im guessing a big part of it too, is just lazy designing. A lot of the weapons in WoW started looking stupid but for some reason, got "bigger".
I disagree totally. But that is your opinion. WoW weapons got bigger but more awesome. Look at the weapons we have from vanilla endgame. They were just as big and epic looking. Then check out the weapons from TBC arena gear. The 2hander mace was huge and feel powerful owning people with that thing.
if the game is aiming at realism then give me realistic weapons. If devs dont have realism in mind, then give me massive weapons or dont give me the game regardless of the genre although massive weapons fit perfectly in any fantasy mmorpg (if its fantasy, realism has no room here as we are to see unreal stuff)
Certainly not mine; I prefer my weapons (as well as armor and face/body) to look as realistic as possible (minus of course the fact that my darkelf has white hair, dark skin, pointy ears etc).
They look better and they make to player feel as epic as the weapon (just my opinion). But I haven't really noticed any MASSIVE weapons in any of those games you've mentioned...
WoW, LOTRO, WAR, EQ2, AoC, most manga style MMO's, GW, they all have oversized weapons. Swords not always, but one handed hammers and axes usually have way too large heads/blades. It maybe isnt that easy to spot, because you look at small toons on a screen.
If it's manga then that's alright. The art style is that the players are small. The weapons are meant to justify it.
No clue what you mean. In manga and most other cartoons everything is out of proportion. Strong toons are too large, small toons are tiny, slender are sticks etc. But even in MMO's with a more realistic artstyle, the weapons are oversized. Maybe the artists have more reasons to do this then just 'bigger is better'.
Still the OP has a point. Some weapons are just silly looking (if you realise how the physics would work anyway).
There's your problem right there. Trying to base real world ANYTHING in a fantasy MMO is silly in general. We're talking about a world where magic and monsters exist. The idea of having larger weapons then normal shouldn't be too hard to grasp. I know that sometimes they go to the extreme but most of the time having larger then normal weapons just looks better in general. If every weapon in the game was the exact size of normally used weapons then it would be boring, most of the models will have barely any detail and lack a lot of luster when compaired to other items which is boring and will cause players to not be excited over getting a new weapon after spending time to either craft or get in a raid.
I can understand that it would be boring looking and thats probably why the artists go for oversized weapons in general. But there is still a large size variety within the oversized weapons department The games that the OP used as example are way over the top with weaponsizes compared to other MMO's. Those gameworlds might not be based on rl physics (faster running, higher jumping as proof for example), but even then if it doesnt seem to have coherent rules, some players notice.
In the OP's listed games you have to be really blind to not notice that those weapons are still way too heavy (game based on forging needs strong solid metal weapons for the impacts they suffer). I think one reason why many players dont even realise this (just check some posts in this thread), is that they never wielded a real melee weapon ( or just a sledgehammer for example). Some tend to underestimate how difficult it is to wield large weapons.
Actually, these weapons can work with physics if we assume that the characters in these games are MUCH stronger than a normal human. Captain America definitely wouldn't be able to throw his shield around like that if he only had a normal human's strength, but he could because he's WAY stronger than a normal human.
Same with the characters in MMORPGs. In Aion, your characters were basically demi-gods, and in Rift, you're basically the 'chosen' one. In pretty much all MMORPGs, you can think of your character as beyond human, so their strength would also be so massive that they can weild these gigantic two handed weapons one handed.
Also, these weapons could be magically enhanced to be very light. So they can use these weapons because in addition to their massive strength, these weapons weigh no more than a longsword does in a real life.
I agree. Take WoW for example.Paladins are blessed with Devine strength. Well what more does that mean?
Some human and dwarf warriors have been known to fight off multiple fel Orcs like nothing. Titan grip comes to mind. Few paladins even Titan grip 2hander and off hand things.
Most people play games for a certain amount of escapism, and of those people, a good number who are interested in a fantasy setting want fantastical things.
There are varying degrees of fantasy/sci-fi. There's grittier, more "realistic" low fantasy like Conan and The Witcher, and there's high fantasy like Aion and WoW. Not everyone is going to like everything, and if you're one of those people who doesn't like the over the top items, then I can see why you'd be unhappy with many games out there.
