The Dark Souls PC version controversy.

[Stavros Dimou]

You mean 30 fps and 720 p? Guess what, genius, that's the game console players got.

The console players get the game with such standards because these are the console standards,meaning that every game that comes out in that platform has to conform to those standards. PC also has standards.But the PC version of the game didn't conformed to the PC standards,which I think make it pretty obvious that the handling of the PC version was unequal to the console versions.

The thing is, Dark Souls did come out like that on the console.

No,it didn't came like that on the console.
The console version made use of all console's features and conformed to all console's standards. That's not the case for the PC version.

PC gamers aren't complaining about some inferior port, because it's the exact same game, right down to the same fps, that the console players have.

But it IS an inferior port,it's the worst port that came to PCs the last 5 years.
Look at games like Call of Duty that where made for xbox360 and where then ported to ps3 and PC. Did you saw any PC gamer complainaing about the standards of Call of Duty ? No.
The same applies to other ports too,like Skyrim,Borderlands etc. The only native PC games that came out the last 5 years where Crysis 1,Crysis Warhead,Metro 2033,The Witcher 1,2,and Oblivon.
All other AAA multiplatform games that came to PCs where ports.
And the fact that you state that it is THE EXACT GAME as the xbox360 version was,just verify that. The ps3 version of the game shows on the screen button prompts that correspond to the buttons of the ps3 controller. How would PS3 players feel if the PS3 version of the game told them to press "button A" on their controller ? This didn't happened though. Because if From did something like that then the game would never pass SONY's authorization and it would never be released on PS3 like that.

Thing is, you are getting a quality game, it has Xbox graphics not Wii Graphics. The problem, once more, is that PC gamers aren't given "special treatment" and have to deal with a port of the same exact game as the rest of us.

You consider things like adjustable resolutions and keyboard support "special treatment" ?
That's like saying that PS3 players wanting their games to come out on blu rays and not floppy discs is "special treatment",or like saying that for xbox360 gamers to ask xbox live features on their games is "special treatment". Haven't you realized yet that what people ask for is the bare minimum that every game that gets released on the PC platform should have ?
For God's shake,adjustable resolutions isn't only considered a fundamental standard feature for PC games,but literally for EVERY SINGLE PROGRAM THAT EXISTS ON PC,even the browser you are logging in from. And since they know how to adjust resolutions for their Webpage,don't sell to me that they are so inexperienced they can't do that for their game too.
Hell,all videogames of the world are built on PCs,even Nintendo 3ds games,they are all programmed in either C++ or C#,the same commands apply to all machines. These are basic fundamental lessons on all programming classes on all universities of the world.
If you know C++ and C# you can make games and other software for anything,xbox360,ps3,ds,wii,Windows,even Mac.... The programming languages are fucking universal,there is no such a thing "I didn't knew how to do it for PC". If the programmer know how to program a game for ps3,he also knows how to program for PC.
The disc you get when you buy a game has the same darking kinds of files and archives that PC games have too,with only difference being encrypted,and encryption is something you do after you program. No more excuses.

No, it's entitled to promise developers you'd be interested in their game, only to cry like a child that it doesn't "meet your standards" because they didn't bend over backwards to add in features you just "like".

Again,I can't decide if you are so ignorant or just trolling. These aren't features some people just "like". These are basic needed standards that all games have to comply to.
You wouldn't buy a car if it didn't conform to any of the industry's and your government's safety standards,would you ?

I'm afraid your example is wrong, I'm like a restaurant owner who calls their customer entitled because they referred to my food as completely "awful" since it didn't have their favorite spice in it despite not even asking for it in the first place.

No,the costumer came to your restaurant to eat your soup,and you served them your soup on a dirty bowl, and instead of spoons you offered them chopsticks to eat the soup,and the fish was rotten.

This was a console game that PC gamers asked for, pleaded for, signed petitions for, there's a difference between them seeing a new market and accidently making a bad port, and PC gamers absolutely pleading for the game, then acting like snot nosed children when they finally get it.

