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[FLiP2345]

Am I the only person who doesn't care if there's a graphical downgrade?
I mean for what's supposed to be an open world RPG the graphics are still solid.
As long as gameplay and story/quests are good I'll be fine.
Extra crazy graphics are cool but honestly it won't bother me if its downgraded as long as it runs smooth.

 

[Crossing Eden]

Am I the only person who doesn't care if there's a graphical downgrade?
I mean for what's supposed to be an open world RPG the graphics are still solid.
As long as gameplay and story/quests are good I'll be fine.
Extra crazy graphics are cool but honestly it won't bother me if its downgraded as long as it runs smooth.

This. As long as the gameplay that they promised is intact all is ok.

 

[Arion]

This. As long as the gameplay that they promised is intact all is ok.

Im gonna go a head and predict the combat won't be that great. CDPR never had a knack for that. Story however is gonna be incredible that I am sure of.

 

[FLiP2345]

This. As long as the gameplay that they promised is intact all is ok.

Yeah gameplay and quests are what really make me want to play the game. Maybe it's cause I've never been a graphics snob, but if it runs smooth and graphics are even just solid I'll probably pre order it.
Those screenshots look fine to me honestly. If the game looks like that I'd be happy

 

[Zarx]

LMAO

"HUGE" xbone CE fuckup.


God damn, never change gaf.

So, just popping into the thread, anybody care for a summary of why this is an eleven page shit-storm?

People suddenly noticed that the game doesn't look amazeballs in screenshots (it never has) and someone who has had exposure to a dev build (or knows someone who has) implied that the final game especially on consoles isn't going to live up to people's inflated expectations. And that CDP RED are crunching hard to try and live up to their PR, like they did for their last two games.

 

[FLiP2345]

Im gonna go a head and predict the combat won't be that great. CDPR never had a knack for that. Story however is gonna be incredible that I am sure of.

Yea I haven't played a witcher game but from what I've seen and heard the combat isn't their thing. But this game looks like a pretty big upgrade and it looks ok.
I'm more interested in the open world, story, and quests. Plus since the world supposedly changes based on your decisions I think things like that will influence whether i buy it or not more than graphics.
If I could have a lot of fun playing on skyrims bad combat I'll probably have fun on this

 

[CyberPunked]

For those claiming downgrade these are the older gameplay screens they released over the last couple years.

Look at the hair

Just look at this guy, textures are bad, hair is low poly, no SSAO.

Look at his hair it's pure white.

Low poly trees, poor distant detail

Look at the lower right

It's blurred but you can clearly see the distant terrain is low res and doesn't have grass.

Look at the awful trees in the distance.

Limited distant detail, low res fire effect, low quality fur on the monster.

Horse model is clearly not great.

Look at these wolf models

Other than the toned doen DoF and sharpening filter these new shots are perfectly in line with what they showed before, if not better in some respects. There have always been low res textures everywhere and the distant lod has never been super amazing. CDP RED have been pretty honest about what it looks like and how it has evolved over time. Still looks great in motion and their cutscene models look fantastic. And they are still pre-alpha.

Damn, I never really noticed that. Fair point, I call no downgrade.

 

[IAmRandom31]

Viewing these on my TV atm and not really seeing what the initial reactions are about. Looks like standard stuff?

Pretty bad aliasing throughout the image with all the trees and grass and such. Not much detail on the distant mountains. Such like that.

Dragons Age 3 is looking mighty fine even when the image is at full resolution on my tube. Have to say graphically, in still images anyway, im more impressed by it at the moment. Art is better too.

In motion though so far the Witcher 3 has looked pretty slick

 

[ironcreed]

So, it's looking like this might potentially be in rough shape? Another delay?

 

[Alasfree]

Am I the only person who doesn't care if there's a graphical downgrade?
I mean for what's supposed to be an open world RPG the graphics are still solid.
As long as gameplay and story/quests are good I'll be fine.
Extra crazy graphics are cool but honestly it won't bother me if its downgraded as long as it runs smooth.

Yep, i was going to buy this game even if it looked like the first one. Anonymous insider can be verified as much as they want, i don't care what they think.

And the game hasn't changed much or "downgraded", this are really not flattering screenshots granted, but i can take those from any game (especially open world) where the game look terrible. Some area just don't look as good some time.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

I think the snowy terrain really makes the world look bad in comparison. There is a lot less vegetation billboards so everything sticking out of the ground looks bad.

Granted, the valley shot looks bad too. I wonder if the texture resolution took a hit.

