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[Newboi]

The engine is very clearly an evolution of the DS2 engine. There are literally dozens of indications of that you find just by a cursory look.

I have a random question, from your current experience with the game, do you think DS3 surpasses the graphical quality of DS2's initial reveal (pre-Downgrade)?

DS3, like Bloodborne, definitely has more complex geometry when it comes to environments, but I have to admit that the original DS2 reveal still looks absolutely stellar, even compared to DS3.

 

[Envelope]

So, High setting on 660 here we go!

A man can dream...

660 bros unite

 

[Alexm92]

Looks like a good port. Cant wait to get my hands on it

 

[BriGuy]

Semi-related to the thread topic, but will this game support Steam Cloud saves? And if not, is there any way to transfer a save file between systems? I currently have an ok laptop (gtx960m, i5 6300hq, 16GB ram), but I have one of those HP deal 980ti desktop computers on the way. I don't want to have to restart the game to play it on a better set up.

 

[jacksepticeye]

I have a random question, from your current experience with the game, do you think DS3 surpasses the graphical quality of DS2's initial reveal (pre-Downgrade)?

DS3, like Bloodborne, definitely has more complex geometry when it comes to environments, but I have to admit that the original DS2 reveal still looks absolutely stellar, even compared to DS3.

Sorry to interrupt and chime in but I don't think DSIII has lighting on the same level as the DS II reveal. A lot of texture work and geometry is better but the overall atmosphere feels lacking in DSIII

I even think bloodborne looks a great deal better than DSIII at times and I'm playing DSIII on PC. There's one area that looks fucking gorgeous but the rest feel sort of empty. bloodborne had a lot of cool fog and mist going on that set the atmosphere

 

[DealWithIt]

I have a random question, from your current experience with the game, do you think DS3 surpasses the graphical quality of DS2's initial reveal (pre-Downgrade)?

DS3, like Bloodborne, definitely has more complex geometry when it comes to environments, but I have to admit that the original DS2 reveal still looks absolutely stellar, even compared to DS3.

People keep exalting the prerelease DS2 and I don't get it. sure it had really great lighting, but the textures were pretty garbage. The game looked good, but I feel like Bloodborne essentially captured what we were looking for with the lighting engine.

 

[Unstable]

What's the word on 21x9 support? Any issues?

 

[Newboi]

People keep exalting the prerelease DS2 and I don't get it. sure it had really great lighting, but the textures were pretty garbage. The game looked good, but I feel like Bloodborne essentially captured what we were looking for with the lighting engine.

I'm not trying to cause an unecessary debate. I'm not exhalting the DS2 visuals more so am surprised how good the pre-release graphical quality of DS2 still holds up to DS3.

When it comes to textures, I really wouldn't give Bloodborne any special accolades. There were low-res textures all over the place. The Geometric complexity of the environments and some of the characters were heads and tails above anything in DS2 pre-release or otherwise though.

Regardless, I wanted Durante's opinion because I was guessing he could give an educated comparison. I'm more asking from the point of view that pre-release DS2's lighting, texture work, post-processing and particle effects quality look alot more comparable with DS3 than I thought they would.

 

[Nere]

Nobody answered me at what settings and performance it will run on a laptop with a 970m any clues?=(

 

[dsk1210]

So I just built a pc for the first time (had someone to help me) and i'm not knowledgable by any stretch of the imagination. How well can I run this at 1440p? and does it support more fps than 60?

i7 6700
GTX 980 Ti
16gb ram

Also, I was just playing dark souls on pc (used to play on console) and Durante you have no idea how I appreciate you work <3

1440p no problem, only up to 60fps though.

You have a top of the line PC.

 

[DealWithIt]

I'm not trying to cause an unecessary debate. I'm not exhalting the DS2 visuals more so am surprised how good the pre-release graphical quality of DS2 still holds up to DS3.

When it comes to textures, I really wouldn't give Bloodborne any special accolades. There were low-res textures all over the place. The Geometric complexity of the environments and some of the characters were heads and tails above anything in DS2 pre-release or otherwise though.

Regardless, I wanted Durante's opinion because I was guessing he could give an educated comparison. I'm more asking from the point of view that pre-release DS2's lighting, texture work, post-processing and particle effects quality look alot more comparable with DS3 than I thought they would.

