Assassin's Creed - New Interview

[Jaeyden]

specist? or suspicious? Did you read the sentence I highlighted and agreed to? The sentence I highlighted was the choice between minimal tearing and dropping to 20fps. I'd pick tearing over that.

Plus you have to remember that the majority of gamers do not notice tearing, or just see it as a natural console fault...especially when it's minimal (i don't know how bad it is in AC)...what they do see are the graphics, and the more impressive the better.

Well, I would choose neither... . AC PS3 is constant tearing, which is very noticible when you play on a large TV. My guess is that people with smaller tubes don't notice it as much, as it seems a little less harsh when I stand 40 feet from my TV. IMO Ubi blew it again with this title. It's a beautiful game graphically, but the tearing, framedrops and YES almost predictable freeze up every time I play ruins the immersion and means that I'll be selling it as soon as I beat it. Seriously...when you spend two+ years making a game, then hyping it to the beyond.. why in god's name would you go gold with these blatant issues. The obvious reason is the holiday shopping season, but regardless of the $$ they make with the timing of this release, I think they may do more damage than good in the long run. I know this will be the last Ubi title that I buy.

 

[Mintmaster]

specist? or suspicious?

It really doesn't take that much effort to google a word if you don't understand it.

Did you read the sentence I highlighted and agreed to?

The sentence I highlighted was the choice between minimal tearing and dropping to 20fps. I'd pick tearing over that.

No, that isn't the choice, unless you refuse to give under 1% of memory to triple buffering. Look at my reply to DeanoC:
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1094916&postcount=945

 

[joker454]

Well, I would choose neither... . AC PS3 is constant tearing, which is very noticible when you play on a large TV.

Just saw this:

http://www.n4g.com/ps3/News-85367.aspx

No clue if its true or not, but you can give it a try.

 

[Jedi2016]

I don't have much of a problem with the tearing. Yeah, it's there, but it's very minor, and the only reason I'm seeing it is because of all the complaints about it.. if it's on your mind, it'll stand out like a sore thumb when you see it. Doesn't affect the gameplay in the slightest, and it never makes me curse at the developers.. I've seen far worse.

I don't have any lockup problems with it, though, and the few times I've had to sit and play the game so far have all been 3-4 hours apiece with no problems.

I hadn't heard about the network trick, maybe I'll try that for S&G. I hated the Information Board the moment I saw it, though, so I turned it off as soon as I figured out how.

 

[Fafalada]

I'm pretty sure he was suggesting that triple buffering adds latency beyond vsync

Actually I wasn't - but I admit that after running the math, the added latency % is small compared to the fact that many (perhaps even most) 30fps games already run between 70-100ms latency to start with.

Surely that difference isn't worth giving up tear free visuals for, and I'm still at a loss as to how a few MB is consider too high of a price to pay for doing vsync right.

Problem is that games aren't developed for running 'between' framerates. Ie. decision to drop vsync or do whatever else to minimize low fps is a last-ditch (and very possibly last second), not something planned for.
Introducing more memory overhead at last-moment is almost never viable in console games.

On the other hand, it should be noted that aside for Microsoft, other console makers typically mandate V-sync, so it actually requires extra convincing to have the game pass in that state(V-sync disabled) on other platforms.
At least part of why tearing is noticeably more prominent this console generation is a direct result of current market situation.

 

[kyleb]

Problem is that games aren't developed for running 'between' framerates. Ie. decision to drop vsync or do whatever else to minimize low fps is a last-ditch (and very possibly last second), not something planned for.

Games that I've never seen slack in framerate are few and far between, and I consider that reasonable considering the amount of action that tends to manage at least 30fps in most games. I mean, if your shooting for perfection and actually plan to have the time to tweak every last inch of your game, then sure double buffering is all you need. However, if your working on a schedule like most people then budgeting out a few MB to keep the game running reasonably smooth and tear free is surely the way to go, eh?

 

[Fafalada]

However, if your working on a schedule like most people then budgeting out a few MB to keep the game running reasonably smooth and tear free is surely the way to go, eh?

I'm not disagreeing with you, but show triple buffered ~ok framerate game running to anyone above (management, publishers, hw manufacturer Q&A) and the only response you'll get is - "when can you have it run constant fps".
I'm sure things are more loose if you are internal team for a major publisher, but it doesn't change the fact that development is not targetting variable framerates.
If that ever becames predominant mentality, framerate issues will suddenly get a lot worse in all games.

 

[kyleb]

I'm not disagreeing with you, but show triple buffered ~ok framerate game running to anyone above (management, publishers, hw manufacturer Q&A) and the only response you'll get is - "when can you have it run constant fps".

I don't see how that could be the case with all the double buffered games with rough jumps in framerate or tearing on the market. Again, a little forsight to budget few MB for triple buffering would have gone a long way to making all those games that much better then what the management, publishers, ect. keep letting though.

