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The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition |OT| Bow low, you stand before a head crowned.

Z

Zeliard

Member
The Digital Foundry tech analysis is pretty interesting.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-the-witcher-2-tech-analysis

Seems like they've overhauled the lighting completely from an artistic standpoint, in everything from how the environment to the characters themselves are lit. Should make for a very different-looking game on PC relative to how it is now, and better for it.

Digital Foundry said:
However, what doesn't seem to have featured too heavily in the coverage of the Enhanced Edition is that the look of the game has been significantly transformed compared to its PC debut. As you can see from the comparison, the changes to the lighting in particular stand out. CD Projekt RED appears to have become much more adept and confident in the usage of its HDR rendering, and the result is that the majority of the game has a very different ambience: more realistic and natural, and less like a high-precision CG movie.
Click to expand...

Digital Foundry said:
Weather conditions have been altered seemingly on a mission-by-mission basis, and there appear to have been a multitude of tweaks to atmospheric effects. There's a definite sense that the developers have more readily embraced the organic nature of the core visuals and produced a revised lighting scheme to match. The result is simply beautiful.
Click to expand...

Digital Foundry said:
Also interesting is that the developer has re-evaluated how to light its characters - in the original edition, there was definitely a sense that Geralt and company were somewhat unnaturally illuminated in order to make them pop out of darker surroundings; the difference now is that they appear to sit much more comfortably within the environments, with the addition - where necessary - of appropriately placed light sources. The enhancements don't stop there either: in places, both levels and characters have benefitted from tweaks and outright revisions to the core artwork, again lending them a more natural look.
Click to expand...

pc_lighting1feuso.png

360_lighting129utf.png


pc_lighting261u9i.png

360_lighting24vu2a.png
 
N

NBtoaster

Member
I think the DF analysis deserves it's own thread. It's amazing what they've crammed into the hardware, and the performance is great as well.
 
E

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
This shot is interesting. Even though the overall IQ, shader and lighting detail is obviously worse in the X360 build, you can clearly see a more detailed texture on the Nekker over the vanilla PC release.

360_newart2zckac.png

pc_newart2uckdv.png
 
X

XANDER CAGE

Member
Welp, my embargo's up now I suppose, so I can start talking about the 360 version if people have questions.

I'm glad the DF article uses an example of the new lighting from the siege tower - I saw that and was like "I swear that looks better than it did before" and lo and behold, it does. I'm going to have to play this game *again* on the PC once the Enhanced patch rolls out.
 
GlamFM

GlamFM

Banned
I HAVE to say it again.

The german audio track in this game is fantastic.
Maybe the best I´ve ever heard.
 
C

Chinner

Banned
it's gonna be interesting what the pc version does with the lighting system. shame it looks like we'll have to wait till the 17th to see for ourselves.
 
MMaRsu

MMaRsu

Member
Damn I wish I would have gotten a review copy... I would have spread the word like crazy!

Either way.. Im so low on money right now but I want that TW2EE :(.
 
Z

Zeliard

Member
The new lighting is quite a thing.

pc_042.jpgn0j8h.jpg

360_042.jpgriigp.jpg


pc_017.jpg96flo.jpg

360_017.jpgqzkiu.jpg


It's impressive what they've done with the 360 version, and on PC the game is gonna look pretty glorious. Well, even more than it already did.
 
B

BeeDog

Member
What's up with those 360 screen caps? They look blurry as hell, like compression artefacts are destroying the image quality. DF doesn't mention anything about the game being sub-HD either.
 
S

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
wow

In terms of actual frame-rates, it's rare for The Witcher 2 to dip below 28FPS - quite an outstanding achievement bearing in mind the richness of the visuals, the varying numbers of NPCs roaming around the environments and the multitude of effects in play at any given point.
Click to expand...
 
Z

Zeliard

Member
BeeDog said:
What's up with those 360 screen caps? They look blurry as hell, like compression artefacts are destroying the image quality. DF doesn't mention anything about the game being sub-HD either.
Click to expand...

Texture quality/filtering is substantially lower than in the PC version, so side-by-side they're going to appear blurrier. I don't imagine it'll be much of an issue in-game, given the general lushness of the visuals. The comparison video they posted looks pretty good.
 
R

Ragus

Banned
How does this game run so well on 360? Is it some kind of magic? The framerate is stable and the game looks gorgeous. CDPojekt, I'm so proud of you.
 
X

XANDER CAGE

Member
Ragus said:
How does this game run so well on 360? Is it some kind of magic? The framerate is stable and the game looks gorgeous. CDPojekt, I'm so proud of you.
Click to expand...

I assume it's got to be doing some crazy streaming - the game looks turrible and runs really badly (texture pop-in, jerky framerate) if you don't install it to the 360's HDD (it reminds you all over the main menu that you should totally install the game, though, so I doubt that'll be an issue for many). It's a pretty smooth 30 after install, though. I will say, though, in motion some stuff looks pretty rough. The shadow distance outside in Act 1 aren't very flattering, and there's a lot of shimmering all over everything because there is so much detail going on with all the foliage, etc.

