From Software The Dark Souls Discussion Thread

[janior]

fucking youtubers are so retarded, to ovens with them

 

[Arnust]

Well, channels started on and about Souls are pretty much starved of shit to throw at their audience. Nothing else really works. They try expand to Action RPGs in general as placebo or completely give up and become streamers with their buffer of fans (looking at you EpicNameHack). Can't blame them especially in such a broken platform as it is YouTube. For them DSPort is a gift fallen from heaven, no wonder. You can't really blame them as much as the wankers getting it with no othe reason whatsoever but blind loyalty and the sake of it.

 

[cvv]

it binds our hope for good games to halfwits with open wallets.

Wouldn't have said it better and I always do.

 

[sullynathan]

TLDR. It's better than DSFix

 

[RoSoDude]

TLDR. It's better than DSFix

Bullshit. This comparison uses the PS4 remaster, so it's bunk speculation from the start to assume anything about the PC remaster. Moreover:

• If you're going to compare the PC remaster with the modded PC port, you should not only use the actual PC remaster but also a fully modded PC port. The DSIC mod adds proper mouse injection camera controls to the PC port (in addition to full input customization for mouse, keyboard, and gamepad alike), a feature which is inexcusably absent from the remaster. This alone makes the PC remaster inherently inferior to the standard PC port + DSFix + DSIC, which should be regarded as the definitive modded version to date.
• You need to get your eyes checked if you think the remaster's lighting model is preferable to the original's. It lacks the original style and definition, everything is washed out, the contrast is toned down, and objects in the environment are harder to distinguish from one another. The opening cutscene shows it best. The new lighting model makes the player character look like a plaster statue, the ambient occlusion effects are practically absent, and the grimy, foggy look is removed in favor of a flat, drab, and evenly lit look which makes everything appear to be made of plastic.
• New effects are either subtle to the point of not mattering (e.g. some foilage is animated) or garish and a departure in style. The new fog doors don't look anything like they're supposed to, and the bonfires have had their iconic undulating tongues of flame replaced with generic fire effects.

The remaster could be better optimized than the original port + DSFix, but we know nothing about the PC version and thus can claim nothing. To extrapolate from the PS4 remaster's performance (on a different resolution, mind you) is utterly misleading at best. Digital Foundry (particularly DF Retro) has usually done a good job with their investigations and reporting, so this hack job of a video is extremely fishy to me. If not a paid promotion outright, it's at least an attempt to cash in on the hype and interest in the PC remaster at as early a date as possible, even if it means making unsubstantiated conjecture based on an unreasonable comparison.

The only thing I really learned from this video is that the original Prepare To Die Edition will no longer be available on Steam following the release of the remaster, which is a terrible state of affairs for the fact that we still have no information about the performance of the PC remaster and for the fact that it's far from being a definitive upgrade. Especially for mouse + keyboard players who will have to wait for another DSIC mod which might never come, this is decidedly a step backwards. Don't be an enabler of the decline.

 

[Matador]

TLDR. It's better than DSFix

That video is paid by Namco, or they are unable to criticize to maintain good relationships with publishers. Game journalists have no shame.

The lightning looks worse than the original. Very plain, like a PS2 game.
They have spoiled Firelink shine atmosphere with that and the new colour palette. I guess the same for the rest of the game. What they were thinking about?

 

[sullynathan]

TLDR. It's better than DSFix

Bullshit. This comparison uses the PS4 remaster, so it's bunk speculation from the start to assume anything about the PC remaster. Moreover:

• If you're going to compare the PC remaster with the modded PC port, you should not only use the actual PC remaster but also a fully modded PC port. The DSIC mod adds proper mouse injection camera controls to the PC port (in addition to full input customization for mouse, keyboard, and gamepad alike), a feature which is inexcusably absent from the remaster. This alone makes the PC remaster inherently inferior to the standard PC port + DSFix + DSIC, which should be regarded as the definitive modded version to date.
• You need to get your eyes checked if you think the remaster's lighting model is preferable to the original's. It lacks the original style and definition, everything is washed out, the contrast is toned down, and objects in the environment are harder to distinguish from one another. The opening cutscene shows it best. The new lighting model makes the player character look like a plaster statue, the ambient occlusion effects are practically absent, and the grimy, foggy look is removed in favor of a flat, drab, and evenly lit look which makes everything appear to be made of plastic.
• New effects are either subtle to the point of not mattering (e.g. some foilage is animated) or garish and a departure in style. The new fog doors don't look anything like they're supposed to, and the bonfires have had their iconic undulating tongues of flame replaced with generic fire effects.

