What the hell is going on with game devs? (Gollum rant)

[Bomby569]

actually i think this game (and most AAA games this days) should use more vram, so i don't even play it by accident

 

[Vayra86]

Oh wow, that game. What the ...

actually i think this game (and most AAA games this days) should use more vram, so i don't even play it by accident

I think you're on to something here

IMO, most games are too expensive when they launch. It's better to put them on your wishlist, keep playing one of your several hundred other games, and buy them later on discount. But each to their own.

This is The Way. Feature complete, on discount, bug ridden, I mean, what more do you want

 

[R-T-B]

IMO, most games are too expensive when they launch. It's better to put them on your wishlist, keep playing one of your several hundred other games, and buy them later on discount. But each to their own.

Usually I agree but sometimes, like once a decade, a game is so awesome I break this rule.

 

[AusWolf]

Usually I agree but sometimes, like once a decade, a game is so awesome I break this rule.

The last time I broke the rule was with Doom (2016), and The Witcher 3 before that (I've actually got the collector's edition box). This is the level of awesomeness I'm expecting to pay full price for anything.

I'm also thinking about buying W40k Boltgun, but only because it's relatively cheap.

 

[Deleted member 57642]

A lazy port from consoles. Does run better on consoles -yet, ironically - even those reviewing it for a PS5 - deem it as PS3 worthy in terms of graphics (not utilizing the full potential of a PS5).

This just goes to prove - how huge can the impact of a poorly optimized game be.

 

[64K]

We're pretty much moving toward $70 for a AAA game. On the face of it $70 isn't a lot of money for most gamers but with a little patience you can pay much less. In addition this gives the Developer the time that is required to patch and polish the game if they are going to. Paying less for a higher quality gaming experience works for me.

 

[Frick]

Same with Unity. This isn't really a skill problem or even engine problem though, it's a development timeframe one. I've explained it before, but I lay every bit of the blame on the publishers.

Without knowing anything about this game ... I think it's a bit more than that. Developers are defenitely capable of screwing up all on their own. Sure a "good" publisher would agree to postpone the release if a developer screws up, but generally I don't think it's that's simple. How much time do you sink into a project before you have to say "enough"? It all comes down to management of course, but which management?

 

[dgianstefani]

Gamers suck. Especially PC gamers tolerate too many sh!tty releases. I really wish the video game industry would grow up but a large percentage of the consumer audience simply doesn't want to be treated like adults.

A handful of people care including some folks in Kyoto, Japan.

To put things in perspective:

Lord of the Rings Gollum:

• OpenCritic 43
• MetaCritic 43

Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom:

• OpenCritic 96
• MetaCritic 96

Guess which game has a better chance walking away with Game Of The Year awards?

And the latter runs well on $300 potato console hardware that was underpowered at launch in 2017, six years ago. It's all about gameplay not graphics. Throw your 4090s and 7900s at any AAA PC title but lil' ol' Switch destroys them all in terms of player satisfaction.

Eh. Plenty of bad switch games and good pc games too. E.g. RE4 Remaster.

 

[R-T-B]

Without knowing anything about this game ... I think it's a bit more than that. Developers are defenitely capable of screwing up all on their own. Sure a "good" publisher would agree to postpone the release if a developer screws up, but generally I don't think it's that's simple. How much time do you sink into a project before you have to say "enough"? It all comes down to management of course, but which management?

It can be either/or both, but I do feel the devs often unfairly get levied blame for issues they'd rather avoid in the first place. Not always of course.

 

[Easy Rhino]

I'm not sure why people complain about vram usage or really any resource usage. You paid for your hardware you should be using 100% of it.

 

[AusWolf]

We're pretty much moving toward $70 for a AAA game. On the face of it $70 isn't a lot of money for most gamers but with a little patience you can pay much less. In addition this gives the Developer the time that is required to patch and polish the game if they are going to. Paying less for a higher quality gaming experience works for me.

It's the price of an entry-level CPU or a cheap RAM kit. Definitely not worth it for only a few hours of fun (especially if it runs like crap and is buggy as hell for the first couple of weeks/months).

 

[chrcoluk]

Textures look junk maybe 512 or 1024 resolution.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Textures look junk maybe 512 or 1024 resolution.

But whats going on with that benchmark, the actual youtube video doesnt have those framerates, so seems click bait for the benchmark.

Probably using lower settings.

 

[chrcoluk]

A lazy port from consoles. Does run better on consoles -yet, ironically - even those reviewing it for a PS5 - deem it as PS3 worthy in terms of graphics (not utilizing the full potential of a PS5).

This just goes to prove - how huge can the impact of a poorly optimized game be.

I think games need to go back to using older engines.