Mainly, if they want to sell the game, stick to close up shots of clothing that take up 3/4s of the screen and low camera angles so you can't see the terrain past 10 feet.

 

[Surface of Me]

People suddenly noticed that the game doesn't look amazeballs in screenshots (it never has) and someone who has had exposure to a dev build (or knows someone who has) implied that the final game especially on consoles isn't going to live up to people's inflated expectations. And that CDP RED are crunching hard to try and live up to their PR, like they did for their last two games.

Wasnt E3 running on X1 devkits? Not to mention Witcher 2 is one of the best looking 360 games.

 

[Casimir]

Since when was CD Projekt RED a high tier developer? Think about it. Witcher 1 was mediocre. Witcher 2 had awful animations and boring combat, with good story and locations. How can they be on the level of Bungie? They have never deserved the rep they were given. They were/are overhyped because like Crytek in 2007 they pushed PC's therefore PC fans put them on a pedestile to show off the ability to make AAA PC only games that weren't strategy related.

CDPR is a better studio than Bungie, but this is more a commentary on Bungie*.


*I await the outrage that I don't consider a developer famous for an average at best console FPS series not being particularly impressive.

 

[OsirisBlack]

So only buy this on PC? Got it.

 

[CyberPunked]

So only buy this on PC? Got it.

Same for every other multiplat game

 

[misho8723]

For those claiming downgrade these are the older gameplay screens they released over the last couple years.

Other than the toned doen DoF and sharpening filter these new shots are perfectly in line with what they showed before, if not better in some respects. There have always been low res textures everywhere and the distant lod has never been super amazing. CDP RED have been pretty honest about what it looks like and how it has evolved over time. Still looks great in motion and their cutscene models look fantastic. And they are still pre-alpha.

I don't know.. all I see are great looking shots (those which are from this year) and some of them are the really first screens released from the game when the engine was still only in DX9 version

The new ones look way worse than any of the screens you posted

 

[Unbound By Death]

Same for every other multiplat game

Yep

 

[orochi91]

Same for every other multiplat game

Yup, multiplats on PC.

Spoiler

Yay Steam sales

Exclusives on consoles.

 

[runnin_blue]

I am aware that this "insider" has been "vetted" but I can't shake my initial gut feeling that I got from the tone of his first couple of posts that he is an ex-employee of CD Projekt Red with an agenda.

I mean sure he might have proven who he is by showing bish an email account or something (I don't know how the vetting system works lol), but that does not necessarily mean that all his words should be taken as gospel.

I am not blindly defending the game. I do not have it preordered, although I plan to buy it at some point because I enjoyed the first two games. I'm just saying that people should not jump to conclusions. Definitely wait and see what the game is like before purchasing, everyone should be doing that anyway for any game.

And of course there is that innuendo from the Witcher 3 boards about the "insider". Although that accusation is questionable considering where it comes from, but who knows.

 

[Totobeni]

So only buy this on PC? Got it.

No. he is telling us to wait to see more of the game because what he know now is not good.

and it's not just a graphical downgrade it seems, but more of Molyneux syndrome/Watch Dogs with over-promising things.

it looks like many gaffers are painting CDP as some magical dev studio with only the best of interests of the gamers in mind. Trust me they are not. The bullshitting with the Witcher 3 started from day 1. PR is creating an overblown vision of a game that doesn't exist while the team is in crazy crunch time for over a year now. There's some bad shit going on that if GAF knew GAF would not like.

 

[Surface of Me]

I am aware that this "insider" has been "vetted" but I can't shake my initial gut feeling that I got from the tone of his first couple of posts that he is an ex-employee of CD Projekt Red with an agenda.

I mean sure he might have proven who he is by showing bish an email account or something (I don't know how the vetting system works lol), but that does not necessarily mean that all his words should be taken as gospel.

I am not blindly defending the game. I do not have it preordered, although I plan to buy it at some point because I enjoyed the first two games. I'm just saying that people should not jump to conclusions. Definitely wait and see what the game is like before purchasing, everyone should be doing that anyway for any game.

And of course there is that innuendo from the Witcher 3 boards about the "insider". Although that accusation is questionable considering where it comes from, but who knows.

Yeah, insiders arent infallible. Remember the "huge X1 shitstorm" at launch, and then the Driveclub fiasco.

 

[~Kinggi~]

Well, interesting shit sure has happened here. Hmm

 

[ricki42]

Am I the only person who doesn't care if there's a graphical downgrade?
I mean for what's supposed to be an open world RPG the graphics are still solid.
As long as gameplay and story/quests are good I'll be fine.
Extra crazy graphics are cool but honestly it won't bother me if its downgraded as long as it runs smooth.

