The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[lilrayray69]

Well I said I wouldnt pre-order this game, but I found a way to get it pre-ordered for $21 so I figured why not.

Where??

Even Far Cry 4 looks better than that.

I thought Far Cry 4 looked really good...

That 2015 screenshot does look pretty awful, but then again it's comparing a moving .gif to a static image at a different angle, possibly different time of day in game, possibly not taken on the same platform, possibly on different settings, etc...

I think we'll just have to wait for the actual release to see what this game will look like.

 

[Stuka87]

Where??



I thought Far Cry 4 looked really good...

That 2015 screenshot does look pretty awful, but then again it's comparing a moving .gif to a static image at a different angle, possibly different time of day in game, possibly not taken on the same platform, possibly on different settings, etc...

I think we'll just have to wait for the actual release to see what this game will look like.

CDPR has said that Console and PC graphics are the same minus AA settings. The lower one CLEARLY has less detail on the buildings in the background. Even the items in the foreground look far less detailed than the top photo. Even compared to the 2013 it has less detail.

 

[mnewsham]

Where??

Its not particularly ethical, redacted

I figure I was probably going to pirate it anyway. (GoG games have no DRM so any game you see on GoG is also available to pirate online meaning the witcher 3 will be free day 1 without any issues anyway) I might not be paying full price this way, but they are still getting SOME of my money.

Im not advocating anyone do this, but seeing as you can already pirate the game (seriously you can pirate the pre-download), i'm sure the devs would prefer $21 instead of $0.



Your post has all sorts of wrong here.

Telling people an unethical way to get the game cheaper and then then admitting you were probably going to pirate the game anyway.
This is your lone warning for this type of post. Next time you will be infracted for it.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[zinfamous]

Wounded Witcher Children, 2015.

 

[BSim500]

Then what use is that?

What if the game can not even run on your computer?

That's in addition to faults not instead of. It's useful if you ordered the wrong game or change your mind after an "impulse buy". System requirements are clearly laid out under the same column as "Add to Cart". If a game is genuinely buggy or incompatible, they'll generally help you as far as they can for 30 days after which they'll give a refund if you are still seriously having problems getting a game to work (especially if others are as well on similar hardware). Their support is pretty good (both official tech support & unofficial knowledgeable community). The one time I needed it, a query was answered in 6 minutes complete with bug-fix patch. Bear in mind all their games are DRM free and they can't remotely "deauthorize" anything, ie, once you've downloaded a game, backup the installer file and it's yours to keep for life, and bear in mind much of their collection dates back 10-20 years where some minor bugs are expected, this is a pretty fair policy overall. Anything else would be ripe for abuse "Hi, I just ordered 500 of your games by mistake, I've downloaded them all, backed them up to my HDD, burnt a Blu-Ray copy, and now I want 500 refunds". :biggrin:

Edit: GOG actually seem to do pre-order refunds even beyond the 30 days as long as it's before release : "6.7a if you preorder and pay for a GOG game, you can cancel the preorder and get a full refund as long as we receive a valid request before the game's full release date on GOG.com."
https://www.gog.com/support/policies/gog_user_agreement

---

As mentioned previously, what did people seriously expect given the general state of modern cross-platform gaming development? The Golden Age of AAA PC exclusives is long over. "A wall edge is straight & not curved"? LOL. These days, I weep tears of joy when I find an AAA PC game where the mouse works properly, the keys are fully rebindable, you can quick / manual save, the HUD is pleasant to look at from 2ft away and not "designed for TV" size 36 font, etc. Basic functionality that even late 1990's games had. Graphics are the least of my worries in "modern" cross-platform development. It's simply economically unfeasible to write two versions of the same game with radically different lighting engines.

Likewise if Ultra = extra populations in the market place, that doesn't just affect graphics, but means extra voice actors, character modellers / animators / mocap, etc, are needed which ends up driving up the cost of optimizing an "Ultra" settings disproportionately to all other settings optimizations, (which makes it more likely that other stuff will be cut for everyone, eg, maybe they spend so much time hand tweaking every brick for perfect graphics that map size will have to be cut to meet the budget / deadline). This stuff has always been a balancing act and based more on "what's possible within a timeframe / budget" than "what's possible on flagship GFX card of the day". Crysis 3 managed top GFX mainly because it was 7-8hrs long and railroady. Make it 10-20x longer and open-world on the same budget, and you'd see a lot more compromises there too.