New market hah ?
Perhaps you are forgetting Ninja Blade,another game they released on PC in 2009.
And guess what... This game also was a bad port that got 6s out of 10 from critics.
And it also featured resolution cap that was fixed by simple PC gamers by changing some parameters on the .ini file...
Oh and also the game would show the button prompts of xbox360 controller even if you didn't had a controller attached to your PC.
Does it ring any bells ?
With Dark Souls they did the same exact "mistakes" they did with Ninja Blade. It's not that they didn't had experience. THEY HAVE EXPERIENCE,as they did the exact same things 3 years ago, and they saw the reactions,they saw that people where able to fix their problems in such easy ways as changing a few lines on an .ini file with wordpad,they knew it all.
NO MORE EXCUSES.

They just need to grow up.

No,YOU need to be more informed about the things you are talking about,because apparently you talk about things you are completely oblivious about.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Why can't all we be serious and discuss based on the facts and instead there have to be posts making fun of other members ?

Because the idea that they deliberately sabotaged their game to make avoid making consolers jealous is hilarious.

 

[Ildanach]

The amateur isn't paid by me. They are. If a guy who isn't even paid can do a better job than them in 23 min. They didn't do a good enough job.

Fair enough and I concede that this is most likely true.
But I still think that as long as the game is playable and has a way to be played and enjoyed it is a good port by my standards.
I appreciate that you have a different idea on what you want.
But I really do believe that changing the game significantly is not needed because if you wanted to play the same game you would buy this game.
But you might want the super deluxe edition for PC just cause its PC and I don't agree with that.
Question would you buy this on Console? Since its obviously better there.
Or do you own it already?
Just curious is all.

 

[burningdragoon]

So if the Wii version of Force Unleashed was what you played on your 360 that wouldn't matter?

If the 360 version was a port of the Wii version than I wouldn't expect the 360 version to be any better, no (I also wouldn't want it because the Wii version looked shitty, but that's a different point). Was the 360 version of Force Unleashed a Wii port? No it wasn't.

They released the game on multiple platforms with the Wii being one of them. The release different qualities.


And the 360 version was the "main" platform it was developed on, so I would expect it to be better than others.

but hey
I also wouldn't want it because the Wii version looked shitty, but that's a different point

I dont want Dark Soul. Judging by PC standards. It looks shitty. Just like the standards you are now applying to the Wii > Xbox.

Except I didn't say the Wii version looked shitty by 360 standards, I said it looked shitty. If you'd like to know some Wii games that I wouldn't mind seeing ported to 360/PS3 even though they look shitty by PS3/360/PC standards, I can do that as well.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

Why can't all we be serious and discuss based on the facts and instead there have to be posts making fun of other members ?

Because the idea that they deliberately sabotaged their game to make avoid making consolers jealous is hilarious.

Hillarious,really ?
Well the idea that they where so inexperienced that they couldn't provide a resolution option is hilarious too,because how they would do this should be common knowledge for any person who graduated a college or university studying programming.

 

[Fishyash]

I think the port being a result of the request of gamers should give it some slack.

Some. If you really can't enjoy the port the way it is, then you definitely shouldn't buy it.

But I think not buying the port will send the wrong message. It will probably lead to no PC on the next "Souls" game.

Supporting the port on the other hand would lead to FS thinking about developing a PC version alongside the console versions. I have a good feeling that it will lead to a good port, a port that we can appreciate fully.

I'd say it would be an acceptable port if they just ported it directly from XBOX360 and made sure it worked. A extremely dissapointing port, but an acceptable one.

On the other hand, nearly £30? Why does it cost so much more than on console?
Edit: This is mostly assumption by the way, I haven't actually played the port yet due to money issues... and the price put me off. If someone could explain what the port does right or wrong it will probably sway my stance on it.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

But you might want the super deluxe edition for PC just cause its PC and I don't agree with that.

You need to remember that console and PC are very different gaming experiences. We're not sitting on our sofa, we're sitting quite close to our screens. It's not a "super deluxe" version. It's a "version that does not look like grainy ass" we're asking for. If you got the same visual experience a PC user getting console textures and console resolutions got, you'd likely have a better understanding of why they complain.

Actually I don't even know I'm saying 'we're asking for'...I had a passing interest in DS before they announced the GFWL tie-in, but my enthusiasm withered when that was announced. I'm just arguing this on principle.

Supporting the port on the other hand would lead to FS thinking about developing a PC version alongside the console versions. I have a good feeling that it will lead to a good port, a port that we can appreciate fully.

That's optimistic. A pessimist might presume it would get them thinking "We half-assed the last port and it sold well, let's half-ass it again and save time and money."

 

[Xdeser2]

Just saying

The whole resolution and FPS issue is fucking trivial

IF THE GAME IS FUN WHAT THE HELL DOES IT MATTER?!

 

[Waaghpowa]

I highly doubt there's any conspiracy trying to make things equal for console gamers. I'm more likely to write it off as incompetence.

"Do no associate to malice to which can be explained by stupidity" - Edmund Burke (Paraphrased)

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Just saying

The whole resolution and FPS issue is fucking trivial

IF THE GAME IS FUN WHAT THE HELL DOES IT MATTER?!

Issues like resolution, FPS problems, control issues, etc can seriously marginalize someone's fun and dilute the quality of an experience. Indeed, this is such an obvious truth that I'm having a hard time figuring out why it hadn't occurred to you prior to you typing out the above post.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Supporting the port on the other hand would lead to FS thinking about developing a PC version alongside the console versions. I have a good feeling that it will lead to a good port, a port that we can appreciate fully.

No, more likely Bandai-Namco will decide that if they can make decent scratch with a shitty direct port then that's all that FS will be funded to make.

You're saying the equivalent of "If PS3 gamers keep buying Bethesda games despite the PS3 versions of all their titles being barely playable out of the box then one day Bethesda will actually start making PS3 versions of their games that are playable out of the box." Hasn't happened.

 

[NagaShadow]

Just saying

The whole resolution and FPS issue is fucking trivial

IF THE GAME IS FUN WHAT THE HELL DOES IT MATTER?!

Issues like resolution, FPS problems, control issues, etc can seriously marginalize someone's fun and dilute the quality of an experience. Indeed, this is such an obvious truth that I'm having a hard time figuring out why it hadn't occurred to you prior to you typing out the above post.

not only that but it gives some players (like me) severe headaches.

in addition there is the fact that some people have spent a lot of money on building a custom Computer.

 

[Ildanach]

But you might want the super deluxe edition for PC just cause its PC and I don't agree with that.

You need to remember that console and PC are very different gaming experiences. We're not sitting on our sofa, we're sitting quite close to our screens. It's not a "super deluxe" version. It's a "version that does not look like grainy ass" we're asking for. If you got the same visual experience a PC user getting console textures and console resolutions got, you'd likely have a better understanding of why they complain.

Actually I don't even know I'm saying 'we're asking for'...I had a passing interest in DS before they announced the GFWL tie-in, but my enthusiasm withered when that was announced. I'm just arguing this on principle.

I must admit even though I have an good PC and like playing Shogun 2, BF3 and The Witcher 2 at max (albeit at 1600x1050 resolution) and have played so called "horrible PC ports"
I haven't been doing this for very long though.
I only got this PC about July 2011. I haven't been playing long enough to determine alot of differences and more importantly just don't care as long as the gameplay is good. Again I respect your standards, I don't share them though.
I am not saying my way is correct I am just saying "Is it really so black and white, is it a shit port or the exact same game?" And if you have a Xbox 360 pad, a HDTV and a HDMI cable and the ability to hook them all together couldn't you make that experience the exact same? Forgive me if I am being ignorant although I am open to hearing you out.
You seem like a nice reasonable person to me and I hope to have a more fruitful discussion with you.

 

[Fishyash]

Supporting the port on the other hand would lead to FS thinking about developing a PC version alongside the console versions. I have a good feeling that it will lead to a good port, a port that we can appreciate fully.

That's optimistic. A pessimist might presume it would get them thinking "We half-assed the last port and it sold well, let's half-ass it again and save time and money."

I dunno. It seems like the #1 reason the port is the way it is, is due to the fact that it was a result of people petitioning for it. It seems likely that if this doesn't sell well enough then FS are definitely gonna ditch the PC platform for their next game.

