B+W/1.21 High Resolution Texture Patch/DLC for PC Users, please!
I have played the Witcher series from the beginning. I have played the first, second, and third Witcher installments through each of them several times. I proselytized for each and every installment of the series, and continue to give it my highest praise. When Witcher 3 came out, my current PC could barely run it, so I upgraded. I went from using a Radeon 5770 to an Nvidia GTX 960 GPU. The Nvidia card did not have any trouble playing on high settings, and the world was beautifully rendered. There was the occasional "popping-in" issue, where NPCs would just materialize right in front of you. When I upgraded my monitor, the game looked even better, so I swapped out the Nvidia for an AMD R9 390. The R9 390 renders textures with 93% more detail than the GTX 960 (not sure how they arrive at that number, I am quoting the third party GPU benchmark website i used to shop for it). Geeze, what a difference! After all that, the detail in the game was absolutely vibrant, immersive, and almost surreal. Geralt's face was incredibly rendered, the NPCs were detailed even from far away, and the environments more stunning than ever. With the 390 there was no stuttering, "popping-in," or any other graphical issue. I started playing the game at 1440 resolution, and could do so without a hitch. Magnificent! This was the best game I had ever seen, and being a huge fan of the series for 10 years it was like having Christmas every day to play it.
So, why does B+W/1.21 make it seem like I have jumped back to using that bargain Nvidia card? This is particularly irritating since I upgraded my PC to enthusiast grade to get get the full immersion of the Witcher experience. Much of the detail is gone. Geralt looks cartoonish and the grit and viscera I could feel in the 1.12 version of the game is gone. NPCs in the background look like old school Kings Quest participants, and Vivaldi looks like a 100 years younger, and also blocky and cartoonish. Several layers of detail are missing from the game. It is graphically flat. Many on here are calling it plastic, and complaining about this.
As I perceive it, the "graphics upgrades" of B+W/1.21 shift from texture-based rendering to effects-based rendering. Lighting and chromatic aberration are used to substitute for actual detail, like the yellow filter over all of Toussaint. While I find the use of these effects visually artistic in Blood and Wine, they cannot replace actual detail. If I go to a to a strip club and the dancer performs under red light to hide the pimples on her butt, she still has pimples on her butt. Similarly, a cartoonish image is still cartoonish when these effects are applied. Why these effects were applied throughout the whole of the game is beyond me. My thinking is it must be some sort of bug, or conflict between the two different rendering architectures. I notice a setting or two in the game is completely broken.
I can understand why for many people, the graphics are an upgrade. It was too much for a lot of systems out there. More efficiency is probably for most people some sort of enhancement, especially if they have a GPU that works more efficiently substituting effects for actual detail. However, it is clear to me, from my perspective, that these people should have just upgraded their hardware. Or be glad with the Witcher 3 they had, since these games have always tested the limitations of hardware.... remember? Like the first Witcher and Witcher II? Both took ages to load on the machine I had, but it did not make me love them any less.
I do not understand why there is an image of an Xbox controller in my UI. It makes me think these changes were made to increase playability or maybe even decrease that terrible load time on an Xbox. Well, I only have one thought on that: if Microsoft releases a platform with a fourth-generation-obsolete-at-launch Jaguar chipset, that is Microsoft's problem, not CDProjekt Red's. The Xbox could barely handle the game, and it didn't look nearly as good as it did on PC. Similarly, as a consumer, if I was happy with an Xbox grade experience I would have bought one. If you own an Xbox, please accept the fact that you will game at 720p. If you want to be upset with someone, call Microsoft, or just buy a PC.
The people who complain about W3's original graphics are wanting something for nothing. What CDPR had accomplished technically was beyond the capability of all but higher end machines, and the latest DLC is a clear and convincing indicator that there is no substitute for actual hardware. The changes of 1.21/B+W are actually inferior to your previous product.
Please release a fix for this, either in an upcoming patch or DLC. Witcher began as an enthusiast's game, please do not alienate the enthusiasts. The game really does appear unacceptable, and is a serious departure from the standard CDPR has set.
