The Division Downgrade

[theprof00]

fatslob-:O said:

Cobretti2 said:

Unisoft published both games and both got downgraded. That is the point I am making.

if you think shadows and objects pointin at different directions is the only difference (one I don't care about) then you need to wath tat video a few more times.

I did and all these posts I'm getting on these forums are near the level of conspiracy theories ... 

Apparently having volumetric mist at different locations and having more reflections occluded by snow constitutes as a downgrade ... 

Yeap, shading the snow is worth nothing compared to having reflections when you've gotta account for sub-surface scattering in the former ...

Just to explain it to you...

The kind of effects shown in the original trailer are very hardware demanding. The low-level lighting with the contrasting bright light sources, and reflections, and glows are very nice but very demanding effects. The first trailer is clearly showing multiple "global" light sources ie; radiating light. There's two ways to display light in a game. 

a) actually have the light interacting with in game objects using a light engine.
b) hand program the shadows for specific objects that you want to be highlighted.

The previous requires a lot of work, so that light sources know how to interact with the 3d modeling. The latter requires effort for a smaller portion.

This goes hand in hand with reflections in the water on the ground. In order for the reflections to perform properly, the 3d area has to be programmed for it, and the effects have to be implemented. Sometimes, this can really bog a game down because it then has to display twice what it would show without a reflection. 

When you "change" from something that is seen as a very nice, but very code-heavy painstaking display, and replace it with a simpler, less demanding artistic choice, it is seen as a downgrade. It is seen that way because despite what your personal tastes are, the previous trailer can objectively be called a more realistic version. While the actual gameplay is still very realistic, people notice things that aren't in real life like shadows, global lighting, reflections, glow, etc.

 

 

TL:DR 
It takes a lot of work to make a game "more realistic". So when a trailer that's seen as VERY realistic is then released looking LESS realistic, we assume they cut out features, which makes us think downgrade.