Originally posted by Vhayne When EQ2 was first released, I got into beta and tried it out. My system at the time was subpar, and the game ran like crap. Later, when I upgraded a little, I tried it again, and still, I had to run it with very low settings. The game much better than before, but I was still nowhere close to the qwuality of the videos SoE was putting out when the game was released. It was quite disappointing and due to the performance of the game, I opted to play WoW for a while. Well, I just built a new system, and tried EQ2 out again. HOLY JESUS! The game looks INCREDIBLE! I'm playing at Maximum/Extreme Quality, with a few settings turned down (not turned off though), like shadows. I can safely say, the game now looks and runs as good if not better than those awesome videos that SoE made to promote the game. The sounds are fantastic, and the animations are something out of Pixar. It's just breathtaking. So, for everyone who says WoW graphics are better, or just that EQ2 graphics suck, then apparently you haven't seen it run properly. My new system: Asus P5N32-SLI Premium mobo Core 2 Duo 6600 oc'd to 2.88 (at the moment) Corsair 2gb 800mhz EPP XFX 7950GX2 Extreme Edition X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS 250gb Maxtor 7200rpm HD Dell 2007WFP at 1680X1050 (running EQ2 at this res also)
Yes, the game is old, but this breathes new life into it for me. No more struggling with settings and crap. Just load and play.
Eq2 grapgics stink. thep layer models are made bad.. and the textures are bland and washed out..
Originally posted by hercules said it many times unless you got a good spec system you cannot comment on EQ2 graphics.
I have a good system and EQ2 graphics suck. Bland textures, bland enviorments, 50 shades of brown and grey, fugly armour and plastic looking characters and enviorments.
_____________________ I am the flipside of the coin on which the troll and the fanboy are but one side.
A top of the range gigabyte motherbourd [forgot its serial number but its one of the latest]
A 1 TB [terrabyte] hard drive.
Ok those are the most important components And my computer is 2 months old now.
Anyway i got everquest 2 not long after getting the final parts for my computer and when i tried it out I was not 100% happy with what i saw.
First of all the music was very good you could tell the qualaty was of a high stansdard
Gameplay wise it was ok but in the end ive never been a big fan of a quest driven leveling system [which is why i love eve].
Comunity is ok but i found most of my questions i asked were either ignored or i go an OMGYOUNOOBHAHAHA.
Graphics wise now thanks to my setup i was able to paly it at max graphics and although the engine produced the best looking grapjhics ive seen [excluding oblivion], I have to say the avitars or toons as some of you call them looked very Plastic. Now dont get me wrong the level of detail was pretty amazing for a mmo but they had NO expression at all.
They were like shop clothes dummies. Also the enviroments while beutiful were also artificial in apearence too. Overall id say the graphics are good but they do need some artistic tallent put into them to polish them off. And i dont mean add glowy swords or rubbish like that [we dont need a wow clone].
no matter how good one might think EQ2 graphics are - they are very demanding on your system; who cares if they are nice if you can't "have them"? and even on a high spec system, it sucks that the games has to load every 2 minutes when you change area (e.g. in town - haveing to load all the time is sooooo annoying, i'd rather have less good graphics).
yea, i rather play WoW with all of its detail and painted on armor than play EQ2 with its "real" look.
WoW Graphics > EQ2's graphics
Although Vanguard has kinda of the same type graphics engine as EQ2, there seems to be alot more detail throughout the environment as well as the armor and weapons.
Originally posted by hercules said it many times unless you got a good spec system you cannot comment on EQ2 graphics.
I am tired of hearing that line over and over again. What a freaking copout. I have a very good system 4800 AMD X2, 2 gigs of ram and 7900 GTX and no matter how high I turn up the graphics the artwork is very boring, plain and tired. No amount of polygons and high res textures can make up for the lack of imagination and plain out boring look of the game.
It's like some of you are awed by the rust colored fabled sword but you fail to realize that the fable sword should not have rust or look like your average sword you had for the previous 70 levels !!! Just like those great crafted player robes or armor you are awed about should not have the same design with just a new tint added to it repeated over and over again in the game ! Don't you realize how stupid it seems that almost every robe in the game has the same design just with only a new tint or pattern slapped onto it ? Or that how crafted Steel Vanguard armor looks exactly like Feyiron armor !!!
