could not agree more on how cartoon graphics need to go away!
I laughed at WoW when it came out, then years later, tried it finally, the game was actually very smooth, but the graphics were horrid to me, you get used to it after a while, but why would you really want to? It's like training your nose to ignore bad B.O. it stinks but you do your best not to notice. .... who wants to smell B.O. all the time?
This exactly. Why hamstring your product with an ugly face? Pure stupidity. And the excuse of "WoW did it," is a terrible argument. Why make a revolutionary game but then copy WoW on graphics? WoW is WoW, nothing else is. Period.
This goes both ways though. If a game is too much of anything, it can turn a lot of people off. Going purely off of the numbers, it appears players are willing to play cartoony/stylized games more so then their realistic counterparts in particular genres.
While art style is a major element, game play seems to be the deal breaker in most cases. I've never played a game only for the art style if the game play was terrible, I can easily say I've done it the other way around. Take a look at all the 8-bit, retro, "old school" games out now that are very popular. Trove/Cube World are trying to take advantage of this in the mmo genre, especially after Minecraft's success. Do you think Trove should scrap their art style and go in a different direction?
I've seen no evidence that EQN art style choice would not appeal to the masses, which is SOE's goal. While games like Mortal Online, Age of Conan, Dark Fall, POE, and even TESO or geared for a more male, mature, dark/gritty, whatever audience, which is large, but not large enough.
We are talking about an EQ game. The three previous games were just as silly looking as EQN, maybe not Disney extreme, but compared to their competition, they surely weren't the "realistic" games of their time.
"WoW did it" is a valid argument. I'd wager the majority of those that played WoW had never played a Warcraft game, mmorpg, or even online game beforehand. If WoW had looked like EQ2 GW1 or whatever games came out around then, it probably wouldn't have caught on where we saw people of all backgrounds playing. Imagine if WoW had looked like AOC, really think we would of seen soccer moms getting addicted?
Not saying EQN will magically do well because of the art style, but it certainly shouldn't hurt them. When adults stop playing Skylanders and Mario, then I'll be concerned.
SOE is looking at the games out and who is playing what. I'm going to guess they don't dismiss LoL, WoW, and Minecraft's numbers and not figure out how they can attract those same fans.
WoW wasn't the first and won't be the last game to have a cartoony-bright-light hearted art style, EQN is not copying, simply falls in the same category. Then again, if they made it look like TESO or Black Desert, then we'd have people saying they are copying them, at this point I'd at least give the credit to Disney
While I get some prefer a different style, calling EQN ugly is pretty pointless. Not sure how you judge such things, but put EQN up against similar products and it looks good to me. If EQN is ugly, I'm assuming you find all stylized games to be so or even all cartoons for that matter? Is Zelda ugly? Minecraft? SMITE? Wildstar?
Looking at all the games out and which are most popular, do you ever get the feeling that your views might be the minority? In this business, the minority doesn't count for much. I'm going to assume at no point did Blizzard go "You know what, our 15 million WoW fans must be blind or dumb, we should totally redo the art style." Even now, they are updating it to be closer to what EQN is going for with emotion/detail. Still a few steps behind in quality though. WoW is what it is, but I find it extremely hard to believe that it or other games with a similar art style have made it by game play alone. If people really felt games needed to look differently, the genre would look different. As we are now seeing a shift to more open/action oriented games, players are craving something new, doesn't seem like non-Disney is on the list though.
Edit: With today's announcement of Overwatch by Blizzard, yet again a great looking game that will pack both gameplay and an art style that will appeal to a huge number of folks. As well as the action combat that is the future of gaming and has been for a while. Battleborn, Gigantic, Smite, TF2, etc are all along for the ride, but looks like Bizzard once again plans to be top dog. I would much rather play a FPS/action style game with their art styles then COD/BF/Destiny and even CS (even though I was a huge fan). There is room and fans of everything.
The thing about EQ1 that was great was the wondering mobs and some like flying dragons that could take out 10 people easy in zones that were meant for lower levels. You always had to be on guard in whatever zone you went in. Really didn't have quests that were worth messing with. Was more fun finding a group that had the right mix and go find a spot to grind some boss mobs or complete a dungeon (which could take a few hours). You could find chests which we all love haha. But the wandering mobs and pitch black nights made it exciting. You had to hide and sneak around. If you died you could lose 1 or 2 hours worth or leveling. That's the kind of excitement I miss that most of the new games just don't do because they are afraid of what? Hold my hand games just get soooo boring. I would play a new Eve game if they ever make it with updated graphics or EQ1. Anyways sorry for the rambling....oh ya, EQ Landmark got my money but won't get anymore. They can find someone else to dig holes for 1000 hours.
I'm still not sure what to make of Storybricks and how it will play out in a "live" game with players..
Realistically, I think everyone is out for themselves, it's just how we are. We might say it's all about the community or social or whatever, but if we aren't getting something, what's the point? Hopefully it isn't a single player game that just happens to have others in it, but I don't see our personal choices being heavily influenced in a democratic society or going for the greater good. We simply figure out what we want and then work with others with the same goals. Not a huge difference then previous games, but with a lot more choice involved, beyond a linear treadmill.
