Dark Souls II' Was 'Unplayable And Broken' On Consoles Before Graphics Downgrade

The previews we saw of Dark Souls II showed a much prettier game with a lighting system that seemed to plunge the world of Drangleic into deep darkness, traversable only with the help of a trusty torch. The retail console version of the game still looks good, but not nearly to the same degree.

[Ezz2013]

i got my copy few days ago and didn't play any thing other than 5 or 10 minutes of it
well start it today
but i wonder why this got those high scores when it look like doing nothing new we haven't seen in Dark souls
and on top of that got downgraded in Graphics and also got tons of problewms with framerate and bugs ?!

developers deserve to get called out on this

[DanielGearSolid]

You only played 10 minutes
Yet you kbow all of this?
Play the game first buddy...

[Ezz2013]

it seems that you didn't get my comment right
i will play it but
there is tons of topics about the downgrade and even the developers did comment on it and never deny it
there is articles about the framerate and bugs

so i asked if it had all that how it got high scores

[DanielGearSolid]

I got it...

I'm saying there also ppl who didn't have any technical issues while playing

So im saying you should play it first

[DragonKnight]

I haven't once experienced any framerate drops. I don't care about the lighting, once you get to The Gutter it doesn't matter how bright you think the world is compared to the demo.

You haven't played the game, so unless you've absorbed as much info as you can about the game (i.e. streams of people playing it, trailers, etc...) then you don't know what you're talking about. The Souls series has never been about graphics, so people whining about a non-issue like lighting changes should stop playing the game immediately, return their copy of the game, and leave the real fans to playing this amazing game.

[Palitera]

Man up and stand up for what you've said. Or apologize, but don't deny your words.

"but i wonder why this got those high scores when it look like doing nothing new we haven't seen in Dark souls" after playing 10 minutes...

Absolutely an expert.

[nix]

i've played it and the frame rate drops almost everywhere. there's also a delay in sound. if i take a step on the wooden plank, i get the sound after few seconds which gives off impression that someone else is walking around near me. if i rotate the camera fast enough the screen blurs.

if i press Start button it comes out after a second. i was playing Dark Souls and i jumped to DS2 and i can tell you it's a tad slow. everywhere. they've already thrown 2 updates and i can't figure out what updates they've done.

i like the game and all but damn it slows down.

[Ezz2013]

damnit guys, i'm not a hater
i love Souls games they are among my best games this gen
but asking a question is no hate
and i even admit that i haven't played the game yet
i have no idea how you guys would think i'm a hater

@Palitera
i'm still stand behind my question and if you think this is just a hate from me to games i love to no end
then so be it

[Captain Qwark 9]

@nix

that sucks dude, ive been playing around 16hrs and i have yet to have it even stutter once

[WildArmed]

It plays fine. In fact, it has less dips than the previous two iterations.

This probably their most stable game yet. And still very fun.
Tons of new enemies and new types of combat styles.

About 40 hours in, need to get back into it soon.

But put it on hold for MGS:GZ.. and soon infamous:SS

[OmegaShen]

Totally lie, Demon Souls ran better then Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2. Stable yes, the other games were to. Beside Dark Souls framerate problems that are on Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls 2 beta from what played had no framerate problems.

But two does have them, as well as AI's getting stuck in walls and dying or attacks going through walls.

[frostypants]

@OmegaShen, you've clearly forgotten a lot about Demon's Souls. That game dropped to single-digit fps quite often. It was one of the biggest complaints about it.

[WildArmed]

@OmegaShen

Clearly someone hasn't tried magic / faith builds in Demon Souls. That frame drop.

Heck, whenever I used Firestorm I'd get crazy frame drops.

Dark Souls 2 is much more stable than the previous two when it comes to frame rate.

[Summons75]

Well one the downgrade doesn't matter. Two they improved a lot, added a lot, reblanaced a lot. Its not the same game ad Dark Souls and it took a lot of what people missed from Demon Souls and brought it back. Sure the core gameplay is the same but that's because its the same series, this isn't Bio ware who make who new games for sequels, these are intelligent devs who knows what works and what needs to be improved. When you dive deep in the game you can see huge changes

[frostypants]

Two things:
-The only problem with the downgrade is that they were (and are) still running media that is featuring the pre-downgrade graphics. They need to apologize for that.
-Who is actually having frame rate issues? It's pretty much locked at 30fps for me (PS3). It dips to maybe 20fps or so on occasion. We've all got the same hardware here (aside from PS3 vs. 360), so I've got no idea what the hell people are talking about on that front...unless it's people who are lying and never played the prior games. It doesn't get even close to as bad as Dark Souls and Demon's Souls. It's the smoothest game in the series by a landslide.

