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How will the graphics of FFXIV compare to AoC
Waldoe
Member UncommonPosts: 642
So what do you guys think? Will the graphics be slightly worse, comparable, or will SE blow us away and top AoC which in my opinion has the best graphics of any MMO on the market right now. I do not want people to think graphics are the most important thing in an MMO because they are not I am just curious to see what everyone thinks.
Comments
Can't compare. The art style alone is completely different in both games. It will most likely be comparable to AoC, but it depends on your preferences if you like that style over AoC's or not. I do.
I'm curious too, but I believe I'll be very satisfied with the FFXIV graphics due to my experience with SE's attention to detail and the graphics accomplishment I see from screen-shots. So, I think, though, that the "style" of graphics is going to be noticeably different between the 2 games, and that is something I'm willing to accept because I can appreciate various styles as long as the depth, breadth, richness and sharpness is attainable.
Oh I know the styles are very different. I am a huge fan of both. I meant more along the lines of graphics quality and prettiness ha.
Discussing graphics right now is almost kind of meaingless. Since all we have right now are a few trailers and screenshots which are cutscenes. (It seems) Actual gameplay graphics are largely unknown since the early-alpha demonstration video on the net is unreliable for a few obvious reasons.
Until an official gameplay trailer or a quality gameplay video is available, then we have nothing to be used for comparision at this point in time at least.
Hard to say if anything has "better" graphics. Trying to find common ground in art styles is similar to finding common ground in ordering a pizza. (hamburger, green peppers and onions?!) The styles between the two games are completely different, each company is going for their own feel. FF14 is gonna go, like they did in FF11 for a more "animated" look, if thats your cup of tea, you gonna think thats better. If you prefer a more "realistic" approach you gonna think AoC is better. Personally i prefer a animated approach in games, it leaves more room for the imagination, and often gives (for me atleast) a greater sense of the surreal. And I often think artist who go for a more animated look have a deeper sense of creativity. If a game is trying too much to be like reality it sorta kills the immersion imo.
I'm not worried SE always makes their games visually beautiful even now FFXI is not bad looking for a 6-8 year old game.
Not to mention they would blow alot of the funds into realistic looking textures or meshes than spend that fund into adding content or develop gameplay.
I realize how graphics are important for MMORPG these days, but in the end doesn't matter how realistic it looks if there is not enough content. Graphics draws a crowd, but interesting contents keep people playing.
Sometimes I think developers are focusing on the wrong parts these days. I played 2D MMORPGs that are more entertaining than most 3D ones out there.
I'm more concerned about the performance aspect. I wouldn't call myself cheap, but I can actually see this being more of a resource monster then AOC, there are things that the original FF MMO did that outperform even by todays standards. That being said I think a 1 gig upgrade video card for this game is a must, and don't expect the default FSB speed, from a Best Buy Acer machine (even though is says dual 2.4) to make this game enjoyable.....Then again we will see, I could be very wrong and Square has done an incredible job of optimizing, where AOC did not. However I don't know if I'm ready to build a new machine for it...ehhh maybe I am cheap :-)
like someone already said debating about grafics now are useless, if you want something to hope for I call for the console games, something close to FF13 would be expected, but if they go after "cater the most possible people" approach something like FF12 or just a FF11 remake could work
The landscape screenshots are all in-game shots and the original E3 trailer has about 20 seconds of footage rendered in the game engine so we definately DO have a very good idea of the graphical quality and it is, in fact, the same as what we've seen in the alpha test footage.
As others have said though you really can't compare, especially not to AOC since that one goes for a photorealistic look whilst FFXIV has a different style (reminds me a lot of EQ2's style actually, just much higher quality and a lot less plastic). In terms of pure graphical quality though it looks astounding and that's really all that matters, no one should care how it matches up to another MMO. The big obsession with graphics is what's causing so many games to launch with awful gameplay lately...
The landscape screenshots are all in-game shots and the original E3 trailer has about 20 seconds of footage rendered in the game engine so we definately DO have a very good idea of the graphical quality and it is, in fact, the same as what we've seen in the alpha test footage.
