Why is the game so ugly?

[Red]

Nothing like the trailers. I sincerely thought we would be getting some nice lighting work and textures , and it is a mature UE4 engine so technical hiccups should had been minor. With a focus on dungeons (now draw distance, low assets count, low texture variety, simple lighting ) , having visual fidelity similar to Tomb Raider ( the 2nd of the trilogy) or Batman:AK is not out of the question

Instead we get a town where every the textures which wouldn't be out of place in a PS3 game, lighting is an afterthought where everything is blasted bright and flat , character faces are pudding and there is not even that many NPCs too ....

and performance, ohh boy....it's like playing an Alpha with 1 more year to release...

what happened to this:?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVB6dSckvJI


update: i made it to a forest stage . some pics here

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1518370593

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1518370649

[Lord Conti]

Game looked really terrible for me. Washed out, muddy, lowres.
I slapped together a little ReShade file and it looks much better now

Vanilla
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/954090989355446198/4DCAB3CC326EC527AC2005E272872F5DE8DF7F0C/

ReShade
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/954090989355445753/C8ED660AEAF24B01084FB33E8D6188F1A06C0C46/

[Lord Conti]

Originally posted by Sabin Figaro:

That does look pretty good :) Are you planning on uploading your config to sfx.thelazy or on here perhaps?

No plans to uplaod it anywhere. Its a really short file so I could just copy&paste the settings here or send them to you.

Here's another one (left is vanilla)
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/954090989355648525/BA2397476D861814CCA487EE07492AD7D698614E/

[Prothean]

Originally posted by bullet in ur f. face:

why did they downgrade it that bad when it's pc exclusive ?it makes no sense at all.

With how enlarged the UI is and how the FOV was set... don't be suprised when you see it announced for consoles... it's pretty clear from some of the design choices that's the case... plus the controller support is (somewhat) there already, though I couldn't get it to work in the menus

[starkmaddness]

I am not normally a fan of reshade to 'improve' graphics, but holy crap, it looks like it massively reduces the headache-inducing perpetual bluriness in this game. Will have to try it out.

[Lord Conti]

Originally posted by starkmaddness:

I am not normally a fan of reshade to 'improve' graphics, but holy crap, it looks like it massively reduces the headache-inducing perpetual bluriness in this game. Will have to try it out.

Definitely. The textures in the game look incredibly low-res while in reality they are not. They are just burried under poor use of effects.

Anyway, here's my settings for those interested.

KeyAdaptiveSharpen=97,0,0,0
KeyClarity=97,0,0,0
KeyColorMatrix=97,0,0,0
KeyCurves=97,0,0,0
KeyFilmicAnamorphSharpen=97,0,0,0
KeyHDR=97,0,0,0
KeyLevels=97,0,0,0
KeyVibrance=97,0,0,0
Techniques=
TechniqueSorting=LeiFx_Tech,AdaptiveFog,AdaptiveSharpen,AmbientLight,ASCII,BloomAndLensFlares,Border,Cartoon,Chromakey,CA,Clarity,ColorMatrix,Colourfulness,AdvancedCRT,Curves,Daltonize,Deband,KNearestNeighbors,NonLocalMeans,DepthHaze,DisplayDepth,RingDOF,MagicDOF,GP65CJ042DOF,MatsoDOF,MartyMcFlyDOF,DPX,Emphasize,HDR,MotionBlur,FilmGrain,FilmGrain2,FilmicAnamorphSharpen,FilmicPass,Mode1,Mode2,Mode3,FXAA,GaussianBlur,GlitchB,HighPassSharp,HQ4X,Levels,LiftGammaGain,LightDoF_AutoFocus,LightDoF_Far,LightDoF_Near,LumaSharpen,LUT,MagicBloom,Monochrome,MultiLUT,MXAO,Nightvision,Nostalgia,PerfectPerspective,ChromaticAberration,ReflectiveBumpmapping,Tint,SMAA,SurfaceBlur,Technicolor,Technicolor2,TiltShift,Tonemap,UIMask_Top,UIMask_Bottom,Vibrance,Vignette,Layer,Cross_Cursor,EyeAdaption,Depth3D,Before,After,HSLShift,CinematicDOF,UIDetect,UIDetect_Before,UIDetect_After
Effects=FilmicAnamorphSharpen.fx,FakeHDR.fx,AdaptiveSharpen.fx,Vibrance.fx,Clarity.fx,ColorMatrix.fx,Curves.fx,Levels.fx