[PurpHerbison]

I am sick and tired of people saying they played this on console with ZERO technical issues. Souls games ALWAYS have tons of issues. This iteration is not exempt. It's okay to say that you are having fun, thus you don't notice the issues as much as the next guy. But do not, and I repeat, do not come in here and BS.

[Sly-Lupin]

Whereas I am sick and tires of people who assume everyone has the exact same experience with a game.

Just because you are experiencing lots of bugs does not mean everyone else is, too; just because you have not experienced any bugs does not mean that the game is bug free.

Its really all down to luck.

[DFogz]

The game got high scores because it was reviewed for what it was, and how it played. Not for how pretty it looked.

[Back-to-Back]

Dark Souls 2 takes everything great about the first and builds on it. Seriously 34 bosses in this game.

My first playthrough with occassional assistance online lasted me 38 hours.

Keep in my I plan on going through the game atleast 2-3 more times as well as sink 100's of hours in pvp.

[kurruptor]

Apparently graphics don't matter anymore when it comes to reviews. Like Titanfall's 2008 graphics with screen tearing and framerate drops. Yet most reviews ignored that.

[DeadRabbits]

Sessler the Goldfish Mind with his superhuman 2 second memory seemed to forget this too when reviewing Titanfall!

[benzo52]

All games will be like this until developers have enough time to learn and practice with the new consoles.

[RAAMzilla]

Souls 2 isn't on the new consoles.

[youndamie]

Lol yea, he just saw "Downgrade" and assumed it was next gen.

[seanpitt23]

New consoles! they have been out 7 years buddy lol

[Sly-Lupin]

Actually, this is year 9. Last gen began in 2005....

[seanpitt23]

Well I only bought the ps3 last gen and that came out in 2007 in the uk so that's why I said 7 years but if you count the 360 then your right :)

[aLiEnViSiToR]

dafuq that was either a stealth trollin' or a total fail xD

[Half-Mafia]

I'm praying for the PC version to look like the trailers.

PLEEEEASE :(

[specialguest]

I'm currently building a pc rig with a gtx 770 and I'm praying with you man. If no improvements in lighting and texture, hopefully the frame rate is not locked at 30fps

[starchild]

It won't be. They've already admitted that was a mistake and that DS2 runs at 60fps or above.

[ATi_Elite]

They seem to have made this game first for the PC so prepared to be dazzled.

If not then I'm sure a FAT patch will dazzle you after release.

[PurpHerbison]

I expect the PC version to drop and look how it is supposed to look. But yeah, the dazzling won't come til after the modders start juicing it up.

[Plagasx]

Hmmm, so it shouldn't be downgraded at all then on the PC version then right??

[RAAMzilla]

“This is what it comes down to: a playable framerate. The early builds that the screenshots came from were playable but only just so. The game was not in a state where it could be sold at that point. I strongly suspect that they were focusing heavily on delivering a top-notch experience on PC and underestimated the challenges the new systems would pose on PS3 / Xbox360. "
The way that paragraph is worded would seem to suggest that We can expect something at least similar on PC, which excites Me greatly.

[Ducky]

Makes me wonder if they have a next (or current?)-gen version planned too.

If they've spent all that effort into making an atmospheric game, it would be a shame if only one fraction of gamers got to experience all of it.

That's assuming the PC version itself isn't downgraded. If it is, then that's...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Hardtarget]

Of course consoles cant keep up with gaming PC:s.

[frostypants]

Way to miss the topic. The issue is Namco/Bandai showing media, which they represented as PS3 gameplay, with pre-downgrade settings right up until/through release.

PC is irrelevant here. The fact that From may have legitimately needed to downgrade is irrelevant here. All that is relevant is Namco/Bandai's ham fisted and dishonest media campaign.

Thankfully the game is still awesome, and truthfully some of the late gameplay videos of the beta made it clear to me that some downgrades had already been made weeks ago, but it doesn't let them off the hook for dishonest claims. This isn't even a gray area...it's not like they showed footage and didn't specify platform. They showed this footage and explicitly stated it was for PS3, all the way up to putting it on the shelves. This is sketchy behavior, but the kind of thing I've come to expect from also-ran publishers with troubled histories like Namco/Bandai.