Which is exactly what a fear.. I'm tired of the self centered approach in games.. Even when I play team sports in high school and college, I never focused on my personal results or achievements.. I always took more pride, and kept the team in mind in my actions.. What was BEST for the team or community.. However, I semi agree that most people are wired to think of themselves first.. What is in it for me? This type of thinking is a cancer to society and I wish we would stop brainwashing people into following it.. BTW.. "pure" democracy is crap.. That is nothing more then mob rule with a fancy name.. LOL That part I underlined is 99% accurate to ALL games being published today.. /sad
Originally posted by movindude The thing about EQ1 that was great was the wondering mobs and some like flying dragons that could take out 10 people easy in zones that were meant for lower levels. You always had to be on guard in whatever zone you went in. Really didn't have quests that were worth messing with. Was more fun finding a group that had the right mix and go find a spot to grind some boss mobs or complete a dungeon (which could take a few hours). You could find chests which we all love haha. But the wandering mobs and pitch black nights made it exciting. You had to hide and sneak around. If you died you could lose 1 or 2 hours worth or leveling. That's the kind of excitement I miss that most of the new games just don't do because they are afraid of what? Hold my hand games just get soooo boring. I would play a new Eve game if they ever make it with updated graphics or EQ1. Anyways sorry for the rambling....oh ya, EQ Landmark got my money but won't get anymore. They can find someone else to dig holes for 1000 hours.
Ditto +1.. When it was dark outside, or you were in a cave.. I remember killing and getting my first "Greater Lightstone".. Getting into a fight with the named Griffon will only get you dead, and not even SoW was going to save your ass.. Hearing the steps of a Giant from behind will get your attention and blood pumping quickly (as it should).. I miss dungeons like Lower Guk, or going into a castle like "KC".. Who hears remember and know of the trap inside the tree in Blackburrow? I was initiated to that in my first week of playing, trying to avoid a train .. choo choo.. Another player with invis spells came to help me.. Now that is what I call GOOD SOCIAL gaming at it's best..
Originally posted by goboygo Did you seriously just make a post about a game dying long before release. A game that doesn't even have a release date?We cant even wait these days until a game releases to claim its dying? What the hell.
I seriously did. The forums both here and at the official site are dead, really dead. In the last week the most popular threads are the ones that I started. Landmark is emptying out fast and devs are jumping ship. (I know there's excuses)
Not only that but we've seen a few big budget games die out and be cancelled.
I'm hoping the game at least releases warts and all.
Originally posted by goboygo Did you seriously just make a post about a game dying long before release. A game that doesn't even have a release date?
We cant even wait these days until a game releases to claim its dying? What the hell.
I seriously did. The forums both here and at the official site are dead, really dead. In the last week the most popular threads are the ones that I started. Landmark is emptying out fast and devs are jumping ship. (I know there's excuses)
Not only that but we've seen a few big budget games die out and be cancelled.
I'm hoping the game at least releases warts and all.
SONY started hyping this game way WAY WAY before its release. Its not even arguable they started way to early. So of course when they first announce it everyone is going to go ape shit for a couple of months. Until, it sinks in no one is going to be seeing this game for possibly years. Of course after this starts sinking in, most will scurry back to their mouse holes and forget about it for awhile. So it that sense the hype may be dying but not the game, there is no game yet to die.
So much about this game is going to change in the next year or more, we cant possible ride every wave of emotion as things come and go. So much is going to change about the game over this time period. No one should be banking on any one thing they read about and get excited about only to find out later its been removed or changed.
Its like following a stock hour by hour for a year. And crying and then celebrating every time it goes up or down.
They can hype it as soon as they want if the game is amazing. The problem is the gameplay videos don't lie, the game is shaping up to be terrible. I never thought they would copy Neverwinter of all games for their combat system. And I'm pretty sure Disney is going to sue them soon, they want their character models back. And I thought WoW Panda's were silly, this is going to be Mists of Everquest.
They need to overhaul the entire combat system and make most the races look more rustic instead of a Pixar immersion killing joke. And if they insist on adding parkour(even though it's already dead) at least have them do it when the situation calls for it, not completely at random.
Then this game might stand a chance, assuming they don't screw up everything we haven't seen yet.
I agree combat is not the direction most EQ fans would ask for but I think EQN is far from Dying. Game gets announced and people go nuts and forums get tones of activity. Few months later the time frame of release date sets in and the same people go look at games out or coming out sooner. You watch, as soon as open beta comes close all EQN forums will again be highly active.
P.S. As for the game looking bad in play and combat. If you dont know what Alpha is you really need to read up. I have seen Alpha footage of combat before and EQNs looks good for being in Alpha. Does it still need work? Yes its Alpha lol
I'm still not sure what to make of Storybricks and how it will play out in a "live" game with players..
Realistically, I think everyone is out for themselves, it's just how we are. We might say it's all about the community or social or whatever, but if we aren't getting something, what's the point? Hopefully it isn't a single player game that just happens to have others in it, but I don't see our personal choices being heavily influenced in a democratic society or going for the greater good. We simply figure out what we want and then work with others with the same goals. Not a huge difference then previous games, but with a lot more choice involved, beyond a linear treadmill.
Which is exactly what a fear.. I'm tired of the self centered approach in games.. Even when I play team sports in high school and college, I never focused on my personal results or achievements.. I always took more pride, and kept the team in mind in my actions.. What was BEST for the team or community.. However, I semi agree that most people are wired to think of themselves first.. What is in it for me? This type of thinking is a cancer to society and I wish we would stop brainwashing people into following it.. BTW.. "pure" democracy is crap.. That is nothing more then mob rule with a fancy name.. LOL That part I underlined is 99% accurate to ALL games being published today.. /sad
Much like Socialism/Communism, on paper they can sound great, realistically, they aren't possible. Humans simply can't put themselves aside, real life or gaming.