Probably using lower settings.

Yep I noticed the epic+rt then silently edited my post hoping no one would notice my comment.

 

[AusWolf]

I think games need to go back to using older engines.

Some do.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun - Focus Entertainment

www.focus-entmt.com

 

[chrcoluk]

Some do.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun - Focus Entertainment

www.focus-entmt.com

I had a look at what gta5 and crysis used, they used internal engines, I wonder what engine this game uses, I can probably guess.

 

[AusWolf]

I had a look at what gta5 and crysis used, they used internal engines, I wonder what engine this game uses, I can probably guess.

Speaking of Crysis, it's funny that it still looks better than most modern games and runs well on GeForce 900-series. Or there's Doom '16 that I mentioned earlier. There's plenty of proof that modern games shouldn't really need as much graphics horsepower as they do. Devs are focusing too much on RT tickbox exercises compared to making their games look good and run relatively well these days.

 

[chrcoluk]

Speaking of Crysis, it's funny that it still looks better than most modern games and runs well on GeForce 900-series. Or there's Doom '16 that I mentioned earlier. There's plenty of proof that modern games shouldn't really need as much graphics horsepower as they do. Devs are focusing too much on RT tickbox exercises compared to making their games look good and run relatively well these days.

I remember also being told in all the DX12 promotional articles that DX12 would increase efficiency, oh boy, hasnt turned out very well.

The few games I tried which support DX12 and older DX, downgrading the version yielded better performance, DX9 with SGSSAA best ever AA I have ever seen.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Eh it's no big deal, 93-95% of PC gamers are pirates anyway, considering you most likely stole this game and many others before it, just buy another 4090, what are you, poor?

 

[Fluffmeister]

So is that now 5 PC games that use loads of VRAM and are really shitty ports?

Where is my wallet, I'm gonna rush out and upgrade.

 

[AusWolf]

Eh it's no big deal, 93-95% of PC gamers are pirates anyway, considering you most likely stole this game and many others before it, just buy another 4090, what are you, poor?

Yeah, if you don't have 50 quid for a game, you'll definitely have 1600 for a graphics card.

Just like the electric car argument... "Don't buy a petrol runabout for £9k and spend on fuel every week! Buy a £35k Tesla instead!" Yeah, right.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Just like the electric car argument... "Don't buy a petrol runabout for £9k and spend on fuel every week! Buy a £35k Tesla instead!" Yeah, right.

But think of the planet, you heartless monster!

I honestly can no longer tell what's the reason behind these repeated disasters. Of course, them selling anyway is a very large motivator for them to keep coming, but is it conceit, as Yves Guillemot has shown in that article I linked? It's 11 years old, but he never retracted that statement and Ubisoft games are to this day some of the worst offenders in the heavy DRM department. Is it technical incompetence? Is it the suits that keep pushing for a release to meet shareholder demands? Do they just not bloody care?

Either way, consumers spending wisely, knowing their rights and pushing against censorship (such as blanket ban on ESRB AO games on consoles) - something that's going to be practically impossible when it comes to gamers - is about the only remedy I can think of. Until then, we'll have to rely on good faith coming from video game studios who can still be proud of products they've made.

A lazy port from consoles. Does run better on consoles -yet, ironically - even those reviewing it for a PS5 - deem it as PS3 worthy in terms of graphics (not utilizing the full potential of a PS5).

This just goes to prove - how huge can the impact of a poorly optimized game be.

I just watched this, it legit looks like Gollum was ported into Oblivion, I get the same vibe from his visual fidelity overall

 

[64K]

I wonder what engine this game uses, I can probably guess.

I think it uses Unreal Engine 4.

 

[kapone32]

Agreed. Also with people who buy games on release day.

Edit: Also with people who don't know any other graphical setting than 4K + RT Ultra.

COH3 is butter smooth and I got with a CPU promo so I had it from Day 1 with no issues. I also got Forspoken for Direct Storage testing and again no issue.

 

[siluro818]

Same with Unity. This isn't really a skill problem or even engine problem though, it's a development timeframe one. I've explained it before, but I lay every bit of the blame on the publishers.

Well, yeah, though a key difference is that Unity is rarely used for AAA projects that are on the radar of the majority of people and end up causing widespread frustration when they launch.
Not that Gollum is an attempt at an AAA game - literally the only thing it has going for it is the brand. You could tell from the very first trailer that mediocrity is what it's headed for and not only in terms of budget...
And the publisher is not always to blame for the full extent of a failure when it happens. Not all companies can allow themselves to postpone projects indefinitely - that costs A LOT of money.
When a publisher and developer make contract about a release in say four years and four years later the project is still half-baked the publisher is not actually at fault.