[Dev] Overtaxation of PC Hardware

[Neptune]

This is certainly a big issue , i still have nightmares reading the issues with FFXIII destroying Ps3, and frozen screen at square enix logo.

Whoa what is this about. My PS3 is fried right now, and FFXIII does freeze at that screen.

[Trocien]

Problem is SE decided to use their own game engine instead of just purchasing a license for a more advanced, optimized engine.

Please see the Unreal 3 Engine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qXzJ3QRqko

Also, SE decided to go with super-high polygon models instead of lower polygon and better lighting. Woulda made a world of difference in the realism of this game.

Edit: The game should also be scalable for people with lower-end PCs. World of Warcraft runs on a netbook...

[Betelgeuzah]

The game should also be scalable for people with lower-end PCs. World of Warcraft runs on a netbook...

And looks like it does too.

While the game could be much better optimized, catering for the ipad crowd is not the answer. These games need to last longer visually than your normal "over in a week" single player games. Good art direction can do a lot, but it's not an excuse for weaker technology.

[Kazahashi]

And looks like it does too.

While the game could be much better optimized, catering for the ipad crowd is not the answer. These games need to last longer visually than your normal "over in a week" single player games. Good art direction can do a lot, but it's not an excuse for weaker technology.

Yea, that's true, but on the same token, when you're making a game that you require people to pay monthly for, and expect them to actually subscribe, you need to make the engine better optimized to run on anything lower than a NASA computer....I can run the game, on high again, but that still doesn't make me think that the game would be better received in certain areas if it could run on at least something other than that.

No one is asking it to run on an iPad, people just want the damn thing to run without spending a ton of money just to play it....and even if you spend a good amount of money, it's still not guaranteed to run smoothly. The engine is raw, and it needs to be gone over a couple of times to the point where it will run on high, well, on the recommended specs, and at least on standard on the required ones...without it chugging.

[MonsieurVerde]

Yea, that's true, but on the same token, when you're making a game that you require people to pay monthly for, and expect them to actually subscribe, you need to make the engine better optimized to run on anything lower than a NASA computer....I can run the game, on high again, but that still doesn't make me think that the game would be better received in certain areas if it could run on at least something other than that.

No one is asking it to run on an iPad, people just want the damn thing to run without spending a ton of money just to play it....and even if you spend a good amount of money, it's still not guaranteed to run smoothly. The engine is raw, and it needs to be gone over a couple of times to the point where it will run on high, well, on the recommended specs, and at least on standard on the required ones...without it chugging.

There are no "Standard" specs, just Reccommended and those are for default graphics at 1280x720....which is not that demanding beecause of the resolution. Hence why it suggests a 768 MB 460.

[Kazahashi]

There are no "Standard" specs, just Reccommended and those are for default graphics at 1280x720....which is not that demanding beecause of the resolution.

I'm well aware there's no "standard" specs....that's not the point.

The point is that the games' engine is about as optimized as a soda can. The engine runs like crap, period....when new games come out, like Crysis 2, and I can max everything in it, and then look at the Witcher 2, which also looks like I can max.....to not max a game from last year, and an MMO no less (which are supposed to be less hoggy than SP games, not the other way around), it doesn't make any sense, and it certainly doesn't make people that don't have 3 grande to spend want to play your game. Other MMO's that just launched (Rift for example) can run on a lot of things, and yea, you need some decent hardware to max it....but then too it has a decent engine that will likely last a long time. You don't need to create some engine that's way ahead of its time in order to remain current graphically.

[MonsieurVerde]

I'm well aware there's no "standard" specs....that's not the point.

The point is that the games' engine is about as optimized as a soda can. The engine runs like crap, period....when new games come out, like Crysis 2, and I can max everything in it, and then look at the Witcher 2, which also looks like I can max.....to not max a game from last year, and an MMO no less (which are supposed to be less hoggy than SP games, not the other way around), it doesn't make any sense, and it certainly doesn't make people that don't have 3 grande to spend want to play your game. Other MMO's that just launched (Rift for example) can run on a lot of things, and yea, you need some decent hardware to max it....but then too it has a decent engine that will likely last a long time. You don't need to create some engine that's way ahead of its time in order to remain current graphically.

Crysis II is a CONSOLE PORT By default it is meant to run on the Xbox or PS3 both of which are four year old pieces of hardware, Of course you can max it out. -_- An MMO will ALWAYS be more demanding than a single player game as single player games have finite amounts of resources to load.

You do NOT need 3 grand to play this game. Hell, it would only take 500$ at this point to make a set-up at the reccomended settings not that you can't play it on less. Also, Rift uses the Gamebryo Engine...which is a rather ancient engine at this point so it wouldn't be too hard to max it.

[Verecund]

Pretty much agreeing with the OP on everything... these have been serious issues since day 1. Hopefully they are serious about addressing them (since PC holds the vast majority of MMO customers, period).

[Kazahashi]

Crysis II is a CONSOLE PORT By default it is meant to run on the Xbox or PS3m both of which are four year old pieces of hardware, Of course you can max it out. -_- An MMO will ALWAYS be more demanding than a single player game as single player games have finite amounts of resources to load.

You do NOT need 3 grand to paly this game. Hell, it would only take 500$ at this point to make a set-up at the reccomended resolution not that you can't play it on less.

Crysis 2 is NOT a console port....I don't know where you get your information on games, but both the first Crysis and the second one were PC first (hence why the first one didn't come out on consoles). And even if it was, the PC versions of games usually always look better, have more graphics options, better textures, higher resolutions, etc etc, meaning it takes more than a four year old piece of hardware to max it out. Then you have to take into consideration Witcher 2, a PC only game that looks better than XIV does (duh, it's a SP game), but the requirements are less (makes NO sense whatsoever).

More taxing than a SP game yes, only because of the amount of resources that are loading, etc etc etc. Hence why most MMO games do not use overtly strenuous graphic engines....does that not make sense to you? When you're making a game that has to load a crap ton of things constantly you don't use something like the Cry-tek engine for it....you use something that provides graphics that will stand the test of time, but at the same time is widely usable by most people that have decent machines, because of the strain it puts on the GPU and CPU....and right now the engine seems to not be optimized correctly for either, hence this topic.

I don't understand why you're arguing with me about this when it's widely known that the engine isn't optimized at all....it's not like I'm sitting here making something up....any review will tell you nearly the same thing.

[MonsieurVerde]

Crysis 2 is a console port. >_> There is no difference visually between the PC and console version nor are there options to take advantage of evolving hardware. It does not have higher res textures. You really need to go to a few gaming forums and listen to all the evidence.


Perception can be misleading.