Graphics-wise, AoC. Art and best bang for the buck, Guild Wars. They manage to do, with much less, more than AoC did with millions flooding in. I can still enjoy the combat and the scenery after 2 years.
Upcoming games...Aion. Just a gorgeous game, and it should be interesting to see how they do multi-player combat in-flight.
I played AoC for a month and was underwhelmed with the graphics. Same with Vanguard. EVE is pretty cool, but making space look good and not having any living animations probably makes it pretty easy.
WoW's graphics aren't anything special - they're just styalized so can hold up over time better than photo-realistic graphics do - but technically they're pretty bland and flat.
hmmm best graphics.... well none of them make my eyes bleed so thats a good thing lol.
I guess Eve, but thats easy really. Space games were looking great a decade ago lol. I may have to jump on the lotro bandwagon just because the way they did their game never made my system chug at all while looking better than the others out there.
I can see how you are working this, but the designers of AoC dreamed up the world of Conan to a T. The world of Conan is a dark and dreary place, and the artists that did that made it perfect for the world. Everything artistic in AoC is perfectly depicted in its correct place. It doesn't have to be bright, because the world of Conan was not bright at all. They wanted you to feel the desolace and despair.
Have you read ReH? His world is lush, vibrant and sensual. Violent deadly and cruel too. But dreary . . . well Cimeria is described as such but not one of his stories ever took place there, its a place where nothing happened, it was just boring and foggy.
But funcom decided to place more than half of the entire game areas there and made them look well like Norway.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
Even after all these years, I honestly still believe that FFXI has the best-looking character models. And that's what matters most to me when I judge an MMO's graphics.
WotLK no doubt about that. Why? In an MMORPG the fluid control of your Avatar is crucial and the seamless open world you fly over and land anywhere you want without loading screens to enter ... a door. All other fantasy MMO's have a stick in the ass of the avatar. In Wow you control your avatar to the micro second. Video games are NOT about still pictures and stiff , laggy, clunky, semi animated avatars, but movement in a seamless world. The cartoon look makes it far more attractive in the aging department. Just look at Beowulf: Made 2 years ago and already is ugly "semi - realistic" as hell.
Very good points! Unfortunately most people here don't know what makes good graphics. However the silent majority does. Even if they do not consciously realize why they like WoW better, they get a subconscious feel for it. Hence we have WoW with a ton of subscriptions and most other games in the noise. I'm sure Blizzard is laughing all the way to the bank when they see another high polygon count but crappy world game. It really amazes my why other game companies can't get a clue to save their life.
WoW WotLK. Why? Because art trumps technology every time. If you ignore artstyle as a part of graphics and focus exclusively on technology, then its a close race btween AoC and LotrO.
The art style is also fantastic in thoes games, persional opinion aside.
---------- "Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
WoW WotLK. Why? Because art trumps technology every time. If you ignore artstyle as a part of graphics and focus exclusively on technology, then its a close race btween AoC and LotrO.
I'm not sure how a segmented claustrophobic world trumps a seamless flowing world technology wise. All AoC has is a high polygon count. IT IS NOT technologically advanced graphics wise. I can't speak for LotrO because I have never played it but AoC is a Neanderthal. You may like its art or not but the technology is way old. Funcom even said it used an updated AOL engine.
TES: Oblivion on PC gets at least an honorable mention compared to DF, and it's almost 4 years old.
Its also not an MMO.
---------- "Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
WoW WotLK. Why? Because art trumps technology every time. If you ignore artstyle as a part of graphics and focus exclusively on technology, then its a close race btween AoC and LotrO.
I'm not sure how a segmented claustrophobic world trumps a seamless flowing world technology wise. All AoC has is a high polygon count. IT IS NOT technologically advanced graphics wise. I can't speak for LotrO because I have never played it but AoC is a Neanderthal. You may like its art or not but the technology is way old. Funcom even said it used an updated AOL engine.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
---------- "Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
Age of Conan hands down has the best graphics. Performance is decent (though it can get a bit laggy) and the gameplay can be a bit lacking but you asked for the best graphics and it is the best by far.
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds -Solid non level based game -Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
AOC and Eve are the best technically. I would say that WOW and WAR are the best artistically (and they are both very similar).
ok for the last freaking time war and wow art style isnt similar for the love of god its like completely different the only thing that comes close to similar are the threes and that only a wee bit lol
Comments
Fanboy alert fanboy alert, lol.