Err... there is absolutely nothing "fantastic" about riddiciously oversized weapons. They are stupid, an absolutely idiotic phallus symbolism.
And dont be so fast to praise Conan as "realistic", after all, thats the source of the likewise stupid "chain bikini".
Originally posted by Havok2all
Maybe some guys want giant oversized swords for the same reason some middled aged men buy expensive pointless sports cars :P
QFT !
Originally posted by Loke666
There is a few reasons for it.
Cultural: For some reasons does it seems like people in Japan, China, and Korea often like oversized weapons, or they do at least often appears in mangas/Manhwas from those countries as well as games.
Estitical: Bigger weapons are easier to see and many people think they look cool when you animate them.
Some kind of complex: Maybe some people just got a small **** and want to overcompensate.
Personally do I think that they are silly, besides polearms and lances that are supposed to be that big. I wanyt my weapons and armors to be realistic. I on the other hand are rather annoyed that my male characters must wear earrings and similar stuff like a girl or be punished for it.... Can you imagine Conan with a full MMO jewelry set? I can't, just pimps.
QFT !
The socalled "christmas tree adventurer annoys me a lot, too.
Not specifically jewelry; protective magic rings and amulets make perfect sense to me, even on a Conan.
I'm more annoyed that EVERYONEis wearing ALL possible slots. EVERYONE is wearing a complete set of everything. EVERYONE has a cloak. EVERYONE has a helmet. Etc.
I want to play a powerful mage with a robe and a staff and nothing else - and be complete. That would be much more cool.
Vanguard had this at release: you had gear rated by its power. At least in theory, this would have allowed to wear very powerful gear in some slots and left the other slots empty. Its one of the things they later removed from the game, obviously it scaled bad with introducing more and more powerful gear as its common for MMOs.
Originally posted by Loke666
Originally posted by Ikisis
^ I think Cloud set the trend for the over sized sword honestly.
Partly, but some older Japanese manga and anime had them even before that.
But in this case it is the Japanese fault. Funny enough are there a few Chinese real swords that looks rather oversized.
There is nothing oversized about that weapon, though its not a sword, but more of a spear.
Originally posted by someforumguy
Thats just a polearm with a blade attached to it. In the west we had halberds which were similar. In weight its still way less then a claymore or any large medieval 2hnded sword.
While games use hammers with a solid metal head as large as the player's head and wield it as 1hnd weapon (just compare a sledgehammer for size and try to wield it ).
I would like to see a game that uses Anime size weapons , but then with realistic physics So that when someone swings one of those huge swords and misses, needs help to stop spinning
Twohanded mediveal swords, if they are actual battle weapons and not decorative, are very lightweight and fast weapons with enormous reach and unmatched flexibility. See a demonstration with a modern replica of it. Dont put that sword at your front door though, as this video suggests: its pretty useless in close quarters, you need the room to swing it.
WTF is wrong with links in this forum ? The pages I linked have been:
Originally posted by Deleted User
I have been travelling along the Yangzhe River when I was much younger and hit upon the small local museums housing the tombs of old day war heroes. I have seen the weapons in those museums, they ARE that large.
Likewise I have spent nights in caster/keep converted hotels in Germany, and have seen 2 hand swords that are almost as tall as me (I am short). So no kidding, there are such weapons.
Of course, these weapons are wielded by the strongest, tallest and most powerful warrior/general/soldiers of their era, and they are mean to kill a heavily armed enemy in a strike. They are not for us.
So what ? Nobody complains about weapons THAT size.
Originally posted by Kyleran
As every woman will tell you, size does matter.
Yeah we men only like big boobs.
And have you actually asked any ?
Originally posted by EvilestTwin
But that's only true for 'humans'. In most of these MMOs, the players are more equivalent to demigods, so weilding gigantic overweight weapons isn't a problem for them.
Aha, so a Wizard did it ? Why would a wizard enchant Conan so he can ignore basic laws of physics ?
Originally posted by someforumguy
Some of you dont realise that weapons in games are generally too heavy to wield in the way they are used.
