What's with the desaturated look ? Video Comparison Inside.

[lukaself]

Nordic's version completely butchered the colors and lighting. This has nothing in common with Joe MAD's vision of a vibrant comic book universe. Even if I agree that the models geometry needed a lift every scene and character now looks bland and faded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9kPHL6wFd8
(Original Pc vs ps4 version to be fair. But pc updated version looks exactly like the ps4 version according to the store screenshots)

Nordic. Get the original version back on steam.

http://i.imgur.com/7LUBxxK.jpg

Edit 12/11 Added some Pc vs Pc comparison :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArSPTcZQXOU

[lukaself]

Runs worse, looks worse, paid patch (not that I'd want it for free mind you).

Nordic : You're the first developer/publisher in my 30 years of gaming that I actively get out of my way to make you realise something is wrong with your product as a whole. Even when Arkham Knight's Pc version bombed I didn't care, that ought to tell something ain't it ?

[Malidictus]

MegalomaniacNG původně napsal:

We analysed this also in detail and came to the conclusion that the physical based lighting model introduced in Darksiders II Deathinitive gives the game a much better and believable look.

I'm gonna' have to call you on that one. While the lighting does indeed appear to be better - better technology - everything looks like it was run through a desaturation filter. Darksiders was never a particularly "colourful" game, but it always did a lot with colour contrast. Mostly brown-grey backdrops, but speckled with bright, saturated light sources of blue, green, yellow and such. Darksiders doesn't work well with a "believable" look. It works better with the look it had - a stylised, contrasting almost "painted" type of visuals as one might see out of a graphic novel or fairy tale.

Both the original but also especially Darksiders 2 made wide use of coloured lighting to fit the mood of each location, and sharp lighting at that, with strong colouration given off by individual light sources, as well as colour folters on top of that. The aim was to create a striking contrast between Death's magic - cyan, green and purple - against the mostly brown/grey environments. Pretty much everything we've seen so far suggest that all of the colours across the board have been muted, leading me to believe that real is brown[tvtropes.org].

[lukaself]

Better said than I could ever say myself.

[REE]

I was thinking the same when I first saw the comparisons some weeks back, that the original look more appealing, better color and contrast.. I played the original up until yesterday where I started on the new version. And the new version DOES look alot better I think.. The PBR and lighting feels a lot more consistant and real. Where the original had alot of shadow and especialy highlights build into the textures, where as the new version they removed the painted highlights, and let the PBR and lighting take care of the actual reflections and specularity, as it should be.. Meaning that if death stands in the shadows, his armor is not lighting up like a christmas tree because of fake reflection maps, but the reflections are actually muted like in real life when no direct light is hitting it... It makes sense that everything is toned down, because the materials react to light as in real life... But if that fits with this art direction is something else, and I'm not sure what I think about that.. But I DO like the new look better.. But who listens to me anyways, I'm just a random name on the internet right :-)

[BridgetFisher]

WOuld be nice see side by side of old PC version on max and new pc version on max?

[lukaself]

I would have posted a direct Pc vs Pc comparison, but everything I can find right now has quality issues. I want to be sure it's a fair comparison before posting it here. Probably digital Foundry in a Few days.

Problem is, that very time limited 'loyalty' offer doesn't help with being patient, I'm afraid.

[Jinpachiro]

Should just give us an option to let us use the original color pallete and/or textures. Kinda like how the Master Chief Collection lets you on the xbox one

[lukaself]

Jinpachiro původně napsal:

Should just give us an option to let us use the original color pallete and/or textures. Kinda like how the Master Chief Collection lets you on the xbox one

That one hovered inside my head for a while as a an excellent idea but a very costly one to implement too. I believe this particular technical challenge have been achieved out of sheer unlimited Halo budget, which Nordic do not possess, obviously.

[markoh00]

MegalomaniacNG původně napsal:

That video is a bit weird because in reality it is not exactly like that or they just caught very bad examples. I am sure someone can compare the PC versions to get a more accurate picture.

