5 réponses à ce sujet

[N7recruit]

I was considering Buying a PS4 for the launch of DA:I & primarily Witcher 3 as the latter is only on next gen systems as well as PC.

 

Although now I'm having second toughs as I would rather play DA:I over W3 and to me it also seems kinda stupid to buy a €400 system for 1 exclusive & an up scaled version of DA:I.

 

I know the best thing to do would be to abandon console gaming altogether and just get a new PC but I'd rather save up for a really good one as a long term investment rather than a bare bones rig, but that will take time.

 

So what do you guys think I should do? Just get a PS3 or 360 version? Apart from nicer graphics, more populated areas & fewer loading screens is there any point to upgrade yet? 

 

  

[Allan Schumacher]

The fact that it can be modded is not the same as modding support. Did KotOR or JE have modding support? Was there an actual toolset given out for use?

 

The only games BioWare has released a toolset for is NWN and DAO.

 

 

So, other than higher resolution, how will the PS4 DA:Inquisition version be considered different than the PS3 version?

 

The changes will definitely be primarily visual/aesthetic.

 

Although the level of graphical detail can be modified in a lot of ways beyond simple resolution.  Asset fidelity, texture quality, particle effects/emitters, reflections.

 

 

People use the term "port" in inconsistent ways.  Some mean "it's made entirely for one platform, then pushed to another" (in which case it's not a port as we're developing for all 5 platforms concurrently), and some people will use it as "an alternative platform" (in which case it is a port since arguably all versions are their own ports).

 

I don't see how designing for PC defines a game as as next-gen.

 

Well, most of the advantages that a PC version provides are the same advantages that a next gen system will provide, barring integrated system features like maybe built in streaming/recording or Kinect type stuff.

[Allan Schumacher]

I say that the reason games are called "port" because the game was intentionally designed to be played exactly the same way on the previous generation console.  So games that are called "next-gen" like the Witcher3 and 1886 are games that can't be played on previous-gen consoles at all.

 

 

That's fair.  What do you think will be the biggest influences next gen hardware has on those games you listed, in terms of gameplay?

[Allan Schumacher]

Considering what has been said here is that the "Engine Scales well".. I don't think there will be that big of an issue, THe system is still very new, So seeing the "OMGWTF the Gfx are super great I'm surprized it looks so good ona  console. Wont happen for a few years, as then they will be able to find out all the shotcuts so they can find ways to streamline the processes.

 

The engine does scale well, but it's a fair enough concern because we're spending time on lower fidelity assets too.

 

Where it gets complicated is when whether those lower fidelity assets would still exist, just elsewhere (i.e. lower poly/texture resolution assets for long distance viewing), how expensive a lower fidelity asset is to create, and whether or not we can justify hiring additional staff to take care of this because of potentially more sales from being on the previous generation consoles (i.e. it's possible that we have manpower that wouldn't exist if we were only next gen, mitigating opportunity cost concerns).

[Allan Schumacher]

I say, for one thing, that the gameplay graphics will finally be on the level of the cutscene graphics so that the transition between the two would be seamless. I point to The Order: 1886 again, where I've seen gameplay reviewed by Gamespot.  Just watching the gameplay I was blown away how the same animation and graphics were being used as the cutscenes that were spread out in the moments of the gameplay, and how seamless this all occured.  I would love for Dragon Age series to be played on this level one day such as the trailer of The Sacred Ashes would be gameplay with cutscenes plugged in here and there.  Granted, the reviewer of The Order said they felt that they weren't really playing the game because of the cutscenes continuously popping in, but just the fact we are getting to the point where the gameplay does match the cutscenes is a huge step.  Now it just has to be paced out properly and not so much on rails.

 

This is still a graphical consideration though.  I think it's easy to acknowledge that with more horsepower, the games on next gen will have improved graphics.  I was curious more about how the game actually plays.

 

If you make scaled models with varying LODs for the hardware, the situation you described would still be possible for a cross platform game.  In fact, it's even within our realm of what we consider acceptable between cross platform games, because it's simply a graphical change rather than a fundamental change in how the game plays.

 

Further, I admit I am a bit confused since DAO and DA2 both utilized the same graphics engine for cutscenes as well as for game engine.  Some of them were recorded as Binks, but they were still created with the same engine with the same assets.  In fact, the way the conversation system worked in our pipeline was to literally convert the data into the same format as our cutscenes to play them (allowing a lot of cutscenes).  In this respect, every conversation in DA2 (and I think DAO) could be considered a "cutscene."  Unless you're referring to something else.  Are you simply excited that the next gen graphics will be closer to that of a blur trailer?

 

 

I think my main issue at the moment is that previous generation wasn't able to handle large groups of enemies. At least, that's what I attributed the wave mechanic to. Stronger console would allow higher memory and processing, thus, it would allow the developers to plan out battles more strategically by carefully planning enemies on screen as opposed to small groups of enemies slowly.

 

This is definitely an actual difference.  Though depending on one's perspective, it may be considered a good thing.  Instead of challenging the player by throwing throngs of enemies at the party (i.e. DA2), encounters may need to be more interestingly set up.

 

But you are right, if we want the games to play the same on all platforms, we either need to get creative with our asset usage, or we need to make sure our asset count doesn't explode during combat.

[Allan Schumacher]

Allan, I think Jerrybnsn is talking about gameplay matching cutscene-level detail in the blur trailers, since he referred to the Urn of the Sacred Ashed trailer.

 

Okay thanks.  Yeah a next gen system will be more able to do that (to be fair, Blur trailers aren't exempt from having new technology available to them either).  Though that a game is cross-generational doesn't actually preclude high fidelity art assets for its next gen systems.

 

But yeah, I think everyone expects that the new consoles will be able to jack up the graphics.