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[Acinixys]

The 2013 trailer literally says 'In game footage',what do you think that means?

Yeah

It probably was in game footage

That they edited to make look good

Like literally every other Dev has and will do for any game they show to the public years before it releases

Thinking CPR went out of their way to make the PC version look worse is not only cynical but also extremely short sighted

That it was in game footage of a game halfway through development. Surely you get the implications of such a thing.

Everyone in this thread basing their purchasing decisions on 2 year old footage and not launch impressions needs to get right with Jesus.

This

Comparing 2 year old footage to the current build of the game is insane to me

 

[Sid]

That it was in game footage of a game halfway through development. Surely you get the implications of such a thing.

Everyone in this thread basing their purchasing decisions on 2 year old footage and not launch impressions needs to get right with Jesus.

I do get the implications but it's deceiving on their part

 

[Raven77]

That it was in game footage of a game halfway through development. Surely you get the implications of such a thing.

Everyone in this thread basing their purchasing decisions on 2 year old footage and not launch impressions needs to get right with Jesus.

But they are using that trailer, of a game that apparently "never existed" by their own admission to sell the game right now on their home page. Go to it, the trailer is looping in the background.

 

[Skyzard]

But they are using that trailer, of a game that apparently "never existed" by their own admission to sell the game right now on their home page. Go to it, the trailer is looping in the background.

It's down for me at the moment, what link are you using?

Oh I see it, works from the buy link http://thewitcher.com/witcher3/

 

[aTTckr]

The only thing I don't get is why there aren't the options available in the PC version to make the game look like in the trailers. Is it really that bad if pretty much no PC out there is able to run it at those ultra settings? Even the best PCs at the time couldn't run Crysis at max settings for quite a while after it came out. Granted Crytek wanted to promote their engine, but I think the Witcher 3 could sell even more copies on PC just by being the by far best looking game on the market.

 

[Salaadin]

So there's definitive proof now? I tried skimming the past few pages but this thread seems to just be on repeat every page.

Regardless, I'm not sure I care. Maybe I'm a shill but cdpr is a company that does a lot if good will towards consumers. This could be another chink in their armor and I'll have to start looking at them more closely but right now, I ultimately don't care if they had to downgrade....for whatever reason.

It's an unpopular opinion but oh well

 

[Raven77]

It's down for me at the moment, what link are you using?

Oh I see it, works from the buy link http://thewitcher.com/witcher3/

Yeah which makes it even more unethical to have that looping in the background as someone sits on the buy page of your site...

 

[Wreav]

But they are using that trailer, of a game that apparently "never existed" by their own admission to sell the game right now on their home page. Go to it, the trailer is looping in the background.

And Elite Dangerous has completely CGI videos with radically unrealistic gameplay elements on their official Youtube channel.

Again, if you're a big enough dingus to rely on 2 year old Youtubes to make your decision to buy a game, you'll be disappointed every time.

 

[Raven77]

And Elite Dangerous has completely CGI videos with radically unrealistic gameplay elements on their official Youtube channel.

Again, if you're a big enough dingus to rely on 2 year old Youtubes to make your decision to buy a game, you'll be disappointed every time.

Well now you're saying that anyone who doesn't know about every trailer and when it was released is a "dingus". Essentially you're putting the blame on the average consumer instead of where it belongs. Pretty unbelievable but hey it's your opinion.

 

[Skyzard]

Who says anything about buying it? We're talking about the downgrade.

 

[Dictator93]

Character models at least still look as good as ever.

 

[Tankshell]

Sorry but I'm with Raven77 here. The way they are advertising the game on their official site is shady as fuck.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

Well at least the background video is faded so they kinda might not know it looked that good then lol.

 

[Mutagenic]

And Elite Dangerous has completely CGI videos with radically unrealistic gameplay elements on their official Youtube channel.

Again, if you're a big enough dingus to rely on 2 year old Youtubes to make your decision to buy a game, you'll be disappointed every time.

