I feel kinda sad that I am writing my first post in this thread, but whatever.
I have read a substantial amount of stuff in this thread and the last downgrade thread(and the rest of the forums too. Been lurking for 2 years or so now). What I noticed the most was how hostile people suddenly become. When reading on these forums 2 years ago, people would disagree with each other but then they would settle their stuff in a civil way or agree to disagree. Here, people get downright offensive or(to name the other extreme) feel offended for no apparent reason. They start hacking away with always the same arguments, spinning circles. And like with a stupid dog that is trying to catch its own tail, this will lead nowhere - nowhere anyone wants it to lead anyway. All it will do is make people anxious, dislike each other for no reason and split the community unnecessarily into 2 groups of(to say it a little bit exaggerated) fanboys. Whats the point? I think it is kinda sad to see the community fight each other instead of waiting for this awesome game together. In addition, I got 2 messages I really need to get off my chest before I say something about this topic.
1. To all the downgrade sayers: Why, for the love of god, will you not allow me to read any other thread without trying to rub in my face that you believe the game is downgraded. Ok, I got it. Really, I got your message. You are disappointed because you think you will not get what you were promised some time ago. You said it once, twice, 10 goddamn times. EVERYONE knows it by now. Please, oh please, stop telling us. We know.
2. To all the people saying there is no downgrade who still, for some reason, feel the need to participate in this discussion: WTF? If you dont like this thread, if you didnt like the last one - why for gods sake do you read it and write in it then? Do yourself, and others, a favour and stop wasting your own time responding to this. Alright, you think that there is no downgrade. Thats cool. Maybe youve just got an unbroken trust in cd projekt red. Very commendable. But why, whyyyyy oh why, do you drag out threads like this one by arguing with people that you think this thread is pointless? Do you not see that they would die down on their own if people wouldnt have any opposing force to discuss this with? It would run itself down in a circle of all downgrade talkers telling each other how much the game got downgraded and the thread would die off. You would get exactly what you wanted - that people would stop talking about it. No, instead you sabotage yourself and everyone else who thinks these threads are pointless - by keeping them alive yourself. STOP IT!
Now to finally move on to my own opinion on this matter. To make it short, I do not believe there to be a downgrade. Well, nothing major at least. Yes, some changes are undeniable. The draw distance for example. But you gotta ask yourself. Would you rather have a game that lags the shit out of your system or one that looks worse than it could have looked but runs alright(which is probably the reason they changed this - if they changed it at all and didnt only lower the setting).
There are some things I myself dislike alot. The foliage was often named by alot of people. Yes, some of that looks like its from a game that was released sometime in 2006 or so. But then Ive seen some great scenes from gameplay where it doesnt look all that bad. In the end, yes it could be better and Id love for it to be better just for the future when I will have a system to actually run the game on max settings. But this is nothing that kills the game or the experience for me. The lighting, in many cases, makes up for this with very moody dusk and stuff like that. What it will actually look like when we get our hands on the game is a different story entirely and for those people saying that they want information - just wait. What the hell did you lose if you wait 3 or 4 days after release for the review of lets players and game critics on youtube, where youll actually see what the game looks like on different settings? Yeah, youve lost 3-4 days of possible time you couldve played the game. But hey, if you are so unsure if the game will actually fit you in the first place, then it might not be such a bad idea, right?
One thing I personally dislike alot is the change of art style. The darker and more gritty colours and more apparent light contrasts got mostly exchanged with brighter colours, less contrast in shadowed areas where light is shining through streets and a generally warmer look to the feel of the game itself. I was always hoping the game will go back to the dark and gritty look of W1 instead of topping the colours of W2 with even more colours. Guess I wont get that. Shame. The game will still be great though, even if its just for the 100-150h of gameplay in the first playthrough. Its not the end of the world even If it couldve been better, imo.
In the end what we should remember is that the guys working on this are passionate as hell about this. You can see this in every video they release and every interview they are featured in. The way they talk about the game, the way they explain certain things and how they always seem so excited about everything, without just looking at you with a bland face, telling you in a monotone voice "wow, i am very excited" and you thinking "yeah right...". This just brings across so many emotions. In my opinion this is probably what makes them unique these days. Surrounded by all those developers who have prostituted themselves to publishers, these guys are standing tall and living their dream and trying to bring their dream into our homes for us to enjoy. Have a little more faith in them. If anyone can pull this off, its CD Projekt Red.
Ill be back to lurking now. Enjoy.
