So, it wasn't PB's error after all. Nice to know things like this…
…what?
Piranha Bytes' problems are Piranha Bytes' alone, they have no bearing on the lackluster performance of Arcania whatsoever.
The simple fact is that these results are a greater condemnation of the
engine developer, Trinigy, not Spellbound. It is not my intention to take up the role of apologist, heaven knows Spellbound has a fair burden of responsibility to bear on this one, but the poorly optimized behavior of the Vision Engine rests on other shoulders. It was deliberately coded for multiplatform use (including the web) and thus is relatively scattershot when it comes to platform-specific optimizations. Just take the only other triple-A game to be released utilizing it as a fellow example: The Settlers 7. It requires far more juice than you'd expect to look good unlike, say, the MT Framework 2.0 (ala Resident Evil 5 and Lost Planet 2 on the PC) which both sport more reasonable requirements. To whit…
====== ARCANIA ======
—-Minimum Requirements—-
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.8 GHz
Graphics: GeForce 8800 GTX
—-Recommended Requirements—-
Processor: Intel Core I7 @ 3 GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: GeForce GTX 295
====== LOST PLANET 2 ======
—-Minimum Requirements—-
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.4GHz
Graphics: GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB
—-Recommended Requirements—-
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad
Memory: XP - 2GB or more / Vista or 7 - 3GB or more
Graphics: GeForce 9800
As you can see, Arcania demands greater requirements in both cases, while arguably looking no better for it. Indeed, personally I'd say that Lost Planet 2 looks better (mind, I said looks, not plays, it's a pretty game but also rather rubbish).
In short: before taking Spellbound to task for this one, get your facts straight.
Follow-up: Leave Piranha Bytes out of it.
