@OliverDK
The reality is that games look different in super carefully made trailers, than what they do in uncut gameplay vids and rushed trailers from old builds,and this will make it look very different no matter if nothing changed for real in the base game.
I'd love to notice what you think you can notice even though cant tell me what it is, maybe im blind.
See this is what I dont get, why do you group extremely different material as the "old", and then very conveniently all the gameplay videos and the rushed EB trailer as "new". If we speak precisely and accurately, there's been a change from Debut, to VGX, to SOD, and each time it brought the game more and more in line to what we see today, both in graphics and art direction, SOD being almost identical in terms of atmosphere and feel to newer material, though not in technical quality and means of representation. So what is your favorite piece of footage from all time of TW3? I suspect its VGX personally because it combines the dark feel of debut but with better graphics to show it, but please tell me.
I see color and saturation identical from SOD to all new material, the art direction is the same as well, lightning seems identical too but im not THAT sure, sharpening wasnt in SOD.
In my opinion you are just simply noticing the subtle difference between the type of footage, not different versions of the game, the game is the same, but like I said, one thing is to see it in a perfectly cherry-picked group of scenes in a trailer, with probably better graphic settings to help also, and another thing is to see the exact same game in an honest and straightforward gameplay demo, all with the gameplay camera, full screen with no black bars, and so on. Elder Blood was clearly rushed and certainly not calibrated more than 50 times like SOD, so it all points to the type of footage to me, especially because again, its very convenient that the footage of TW3 you like also happens to be the footage with the best graphics, and the most carefully prepared one.
People started to complain about the graphics, and so they made a sport out of hating almost every single thing in the game after SOD, and the atmosphere is just another one of the bunch. To this day we dont have a single comparable modern footage to SOD thats acceptable and fair to include, so im inclined to believe that you simply felt something is lost because of specific scenes that werent in gameplay vids and elder blood, and not because of an actual change of art direction.
You say that others have felt it too, yet after reading most posts that deal with this subject, almost
every single comparison I've ever read about the game's atmosphere and feel, have used Debut and VGX vs SOD and newer material's looks as an argument, not the first 3 trailers vs everything else. Only the people addressing the graphical downgrade have actually grouped SOD as "early material" too because if just simply looks amazing, but in terms of art direction? feel? immersion? like I said, all people that spoke noticed something Debut and VGX supposedly have, that SOD and new material doesnt. In fact I cant even recall one comparison where in those terms, someone felt the artistic identity of the game changed from SOD to newer material, just yours. Debut and VGX look different? sure, the renderer, the lightning, the sharpenning filter, the colours, less scenes and shorter ones, etc. all of that is easily noticeable, but SOD has all of that in line with the newest videos.
I think when the next SOD-like trailer comes, if it has SOD's graphics, you're going to be very pleased, as art direction remains equal, its just that a well prepared trailer can do wonders to show a game differently than other types of footage, even when the game is the same.
I want to learn what you think you're seeing different, and if you cant tell then help you realize what it is, but so far, it all points to "awesome marketing centered trailers" vs "let's just show the game a bit", being the real difference.
