Ultra settings not being shown until release - is this true?

[iamthewizard2]

Ultra settings not being shown until release - is this true?

So i've heard that CDProjekt Red have not actually shown footage of ultra settings yet? is this true or just rumour?

 

[Rawls]

They have said numerous times that they have no plans to release game footage on the highest settings. And as good as the game looks on high, I can't say I blame them. There are two possibilities:

1. Ultra isn't that much better than high. - Why release it in advance? People are by and large satisfied with high settings it seems and you still get to leave them wanting more (and with the knowledge that there is more).
2. Ultra is that much better than high. - Why release it in advance? Your only creating expectations that 98% of gamers won't be able to achieve upon release.

Either way, when high looks as good as what we have seen in the most recent trailer, releasing the ultra footage wouldn't seem to make marketing sense to me.

 

[CostinRaz]

That's just rubbish reasoning when it comes to marketing: Why in the actual fuck would you not want to show your game at it's best? Of course ultra isn't going to look considerably better then high, it never did for any game that's ever been released. It makes no real sense to not do this.

As for the notion that 98% of players won't be able to play on ultra: Maybe NOT on ultra 1080p/60 FPS, but there's plenty of players willing to accept a lower resolution or lower framerate.

Besides what in the world does ultra mean? It's just a ridiculous all encompassing term for: All settings max, but there's plenty of people who don't want to play with everything max: I for sure won't be running with Depth of Field, Motion Blur or Chromatic Aberration.

 

[Yellowcardus]

The only time CDPR said they are witholding Ultra footage until lunch was by Damien Monnier during a Nvidia conference. Every other time they simply confirmed that current footage is on High.

I don't know why this is. I have a few ideas, like a deal with Nvidia so they get to show it in a seperate trailer. Or an unfinished feature that they are holding back or just general optimization work that still needs to be done. But that's just speculation.

I don't belive we have any confirmation that the recent gameplay trailer is running on high and it looks better to me than previous footage. Pesonally i think they will release Ultra footage before the game lunches.

 

[Lieste]

There have been several mentions by representatives of CDPR that certain segments use a mix of high and ultra. Nothing so far has been acknowledged as "maxed out" though.

 

[Roccogrb]

It is possible they don't want to alienate console players with a false promise on graphics

 

[Garrison72]

That's just rubbish reasoning when it comes to marketing: Why in the actual fuck would you not want to show your game at it's best? Of course ultra isn't going to look considerably better then high, it never did for any game that's ever been released. It makes no real sense to not do this.

As for the notion that 98% of players won't be able to play on ultra: Maybe NOT on ultra 1080p/60 FPS, but there's plenty of players willing to accept a lower resolution or lower framerate.

Besides what in the world does ultra mean? It's just a ridiculous all encompassing term for: All settings max, but there's plenty of people who don't want to play with everything max: I for sure won't be running with Depth of Field, Motion Blur or Chromatic Aberration.

This. I think the reality is they were still optimizing when Damien said that, and they weren't ready to show it on ultra. No developer would willingly show their game on nerfed settings. And as Costin says, ultra is not going to launch the game into some mystical realm of visual fidelity. The latest trailer not only settles the downgrade debate, but it shows the game at or near the highest settings.

 

[Rawls]

Why in the actual fuck would you not want to show your game at it's best?

Because the potential benefits of releasing footage of highest settings has little upside and some potential risks (as I mentioned above). Almost every review of the footage just released has been glowing. Since the vast majority of people are satisfied with what they have seen, they have no incentive to show fully maxed out settings. AND they get to say ... "and that's not even as good as it can potentially be." Which is a smart marketing choice because it creates intrigue.

I think the reality is they were still optimizing when Damien said that, and they weren't ready to show it on ultra. No developer would willingly show their game on nerfed settings. And as Costin says, ultra is not going to launch the game into some mystical realm of visual fidelity. The latest trailer not only settles the downgrade debate, but it shows the game at or near the highest settings.

I agree with almost all of this. I don't think the settings we have seen are nerfed settings at all. I would agree that it is near highest settings, but they have explicitly said its not the highest settings. They just want to be able to honestly say "and it can be even better" plus ultra is likely not fully optimized. My point was only that there is no incentive to show it on maxed out settings at this point.

 

[caspartine]

It is possible they don't want to alienate console players with a false promise on graphics

This is, imo, more relevant reason than anything else. You can't feed people with screens and videos knowing their game won't look as pretty. So they present a middle ground. still awesome looking, but no one can complain after release. If ultra looks so awesome, there's only gain for CDPR, cause they would be listening to the sounds of jaws dropping, instead of complaints "you promised a different game, mine looks like crap".

 

[minicrom]

If Ultra really is so much better than High the only reason that explain why they don't show it is commercial partnership. That's all. You ve got to understand that Microsoft probably invest good money in the game too ! If truly Ultra is better then it is bad press for Xbox one even if it looks glorious that's all. It is difficult to promote on other things than graphism for the common folk.