Still an absolutely incredible achievement though, I really hope this sells well among console-only folks.
 
S

Saty

Member
In summary then, it's clear that The Witcher 2 has the performance to match the spectacle. This may well be a PC conversion, but the level of technical accomplishment we see here is more in line with what we'd expect from a top-tier first-party studio designing a game directly for the strengths of the host console hardware.

Compare and contrast with a comparable technology - such as Anvil, the Assassin's Creed engine, which has gradually evolved across four games thus far. On its first attempt, CD Projekt RED has bested it in virtually every way, from characters to environment detail to lighting to effects work - and it runs more smoothly to boot
Click to expand...
.
 
P

patapuf

Member
Saty said:
In summary then, it's clear that The Witcher 2 has the performance to match the spectacle. This may well be a PC conversion, but the level of technical accomplishment we see here is more in line with what we'd expect from a top-tier first-party studio designing a game directly for the strengths of the host console hardware.

Compare and contrast with a comparable technology - such as Anvil, the Assassin's Creed engine, which has gradually evolved across four games thus far. On its first attempt, CD Projekt RED has bested it in virtually every way, from characters to environment detail to lighting to effects work - and it runs more smoothly to boot
Click to expand...

they took their time with the port and it seems to have paid off.
 
S

ShipTheCheese

Member
Don't know whether this has been asked before, GAF, but I need to know this. I feel terribly conflicted about the fact that I really wanna pick this up, while never having played the first one. My laptop would probably hate me for even trying. So, my question: without diving into spoilers, how much would I be missing if dive into this without having gone through witcher 1?
 
S

ScepticMatt

Member
ShipTheCheese said:
how much would I be missing if dive into this without having gone through witcher 1?
Click to expand...
Not much. You won't be as familiar with some of the side characters and miss some background on the Assassinations, but the story is quite disconnected from the first.

Witcher 1 is still a great game if you can get past the somewhat clunky combat.
 
L

Lasthope106

Member
ShipTheCheese said:
Don't know whether this has been asked before, GAF, but I need to know this. I feel terribly conflicted about the fact that I really wanna pick this up, while never having played the first one. My laptop would probably hate me for even trying. So, my question: without diving into spoilers, how much would I be missing if dive into this without having gone through witcher 1?
Click to expand...

The two games are pretty much self-contained. The only reason to play the first one is to get more familiar with the characters and lore (and of course to experience an amazing game). But the Witcher 2 won't spoil the first game if you ever want to go back and play it.
 
M

Mendrox

Member
ScepticMatt said:
Not much. You won't be as familiar with some of the side characters and miss some background on the Assassinations, but the story is quite disconnected from the first.

Witcher 1 is still a great game if you can get past the somewhat clunky combat.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree with him. Witcher 1 Story is not really connected with Witcher 2, but you really should play Witcher 1 for the sake of the characters (Tris for example <3) and for the Witcher in generall. It's an awesome game after the first two hours :)

Ive got the Xbox Version infront of me and played the PC Version last year till Chapter 2... I don't really want to wait for the EE Patch for the PC Version, but the Xbox Version is missing some really great looking textures :/ I didn't like that... decisions decisions :(
 
C

Chinner

Banned
witcher 1 really sets up the lore of the series and lets you know about some of geralts closest friends. otherwise mostly self-contained.
 
S

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
ShipTheCheese said:
Hmm, I do love me some lore. Might have to see if my laptop can handle the first one.
Click to expand...

the cheapest and the fastest solution for you is to read the short stories. You will know more about the lore than if you tried to play the first game.

I have to say that the game is better than its source though.
 
O

OdysseusVA

Banned
In summary then, it's clear that The Witcher 2 has the performance to match the spectacle. This may well be a PC conversion, but the level of technical accomplishment we see here is more in line with what we'd expect from a top-tier first-party studio designing a game directly for the strengths of the host console hardware.

Compare and contrast with a comparable technology - such as Anvil, the Assassin's Creed engine, which has gradually evolved across four games thus far. On its first attempt, CD Projekt RED has bested it in virtually every way, from characters to environment detail to lighting to effects work - and it runs more smoothly to boot
Click to expand...

OH

MY

LAWD


I hold ACR as the best looking console game currently... CDPR please don't ever change.
 
D

Derrick01

Banned
OdysseusVA said:
OH

MY

LAWD


I hold ACR as the best looking console game currently... CDPR please don't ever change.
Click to expand...

I hope the 360 version looks a lot better than the ps3 one because that game didn't look anywhere near the more talked about ps3 exclusives. I had constant headaches every day from the screen tearing alone.
 
G

Gowans

Member
Man these Devs are awesome, the stuff that comes in the standard box shows up some collector editions.

What a fat manual and quest book. Look forward to getting nostalgic and flickin through them pre playing the game.
 
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