As others have said though you really can't compare, especially not to AOC since that one goes for a photorealistic look whilst FFXIV has a different style (reminds me a lot of EQ2's style actually, just much higher quality and a lot less plastic). In terms of pure graphical quality though it looks astounding and that's really all that matters, no one should care how it matches up to another MMO. The big obsession with graphics is what's causing so many games to launch with awful gameplay lately...
The thread was started about the curiosity of how the graphics would compare. It was not saying that graphics are the most important thing because i clearly pointed that out.
If they hit the level of AoC I would be personally very happy... I am playing it now and it looks like it could have been released yesterday.
While the art direction will obviously be very different, I think AoC is at the right technical level for today's MMORPG market in terms of quality vs mass use.
The landscape screenshots are all in-game shots and the original E3 trailer has about 20 seconds of footage rendered in the game engine so we definately DO have a very good idea of the graphical quality and it is, in fact, the same as what we've seen in the alpha test footage.
As others have said though you really can't compare, especially not to AOC since that one goes for a photorealistic look whilst FFXIV has a different style (reminds me a lot of EQ2's style actually, just much higher quality and a lot less plastic). In terms of pure graphical quality though it looks astounding and that's really all that matters, no one should care how it matches up to another MMO. The big obsession with graphics is what's causing so many games to launch with awful gameplay lately...
You are assuming i did not take into account of art direction. I commented many times in forums that graphic quality and graphics design are separate things. Yes, art direction was already taken into account when I wrote my reply.
When it comes to accurate assessments of graphic quality in-game, the current trailers and official screenshots cannot be considered as material for comparison becaues AoC was already out. People who played it knows what it looks like in game, but FFXIV have not, so unless you are an alpha tester for FFXIV. I don't see what is your point for quoting me.
Presentation screenshots for landscape are usually done at angles and lighting that make the pictures look their best. It cannot be considered in-game since it is not garanteed that the players can view it from the angle or sometimes at all. As for the footage, it is the same thing as there are plenty of things that can be done which might distort our senses of actual graphic.
I also have not mentioned graphic quality being important, all that was said was right now it is not yet time to even get into considering graphics quality yet. Please don't quote something that you only glanced through and didn't fully understand the context. I would ask you to turn whatever it is that fraustrates you elsewhere.
NOTE: I am not bashing nor praising FFXIV. I want it to turn out well so I can finally get a stable MMORPG that I can play for years to come just as i did with FFXI. However, I am not the type that lets trailers or beautified screenshots to warp my view point. I'd probably play it just because it is FFXIV and let the gameplay decide whether I stay or not as I have done with all games.
The landscape screenshots are all in-game shots and the original E3 trailer has about 20 seconds of footage rendered in the game engine so we definately DO have a very good idea of the graphical quality and it is, in fact, the same as what we've seen in the alpha test footage.
As others have said though you really can't compare, especially not to AOC since that one goes for a photorealistic look whilst FFXIV has a different style (reminds me a lot of EQ2's style actually, just much higher quality and a lot less plastic). In terms of pure graphical quality though it looks astounding and that's really all that matters, no one should care how it matches up to another MMO. The big obsession with graphics is what's causing so many games to launch with awful gameplay lately...
You are assuming i did not take into account of art direction. I commented many times in forums that graphic quality and graphics design are separate things. Yes, art direction was already taken into account when I wrote my reply.
When it comes to accurate assessments of graphic quality in-game, the current trailers and official screenshots cannot be considered as material for comparison becaues AoC was already out. People who played it knows what it looks like in game, but FFXIV have not, so unless you are an alpha tester for FFXIV. I don't see what is your point for quoting me.
Presentation screenshots for landscape are usually done at angles and lighting that make the pictures look their best. It cannot be considered in-game since it is not garanteed that the players can view it from the angle or sometimes at all. As for the footage, it is the same thing as there are plenty of things that can be done which might distort our senses of actual graphic.
I also have not mentioned graphic quality being important, all that was said was right now it is not yet time to even get into considering graphics quality yet. Please don't quote something that you only glanced through and didn't fully understand the context. I would ask you to turn whatever it is that fraustrates you elsewhere.