For example, think of shot put. Think about how even the best athletes have to use all their power to throw such a weight with a relatively slow acceleration. Now, check 1handed hammers in games. Their solid metal heads are even larger weights and are used in games with a stopping and accelerating power that would rip a real human's muscles to shreds. Ever tried to stop a sledgehammer when you started to swing it?
A lot of manga style games (TERA for example) even exaggerate on that. Those weapons are ridiculously over the top and used with speed that is simply impossible. Just compare the weight of the wielder and the weight of the weapon and a miss would have to show completely different animations.
Realistic physics would put make the fighters very slow, lose balance on every miss and get out of breath after a few swings. Not to mention some dislocated shoulders. An agile fighter with a butter knife would be more dangerous.
Too heavy to be used can be explained by magic strength items.
The issue is center of gravity. If you weight 100 kg and the weapon weights 1000 kg, the center of mass is in the weapon, thus you can no longer swing it the way you can swing the normal item.
But really I guess it's just the idea/concept beyond giant weapons that people like. If we can like the idea of an old man with a pointy hat conjuring up fireballs, I don't see the problem with a strong warrior wielding a sword the average person wouldn't be able to lift.
I think the people in this thread are looking into the whole thing way to deeply, when the appeal to those who like it is very simple.
I truly believe these Korean developers introduced those extra large weapons,to give the illusion to players that they were weilding something special.They use the same philosophy by giving weapons glowing textures,again players feel special,so they keep coming back to play.
It's not a korean thing, there are also western mmorpgs with huge weapons.
I was just looking at some video of Raiderz online and it got me curious, alot of MMO's like Raiderz, Aion, most F2P like Vindictus as well as some other P2P games keep putting in these gigantic oversized extremely stupid (IMO) looking weapons.
I don't get it either. It looks f*****g ridiculous when you see a character, particularly the typical creepy-looking Asian MMO child-females wielding weapons that must weigh in excess of 100 to 200lbs in weight.
Comments
Because some older men have saved and invested their money and now have a lot of it so now they want to spend it on things they want?
None. Cartoony shoulderpads and massive weapons will die with wow.
considering in most games a single hit is not going to kill you, i choose not to be botherd with oversized gear. it looks cool. that's reason enough.
Welcome back to August, everyone, courtesy of User Deleted.
You mean like this?
Well they're obviously phallic symbols, nothing more.
I disagree totally. But that is your opinion. WoW weapons got bigger but more awesome. Look at the weapons we have from vanilla endgame. They were just as big and epic looking. Then check out the weapons from TBC arena gear. The 2hander mace was huge and feel powerful owning people with that thing.Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Oh lawd...
"Come and have a look at what you could have won."
if the game is aiming at realism then give me realistic weapons. If devs dont have realism in mind, then give me massive weapons or dont give me the game regardless of the genre although massive weapons fit perfectly in any fantasy mmorpg (if its fantasy, realism has no room here as we are to see unreal stuff)
My guess is fetish.
Certainly not mine; I prefer my weapons (as well as armor and face/body) to look as realistic as possible (minus of course the fact that my darkelf has white hair, dark skin, pointy ears etc).
WoW, LOTRO, WAR, EQ2, AoC, most manga style MMO's, GW, they all have oversized weapons. Swords not always, but one handed hammers and axes usually have way too large heads/blades. It maybe isnt that easy to spot, because you look at small toons on a screen.
If it's manga then that's alright. The art style is that the players are small. The weapons are meant to justify it.
No clue what you mean. In manga and most other cartoons everything is out of proportion. Strong toons are too large, small toons are tiny, slender are sticks etc. But even in MMO's with a more realistic artstyle, the weapons are oversized. Maybe the artists have more reasons to do this then just 'bigger is better'.
Still the OP has a point. Some weapons are just silly looking (if you realise how the physics would work anyway).
There's your problem right there. Trying to base real world ANYTHING in a fantasy MMO is silly in general. We're talking about a world where magic and monsters exist. The idea of having larger weapons then normal shouldn't be too hard to grasp. I know that sometimes they go to the extreme but most of the time having larger then normal weapons just looks better in general. If every weapon in the game was the exact size of normally used weapons then it would be boring, most of the models will have barely any detail and lack a lot of luster when compaired to other items which is boring and will cause players to not be excited over getting a new weapon after spending time to either craft or get in a raid.