I wish Atlus got this series back. They are small, but they are honest and seemed very friendly with the community with Demon's Souls (they handled the NA release).

[NovusTerminus]

If that was the PC build I'll build one for it. Or Ys know. Make it for the PS4 like you guys should have.

[Debaitable]

Guys the consoles are 8 years old.. You should know what to expect by now.

[Nerodmcs]

@ Palitera

i dont know if the developers even know that words like 'Man up and stand up' exists in there world we should write a letter to them these words 'explaning how these words can affect them'

only thing they know is 'answering a question without giving a accurate answer confusing a person and stating a fact that they are done ' they already answered it.

sorry guys i dont know english i m still learning so foregive the mistakes.

[oIITSBIIo]

It is going to be playable on PC so they better not downgrade it .

[mcarsehat]

yeah, that's usually the reason why every game gets a graphics downgrade, how is it a big news investigation?

I can't see how a company would downgrade the graphics of a game unless they had to, the average consumer now wants shiny shiny graphics over gameplay (according to the comments and reactions of every watch_dogs/call of duty/ryse/killzone:sf/infamous :ss article since june 2013.) Why would they stray away from the biggest set of consumers? it just doesn't make sense.

[starchild]

That's exactly right. No developer would build a game with high quality assets & effects, as well as incredible lighting, only to later throw all that work away and purposefully downgrade it for no reason.

They obviously needed to do it for the good of the game in general. That's why I don't understand people that get pissed off about things like this. Disappointed? Yes. Pissed off? No.

[mcarsehat]

everyday melodrama i suppose.

[frostypants]

Again, missing the point. The downgrade itself is OK. But why were their media twits still presenting pre-downgrade footage as running on the PS3 right up until release? They were even presenting footage from the initial reveal from a year or so ago as PS3 footage...stuff that had in reality been downgraded months before. This is the problem. They basically took the back-of-the-box bullshot practice that has plagued the industry for decades and extended it to every corner of their media.

[BlasterGR]

I still dont believe what Kojima did with the lighting and shadows in FOX ENGINE on PS3-360 (Ground Zeroes). It all comes down in the engine used in the end. Maybe Japanese developers should start using FOX ENGINE, if KONAMI allows of course...

[HacSawJimThugin]

I wish this would of come to XBO/PS4...the new gen. My back log crazy (last gen) and I don't want to add to it so, I hope that the new gen gets a version...here's to hoping.

I read that From Software isn't even think about new gen but I expect that to change before long. Maybe E3 they will announce XBO/PS4 versions.

[clouds5]

Can't wait for the pc version...

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Can't believe people are still talking about this. Would you guys REALLY prefer frame drops over graphical fidelity? That's just stupid.

[PurpHerbison]

Um... There is still frame drops with the graphics being turned all the way down to "bland mode". If I could have it my way, turn the graphics all the way down til the game can run at a locked 30 FPS. Absolutely baffles me that the 3rd Souls game still suffers from frame rate drops.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Blame that on the tech it's on. The game itself is pure quality. The fact that it's the highest rated game this week despite being up against 3 other major games is proof enough.

[PurpHerbison]

I can't exactly blame it for the tech it is on. They have yet to polish an engine!

[Subby]

In terms of depth and gameplay, Dark Souls takes any shiny and glitzed up PS4/X1 game and crushes it under its steel boot.

[PurpHerbison]

That's not really fair as the PS4/X1 don't even have respectable libraries yet.

[feraldrgn]

Looks like it should've gone to next gen then?

[Bloodjunkie]

It's a very good game, but it looks like s*it on PS3! They should bring it to next gen or get better developers. The last gen consoles can handle much more sophisticated graphics than the dark souls 2 porridge.

[FanMan]

This is so frustrating. I do not understand why they didn't have this in development for next gen as well.

[kingdom18]

Wouldn't have had as many problems if they brought to the current gen.

[Hardtarget]

PC version will also be 20 bucks cheaper. Well brethren, time for a real PC computer soon?

[MicDude]

Well the 7th gen consoles are nearly a decade old now. How "good" could they have made the game look? I understand that devs may have been a bit dishonest lately and there is no excuse for that. They should have been more up front about the whole graphics situation. How many of you actually thought that a game like Dark Souls (an open world game with very little loading screens) would look as it did when the gameplay trailer was shown?