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Dark Souls Network Test: Digital Foundry

burgerdog

burgerdog

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,165


1080p on PS4 with vsync and minor drops
1080p on Xbox One with drops to ~50 against the gargoyles and no vsync so there's tearing
1800p on PS4 Pro with minor drops during scenes with a lot of alpha effects
1800p on Xbox One X without any frame drops during any portion of the network test, potentially no vsync if it's mirroring the regular Xbox set up. Will have to wait for further testing.

A bit disappointed in the resolution of the X, looks like they're just making two versions of the game and not really taking advantage of the hardware. I may just have to go with the PC version and hope that my 970 can push at least 1440p and the option to turn off that crazy motion blur is always welcomed.
 
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Fisty

Fisty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,220
I love how the #1 most infamously poor performing area of the game (And probably the most important thing for the devs to focus on with this remaster) is nowhere to be seen in any previews. Makes me curious why Namco wouldn't want people to see it, unless it's still a slideshow. I'm pretty sure quite a few people would buy it if it just said "fixed Blighttown" in huge letters on the back of the box
 
impact

impact

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
5,380
Tampa
Getting it on PS4 Pro but I'd be tilted if I had an X.

"choice made out of convenience" is a nice way to say the ol' lazy dev line, kudos DF.
 

Deleted member 25606

User requested account closure
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Oct 29, 2017
8,973
Fisty said:
I love how the #1 most infamously poor performing area of the game (And probably the most important thing for the devs to focus on with this remaster) is nowhere to be seen in any previews. Makes me curious why Namco wouldn't want people to see it, unless it's still a slideshow
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Are you talking about Blightown? If so wasn't it at Pax east and between that showing and journalists that have been given a shot at it they are saying it performs fine?

I keep hearing this "they won't show blightown" narrative and it's patently untrue.
 
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burgerdog

burgerdog

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,165
Fisty said:
I love how the #1 most infamously poor performing area of the game (And probably the most important thing for the devs to focus on with this remaster) is nowhere to be seen in any previews. Makes me curious why Namco wouldn't want people to see it, unless it's still a slideshow. I'm pretty sure quite a few people would buy it if it just said "fixed Blighttown" in huge letters on the back of the box
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Something is definitely up, they had reps preventing journalists from going down there when they were invited to play it about a month or so ago.
 
Ridley327

Ridley327

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,483
Georgia (the state, not the country)
Matthew77 said:
Are you talking about Blightown? If so wasn't it at Pax east and between that showing and journalists that have been given a shot at it they are saying it performs fine?

I keep hearing this "they won't show blightown" narrative and it's patently untrue.
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The Switch version was shown off at PAX East and was looking quite solid, but that had a lower target framerate to hit. It remains to be seen if it holds at 60 fps on the other consoles, especially since we already had word that reps at the preview event on PS4 prevented them from going down the New Londo Ruins shortcut to Blighttown and the mentions of Blighttown running smoothly came from just a couple of previews that I don't think have been corroborated otherwise.
 
Miaus

Miaus

Member
Jan 28, 2018
416
Fisty said:
I love how the #1 most infamously poor performing area of the game (And probably the most important thing for the devs to focus on with this remaster) is nowhere to be seen in any previews. Makes me curious why Namco wouldn't want people to see it, unless it's still a slideshow. I'm pretty sure quite a few people would buy it if it just said "fixed Blighttown" in huge letters on the back of the box
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I'm pretty sure I've read about people that went to Blightown and was just fine.
 

Deleted member 25606

User requested account closure
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Oct 29, 2017
8,973
Ridley327 said:
The Switch version was shown off at PAX East and was looking quite solid, but that had a lower target framerate to hit. It remains to be seen if it holds at 60 fps on the other consoles, especially since we already had word that reps at the preview event on PS4 prevented them from going down the New Londo Ruins shortcut to Blighttown and the mentions of Blighttown running smoothly came from just a couple of previews that I don't think have been corroborated otherwise.
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I listen to Podquisition and I know Laura had brought up worry based on being told she couldn't go there during one of the pre-view events, but some time and episodes later saying that she is not worried anymore. Not sure if her change was the Pax east event or some other journalist thing but I do now she 180'd her position on it.
 
Noema

Noema

Member
Jan 17, 2018
4,905
Mexico CIty
burgerdog said:


1080p on PS4 with vsync
1080p on Xbox One with drops to ~50 against the gargoyles and no vsync so there's tearing
1800p on PS4 Pro with minor drops during scenes with a lot of alpha effects
1800p on Xbox One X without any frame drops during any portion of the network test, potentially no vsync if it's mirroring the regular Xbox set up. Will have to wait for further testing.

A bit disappointed in the resolution of the X, looks like they're just making two versions of the game and not really taking advantage of the hardware. I may just have to go with the PC version and hope that my 970 can push at least 1440p and the option to turn off that crazy motion blur is always welcomed.
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Xbox versions do have V-Sync; it's just that they use adaptative v-sync which shows partial tearing if the scene exceeds the machine's rendering budget. Presumably the X version has this too but since it never dropped any frames V-sync was on all the time.

