EQ Never

Here's the thing too...

All the early EQN concept art looks more 'photorealistic' than what we have now. I'm guessing they intended to go the direction some of you are wanting with the art... Then they decided to go with a voxel based environment, and had to decrease the level of realism in the graphical style. Watch the world building panel. They had to create buildings very blocky looking because they weren't exactly sure how smooth they could make the voxels. Thus, they had to make chunky looking characters to fit within the style of the world.

They sacrificed realistic looking art for a revolutionary new system and a competitive advantage, and I think they made the right call.

Xevy_sl said:

It wasn't the graphics that made the game seem real. It was the fact that most of us were between 10-18 and this was the first first-person immersive online game with a 'world' you entered.

I remember physically being in that world and everything looking amazingly real, but it was because what it was technically, not aesthetically. Too many, if not all, of us are now so jaded that we hop from world to world between games and there is basically no chance of us ever catching that immersion feeling ever again.

Fuzzy nostalgia is responsible for at least 75% of this thread.

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Meh I kinda disagree. I concede that certainly a major part of falling in love with EQ was that it was the first game of its kind, and special for that reason. But I'm not really trying to recapture that. I don't think we'll ever be able to recapture that, at least for the way mmo's are conceptualized today.

Rather what I'm talking about is the feeling of immersion beyond it being the first of its kind. There was still a sensory overload when you logged in. I remember running between Freerot, Oasis and the zone between (can't remember the name, where the giant for SoW boots spawned). The tree was an actual tree, the lake an actual lake, the alligator or orc attacking you a real thing. You were in a real environment, with real beings. It enhanced the emotional response of being cautious of your surroundings. You actually feared the alligator, more than just because death had an experience penalty. With the cartooney look, it's just not. The tree isn't an actual tree, it's just a fucking drawn object in your view. The alligator isn't a real alligator - it's just something to kill. There's no deep immersion - you're just some guy running around from place to place killing this or that.

Maybe I'm different. But to me, the authentic look really enhanced my emotional response to total immersion in addition to being in awe of this new type of game.

I think the environments we've seen so far look pretty good, the Feerott in particular. I can totally get on board with stylized graphics, so long as they don't become cartoony. And when I see that godforsaken Kerran, I can't help but think cartoony. I actually love the way the armor looks on the human female wizard, so if they can start replicating that sort of art direction and get away from the dogshit that is the Kerran, I'm fine with it.

I actually am indifferent about the voxel system, but I agree. Super shiny graphics often take wayyyyy too much focus from the games creators and then such games lack good game mechanics. If EQN does the opposite and makes some graphic sacrifices to make something new, interesting, and perhaps even worthwhile I'm all for that.

Lenas_sl said:

Your glasses are super rose-tinted. The original EQ is highly stylized and made no attempt whatsoever at realism. EQ2 on the other hand did try to look real and the result is that it now looks like shit.

The landscapes in EQN look great. Your complaints are about character style and all of your examples are world-based. Please find a screenshot of an EQN landscape that looks like cartoony shit.

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I'm not sure I understand what you mean. The two characters looked like an overgrown dora the explorer and a vertical lion from lion king. The grass looked like some bullshit astroturf and the rock landscapes looked like they were colored with a crayon.

Lenas_sl said:

The landscapes in EQN look great. Your complaints are about character style and all of your examples are world-based. Please find a screenshot of an EQN landscape that looks like cartoony shit.

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I disagree. The landscape looks cartoony. Watch this video.


The iron golem walks through a tree and it breaks into blocks, I was like WTF, don't trees tip over/splinter. If I recall correctly, the art director even made a reference to it being like playing in a Pixar film if someone wants to dig up the quote.

It's seriously silly looking

jarrettmp_sl said:

... part of the attraction was logging in and being in this world that actually could be real. The tree looked like a real tree, water like real water, characters like real characters, etc. (Hindered by technology, sure). WoW and EQN just look like drawings, as in they could never be a real world.

...

Still though, the cartoony look is such a huge letdown.

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I think you may be forgetting what original EverQuest looked like. I think the art direction they chose (with exception to the Kerran), was a good one. If they tried the realistic route, it would looks much less like the original.

Check out these comparison shots:

Furious_sl said:

I disagree. The landscape looks cartoony. Watch this video.


The iron golem walks through a tree and it breaks into blocks, I was like WTF, don't trees tip over/splinter. If I recall correctly, the art director even made a reference to it being like playing in a Pixar film if someone wants to dig up the quote.

It's seriously silly looking

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I completely agree with Furious. The tree jumps out of the ground and falls into bricks, Lol.

I think you may be forgetting what original EverQuest looked like. I think the art direction they chose (with exception to the Kerran), was a good one. If they tried the realistic route, it would looks much less like the original.

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I understand that EverQuest, in 2013, doesn't resemble an actual tree. Like I said, the graphics were hindered by graphic technology. Truthfully though, that stillshot comparison you used really doesn't look so bad. I haven't looked at many stills. The video that Furious showed looks super cartooney imo.

Jesus have some fucking realistic expectations. What do you want? Do you want them to perfectly simulate the shattering of a tree when an gigantic iron golem walks into it? What does that even look like? It's a fucking VIDEO GAME for crying out loud. It's never ever ever going to look like real life. I don't want my character to look like Mufasa any more than you do, but let's try and maintain at least a little bit of perspective when we're critiquing how a fucking tree shatters.

dgrabs_sl said:

Jesus have some fucking realistic expectations. What do you want? Do you want them to perfectly simulate the shattering of a tree when an gigantic iron golem walks into it? What does that even look like? It's a fucking VIDEO GAME for crying out loud. It's never ever ever going to look like real life. I don't want my character to look like Mufasa any more than you do, but let's try and maintain at least a little bit of perspective when we're critiquing how a fucking tree shatters.

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Fucking amen.

And let's not forget... This shit is pre alpha

tad10_sl said:

The Reddit mods are basically an arm of SOE PR.

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It's pretty cheesy they don't come out and admit this, but it's definitely a step up from the official forums. Hopefully an organic, community-led subreddit gets started later on.

That being said, Rerolled vs /r/EQnext would be horrible. Redditors coming here to post their casual player sappy MyEQStories or vapid Rerolled neckbeard lamentations about concept art boobage over on Reddit make both places pretty crappy.

1. I'm not so sure they were going for a "stylized" look in the original Everquest. There were considerable graphical limitations at the time so that was about as realistic as graphics could get. Your frame of reference changes with the times so of course the game looks like shit now. However, the graphics were cutting edge in 1999.

2. I have no problem with stylized graphics, but the EQN models look like they were made by Dreamworks rejects and the armor is tacky.

I was backing up my point that it looks like a cartoon. WTF, I like cartoons, I don't give a shit but lets call it as it is.

Someone was saying it doesn't look cartoony, so hence the cartoon video. Hell even my 4 year old called it a cartoon (she did get excited to try it, just like her old dad)

Edit: In response to Dgrabs

Tacky? I thought the wizard's robe was awesome...

Those pauldrons. I don't understand this trend of making everything disproportionately large.

supertouch_sl said:

Those pauldrons. I don't understand this trend of making everything disproportionately large.

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Oh, the Kerran. Ya it was a bit gaudy, but not as bad as some stuff in other mmos.

I just don't understand the decision to show the Kerran in THAT armour at SOE live. If you exist in the MMO community at all you would KNOW there would be backlash about that crap. Some of the choices they are making have me very concerned about how in touch they are with the community at large...

A poll about ninjas? Are they really trying to excite us with a meme from 2-3 years ago? Come on... It's like my lame uncle trying to be cool.