[AdaptiveSharpen.fx]
curve_height=1.000000
L_compr_low=0.167000
D_compr_low=0.250000
curveslope=0.500000
L_overshoot=0.003000
D_overshoot=0.009000
L_compr_high=0.334000
D_compr_high=0.500000
scale_lim=0.100000
scale_cs=0.056000
pm_p=0.700000


[Clarity.fx]
ClarityRadius=0.000000
ClarityBlendMode=1.000000
ClarityOffset=2.000000
ClarityDarkIntensity=0.400000
ClarityBlendIfDark=50.000000
ClarityBlendIfLight=205.000000
ClarityViewBlendIfMask=0.000000
ClarityStrength=0.400000
ClarityLightIntensity=0.000000
ClarityViewMask=0.000000

[ColorMatrix.fx]
ColorMatrix_Red=0.800000,0.000000,0.200000
ColorMatrix_Green=0.033000,0.567000,0.400000
ColorMatrix_Blue=0.000000,0.125000,0.875000
Strength=0.800000

[Curves.fx]
Mode=0.000000
Formula=4.000000
Contrast=0.130000

[FilmicAnamorphSharpen.fx]
Strength=1.000000
Preview=0.000000
Coefficient=0.000000
Offset=1.000000
Clamp=1.000000
Contrast=128.000000

[FakeHDR.fx]
HDRPower=1.060000
radius1=0.793000
radius2=0.790000

[Levels.fx]
BlackPoint=7.000000
WhitePoint=253.000000
HighlightClipping=0.000000

[Vibrance.fx]
Vibrance=0.180000
VibranceRGBBalance=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000

[SneakyGuy]

Originally posted by lefty1117:

Originally posted by starkmaddness:

Of all the concerns I had before release, graphics was not one of them. But after playing it, holy mad god, it is ugly. Blury (and misaligned) textures that I would be embarrased to show. Characters that look like they were formed in wax, then beaten upon the face with a hot shovel.

This is why they should have stuck to the grid-based movement. They clearly lacked the funding and talent to make a decent looking fully 3d game, and grid-locked is far more forgiving. Legend of Grimlock 1 was far more visually appealing, and was made by 4 people, 7 years ago.

No, Legend of Grimrock was not more visually appealing than this game. Come on now. I get your overall point - yes the game is not optimized and the faces are ... strange.

Actually I have been thinking the exact same thing in that this should have been grid-locked. Since it is fully 3d, free exploring first person...guess what I am gonna do? I am going to explore. Well, I have found some lovely holes in the earth, and sticky spots on stairs that I can no longer move. Ah yes, we are back to original Everquest days. Need a /unstuck or petition a GM to move me.....

Nah this is more than bad faces....

Now, to be fair there are moments where the game does look really nice. It's kind of bizarre really. It's like walking into hall of mirrors...as you step back and look you are like hey this is nice then you get close and you like...WOAH this is bad!

[Lock]

Originally posted by Lord Conti:

Originally posted by Sabin Figaro:

That does look pretty good :) Are you planning on uploading your config to sfx.thelazy or on here perhaps?

No plans to uplaod it anywhere. Its a really short file so I could just copy&paste the settings here or send them to you.

Here's another one (left is vanilla)
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/954090989355648525/BA2397476D861814CCA487EE07492AD7D698614E/

Wow, that looks great. Will use your settings, good job.

