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You Decide- Graphics
RonnyRulz
Member Posts: 479
You decide which is better!
On the left is Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.
On the right is Lord of the Rings Online.
We're not discussing gameplay, we are discussing graphics.
If you so desire, please include WHY you think one is better than the other.
Different sized images can be found here
Water, Trees, Houses
Comments
Vanguard's graphics are beyond amazing. Go to a mountain top outside of Halgarad on a clear day and the view is literally mind-boggling. I had a tweaked, overclocked vid card driver for a few days (before my cards decided they didn't like it) and man, I've never had a games graphics effect me like Vanguards. What I saw on my screen that day looked more real than what I saw when I looked out the window and it blew my mind.
Unfortunately, once I went back to the old driver, the world went back to looking bland and generic (like the screens you linked)
And the world's prettiest game world to .00000001% of the world's population does not make a fun game. In fact it makes a really boring one apparently.
But, considering LoTR world is about 1/100th the size, it's not really a fair comparison.
IMO Vanguard's environment graphics were amazing, but I prefer LOTR's. I feel the same way as you said about LOTR, but also a tiny bit with Vanguard too.
They are both amazing, but I prefer LOTR because of the vibrant color and sunshine as opposed to the more dull and lifeless world of Vanguard. Both are beautiful though!!!
What kind of graphics card do you have? How did overclocked drivers make the game better, did you change the settings or do the drivers make everything better? I'm rather interested in them.
Thanks for your post.
One of your buddies was saying the same thing.. what does the size of the world have to do with quality of graphics??
"Our world is bigger (atm) so it's okay that it looks worse"
It is a completely fair comparison, I'm sorry. It may be subjective even, but it's a fair comparison.
Hey Ronnie!! What's up dude?
I followed your link and voted for my favorite!
/cheersesronniewithapintofguinness
Thanks :P
I also made a 3rd in the most popular forum here. GENERAL FORUM!
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/1259004#1259004
I hope to compile the results after all 3 have been voted on thoroughly.
Are you talking to me?
I've played both, and the screenshots do justice to both worlds. LOTR is very colorful and vibrant, alive. Vanguard is more of a realistic and dark feel to it.
Are you talking to me?
I've played both, and the screenshots do justice to both worlds. LOTR is very colorful and vibrant, alive. Vanguard is more of a realistic and dark feel to it.
No
Are you talking to me?
I've played both, and the screenshots do justice to both worlds. LOTR is very colorful and vibrant, alive. Vanguard is more of a realistic and dark feel to it.
No
Yeah, I voted in the poll.
Send me a buddy key so I can try VG, and I'll get back to you with my final verdict, but as it stands, LOTRO wins by SS.. assuming - AS I SAID IN THE OTHER THREAD THAT YOU WERE POSTING IN - all settings equal.
Are you talking to me?
I've played both, and the screenshots do justice to both worlds. LOTR is very colorful and vibrant, alive. Vanguard is more of a realistic and dark feel to it.
No
Yeah, I voted in the poll.
Send me a buddy key so I can try VG, and I'll get back to you with my final verdict, but as it stands, LOTRO wins by SS.. assuming - AS I SAID IN THE OTHER THREAD THAT YOU WERE POSTING IN - all settings equal.
LoL all you said was LOL LOL LOL this guy likes vanguard better what a boozer or something close to that so dont get all high and mighty about games you dont even play
On the other hand, turbine took a name like lotr and turned it into a freekin comedy, so smarter graphics mean nothing in this case.
i am just gona whait for some other games and enjoy some fresh air:)
the object of war is not to die for your country, its to make some other bastard die for his.
G.Paton
Its all personal preference. I don't understand why people make a big deal about graphics. I prefer LOTRO graphics , thats it. You cant say one game's graphics are better than anothers. Its just lame. Heck I still play Ultima Online in 2d, love the graphics.
I think the only thing you can say is which game has more complicated graphics. Which are harder to make etc. Since i've played both games, I'd say that Vanguard has more complicated graphics engine, but like I said before, I prefer the look of LOTRO.
Yea, I am a veteran of UO, and I never play it with 3d.
IMO the UO 3d is crap, but the UO 2d is absolutely stunningly gorgeously amazing.
Nothing can compare to UO 2d.
I am the same way with Everquest (the original).
I refuse to update my models when I play, I prefer the square polygon type models.
I played those two games forever, they were so amazing in their primes. That's the reason I prefer UO 2d and EQ polygon squares over their updated graphics anyday of the week.
Those choices of ss are ok, but you'll notice that an untrained eye will see a couple of the LOTRO ss as being superior and a couple of the Vanguard ss as being superior. Time of day, weather, and angle have a lot to do with it. The skies of both are pretty comparable, but like above said, some things are done better in one while the other did things differently.
I don't know what the housing or crafting choices are in LOTRO, as the gameplay was so terrible I didn't get that far, but there are more open spaces in Vanguard to allow for the player made structures when the playerbase gets going. I liked the water in LOTRO, and a lot of the fauna. I did notice that in Vanguard each tree is different, while in LOTRO there's like 3 or 4 different tree models, and that's it. Not much variety in LOTRO while Vanguard has a lot of completely different settings.
"Granted thinking for yourself could be considered a timesink of shorter or longer duration depending on how smart..or how dumb you are."
That is funny, I am a trained eye, I still see most LotR images as superior. How many years experience do you have with 3D Studio, Maya, Cinema4D or other modelling to be more trained than a trained eyes? Must be some vast experience there...