Not trying to fight either, I just don't see what you see. I think the original DS2 reveal only looked good because of its lighting and I think Bloodborne's lighting is pretty stellar most of the time. Were it on PC it would be a complete stunner.

That said, we are all sad that the lighting engine never saw the light of day.

 

[Necromanti]

My ol' GTX 480 and i7 870 are probably boned unless the game runs as well as GTA 5 did for me on almost maxed out settings at 1080p/~50 FPS.

 

[Gbraga]

All the drivers do is adding the SLI profile, then? No reason to update for single GPU users?

 

[Mifec]

All the drivers do is adding the SLI profile, then? No reason to update for single GPU users?

Well we have no idea if they are performance improvements but they are game ready drivers+sli.

 

[Durante]

So I just built a pc for the first time (had someone to help me) and i'm not knowledgable by any stretch of the imagination. How well can I run this at 1440p? and does it support more fps than 60?

i7 6700
GTX 980 Ti
16gb ram

Also, I was just playing dark souls on pc (used to play on console) and Durante you have no idea how I appreciate you work <3

It should run at 60 FPS at 1440p on a 980ti (extrapolating from the performance on my 970).

I'm not trying to cause an unecessary debate. I'm not exhalting the DS2 visuals more so am surprised how good the pre-release graphical quality of DS2 still holds up to DS3.

When it comes to textures, I really wouldn't give Bloodborne any special accolades. There were low-res textures all over the place. The Geometric complexity of the environments and some of the characters were heads and tails above anything in DS2 pre-release or otherwise though.

Regardless, I wanted Durante's opinion because I was guessing he could give an educated comparison. I'm more asking from the point of view that pre-release DS2's lighting, texture work, post-processing and particle effects quality look alot more comparable with DS3 than I thought they would.

I'm not in the business of comparing graphics of an actual game to something I've only ever seen in a youtube video. There are plenty of people you can go to for that
My personal opinion is that the pre-release DS2 footage is glorified to an almost mystical extent.

Now, one thing I can confirm for you is that by far the most immediately striking thing graphically about DS3 compared to the previous 2 games is the geometric complexity and detail of the environments. It's consistently way ahead of anything you'd see in those (and any game targeting previous-generation consoles really).

 

[CHC]

Now, one thing I can confirm for you is that by far the most immediately striking thing graphically about DS3 compared to the previous 2 games is the geometric complexity and detail of the environments. It's consistently way ahead of anything you'd see in those (and any game targeting previous-generation consoles really).

Yeah that aspect looked outstanding. The vines clinging to trees and all the individual stones in the crumbling masonry really looked quite impressive. Bloodborne had some great work in that department too but it was often obscured by muddy IQ.

Really can't deal with awful jaggies all over such fine detail so I think I'm going to lock to 30 and enjoy the visuals. I said it before, but if I survived Demon's Souls and Bloodborne, I'm sure a locked and smooth 30 in this won't be too horrid.

 

[charsace]

I'm not trying to cause an unecessary debate. I'm not exhalting the DS2 visuals more so am surprised how good the pre-release graphical quality of DS2 still holds up to DS3.

When it comes to textures, I really wouldn't give Bloodborne any special accolades. There were low-res textures all over the place. The Geometric complexity of the environments and some of the characters were heads and tails above anything in DS2 pre-release or otherwise though.

Regardless, I wanted Durante's opinion because I was guessing he could give an educated comparison. I'm more asking from the point of view that pre-release DS2's lighting, texture work, post-processing and particle effects quality look alot more comparable with DS3 than I thought they would.

DS2 doesn't compare to 3. This destroys DS2 and is the best looking game From has made.

 

[Teuoxton]

I'm getting paranoid about being able to play the game at 1080p. I guess I will shoot for 30FPS at 720p with my specs.

Intel i3-2120 (3.3GHz)
8GB DDR3 RAM
Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 1GB DDR5

Anyone think I should bite the bullet and upgrade?

 

[Dr.Sanchez]

I'm getting paranoid about being able to play the game at 1080p. I guess I will shoot for 30FPS at 720p with my specs.

Intel i3-2120 (3.3GHz)
8GB DDR3 RAM
Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 1GB DDR5

Anyone think I should bite the bullet and upgrade?

