PS4 version impressions[/color]
Console version – cards on the table
Before I go into my specific impressions of playing The Witcher 3 on Sony’s console, where I will relate to every possible area of the game let me get the most disputable thing out of the way – the graphics. For starters it’s worth to straighten out on very important thing. I mean that if someone thinks that the console version of the game will work on minimum specs is deeply wrong, and if on the other hand someone fantasizes about high to ultra, then they’re deeply wrong too. The way things look it is hard to define the graphical option on consoles(from talking to a person playing on Xbox One I found out that it’s identical there). It can be clearly seen that it’s a mixture of many different graphical levels – there are moments where it shows that the developers had to reach a compromise, but there are also those when you want to say – “hats off, dear REDS!”
But enough of that secretiveness – it’s time to put the cards on the table and relate in detail to certain elements of the game’s graphics.
The PS4 version of the game I played was running in 1080p, 30 FPS. First that draws your attention are character models that make your jaw hit the floor. You can notice every detail of the eyes, every single hair on the White Wolf’s face, wrinkles on the faces or very nicely done hair – that of course concerns every character I met in the game unless they didn’t have wrinkles. In this aspect games like Middle Earth:Shadow of Mordor, Dragon Age:Inquisition or even new GTA are being left behind and if I was to make any comparisons it would be Infamous:Second Son or its standalone add-on First Light – the level is very similar. When it comes to armour elements attention to smallest details can be noticed too – light reflexes; small shimmering metal elements; realistic material textures like leather, wood, metal or cloth fabric.
It all looks great during exploration, however not everything works perfect. From time to time – especially during gallop while horse riding – you can see objects being loaded. It’s not instrusive, the draw distance is really huge and it looks good and aforementioned pop-up applies mostly to vegetation elements. I mean bushes appearing several dozen meters ahead or some small trees. Vegetation however is so rich and dense that sometimes we won’t even notice. You can’t deny it happens but I’ll just mention that if we compare this to the really irritating object loading in GTA V on the same console – it’s better in the Witcher 3. Sometimes, especially when we die, the loading screens take a while but that shouldn’t be a problem as they are not present during the actual gameplay.
Going back to vegetation it should be noted that it’s one of the weakest points of the console version, although it depends on circuimstances and another factor. By that I pertain to its(the vegetation) amount, as it is simply everywhere. The locations designer by the REDs teem with numerous woodlets, big and dense forests, orchards, farming fields and even small gardens by the peasants huts where we’ll find some flowers. There’s a lot of this stuff and it doesn’t always go in pair with high level of detail and here I mean mostly grass – the rest turns out pretty good. The overall impression however is made better by weather effects and physics. When vegetation so lush dances in the wind it looks marvelous, intensifies the immersion and makes us experience it differently. As far as physics is concerned, the undergrowth is not indifferent and immovable of course when we scramble through tchem and there’s always something bending or being trampled by a Witcher’s boot.
Another thing are textures, which are a mixed bag. Worry not however, there’s no pixelitis on the screen, unless there are situations when something doesn’t load, mostly while transitioning from a cutscene to quick action. Texture quality is decent and high resolution adds its 2 cents. Of course, it’s not all as sharp as in the PC version that I got to play a dozen or so minutes before the presentation end, but the difference is not as big as one would expect.
Coming slowly to the end of the subject that can cause a mutiny and uprising I would like to mention other aspects of graphics that TW3 boasts on PS4. Everything about the water looks awesome – the river is natural, underwater sights are wonderful and a pleasure to explore; wet surfaces look, well…like wet surfaces. Additionally, when we go out of the water to the shore we can observe Geralt being really wet, as drops and small streams are going down his face and armour elements even reflecting in the sun.
However, there’s another element that - among the overall „mid-to-high” graphical fidelity -evoked a feeling of total wonder and brought back nice memories from a beloved game that I spent a lot of time with a few years ago. It’s about the graphical arrangement of shining sun – the effects simply brings you to your knees. Sun beams literally hit your eyes, go through tree branches and sometimes can even blind you with their intensity. During a chat with Tadek Zielinski in the studio’s cantine Far Cry 2 from 2008 was mentioned when this subject was brought up. I have a lot of fond memories of that game and its upgraded showcase being present in the Witcher 3 gave me a really pleasant feeling. Traveling through wilderness on Roach’s back in the glare of the sunset – that’s right, we finally live to see it and Geralt needed it for a long time.
To end this part of the article I would like to talk about fluidity, playability and overall impression of experiencing the console version of TW3 based on strictly technical issues. The game doesn’t suffer from noticeable frame rate drops, at least ones that would hinder the gameplay filled with moments of dynamic action. When asked, he studio rep that was watching me play for almost the whole presentation admitted that there’s a lot to fix and not everything works as it should. Possibly it’s about the larger locations because in the hub I got to play there were some little drops but in very specific moments – the aforementioned transition from a cutscene to quick action which was accompanied by textured popping in. This area of development needs some specific polishing however those were mostly 1-2 second moments. During combat or exploration almost everything works correctly and you can derive full pleasure from gameplay. From time to time there are bugs – it happened a few times but nothing totally unexpected, as even the devs knew what will happen and reacted immediately, knowing the build well. TW3 on PS4 is fully playable as of now and satisfactorily optimized although it needs a little more time to get it in order. Bugs are obvious but when it comes to graphics – it’s not bad, it can really surprise with quality at times. But due to the fact that it seems to be a mix of different graphical settings it’s a little uneven, so more time is needed to make it even according to the rule: “remove where it can’t be seen, where it can be seen – add”.
The graphics subject is behind us and one would almost want to shout “praise Melitele” as now we can take care of all the rest, and believe me – there’s a lot to write about. Announcing the further part of the article I will allow myself to quote Michael Buffer’s part when he announced the most famous boxing champions before they enter the ring: “Let’s get ready to rumble!”.