While we might not need constant feedback as in scoreboards and DPS meters inflating our epeens, even when we help out a fellow guildmate or some random new player, usually we are expecting or getting something out of it. Could be a simple thank you, the promise to repay the favor later, or even keeping people interested which in turn keeps a game thriving.
I've told RL friends about games on many occasions, even if I knew they might not enjoy it as much as me, I simply wanted people I knew to play with and more players backing the product. Selfishness can work in so many fun ways.
Even in sports, beyond being hungry for endorsements and personal stats, it pays off to help the team win because in doing so, we win as well. Sure we can try to ignore the individual, but unless we are mindless drones, a community is made up of individuals and each of our successes/failures matter.
Glad Blizzard went with a team based FPS/mmo or whatever they will call it. Huge TF2 fan where I love to see my score at the top and out do my personal achievements, but I also like having my actions directly impact a team working to win a common goal. Overwatch won't take the place of a mmorpg for me, but I can see it easily replacing my time with TF2 and other social games.
Hopefully EQN balances the individual with the community and team game play, but haven't seen much big picture stuff yet when it comes to PVE or PVP. I always felt bad for guildmates that would log off the class they were playing to get on an alt to fill a spot, even when it was pretty obvious they didn't really want to and they were taking one for the team. I think EQN's approach to multi-classing is a good step towards balancing personal wants while helping the team. No reason we need to sacrifice our fun for the greater good, if everything is fun in of itself. Like buffing lowbies in EQ. Didn't serve much purpose, but was still fun to watch them run around killing things like crazy for a while, they got stronger, I got some entertainment, win/win.
Originally posted by caveogre72could not agree more on how cartoon graphics need to go away!I laughed at WoW when it came out, then years later, tried it finally, the game was actually very smooth, but the graphics were horrid to me, you get used to it after a while, but why would you really want to? It's like training your nose to ignore bad B.O. it stinks but you do your best not to notice. .... who wants to smell B.O. all the time?
This exactly. Why hamstring your product with an ugly face? Pure stupidity. And the excuse of "WoW did it," is a terrible argument. Why make a revolutionary game but then copy WoW on graphics? WoW is WoW, nothing else is. Period.
Yeah, because WoW invented cartoonish graphics.Ugh.
No, WoW invented pulling giant numbers of people to the genre. What's your point?
Completely avoiding my counterpoint by feigning cluelessness?
Have to admit, thats new.
I do have wonder why people think that EQN will be rejected by MMO players because it has cartoonish graphics when the most successful MMOs have cartoonish graphics.
Also, why EQ fans would be upset when all previous EQ games have had cartoonish graphics.
Sarcasm is indeed the lowest form of humor. EQ games had art representations that were attempts at realistic graphics for the machines they were supposed to run on. There are no Disney faces, the proportions and styles of the world are not cartoon representations like in Landmark/EQNext.
So I imagine the argument is that in order to grab the WoW audience, they used stupid looking characters? Good luck.
MMORPG players are often like Hobbits: They don't like Adventures
Originally posted by Nanfoodle I agree combat is not the direction most EQ fans would ask for but I think EQN is far from Dying. Game gets announced and people go nuts and forums get tones of activity. Few months later the time frame of release date sets in and the same people go look at games out or coming out sooner. You watch, as soon as open beta comes close all EQN forums will again be highly active. P.S. As for the game looking bad in play and combat. If you dont know what Alpha is you really need to read up. I have seen Alpha footage of combat before and EQNs looks good for being in Alpha. Does it still need work? Yes its Alpha lol
Well said even if you're on the opposite side of the discussion from me. It's rare to see someone willing to discuss things civilly.
I'm not new to MMO's, I was there at the start of them. My post wasn't based an a few months and then some knee jerk reaction.
It's been more than 18 months since the announcement and it was clear that they were working on the game for some time before that announcement. Even so, my post wasn't based on the 18 months. 18 months isn't a long time for dev before Alpha or Beta.
My post was based on the fact that the population of Landmark is fizzling out. Maybe that's my impression only, but based on real experience. Even that wouldn't be enough for me to think maybe the game is dying. The rest is the fact that the forums are dead, and totally void of meaningful discussion. Both the Landmark and EQN forums.
The community Dev leader left the game because of difference of opinion, and that's not a good sign and other high profile devs have been shifted around.
Then the last bit for me was Titan closing down, which doesn't mean a thing, Blizzard would be stupid to undercut their own success. Better to hold onto new game concepts until you're not making a gazillion dollars on subscription.
The last part of your post I would disagree with. I've seen Alpha footage before, it's often clunky and animations often are just awful. The mobs aren't necessarily balanced for combat and speeds are not final. EQN combat was fluid, but the skills it has are clearly jump into the middle of a group of enemies and spin skills.
They've shown live footage of PvP combat even and that doesn't look good. I've talked to people since I posted this that said the combat was fun, but not one of them would say the combat is deep. Maybe that's something that's coming, I'm certainly willing to wait for it.
Like I said, if the game releases, even if it doesn't look like what I want then I'm going to try it. It's got too many brand new concept features that look GREAT!