Most people that go to the site don't know it's two year old, fake footage. C'mon. Deceiving as hell.

 

[Wreav]

Well now you're saying that anyone who doesn't know about every trailer and when it was released is a "dingus". Essentially you're putting the blame on the average consumer instead of where it belongs. Pretty unbelievable but hey it's your opinion.

Consumers ARE 100% responsible for informing themselves of a product, but if you're too lazy to do that, then you get what you get.

 

[Starsunder]

Who says anything about buying it? We're talking about the downgrade.

well, for one, not buying it would show that you are truly outraged and will not stand for such practices.

Pissing and moaning about it anonymously on a messageboard and then turning around and buying it defeats the purpose in my eyes, and makes me wonder how outraged you truly are.

 

[Mutagenic]

Consumers ARE 100% responsible for informing themselves of a product, but if you're too lazy to do that, then you get what you get.

Such bullshit.

 

[Maximo]

Consumers ARE 100% responsible for informing themselves of a product, but if you're too lazy to do that, then you get what you get.

I agree that Consumers should be responsible for research of a product but jesus this comment is condescending as fuck. They shouldn't advertise something that doesn't exist, its not the consumers fault its the Advertisers/Creators fault for deceiving the consumer, I don't want to be the guy that *Jumps that fence* but this is borderline victim blaming.

 

[thatJohann]

I think the PS4 version looks incredible (aside from some dodgy framerate 5 hours in). took this earlier:

 

[THRILLH0]

If you treat advanced preview media as anything other than "huh, that's what they're shooting for. Cool." then you're doing it wrong.

How long have you been gaming? This is how it works. Why some of you are looking at these trailers and bullshots and assuming they're a pixel perfect representation of a game that's more than a year away is beyond me. Yo, if dev was done to the point the graphics were done and optimized the game wouldn't be a year away.

Just relax a little.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

Such bullshit.

Is it? Do you go buy a car without consulting consumer and/or professional reviews? Okay maybe not the best example as you can test drive them, but hq streams of a game should give you a good enough idea. Seems like people would be better off setting expectations for AAA this gen low given all the other studios that have done this and use a wait and see approach accordingly without all the outrage. Why is it so difficult to apply the "fool me once..." adage to this industry given the regularity of "downgrades"? It's not a new thing people, wake up.

 

[scitek]

Made this fake ad for my podcast: https://soundcloud.com/whatevapodcast/the-bitcher

 

[ktynn]

it's baffling really, the problem is some fans will defend their favorite company shady practices even if it hurt them or was a clear misleading or false marketing. same thing happened in the Dark Souls 2 downgrade thread.

Fans need to separate their love to a developer from their rights as consumers.

Oh pls shut up. People will be paying 40-60 bucks for 100+ hrs of top tier gaming content. Stop whining so much. I wasn't hyped for TW3's sharp foliage or slightly better draw distance. I was hyped for quality gameplay and immersion. And apparantly 99% of the current reviews state that CDPR will give us that.

In regards to their marketing, i can only tell you this, i've yet to come across a legitimate shampoo commercial. CDPR is not satan.

 

[artsi]

Consumers ARE 100% responsible for informing themselves of a product, but if you're too lazy to do that, then you get what you get.

Oh bullshit, consumers need to be aware and critical in this shitty marketing environment for sure, but it's not the ideal world.

And if you want to keep face as a company then don't blame the consumer for being stupid when you fuck up by displaying your product in a misleading way.

 

[Skyzard]

well, for one, not buying it would show that you are truly outraged and will not stand for such practices.

Pissing and moaning about it anonymously on a messageboard and then turning around and buying it defeats the purpose in my eyes, and makes me wonder how outraged you truly are.

If you were buying this for full price I wouldn't recommend being this thread in the first place really, why do that to yourselves!

Enjoy what they've managed to put out and that you've paid for.