I'm sure things are more loose if you are internal team for a major publisher, but it doesn't change the fact that development is not targetting variable framerates.
If that ever becames predominant mentality, framerate issues will suddenly get a lot worse in all games.

Of couse the target should always be at least 30 if not 60, but if using triple buffering became the predominant mentality, we could have smoother framerates than all the current double buffered and vsynced games, and better image quality with the same framerate as the games that forgo vsync as well.

 

[archangelmorph]

is not the game crashing the 360...

I know but it's the game that started it..

Anyways I'm going to be doing some debugging to figure out what the problem is & hopefully i can figure it out & deal with it without having to send my xbox off only to be replaced by a dreaded *refurb*..

 

[Diamond.G]

It's all over the UBI forums and offical playstation forum too.

At least we know it's poor coding rather than hardware issues on PS3 though.

Shame, I blame consoles with internet connections and HDDs, if this game was released on PS2 it would've been heavily bug tested and had all these bugs fixed before it was shipped.

There is apparently locking up issues on the 360 too, but who knows what is at fault there.

It froze my 360 last night.

Overall the game is quite fun. I like standing on the archers towers and having guys climb up the ladder only to throw them over the side. Much fun. I am not sure if I will just outright buy the game or, will I continue to rent it till I beat it.

 

[Fu3lFr3nzy]

*was gonna pick up the game today*

Wait, so the X360 has(or speculated anyway) a bug that locks up consoles or is it just the consoles being random?

If the game locks up, I might have to wait on getting this game

 

[archangelmorph]

*was gonna pick up the game today*

Wait, so the X360 has(or speculated anyway) a bug that locks up consoles or is it just the consoles being random?

If the game locks up, I might have to wait on getting this game

Well i've never had any problems with mine until the first time I put this game in.. i'll have to try it again tonight & i'll let you know how it goes..

 

[Diamond.G]

*was gonna pick up the game today*

Wait, so the X360 has(or speculated anyway) a bug that locks up consoles or is it just the consoles being random?

If the game locks up, I might have to wait on getting this game

I think it was just a random glitch. I haven't had a lockup since then. Of course my 360 has already been replaced once. My luck would have it break during christmas again.

I wouldn't worry too much, pick the game up (or rent) and enjoy.

 

[Fu3lFr3nzy]

Thanks for the replies. I'll pick up the game when CC opens later :smile:

Edit: Finally got my copy. Cant play since I need to sleep (damn you work! *shakes fist* )

 

[RobertR1]

Keepin the Pimp Hand strong:

I did a good massacre outside of one town on my way to the 7th assassination. Ran over some people with my horse and one them decided to talk some shit. Not having that! Got the sword out and regulated him. Then the guards ofcourse wanted to act tough shit so I had to get down and handle my business. I had enough dead bodies laying around to start a new plague!

Figured seeing my ownage the guards and the gate would know their place. Not the case! The pimp hand had to be exhibited yet again with another massacre at the gates. It's my city HO!

 

[Strange]

lol That's quite funny

Actually, slowdowns were quite significant throughout the game, (getting better when I face empty space) and REALLY NOTICABLE IN MEMORY BLOCK 7
There was one area in which the frame frate dropped to about 3. A real slideshow...
At first I had no idea why the framerate dropped so drastically. Walk a couple of steps, I see why. (I'll leave it up to everyone to see the reason)
You would have thought that the UBISOFT people would have thought that that particular scene isn't exactly nice on the graphics card and would have done something to avoid that kind of framerate...

 

[infinity4]

Anyone know if this game letterbox at 1280x1024 on X360? I am not buying one if it doesn't, I will wait until I get widescreen LCD.

 

[scooby_dooby]

lol That's quite funny

Actually, slowdowns were quite significant throughout the game, (getting better when I face empty space) and REALLY NOTICABLE IN MEMORY BLOCK 7
There was one area in which the frame frate dropped to about 3. A real slideshow...
At first I had no idea why the framerate dropped so drastically. Walk a couple of steps, I see why. (I'll leave it up to everyone to see the reason)
You would have thought that the UBISOFT people would have thought that that particular scene isn't exactly nice on the graphics card and would have done something to avoid that kind of framerate...

It's been basically butter smooth for me on my 360 so far, I'm just about to complete the 9th asssassination.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Sorry to come in late in the game - this one passed my by a bit. However, whats peoples verdict on this? Worht getting?

 

[RobertR1]

8.5/10 for me. A bit more creativity to the missions would be cool along with NPC having more scripted responses than the current handful. Controls and graphics are awesome though. Gameplay at the core is good but needs a bit more variety.

Gamelenght varies depending on how you want to play the game. You can speed rush the hell out of it or take your time with all the side objectives.

Had they added a skill tree like Crackdown, this game would be an easy 9.5. If you like sandbox style action games where you can find ways to amuse yourself (kill civilians, go on rooftop chases) sure, I'd say but it. If you just want a fast run through, rent it.