[SneakyGuy]

Originally posted by MadHamster:

Originally posted by Murf_This!:

It's already 50gb. Probably nobody at the studio learned to to properly optimize even a tiny bit, so they had to cut out most of the stuff, because otherwise it would have shipped at like 250gb

Yustin Y of Steam is here, mates. Grab your popcorn. This gunna be epic.

Hummmm wow. Yes I remember that trailer. Oh the power of a trailer. It hooked me. It fooled me. Thing is at times the game does look like that, but only in certain places. And when you walk by NPCs, its like the year 2000 is calling and wants their NPCs back.

The starting city is a bit drab and could be really hurting early reviews. The game should have started in that forest :)

[nowhere man]

What a terrible flop. I could not imagine that this VERY VERY VERY LONG, backing project could end up this bad.

I'm just glad i'm now immune to preorder and to trust anyone in 2018's gaming industry. A good way of saving money and having peace of mind.

[Hex: Onii-Chan]

Originally posted by nowhere man:

What a terrible flop. I could not imagine that this VERY VERY VERY LONG, backing project could end up this bad.

I'm just glad i'm now immune to preorder and to trust anyone in 2018's gaming industry. A good way of saving money and having peace of mind.

Can't tell if your second sentence is sarcastic. As soon as a backer project takes (way) longer than expected, you can be sure, that they wasted the money or had to redo stuff or rehire people or recalculate the amount of cocaine and hookers they could afford.

You can see it with the most glaring example - Star Citizen. They now deny refunds and have to take extra loans.

I'm especially disappointed how far away from The Bard's Tale from 2004 this game is. I don't care what they call it, the one most people loved was the one from 2004. Because it wasn't a standard RPG - it was a hilarious and amazing experience. This here just seems so terribly out of date and boring. And on top of that it's horribly optimized and oversized...

[Burninator]

Originally posted by Lord Conti:

Anyway, here's my settings for those interested.
(giant snip)

Thanks mate, but this murders my framerate. It is a nice simple reshade though that does quite a bit to sharpen and clean up the graphics. I turned a couple of your settings off but left a few on and even still it looks great w/o the FPS hit.

[Red]

ok, now that im further in the game, it seems they just disbanded the project when they have to make the city ( which coincidently is the first thing a player sees), cause the 1st dungeon looks acceptable. ( not that bad that i want to gouge my eyes out) Seriously wtf is happened in the production schedule...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1517202940

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1517203089

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1517203057

another fugly pic for spite here

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1517203123

also, what happened to making a proper adventure's guild that is not just one tiny bar
Damn guild is smaller than anything from Morrowind to Witcher 3.

https://assets.vg247.com/current/2018/07/the_bards_tale_4_crop.jpg

[Darkness Muta]

Originally posted by Burninator:

Originally posted by Lord Conti:

Anyway, here's my settings for those interested.
(giant snip)

Thanks mate, but this murders my framerate. It is a nice simple reshade though that does quite a bit to sharpen and clean up the graphics. I turned a couple of your settings off but left a few on and even still it looks great w/o the FPS hit.

Any chance you can post you settings file to try.

[Lock]

Originally posted by Murf_This!:

I'm especially disappointed how far away from The Bard's Tale from 2004 this game is. I don't care what they call it, the one most people loved was the one from 2004. Because it wasn't a standard RPG - it was a hilarious and amazing experience. This here just seems so terribly out of date and boring. And on top of that it's horribly optimized and oversized...

This made me laugh out loud. I'm pretty sure this is why most people on these forums are so mad.
They think The Bard's Tale is that awkward 2004 spin off 3D action game.

[Lostedge]

Originally posted by Lord Conti:

Originally posted by starkmaddness:

I am not normally a fan of reshade to 'improve' graphics, but holy crap, it looks like it massively reduces the headache-inducing perpetual bluriness in this game. Will have to try it out.