You're definitely not the only one. I played The Witcher 1 mostly on my old laptop at lowest possible settings and still had a blast. Doesn't mean I wouldn't prefer great graphics, but if the gameplay is fun and the story is solid, I have no problem if the graphics are the same as Witcher 2 (which I thought looked pretty good).

My only concern is that if CDPR are really behind schedule they won't make a Linux version, or at least it will be a lot later and they won't announce it until they have all other versions under control. I'm OK with getting the game later, I'd just like to know whether it's coming at all and roughly how much later.

 

[OsirisBlack]

Same for every other multiplat game

What you did there, I see it.

No. he is telling us to wait to see more of the game because what he know now is not good.

and it's not just a graphical downgrade it seems, but more of Molyneux syndrome/Watch Dogs with over-promising things.

Ok I missed that bit thought it was just a graphical downgrade if its more along the lines of not reaching their initial idea or what was promised I will have to wait to see how this turns out. Should be interesting.

 

[-SD-]

Anaxymenes has been vetted and cleared.

 

[Denton]

You can put down the popcorn, doesn't seem like he's gonna show up again.

 

[barit]

Those shots looking alright but nothing mind blowing. I'm still more excited for Cyberpunk 2077 then this. So hurry up CDRP

 

[Lucent]

No. he is telling us to wait to see more of the game because what he know now is not good.

and it's not just a graphical downgrade it seems, but more of Molyneux syndrome/Watch Dogs with over-promising things.

Wow. Definitely gonna be putting my expectations in check. Getting Bloodborne in February anyway so I guess it wouldn't hurt to let this one get released and give it time to be played and reviewed.

 

[orochi91]

Those shots looking alright but nothing mind blowing. I'm still more excited for Cyberpunk 2077 then this. So hurry up CDRP

I'm not sure where your optimism is coming from given that Cyberpunk 2077 seems
more ambitious than the Witcher 3. I doubt this studio has the man power and resources
to tackle large projects like these in a timely manner.

 

[Savitar]

Until the game comes out and proves to be a train wreck for now I'm still certain the game will turn out good. Will it look as good as the trailers have shown? Maybe, maybe not, kind of use to games never looking as good as the trailers are usually shown as first. I fully expect the PC version to be quite better looking than the consoles as is usually the case. But even so I got faith in the company to do the game justice and make it quite entertaining and one hell of a ride.

But I'm one of those people who loved Witcher and Witcher 2 before the enhanced versions were out.

 

[Sentenza]

I am aware that this "insider" has been "vetted" but I can't shake my initial gut feeling that I got from the tone of his first couple of posts that he is an ex-employee of CD Projekt Red with an agenda.

Well, obviously being "vetted" doesn't equate to a confirmation that he's 100% right about everything (especially because we'll never know in what role he worked with CDPR).
It just proves that he's actually somewhat related to the company and he has some insight on the development.

Still, it would probably be wise to not assume he's necessary lying just because we don't like the news he's bringing. judging from his harsh words it's not unreasonable to suspect there is some personal grudge/bias against the company, but there's also most likely some truth about PRs overstating the ambition of the game.

 

[barit]

I'm not sure where your optimism is coming from given that Cyberpunk 2077 seems
more ambitious than the Witcher 3. I doubt this studio has the man power and resources
to tackle large projects like these in a timely manner.

Because of the setting. I'm a sucker for SciFi stuff. If the world is Interesting and the lore great i would happily defend it against any technical issues it may have. Much like any Witcher fan in this thread and nothing wrong about that. As long as it's not completely broken and unplayable ofc

 

[Instro]

it looks like many gaffers are painting CDP as some magical dev studio with only the best of interests of the gamers in mind. Trust me they are not. The bullshitting with the Witcher 3 started from day 1. PR is creating an overblown vision of a game that doesn't exist while the team is in crazy crunch time for over a year now. There's some bad shit going on that if GAF knew GAF would not like.

Late on this but this wouldn't be surprising. They've been promising the world with this game from the beginning, and frankly its pretty unfeasible that they will be able to deliver on those promises.

 

[Sentenza]

Late on this but this wouldn't be surprising. They've been promising the world with this game from the beginning, and frankly its pretty unfeasible that they will be able to deliver on those promises.

I'd still like to have some more details about what he intended with "a game that doesn't exist", because beside being a very strong accusation, it's also as vague as it can be.

Are we talking about overstating the size of the map? The amount of quests and content? About announced features that simply won't make into the game? Or is it just about the quality of the ports (which would make the wording quite inappropriate)?
Because each one of these things would have a very different weight.

