A few days ago a staff member of From Software, the development team behind Dark Souls, spoke to MVC about the internet's reaction to the graphic downgrade between the early versions of Dark Souls 2 and the final release version. The representative said that the downgrade was a result of balancing on part of the development team so that the game's performance could better be managed.
"Throughout the game development process, a game is constantly being balanced not only in game playability, but also in the realm of resource management,” From Software told MCV.
“A developer is always challenged with creating the most rewarding gaming experience while delivering continuity in graphical quality, gameplay dynamics, and balance within the game. The final version of Dark Souls II displays the culmination of this delicate balance and we’re very proud of the positive media and fan reception for the game.”
Today we're looking at a report from a Forbes contributor that states he has a source close to the development of the game. His source reaffirms the studio's comments on performance by saying that Dark Soul 2's framerate was a concern in earlier builds.
"The game was not in a state where it could be sold at that point. I strongly suspect that they were focusing heavily on delivering a top-notch experience on PC and underestimated the challenges the new systems would pose on PS3 / Xbox 360. That’s my analysis, anyway. But, factually, the early builds played like Blighttown the entire game,” said their source.
"I sincerely don’t think they intended to deceive, but in the end they sacrificed a huge amount of graphical fidelity at the very end of development because they couldn’t resolve the framerate in any other way. They had to promote the game with screens and trailers, but at that time even they had no idea they were going to have to drop the settings so much, I suspect.”
If these comments are to be believed, then it looks like From Software were in over their heads when it came to fitting the game on last gen consoles and changes were made late into development as a last effort.
“The game would have been much worse without the change (as in, many would call it unplayable and broken.),” the source said.
Even if these comments are false, it does make sense from a development standpoint. Still, the sting of false promotion is still there and people's disappointment is justified. It's not that Dark Souls 2 is a bad game (Editor's note- At all!), it's just that we saw a better looking game prior to launch.
Which ever way the wind blows from here, we'll just have to wait and see what happens with Dark Souls 2. For all we know, the PC version will surprise people and make amends to the perceived false promises by From Software.
