Chazore said:
Like I said in the PC thread, I really don't get how people have hopes that Capcom is going to magically make their engine, which was designed for smaller maps and sequences (there are vids that literally show you how they deal with NPC actors in their games, like in REmake 2-3), somehow handle larger vast swaths of land that are teeming with active NPC's, and everything that comes with it. Their engine was pretty much designed for their RE games, which have always been known to contain smaller map sizes, and areas that contain loading screens/cutscenes to then load up the next section of the game's map. Open worlds don't do this, and because their engine was designed for the former, it is no wonder they are still suffering the same woes with yet another open world game. I know this would sound like such a dumb idea from a business perspective, but if I were capcom, I would have just spent time in R&D to make an engine for the RE games and games that feature smaller map sizes, and then make a fork engine that deals in only larger/open world sized maps that will contain an array of NPC's active/inactive. Yes it'd cost more money, but from what I'm seeing, it's better than whatever the fuck they still are not doing after the past few games (They've had the engine for some yrs now, and should know it like the back of their hand, since they are the ones that designed it after all). It's not really a "works best on" kind of situation either, it is literally their engine not being designed for open worlds. If PC cannot handle it on the beefiest of rigs, console have next to no hope either, and we're not really going back to PS4 gen where what was optimised for consoles worked lightyears for PC (unless you're DOOM, but that isn't even open world). |
Your idea isn't dumb at all, it's forward thinking and probably beneficial for Capcom in the long run. Building a new engine or thoroughly upgrading/repurposing an existing one is a great idea if you're going to use it for multiple future games. Not exactly a like for like comparison, but this takes me back to when some Nintendo fans kept trying to spin any positive Monster Hunter World news into negatives, with absurd arguments like "but how much did it cost to make?" as if they wanted the series stuck forever with PS2/PSP/3DS design/specs. A "leap" has to happen once or twice a decade regardless of your platform of choice, not taking the leap is a sure way to keep a series stagnant, which Monster Hunter was throughout the 3DS era.
But you gotta work with what you have. Wrong decisions had already been made years ago by Capcom and it's too late to fix this in time for Wilds. All they can realistically do now is optimize the game to the best of their ability. Targeting a fewer platforms at launch may have helped with that and possibly got them money from platform holders. The two most successful Monster Hunter games both had timed exclusivity, and as far as I know didn't launch in such a terrible state on any platform. I know Wilds having a more proper "open world" probably presents inherent problems that won't be fixed with simple patches, but I think there is room for improvement though optimization, and future patches may prove this.
Regardless, this game is looking to crush the opening numbers of World and by extension Rise. 10 million+ incoming? The Asian market, especially China, is taking PC popularity to new heights.
Essay Pro