My post was based on the fact that the population of Landmark is fizzling out. Maybe that's my impression only, but based on real experience. Even that wouldn't be enough for me to think maybe the game is dying. The rest is the fact that the forums are dead, and totally void of meaningful discussion. Both the Landmark and EQN forums.
Landmark's pop is fizzling because a lot of the big systems haven't been added yet (AI, mobs/danger, quests) and SOE has been working on a lot of smaller stuff which doesn't have the same awe factor. LM is geared to be more then a building game, but currently it doesn't have much going on for it. Those like myself that might spend time in LM, yet don't want to dig/build all day have little incentive. Builders beyond those submitting builds for the race workshops don't want to waste time gathering/building as it will be wiped during open beta. Landmark's success/failure shouldn't have a huge impact on EQN future. Landmark is a great idea with huge potential, but it is a separate project.
As for the forums, people can only talk in circles about the same hyped up ideas for so long. Every little detail is talked about for a day or two then it goes down again. Until they start releasing big details on a regular basis, it will stay quiet. As others have said, once we get closer to Beta and especially release, forums will be blowing up, just like every other game released. SOE simply opened the doors much sooner then normal and fan attention spans weren't ready for it. We want our toys asap, and SOE isn't providing quickly enough. Personally, rather have a well built toy then one I'll break or put in the closet after a month.
They've shown live footage of PvP combat even and that doesn't look good. I've talked to people since I posted this that said the combat was fun, but not one of them would say the combat is deep. Maybe that's something that's coming, I'm certainly willing to wait for it.
Have you played Landmark/PVP? It might "look" bad, but in play it isn't horrible. Yes it lacks depth, but it currently doesn't need to have any at this stage or maybe it won't ever be amazing, who knows. I'm concerned about EQN and with 40+ classes, lots of gear, skills, achievements, etc I'm going to assume it will have a tad more depth then 3 weapons with 2 skills each like Landmark. Then again, if you simply don't like the FPS/action type combat, it won't ever be for you, but compared to similar games it isn't at the bottom of the list.
SOE has a tendency to share their games and ideas with the public long before they should. This leads to people hearing about a game, then forgetting about it and X years later they hear about it again and this time it's actually coming out. It sucks if you're actually looking forward to the game the whole time, but if you just put it on the back burner it'll come out eventually.
Who knows there could be a secret in house build that's amazing
This is NEVER the case, ever. There will never be a magic build that the developers stash away to suprise their fanbase with because they are trying to showcase their best assets right away. Heard of these magic builds on every mmorpg I've played that ended up doing badly or not releasing with the promised features/content.
SoE is a horrible company and I don't know why I always seem to want to try their games in some vein attempt to see if they go back to how good their mmo's use to be. They ruined franchises with Planetside 2, destroyed and alienated their player base with $$$ on their minds with SWG. I want to play a great mmo, but I feel so jaded with all the half arsed attempts for the past 7 years. Here and there were games with solid foundations but they always managed to screw it up. Darkfall online, All points bulletin, DCUO, Planetside 2.
Now we are ushered into a f2p, cash shop freenium, pay to catch up, pay to unlock, or pay to advance half baked games where their only desire is to get as much money as possible. We have Indie developers taking advantage of gamer's situation with pay to play alphas, betas and kick starter or a rehash of the same game every year, along with bleeding a franchise with 10 sequels. At every turn we are being led on and taken advantage of.
stylized graphics are far superior for an mmo for a variety of reasons:
1. performance
2. power of expression - stylizing not only allows equipment but also faces/emotions to be much more diverse and expressive without being creepy...good example is elder scrolls online where everyting and everybody looks the same and has the same expression
3. aging - it is a simple fact that stylized graphics age a lot better...wow still looks pretty good today while elder scrolls already looked dated when it released
variety and longevity are very important for an mmo as such i think stylized graphics are preferrable for this particular genre
one thing about the combat tough, i think dynamic action combat is the future because it makes encounters more engaging...they just havent found the sweet spot yet...but if they go into the direction of eso with some guild wars sprinkled in and maybe some dragon age inquisition they can build something great... what i really like about the combat tough is there power/origin mechanics which will allow for a LOT of variety, building, tactics etc.
Who knows there could be a secret in house build that's amazing
This is NEVER the case, ever. There will never be a magic build that the developers stash away to suprise their fanbase with because they are trying to showcase their best assets right away. Heard of these magic builds on every mmorpg I've played that ended up doing badly or not releasing with the promised features/content.
SoE is a horrible company and I don't know why I always seem to want to try their games in some vein attempt to see if they go back to how good their mmo's use to be. They ruined franchises with Planetside 2, destroyed and alienated their player base with $$$ on their minds with SWG. I want to play a great mmo, but I feel so jaded with all the half arsed attempts for the past 7 years. Here and there were games with solid foundations but they always managed to screw it up. Darkfall online, All points bulletin, DCUO, Planetside 2.