"This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly.
It should be thrown with great force"
One thing I really notice, in seeing them side by side like that, is how much more natural LOTRO's colors are. Vanguard's colors are not really natural at all. None of the plant life is the right shade of green, it looks like Willy Wonka foliage to me.
I don't get why people always mention how far you can see in Vanguard. Sure, but all you see is how much more plastic the environment looks from a distance. I don't see how it's impressive, and in LOTRO, you can see plenty far enough, plus you see what looks a lot more like rolling hills and forests. It's not like either game has a short clipping plane.
Finally, what's with Vanguard's skies? Almost every game in every genre's over the past 10 years has managed to have beautiful skies, because it's pretty easy, and add reflective water (seriously Sigil, add reflective water!) and you get great scenes, just with the sky over rippling water. Takes almost no artistic talent at all, just formula water code, and cut&pasted sunsets.. but Vanguard's look like they were made in Win95's MS Paint. Especially with the special cloud setting, which seems to place a second layer of extra poorly textured splotches in front of the base sky.
(ex. http://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?image=watership2oy7.jpg )
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
In my opinion, having played both games in the "next to highest settings" (with the high rez DVD graphics active in LOTRO), LOTRO clearly looks better in every aspect. The fact that i can also run LOTRO smoothly on the "Ultra High" settings, makes it even better for me. I was a VG fan for a long time, and only recently got into LOTRO beta... but I just can't justify playing VG anymore. LOTRO is far more polished, far more optimized and far more fun to me. The suprising part is that I LOVED EQ1 and despised WoW, so from everything that gets posted about VG & LOTRO, the logical choice for me should have been VG... just not the case...
Maybe next time take your screens of vanguard with all the settings maxed lol . LOTR is very nice i like it, looks amazing , but i play vanguard with every setting maxed at 1920x1200 on a dell 24 inch wide screen and i can tell by looking your screens are not at max settings , more like balanced but to me both are awesome
oh ya i like how you used vanguards distance blur setting to make the back ground in your grass and tree field screen blurry nice touch lol
I think vanguards graphics are better, but I must say that LOTR has some very impressive visuals.
Those screenies don't do vanguard justice,
But i must say,
that last pic of the squirrels in LOTR almost had me.
Also Vanguard has much vaster landscapes and more beautiful enviorments, where as lotr doesn't have the nicest enviorments, but it still as very pretty and as detailed if not more than vanguard in the fact that it his nifty little things like those flowers and squirrels so well done.
Just another handsome boy graduate...
Problem with Vanguard is that you need a very, VERY high-end system to have all that visual candy come to your screen while still being able to maintain a high framerate. That said, I'm still reading people posting problems with high-end systems. Also, in my honest opinion, the animations don't look nice at all. In fact, they tend to annoy me after playing an hour or so.
Now, I haven't tasted LOTR in person, but by reading the statements and comments of the beta testers it seems that LOTR is running much, much smoother on normal systems than vanguard, while still looking great.
Ultimately, its all about the performance / visual balance. Vanguard has yet to find that thin line.
Based on the screenshots themselves I voted for LOTR.
I really like Vanguard, but I have to admit those LOTR screenshots look great. Im not sure that each comparison was absolutely fair...I sensed a slight bias with the choices the OP made for each screenshot, but that doesn't change the fact the LOTR looks finished and polished (at least in the gaphical sense - i havent played beta so cant comment on other aspects) where as VG is still a little rough around the edges (no AA is a killer).
Of course Im just talking about graphics here. Im impressed enough with LOTR to try it when it comes out, but its gonna have to be a very good game to drag me away from VG.
Both sets of graphics are very nice, for the most part.
The main differences I note between the two that give LoTR a slight edge are:
1. Anti-aliasing - Has Sigil implemented it yet? From the screens it would appear the answer is no. The thing is, you can have bloom, HDR, and vertex shading but the lack of effective anti-aliasing will still bring your graphics down. Close-ups are normally where the lack of effective anti-aliasing is very apparent, but even in long-draw distance shots, it can decrease from the overall seamless feel of an area.
2. LoTR appears to have a little bit more detail in their environments (not necessarily structures, but rather trees, grass, woodlands, etc). I personally attribute that to a smaller gameworld in comparison to VSOH. Sigil has much more landscape to cover, so it stands to reason that there will be areas in VSOH that are lacking in detail compared to others.
I have to give it to Turbine in one area; they have slowly but surely managed to refine their game engine to the point where there is a very decent balance between render and performance across the spectrum of settings.
Anyone who played Asheron's Call 2 at release will remember the issues that plagued it, especially at the higher resolutions / settings. It would appear that at the least, they have finally gotten control of their beast.
Now if they can use it to make an engaging game, rather than just using AC2 as a technology demonstration to secure franchise rights to develop DDO (which fell far short of expectations) and LoTR, that would be impressive.
Abbatoir / Abbatoir Cinq
Adnihilo
Beorn Judge's Edge
Somnulus
Perfect Black
----------------------
Asheron's Call / Asheron's Call 2
Everquest / Everquest 2
Anarchy Online
Shadowbane
Dark Age of Camelot
Star Wars Galaxies
Matrix Online
World of Warcraft
Guild Wars
City of Heroes
I took these shots today in VG, click them to make them full screen. LotR looks really great for what it does, I just prefer Vanguards gritty look.