Thank you!
I have played the Witcher series from the beginning. I have played the first, second, and third Witcher installments through each of them several times. I proselytized for each and every installment of the series, and continue to give it my highest praise. When Witcher 3 came out, my current PC could barely run it, so I upgraded. I went from using a Radeon 5770 to an Nvidia GTX 960 GPU. The Nvidia card did not have any trouble playing on high settings, and the world was beautifully rendered. There was the occasional "popping-in" issue, where NPCs would just materialize right in front of you. When I upgraded my monitor, the game looked even better, so I swapped out the Nvidia for an AMD R9 390. The R9 390 renders textures with 93% more detail than the GTX 960 (not sure how they arrive at that number, I am quoting the third party GPU benchmark website i used to shop for it). Geeze, what a difference! After all that, the detail in the game was absolutely vibrant, immersive, and almost surreal. Geralt's face was incredibly rendered, the NPCs were detailed even from far away, and the environments more stunning than ever. With the 390 there was no stuttering, "popping-in," or any other graphical issue. I started playing the game at 1440 resolution, and could do so without a hitch. Magnificent! This was the best game I had ever seen, and being a huge fan of the series for 10 years it was like having Christmas every day to play it.
So, why does B+W/1.21 make it seem like I have jumped back to using that bargain Nvidia card? This is particularly irritating since I upgraded my PC to enthusiast grade to get get the full immersion of the Witcher experience. Much of the detail is gone. Geralt looks cartoonish and the grit and viscera I could feel in the 1.12 version of the game is gone. NPCs in the background look like old school Kings Quest participants, and Vivaldi looks like a 100 years younger, and also blocky and cartoonish. Several layers of detail are missing from the game. It is graphically flat. Many on here are calling it plastic, and complaining about this.
As I perceive it, the "graphics upgrades" of B+W/1.21 shift from texture-based rendering to effects-based rendering. Lighting and chromatic aberration are used to substitute for actual detail, like the yellow filter over all of Toussaint. While I find the use of these effects visually artistic in Blood and Wine, they cannot replace actual detail. If I go to a to a strip club and the dancer performs under red light to hide the pimples on her butt, she still has pimples on her butt. Similarly, a cartoonish image is still cartoonish when these effects are applied. Why these effects were applied throughout the whole of the game is beyond me. My thinking is it must be some sort of bug, or conflict between the two different rendering architectures. I notice a setting or two in the game is completely broken.
I can understand why for many people, the graphics are an upgrade. It was too much for a lot of systems out there. More efficiency is probably for most people some sort of enhancement, especially if they have a GPU that works more efficiently substituting effects for actual detail. However, it is clear to me, from my perspective, that these people should have just upgraded their hardware. Or be glad with the Witcher 3 they had, since these games have always tested the limitations of hardware.... remember? Like the first Witcher and Witcher II? Both took ages to load on the machine I had, but it did not make me love them any less.
I do not understand why there is an image of an Xbox controller in my UI. It makes me think these changes were made to increase playability or maybe even decrease that terrible load time on an Xbox. Well, I only have one thought on that: if Microsoft releases a platform with a fourth-generation-obsolete-at-launch Jaguar chipset, that is Microsoft's problem, not CDProjekt Red's. The Xbox could barely handle the game, and it didn't look nearly as good as it did on PC. Similarly, as a consumer, if I was happy with an Xbox grade experience I would have bought one. If you own an Xbox, please accept the fact that you will game at 720p. If you want to be upset with someone, call Microsoft, or just buy a PC.
The people who complain about W3's original graphics are wanting something for nothing. What CDPR had accomplished technically was beyond the capability of all but higher end machines, and the latest DLC is a clear and convincing indicator that there is no substitute for actual hardware. The changes of 1.21/B+W are actually inferior to your previous product.
Please release a fix for this, either in an upcoming patch or DLC. Witcher began as an enthusiast's game, please do not alienate the enthusiasts. The game really does appear unacceptable, and is a serious departure from the standard CDPR has set.
Thank you!