We analysed this also in detail and came to the conclusion that the physical based lighting model introduced in Darksiders II Deathinitive gives the game a much better and believable look.

1) You really want a FANTASY comic game to be believable?
2) The problem is not the lightning (this is great) but the darker colours. I just tested it myself and especially in the land of the markers the guy from the beginning (forgot his name) looks much darker and less colourful than in the original. Even though it's a dying race in th eoriginal you still felt a taste of glory and honor which is now nearly gone.

[lukaself]

Found good Pc vs pc comparison screenshots. I would have preferred a video but that'll do for now.

Original
http://i.imgur.com/2NWpjrt.png

New
http://i.imgur.com/qJ3ajSc.png

Is something wrong with my eyes ? Or are some textures a serious downgrade? Look at the armor for instance. Credits to JohngPR from Neogaf forums.

[BridgetFisher]

lukaself původně napsal:

Found good Pc vds pc comparison screenshots. I would have preferred a video but that'll do for now.

Original
http://i.imgur.com/2NWpjrt.png

New
http://i.imgur.com/qJ3ajSc.png

Is something wrong with my eyes ? Or are some textures a SERIOUS downgrade? Look at the armor for instance. Credits to JohngPR from Neogaf forums.

Thanks are those labeled right? The older one looks way better than the new one. The new one looks like someone just vomited blue all over the screen, where is the armor colors?

So this might sound weird but that would make the original the HD version if the textures are better?

[lukaself]

Both are in 1080p so both are HD to be fair (that was one of the selling point of the deathinitive edition...completely pointless on PC gamers)... but why everything looks so gray in the updated look ? That can't be right...

@Bridget, you can tell without error which one is which because the old ones still have those old 360 style buttons and white triggers.

[Malidictus]

lukaself původně napsal:

Found good Pc vs pc comparison screenshots. I would have preferred a video but that'll do for now.

Original
http://i.imgur.com/2NWpjrt.png

New
http://i.imgur.com/qJ3ajSc.png

Is something wrong with my eyes ? Or are some textures a SERIOUS downgrade? Look at the armor for instance. Credits to JohngPR from Neogaf forums.

Provided you labelled them correctly, the new textures are a major upgrade over the old ones in places and the same in others. Nowhere are they a downgrade. Moreover, the old screenshot looks quite terrible. I remember "brown smear" colour filter which permaets most of the Earth section of the game and was never a fan of it. This looks like that filter has been removed, which actually makes the image more colourful, especially against the purple glow.

If this screenshot is anything to go by, what seems to have happened is a lot of the game's colour grading has been stripped entirely. Since I hate colour grading with a passion, I'm perfectly fine with this. Seriously, the Fjord's almost black-and-white filter was distracting in the extreme.

[BridgetFisher]

Malidictus původně napsal:

Provided you labelled them correctly, the new textures are a major upgrade over the old ones in places and the same in others. Nowhere are they a downgrade. Moreover, the old screenshot looks quite terrible. I remember "brown smear" colour filter which permaets most of the Earth section of the game and was never a fan of it. This looks like that filter has been removed, which actually makes the image more colourful, especially against the purple glow.

If this screenshot is anything to go by, what seems to have happened is a lot of the game's colour grading has been stripped entirely. Since I hate colour grading with a passion, I'm perfectly fine with this. Seriously, the Fjord's almost black-and-white filter was distracting in the extreme.

why not just play games on a black & white tv? Wonder if there is some kind of option for that today since most gamers do prefer black and white games since when there is color it becomes to complicated and many experience disinterest or headaches due to not being able to process all the visual information.

Many game devlopers are opting for one color on screen at a time like this game where its all blue. while not realistic at all since we live in a pantheon of color maybe its more a stylistic choice to use black and white with one or 2 optional colors like in DS2?

[lukaself]

Malidictus původně napsal:

the Fjord's almost black-and-white filter was distracting in the extreme.

Point taken.