.

Then there is all the other pluses of a PC, like better voice chat apps, and being able to use multi monitors for maps, watching streams when farming etc.

Not to mention PC games are half price at launch.

If I had a choice I would go 100% PC, and never look back. It's such a vastly superior gaming experience now.

The PS4 and Xbox One game libraries aren't very good right now, but they'll have tons of exclusives in a few years that will make the consoles worth buying. Multiplatform games are almost always better on PC but most games that are unique to PC are crap. There's the occasional indie gem but I wouldn't buy a PC for the sole purpose of gaming

Witcher 3

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