Yeah, if you can could do so you should upgrade. Your cpu and gpu don't meet the minimum requirements according to the steam page. What would your budget be if you were to upgrade?

 

[Teuoxton]

Yeah, if you can could do so you should upgrade. Your cpu and gpu don't meet the minimum requirements according to the steam page. What would your budget be if you were to upgrade?

Probably mid-range. ~$800? There's a deal for a PC with an i5 6th gen, 8GB RAM, and two R7 360 in Crossfire for $855 that I am on the fence about.

 

[SmartWaffles]

Probably mid-range. ~$800? There's a deal for a PC with an i5 6th gen, 8GB RAM, and two R7 360 in Crossfire for $855 that I am on the fence about.

Don't buy pre-builts especially the one you listed which is god awful (crossfire R7 360 is incredibly dumb), $800 can get you a really good build considering you can keep your hard drive and RAM. The PC building community thread can give you plenty of solid options.

 

[Sanctuary]

DS2 doesn't compare to 3. This destroys DS2 and is the best looking game From has made.

A lot of people claimed that Bloodborne was the "best looking" too, and I'd say that it was actually worse looking as a whole than even Demon's Souls or the first Dark Souls. Graphically there was no contest (different hardware too though), but it lacked variety and the color palette was extremely boring after a while.

There's more to art than simple resolution and the number of polygons or clutter. Even that's not so bad if the textures actually have a worn look. But just like Bloodborne, most of the screenshots (and from what many who have actually played have said) that I've seen make the game look like it's full of objects that were constructed from a wax casting, and look brand new, despite supposedly being ancient. Plus, much of the architecture in entire areas are colored exactly the same. To me that makes it look even more fake than objects that have less polygons with textures at half the resolution, but that have more texture variety.

Currently replaying Dark Souls 2, and yeah, overall the level designs and aesthetics are pretty boring all around. There are some areas however (like Heide's) that just have an amazing contrast with colors and texture variety. Bloodborne had nothing comparable in that regard. It just had lots of shiny blue bricks, lots of spires and fog.

 

[Dr.Sanchez]

Probably mid-range. ~$800? There's a deal for a PC with an i5 6th gen, 8GB RAM, and two R7 360 in Crossfire for $855 that I am on the fence about.

I'm not sure about the two R7 360 cards because I don't know if Dark Souls 3 supports crossfire(maybe I missed a piece of info). I recommend building a pc instead if possible.

 

[Teuoxton]

Don't buy pre-builts especially the one you listed which is god awful (crossfire R7 360 is incredibly dumb), $800 can get you a really good build considering you can keep your hard drive and RAM. The PC building community thread can give you plenty of solid options.

Thanks a bunch! I am still pretty new to the PC scene (obviously) and that thread will help.

 

[roadrunn3r]

Probably mid-range. ~$800? There's a deal for a PC with an i5 6th gen, 8GB RAM, and two R7 360 in Crossfire for $855 that I am on the fence about.

Holy shit, two 360s in crossfire... and they wonder why prebuilt's sales have been going down. That configuration is beyond stupid. Post in the PC thread for advice and don't even think of buying prebuilts like that especially if you aren't familiar with PC gaming parts.

 

[Fujinn]

Holy shit, two 360s in crossfire... and they wonder why prebuilt's sales have been going down. That configuration is beyond stupid. Post in the PC thread for advice and don't even think of buying prebuilts like that especially if you aren't familiar with PC gaming parts.

It's stupid for people with knowledge, for people who don't have it just sounds like: "TWO GRAPHICS CARDS FOR DOUBLE THE POWER!!" This is a quote said to me not so long ago by an uneducated friend. So i guess thats why they do it.

If only people took some time to research, a lot of misconceptions of pc gaming would disappear..

 

[DealWithIt]

There's more to art than simple resolution and the number of polygons or clutter. Even that's not so bad if the textures actually have a worn look. But just like Bloodborne, most of the screenshots (and from what many who have actually played have said) that I've seen make the game look like it's full of objects that were constructed from a wax casting, and look brand new, despite supposedly being ancient. Plus, much of the architecture in entire areas are colored exactly the same. To me that makes it look even more fake than objects that have less polygons with textures at half the resolution, but that have more texture variety.

I think this criticism has some weight, however, I will say that I watched Peeve stream in a certain area last night and I was impressed with how good it looked even on PS4. It felt extremely atmospheric and they nailed the dessicated, rubble filled look.