 

[Rpac.605]

This is one of the things I think will be available only at higher settings. You can see that the water particles reaction to Aard happen only in one of the videos, this kinda stuff is usually given the option to be turned on or off.

So yes, I think as Damien said, we'll only see the max final 2.0 Ultra Summer hits 2015 version of the game on May 19th. We are just so god damn hyped that we can't stop talking about it... hahaha

(No it's not downgrade talk, don't start!)

 

[shtempik]

I am 99% certain they don't show Ultra simply because they have an agreement with Microsoft sponsors and all of that marketing crap.
To promote Xbox version better, they can't show Ultra footage because it looks superior to everything else and might reduce sales for Xbox version or whatever.

 

[EliHarel]

It is possible they don't want to alienate console players with a false promise on graphics

You know, if you caught me before 07-04-2015, 06:57 PM, I would have told you that this sounds like rubbish and that there won't be an uproar because gamers can understand simple things, one of them being that consoles aren't as good as PC. But today I'm enlightened about how ridiculous complaints can be, about anything really, so nothing can surprise me at this point. I hope.

 

[Persei8]

Most people will be playing The Witcher 3 at medium to high settings on PC. Consoles are medium to high settings. So promoting the game at medium to high settings is smart and the right thing to do. If you can get people so fucking excited with medium to high settings then the few ultra people will be in for a shock.

Showing your game off at it's best, on beast systems, making everyone go wow. That has caused this whole downgrade era we in. Because when most people get to this wow game with their medium to high settings / console's medium to high settings, they go, this is not what I saw at E3.
So it's not going to help CDPR to be showing off The Witcher 3 at max settings before the game is out. When the game releases, Youtube will be filled with MAX Ultra UBER settings and then it will be good.

But for now, what they showing us, has been good. I'm pretty happy and so fucking excited for the game.

 

[Sardukhar]

AH! A banhammer-magnet thread! Good times. Everyone remember the downgrade thread? Great.

If posting keep in mind:

A) Be polite! Courtesy counts. Hiding a provocative post in please and thank you won't save you, though.

B) Be topical! Don't drift towards downgrade talk or console-baiting or CDPR is Evul talk.

C) Be aware that similar threads stand a good chance of being merged. Like this one.

D) Praise Nurgle. He loves you.

 

[BlackWolf500.298]

Unlike me who will be playing the game on (very) high probably ( I LOVE my new i5 3,5 Ghz and GTX 970 PC ) most people will probably play on medium settings or slightly above, and on PS4 and XboxOne the game will also look (probably) like a mix of medium and high settings. Which means that most gamers will experience the graphical fidelity shown in most trailers.

Would you have told me 1 year ago that showing a game at full graphical potential is a mistake I would have called you a madman. But with (actual) scandals like those we have these days, with the outcries and shitstorms we had recently and gamers seemingly getting pissed just because they are already annoyed by all the companies around them continuously lying to them about all kinds of things regarding the game and falsely advertising things I think it is a VERY GOOD idea to only show high settings.

I mean, don't get me wrong, there will be people which will find a reason to complain anyway, there always are. But that way they at least do not have a LEGITIMATE reason to complain.

I think it is better showing a middle ground. That way neither console gamers nor PC gamers with mid-class PCs will be disappointed by the game. And let's be honest, everyone of us who actually can play at (almost) max. settings will be even happier when we finally see them on our own screen.

 

[prince_of_nothing]

It is possible they don't want to alienate console players with a false promise on graphics

This basically. It's a marketing decision. By promoting the game using settings that will be playable to the largest percentage of their audience, they are avoiding building unrealistic expectations; especially for console gamers.

I would do the same thing if I was the marketing director of CDPR. As it stands right now, the game looks beautiful on high settings. In fact, I would even be satisfied with how the game currently looks even if there was no ultra quality planned, and I'm a graphics whore.

I think ultra quality will be disclosed at the last minute (right up to launch day), probably with an NVidia tech trailer that will detail the Gameworks technology and PC specific enhancements in the game..

 

[soldiergeralt]

except it's not related to the downgrading trend. should they be catering to the people who will be playing on low? the assumption you've come up with is that people who play on medium to low will not understand how the options menu work. this isn't very plausible. what we're seeing might be the opposite of the downgrading method, in that the final game will actually look better. imagine the press's response to that.

although i think the console alienation argument makes the most sense at this point.

 

[lord_blex]

granted people can and will complain about anything.. complaining about downgrades pretty much started with watchdogs (afaik), which didn't look like previous footage even on max settings. the major outcries were never about medium-spec people complaining that they can't make the game look good enough.

 

[CostinRaz]

The latest trailer not only settles the downgrade debate, but it shows the game at or near the highest settings.

No it doesn't because it still looks worse then VGX/Sword of Destiny.