Now we are ushered into a f2p, cash shop freenium, pay to catch up, pay to unlock, or pay to advance half baked games where their only desire is to get as much money as possible. We have Indie developers taking advantage of gamer's situation with pay to play alphas, betas and kick starter or a rehash of the same game every year, along with bleeding a franchise with 10 sequels. At every turn we are being led on and taken advantage of.
that unfortunatly is true...most often they build stuff specificaly to showcase - look at a game like the division, where they basically built a specific encounter that looks cool, without having a lot else...and the game was....never to be seen again...
stylized graphics are far superior for an mmo for a variety of reasons:
1. performance
2. power of expression - stylizing not only allows equipment but also faces/emotions to be much more diverse and expressive without being creepy...good example is elder scrolls online where everyting and everybody looks the same and has the same expression
3. aging - it is a simple fact that stylized graphics age a lot better...wow still looks pretty good today while elder scrolls already looked dated when it released
I can agree that stylized graphics are better, in general, than plastic doll avatars. I can also HATE the style SOE's chosen for EQN, and I do. I'd like to think it's been the majority reaction and SOE's scrambling to implement something better, explaining the doldrums. Unfortunately, Smokejumper seems the Damn The Torpedoes type of boss...
There's a sweet spot they can find between a style, expression, options, and reasonable graphic power. FF14 has plenty of yucks, but BLOWS AWAY anything presented about EQN so far. And FF14 still has a DX11 upgrade on the way. Black Desert looks ridiculously great, whether or not it needs a stout card. Find a slot between GW2/FF14 and Black Desert and you'll win the day, and I hope Sony realizes that. What was planned in 2012 doesn't work in 2015.
I still want to Alpha/Beta EQN, whatever its form, but because I want to see a great new game come out, not because I get to see a train wrecking yet again. Been there, done that with too many games, Warhammer Online being a prime example of "we don't CARE what you think, we're doing X"
well every game blizzard does is heavily stylized and they are probably the most successful game studio out there...cant think ot one flop they had...so it seems to work...
im glad were getting some variety from the different games, i enjoy that...and i for my part vastly prefer the eqn style over that japanese final fantasy style with that mix between over-sexualized and little girl cute which makes me very uncomfortable in general...
stylized graphics are far superior for an mmo for a variety of reasons:
1. performance
2. power of expression - stylizing not only allows equipment but also faces/emotions to be much more diverse and expressive without being creepy...good example is elder scrolls online where everyting and everybody looks the same and has the same expression
3. aging - it is a simple fact that stylized graphics age a lot better...wow still looks pretty good today while elder scrolls already looked dated when it released
variety and longevity are very important for an mmo as such i think stylized graphics are preferrable for this particular genre
one thing about the combat tough, i think dynamic action combat is the future because it makes encounters more engaging...they just havent found the sweet spot yet...but if they go into the direction of eso with some guild wars sprinkled in and maybe some dragon age inquisition they can build something great... what i really like about the combat tough is there power/origin mechanics which will allow for a LOT of variety, building, tactics etc.
1. Is that why Landmark still runs like crap? If Landmark runs like crap then I can only expect EQN to be the same.
2. Who cares? When will you ever notice facial expressions other than panning the camera around watching your own emotes? With forced 3rd person combat with flashy lights you wont be able to see any of it there. In the end it is an excuse for SOE to continue to push SOEMote that no one ever used or will use..
Stylized graphics arent needed for that either.
3. This is subjective. And one would have to assume that either game would be around long enough for that to matter. Who is to say SOE wont have another LM or EQ on the way in another 5-7 years?
Then you look at H1Z1 and think.. Why could they not have used a similar graphic style with EQN or LM. And dont say voxels because that isnt true at all.
Action combat will never be the future on MMORPGs. Constantly shoving it down peoples throats doesnt make it so. It is shallow and built for people who have short attention spans that require something flashy to happen every second. There is a reason why the most popular games are tab targeting and a reason why those same games have the most staying power. Ever notice how all these action MMORPGs go f2p practically overnight or how they release as f2p? There is a reason for it.. Wildstar is next.. ESO will probably hold out but it isnt over the top action like the other games.
Pretty sure they want the game accessible to all ages, which makes sense given the shallow combat and the extreme cartoon look. You can have stylized cartoon graphics, but these are aimed at kids too much. Pretty sure that is what they intended though (child audience). The combat is so horrid IMO I don't even care about the graphics.
There will be other games coming, just not a new EQ that we hoped for.
Originally posted by JayFiveAlive Pretty sure they want the game accessible to all ages, which makes sense given the shallow combat and the extreme cartoon look. You can have stylized cartoon graphics, but these are aimed at kids too much. Pretty sure that is what they intended though (child audience). The combat is so horrid IMO I don't even care about the graphics. There will be other games coming, just not a new EQ that we hoped for.
The game is a year or 2 from release. Who knows what the game will actually be? I don't understand people's obsession with saying they don't like a game that isn't even playable yet. Why would SOE make a game aimed at 30 year olds that are so full of themselves and so stuck in whatever game they played in 1999 that they will never be satisfied?
They show an extremely broad view of a game they are working on and this allows you to "fill in the blanks" as to what the game "could be" based upon what you want.
In truth they should never have shown anything and when the game was closer to being done THEN start hitting people with the new EQ.
As far as what has been shown, people are jumping the gun quite a bit.
No real game play has been shown of any substance.
Early combat is early combat. However, that is a double edged sword. animations can be expanded upon but the general thrust of how that combat will manifest will not change.
Meaning, you will see a better version of what they show but it will never turn into, say, mount and blade. Part of the problem with showing pre-alpha work is that the developers, like most artists, writers, composers, etc, can see the forest from the trees. They know what "will be" based on their vision. But most people can't see the trees from one tree and what they see they take for "finished product" no matter how many times the developers say it will be different.