The remaster could be better optimized than the original port + DSFix, but we know nothing about the PC version and thus can claim nothing. To extrapolate from the PS4 remaster's performance (on a different resolution, mind you) is utterly misleading at best. Digital Foundry (particularly DF Retro) has usually done a good job with their investigations and reporting, so this hack job of a video is extremely fishy to me. If not a paid promotion outright, it's at least an attempt to cash in on the hype and interest in the PC remaster at as early a date as possible, even if it means making unsubstantiated conjecture based on an unreasonable comparison.

The only thing I really learned from this video is that the original Prepare To Die Edition will no longer be available on Steam following the release of the remaster, which is a terrible state of affairs for the fact that we still have no information about the performance of the PC remaster and for the fact that it's far from being a definitive upgrade. Especially for mouse + keyboard players who will have to wait for another DSIC mod which might never come, this is decidedly a step backwards. Don't be an enabler of the decline.

Well. .. you're wrong

 

[Cross]

Digital Foundry has always been unreliable due to their obvious agenda. In every video I've seen of them, they consistently downplay improvements PC versions offer over their console counterparts.

They didn't even acknowledge the texture downgrades here (the bottom screenshots in these comparisons are from the 'remastered' version, if you can believe it):

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[cvv]

That corridor to the undead merchant hag....is that for real?

 

[praetor]

could just be motion blur. if you rewatch the comparisons/trailers, they've included copious amounts of obnoxious motion blur in the "remaster". lots of textures/effects look noticeably worse, but i don't think they went as far as actually putting lower res textures. right, guys? guys...?

anyway, i'd maybe buy this for 5$ just for the revitalised online, but not for 20$, let alone 40$. fuck them

 

[cvv]

I will never buy the Remaster, not even for one cent. I rarely play the boycott game coz it's usually cringey af but this time imma stand my ground. I don't care about PvP in DS1 tbh. Nothing but griefer twinks and backpedalling backstab fishers anyway.

 

[Bester]

That corridor to the undead merchant hag....is that for real?

I didn't even know you could still license the morrowind engine.

 

[RoSoDude]

Good lord those are shockingly bad Cross . Also, to bolster my point about the opening custcene, here are new levels of from 5:30 of that video.

Hilariously, the Switch version looks to be a faithful port, visually unchanged from the original version. It's hard to evaluate since the only non-trailer gameplay I could find is from screen recordings at PAX, but you can see that the original lighting, fog, bonfire, and item glow effects are all intact. Locked to 30 FPS, but Blighttown appears to run fine.




...so yeah, the Nintendo Switch is getting a better "remaster" than the machines that can actually handle the game at a higher framerate. The handheld console of all things gets the definitive version. Please, no one bother trying to defend this shitshow.

 

[janior]

ayyyyy lmao

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Makabb]

Digital Foundry has always been unreliable due to their obvious agenda. In every video I've seen of them, they consistently downplay improvements PC versions offer over their console counterparts.

They didn't even acknowledge the texture downgrades here (the bottom screenshots in these comparisons are from the 'remastered' version, if you can believe it):

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

You gotta love when people talk about things they don't know about and spread false information.

PS 4 version (as there have been no showings of PC remaster so far) got motion blur enabled by default (and most likely those journos don't even bother to turn it off), what you see on the screenshots is player character moving and screenshot taken with motion blur blurring textures.

 

[Makabb]

so... can someone finally tell me which version is a scam?

none is scam

PS4 is looking good, PC version which NO ONE has seen yet, will be the best out of all versions (naturaly)

 

[RoSoDude]

so... can someone finally tell me which version is a scam?

That's the dirty secret. Every one of them simultaneously is a scam, a scam to make you go and purchase the Prepare to Die Edition ASAP before they take it off the Steam store to make room for the remaster. You feel it working, don't you? An urge to tell that friend of yours who doesn't yet have DS1 to go buy it before it's too late? That's why they do things like remove the original version. Maximum buy-in from all possible audiences, even those that DON'T want the remaster.