NOTE: I am not bashing nor praising FFXIV. I want it to turn out well so I can finally get a stable MMORPG that I can play for years to come just as i did with FFXI. However, I am not the type that lets trailers or beautified screenshots to warp my view point. I'd probably play it just because it is FFXIV and let the gameplay decide whether I stay or not as I have done with all games.
Sorry but only the first part of my post was directed at you, the rest was my contribution to the thread in general. And I think my point still stands since the landscape shots we've seen are identical in quality to the footage of alpha playtests at gaming events. The scene in the original trailer featuring leviathan is also entirely rendered in-game; I understand that they can manipulate the video to make it look better than it is but it doesn't change the fact that you are seeing the quality that the engine is capable of.
The old tech demo for the engine (back when the project wasn't officially named FFXIV) also demonstrates the graphical quality. It may not look exactly like that when we get to play but for the sort of certainty you're looking for nothing short of actually playing the game could tell us anything...I'm pretty sure the OP wants a rough comparison and I'd say the screenshots and footage we have are good enough for that.
As to the OP's reply to me, my scathing comment wasn't directed at you, but at the mindset of many gamers today that graphics somehow take priority over everything else. I'm sorry if I seemed like I was attacking you because that wasn't my intent.
I really don't think a comparison of relative graphical quality could be made between FFXIV and AoC though. AoC tries to be as photorealistic as possible whilst FFXIV uses a distinct style of its own... Seeing as both games undeniably have very good graphics it's like trying to compare the quality of a life-like painting and a piece of abstract art. They're both great in their own ways but we can't really compare them.
To the poster above:
My mistake then, usually when I am quoted I assume most of it is directed at me since I was, well quoted LOL.
I really think that this game is going to be graphically better in comparison with AoC. I think that, because this game is going to be available on the PS3, its going to be a blu-ray formatted disc. As such, it is going to be (for the PS3), in high definition. Because developers usually like their games on different platforms to be similar, if not equal, this is why I am going to assume that if its not a HD game on the PC, its going to sure as hell be close to HD. AoC does not have this privilege.
Not sure if this point is important or not, but just my 2 cents.
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"Your pride, good sir, far exceeds your worth." -x3r0h
Oldest mmorpg.com member with the least amount of post counts. That counts for something, right?
I've been a member here for a couple of years and rarely, if ever, post anything, but....
This has got to be one of the most useless threads ever. I played AoC for a while, thought the game looked good, but I've played FF since it started on Nintendo and if Square choose to put out a FF that was 8 bit, I would still probably give it a shot. Just asking if FFXIV will compare to AoC is moronic at best.
Alright, nerd rage over.
This is the most useless thread ever? I think it's actually quite constructive. I've doubled your browsing years and I've seen much, much, much more useless threads than this, such as anything to do with STO (just kidding, maybe). Who knows how this will compare to AoC until we actually get some more screenshots.
Who cares as long as it's still fun after the first 20-25 levels.
Who cares as long as it's still fun after the first 20-25 levels.
Who cares as long as you can actually make it that far without wanting to shoot yourself.
I must have missed it where i said i would never play the FF game because of inadequate graphics or anything like that haha. Your post is hilarious. Nerd rage is right. This has nothing at all to do with the game being good. You and many other people in the mmorpg community need to up your reading skills before you post. Lol you just sound foolish. I too have played every single Final Fantasy game SE has come out with. What the heck does that have to do with anything? Are you like bragging to us lol? The quality of the games graphics is a valid question to think about and comment on. And for all those people whining about different style. Of course they are different styles. The thread is not called will FFXIV have the same style of graphics as AoC. Give me a break, people find anything to bitch about.
AoC i remember first playing it, i was floored at how beautiful it was. Wasn't since Vanguard i was utterly amazed how beautiful a MMORPG could be. Knowing SE, and how much work they put into making their games look awesome. I expect FFXIV is going to deliver the same affect, as AoC/VG did.
That for me, is how they will compare.. just that aweeee factor you will get taking in the graphics, and remembering this a MMO.
When games have different styles it's pointless comparing graphical quality because what looks 'good' does not equate to being graphically superior. I'm not looking for something to bitch about, I'm simply informing you that the comparison is useless. FFXIV could be graphically inferior to AOC, but because it has a different style it could look better.