Definitely. The textures in the game look incredibly low-res while in reality they are not. They are just burried under poor use of effects.

Anyway, here's my settings for those interested.

KeyAdaptiveSharpen=97,0,0,0
KeyClarity=97,0,0,0
KeyColorMatrix=97,0,0,0
KeyCurves=97,0,0,0
KeyFilmicAnamorphSharpen=97,0,0,0
KeyHDR=97,0,0,0
KeyLevels=97,0,0,0
KeyVibrance=97,0,0,0
Techniques=
TechniqueSorting=LeiFx_Tech,AdaptiveFog,AdaptiveSharpen,AmbientLight,ASCII,BloomAndLensFlares,Border,Cartoon,Chromakey,CA,Clarity,ColorMatrix,Colourfulness,AdvancedCRT,Curves,Daltonize,Deband,KNearestNeighbors,NonLocalMeans,DepthHaze,DisplayDepth,RingDOF,MagicDOF,GP65CJ042DOF,MatsoDOF,MartyMcFlyDOF,DPX,Emphasize,HDR,MotionBlur,FilmGrain,FilmGrain2,FilmicAnamorphSharpen,FilmicPass,Mode1,Mode2,Mode3,FXAA,GaussianBlur,GlitchB,HighPassSharp,HQ4X,Levels,LiftGammaGain,LightDoF_AutoFocus,LightDoF_Far,LightDoF_Near,LumaSharpen,LUT,MagicBloom,Monochrome,MultiLUT,MXAO,Nightvision,Nostalgia,PerfectPerspective,ChromaticAberration,ReflectiveBumpmapping,Tint,SMAA,SurfaceBlur,Technicolor,Technicolor2,TiltShift,Tonemap,UIMask_Top,UIMask_Bottom,Vibrance,Vignette,Layer,Cross_Cursor,EyeAdaption,Depth3D,Before,After,HSLShift,CinematicDOF,UIDetect,UIDetect_Before,UIDetect_After
Effects=FilmicAnamorphSharpen.fx,FakeHDR.fx,AdaptiveSharpen.fx,Vibrance.fx,Clarity.fx,ColorMatrix.fx,Curves.fx,Levels.fx


[AdaptiveSharpen.fx]
curve_height=1.000000
L_compr_low=0.167000
D_compr_low=0.250000
curveslope=0.500000
L_overshoot=0.003000
D_overshoot=0.009000
L_compr_high=0.334000
D_compr_high=0.500000
scale_lim=0.100000
scale_cs=0.056000
pm_p=0.700000


[Clarity.fx]
ClarityRadius=0.000000
ClarityBlendMode=1.000000
ClarityOffset=2.000000
ClarityDarkIntensity=0.400000
ClarityBlendIfDark=50.000000
ClarityBlendIfLight=205.000000
ClarityViewBlendIfMask=0.000000
ClarityStrength=0.400000
ClarityLightIntensity=0.000000
ClarityViewMask=0.000000

[ColorMatrix.fx]
ColorMatrix_Red=0.800000,0.000000,0.200000
ColorMatrix_Green=0.033000,0.567000,0.400000
ColorMatrix_Blue=0.000000,0.125000,0.875000
Strength=0.800000

[Curves.fx]
Mode=0.000000
Formula=4.000000
Contrast=0.130000

[FilmicAnamorphSharpen.fx]
Strength=1.000000
Preview=0.000000
Coefficient=0.000000
Offset=1.000000
Clamp=1.000000
Contrast=128.000000

[FakeHDR.fx]
HDRPower=1.060000
radius1=0.793000
radius2=0.790000

[Levels.fx]
BlackPoint=7.000000
WhitePoint=253.000000
HighlightClipping=0.000000

[Vibrance.fx]
Vibrance=0.180000
VibranceRGBBalance=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000

just commetting that I remember to test this