Yeah VG has its problems, but then again, its non-zoned and non-instanced. There are no convenient mountains surrounding every piece of every area to perfectly seperate them.
There is no other explanation then when VG was released it was running extremely poor code. They may have fixed it since then, but the game is not optimized (sp?) at all. I can run VG at the highest settings and get around 20FPS I was playing on Balanced and getting around 40 FPS.
I haven't checked my FPS on LOTRO because I couldn't find an ingame command to actually pull it up, But I havent had any video problems at all on the game. It runs extremely smoothly on Ultra High settings.
My system:
AMD 64 X2 4200+
2 eVGA Geforce 7600 GT 256MB cards running in SLI
2 gigs of DDR2 800 Ram
So not top of the line, but definitely good enough to play any of the MMOs out currently.
Currently playing: LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too: Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
Yeah VG has its problems, but then again, its non-zoned and non-instanced and don't forget non-optimized There are no convenient mountains surrounding every piece of every area to perfectly seperate them.
Currently playing: LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too: Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
Yeah VG has its problems, thought i said that..oh yeah..i DID. I dont even think VG is that great, but the open world concept is definitely one that should stick...I didnt realize Tolkien created a world with neatly segmented little areas.
I don't see how this is something to be proud of. It just means that LOTRO is a cracker-jack game aimed at non-serious gamers with POS computers. My computer is by no means the best of the best, it's quite average, but it plays Vanguard just fine averaging 30+ FPS (which is all the human eye can see anyway). It DID NOT play that smoothly the first week, but now it does thanks to some hard work from the folks at Sigil who have been cleaning up the game quite nicely now that they have some cash. The only subs LOTRO is going to get is from people who read the books and watch the movies as if they were written by God himself. (Not knocking the franchise, I liked the movies lol). Otherwise no MMO that shallow would get enough subs to keep it afloat.
The human eye can detect a lot more than 30 fps.The eye adjusts to the varying refresh rates.
In my opinion Vanguards graphics really don't justify the requirements. I think it looks pretty bad to be honest. I believe the structures set in place by the developers will allow it to be improved significantly in a graphical sense , at the moment from what I've seen through various media it has a way to go.
I agree with your assessment of lotro and I think you could apply the general arguement to any MMO currently available or soon to be released. There are a lot of shallow games around and they really won't get popular at all except among their particular fan-set. It will take a spectacular shift in ideology / technology for the next wannabe all conquering MMO. Better get comfy, it's going to be a long wait.
Not only that, but Vanguard lacks a number of major graphical touches that LOTRO does not.
Such as reflective water - what other game in the recent past doesn't even have reflective water?
Or, shadows cast by world geometry, like trees and buildings. In Vanguard, object often look out of place, because they don't cast a shadow. The landscape looks somehow monotonous, because of its lack of shadow contrasts, after playing a game like LOTRO.
And what about fog or haze? There are all these woodsy areas which just feel sterile, for thier lack of atmposphereic effects.
Or even just colored lighting, to make the environments feel more vibrant.
How is it that a game which runs so poorly, lacks all that? Those are things I personally consider way more important to impressive game graphics than bump-mapping and ridiculously high poly counts.
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.
What a worthless compare, lotro is a kiddie zoned game, not that thats bad, but seriously try comparing things proper. Amazing what some people post on this page.
edit: Sorry, what is it that you want me to notice? The yellow lighting? They do use colored light sources occassionally, but not colored ambient lighting, and not often enough. Also, I think that's the New Teragor(sp?) dock area, but I'm not sure if the yellow light is from the lamp post, or your "torch."
edit2: Wow, not a fan of words, eh? That's ok.. anyhow, ok, I think what you're circling is character shadows and what you're mistaking for a reflection in the water. That's not a reflection, it's transperant water, and you're seeing the submerged portion of the stone wall, there.
As for the shadows, you misunderstood me. Vanguard does give characters shadows, but not anything else, such as walls or trees. At least, not that I've seen, even after going over the screenshots in MMORPG.com's Vanguard screenshot section. If I'm wrong about that, I'll be happy to apologize.
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.
All those features do exist in game and im to lazy now to prove you otherwise. And also feel it wont be worth my time since you have already made up your mind.
It's not that I've made up my mind, it's just that I'm frustrated that Vanguard doesn't look nearly as good as I think it could. And I wouldn't care, if I didn't play it.
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.
Comments
I haven't checked my FPS on LOTRO because I couldn't find an ingame command to actually pull it up, But I havent had any video problems at all on the game. It runs extremely smoothly on Ultra High settings.
My system:
AMD 64 X2 4200+
2 eVGA Geforce 7600 GT 256MB cards running in SLI
2 gigs of DDR2 800 Ram
So not top of the line, but definitely good enough to play any of the MMOs out currently.
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
The human eye can detect a lot more than 30 fps.The eye adjusts to the varying refresh rates.
In my opinion Vanguards graphics really don't justify the requirements. I think it looks pretty bad to be honest. I believe the structures set in place by the developers will allow it to be improved significantly in a graphical sense , at the moment from what I've seen through various media it has a way to go.
I agree with your assessment of lotro and I think you could apply the general arguement to any MMO currently available or soon to be released. There are a lot of shallow games around and they really won't get popular at all except among their particular fan-set. It will take a spectacular shift in ideology / technology for the next wannabe all conquering MMO. Better get comfy, it's going to be a long wait.
one of the reasons LOTR Online is going to do very well. Move aside EQ2.
Not only that, but Vanguard lacks a number of major graphical touches that LOTRO does not.
How is it that a game which runs so poorly, lacks all that? Those are things I personally consider way more important to impressive game graphics than bump-mapping and ridiculously high poly counts.
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.
Speaking of Vanguard elitists...
Live long and prosper
Vhaln im pretty sure you haven't played the game or probably you played it and never (wanted to) notice
edit: Sorry, what is it that you want me to notice? The yellow lighting? They do use colored light sources occassionally, but not colored ambient lighting, and not often enough. Also, I think that's the New Teragor(sp?) dock area, but I'm not sure if the yellow light is from the lamp post, or your "torch."
edit2: Wow, not a fan of words, eh? That's ok.. anyhow, ok, I think what you're circling is character shadows and what you're mistaking for a reflection in the water. That's not a reflection, it's transperant water, and you're seeing the submerged portion of the stone wall, there.
As for the shadows, you misunderstood me. Vanguard does give characters shadows, but not anything else, such as walls or trees. At least, not that I've seen, even after going over the screenshots in MMORPG.com's Vanguard screenshot section. If I'm wrong about that, I'll be happy to apologize.
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.
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.