I can understand that it would be boring looking and thats probably why the artists go for oversized weapons in general. But there is still a large size variety within the oversized weapons department
The games that the OP used as example are way over the top with weaponsizes compared to other MMO's. Those gameworlds might not be based on rl physics (faster running, higher jumping as proof for example), but even then if it doesnt seem to have coherent rules, some players notice.
In the OP's listed games you have to be really blind to not notice that those weapons are still way too heavy (game based on forging needs strong solid metal weapons for the impacts they suffer). I think one reason why many players dont even realise this (just check some posts in this thread), is that they never wielded a real melee weapon ( or just a sledgehammer for example). Some tend to underestimate how difficult it is to wield large weapons.
Actually, these weapons can work with physics if we assume that the characters in these games are MUCH stronger than a normal human. Captain America definitely wouldn't be able to throw his shield around like that if he only had a normal human's strength, but he could because he's WAY stronger than a normal human.
Same with the characters in MMORPGs. In Aion, your characters were basically demi-gods, and in Rift, you're basically the 'chosen' one. In pretty much all MMORPGs, you can think of your character as beyond human, so their strength would also be so massive that they can weild these gigantic two handed weapons one handed.
Also, these weapons could be magically enhanced to be very light. So they can use these weapons because in addition to their massive strength, these weapons weigh no more than a longsword does in a real life.
I agree. Take WoW for example.Paladins are blessed with Devine strength. Well what more does that mean?Some human and dwarf warriors have been known to fight off multiple fel Orcs like nothing. Titan grip comes to mind. Few paladins even Titan grip 2hander and off hand things.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Err... there is absolutely nothing "fantastic" about riddiciously oversized weapons. They are stupid, an absolutely idiotic phallus symbolism.
And dont be so fast to praise Conan as "realistic", after all, thats the source of the likewise stupid "chain bikini".
QFT !
QFT !
The socalled "christmas tree adventurer annoys me a lot, too.
Not specifically jewelry; protective magic rings and amulets make perfect sense to me, even on a Conan.
I'm more annoyed that EVERYONEis wearing ALL possible slots. EVERYONE is wearing a complete set of everything. EVERYONE has a cloak. EVERYONE has a helmet. Etc.
I want to play a powerful mage with a robe and a staff and nothing else - and be complete. That would be much more cool.
Vanguard had this at release: you had gear rated by its power. At least in theory, this would have allowed to wear very powerful gear in some slots and left the other slots empty. Its one of the things they later removed from the game, obviously it scaled bad with introducing more and more powerful gear as its common for MMOs.
There is nothing oversized about that weapon, though its not a sword, but more of a spear.
Twohanded mediveal swords, if they are actual battle weapons and not decorative, are very lightweight and fast weapons with enormous reach and unmatched flexibility. See a demonstration with a modern replica of it. Dont put that sword at your front door though, as this video suggests: its pretty useless in close quarters, you need the room to swing it.
Authentic warhammers are also quite lightweight and an enormously powerful weapon. Another demonstration with a replica of them.
WTF is wrong with links in this forum ? The pages I linked have been:
So what ? Nobody complains about weapons THAT size.
Yeah we men only like big boobs.
And have you actually asked any ?
Aha, so a Wizard did it ? Why would a wizard enchant Conan so he can ignore basic laws of physics ?
Too heavy to be used can be explained by magic strength items.
The issue is center of gravity. If you weight 100 kg and the weapon weights 1000 kg, the center of mass is in the weapon, thus you can no longer swing it the way you can swing the normal item.
Giant sword syndrome.
But really I guess it's just the idea/concept beyond giant weapons that people like. If we can like the idea of an old man with a pointy hat conjuring up fireballs, I don't see the problem with a strong warrior wielding a sword the average person wouldn't be able to lift.
I think the people in this thread are looking into the whole thing way to deeply, when the appeal to those who like it is very simple.
Thank you for the reality check.
My theme song.
I don't get it either. It looks f*****g ridiculous when you see a character, particularly the typical creepy-looking Asian MMO child-females wielding weapons that must weigh in excess of 100 to 200lbs in weight.