 

[THRILLH0]

I remember when I first saw the trailer for Ocean's 11 and when the parole board member asked Danny what he would do for work he said "I don't know. How much do you guys make?"

I thought it was cool as shit but when I saw the movie, that scene was cut.

I haven't recovered.

 

[dlauv]

I bought kill zone 2 after they told me it would look like the cg trailer. After I was deceived I became depressed and emailed the developer over and over with the subject why and the body why would you lie to me?

When cdpr said that the game would look like a previous trailer they were talking about the sword of destiny afaik. It was a huge deal on their forums. The game hasn't looked like the '13 footage since e3 2014.

Like, does anyone have confirmation that they were saying it would look like the '13 footage and not just the sword of destiny, because I think some wires were crossed.

It doesn't look exactly like sword of destiny either but it at least looks like the same game.

 

[Ophiuchus]

You're welcome

Thank you man, I was searching for an original for long time.

 

[Starsunder]

If you were buying this for full price I wouldn't recommend being this thread in the first place really, why do that to yourselves!

Enjoy what they've managed to put out and that you've paid for.

I will thank you!

 

[Virdix]

If you were buying this for full price I wouldn't recommend being this thread in the first place really, why do that to yourselves!

Enjoy what they've managed to put out and that you've paid for.

I'm paying 102$ after an Amazon gift card, I tell myself everyday I'm not going into this thread anymore, yet here I am. I think I have a problem.

 

[pixel monkey]

I think the PS4 version looks incredible (aside from some dodgy framerate 5 hours in). took this earlier:

That's a gorgeous shot! It makes me that much more eager for the PC pre-load to go live... just over 24 hours now!

 

[H4r4kiri]

The real sad thing here is that we are back at the 2013 comparison crap again. We were done with it a long time ago because they improved a lot from that but did take a hit in foliage and draw distance. So sad to see that discussion again because it really was a unfinished different game.

We were at a point where we are discussing real long gameplay from 2014 vs current gameplay. We were comparing the ps4 version with ultra settings on pc. These comparisons are needed and a lot more understandable than the 2013 bs again.

So sad.. So sad..

Discuss the real problems and things. And do not go to the beginning again because this is senseless

 

[Skyzard]

I will thank you!

That being said, you can't really blame the curious ones, graphics are a big deal to a lot of people, especially things that would make it feel more immersive and less of a game, like being better looking than recent games.

Nor can you really blame those who bought it and are putting up with revealing themselves to what should have been because they want to voice their disappointment for such practices anyway, hoping it would discourage further deception in some way, and yet still want the game or want to support games of this genre. I'm okay with that.
It'd be nice, maybe, sure but people can do what they want really.

 

[Oni Jazar]

If you treat advanced preview media as anything other than "huh, that's what they're shooting for. Cool." then you're doing it wrong.

How long have you been gaming? This is how it works. Why some of you are looking at these trailers and bullshots and assuming they're a pixel perfect representation of a game that's more than a year away is beyond me. Yo, if dev was done to the point the graphics were done and optimized the game wouldn't be a year away.

Just relax a little.

How about instead of just saying "that's how it works" we stop allowing companies to misrepresent their games? Yes things change and targets miss but devs/pubs aren't bending over backwards to correct promotional materials when they are off. What they're selling isn't what we're buying and that's messed up. We've seen "what they're shooting for" grossly off what we get more often then not. Personally I'd like to see no gameplay until the game is months from release instead of years.

The game may be amazing I'll admit but that's not the point of this thread.

 

[mbmonk]

Why is it so difficult to apply the "fool me once..." adage to this industry given the regularity of "downgrades"? It's not a new thing people, wake up.

But isn't that falling into a bit of the "blaming the victim" territory? The intentional PR distortions are the root cause of the problem. That saying, while it contains wisdom, is misused and people use it to completely absolve the party that is truly responsible.

You have dev's saying that they know the final product isn't going to look like the vertical slice. They know it. They still do it. It's good for business, but blaming the consumer for this practice is a bit much, imo.