Edit: Likewise, big games take a long time to make. And the longer they take the more outdated the GFX are perceived to be. Dragon Age Origins got mild criticism for average GFX (which was partly due to being 5 years in the making, which in turn resulted in very polished gameplay and a PC exclusive UI (40x quickslots)). You can't please everyone all the time.

 

[mnewsham]

Seriously? SOMEONE (WHO KNOWS WHO IT COULD BE?!) deleted the part about getting the game for $21, but then leave the part about how you can pirate the game right now?? and then this same someone (seriously WHO ARE YOU !!!?!!?) calls ME out for pirating? (when I obviously stated I paid the $21)


Your editing of the mod callout here is a farce.
You did not state you paid 21.00 for the game in the part I edited out.

Your post was WARNED for the instructions of using a VPN to get around it.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[zinfamous]

Seriously? You delete the part about getting the game for $21, but then leave the part about how you can pirate the game right now?? and call ME out for pirating? (when I obviously stated I paid the $21)

I don't see that those details were left in, but surely after 5 years here you know that this kind of chatter is against forum policy?

 

[mnewsham]

I don't see that those details were left in, but surely after 5 years here you know that this kind of chatter is against forum policy?

Eh, pirating sure. I was advocating specifically against pirating, then was called out for and I quote here "admitting you would pirate the game" Esquared has come along and covered tracks by editing that part out but meh, that's how it was phrased in the PM I have received, and the original reply.



Be against pirating by all means, I just dont see how using a free online tool to access a webpage that anyone else can access to get a piece of software for less is a problem. If I were advocating stealing it, sure. But I wasn't this is a legitimate way to get the game, and anyone with access to a server IP from that country can get the same price.




Hell CSPR themselves have been posting on specific pirating sites saying they will be releasing a day 1 patch that WILL be fully functional with pirated copies.

Its not like the developers aren't aware this is happening.



Accusing me of covering tracks? What tracks? You were only warned for posting that unethical way (your own admission) of getting the game cheaper. You also said:
"I figure I was probably going to pirate it anyway."

This is what I removed from your post, and it doesn't say you paid either.:
" Its not particularly ethical, and requires the use of a VPN. However, if you have access to a Ukrainian VPN server, go to GoG.com. the witcher 3 costs $21.19 for a preorder. The DLC pass is another $15. Or you can get the entire witcher collection including witcher 3 preorder for like $30. "

I'll leave it up for awhile so the others can see what BS you're posting. You will not impugn my moderation saying I am covering tracks.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I think spoofing an IP to pretend to be from a country you're not in order to lock in a price that is not being offered to residents of the country you are actually in is in violation of the TOS of both the reseller and the game producer. That's the issue.

 

[mnewsham]

I think spoofing an IP to pretend to be from a country you're not in order to lock in a price that is not being offered to residents of the country you are actually in is in violation of the TOS of both the reseller and the game producer. That's the issue.

as i already said, I wouldnt have spent any money on this game otherwise. If they want to refund me and cancel my pre-order by all means, they have every right to do so.


I wont be paying for it otherwise though.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

It's your right to not want to buy it at full price, but what you're advocating is tantamount to saying "I don't like what they're charging for it, so I'm going to pirate it but then also send them what I consider a fair price." You don't have the right to get something for cheaper than a seller is offering it just because you don't feel like paying for it. Is it silly that they have digital goods on sale for different prices based on location? Yes. Does that excuse you going out of your way to avoid paying full price for the game? No.

 

[flexy]

10 on Gamespot, not exactly something you see every day.

Problem: I am not even 5% into GTA V ..so this has to wait...

 

[chimaxi83]

10 on Gamespot, not exactly something you see every day.

Problem: I am not even 5% into GTA V ..so this has to wait...

Priorities man, do you have them?!

 

[zinfamous]

 

[escrow4]

Its not just downgraded. The devs yanked out all those NPCs and buildings as well. Gone. Then what was left was downgraded. Gone. There won't be any extra high res anything. They never existed. Then they admit they built the game for consoles first and PCs are the same with some pffft next to no extra options. The PC version is an upscaled PS4 version. Then they recommend a 3770 non K and 8GB of RAM to run a console port. Then instead of PC first, PS4 is magically out first for reviewers. FAIL.

