Sooo. Do any of you guys actually like EQ 2's graphics and art style?

[Slayde]

I tried out the 14 day trial this past weekend and I have to say, even on max settings I can't stand the looks of this game artistically. The newbie zones (all of them) seemed so bland, boring, and lack personality, detail and immersion. I couldn't even find myself caring about what might be around the next bend in those zones. ?(

Are the newbie zones just boring and the rest of the game's zones better? Is it just a personal taste and art flavor issue I have? It's a shame since I was hoping the game would be one I would enjoy playing once in awhile when taking breaks from WoW. ;(

[Noxxy]

EQ2 is an old game based on old technology and graphics engines - WoW is specifically designed to utilise the latest and greatest - so of course the graphics of EQ2 is going to be less than WoW

The devs have tried to address the graphics issue over multiple GUs and I think you will find that as each expac is released, the graphics 'should' and does improve

Will they ever be on par or surpass WoW? No - totally different graphics engine and seriously - why be another WoW clone?

In 10 years time when we're all playing EQ4 and WoW2 - with our 10000gig graphics cards and multiplexmultiple cores - we'll all be sitting around scratching our heads larfing at how crappy the graphics of the current WoW are...

[Binaryzero]

EQ2 came out a weeks one way or the other of WOW, they are both Gen3 MMOS... EQ2's graphics are awsome, but the trial client is low res.

[Slayde]

EQ2 came out a weeks one way or the other of WOW, they are both Gen3 MMOS... EQ2's graphics are awsome, but the trial client is low res.

hmm, if that is the case, they should disable the highest settings in the options so it is clear it isn't using the best textures, etc. in the trial or provide the high res version as an alternate download. It gives prospective buyers a bad impression of their game to limit it to the low res version of the client. Can any of you guys post a link to some high res screenshots or post links to some of your favorites you've taken so I can see what the high res looks like? thanks.

[AlienChild]

EQ2 graphics are light years ahead of WoW and quite frankly only the latest release MMO's can compete with EQ2 graphically. When EQ2 first came out the graphics were so good no machine at the time could come close to running it at full detail. It was designed to be future proof.

I have no idea if the trial has lower graphics than the main game but I would certainly think that is the case if you thought EQ2 graphics were unimpressive!

[Frosty]

I tried out the 14 day trial this past weekend and I have to say, even on max settings I can't stand the looks of this game artistically. The newbie zones (all of them) seemed so bland, boring, and lack personality, detail and immersion. I couldn't even find myself caring about what might be around the next bend in those zones. ?(

Are the newbie zones just boring and the rest of the game's zones better? Is it just a personal taste and art flavor issue I have? It's a shame since I was hoping the game would be one I would enjoy playing once in awhile when taking breaks from WoW. ;(

I'm not sure about the low-res trial thing, but I played WoW since beta and played EQ2 when it first came out.

My machine at the time would hardly run EQ2 at even the lowest settings.



But I'm wondering if you are also speaking of the artistic style of the games?

To me, WoW has always seemd very cartoony, and this is a big hit for some people. EQ2 Attempts to look a bit more realistic.

And don't get me started on spell effects.. EQ2 blows WoW right out of the water. BUT, all that depends on the machine you are running it on too.

[algol]

EQ seems to have "better" graphics for the most part...but I never found them to be very engaging.

[ioho]

After playing WoW for so long, I find it very difficult playing other games. It's not that the graphics are worse - they are just so different!
I try not to compare them. I find WoW to be sort of "cartoony" where as other games try for more realism - like AoC.

ioho

[Mooni]

Ioho summed it up. I can agree to a point with what everyone said, because these are just opinions. I have to admit that I was turned off to EQ2 from every single screenshot I saw for years.
The characters all look like grey aliens in rubber man-suits. Damn Erudites are up to somethin'...
But as a multi-boxer you know that graphics are just things that tax your system! I play on lowest settings because I use a single computer anyway.
When I want to see pretty things I go to deviantart. WTB stick-figure mod for every MMO

[Frosty]

I know the graphics tax my system..but that doesn't stop me from cranking them almost all the way up on my main.

My new system handle's it pretty nicely. :thumbsup:



Plus, after playing with the lag in WoW (on my old crappy computers) getting hit with a drop to 15ish FPS doesn't even phase me. :P

[Captive]

I like the graphics in EQ2 better, but I run my "main" with the graphics turned up significantly. The other 5 accounts are all on maximum performance. WoW's graphics - I think they call it pixel-shading? - are designed to work on lower-end machines than EQ2's were. I'm surprised you think they look poor compared to WoW - but that might be the case if the trial is crippled in some way or if you have the graphics quality turned way down. Of course, personal taste also comes into play - I think WoW's graphics look cartoony and unrealistic. But they're supposed to - it's just designed differently. I like the graphics in both games, I guess, but EQ2's are far more realistic and detailed.

