Reviewing the full 35 minute Gamescom 2014 demo
Having now downloaded and watched the full 35 plus minute demo at 1080p/60fps, I think it deserves a more comprehensive review. Loved it! Looks great. Sounds great. Feels great. Special praise is due to the phenomenal art direction but also to music and sound design, both of which outstanding. With top notch story and characters, almost everything was above average. You all get a standing ovation from me, REDs!
The irony in having such a high calibre demo though is hitches and niggles will, perhaps disproportionately, stand out. Not that I find any of them a deal-breaker. And I do understand this is a work in progress, in fact an outdated build, and that some of the following might have been already addressed. Notwithstanding, the way I see it CD Projekt could use some constructive criticism.
On a side note, won’t go over Animation and UI aesthetics issues, of which there’s a fair number, since each have their own dedicated thread.
You're more than welcome to post your own take.
Assorted standouts and high notes for me:
1. The map. It actually looks like a real place, not something designers spent a couple of months coming up with from scratch. It's the first time ever I've looked at a game map and my disbelief was suspended. Very organic, very believable. Distances seem quite natural to me in NML. Not too crowded, not too sparse.
2. Forests.
3. That wooden aerial walkway in Novigrad is sheer genius, maybe not historically accurate, but all the more interesting for it. It also implies there's going to be a lot verticality within the city, not just within buildings themselves.
4. Love how windows are finally see-through. Nifty cool detail makes a hell of a difference, and it's a first as far as I can tell.
5. Mobster looks damn right amazing. For goodness sake, there are hairs sticking out of the bottom of his ill-shaved neck. He's an absolute triumph.
6. Witches. Love them. Nightmarish but somehow alluring. The scene where the sea-lioness-esque snatches Ciri is amazing. Once they've come out of the tapestry, their lines are fantastic.
7. Gran's lines and delivery are just near Shakespearian quality. So intriguing, her servility.
8. Kicks (and elbow strikes) are in and looked great.
9. Music is hypnotic. Battle music makes you want to slash, and slash, and keep slashing like a mad pagan.
And here's my list of quibbles:
Graphics
1. Some stuttering even in the uncompressed 1080p 60fps video.
2. Occasional severe pop in, for example at 2:33, where drying clothes materialize on the left, and 3: 12, where 1st floor window blinks for a split second. Possibly a texture pop in issue.
3. A few low res textures make occasional appearances, namely in the three witches, which otherwise look smashing.
4. Interior lighting is mediocre. In all the 3 locations we were shown, brothel, ladies of the woods’ and cave where the tree spirit dwells, things looked flat, almost immaterial. For example, in the entire scene with Djeekstra, the mobster is often casting no shadows while the knife never is. Tthere doesn’t seem to be any ambient occlusion at play. A let-down, not only because exterior lighting looks great but because the SoD trailer seemed to indicate otherwise.
5. Candle flames look too opaque.
6. The Ealdorman’s ear on the stone looks crude. Incidentally, how does the ear slip into the string when there’s no slit?
7. Gran’s long skirt looks polygon-ized. The E3 Microsoft demo had cloth simulation. Gran's eyes turning white is a visual cliché. Closed eyes would be subtler amd more powerful.
8. Magic fairy dust in the harpies’ nest is a relic from TW2. Needs to go.
Voice acting
9. When Geralt first meets the Ealdorman, his voice sounds funny.
10. Again, Gran’s VA is superb. But I don't fancy Johnny's. He's supposed to sound annoying, I know, but this borders on the caricature. His off-putting tone was perhaps accentuated by his l Oliver Twist's speak. The subtle balance voiceless Johnny exuded, the wonderful play on expectations - a boy who’s a godling - was tipped too much in favor of pure adolescent demeanor.
11. At first, didn't care for the Ladies' VA either. In house, a tad overacted. But It did come together in that last scene though.
12. The spirit’s VA was good, but slightly overacted towards the end.
World
13. All climbable ledges look pretty much the same, only slightly more varied than in TW2, which had one. A few hours into the game and the player will have learned to recognize the two or three varieties, so I don’t really see the point in highlighting them with huge blobs of red paint. I would also like to know the lore-friendly rationale for Witcher senses detecting them.
14. The cave where the tree spirit dwells looks uninspired. In fcat, it looks less appealing than Johnny’s. Looked too flat, straightforward, lacking mystery. The problem was compounded by the above mentioned poor lighting, which was particularly poor here. The minion monsters the spirit summons themselves look uninspired. Aren't some straight from TW2?
15. The largest sea port in the region doesn’t seem to harbor an awful lot of ships. But probably we weren’t shown its full extent.
16. Why are there so many candles, bonfires, etc, lit in broad daylight?
Map
17. Aesthetically, map just looks beautiful. But why aren’t main roads showing, at the very least?
18. That crosshair moves too slowly. It’s also a bit too conspicuous.
Inventory
19. Why do swords take up only twice the space darts do?
20. Why are swords not depicted in full length?
Combat
21. Why don’t NPCs drop their burning wooden shields?
22. Have thrusts disappeared from Geralt’s repertoire?
23. I’d prefer real time aiming over bullet time when aiming the crossbow.
Story
24. A fellow forum member mentioned something doesn’t add up in Johnny’s quest line. He’s said to have been seen in the company of Ciri, but when he recounts the episode to Geralt, he’s never even in her presence. Of course, he may have helped Ciri escape the Crones later on.