EDIT: Also you CDPR people saying no downgrade. They keep trying to twist the situation instead of just admiting it. This thread would have died off long ago. But their refusal to do so, keeps the fire burning. Just admit it, the thread dies.

 

[Mutagenic]

Is it? Do you go buy a car without consulting consumer and/or professional reviews? Okay maybe not the best example as you can test drive them, but hq streams of a game should give you a good enough idea. Seems like people would be better off setting expectations for AAA this gen low given all the other studios that have done this and use a wait and see approach accordingly without all the outrage. Why is it so difficult to apply the "fool me once..." adage to this industry given the regularity of "downgrades"? It's not a new thing people, wake up.

Heading over to their website to watch video before making a purchase SHOULD be considered doing your 'homework' on a game. How in the fuck are you saying the consumer is at fault here? Un. Real.

 

[Sword Of Doom]

I preorder based on the pedigree of the developer and the series. That won't change. The Witcher series since the beginning has been top notch as has CDprojekt Red. Bite off more than they could chew this time around? Perhaps but it is not impacting the quality of the game and that is what matters.

On a platform like PC where almost all of us are buying digital why preorder at all? All we're doing is encouraging these practices without any upside for us. That's what I don't understand about preordering so far in advance

 

[Ophiuchus]

Yeah

It probably was in game footage

That they edited to make look good

Like literally every other Dev has and will do for any game they show to the public years before it releases

Thinking CPR went out of their way to make the PC version look worse is not only cynical but also extremely short sighted



This

Comparing 2 year old footage to the current build of the game is insane to me

People should understand that when we got this 'in game' trailer back in 2013 and we expected the game to be released next year(2014).The 2013 VGX footage was their vision which they could not achieve and deliver.End of story.Tomorrow we will play and enjoy this game but this fact will remain forever.

 

[Yasae]

That being said, you can't really blame the curious ones, graphics are a big deal to a lot of people, especially things that would make it feel more immersive and less of a game, like being better looking than recent games.

Nor can you really blame those who bought it and are putting up with revealing themselves to what should have been because they want to voice their disappointment for such practices anyway, hoping it would discourage further deception in some way, and yet still want the game or want to support games of this genre. I'm okay with that.
It'd be nice, maybe, sure but people can do what they want really.

The problem is you'll never really get away from these practices. We're already over the barrel.

And if people want to keep alluding to movie trailers, it only makes their points weaker. Trailers are guilty and worthless until proven otherwise. They also can't materialize scenes out of thin air, only cut them - and the Witcher 3 development has seen some cuts visually, but not anyone on the team willing to say as much. A movie director would do exactly the opposite, even if it involved budgetary concerns or production timelines or things which, for whatever reason, couldn't be accomplished.

 

[PLASTICA-MAN]

Movie based on The Witcher novels is in the works

 

[Apoleptica]

The real sad thing here is that we are back at the 2013 comparison crap again. We were done with it a long time ago because they improved a lot from that but did take a hit in foliage and draw distance. So sad to see that discussion again because it really was a unfinished different game.

We were at a point where we are discussing real long gameplay from 2014 vs current gameplay. We were comparing the ps4 version with ultra settings on pc. These comparisons are needed and a lot more understandable than the 2013 bs again.

So sad.. So sad..

Discuss the real problems and things. And do not go to the beginning again because this is senseless

Nobody actually reads through these types of long threads. Threads like these consist of wave after wave of different people discussing different things for a few pages each. Even if one group of people were able to arrive at one conclusion on page 50 such things are quickly forgotten and ignored by page 80 and so forth. It's a weird cycle this thread.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

But isn't that falling into a bit of the "blaming the victim" territory? The intentional PR distortions are the root cause of the problem. That saying, while it contains wisdom, is misused and people use it to completely absolve the party that is truly responsible.

You have dev's saying that they know the final product isn't going to look like the vertical slice. They know it. They still do it. It's good for business, but blaming the consumer for this practice is a bit much, imo.

