The GameStar Hands-On Session: Technical Matters and First Impressions
There is an article in German (dated 26 January) describing the hands-on experience of a team from GameStar.
http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/artikel/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt,49062,3082308.html
Be warned: it contains a few pages of more or less light spoilers, but I won't translate any of that here. I have translated just one section, which discusses technical details and first impressions.
A Question of Technology
Before we come to the weather report, a couple of technical details. We are playing The Witcher 3 on all three platforms, the PC, the PS4, as well as the Xbox One. The gaming computer is equipped with an Intel Core i7-4790, an ASRock Z97 motherboard, 8.0 gigabytes of RAM, a Geforce GTX 980 with 4.0 gigabytes video RAM, as well as an SSD drive. Thus, a high-end system, on which The Witcher 3 consistently runs fluently.
However, we are not allowed to switch into Ultra. The developer says the highest level will be optimized further but should run without problems on the same system. The maximum system requirements will be laid out in rough terms, but few systems will have the performance, except for systems with twin graphics cards in SLI.
Anyway, The Witcher 3 looks excellent on High and presents itself on the PC, as expected, with better antialiasing, stronger colors, sharper textures, and more shader and lighting effects than on the consoles. Polished leather armor shimmers slightly on the PC, but not on the PS4 or the Xbox. Moreover, ground details such as bunches of grass pop in at just five to seven meters in front of Geralt on the consoles, while the detailed sight distance on the PC amounts to roughly twice that.
Meanwhile, in the console race, the PlayStation 4 is clearly the leader. Admittedly, the textures are less sharp than the high details on the PC, but it matters little at normal TV viewing distance. Also, the witcher's adventure plays in 1080p on the PS4, though with just 30 frames per second, which did not bother us. On the Xbox One, Geralt's monster hunt likewise plays at 30 fps, but only in 900p; also, the textures appear slightly more washed-out than on the PS4. However, according to their claim, CD Project is still polishing the Xbox version, and they could possibly increase it to 1080p, but they will not promise that. At present, the PS4 image is sharper and more colorful.
Bottom line, The Witcher 3 looks very good on all three platforms, thanks mostly to its magnificent moody lighting: When Geralt gallops on his horse through a wheat field, when the sunrise bathes the pastoral landscape in orange-tinted light, it looks so inviting that we just want to linger in this world. Whether on PC, PS4, or Xbox One, it doesn't matter.
But we find the world to be a tad more inviting in English. We played both the German and the English version of The Witcher 3. The German translation makes a good impression; we did not notice any mistakes. The soundtrack is solid, and the voice actors are uniformly well chosen. Nonetheless, the German voice edition seems less characteristic. Hjalmar the Viking's son growls in English with a warhammer of a voice, but in German he could have just finished his business degree. And Doug Cockle, the English Geralt, has a sandpaper timbre that is unmatched, but the German witcher sounds too stiff.
There is an article in German (dated 26 January) describing the hands-on experience of a team from GameStar.
http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/artikel/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt,49062,3082308.html
Be warned: it contains a few pages of more or less light spoilers, but I won't translate any of that here. I have translated just one section, which discusses technical details and first impressions.
A Question of Technology
Before we come to the weather report, a couple of technical details. We are playing The Witcher 3 on all three platforms, the PC, the PS4, as well as the Xbox One. The gaming computer is equipped with an Intel Core i7-4790, an ASRock Z97 motherboard, 8.0 gigabytes of RAM, a Geforce GTX 980 with 4.0 gigabytes video RAM, as well as an SSD drive. Thus, a high-end system, on which The Witcher 3 consistently runs fluently.
However, we are not allowed to switch into Ultra. The developer says the highest level will be optimized further but should run without problems on the same system. The maximum system requirements will be laid out in rough terms, but few systems will have the performance, except for systems with twin graphics cards in SLI.
Anyway, The Witcher 3 looks excellent on High and presents itself on the PC, as expected, with better antialiasing, stronger colors, sharper textures, and more shader and lighting effects than on the consoles. Polished leather armor shimmers slightly on the PC, but not on the PS4 or the Xbox. Moreover, ground details such as bunches of grass pop in at just five to seven meters in front of Geralt on the consoles, while the detailed sight distance on the PC amounts to roughly twice that.
Meanwhile, in the console race, the PlayStation 4 is clearly the leader. Admittedly, the textures are less sharp than the high details on the PC, but it matters little at normal TV viewing distance. Also, the witcher's adventure plays in 1080p on the PS4, though with just 30 frames per second, which did not bother us. On the Xbox One, Geralt's monster hunt likewise plays at 30 fps, but only in 900p; also, the textures appear slightly more washed-out than on the PS4. However, according to their claim, CD Project is still polishing the Xbox version, and they could possibly increase it to 1080p, but they will not promise that. At present, the PS4 image is sharper and more colorful.
Bottom line, The Witcher 3 looks very good on all three platforms, thanks mostly to its magnificent moody lighting: When Geralt gallops on his horse through a wheat field, when the sunrise bathes the pastoral landscape in orange-tinted light, it looks so inviting that we just want to linger in this world. Whether on PC, PS4, or Xbox One, it doesn't matter.
But we find the world to be a tad more inviting in English. We played both the German and the English version of The Witcher 3. The German translation makes a good impression; we did not notice any mistakes. The soundtrack is solid, and the voice actors are uniformly well chosen. Nonetheless, the German voice edition seems less characteristic. Hjalmar the Viking's son growls in English with a warhammer of a voice, but in German he could have just finished his business degree. And Doug Cockle, the English Geralt, has a sandpaper timbre that is unmatched, but the German witcher sounds too stiff.
i missed that.