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MMO with best graphics (besides WoW & EQ2)
porgie
Member Posts: 1,516
Which game do you guys think has the best graphics out there?
Please exclude WoW and EQ2. I have read enough debates over those already.
I'm looking for a game with attention to detail. Everything fitting together and blending just right. Some really nice weather (I love a game with immersive weather). Nice looking character models. And some SWEET effects.
Please exclude WoW and EQ2. I have read enough debates over those already.
I'm looking for a game with attention to detail. Everything fitting together and blending just right. Some really nice weather (I love a game with immersive weather). Nice looking character models. And some SWEET effects.
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Comments
I have seen movies/screenshots of spell effects, castle seiges, towns, monsters, etc. VERY detailed and immersive.
EVE
Saga of Ryzom
Joined 2004 - I can't believe I've been a MMORPG.com member for 20 years! Get off my lawn!
EVE doesn't have character models, weather, or spell effects! LOL! I think he's talking about a terrestrial type game. Or if a space one, Earth and Beyond would have fit into what he asked for. Except for the weather I guess.
The best spell effects in any game I've played have been in in DAoC. There are some awesome spell effects in that game. However the character models, weather, and such aren't the best.
I am tempted to try Lineage 2 from what I've seen. But I don't know if I'll like the gameplay. That's what's kept me away. The screenshots look nice though. It's graphics engine may be getting old. Someone who plays it will have to tell you for sure.
As far as character models go, some people may laugh at this. But I think the character models in Final Fantasy XI are good. They're really detailed and smoothly rendered. I always looked at them and thought, "Those look nice." But it's engine is getting kind of old too.
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Lineage2
City of Heros/Villians
Guild Wars
All have better graphics then WoW or EQII in my opinion
Ryzom was pretty good, the art style turned me off though.
Graphics and art style are two different things. I agree that CoV has excellent graphics, while it also has a great art style to it. Lineage 2 has great art, but lacks in the graphics department. They are at least a year out of date and that is being quite kind.
DAoC has excellent graphics and a realistic style. I am speaking of the updated graphics circa Darkness Rising of course. Ryzom, though, has probably the best graphics after DAoC and EQ2. They are very detailed and the art style is very particular but quite appealing esthetically.
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WOW has good grahpic?? LOL. Cartoonish graphics might not be a big problem but the matter of style though you have to admit it's not realistic at all, but the CHARACTERs are ugly as hell.
EQ2's characters are not so realistic looking, while the graphics engine is very advanced, you can see that from water effect.
Have to say, from what I saw so far, the MMO with best graphics are
Lineage2 and Silkroad online.
See proof (many random screenshots of users might not show how well the graphics truely are) but I got good ones here
Lineage 2
Most others don't even come anywhere close.
How advanced graphic engine is one thing, but how you design objects/characters is another story. You can make completely different graphics out of the same technology.
Graphics and art style are two different things.
Yes, thats why I stated that.
Lineage 2 has great art, but lacks in the graphics department. They are at least a year out of date and that is being quite kind.
Hmmm......sure
DAoC has excellent graphics and a realistic style. I am speaking of the updated graphics circa Darkness Rising of course. Ryzom, though, has probably the best graphics after DAoC and EQ2. They are very detailed and the art style is very particular but quite appealing esthetically.
>NOTE:
If you want to judge the graphics of a game, do NOT judge if you haven't played the game yourself with best graphic settings. And do NOT judge a game based on the screenshots from gamelist. You have to try out the game yourself.
Because, many of the screenshots from random users are horrible and don't really show how the graphics really are. Many of them didn't really meant to show the graphics, they wanted to show gameplay. Thus their screenshots are horrible from the point of view of graphics.
Whoever said LineageII is at least 1 year behind in graphics must have seen too many horrible random screenshots instead of the real game. As far as I concern, I'd give 9 if not 10 out of 10 points for L2's graphics.
SRO too would get a 9~10 out of 10 points for graphics.
And DAoC has next to horrible in the term of graphics imo. Whoever said it has better graphics than L2 was making a joke. 5/10 points for graphics at most.
EQ2 would have being considered to be very good graphic IF they actually designed their objects/characters more realistic. I'd give them a 7~8/10 for graphics for now.
WOW is a joke with their UGLY characters. I'd give them 2~3 out of 10 points for graphics. Without those ugly characters, they'd probably get a 5~6 points from me.
Please do NOT judge a game's graphic without trying it out yourself at highest graphic settings!
CoH/V - 7
FFXI - 6
Lineage 2 - 8
Guild Wars - 9
DAoC - 7
SWG - 8
"There's no star system Slave I can't reach, and there's no planet I can't find. There's nowhere in the Galaxy for you to run. Might as well give up now."
Boba Fett
Originally posted by farahot
Nothing beats the detail level of Ultima Online... its extreme! You can see everything
Screenshot or never happened.
Well give me your best (screen)shot
I have a question though.
From the screenshots I've seen GW and Lineage 2 look a lot alike. Is that the case? I mean from what I've seen it looks like they used the same artists for the environments and stuff.
If anyones played both games then let me know. I'm not saying they do, so don't get mad at me. I'm asking.
Thanks.
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Originally posted by porgie
I've played Guild Wars and it looks pretty good to me. I like it except for one thing. The characters seem kind of frail. Like their dainty or doing a ballet all the time or something. I don't know how to describe it. Some of them look like they need to eat too.
I have a question though.
From the screenshots I've seen GW and Lineage 2 look a lot alike. Is that the case? I mean from what I've seen it looks like they used the same artists for the environments and stuff.
