Don't hold your breath for it just yet. Can't talk for other countries here, but at least in Germany retail games are still quite common. And seeing how Dark Souls 3 was released in at least four different retail versions, with various physical extras, it seems obvious that there's still a demand for traditional game releases. We also get boxed versions of various Indie games here, which were originally only available via Steam or other online services. And many smaller productions are still released DRM-free.

So, while a shift towards a pure digital distribution market seems plausible for the future, it's not going to happen soon.

I meant whether it runs at higher FPS than Witcher 3 at the same settings (Ultra/Max).

Well, like I said, I only got the chance to play for a few hours so far. From what I heard, many technical problems were related to SLI setups, though. Plus, the first patch apparently fixed some issues already. I probably will get the occasional crash, sooner or later, but I'm kinda expecting that from PC games, at least complex AAA games. Witcher 3 crashed on me numerous times, as well, especially on the earlier release versions. I've made it a habit to manually back-up my save game files and keep multiple save games whenever possible, just in case.

You never lie about cheese!
Not cool man.. not cool...

Well, you can't directly compare them, even at the same quality settings, since they use completely different game engines, effects etc.

I haven't checked the exact FPS yet, but that's because I found no reason to, since I didn't notice any stuttering or choppiness at all. I'd say on my PC the average FPS rate in DS3 is probably 10-15 better than in Witcher 3.

And for those who care about that sort of thing: Apparently the FPS on PS4 are fairly bad. Probably closer to 30 FPS most of the time, which is surprising, considering Sony consoles are generally From Software's main platform. Kind of funny how people complained about the PC version earlier, and yet it might be the most enjoyable version of the game.

Just you wait.
Seems like DS3 has its own version of Blighttown. :P

Sure, but it can give you a general idea.
OK, doesn't sound bad at all. Thanks.

Hah hah... I'm still at the beginning of the game, so I can't say whether or not that is true. But even if so, judging by the performance so far, I figure worst case FPS rates will drop down to the same level as they are all the time on consoles. Besides, at least I'd be able to temporarily lower some of the graphics settings, if things get really bad.

I played for another 2+ hours today. Still no crashes, and no noteworthy FPS drops, even during boss battles. So I can't confirm any performance problems at all, unless they only occur in very specific areas of the game.

Also, while it's true that the game engine isn't as complex and impressive as other modern games ( static flora, no dynamic weather effects, day/night cycles etc., unlike Witcher 3 ) the environment design is second to none. I had my first few "wow" moments today, upon entering certain areas of the game. The viewing range and sheer scale of the environments, along with the unique designs, are really impressive.

Thank you for the information. Frankly, I sometimes wish there was a list of games where the DVD is actually useful for installation (as sad as it is to say that something like that is necessary).

Yeah, it's bad enough that they require online clients/ activations at all ( especially for pure single player games ), but when a retail game release doesn't actually contain the game data, or only a portion of it, it makes me wonder why they even bother at all. If a publisher expects all of their customers to download their game releases via some online service, they should stay away from the retail market altogether. I doubt anyone is happy about a retail box containing nothing but a download code.

Just bought Bloodborne GOTY today, hopefully it will motivate me to play the Demon games, I believe it's a bit more forgiving, hope you ENJOY Ds3 and post some reviewish type stuff on your feelings about it :)

The pacing and setting in Bloodborne is a bit different, but aside from that it seems to be very similar to the rest of the series. If you enjoy it, you'll probably enjoy the other games as well.

And I'm kinda bad about writing reviews... or good, depending on how you look at it. I try to complete a game before I write a review, and by then I usually forget about it, or there's already many reviews by others available.

In any case, my first impression of the game ( after about 4-5 hours so far ) is entirely positive. As I mentioned in other comments, it's not fully up to date on the technical side, but that was never what made the series appealing. The gameplay and the overall atmosphere of the game world so far is excellent.

I forgot to mention this in my previous posts, but the loading times on PC are very good as well. They range somewhere between very short, and almost non-existant. ( Which is impressive, considering the size of most areas. )

Sounds cool, if I get on well with Bloodborne I'll check it out, cheers :)