 

[Truant]

I think the DS3 graphics look pretty washed out in all videos I've seen. Could be a result of bad captures all around, but I kinda miss the warmer and colorfull look of SoTFS. I'm replaying it on PC now, and I think it looks fantastic at times on max settings.

 

[Manatox]

I think the DS3 graphics look pretty washed out in all videos I've seen. Could be a result of bad captures all around, but I kinda miss the warmer and colorfull look of SoTFS. I'm replaying it on PC now, and I think it looks fantastic at times on max settings.

I was thinking the same thing from seeing the few early game footages. Can someone confirm whether this is true for the pc version?

 

[aravuus]

I think the DS3 graphics look pretty washed out in all videos I've seen. Could be a result of bad captures all around, but I kinda miss the warmer and colorfull look of SoTFS. I'm replaying it on PC now, and I think it looks fantastic at times on max settings.

Game looks washed out on my Xbone, but a lot more vibrant when I was watching my own stream on a PC. So.. I dunno, maybe it's the consoles. I'm sure it'll look great on PC.

 

[Cannon Goose]

You'll always be able to mess with the colours to your heart's content with Reshade anyway.

 

[Newboi]

I'm not in the business of comparing graphics of an actual game to something I've only ever seen in a youtube video. There are plenty of people you can go to for that
My personal opinion is that the pre-release DS2 footage is glorified to an almost mystical extent.

Now, one thing I can confirm for you is that by far the most immediately striking thing graphically about DS3 compared to the previous 2 games is the geometric complexity and detail of the environments. It's consistently way ahead of anything you'd see in those (and any game targeting previous-generation consoles really).

Thanks for your response. I deeply appreciate it!

Regarding the insane geometry on display in From Soft's newer titles, is there much in the way of Parallax mapping or tessellation to give the illusion of complex geometry?

When I played Bloodborne, the game looked like From just threw an insane amount of polys at the environments physically create all their geometry. It's like they forgo complex and fancy new shading techniques and just throw raw polys at everything. I'm not sure if this is true though.

 

[Backfoggen]

Thanks for your response. I deeply appreciate it!

Regarding the insane geometry on display in From Soft's newer titles, is there much in the way of Parallax mapping or tessellation to give the illusion of complex geometry?

When I played Bloodborne, the game looked like From just threw an insane amount of polys at the environments physically create all their geometry. It's like they forgo complex and fancy new shading techniques and just throw raw polys at everything. I'm not sure if this is true though.

Both DS3 and Bloodborne use parallax mapping.

 

[d00d3n]

Has 21:9 resolutions been confirmed to be supported (or not supported) in any of the pre-release PC coverage?

 

[Tarin02543]

going to play PC version on my Panasonic LCD with 1366x768 resolution

i7-3770k/gtx760/ssd

using xbox1 controller, can't wait!

 

[muteant]

am i correct in the assumption that this game will likely run at a largely-unerring 30fps (i will cap it; variable framerate bugs the shit out of me) @ 1920x1200 resolution on medium-to-high optional settings if I'm slumming it with a i5-3550 / 660ti / 8GB setup? PS4 is my backup option and I like the idea of playing in my living room, but if I can get a solid framerate at a higher resolution (plus be able to use a 360 gamepad), then it's a no-brainer for me.

 

[Alo81]

I think the DS3 graphics look pretty washed out in all videos I've seen. Could be a result of bad captures all around, but I kinda miss the warmer and colorfull look of SoTFS. I'm replaying it on PC now, and I think it looks fantastic at times on max settings.

If you've got an Nvidia graphics card, I believe video defaults to limited color mode. You can change video color settings to full and it'll use the entire 0-255 range rather than 16-235.

 

[MoonGred]

Has 21:9 resolutions been confirmed to be supported (or not supported) or not supported in any of the pre-release PC coverage?

From what I've heard expect it to be the same as DS2, which isn't great.

 

[Gbraga]

am i correct in the assumption that this game will likely run at a largely-unerring 30fps (i will cap it; variable framerate bugs the shit out of me) @ 1920x1200 resolution on medium-to-high optional settings if I'm slumming it with a i5-3550 / 660ti / 8GB setup? PS4 is my backup option and I like the idea of playing in my living room, but if I can get a solid framerate at a higher resolution (plus be able to use a 360 gamepad), then it's a no-brainer for me.