I am not knocking EQ2's gameplay or it's graphic engine just it's art design. There are many games that have better art direction then EQ2. Lineage 2 has some kick but artwork in the game in terms of player armor and weapons ( enviroments are dull and repetitive ), WoW has a great stylized look that reminds me of Warcraft 3, and yes even EQ1 has better art direction and imagination then EQ2 despite it's lackluster and dated graphics engine. Again no amount of polygons and texture rendering can make up for the lack of imagination and horrible reptitive armor and weapons design along with the uninspired artwork in EQ2.
Games I've played/tried out:WAR, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, AoC, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, Vangaurd, FFXI, D&DO, Lineage 2, Saga Of Ryzom, EvE Online, DAoC, Guild Wars,Star Wars Galaxies, Hell Gate London, Auto Assault, Grando Espada ( AKA SoTNW ), Archlord, CoV/H, Star Trek Online, APB, Champions Online, FFXIV, Rift Online, GW2.
Originally posted by docminus and even on a high spec system, it sucks that the games has to load every 2 minutes when you change area (e.g. in town - haveing to load all the time is sooooo annoying, i'd rather have less good graphics).
It takes me less than 20 seconds to load through a loading screen, but yes this aspect is VERY annoying. But once you get into an instance with a group or you're just out there soloing, its not bad
Like I said before it's about taste, some people like it some don't. Is it really necesarry to have a new topic about it weekly? I mean christ the game has been out since 2004. Time to let it go.
Originally posted by Saigonshakes Eq2 wasn't meant to look like a candy land. The art in the game, though i agree is lacking in many apsects, is meant to be more gritty and realistic. Which is also why you dont see giant armor like in WoW. It's meant to be a more "real" game. The new expansion pack coming out does look like the art has been vastly improved though. The new zones look pretty damn cool. We'll have to wait and see.
It all comes down to taste. Some people swear by WoW's "cartoony" graphics while others hate it to no end. Same goes for Eq2's more real look. One thing to remember though. The difference in Eq2 you see on an avearge machine to a nice machine is insane! The lighting especially is fantatsic.
I prefer realistic graphics too BUT FUCK OFF PLS EQ2 ISNT LOOKING REALISTIC OR GOOD, it looks like crap. Its not only the art, its the whole thing it just looks like crap. Now got it ?
Originally posted by CleffyII You guys say its suppose to be realistic and gritty, but it fails at this too. None of the textures look the right kind of moldy or Dirty. Look at Granado Espada. That is Real and Gritty. There is a supreme difference in both quality and system performance too because that was a staff that worked on making a good game. I heard about why EQ2 sucked. Only a few of the characters were given enough time because they were feature characters like the Froglocks and the Cat people. However, since SOE were demanding more and more content yet worked on a very hasty schedule you had very rushed texturing and modeling that failed to be optimized or look good. Granted it wasn't too much of a bomb when you compare it to other mmo titles but its just wasn't approached well.
To be fair to any game that isnt Granado Espada, most developers arent insane enough to spend millions of dollars to make clothing look as realsitic as possible
Granted many won't spend 50 million on a title like Hanbit or Blizzard, but there is always a way to approach an mmorpg to make it look and run good. With the system specs required by EQ2, it should have looked DAMN good. You really have to approach areas 1 at a time and clothing 1 at a time, and make sure each look breathtaking. 1 area with a team of 5 takes less then 1 week. In the 2 year production time, thats over 100 areas that could have been created. 1 Person can texture a new design for clothing with incredible beauty and detail in 1 week, making over 100 clothing designs. Yet the game doesn't have anywhere close to this in content or customizability where it is more then possible. They were probably wasting too much time in beaurocracy then actual game development.
I am not saying its the artists or many inside productions fault, but the fault of the producers in not having a firm control in development. They're pipeline probably had alot of kinks in it to make the end product look like it did. Or worse yet, the heads changing thier minds mid-production maybe to compete with upcoming titles.
You can see it in the end result. Hair color has no seperation of hues and lacks a details that says hair while not connecting to the head properly. The clothing is manly flat colors with bump mapping used to make detail. The environments have oversized, over bumped, and stretched textures on buildings. Many building lack foundation and trim. The molding looks more like noise filled green then proper mold growth. A good rendering engine and poly count can only hide so much in the basics of texturing. I admit a few models look good, but it isn't about a handful of things that are up to quality, but about getting the whole package there. Its a pretty basic technique to concentrate on making 1 area look good before moving onto another area. This looks like they took everything then tried to finish them all at the same time.
