Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Personally I think the graphics update is a very wise move for funcom.
Angelbound
Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 1,437
Aoc pretty much failed in general, there is not many sci fi mmos out in general and mmo players are tired of wow and the lack of depth ao has all these things, plus more, once they update graphics they just need to adjust some things and it will be a great mmo, maybe even work on aimations and such some more next.
Comments
I would agree with you but there is no sign of the new graphics engine being released anytime in the near future, they say it exists but show very little to no updates and what we usually get for the graphics engine is a couple of face models every 4 months. By the time they release it they're going to have to start on another update for their engine.
I have seen a few videos and pictures i do not get what you are talking about, it is in beta right now why would funcom lie about it? It is suppose to be released this year pretty soon, if you check the forums some or use google plenty of info on it. It is not like some games where you can test it, anyways funcom to keep making money they either need a new game or new graphics engine it is only logical the graphics engine is in development.
Those videos you have watched have been out for a year now, and the talk of a new graphics engine has been around for several years, I'm saying don't hope that it is coming any time soon. Also, they have another mmo in the works and they have AoC they don't need a new Graphics Engine for this game to keep the money rolling in.
The first video of the graphics engine is 2 years old and the most recent video I can find is over 1 year old, and I see no where that says that the engine is in a beta stage, maybe you need to get your facts straight.
Here is the most recent update for the engine
http://www.anarchy-online.com/wsp/anarchy/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&template=content&func_id=2598&table=CONTENT
Posted back in October, which is almost 3 months ago my information wasn't off by more than a month.
In these boards here in one of my ealier posts someone claimed it was in beta stage, he linked some sites about it and showed some facial pictures.
Yeah I remember that also. Agree that the game needs a graphics update. Playing it atm. Still very enjoyable, looks like my Grans bum.......Ummmm....not that I have ever seen my Grans bum.......I will just be over here if anybody needs me.;)
Changing the engine is not a bad idea. Neither is a re-release of the game, nice with a good looking old school game.
But we will see when and if it actually releases, they did cut the 360 version of AoC and I am not sure how well they are doing right now so it is best to relaxx until we at least get a release date.
If you go to my post that has facial pictures and indeed there are more on their website, but nothing stating the graphics engine is in any form of a beta, there is however an old post on Anarchy Online where a Dev. (I think it was Means). He was talking about how they given a tour to someone and had shown them the graphics engine. the Dev. stated, "Now one more person knows of the graphic engines existence."
So from what I've read over the past 3 years of the "Engine Release" there has been no information stating a beta or anywhere close to being remotely finished. Anarchy Online is a big game, it's going to take a while for them to convert the entire game from the original to the new engine.
I have had high hopes for the release of the graphics engine in 2009 and to no success that year, 2010 just passed and I was still playing Anarchy Online with no major information other than faces. Now we are in 2011 and all I can do is wait. But I'm now wasting my time waiting for the engine to "release" in 2011 while there are other games on the market coming out.
Some more head pictures and what not:
http://forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php?t=582122
Lying is the one thing Funcom really excels at don't you know.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I tried out AO in the spring of 2008, played for a few months, then quit -- mainly because of AO's performance problems on my gaming PC, which was high-end at the time and far exceeded AO's recommended system specs. During my stint in AO, most players I asked predicted that the new graphics engine would be ready and implemented by summertime.
The new engine would, I thought, solve most of the game's performance problems on my modern computer. When it didn't surface by summertime, I quit AO.
Summer 2008, summer 2009, and summer 2010 have come and gone; summer 2011 is approximately six months away. I check this forum every few months to monitor the state of the game, and apparently the new graphics engine still isn't even close to being implemented.
Oh well....
Currently Playing: EVE Online
Retired From: UO, FFXI, AO, SWG, Ryzom, GW, WoW, WAR
Every new game I have tried in the last 3-4 years has blown. Perpetuum got me excited at first and could develop into a nice game, but it's too unfinished and unrefined for me to pay for atm. Other than that, nothing worth the CD it's encoded on has been made in nearly half a decade.
I would LOVE to give AO another whirl with a new graphics engine. I would love to see them focus on expanding the "original" section of the game as well. Forget weird alien lands and such. They had it right on the original and they could develop that area of the game with the new engine and give AO new life imo.