Vanguard and AoC
Darkfall Travelogues!
Aion or Lineage 2
Graphics-wise, AoC. Art and best bang for the buck, Guild Wars. They manage to do, with much less, more than AoC did with millions flooding in. I can still enjoy the combat and the scenery after 2 years.
Upcoming games...Aion. Just a gorgeous game, and it should be interesting to see how they do multi-player combat in-flight.
LotRO DX10 gets my vote.
I played AoC for a month and was underwhelmed with the graphics. Same with Vanguard. EVE is pretty cool, but making space look good and not having any living animations probably makes it pretty easy.
LOTRO dx10 and AoC win
EVE and WAR are great too
WoW's graphics aren't anything special - they're just styalized so can hold up over time better than photo-realistic graphics do - but technically they're pretty bland and flat.
Iwinbutton.com | Gaming / MMO Blog
hmmm best graphics.... well none of them make my eyes bleed so thats a good thing lol.
I guess Eve, but thats easy really. Space games were looking great a decade ago lol. I may have to jump on the lotro bandwagon just because the way they did their game never made my system chug at all while looking better than the others out there.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
Have you read ReH? His world is lush, vibrant and sensual. Violent deadly and cruel too. But dreary . . . well Cimeria is described as such but not one of his stories ever took place there, its a place where nothing happened, it was just boring and foggy.
But funcom decided to place more than half of the entire game areas there and made them look well like Norway.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
Of the games released right now, probably Age of Conan from a technical standpoint.
The best graphics artisticly is by far and away Aion, nothing even really comes close to it's stunning beauty.
I would have to say, for me anyway, it is a tie, Lord of the Rinkgs Online and Vanguard.
For me, those two games are just kickass cool looking.
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
AoC simply stunning, shame they chose to lie instead of just saying "this is what we have."
for LotRO maybe its just me because alot of ppl seem to like it, doesnt the elves run kinda funny?
I need more vespene gas.
AoC is head and shoulders above everyone else in terms of *graphics* alone.
WoW has very good art direction, despite their crappy graphics and cartoony style which many dislike.
Vanguard is probably the next best after Conan, but it's a pretty big gap there between the two, imo.
Even after all these years, I honestly still believe that FFXI has the best-looking character models. And that's what matters most to me when I judge an MMO's graphics.
Very good points! Unfortunately most people here don't know what makes good graphics. However the silent majority does. Even if they do not consciously realize why they like WoW better, they get a subconscious feel for it. Hence we have WoW with a ton of subscriptions and most other games in the noise. I'm sure Blizzard is laughing all the way to the bank when they see another high polygon count but crappy world game. It really amazes my why other game companies can't get a clue to save their life.
WoW WotLK.
Why?
Because art trumps technology every time.
If you ignore artstyle as a part of graphics and focus exclusively on technology, then its a close race btween AoC and LotrO.
The art style is also fantastic in thoes games, persional opinion aside.
----------
"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
Hello Kitty Online > all
AOC and Eve are the best technically.
I would say that WOW and WAR are the best artistically (and they are both very similar).
I'm not sure how a segmented claustrophobic world trumps a seamless flowing world technology wise. All AoC has is a high polygon count. IT IS NOT technologically advanced graphics wise. I can't speak for LotrO because I have never played it but AoC is a Neanderthal. You may like its art or not but the technology is way old. Funcom even said it used an updated AOL engine.
TES: Oblivion on PC gets at least an honorable mention compared to DF, and it's almost 4 years old.
AoC is the graphics King. There is nothing even supposed to be coming out next year that matches it.
I saw some asian MMO with some sketches and some screenshot which looked better. I'm sure it won't be out this or even next year though.
If someone knows what i'm talking about, as elusive as my info is, pls link heh.
Its also not an MMO.
----------
"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
I'm not sure how a segmented claustrophobic world trumps a seamless flowing world technology wise. All AoC has is a high polygon count. IT IS NOT technologically advanced graphics wise. I can't speak for LotrO because I have never played it but AoC is a Neanderthal. You may like its art or not but the technology is way old. Funcom even said it used an updated AOL engine.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
----------
"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
Age of Conan hands down has the best graphics. Performance is decent (though it can get a bit laggy) and the gameplay can be a bit lacking but you asked for the best graphics and it is the best by far.
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
ok for the last freaking time war and wow art style isnt similar for the love of god its like completely different the only thing that comes close to similar are the threes and that only a wee bit lol