The game was obviously released too early in an attempt to rob WoW of numbers. Also areas weren't given enough time for proper dressing, and show signs of rushing. It doesn't matter how much PR BS I look through. It won't change the fact the game didn't look finished on release and is only now starting to shape out into a good game. Remember, its not about making the player spend $20 more to convince them that its actually a quality game. Its about making a game so obviously good that a player is attracted to it enough to spend $20 to see the art work.
I don't SOE hate too much(mainly thier Customer Service), I liked plenty of thier games like Infantry and Planetside.
You really have to approach areas 1 at a time and clothing 1 at a time, and make sure each look breathtaking. 1 area with a team of 5 takes less then 1 week. In the 2 year production time, thats over 100 areas that could have been created. 1 Person can texture a new design for clothing with incredible beauty and detail in 1 week, making over 100 clothing designs. Yet the game doesn't have anywhere close to this in content or customizability where it is more then possible. They were probably wasting too much time in beaurocracy then actual game development.
Each race and sex has its clothing fully customized. Even though the looks are the same each set of clothing has ~50 fully customized variations.
The new armor and models in the EoF expansion are going to be more generic to reduce this number to 2 or 4. Those with an eye for such things will probably be able to spot the difference and realize its a step down, however I suspect most of the people attempting to make blanket statements on either side of the issue wouldnt have a clue anything was being done differently.
That being said, I think EQ2 suffers from the same problem that a lot of other games with high end graphics suffer from. The graphics are so good people start comparing to live action, and in that light they do look fake. For instance a lot of people hated Oblivions graphics and made pretty much the same type of complaints you hear about EQ2.
In a game like WoW you cna hide behind the fact that people can't see flaws, but for me at least once you experience a game like EQ2 or Oblivion, WoW actuly gave me headaches when I played because I couldn't make out details. My brain was conditioned to look for detail that simply wasn't there and the effect was actually painful.
Just my two cents in : if you're looking for great, amazing and breathtaking graphics, go for Lineage II, it's absolutely above every other game i've ever played...
Comments
_____________________
I am the flipside of the coin on which the troll and the fanboy are but one side.
First of all i had best say what my PC has.
Duel core pentum D processor 4 gig
4 gig of ram
a 7650 500 meg ram nvida graphics card
A top of the range gigabyte motherbourd [forgot its serial number but its one of the latest]
A 1 TB [terrabyte] hard drive.
Ok those are the most important components And my computer is 2 months old now.
Anyway i got everquest 2 not long after getting the final parts for my computer and when i tried it out I was not 100% happy with what i saw.
First of all the music was very good you could tell the qualaty was of a high stansdard
Gameplay wise it was ok but in the end ive never been a big fan of a quest driven leveling system [which is why i love eve].
Comunity is ok but i found most of my questions i asked were either ignored or i go an OMGYOUNOOBHAHAHA.
Graphics wise now thanks to my setup i was able to paly it at max graphics and although the engine produced the best looking grapjhics ive seen [excluding oblivion], I have to say the avitars or toons as some of you call them looked very Plastic. Now dont get me wrong the level of detail was pretty amazing for a mmo but they had NO expression at all.
They were like shop clothes dummies. Also the enviroments while beutiful were also artificial in apearence too. Overall id say the graphics are good but they do need some artistic tallent put into them to polish them off. And i dont mean add glowy swords or rubbish like that [we dont need a wow clone].
and even on a high spec system, it sucks that the games has to load every 2 minutes when you change area (e.g. in town - haveing to load all the time is sooooo annoying, i'd rather have less good graphics).
yea, i rather play WoW with all of its detail and painted on armor than play EQ2 with its "real" look.
WoW Graphics > EQ2's graphics
Although Vanguard has kinda of the same type graphics engine as EQ2, there seems to be alot more detail throughout the environment as well as the armor and weapons.
If you got a good computer and still doesnt think its that good looking
People need to realise its more to a game than high poly count .
-Semper ubi sub ubi!
always wear underwear
It's like some of you are awed by the rust colored fabled sword but you fail to realize that the fable sword should not have rust or look like your average sword you had for the previous 70 levels !!! Just like those great crafted player robes or armor you are awed about should not have the same design with just a new tint added to it repeated over and over again in the game ! Don't you realize how stupid it seems that almost every robe in the game has the same design just with only a new tint or pattern slapped onto it ? Or that how crafted Steel Vanguard armor looks exactly like Feyiron armor !!!
