Back when W1 was released it looked good for it's time and W2 still more or less looks good (OP even using W2 to compare to 3 is telling), despite the 1st being PC only, the 2nd still looked amazing and it only touched one more platform but back then the hardware of last gen was seen as powerfull back then, this gen started weaker and by the time CDPR has had to make downgrades due to this, regardless of it;s budget if it were PC only it would be funded some other way and still would have looked better, you can't claim Console exclusives look better when they are limited to a single platform and not say the same for PC, there's plenty that have looked amazing over the years and Star Citizen for example is entirely fan funded and is the most funded KS game to date and still climbing and that game is looking out of this world and that's due to it being on it's own as per your example and is shining because of it.

I don't actually mind games going multiplat and more or less prefer that but only when the systems can actually handle them and not simply hold back the rest, because this gen is weaker than the last we're already seeing downgrades all over the place a lot more frequently and it's being made known for practically every game that's coming to most systems and at the end of the day since Wii U hardly gets much 3rd party treatment the issues are usually down to the XB1 and PS4, yeah XB1 would take some of the brint of the blame (WIi U is technically the weakest out of the 3) but PS4 is still weak none the less, yes their exclusives do look nice on their system, as do XB1's but when it comes to multiplats I;m seeing parities and one system from another golding the rest back, Witcher is primarily a PC centric franchise so seeing such a downgrade for PC isn't due to the fault of the PC platform itself (like Op is trying to clearly now pin it as and will probably forever use that dev blaming his tools excuse which is not a valid excuse because all tech changes with time and has rapidly changed for many things for decades), it;s mostly due to the other two systems not being as they were originally thought to be before they were released.

I reckon in two more years the games teased before and slightly after current gen systems launch will be out and hopefully by then all devs will know what they are actually capable of and we don't end up seeing so much downgrading going on all over the place, though I would completely reccomend PC centric devs to not step out if they have to sacrifice the quality for their original userbase as it's clearly going backwards than forwards by reaching out and then downgrading.

Where did I claim only console exclusives look better than multiplat on each comparable system the game exclusively made for it will almost always outshine it's multiplatform competitor including PC.

You didn't outwardly but it felt like it, when you don't mention the latter it can sound like it.

There are not to many pure PC devs these days (PCDR, Blizard, Crytek) they all search a bigger userbase. They find that installbase in the console business, because let's not forget graphicwhore development costs loads and litterary loads of money.

yet we're still seeing some good looking games on PC though regardless of budget and like I said SC has proven people can fund games to a higher degree.

If they wanted to make the Witcher 3 look like the 2013 trailers it would have been one of the most expensive games to be developed. They simply don't have those budgets or manpower, although I get the fact that this is a stab in the back for PC owners. 

Well certainly but really what we're seeing currently is definitely a downgrade and due to that it's affected some gamers overall image of the game and the enjoyment some find with how graphics can add to immersion, it's not that much of a stab though, it;s only a stab when a PC centric dev commits more to consoles and then puts out so little for PC, there's only a small handful of devs over the years that have done that but hopefully CDPR will learn from this as a stepping stone kind of lesson, there's only so much their PC fanbase will allow before they start straining the relationship, R* managed to strain that quite a lot last gen and is still straining it currently.

Yet you forget one important detail that not everyone has a really powerful PC.

It's not rocket science tro build one either and doesn't cost you thousands upon thousands like some people want you to believe and that's why it's better to debunk such myths and better educate people on PC gaming, the more that know it;s pros and cons and the cheaper it gets over time, the more that are likely to adopt it, but of course there's the option for both PC and consoles which is why we have choice.

the PS4 is wea but most devices with a steam account are even weaker than the PS4, so if the developer wants to aim for a huge installbase it also needs to be able to be played from a pc not much stronger on paper than a PS4

And I totally don't mind that, what I do mind is that we find the game scaled down for PC's to a point where ultra doesn't make a difference and yet we get the bloated specs, that's where the main issue will normally take place and that's when PC users get in a proper rut and I can understand that.

Back in the day with the W2 and what seems to be the problem latwly is that ultra and high aren't looking to different now like they used to in the old days.

This rings true, the same way 8-16x AA hardly makes much of a difference from 4-6x, but that's also a tool/dev issue when we've hit a ceiling and spend years slowly trying to overcome it rather than getting noses in the books and doing it now rather than later.

PCDR should have made very high standards for all the possible settings like high-res textures, better lightning, better drawback, more anti aliasing, less clipping etc,.

That's what we hope CDPR will be doing, R* had to do it for PC to get those gamers interested, it's a common requirement for PC gamers to expect higher res textures, fps, lighting and all that jazz, if R* never bothered then you'd definitely be seeing rage, CDPR should know to deliver even with time, the only thing they haven't shown us all yet is what the game on PC looks like completely maxed out, not the kind that requires a space station though.

the game is still accesible for console like hardware (including some pcá in therms of power) but when you have a monster rig your hardware actually makes a difference again

Not by much these days, in fact this gen we've been getting a few bad ports like WD where people like Total Biscuit with two GTX Titans can't get a stable 60fps and then down the line with some recent games on his dual 980's, then there's MK X for PC and such, the higher hardware isn't making much of a difference and even when the port does work it's hardly giving the rig a run for it's money.

Because things as size and memory shouldn't be to much of a problem anymore these days. But before our quick judgement let's wait and see until we see the game on our tv's or monitors in action.

I want to be the wait and see kind of guy but I've already seen what's transpired and I find it's now hard to stand by and ignore what;s already been seen, if I ignore all this now and the game does in fact turn out to be a downgrade and then some it would only make me more upset that I was right and something could have been done if we all rallied together rather than ther wait and see approach, if we kept doing that from this point on Ubisoft would get away with it every single time because after we've all bought the game to "see" what it's like they've already got your money.

I've seen shots that indicated that Driveclub and Infamous where downgraded (although not as heavy), the weather conditions are still nothing special in all of these screenshots thus lightning isnt too special in those shots anyways.

But DC is PS4 afaik, it getting downgraded is a bit uncommon but even in the end it got upgrades, if it never got upgrades then there'd be major complaints, I dunno some people like visuals in their games, I for one like high visuals in games like Skyrim because it helps immerse me in it's world, hell places in Diablo 3 still look beautiful to look at after 2012 and same with Dishonoured.

I mostly agree with what you said but I feel we should be taking a stronger stance against these kind of issues we're seeing unfold or at least voice about it a little louder.

Most of that is textures in the witcher 3 not poligons, bloodborne you can clearly see the uneven enverioment