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EQNext VS Cryengine MMO
CalmOceans
Member UncommonPosts: 2,437
Someone said that EQNext graphics are on par with recent MMO.
I disagree.
EQNext is somewhere between the era of WoW and 2013, but it's not even in the ballpark of recent MMO.
VS
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Monster Hunter Online (not Frontier Online which is another game), Black Desert and Forged by Chaos
True that. For me MMOs were always about a sense of freedom and exploration rather than directed cinematic experience. If a certain degree of gameplay depth and player freedom is practically achievable only through use of voxels, I know I won't cry too much for impressive realistic graphics.
And I believe that millions who voted with their wallets for Minecraft feel similarly. The next gen race is who is going to copy Minecraft's model the best in an AAA game - as is evident in upcoming efforts by such themepark stalwarts like Trion and SOE.
Your entire original argument is void of any actual use or meaning. You seem to seriously misunderstand the technology of graphics. The CryEngine games are based on what we call "Polygons" and EverQuest Next is based on "Voxels". Look them up because you need know this. There is a significant difference in what you're capable of doing when using Voxels. Think of Minecraft. That game is strictly Voxels. Why do you think they did that? It's because there is a constant adding and subtracting of graphic material going on at any given time whether it be people mining or building The graphics HAVE to be simplified in order to make this happen. You get high end graphics going and you know, maybe it would work if it was a single player game and only one person was adding and subtracting graphics, but you try and make a game like Black Desert have the ability to mine and build and blow things up, and you have even just a dozen people doing it, the game will implode on itself.
The stability of the technology just isn't there yet. I agree it would be nice if it were, but it's not.
I actually like EverQuest Next's style of graphics. I think it's awesome for what it's capable of doing. That was my biggest problem with Minecraft. The graphics sucked. And I generally hate cartoony, or overly stylized graphics. But, in the case of EverQuest Next, I think it's awesome.
Which company does the OP work for? Those pictures are blurred to make them look worse.
I wonder if you can get sued for that, or the very least your thread locked out for being misleading.
Write bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble
I did not "blur" the pictures.
It's straight from the official video in 720p from the official EQNext channel from SoE.
Then you should have put up tube screenshots for the other games as well. Anyway you turn it, it is a misrepresentation. Not like it matters though, everybody knows EQN won't have the level of graphical fidelity as in games using more traditional gameplay models, and frankly I don't know why anyone should care. If the game is fun, smooth to play and has a graphically consistent aesthetically-pleasing style (now THAT is what is truly important in graphics nowadays, I believe we moved from the obsession with advances in raw realism, just like painting and photography did eventually) and so I don't think many will give a damn.
Why not compare apples with apples? EQN is highly stylized in stead of going for the realistic look.
I'm inclined to say "so?".
What can be done about it?
You know I haven't even mentioned that the game isn't even outside of "Friends and Family Alpha" yet. I know because I bought in to both the Alpha and the Beta and I'm not in yet. So you're comparing a game (very poorly I might add) to a bunch of games that have been in development or are even close to release in Korea for a long time now.
Is it really? And it's "Vah Shir". I'm not even an old EQ player and I know this is a ridiculous claim. But, here it goes anyway:
OLD EverQuest Vah Shir
EverQuest NEXT Vah Shir
I have a hard time seeing how the old beats the new.
I dunno, true it would be nice. But, maybe they wanted to make the game playable to people with prior to 2010 hardlware. Just a guess.
And that is the whole problem. You have a hard time seeing things that are right in front of your face.
Oh I don't know. Maybe has something to do with the ridiculously oversized weapons/armor and complete WoWesque character model. But you can't compare a model from a game that's what 14 years old to game that won't be out for how many more years, and I'm not talking Landmark.
And in just 5 years we will laugh our asses off at the Cryengine graphics, while the EQNext graphics still look fine.
As others have indicated, you’re comparing screenshots from a video to actual game shots. Also, you’re comparing pre-alpha to a complete engine (and almost complete games). That being said, I fully agree with you that EQN graphics are not going to be as nice as what the Cry engine can put out.
HOWEVER, if you’re playing EQN for the graphics you’re doing it wrong. Even if EQN’s only “new” feature was a fully destructible world then it’d blow the Cry engine out of the water on features – never mind everything else that it’s promising.
This is more impressive than CryEngine.
On that front SOE has a very impressive engine to p*ss around with.
I'm yet to see an MMORPG use CryEngine or Unreal Engine and be impressed bar shiny graphical presentation.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
I agree with him, that lion is comical compared to the EQ Val Shir.
Well, for starters, you're using a tactic that's all too common in these kinds of posts. You're cherry-picking screen-shots to support your argument. You chos.e the least interesting shots you could find for EQ:N, and then choose these beautiful sweeping vistas for the other games.
Why not show shots like this one for character and environment art? Or this?
Why not show environment shots like this?
... why choose 3 of the most uninteresting shots available out there for your demonstration?
Point is, if you're going to do a comparison post of two different games/engines... well, first you should educate yourself a bit more on what it is, exactly, that you're comparing - but I'll get to that. The least you could do, though, is make it as honest a comparison as possible by trying to choose shots that similarly demonstrate both games in the best possible way available at that time.
Having said that...
OP's post is a classic case of people confusing Art Style with Graphics Tech. The two are not the same.
Monster Hunter and those other games are going for a more realistic look, clearly reflected in the art style and the detail of the texture art, the look of the characters, etc.
EQ:N is clearly going for a more styilzed/paintery/animated look, as evidenced by the look of the characters, the textures, etc.
Personally, while I love realistically rendered worlds as much as anyone, there's a charm to stylized, more "animated" worlds that I find really pleasing in a way that realistic looking games can never meet. I love the look/style of Wildstar as well, for example. But back on topic...
It's a style choice, not a technological restriction. That really should say it all right there. But I know it doesn't (which is why people keep making the same poor comparisons).
Monster Hunter Online could have been made to look like EQ:N every bit as much as EQ:N could be made to look like Monster Hunter Online.
To put it another way...
Here's a video demonstrating/explaining the graphics tech behind the Forgelight Engine, which powers Planetside 2, and EQ:N. Planetside goes for a more realistic, but still stylized approach EQ:N goes for a more cartoony/painterly look. Same engine, same graphics rendering tech, two entirely different looking games. It all comes down to the overall style they're using. The Forgelight engine itself is actually quite powerful.
To put it yet another way, using a different engine altogether. Gears of War, Borderlands and TERA are all made with the Unreal 3 engine. Same engine. Same graphics tech. Same rendering capabilities. Yet they're each completely different looking games. They range from hyper-realistic to cel-shaded and more "cartoony". The difference is the art direction/style.
I have to agree, the new model is a breath a fresh air compared to the old model, the old animations aswell where so blasted ridgid, always seemed like they where rushing around looking for a toilet to me.
Plus you can quite easily see this is supposed to be a fierce lion like race, where as the originals never quite portrayed that feeling to me. All ofc just from my point of view.
Just as the detractors won't be swayed, neither will I when it comes to this graphics engine, I find it both appealing and fun to look at and I look forward to leaping into the game when I get my Alpha invite.