Weirdly the Pro and X versions seem to be missing some of the lighting effects, but that's likely a bug in the Network Test build.
 
Ridley327

Ridley327

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,483
Georgia (the state, not the country)
Matthew77 said:
I listen to Podquisition and I know Laura had brought up worry based on being told she couldn't go there during one of the pre-view events, but some time and episodes later saying that she is not worried anymore. Not sure if her change was the Pax east event or some other journalist thing but I do now she 180'd her position on it.
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I think this has been the shittiest thing about the remaster, since Bamco is keeping so many people in the dark for an eight-year-old game. There's nothing to spoil for it at this point.
 
ghibli99

ghibli99

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,768
Backs up my thought that the 1X version would be the one I'd go with if I were buying this. But I'm not. I was pretty hyped at first, and still was to a certain extent about portable Souls on Switch, but that one being delayed until who know's when, and seeing all the same stuff in the network test (bugs in particular) makes this whole thing feel wrong, and I'm not one to be all that critical about remasters, but a game like this just deserves better. Here's hoping that Bluepoint game is what we think it is.
 
Becks'

Becks'

Member
Dec 7, 2017
7,467
Canada
Fisty said:
I love how the #1 most infamously poor performing area of the game (And probably the most important thing for the devs to focus on with this remaster) is nowhere to be seen in any previews. Makes me curious why Namco wouldn't want people to see it, unless it's still a slideshow. I'm pretty sure quite a few people would buy it if it just said "fixed Blighttown" in huge letters on the back of the box
Click to expand...
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Some dude rushed to Blighttown on Switch version during PAX. It looked like it was fixed.

EDIT: Here is gameplay.
 
Yuuber

Yuuber

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,152
He actually states he couldn't find a single drop in the PS4 pro this time around, so he's analysis the Xbox One X is better is based on a previous encounter with the game?
 
BreakAtmo

BreakAtmo

Member
Nov 12, 2017
12,837
Australia
Gotta say, I do wish checkerboard or temporal injection had been used for this, at least as an option. Whereas 1800p on a 2160p tv will always produce upscaling artifacts, the artifacts from resolution reconstruction techniques seen more dependent on how much and how drastically pixels change from frame to frame. As a rather slow-moving, slow-paced game that's also running at 60fps, Dark Souls seems to me to be a perfect use case for those techniques, and it would likely let the Pro hit a perfect 60.
 
Hippopuncher12

Hippopuncher12

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,275
Cincinnati
I was going to get this on Pro first before X anyway so it's all good. Will probably get the X version the same day I get Switch version when it launches. I would feel dirty not playing this on a PS system first.
 

Deleted member 22750

Oct 28, 2017
13,267
oh man

there is some good and bad news here
 
Fezan

Fezan

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,274
The game is completely same on both enhanced platforms. DF video title Better on X.I know df wants to earn some money by making such titles still it doesn't suits them
 
blackmass

blackmass

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
918
Berlin - Germany
Member has been warned: low effort drive-by post that adds nothing to the discussion.
Omg, these guys must be bored to death.
Analyzing a stress test... What a job...
 
Raide

Raide

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
16,596
60 is great. Poor use of the 1X tech advantage is not.

Having pretty much the same settings across all systems its either a test version only thing, or From just clicked a few boxes in regards to settings and sent it out the door.
 
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burgerdog

burgerdog

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,165
Raide said:
60 is great. Poor use of the 1X tech advantage is not.

Having pretty much the same settings across all systems its either a test version only thing, or From just clicked a few boxes in regards to settings and sent it out the door.
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I keep saying this, but it bears repeating. FROM is not touching this game's code. Bandai Namco owns the IP and they're paying Virtuous studio to handle the port. FROM might just have a small team supervising the project so that the core aspects stay true to the original.
 
lordlad

lordlad

Banned for trolling with an alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,940
Singapore
Ill grab this when it hit the bargain bins. Was expecting a ds2 to sotfs level of upgrade and fixes. What we got is basically paid dsfix + texture mod.
 
Vertpin

Vertpin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,891
lordlad said:
Ill grab this when it hit the bargain bins. Was expecting a ds2 to sotfs level of upgrade and fixes. What we got is basically paid dsfix + texture mod.
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It was never announced to be anything more than a port. Considering its native 60fps (or locked 30fps on Switch), with QoL enhancements is an easy $40 from me.
 
JahIthBer

JahIthBer

Member
Jan 27, 2018
10,382
Pretty happy to see one dev lower the resolution a bit to keep a locked 60fps, nothing is better than a locked 60fps, nothing, 4K with drops to the 50's wouldn't be as good imo.
But then again Blightown hasn't been tested yet, that's a bit of a worry.
 

Deleted member 16576

User requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
321
As someone who has never played Dark Souls but is excited to dive in, a completely unaltered (minus very minor visual tweaks) 60fps version of the framerate disaster that was the Xbox 360 release, I'm very ok with all of this.
 
gabdeg

gabdeg

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,960
šŸ
I find it weird that they didn't pick up on the slightly inferior texture filtering on the XB1X compared to PS4 Pro. It was pretty noticeable for me switching back and forth.
 
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