[Slayde]

The trial client may indeed be gimped graphically since it definately didn't look realistic or high quality even on max settings. Although, I could just be jaded now since the last "realistic" graphic style mmo I've played was Age of Conan on max settings. Now that game looks amazing of course with the best dynamic lighting, character models, and combat animations I've seen in any mmo yet. Too bad the rest of that game didn't match up to the graphics.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

"Better graphics" and "light years ahead" to me in terms of EQ2's graphics means "plastic models" to me. There are ways to do environment mapping and phong shading that don't look like Fisher Price commissioned it, and EQ2 seems to have failed at both. /shrug

Frankly, I the sort of things I look at as "next-gen" graphics and all that jazz are games like Metal Gear Solid 4, STALKER, Gears of War 2, etc. If you've played MGS4 on a console on a good HDTV or Gears of War on a nice LCD panel on a high-end PC, it just looks "right." There's a reason they use the game for the cutscenes. ;) For me it's sorta like how the original Star Wars movies were: high technology that we can only dream of but everything's sorta used and dirty/ho-hum looking.

WoW is in a class few "next-gen" games pull off well, which is an artistic/saturated environment with lots of minor motion that keeps the world feeling alive. I suck at conveying what I mean in clear terminology, but things like having superb graphics textures that make up for lower polygons, and designing plants/trees/architecture that is completely unlike anything real. Like instead of focusing on making things more "real" they focus on stylized renderings that fit with the world in such a way as to increase immersion. Probably one of the best examples of this is the worgen animations. Sure, they don't have realistic billion-follicle hair and 50,000 polygons with realistic fingernails and rippling stomach muscles and such, but their animations are more smoothly done and believable than most other "realistic" games. Things like people/animals feet not "moonwalking" when they walk/run because the animators actually factored that in to make it look like the feet are actually planted on the ground (ignore the recent fuck-ups to the orgrimmar wolf mounts...sheesh, did they muck those up) with a few obvious exceptions (the demon models like the Doomguard).

Heh, I'll stop now. Hope that explains my thoughts. :)

Cheers,
Ugh

[Slayde]

I'd have to say that even with it's slightly cartoony and stylised art style, WoW's regions just seem more "believable", alive, and immersive than a lot of other mmo's I've played. Screen shots really don't do it justice compared to seeing it in motion on high settings. Makes me wonder what Blizzard's art team would be able to do with a higher res engine. The most recent games that felt the most alive and immersive in game to me are WoW, AoC, and LOTRO (human and hobbit areas). All three games have very talented artists and a consisent art style throughout their game. Other games look good in screen shots, but look and feel very empty, generic, lifeless, and static in game.

I was hoping EQ2 would be more immersive for me since the actual game sounds interesting and has a lot of depth. I'm just leary about buying the DVD version and still not being able to overlook my distaste of the art style even with higher resoultion artwork. I'm glad some of you guys are able to enjoy both games since I have nothing against EQ2 or its fan base. We all have different tastes and likes and that's what makes life interesting. Have fun guys and thanks for the feedback. :thumbup:

[Frosty]

hrmm.. Not sure what you mean by the Fisher-Price thing.

But what I can tell you is, going from my old rig to my new rig didn't just increase my FPS. ;)

There are settings you just can't run on some machines/cards that really have an impact on the models, texture and animations in EQ2.
On some machines the animation has reduced cycles, making it look less impressive.

Simulated cloth..is pretty darn nice. Fires that actually look like fires...with heat shimmers.

Comparing any MMO to a console game really isn't fair though, since most MMO's are geared to run well with X number of players, while consoles are limited to only a handful at most.
Screen shots really don't do it justice compared to seeing it in motion on high settings.


Just in case - Almost all of us here have played WoW too. :P

OH, and if WoW is you "thing/style"... try using the alternate models in EQ2.



Edit - WTF is up with all the extra spaces/returns when I make a post now????