 

[Riceninja]

2013

So much stuff from 2013 got deleted though. All those people around the market gone.

sigh.

regardless of great the game turns out looking, we'll always be wondering how much -better- it could have been.

damn consoles...

 

[norseamd]

The devs yanked out all those NPCs and buildings as well. Gone.

And this is far worse than graphics downgrading. Shame on CDPR.

 

[cmdrdredd]

That 2015 screenshot does look pretty awful, but then again it's comparing a moving .gif to a static image at a different angle, possibly different time of day in game, possibly not taken on the same platform, possibly on different settings, etc...

I think we'll just have to wait for the actual release to see what this game will look like.

Pretty much. I'll hold my pre-order until I know what I'll be getting.

 

[Head1985]

confirmed downgrade because consoles

 

[chimaxi83]

Its not just downgraded. The devs yanked out all those NPCs and buildings as well. Gone. Then what was left was downgraded. Gone. There won't be any extra high res anything. They never existed. Then they admit they built the game for consoles first and PCs are the same with some pffft next to no extra options. The PC version is an upscaled PS4 version. Then they recommend a 3770 non K and 8GB of RAM to run a console port. Then instead of PC first, PS4 is magically out first for reviewers. FAIL.

Hopefully you're not clogging this thread with more crap once we start discussing gameplay.

So, can someone list all the things CDPR said they were going to give us, while also showing where they lied and/or went back on their word? I'd like to grab my pitchfork and join the mob, but not until I see something more than a few gifs and a video (of who the hell knows what version/settings) before I talk out of my ass.

 

[cmdrdredd]

confirmed downgrade because consoles

That's not confirmed. Not until we see it from a 3rd party will it be confirmed. This post is pretty worthless.

 

[Stuka87]

confirmed downgrade because consoles

So basically we are all stuck with a crappy XBox One port?

Great. Microsofts choice to gimp their box strikes again!

 

[cmdrdredd]

Hopefully you're not clogging this thread with more crap once we start discussing gameplay.

So, can someone list all the things CDPR said they were going to give us, while also showing where they lied and/or went back on their word? I'd like to grab my pitchfork and join the mob, but not until I see something more than a few gifs and a video (of who the hell knows what version/settings) before I talk out of my ass.

That screenshot looks similar to the PS4 gameplay on display here(video linked below). The wood textures and hair and grass look nearly identical. So I can't say that it's a screenshot from the PC, not when PCGamer confirmed that they can't even run the game on PC yet because there is a day one patch that is required and not available until launch. All the reviews of the game are done on the PS4. Some have speculated that this is to keep the game from being pirated around due to being DRM free, some think it's a conspiracy and they don't want people to see the game running on PC to compare to PS4. Who is correct? We are all guessing and using dev quotes with little context and a lot of speculation.

Honestly though I watched the entire video below and I think it looks quite good. No game ever looks like the initial screenshots and trailers and pretty much never has. What is shown though running on PS4 looks great to my eyes. I was quite pleased with Dragon Age Inquisition on PC and Witcher 3 seems to look more detailed and have better lighting than DAI. I could live with that at a higher resolution and with some AA and extra AF I'm sure.

https://youtu.be/_XXOofl2cXE

So basically we are all stuck with a crappy XBox One port?

Great. Microsofts choice to gimp their box strikes again!

Is that what it said? I didn't see that.

 

[Stuka87]

Here is the direct link to the screen shot above, which the poster of the screen shot forgot to post:

http://whatifgaming.com/developer-i...-from-2013-list-of-all-features-taken-out-why

 

[escrow4]

Hopefully you're not clogging this thread with more crap once we start discussing gameplay.

So, can someone list all the things CDPR said they were going to give us, while also showing where they lied and/or went back on their word? I'd like to grab my pitchfork and join the mob, but not until I see something more than a few gifs and a video (of who the hell knows what version/settings) before I talk out of my ass.

Its been posted. Consoles can't hack it and the devs decided to consolidate based on the worst platform. So, a tablet CPU and a tired old 7770 equivalent at best can run at sub 1080p and peasant 30FPS, but a slight increase to 1080p and 60FPS on PC magically requires a 3770 and a 980. Of course I'm still buying it, I didn't play the first 2 3 times apiece for nothing but I'll keep on moaning about it. Consoles strike again.