I mean, it's not like we are asking him to reveal his role in development (if he ever had one). He doesn't need to expose himself to give some clarification of what he meant, since he's the one who made these accusations in the first place.

 

[Savitar]

On the Witcher forums one person said:

Afaik this "Anaxymenes" guy is some indie dev (real initials B.P.) who's making up this shit based on stuff he heard from ex CDPR devs. I'd take just about everything this poster wrote with a huge heap of salt.

Not sure how he would know that or not.

And the mods here did verify he worked at or had worked at CDPR.

 

[Turin Turambar]

For those claiming downgrade these are the older gameplay screens they released over the last couple years.

What's bothering in this screenshot is the tree on the top center part. Look at the branches.

 

[Dictator93]

Let me get this straight, some dude starts dropping negative information about TW3 because he likes GAF or something, then before actually saying speciifics about that, he just straight up leaves and says nothing?

That is odd.

 

[Denton]

And the mods here did verify he worked at or had worked at CDPR.

Not accurate. All that Bish wrote is that he has been "vetted and cleared", and we have no idea what that means.

Also, Anaxymenes said

" I did have contact with the game but again NDA and such plus I'm just a dude on the internet."

which can mean anything. He could have been a tester on the game months ago for a week for all we know.

 

[Savitar]

That I was wondering about.

So he could be this BP person then.

 

[kuroshiki]

You can put down the popcorn, doesn't seem like he's gonna show up again.

Well... you did tell him to shut up, you know. =P

 

[Sentenza]

Can we drop the witch hunt/speculation about his real identity?
He has every right to stay anonymous and protect himself from a legal standpoint, if that's what he wants.

 

[sublimit]

nd the mods here did verify he worked at or had worked at CDPR.

No one confirmed this.

For all we know he might be some random developer who applied for a position in CD PR,wasn't accepted and now he talks shit about them.

Or on the other hand he may indeed have insider knowledge.

 

[Philippo]

Well we already saw the game in motion, i guess there isn't too much to "lie" about it.
And the graphics are still good, have no complaints about it, especially since older screens looked similar.

 

[danwarb]

Am I the only person who doesn't care if there's a graphical downgrade?
I mean for what's supposed to be an open world RPG the graphics are still solid.
As long as gameplay and story/quests are good I'll be fine.
Extra crazy graphics are cool but honestly it won't bother me if its downgraded as long as it runs smooth.

There'd be no graphics downgrade for PC.


This game is opposite of downgrade, since all the released footage has an unsteady framerate and aliasing.

 

[Savitar]

Can we drop the witch hunt/speculation about his real identity?
He has every right to stay anonymous and protect himself from a legal standpoint, if that's what he wants.

He has every right to stay anonymous yes indeed.

But when such statements are made there is often a search for the truth in what's what. If what he said is the reality or is false. In the end that's what this is all about. If what he said is indeed the truth or not. If he only has second hand information then his claims hold less water.

In this case unless CDPR addresses the matter it's hard to know what's what.

 

[Denton]

Can we drop the witch hunt/speculation about his real identity?
He has every right to stay anonymous and protect himself from a legal standpoint, if that's what he wants.

Nobody here is witchhunting him. I don't care who he is, I am just saying that what he said can mean anything and we have no idea how trustworthy he is, especially when no further elaboration on his statements about the game is happening at the moment.

 

[cripterion]

CDPR is a better studio than Bungie, but this is more a commentary on Bungie*.


*I await the outrage that I don't consider a developer famous for an average at best console FPS series not being particularly impressive.

I remember Bungie had good games in the Myth series. But I agree with you so no outrage needed. They're definitely not on the same caliber as Rockstar for example.
I find the dev worship to be annoying anyways.

 

[Sentenza]

In this case unless CDPR addresses the matter it's hard to know what's what.

Companies typically refuse to even just acknowledge rumors.
You know, the standard "We don't comment on rumors and speculations".

 

[Savitar]

Companies typically refuse to even just acknowledge rumors.
You know, the standard "We don't comment on rumors and speculations".

Typically the big companies do at that.

But I get the feeling CDPR may do things differently as these kind of things can cost them a lot more.

 

[runnin_blue]

Companies typically refuse to even just acknowledge rumors.
You know, the standard "We don't comment on rumors and speculations".

I think he might have been referring to CDP commenting on the "downgraded" screenshots, rather than our esteemed "insider".

I don't see why they wouldn't address this. Unless the GAF bubble is blowing this waaaay out of proportion. Are we the only ones discussing this or is it more widespread than that?