Bandai Namco playing 4D Chess, ladies and gentleman.

 

[Makabb]

so... can someone finally tell me which version is a scam?

That's the dirty secret. Every one of them simultaneously is a scam, a scam to make you go and purchase the Prepare to Die Edition ASAP before they take it off the Steam store to make room for the remaster. You feel it working, don't you? An urge to tell that friend of yours who doesn't yet have DS1 to go buy it before it's too late? That's why they do things like remove the original version. Maximum buy-in from all possible audiences, even those that DON'T want the remaster.

Bandai Namco playing 4D Chess, ladies and gentleman.

Good riddance for them not giving you a new version to a 8 year old game for free.
20$ in a span of 8 years must be a real fortune.

 

[RoSoDude]

so... can someone finally tell me which version is a scam?

That's the dirty secret. Every one of them simultaneously is a scam, a scam to make you go and purchase the Prepare to Die Edition ASAP before they take it off the Steam store to make room for the remaster. You feel it working, don't you? An urge to tell that friend of yours who doesn't yet have DS1 to go buy it before it's too late? That's why they do things like remove the original version. Maximum buy-in from all possible audiences, even those that DON'T want the remaster.

Bandai Namco playing 4D Chess, ladies and gentleman.

Good riddance for them not giving you a new version to a 8 year old game for free.
20$ in a span of 8 years must be a real fortune.

I don't want the new version, free or otherwise. I won't install it. I want the old version to remain on the store, so that people like me who didn't play the game until recently (end of 2017 for me) due to godawful mouse controls can still get that version, install a free mod created by a passionate creator who actually cares about games, and enjoy one of the last great inclined games in recent memory. And unlike you, I don't play apologetics for publishers while they plow us from behind repeatedly.

 

[Makabb]

so... can someone finally tell me which version is a scam?

That's the dirty secret. Every one of them simultaneously is a scam, a scam to make you go and purchase the Prepare to Die Edition ASAP before they take it off the Steam store to make room for the remaster. You feel it working, don't you? An urge to tell that friend of yours who doesn't yet have DS1 to go buy it before it's too late? That's why they do things like remove the original version. Maximum buy-in from all possible audiences, even those that DON'T want the remaster.

Bandai Namco playing 4D Chess, ladies and gentleman.

Good riddance for them not giving you a new version to a 8 year old game for free.
20$ in a span of 8 years must be a real fortune.

I don't want the new version, free or otherwise. I won't install it. I want the old version to remain on the store, so that people like me who didn't play the game until recently (end of 2017 for me) due to godawful mouse controls can still get that version, install a free mod created by a passionate creator who actually cares about games, and enjoy one of the last great inclined games in recent memory. And unlike you, I don't play apologetics for publishers while they plow us from behind repeatedly.

good luck playing your broken game because dsfix brakes more things than it fixes, so enjoy.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Makabb]

so... can someone finally tell me which version is a scam?

That's the dirty secret. Every one of them simultaneously is a scam, a scam to make you go and purchase the Prepare to Die Edition ASAP before they take it off the Steam store to make room for the remaster. You feel it working, don't you? An urge to tell that friend of yours who doesn't yet have DS1 to go buy it before it's too late? That's why they do things like remove the original version. Maximum buy-in from all possible audiences, even those that DON'T want the remaster.

Bandai Namco playing 4D Chess, ladies and gentleman.

Good riddance for them not giving you a new version to a 8 year old game for free.
20$ in a span of 8 years must be a real fortune.

I don't want the new version, free or otherwise. I won't install it. I want the old version to remain on the store, so that people like me who didn't play the game until recently (end of 2017 for me) due to godawful mouse controls can still get that version, install a free mod created by a passionate creator who actually cares about games, and enjoy one of the last great inclined games in recent memory. And unlike you, I don't play apologetics for publishers while they plow us from behind repeatedly.

good luck playing your broken game because dsfix brakes more things than it fixes, so enjoy.

so... would you say that old version was a scam?

no, it was badly ported from consoles

 

[Arnust]

so... would you say that old version was a scam?

The original PC port? Most definitively. I'd wager it's about as bad as to basically buy ANY version of DS1 but console ones because of how massive of a hackery both Prepare to die and Remaster PC are.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG