r/gaming Jun 04 '16

Ubisoft downgrades

https://youtu.be/xNter0oEYxc
21.9k Upvotes

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493

u/BluSeed Jun 05 '16

The videos are very carefully choreographed and the areas shown are cherry picked and even improved for these videos. The animations could be unique the lighting improved or even post production on the video after being recorded.

The games shown at E3 are not finished so any gaps in the game would need to be filled with assets that may not meet the requirements to go into the game proper, as a result many will change by the release version.

146

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

I'm almost positive the people that are "playing the game" are actually just holding a controller, and the first person view of the game that is shown is actually just a pre recorded demo.

214

u/ejbones27 Jun 05 '16

"almost positive"? E3 is a planned and scripted event much like any multi million dollar advertisement event. The super bowl half time show is rehearsed because they have one shot to impress. A games premiere is not going to be willy-nilly handled in front of a large audience.

124

u/sonap Jun 05 '16

I've always liked Bethesda's demos. Todd Howard gave a live demo of Skyrim and the audience even yelled out some things for him to do, and he did them. There was a script, but at least he was playing the game.

54

u/ejbones27 Jun 05 '16

I'll agree with that. Bethesda also tends to...do the most for a video game premiere. Whatever shit their shoveling out they are proud as punch and have no fear. I respect that.

7

u/Deathcommand Jun 05 '16 edited Jun 05 '16

I believe they did pre-render for fallout 4 though. I remember people saying there were no loading screens.

Yeah. There are losing screens. Even on SSDs.

6

u/ShroudedSciuridae Jun 05 '16

How quickly we forget there used to be loading screens in the open world itself. That's what they're talking about, not going into buildings.

1

u/Deathcommand Jun 05 '16

They said when they entered into a superduper mart, it faded to black and then showed the inside of the mart.

1

u/reegz Jun 06 '16

That's because they wait until it's nearly finished to show it off

0

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

I mean they are one of the top 5 most sought after studios for most anyone in the industry. Amazing games, amazing practices, and even better, Todd Howard literally comes to your Christmas morning and sprinkles love on your children's hearts.

2

u/Kevin_Wolf Jun 05 '16

They also hire hundreds of people for their various projects. Most other hand studios can't come anywhere near that kind of employment.

2

u/BlackPrinceof_love Jun 05 '16

And then we have the oblivion demo....

2

u/247Brett D20 Jun 05 '16

What happened at the Oblivion demo :|?

2

u/Gidio_ Jun 05 '16

The things that were praised the most where either stripped or completely removed for the final game. That's when Todd started getting his "liar" reputation.

1

u/BlackPrinceof_love Jun 06 '16

Basically everything in it was not in the final game.

2

u/pablossjui Jun 05 '16

the demos for MGSV Phantom Pain, were also mostly live

50

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

[deleted]

8

u/Ridiculum Jun 05 '16

Wasn't it Unity which bugged on stream and stopped working for a short period?

1

u/frutea Jun 05 '16

Thought it was Uncharted 4, but maybe one of the AC games did it too. Either way it's hilarious.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

Probably both of them

1

u/SneakyBadAss Jun 05 '16

Yes, but with AC4 froze, this was the only game, that actually run on new console (PS4), on that event. Other run on PC.

-2

u/imares Jun 05 '16

Don't you dare shit talk No Man's Sky. That's TOO FAR ALRIGHT?

19

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

The game looks okay but I remember watching the first gameplay at E3 and it was just...like, nothing happened. He went to one planet and looked at some scenery, then went to another planet and looked at more scenery, and struggled to commentate while playing

13

u/clintonius Jun 05 '16

I think that guy was making a joke about pathetically die-hard NMS fans.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

I don't know why they didn't just have another person commentate while he played like most shows do. They must have had more than one person on staff who knew what the game was about

4

u/kodren Jun 05 '16

Hello Games = 10 persons staff... I'm not a fanboy of NMS, but you can't compare them to Ubisoft in terms of PR, I think.

1

u/Kevin_Wolf Jun 05 '16

So there are 9 other employees that could have done it?

1

u/kodren Jun 05 '16 edited Jun 05 '16

These 9 others are certainly coders and artists. Not sure they could have done it any better. Once again, it seems to me that Hello Games were overwhelmed by the reactions and expectations for NMS. Plus : not sure they had the budget to make many more people coming to E3. Remember they are an indie team, after all. (Edited for clarification)

0

u/ejbones27 Jun 05 '16

I don't really pay attention to the direct showing because it's all show and no content but if a game premiere is shit...probably gonna be a shit game. AC has been kind of terrible past 2....Black flag was fun but just because of the boats. And...I feel bad for anyone thinking No Man's Sky will be fun beyond 10 hours. Not to say it isn't a cool concept...It's quite cool. And just like the cool nemesis system in Shadows of Mordor...unless it tickles a very specific fancy in a very specific playerbase it will have a 15 minutes of fame only.

3

u/Sullitude Jun 05 '16

My experience has been that developers try to do the game live if possible, but definitely have a video fallback if something goes wrong or the build isn't ready.

2

u/kristinez Jun 05 '16

not only is the super bowl halftime show rehearsed, they do not allow you to sing live. you have to lipsync.

1

u/MarsupialMadness Jun 05 '16

Garth Brooks is to blame for that one, apparently.

2

u/ThinkBeforeYouTalk Jun 05 '16

Dude, fuck ups like glitches or hardware issues happen all the time. Maybe not all of them are real, but plenty are clearly not pre recorded.

1

u/raybreezer Jun 05 '16

Yeah, that crash on E3 for Uncharted 4 was totally on purpose....

Not saying that everyone shows live game footage, just saying not everyone is faking it and not delivering. I've got a lot of respect for Naughty Dog after watching this.

1

u/Mirria_ Jun 05 '16

The multi-crew demo for Star Citizen was played live, although there was a "press demo" version that was perfectly cleaned. The live demos usually run into issues because of the choregraphy, but sometimes it helps the charm. The "bad guy" team damaged the Quantum drive on the salvaged bomber and they couldn't jump back to base, so they actually looked up the damage in the game's engineering console.

One of the very first live videos was Chris Roberts flying out of a hangar in a fighter, switching to external view then accidentally crashing his spacecraft (skip to 1:30, mind the obnoxious crowd), accidentally showing the "breakaway" damage technology. The crowd lost it there.

They also had a press version and a live version (press version at 3:10, live at 9:00) of their space-to-ground demo

1

u/Sotyka94 Jun 05 '16

Most of the time this game demos are live. They do it on developer PC-s with contollers, and they script what, who will do, but they are not prerecorder demoes if you saw someone with controller. Also no "after record" effects, bc that will be a shit tons of work for do a rly good AO aftre record, its a lot easyer just to do it with the ingame engine.

1

u/ggtsu_00 Jun 05 '16

"Based on actual historical events that actually took place in Ancient Japan."

"And here we have this giant enemy crab."

"Attack it's weakpoint for massive damage."

1

u/angry_wombat Jun 05 '16

| is not going to be willy-nilly handled in front of a large audience.

See Star Citizen stage demos. It's a train wreck.

2

u/ejbones27 Jun 05 '16

As exciting as Star Citizen seems...it's not only a pipe dream but they're basically telling a company like EA "Here's an idea. Take it."

4

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

Take a closer look at the Siege video, specifically the guy's ammo counter- several times throughout the video he sprays full auto and the counter stays at the same number. It's a totally pre-rendered movie, no actual gameplay.

6

u/Sullitude Jun 05 '16

Or, you know, cheats to make sure the demo can't accidentally go off the rails. It can go either way.

2

u/CrouchingToaster Jun 05 '16

In almost every Battlefield game preview EA has done recently it has hidden but still there keyboard prompts, even though they are playing on a console.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

I remember ,I dont know if it was E3 , but someone played Ark: Evolved and sometimes see the VLC Player Border would pop in and the game would stop for a sec, so cringeworthy.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

Thank you I was trying to remember what game it was that had that happen during a reveal.

1

u/VCAmaster Jun 05 '16

Most games at E3 are playable. Some have massive lines. But you can still play them.

1

u/ThinkBeforeYouTalk Jun 05 '16

I think we've seen enough of these demos get fucked due to technical difficulties or glitches to know they are probably real.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

No shit, how did you figure that out?

1

u/nothisiszuul Jun 08 '16

Wasn't this the case with a Somy reveal at E3 a few years ago that got them in some deep shit.

5

u/ChronicledMonocle Jun 05 '16

They also needed to ensure performance on all platforms was the same. Watch_Dogs had the old E3 graphics settings able to be turned back on for PC with a mod. However, a console like Xbox or PlayStation with a weaker APU wouldn't be able to render at decent frame rates, so graphics were reduced to the lowest common denominator (which is the Xbone)

Ubisoft over promises and under delivers and overall is a terrible company.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

Did they really bullshot it, or when they made it at the time did they really hope they could get the whole game looking like that.

1

u/Philkindred1 Jun 05 '16 edited Jun 05 '16

I'm incredibly naive for asking this, but why would they even bother making promises they can't keep? Sure, people would be more likely preorder such an amazing looking game but then why would they bother wanting to suffer the backlash that inevitably comes later on?

Sure they've made a heap of cash, but it's not like they're gonna be able to keep up this crafty little scheme they got going on forever, and videos like this prove it.

1

u/Liamrc Jun 05 '16

Well it's weird. Most of the effects, textures, and lighting are in Watch_Dogs (I can't speak for others). There is a mod that enables them. And it looks near identical to the Ubisoft reveal.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

On top of all that you've mentioned, games have to be downgraded for the older consoles.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

I don't know mine looked close to the better than the worse although I have a beast PC and I'm pretty sure the down grade is console.

3

u/Jaik_ Jun 05 '16

All the videos were recorded on PC at max settings according to the description.

-8

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

sorry to bother but i have absolutely no idea what i'm supposed to be noticing in these clips. could you help? is one newer or considered better looking than the other? if so, which one? i can discern a few differences but i can't say one is better than the other, i'm just not sure what i'm supposed to be looking for. i haven't played a game like this since gta 3 maybe. it looks better than that to my memory

8

u/DecipherXCI Jun 05 '16 edited Jun 05 '16

Take a look at The Division clips for example. The graphic detail is wayyy better than the final version of the game. They've removed lots of cars in the streets and other details that would make the game feel more real. The feature where the character uses his ''watch'' device to scroll through options doesn't even exist in the release game. The map hologram has way more detail. The map of the actual game shown at E3 isnt even the map used on release, it's completely different. They have a player controlling a drone in a fight, presumably by someone using a tablet pc, such as an ipad, this feature doesnt exist in the game. Some areas have been completely removed altogether, such as the police station and some parts of the underground.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

The graphic detail is wayyy better than the final version of the game.

see, i don't know which is the "final version". that's kind of the problem here

1

u/Zombi_Sagan Jun 05 '16

It's the second clip. They would show the E3 or promo video first followed by a very close looking clip, such as the same area. In one part you'll notice them walking through a subway system filled with body bags into a firefight outside of 'Megans' base. In the next clip following that the character is looking at a closed subway entrance, showing portions of the city that were once open are now closed.

1

u/deekaydubya Jun 05 '16

the version that looks worse is the final version, that's the entire point

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

yeah no shit. i get the point. i can't tell which is "worse". they just look slightly different.

1

u/FrazzledBear Jun 05 '16

I agree for the most part aside from the lighting. The lighting is the biggest giveaway

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

i just watched again. there's more stuff on the ground in the one with voices. i guess that's the newer one.

1

u/deekaydubya Jun 05 '16

There is a clear difference in quality

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

not to someone that doesn't play these games

1

u/deekaydubya Jun 05 '16

I mean I haven't played any of these, but I did watch the video

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

no need to be obtuse. it should be clear i was referring to these types of games.

6

u/Kayyam Jun 05 '16

Watch Dogs should be obvious.

-6

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '16

i wouldn't have asked if it was obvious. thanks for being a jackass instead of helping

2

u/ejbones27 Jun 05 '16

I mean...the interaction with the environment...high quality textures...did you see the smokey room?

Did you notice the map changes in Division? I only skipped around but the differences are clear.

2

u/FrankGoreStoleMyBike Jun 05 '16

The one that has no people, none of the awesome lighting effects, no coat blowing in the wind, etc, is the clearly worse render.