But remember, their different doesn't mean "different in a way you want".
It would be better for you to forget about this game and then when the game goes into beta take it for what it is and cut loose your expectations.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Originally posted by JayFiveAlive Pretty sure they want the game accessible to all ages, which makes sense given the shallow combat and the extreme cartoon look. You can have stylized cartoon graphics, but these are aimed at kids too much. Pretty sure that is what they intended though (child audience). The combat is so horrid IMO I don't even care about the graphics. There will be other games coming, just not a new EQ that we hoped for.
The game is a year or 2 from release. Who knows what the game will actually be? I don't understand people's obsession with saying they don't like a game that isn't even playable yet. Why would SOE make a game aimed at 30 year olds that are so full of themselves and so stuck in whatever game they played in 1999 that they will never be satisfied?
You must be new to gaming if you believe it will drastically change in a year or 2. Bookmark this thread and let us know how much it changes once released. It's been in development for years already, they will not be making drastic changes to it.
Comments
This goes both ways though. If a game is too much of anything, it can turn a lot of people off. Going purely off of the numbers, it appears players are willing to play cartoony/stylized games more so then their realistic counterparts in particular genres.
While art style is a major element, game play seems to be the deal breaker in most cases. I've never played a game only for the art style if the game play was terrible, I can easily say I've done it the other way around. Take a look at all the 8-bit, retro, "old school" games out now that are very popular. Trove/Cube World are trying to take advantage of this in the mmo genre, especially after Minecraft's success. Do you think Trove should scrap their art style and go in a different direction?
I've seen no evidence that EQN art style choice would not appeal to the masses, which is SOE's goal. While games like Mortal Online, Age of Conan, Dark Fall, POE, and even TESO or geared for a more male, mature, dark/gritty, whatever audience, which is large, but not large enough.
We are talking about an EQ game. The three previous games were just as silly looking as EQN, maybe not Disney extreme, but compared to their competition, they surely weren't the "realistic" games of their time.
"WoW did it" is a valid argument. I'd wager the majority of those that played WoW had never played a Warcraft game, mmorpg, or even online game beforehand. If WoW had looked like EQ2 GW1 or whatever games came out around then, it probably wouldn't have caught on where we saw people of all backgrounds playing. Imagine if WoW had looked like AOC, really think we would of seen soccer moms getting addicted?
Not saying EQN will magically do well because of the art style, but it certainly shouldn't hurt them. When adults stop playing Skylanders and Mario, then I'll be concerned.
SOE is looking at the games out and who is playing what. I'm going to guess they don't dismiss LoL, WoW, and Minecraft's numbers and not figure out how they can attract those same fans.
WoW wasn't the first and won't be the last game to have a cartoony-bright-light hearted art style, EQN is not copying, simply falls in the same category. Then again, if they made it look like TESO or Black Desert, then we'd have people saying they are copying them, at this point I'd at least give the credit to Disney
While I get some prefer a different style, calling EQN ugly is pretty pointless. Not sure how you judge such things, but put EQN up against similar products and it looks good to me. If EQN is ugly, I'm assuming you find all stylized games to be so or even all cartoons for that matter? Is Zelda ugly? Minecraft? SMITE? Wildstar?
Looking at all the games out and which are most popular, do you ever get the feeling that your views might be the minority? In this business, the minority doesn't count for much. I'm going to assume at no point did Blizzard go "You know what, our 15 million WoW fans must be blind or dumb, we should totally redo the art style." Even now, they are updating it to be closer to what EQN is going for with emotion/detail. Still a few steps behind in quality though. WoW is what it is, but I find it extremely hard to believe that it or other games with a similar art style have made it by game play alone. If people really felt games needed to look differently, the genre would look different. As we are now seeing a shift to more open/action oriented games, players are craving something new, doesn't seem like non-Disney is on the list though.
Edit: With today's announcement of Overwatch by Blizzard, yet again a great looking game that will pack both gameplay and an art style that will appeal to a huge number of folks. As well as the action combat that is the future of gaming and has been for a while. Battleborn, Gigantic, Smite, TF2, etc are all along for the ride, but looks like Bizzard once again plans to be top dog. I would much rather play a FPS/action style game with their art styles then COD/BF/Destiny and even CS (even though I was a huge fan). There is room and fans of everything.
Did you seriously just make a post about a game dying long before release. A game that doesn't even have a release date?
We cant even wait these days until a game releases to claim its dying? What the hell.
I seriously did. The forums both here and at the official site are dead, really dead. In the last week the most popular threads are the ones that I started. Landmark is emptying out fast and devs are jumping ship. (I know there's excuses)
Not only that but we've seen a few big budget games die out and be cancelled.
I'm hoping the game at least releases warts and all.
Asdar
SONY started hyping this game way WAY WAY before its release. Its not even arguable they started way to early. So of course when they first announce it everyone is going to go ape shit for a couple of months. Until, it sinks in no one is going to be seeing this game for possibly years. Of course after this starts sinking in, most will scurry back to their mouse holes and forget about it for awhile. So it that sense the hype may be dying but not the game, there is no game yet to die.
So much about this game is going to change in the next year or more, we cant possible ride every wave of emotion as things come and go. So much is going to change about the game over this time period. No one should be banking on any one thing they read about and get excited about only to find out later its been removed or changed.
Its like following a stock hour by hour for a year. And crying and then celebrating every time it goes up or down.
