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What's this nonsense about WoW's graphics holding up better over time?!?!
BearKnight
Member CommonPosts: 461
WoW's graphics have looked aged since the day it released. WoW's graphics was simply released at a point where it couldn't get any worse so how could it have aged any more than it already was at release? That's no excuse whatsoever for EQ:N to go the cartoony kindergarten route by any means whatsoever.
Some comparisons....EQ2vs WoW:
vs
Everquest 2, released November 4th, 2004
World of Warcraft, released November 23rd, 2004
When you release a game at its worst, and make minor shader improvements (WoW) you're not going to age anymore than you did when you released.
However, when you release in an unoptimized mess, but then make major improvements over the years you age VERY WELL regardless of the fact that they tried a different graphical approach. EQ2 used more mipmapping and physical model graphics than they spent on textures themselves. This left a VERY VERY plastic looking game at launch.
Over the years the EQ2 dev team have made major strides in making the characters & game look less plastic looking. If i were home right now I'd boot up my old EQ2 account on Ultra graphics and show you what I mean. These google images are all I can give you for now, and many of them are on low-medium graphics with ZERO mimap, highest textures, etc.
For those of you claiming the "Cartoony" look ages better than a more realistic approach, I respectfully disagree. If i could disagree more than 100% I would 
!
-Bear
ps: Although fan-art, this is how I had hoped the Kerran would look in EQ:N [Link]
pss: please excuse the offensive wow comparison screenshot of the new EQ:N Kerran. It's the only clear screeny I could find detailing them.
![[Link]](http://th09.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/291/e/5/lon_kerran_clawknight_by_dcwj-d4da3xg.jpg){kind=link}
Comments
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
Holy crap, you literally hit that so hard on the head the Emergency Room just called. I couldn't have put it better myself :O!
The thing is that the reason cartoony graphics age better is because the brain is not judging it against the real world around us. So called realistic graphics age a lot faster because the things we have to compare with are everywhere.
It is not so much that WoW for an example have better graphics... It have one of the most basic art-styles out there seeing as it is built on the WC3 style. But since it has no connection to reality in any way shape or form the brain have an easier time to accept anything that is not real.
I am not explaning this very good. The best way i can describe it is early Pixar movies compare to the CGI effects in regular movies at the time. Both have aged but the effects are more cringe worthy because they strive to look realistic.
Am i making sense..?
This have been a good conversation
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
You explained just fine. [mod edit] EQ 2 has looked goofy ever since it was released. The original EQ models are closer to the EQ Next models than EQ 2 anyway. They never were realistic.Or you don't understand that when a franchise breaks away from its own style completely it is essentially abandoning the brand itself.
You can take WoW and make it hyper-realistic, and similarly you cannot take EQ away from its realistic artstyle and turn it into a cartoon fest. It just won't work, and completely destroys the atmosphere of the game.
Try less insulting and more discussion next time.
It doesn't make sense because it is a bunch of malarkey. Only people who liked WoW's art-style have no issue with this statement, and generally have no issue with EQ:N's new Art-Style.
Again, mainstreaming to get a larger audience and abandon the EQ fans that made the franchise possible. All around a load of poop
.
^^This
I think the language the EQN team should've used is that cartoony graphics last longer because they'll always look cartoony. Meaning they'll always look bad. So, they're right, the improvements in tech over the years won't make them look any worse compared to other cartoony art that could come out.
Not sure that makes it a good thing. I'd still take EQ2's graphics any day over WoW. Honestly, I'd probably even take EQ1's.
You explained just fine. OP apparently can't accept anything that conflicts with his view of the world, hence this thread.Or you don't understand that when a franchise breaks away from its own style completely it is essentially abandoning the brand itself.
You can take WoW and make it hyper-realistic, and similarly you cannot take EQ away from its realistic artstyle and turn it into a cartoon fest. It just won't work, and completely destroys the atmosphere of the game.
Try less insulting and more discussion next time.
If anything EQ 2 was the outlyer in the franchise. The original EQ models weren't even close to realistic. Look at the troll or ogre face textures for crying out loud.agree
EQ2 fan sites
Besides EQ2 still runs like crap even to this day. I played the game for many years, struggled with the sh!t fps I always got. I went back a few months ago to try out my new rig hoping to finally see the game in ultra with at least 60 fps. I got about in 15 in Qeynos harbor. Wtf!
I agree too. I tried EQ2 F2P and thought the graphics where horrible. Yet I still liked the WoW graphics. i.e. preference.
I accept WoW's graphics for what they are: Staying true to the Warcraft RTS games.
Thanks
People will quote cybernetics theory about perceived realism, but the principle they are relying on is the idea of not even attempting realistic graphics, and instead staying with something that the brain immediately rejects as dissimilar to what it perceives in reality. It's an end run.
I like the individual characters (not that Kerra though) in EQN despite being stylized because the art style is pleasing enough to me that I like looking at the drawings. In WoW the models just looked crude in shape, and simple in color and texture.
I fear though, that the novelty may wear off and the Disneyland Main Street effect will become too much.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
I hope your eyebrows don't really look like that. To me that avatar you use is really ugly. Subjective though.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
Yah, its called bad graphics engine. The Secret World is like that as well. No mater how good your PC is you will get huge massive stutter in game, and it rapes your FPS.
My eyebrows only look like that if I try to do a Jack Nicholson impression...
Beautifully articulated. Great analogy. Here's an example of 3 1995 movies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZX58fDhebc - Ghost in the Shell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYz2wyBy3kc - Toy Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgHYGw9OL7c - Apollo 13 ( won best visual effects)
To answer the OP's question, this is what people MEAN. Maybe you don't agree, that's ok! In the end, it's all subjective. Cheers!
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
MMOs take years to develop, so if you aim for a realistic art style, then it will be seriously dated by the time you actually launch the game. Compared to newer games they often look mediocre at launch, and within a few years the technology has increased to the point that they look like crap.
Heck,
Those EQ2 pics look plastic and cartoony in their own right, and that isn't even the graphical style they are going for at the time. This is supposed to be realistic, but it looks almost as cartoony as WoW! Yet, it fails to look good as a cartoon, and doesn't cut the mustard of being realistic anymore.
That is what people mean by cartoony graphics age better.
lol, awesome
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011