[Ughmahedhurtz]

A few obvious examples:

Plastic trees/grass: http://everquest2.station.sony.com/screenshots/rok/large/3.jpg
Plastic giant: http://everquest2.station.sony.com/screenshots/rok/large/23.jpg <--- skin, cloth, leather, brass and a steel axe, all with identical reflectivity. The purest example of "fuck it, just set everything to phong shading and let's go home" I've seen in a while.
Olivedrablol: http://everquest2.station.sony.com/screenshots/rok/large/47.jpg <--- and geez, bump-mapping is a tool, not a sledgehammer you hit people in the face with.
Dude's bones are shinier than his metal breatplate: http://everquest2.station.sony.com/screenshots/tbc/large/2.jpg
Another example of "bump-mapping is a panacea!": http://everquest2.station.sony.com/screenshots/dof/large/6.jpg

In a lot of these examples, they appear to have just taken a bland single color, slapped it onto large portions of a model/landscape, and then just thrown bump-mapping at everything and expected it to add the expected "roughness" to it. But when the mapping has identical reflectivity on everything, it just looks plastic. Like someone who rendered a model in 3D and forgot to run it through Lightwave.

[asgradth]

Yes, I actually prefer EQ2's graphics style to any other MMO i've tried, including Conan and Warhammer. It just feels more... Real in EQ2. Granted, i'm talking about the gfx on a Quad Core system running a pair of 4870's in Crossfire mode and only running 1 Toon with EVERYTHING set to high mode (4xAA, 16xAF, etc). In low rez mode, every game looks like krap. And the trial client is hobbled and only runs low_rez.

I absolutely HATE the cartoony feel of WoW... Feels like i'm playing some kids game like ToonTown or something.

The one thing I love about EQ2 is the Interface. Moreso than anything else, the Interface is most important to me. The fact that it's completely XML makes customization a breeze and that makes me happy! That's the primary reason I told Spellborn to kiss my arse. You can not move Any part of the GUI in that game... what a jyp.

[Frosty]

A few obvious examples:

Plastic trees/grass: http://everquest2.station.sony.com/screenshots/rok/large/3.jpg
Plastic giant: http://everquest2.station.sony.com/screenshots/rok/large/23.jpg <--- skin, cloth, leather, brass and a steel axe, all with identical reflectivity. The purest example of "fuck it, just set everything to phong shading and let's go home" I've seen in a while.
Olivedrablol: http://everquest2.station.sony.com/screenshots/rok/large/47.jpg <--- and geez, bump-mapping is a tool, not a sledgehammer you hit people in the face with.
Dude's bones are shinier than his metal breatplate: http://everquest2.station.sony.com/screenshots/tbc/large/2.jpg
Another example of "bump-mapping is a panacea!": http://everquest2.station.sony.com/screenshots/dof/large/6.jpg

In a lot of these examples, they appear to have just taken a bland single color, slapped it onto large portions of a model/landscape, and then just thrown bump-mapping at everything and expected it to add the expected "roughness" to it. But when the mapping has identical reflectivity on everything, it just looks plastic. Like someone who rendered a model in 3D and forgot to run it through Lightwave.
I see what you are saying in some of those, but the bump-mapping on that scorpion guys looks pretty cool to me. :P

That being said.. I haven't run into anything plastic looking in the game yet on my machine... that wasn't meant to look plasticy/shiney.



All of the skeletons I've run into (not to TSO yet) are not shiney at all, and have more of a rough/flat texture.



I'm also going to have to take a look at the trees because I just don't remember seeing them like that...of course this would actually require me to log in and get more than 2 minutes to play. :pinch:

[Korruptor]

Sorry if this derails the discussion but i'm curious, in combat do you still autoface the target or can you disable that?

I never liked the look of the upper half of my body facing backwards when running from a fight, it just ruins the immersion for me.

[Marious]

A lot of the stuff that I just cant get over is when the char you play or any of the NPC's for that mater mesh right with the surroundings like they did not take any time to do the surroundings and they took there time on the characters. It kills me when they do that kind of crap, WoW at least stuff seems to fit together right, yes it is cartoony and I don't mind since it all meshes well together, for me to enjoy the game it has to look like everything you have it actually belongs there not some of it looks like it was done by some one that is great at doing what they do and the other stuff was done by some one in high school or elementary, I feel the same way about some of the technical manuals I work with, some of them look great but some of the stuff they put on there looks like my 8 year old grabbed a crayon and started to go to town on it.

Never liked the feel of EQ2 well at least on SS's I might love it if I played it but never got into it.

[Lyssia]

I tried out the 14 day trial this past weekend and I have to say, even on max settings I can't stand the looks of this game artistically. The newbie zones (all of them) seemed so bland, boring, and lack personality, detail and immersion. I couldn't even find myself caring about what might be around the next bend in those zones. ?(

Are the newbie zones just boring and the rest of the game's zones better? Is it just a personal taste and art flavor issue I have? It's a shame since I was hoping the game would be one I would enjoy playing once in awhile when taking breaks from WoW. ;(

You may want to check out the graphics again late in September. The next game update will be implementing a new shader system, and from the previews I have seen there's a world of difference.