Its madness.
^^ This, geesh.
When I said i had "time", i meant virtual time, i got no RL "time" for you.
They can hype it as soon as they want if the game is amazing. The problem is the gameplay videos don't lie, the game is shaping up to be terrible. I never thought they would copy Neverwinter of all games for their combat system. And I'm pretty sure Disney is going to sue them soon, they want their character models back. And I thought WoW Panda's were silly, this is going to be Mists of Everquest.
They need to overhaul the entire combat system and make most the races look more rustic instead of a Pixar immersion killing joke. And if they insist on adding parkour(even though it's already dead) at least have them do it when the situation calls for it, not completely at random.
Then this game might stand a chance, assuming they don't screw up everything we haven't seen yet.
I agree combat is not the direction most EQ fans would ask for but I think EQN is far from Dying. Game gets announced and people go nuts and forums get tones of activity. Few months later the time frame of release date sets in and the same people go look at games out or coming out sooner. You watch, as soon as open beta comes close all EQN forums will again be highly active.
P.S. As for the game looking bad in play and combat. If you dont know what Alpha is you really need to read up. I have seen Alpha footage of combat before and EQNs looks good for being in Alpha. Does it still need work? Yes its Alpha lol
Much like Socialism/Communism, on paper they can sound great, realistically, they aren't possible. Humans simply can't put themselves aside, real life or gaming.
While we might not need constant feedback as in scoreboards and DPS meters inflating our epeens, even when we help out a fellow guildmate or some random new player, usually we are expecting or getting something out of it. Could be a simple thank you, the promise to repay the favor later, or even keeping people interested which in turn keeps a game thriving.
I've told RL friends about games on many occasions, even if I knew they might not enjoy it as much as me, I simply wanted people I knew to play with and more players backing the product. Selfishness can work in so many fun ways.
Even in sports, beyond being hungry for endorsements and personal stats, it pays off to help the team win because in doing so, we win as well. Sure we can try to ignore the individual, but unless we are mindless drones, a community is made up of individuals and each of our successes/failures matter.
Glad Blizzard went with a team based FPS/mmo or whatever they will call it. Huge TF2 fan where I love to see my score at the top and out do my personal achievements, but I also like having my actions directly impact a team working to win a common goal. Overwatch won't take the place of a mmorpg for me, but I can see it easily replacing my time with TF2 and other social games.
Hopefully EQN balances the individual with the community and team game play, but haven't seen much big picture stuff yet when it comes to PVE or PVP. I always felt bad for guildmates that would log off the class they were playing to get on an alt to fill a spot, even when it was pretty obvious they didn't really want to and they were taking one for the team. I think EQN's approach to multi-classing is a good step towards balancing personal wants while helping the team. No reason we need to sacrifice our fun for the greater good, if everything is fun in of itself. Like buffing lowbies in EQ. Didn't serve much purpose, but was still fun to watch them run around killing things like crazy for a while, they got stronger, I got some entertainment, win/win.
Sarcasm is indeed the lowest form of humor. EQ games had art representations that were attempts at realistic graphics for the machines they were supposed to run on. There are no Disney faces, the proportions and styles of the world are not cartoon representations like in Landmark/EQNext.
So I imagine the argument is that in order to grab the WoW audience, they used stupid looking characters? Good luck.
Well said even if you're on the opposite side of the discussion from me. It's rare to see someone willing to discuss things civilly.
I'm not new to MMO's, I was there at the start of them. My post wasn't based an a few months and then some knee jerk reaction.
It's been more than 18 months since the announcement and it was clear that they were working on the game for some time before that announcement. Even so, my post wasn't based on the 18 months. 18 months isn't a long time for dev before Alpha or Beta.
My post was based on the fact that the population of Landmark is fizzling out. Maybe that's my impression only, but based on real experience. Even that wouldn't be enough for me to think maybe the game is dying. The rest is the fact that the forums are dead, and totally void of meaningful discussion. Both the Landmark and EQN forums.
The community Dev leader left the game because of difference of opinion, and that's not a good sign and other high profile devs have been shifted around.
Then the last bit for me was Titan closing down, which doesn't mean a thing, Blizzard would be stupid to undercut their own success. Better to hold onto new game concepts until you're not making a gazillion dollars on subscription.
The last part of your post I would disagree with. I've seen Alpha footage before, it's often clunky and animations often are just awful. The mobs aren't necessarily balanced for combat and speeds are not final. EQN combat was fluid, but the skills it has are clearly jump into the middle of a group of enemies and spin skills.
They've shown live footage of PvP combat even and that doesn't look good. I've talked to people since I posted this that said the combat was fun, but not one of them would say the combat is deep. Maybe that's something that's coming, I'm certainly willing to wait for it.
Like I said, if the game releases, even if it doesn't look like what I want then I'm going to try it. It's got too many brand new concept features that look GREAT!
Asdar
This is NEVER the case, ever. There will never be a magic build that the developers stash away to suprise their fanbase with because they are trying to showcase their best assets right away. Heard of these magic builds on every mmorpg I've played that ended up doing badly or not releasing with the promised features/content.
SoE is a horrible company and I don't know why I always seem to want to try their games in some vein attempt to see if they go back to how good their mmo's use to be. They ruined franchises with Planetside 2, destroyed and alienated their player base with $$$ on their minds with SWG. I want to play a great mmo, but I feel so jaded with all the half arsed attempts for the past 7 years. Here and there were games with solid foundations but they always managed to screw it up. Darkfall online, All points bulletin, DCUO, Planetside 2.