Wish they would get on with it. =D
You're waiting for them to update their graphic engine? They haven't even provided decent combat animations in all these years. There are lots of "special" attacks but NO animations for these attacks after all this time. They have what seems to be a "placeholder" animation where your character stops attacking, leans to the right and simulates pushing a button. LOL!
This is unacceptable after all these years. Don't get me wrong, the game is still very enjoyable for what it is, but the little things they've never gotten right.
I thought they were only updating certain aspects? It's not going to look like a 2011 game, it'll look like a 2008 game, at best.
Drop the next-gen marketing and people will argue if the game itself has merit.
A 2008 game? You're being overly generous
I have to say I agree with you. Funcom has irritated me more than once with their decisions and general attitude, and the AO population got pretty skeezy in later years, but I would give AO another go, happily, if they'd get this up and running. I think it would bring back a lot of the old community, and that community was always older in years than the current communities of most games, too, which could really make for a fine bunch of gamers to spend some time with. Plus, I still haven't found anything as unique as AO was and is. Maybe The Secret World will top it, that is shaping up to be something different, too, but meanwhile, it's same old same old, and frankly, I'm sick of it all.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
~Albert Einstein
Played AO since day 1 and it's by far the best game ever made. The engine would help with bringing back the community to a certain degree ofc. but they need to do a lot more then that. customize the UI a bit and let us have key binds.
Remembered the first time I played a game that wasnt AO and said to myself you dont have to use a mouse to click?
But as far as the engine goes lot of people saying that they have been waiting 3 years for this and too me I seem to recall it being much longer that they brought up the idea.
ATM the game really just is kiss butt with means on forums anymore.
My favorite placeholder animation is when you toon starts turning that valve. Like he's releasing the mojo. You're right to think of it as "unacceptable" but at the same time, after such a long time, they add quite a bit of charm to the game. Whenever I'm in the middle of a fight and have to turn the steering wheel or look up a play on my wristband it just puts me on the floor. LOL.
Im not even sure the new engin will do much more than add GPU preformace, and a few terrain and water textures.
Did they even discuss changing animations or character effects?
Would be the possibly the greatest surprise in mmorpg history, is if the reason this is taking so damn long to get out, is that they are doing what we all want in secret, remaking the game botom up, utilizing a new engin, and giving the game a truly modern look in every way....i hope but i dont expect...would truly be great if that were to happen.
Edit: Just went to the AO website and checked out the latest blog related to the graphics udate.
not only did they relocate that team from norway to montreal, wich doesnt help for the speed of the update, but they posted a few GIF's, that show old armor followed by the updated armor...not sure if its all attached to the intended character models or not, however it looked quite underwhelming.
lol i know they just moved, but heres a picture from their new offices front door...no joke
Still wish them the best of luck working with updating one of the best mmorpgs ever created...
Did you miss the part where they said the new armor models are being done by a volunteer from the playerbase? They can't even afford to pay for real talent, and people still think this "engine" will save the game. ROFL
I think the goal is to not run up a huge tab, to keep the game going as long as possible, with as little overhead as possible.
Ill take a voulenteer anyday over nothing.
And the gifs showing the changes are underwhelming, but better than nothing.
Again the goal is to keep this game running for a long time, hence the reason they need a new engin.
However i agree, the game needs a rebirth not an update, this update wont turn the game into a high pop game, just make it more playable for those who do still play.
The best part of this for fans of their games is that they are being paid a tidy sum by the originator of the engine to implement it. So added funds (though many cynics beleive the money is going directly to Secret World as there has been very little content produced by Funcom in the last 8 months)
So, Funcom is paying Funcom a tidy sum? lol
The "new" engine is the upgraded AoC version of the Dreamworld engine. Anarchy Online runs currently on the original Dreamworld engine. And The Secret World runs on a further upgraded Dreamworld engine. And Funcom is the originator of the Dreamworld engine.
You never worked at a larger corp, have you? Sounds exactly like that.
But yes, he probably mixed up the engine with another engine, otherwise is the worst thing that could happen that the AoC department charges AO with some money from their subs to add to AoCs updates.
I even worked at departments that cheated other departments of the same company for money, talk about wasting peoples time for nothing.
Even being done by unpaid volunteers the new armor sets can't be any worse than OFAB, which I assume was done by paid content designers.