Physics
25. Geese, not Geralt, need to bounce off. When horses collide, as they did in the E3 morsel, they should react.
Having now downloaded and watched the full 35 plus minute demo at 1080p/60fps, I think it deserves a more comprehensive review. Loved it! Looks great. Sounds great. Feels great. Special praise is due to the phenomenal art direction but also to music and sound design, both of which outstanding. With top notch story and characters, almost everything was above average. You all get a standing ovation from me, REDs!
The irony in having such a high calibre demo though is hitches and niggles will, perhaps disproportionately, stand out. Not that I find any of them a deal-breaker. And I do understand this is a work in progress, in fact an outdated build, and that some of the following might have been already addressed. Notwithstanding, the way I see it CD Projekt could use some constructive criticism.
On a side note, won’t go over Animation and UI aesthetics issues, of which there’s a fair number, since each have their own dedicated thread.
You're more than welcome to post your own take.
Assorted standouts and high notes for me:
1. The map. It actually looks like a real place, not something designers spent a couple of months coming up with from scratch. It's the first time ever I've looked at a game map and my disbelief was suspended. Very organic, very believable. Distances seem quite natural to me in NML. Not too crowded, not too sparse.
2. Forests.
3. That wooden aerial walkway in Novigrad is sheer genius, maybe not historically accurate, but all the more interesting for it. It also implies there's going to be a lot verticality within the city, not just within buildings themselves.
4. Love how windows are finally see-through. Nifty cool detail makes a hell of a difference, and it's a first as far as I can tell.
5. Mobster looks damn right amazing. For goodness sake, there are hairs sticking out of the bottom of his ill-shaved neck. He's an absolute triumph.
6. Witches. Love them. Nightmarish but somehow alluring. The scene where the sea-lioness-esque snatches Ciri is amazing. Once they've come out of the tapestry, their lines are fantastic.
7. Gran's lines and delivery are just near Shakespearian quality. So intriguing, her servility.
8. Kicks (and elbow strikes) are in and looked great.
9. Music is hypnotic. Battle music makes you want to slash, and slash, and keep slashing like a mad pagan.
And here's my list of quibbles:
Graphics
1. Some stuttering even in the uncompressed 1080p 60fps video.
2. Occasional severe pop in, for example at 2:33, where drying clothes materialize on the left, and 3: 12, where 1st floor window blinks for a split second. Possibly a texture pop in issue.
3. A few low res textures make occasional appearances, namely in the three witches, which otherwise look smashing.
4. Interior lighting is mediocre. In all the 3 locations we were shown, brothel, ladies of the woods’ and cave where the tree spirit dwells, things looked flat, almost immaterial. For example, in the entire scene with Djeekstra, the mobster is often casting no shadows while the knife never is. Tthere doesn’t seem to be any ambient occlusion at play. A let-down, not only because exterior lighting looks great but because the SoD trailer seemed to indicate otherwise.
5. Candle flames look too opaque.
6. The Ealdorman’s ear on the stone looks crude. Incidentally, how does the ear slip into the string when there’s no slit?
7. Gran’s long skirt looks polygon-ized. The E3 Microsoft demo had cloth simulation. Gran's eyes turning white is a visual cliché. Closed eyes would be subtler amd more powerful.
8. Magic fairy dust in the harpies’ nest is a relic from TW2. Needs to go.
Voice acting
9. When Geralt first meets the Ealdorman, his voice sounds funny.
10. Again, Gran’s VA is superb. But I don't fancy Johnny's. He's supposed to sound annoying, I know, but this borders on the caricature. His off-putting tone was perhaps accentuated by his l Oliver Twist's speak. The subtle balance voiceless Johnny exuded, the wonderful play on expectations - a boy who’s a godling - was tipped too much in favor of pure adolescent demeanor.
11. At first, didn't care for the Ladies' VA either. In house, a tad overacted. But It did come together in that last scene though.
12. The spirit’s VA was good, but slightly overacted towards the end.
World
13. All climbable ledges look pretty much the same, only slightly more varied than in TW2, which had one. A few hours into the game and the player will have learned to recognize the two or three varieties, so I don’t really see the point in highlighting them with huge blobs of red paint. I would also like to know the lore-friendly rationale for Witcher senses detecting them.
14. The cave where the tree spirit dwells looks uninspired. In fcat, it looks less appealing than Johnny’s. Looked too flat, straightforward, lacking mystery. The problem was compounded by the above mentioned poor lighting, which was particularly poor here. The minion monsters the spirit summons themselves look uninspired. Aren't some straight from TW2?
15. The largest sea port in the region doesn’t seem to harbor an awful lot of ships. But probably we weren’t shown its full extent.
16. Why are there so many candles, bonfires, etc, lit in broad daylight?
Map
17. Aesthetically, map just looks beautiful. But why aren’t main roads showing, at the very least?
18. That crosshair moves too slowly. It’s also a bit too conspicuous.
Inventory
19. Why do swords take up only twice the space darts do?
20. Why are swords not depicted in full length?
Combat
21. Why don’t NPCs drop their burning wooden shields?
22. Have thrusts disappeared from Geralt’s repertoire?
23. I’d prefer real time aiming over bullet time when aiming the crossbow.
Story
24. A fellow forum member mentioned something doesn’t add up in Johnny’s quest line. He’s said to have been seen in the company of Ciri, but when he recounts the episode to Geralt, he’s never even in her presence. Of course, he may have helped Ciri escape the Crones later on.
Physics
25. Geese, not Geralt, need to bounce off. When horses collide, as they did in the E3 morsel, they should react.
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