Now we are ushered into a f2p, cash shop freenium, pay to catch up, pay to unlock, or pay to advance half baked games where their only desire is to get as much money as possible. We have Indie developers taking advantage of gamer's situation with pay to play alphas, betas and kick starter or a rehash of the same game every year, along with bleeding a franchise with 10 sequels. At every turn we are being led on and taken advantage of.
stylized graphics are far superior for an mmo for a variety of reasons:
1. performance
2. power of expression - stylizing not only allows equipment but also faces/emotions to be much more diverse and expressive without being creepy...good example is elder scrolls online where everyting and everybody looks the same and has the same expression
3. aging - it is a simple fact that stylized graphics age a lot better...wow still looks pretty good today while elder scrolls already looked dated when it released
variety and longevity are very important for an mmo as such i think stylized graphics are preferrable for this particular genre
one thing about the combat tough, i think dynamic action combat is the future because it makes encounters more engaging...they just havent found the sweet spot yet...but if they go into the direction of eso with some guild wars sprinkled in and maybe some dragon age inquisition they can build something great... what i really like about the combat tough is there power/origin mechanics which will allow for a LOT of variety, building, tactics etc.
that unfortunatly is true...most often they build stuff specificaly to showcase - look at a game like the division, where they basically built a specific encounter that looks cool, without having a lot else...and the game was....never to be seen again...
I can agree that stylized graphics are better, in general, than plastic doll avatars. I can also HATE the style SOE's chosen for EQN, and I do. I'd like to think it's been the majority reaction and SOE's scrambling to implement something better, explaining the doldrums. Unfortunately, Smokejumper seems the Damn The Torpedoes type of boss...
There's a sweet spot they can find between a style, expression, options, and reasonable graphic power. FF14 has plenty of yucks, but BLOWS AWAY anything presented about EQN so far. And FF14 still has a DX11 upgrade on the way. Black Desert looks ridiculously great, whether or not it needs a stout card. Find a slot between GW2/FF14 and Black Desert and you'll win the day, and I hope Sony realizes that. What was planned in 2012 doesn't work in 2015.
I still want to Alpha/Beta EQN, whatever its form, but because I want to see a great new game come out, not because I get to see a train wrecking yet again. Been there, done that with too many games, Warhammer Online being a prime example of "we don't CARE what you think, we're doing X"
Avatars are people too
well every game blizzard does is heavily stylized and they are probably the most successful game studio out there...cant think ot one flop they had...so it seems to work...
im glad were getting some variety from the different games, i enjoy that...and i for my part vastly prefer the eqn style over that japanese final fantasy style with that mix between over-sexualized and little girl cute which makes me very uncomfortable in general...
1. Is that why Landmark still runs like crap? If Landmark runs like crap then I can only expect EQN to be the same.
2. Who cares? When will you ever notice facial expressions other than panning the camera around watching your own emotes? With forced 3rd person combat with flashy lights you wont be able to see any of it there. In the end it is an excuse for SOE to continue to push SOEMote that no one ever used or will use..
Stylized graphics arent needed for that either.
3. This is subjective. And one would have to assume that either game would be around long enough for that to matter. Who is to say SOE wont have another LM or EQ on the way in another 5-7 years?
Then you look at H1Z1 and think.. Why could they not have used a similar graphic style with EQN or LM. And dont say voxels because that isnt true at all.
Action combat will never be the future on MMORPGs. Constantly shoving it down peoples throats doesnt make it so. It is shallow and built for people who have short attention spans that require something flashy to happen every second. There is a reason why the most popular games are tab targeting and a reason why those same games have the most staying power. Ever notice how all these action MMORPGs go f2p practically overnight or how they release as f2p? There is a reason for it.. Wildstar is next.. ESO will probably hold out but it isnt over the top action like the other games.
There will be other games coming, just not a new EQ that we hoped for.
The game is a year or 2 from release. Who knows what the game will actually be? I don't understand people's obsession with saying they don't like a game that isn't even playable yet. Why would SOE make a game aimed at 30 year olds that are so full of themselves and so stuck in whatever game they played in 1999 that they will never be satisfied?
That's part of the problem right there.
They show an extremely broad view of a game they are working on and this allows you to "fill in the blanks" as to what the game "could be" based upon what you want.
In truth they should never have shown anything and when the game was closer to being done THEN start hitting people with the new EQ.
As far as what has been shown, people are jumping the gun quite a bit.
No real game play has been shown of any substance.
Early combat is early combat. However, that is a double edged sword. animations can be expanded upon but the general thrust of how that combat will manifest will not change.
Meaning, you will see a better version of what they show but it will never turn into, say, mount and blade. Part of the problem with showing pre-alpha work is that the developers, like most artists, writers, composers, etc, can see the forest from the trees. They know what "will be" based on their vision. But most people can't see the trees from one tree and what they see they take for "finished product" no matter how many times the developers say it will be different.
But remember, their different doesn't mean "different in a way you want".
It would be better for you to forget about this game and then when the game goes into beta take it for what it is and cut loose your expectations.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
You must be new to gaming if you believe it will drastically change in a year or 2. Bookmark this thread and let us know how much it changes once released. It's been in development for years already, they will not be making drastic changes to it.