I am not knocking EQ2's gameplay or it's graphic engine just it's art design. There are many games that have better art direction then EQ2. Lineage 2 has some kick but artwork in the game in terms of player armor and weapons ( enviroments are dull and repetitive ), WoW has a great stylized look that reminds me of Warcraft 3, and yes even EQ1 has better art direction and imagination then EQ2 despite it's lackluster and dated graphics engine. Again no amount of polygons and texture rendering can make up for the lack of imagination and horrible reptitive armor and weapons design along with the uninspired artwork in EQ2.
Games I've played/tried out:WAR, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, AoC, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, Vangaurd, FFXI, D&DO, Lineage 2, Saga Of Ryzom, EvE Online, DAoC, Guild Wars,Star Wars Galaxies, Hell Gate London, Auto Assault, Grando Espada ( AKA SoTNW ), Archlord, CoV/H, Star Trek Online, APB, Champions Online, FFXIV, Rift Online, GW2.
Game(s) I Am Currently Playing:
GW2 (+LoL and BF3)
realistic graphics too BUT FUCK OFF PLS EQ2 ISNT LOOKING REALISTIC OR
GOOD, it looks like crap. Its not only the art, its the whole thing it
just looks like crap. Now got it ?
Granted many won't spend 50 million on a title like Hanbit or Blizzard, but there is always a way to approach an mmorpg to make it look and run good. With the system specs required by EQ2, it should have looked DAMN good. You really have to approach areas 1 at a time and clothing 1 at a time, and make sure each look breathtaking. 1 area with a team of 5 takes less then 1 week. In the 2 year production time, thats over 100 areas that could have been created. 1 Person can texture a new design for clothing with incredible beauty and detail in 1 week, making over 100 clothing designs. Yet the game doesn't have anywhere close to this in content or customizability where it is more then possible. They were probably wasting too much time in beaurocracy then actual game development.
I am not saying its the artists or many inside productions fault, but the fault of the producers in not having a firm control in development. They're pipeline probably had alot of kinks in it to make the end product look like it did. Or worse yet, the heads changing thier minds mid-production maybe to compete with upcoming titles.
You can see it in the end result. Hair color has no seperation of hues and lacks a details that says hair while not connecting to the head properly. The clothing is manly flat colors with bump mapping used to make detail. The environments have oversized, over bumped, and stretched textures on buildings. Many building lack foundation and trim. The molding looks more like noise filled green then proper mold growth. A good rendering engine and poly count can only hide so much in the basics of texturing. I admit a few models look good, but it isn't about a handful of things that are up to quality, but about getting the whole package there. Its a pretty basic technique to concentrate on making 1 area look good before moving onto another area. This looks like they took everything then tried to finish them all at the same time.
The game was obviously released too early in an attempt to rob WoW of numbers. Also areas weren't given enough time for proper dressing, and show signs of rushing. It doesn't matter how much PR BS I look through. It won't change the fact the game didn't look finished on release and is only now starting to shape out into a good game. Remember, its not about making the player spend $20 more to convince them that its actually a quality game. Its about making a game so obviously good that a player is attracted to it enough to spend $20 to see the art work.
I don't SOE hate too much(mainly thier Customer Service), I liked plenty of thier games like Infantry and Planetside.
Each race and sex has its clothing fully customized. Even though the looks are the same each set of clothing has ~50 fully customized variations.
The new armor and models in the EoF expansion are going to be more generic to reduce this number to 2 or 4. Those with an eye for such things will probably be able to spot the difference and realize its a step down, however I suspect most of the people attempting to make blanket statements on either side of the issue wouldnt have a clue anything was being done differently.
That being said, I think EQ2 suffers from the same problem that a lot of other games with high end graphics suffer from. The graphics are so good people start comparing to live action, and in that light they do look fake. For instance a lot of people hated Oblivions graphics and made pretty much the same type of complaints you hear about EQ2.
In a game like WoW you cna hide behind the fact that people can't see flaws, but for me at least once you experience a game like EQ2 or Oblivion, WoW actuly gave me headaches when I played because I couldn't make out details. My brain was conditioned to look for detail that simply wasn't there and the effect was actually painful.