Is a 660ti comparable to a 950? If so, you'll have a lot more than that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NH-VBoACE0

 

[Slick Butter]

Is a 660ti comparable to a 950? If so, you'll have a lot more than that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NH-VBoACE0

AFAIK they get very very similar performance in most games.

 

[Digby]

Any mention of 21:9 support yet? Apologies if its been covered. I scanned this thread and didn't see any info.

Edit: already been answered...

 

[muteant]

Is a 660ti comparable to a 950? If so, you'll have a lot more than that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NH-VBoACE0

thanks for the link, very useful =)

 

[d00d3n]

From what I've heard expect it to be the same as DS2, which isn't great.

Ahhh, that is too bad.

 

[CryptiK]

Playing through Dark Souls 2 now on 4k with my 980ti, clinging to hope that I can do the same with DS3.. or maybe Im dreaming.

 

[Trace]

Playing through Dark Souls 2 now on 4k with my 980ti, clinging to hope that I can do the same with DS3.. or maybe Im dreaming.

You'll probably be able to do 1440p I'm doubting 4k though. At least that's my experience with a 980ti.

 

[Nyteshade517]

so...should I have any issues expecting to get 60FPS@1080p with 4690K/290X/16GB?

 

[Sanctuary]

You'll always be able to mess with the colours to your heart's content with Reshade anyway.

You can't fix the monochromatic look though with ReShade, you can only change the color. Color saturation doesn't really seem to be the issue for me, it's the lack of variety in those colors. Although a better AO would probably help.

If you've got an Nvidia graphics card, I believe video defaults to limited color mode. You can change video color settings to full and it'll use the entire 0-255 range rather than 16-235.

Does this even have any effect if the game wasn't developed using the full color range in the first place? I know that with a lot of movies it doesn't look right, and you get a lot of crushed blacks going to full. I'm also not sure why a multiplat would have additional colors used for one platform, while the rest would not even be able to see them.

edit: to clarify, I do all of my multiplat gaming on a TV, not a monitor.

Found my answer too.

Q: Since video games use the Full RGB palette, shouldn&#8217;t I use Full RGB when playing video games and then Limited RGB for movies?

A: No. Most video games are designed using the Full RGB spectrum since they are designed on computers which use that. However, when you are playing a Full RGB game and your video game console is set to Limited, it takes this into account. The video levels are shifted from 0-255 down to 16-235 and the gamma curve is adjusted to match a TV as well. You aren&#8217;t losing anything as the system is accounting for this.

 

[CyberPunked]

The engine is very clearly an evolution of the DS2 engine. There are literally dozens of indications of that you find just by a cursory look.

Pity they couldn't impliment the amount of dynamic shadows that the early ds2 footage had.

 

[sfried]

I see people here mostly comparing to nVidia cards...

Does anybody have an AMD comparison equivalent?

 

[Alo81]

You can't fix the monochromatic look though with ReShade, you can only change the color. Color saturation doesn't really seem to be the issue for me, it's the lack of variety in those colors. Although a better AO would probably help.



Does this even have any effect if the game wasn't developed using the full color range in the first place? I know that with a lot of movies it doesn't look right, and you get a lot of crushed blacks going to full. I'm also not sure why a multiplat would have additional colors used for one platform, while the rest would not even be able to see them.

edit: to clarify, I do all of my multiplat gaming on a TV, not a monitor.

Found my answer too.

Q: Since video games use the Full RGB palette, shouldn’t I use Full RGB when playing video games and then Limited RGB for movies?

A: No. Most video games are designed using the Full RGB spectrum since they are designed on computers which use that. However, when you are playing a Full RGB game and your video game console is set to Limited, it takes this into account. The video levels are shifted from 0-255 down to 16-235 and the gamma curve is adjusted to match a TV as well. You aren’t losing anything as the system is accounting for this.

I'm fairly certain bolded is wrong. Adjusted Gamma curve != unaltered color data. There is inherently data loss in the conversion. Full console + full TV will be better color representation than Limited + limited, or any other permutation.

Also it's not like developers are hand placing colors in the range 0-16 and 235-255. It's not extra colors, it's just a range of renderable colors, and how to render them.