If anyones played both games then let me know. I'm not saying they do, so don't get mad at me. I'm asking.
Thanks.
Both L2 and GW were from NCsoft. So yes they have many similar places as far as the style goes.
According some mature reviews I read a while ago, L2's graphics still > GW. GW's true graphics isn't as good as it look like. Many things you can't get close to see them face to face, they just protend to be high detailed while they are really not. L2 is free to move to anywhere you want, their high details are real.
There is another thing I'd like to mention.
What is the standard for "good graphics"?
I'd say
1. how advanced the graphic engine is, or what the engine is capable of. It is a big factor for how far the game's graphics can go in the first place.
(yet it is not as important as most ppl would give credit for it, since it's still up to the designers to create the actual "world")
2. How realistic the enviroment is designed.
(Yes with same techonology, the graphics can look a lot better in the hands of good artists than in the hands of some others.) The enviroment is the look of the World.
3. how good/realistic are the characters and objects look like.
(it is very important imo. It's sickening just to look at WOW's UGLY characters. On the other hand, having beautiful characters is a great feature in the overall graphics for a video game)
If you replace L2's characters with WOW's(I am sure they can do that without touching L2's enviroment looks), the score I gave to L2 will drop A LOT.
Also objects design I said are things such as buildings, trees, etc. Sure you can use the same graphic engine to make a tree/build like a child's painting or a lot more realistic...hope you understand what I mean.
SO overall, both #2 and #3 are the most important part for me to judge how the graphics are. While they are based on #1, but resourceful people definately can get a lot more from the same tools than others.
btw, of all the games people mentioned so far, EQ2 has the most advanced graphic engine imo, just take a look at the water, that's something even L2's engine is imcapable of. yet I'd still give L2 higher graphic score than EQ2 simply because of the designs of characters and objects in the term of who is more realistic. EQ2's animals etc. are fine, but when you look close to the faces of the characters, you'll find they are less realistic than L2's.
>btw,
Out of the 5 screenshots I posted,
the first 3 are from Silkroad online. The last 2 are from Lineage2.
Imo, Lineage2 should get a tiny bit more credit in graphics than SRO. just take a look at the color effect of both. I'd say L2's is closer to real. SRO is more colorful, but the real world is rather closer to L2's. Both have very realistic objects such as buildings and trees, also beautiful characters.
I said it, and I played it from launch onward for about 6 months. I have played it with graphics settings at full, and while the artwork is quite above reproach, the models, textures and environments are rather simple. There is no bump mapping to speak of or complex lighting and shading.
Graphics and artwork are different. Your 9 out of 10 is valid, but not for graphics, I think, at least I hope you are referring to the style. L2's weapons, armors and characters, while in need of much diversity, are beautiful and pleasing to the eye. However, the graphics could use some new texture and some of the latest effects. Graphically, SWG is light years ahead of Lineage 2. Not speaking of artwork, just graphics. Boo-yaa.
Graphics to me is all about how everything looks like.
So yeah your so called "artwork" is a part of it since it is the thing to determind how everything looks like.
How things really look like > what the graphic engine is capable of
For all we know, WOW's designs will still have UGLY characters look like CRAP even if they switch to the same graphic engine as SWG or L2. It's not because their technology not allow them to do otherwise, but rather their minds think "crap is good! this is beautiful!" while their characters really look like butts.
EQ2 has good environments as well, but again the characters seem a bit goofy here, a bit wierd looking when they are running and so forth. Still a reasonably good effort.
CoH/CoV win for character graphics simply because of the great customisation options, the best of any game. Environment graphics are well done, but repetative.
EVE has very nice graphics, but doesn't demand as much as these other games do (I'm a big fan of EVE and I do like its graphics, but you really can't compare what it set out to do with what a game like EQ2 requires graphically.
Auto Assault has good environments. The cars are a bit toy like and the character models are not all that customisable.
You feel everyone looks the same in L2. It's not a part of the graphics issue. Rather customization problem..
Which means, there are too few models of each race or too few options for make your characters different.
And I agree on L2 characters look the same.
Use elf female for example, only 3 different faces, 6 or so hair styles, 2 hair color. Nothing else to make them look different.
Outfit too, lvl 1~19 use non grade items,lvl 20~39 use D grade, lvl 40~51 use C grade, lvl 52~60 use B grade, lvl 61~75 use A grade, lvl 75~78 use S grade. There are robes, leather armors, heavy armors 3 main catagories. Each class can only use 1 of them. A grade for example, only 4 different armor sets for each of the 3 catagories, while it is quite clearly which one is the best, so everyone will try to get the "best". Weapons too, more clearly which one is the best...S grade is worse, only 1 for each catagory.
So end up everyone wear the same armor sets with same weapons, while there are only a few different faces, hair styles, and hair colors as natural look of each character.
But that is NOT a part of graphic problem.
To me, graphics is about how the game graphically appeals to me. So to me even where you have nice models like L2, when you have too few of them, and don't allow them to be customised, to me that is a "graphics" issue because it impacts directly how the game graphically appeals to me. Seeing everyone of a certain race look more or less the same, even if that "same look" is pretty, detracts from the graphical enjoyment of the game for me, which is why for me it counts as a "graphics" issue.
Customization issue. Not grahpics issue.
As the matter of fact, none of the MMO has enough models to make everyone look different.
And I guess if there are only 5 different outfits for ALL humans on the earth irl, you will complaint about "graphics sux irl!" ? lol