Although I am not sure if they rushed the hell out of it by their own decision or if they were getting forced to rush it by namco/bandai, if someone had info on it, that would be nice.

I guess time will tell. Hell I would find it dissapointing if I bought this:

And a game I bought for it looked like this:

I see nothing wrong with the criticism... just a little perspective is all I really hope for when judging this.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I must admit even though I have an good PC and like playing Shogun 2, BF3 and The Witcher 2 at max (albeit at 1600x1050 resolution) and have played so called "horrible PC ports"

I haven't been doing this for very long though.

I only got this PC about July 2011. I haven't been playing long enough to determine alot of differences and more importantly just don't care as long as the gameplay is good. Again I respect your standards, I don't share them though.

I am not saying my way is correct I am just saying "Is it really so black and white, is it a shit port or the exact same game?" And if you have a Xbox 360 pad, a HDTV and a HDMI cable and the ability to hook them all together couldn't you make that experience the exact same? Forgive me if I am being ignorant although I am open to hearing you out.

You seem like a nice reasonable person to me and I hope to have a more fruitful discussion with you.

I don't have a 360 pad for my PC. I do have a 360, mind you, but I prefer to do the majority of my gaming on the PC, most particularly RPGs. So while I wouldn't have looked at Dark Souls sideways as an XBox title, I would've considered buying a (proper) PC port that at least gave cursory consideration to the reasons people use the PC as their primary gaming platform.

I'm no graphics horse, I happily retro game all the time. I *do* have an issue playing current generation games with ugly textures though. I'd rather play a game like To The Moon, with a particular art style, then play a game that looks shabby because of low quality textures or crummy resolution issues. It's amazing how BAD that can make something look. RPS went on about it at length when talking about the Darksiders 2 port.

Here's what happened. A group of people identified themselves to From Software and let them know there was a market for their game on the PC. From, or Namco or whoever the fuck holds their leash, decided the market was large enough to justify the cost of a port. This kind of thing happens in business all the time. When a business wants to expand into a new market they often try to put their best foot forward. They'll do loss leaders, they'll drop tons on marketing...anything they can do to establish a foothold and give themselves new opportunities for new revenue streams. Yet, when the same thing happens here in the gaming world, it seems to be expected that they'll just half-ass it and give us any old thing, and that we should be DELIGHTED to get it. As if they were doing us a favor by giving us a toy to play with, as opposed to it being us doing them a favor by buying their product, which is the entire reason businesses exist in the first place. It's such a strange narrative. The gamer is like a character in a Dickens novel, holding up a bowl in tremulous hands, begging for another scoop of porridge. And if they don't act humble or contrite and shower the developer/publisher with thanks for DEIGNING to offer us the fruits of their endeavors, we're meant to be entitled little kids.

Now apply that narrative to ANY other business, and think about how ludicrous it sounds.

 

[burningdragoon]

but hey
I also wouldn't want it because the Wii version looked shitty, but that's a different point

I dont want Dark Soul. Judging by PC standards. It looks shitty. Just like the standards you are now applying to the Wii > Xbox.

Except I didn't say the Wii version looked shitty by 360 standards, I said it looked shitty. If you'd like to know some Wii games that I wouldn't mind seeing ported to 360/PS3 even though they look shitty by PS3/360/PC standards, I can do that as well.

So you dont have any standards or you just have THE standards?

You didn't judge it by the standards of the 360, just universal standards of graphics? As defined by you? and your preference for Xbox360? I rest my case.

Or maybe I judge games on more than just graphics? If anything, I would judge a game based on it's original home. In Dark Souls' case, PS3. In Force Unleased's case, 360. Then I take those standards, and expect ports to lesser systems to be worse and ports to equal to or better systems to be at best equal (out of the box at least).

(and as a sidenote, I've been spending the past month-ish playing games from the N64/PS1 generation, so no, I don't have a preference to 360. I have a preference to things I like)

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Or maybe I judge games on more than just graphics?

Who says anyone is judging it on graphics alone? Is it fair to take graphics into account at all? Or is the visual presentation of a game completely irrelevant?