EDIT: Also you CDPR people saying no downgrade. They keep trying to twist the situation instead of just admiting it. This thread would have died off long ago. But their refusal to do so, keeps the fire burning. Just admit it, the thread dies.

I don't think it's victim blaming, I think it's become common sense at this point given the track record of a lot of other devs. Hell even Crytek did it with the initial Crysis reveal, and that game was still a behemoth visually. As the dev (not cdpr) in here pointed out earlier, these vertical slice type of reveals are par for the course with initial advertising. It does become more blatant in the case of them still showing footage from those earlier trailers on their site homepage at launch admittedly. I don't agree with that, and the denials from them are frustrating to see as well. I'm aware that PR is gonna PR no matter the company though, they're not gonna say something that could hurt sales on a particular sku.

It sounds defeatist but really, what can we as consumers do to stop this? I think most of us realize the ones concerned with the downgrade stuff are a vocal minority, a minority that will in all likelihood buy the game anyway. So if people aren't voting with their wallets, the practice will continue. Hence, it's easier to realize the practice is an inevitability and adjust expectations for initial reveals>final product accordingly. To be clear I don't agree with the practice, I just don't think all the outrage really does anything either.

 

[mgs2master2]

These always make me laugh.

I love these!

 

[Skyzard]

If you think people who care about graphics are a minority you're mistaken.

Especially when they actually feel lied to about the graphics.

You just haven't had the news about downgrade being reported as much now. Maybe they're waiting for when it's actually out, let's see. Maybe those trips to Poland softened them up a bit though.

 

[Qassim]

On a platform like PC where almost all of us are buying digital why preorder at all? All we're doing is encouraging these practices without any upside for us. That's what I don't understand about preordering so far in advance

1. Preload to play it within minutes of release
2. If I'm buying it day-one anyway, what's the difference?

Besides, maybe I'm in the wrong topic for to make such a statement but I don't actually care about this downgrade stuff. Games change significantly through the development cycle, they shouldn't have shown it as early, but whatever. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm not encouraging anything I find particularly egregious.

 

[Elsolar]

On a platform like PC where almost all of us are buying digital why preorder at all? All we're doing is encouraging these practices without any upside for us. That's what I don't understand about preordering so far in advance

The embargo has been lifted. There are dozens if not hundreds of hours of footage of the game on the internet, reviews are out, and not much is likely to change between now and release. At this point, you know if you want TW3 or not. And if you do, why not at least pre-load it?

 

[hendersonhank]

The new color scheme and somewhat simplified graphics makes this look like Fable 2015 to me, rather than the awesomeness of the old showing.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Who wore the Great Mantel of Knight Downgrade better?

I was shocked by DS2's a lot more. We've seen a ton of footage since release and know what we are gonna get for a while. Even from it's initial footage, it's not too much different. There are differences, but nothing as ergrerious as Dark Souls 2's. As the footage I had seen that seemingly was recent was very different than what I played. Where as W3's we have a ton of footage that will seemingly look even better when the game is released and have a baseline.

 

[Skyzard]

He mentioned pre-ordering really far in advance.

I know you aren't arguing against this but:

2. If I'm buying it day-one anyway, what's the difference?

£35 pre-order
£50 on release

I can see the incentive there. But then they can't really keep that price for long on PC.

The new color scheme and somewhat simplified graphics makes this look like Fable 2015 to me, rather than the awesomeness of the old showing.

It certainly reminds me of a fable too, but the next one is supposedly going to have some really damn cool lighting, last I checked anyway.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

It isn't that I don't think people that care about graphics are a minority, it's people that follow downgrade threads and the kerfuffle that gets stirred up in places like this are. Obviously graphics sell, but you're kidding yourself if you don't think the bulk sales of games like this aren't going to people who will accept them as is and think it looks great anyway. Case in point, the numerous ps4 shots being posted and praised for its visuals.