Game Graphics

Hi all,
I've played some of the alpha's and just wondering if the in game graphics will be of higher quality for the final product? Would be good to have at least in game graphics as good as (or better) than those of Elder Scrolls V.

Thanks,
Rob

 

They will do their best, including upgrading to Unity 5 when it's stable enough. This is a persistent online game however, and will not have the same level of fidelity as a AAA singleplayer game.

 

Persistent online games can look incredibly good. Take Black Desert for example:

 

Fingers crossed they pull it off.. Its a very important part to help immerse you in the gaming world..

 

The most impressive thing about that game is the character creator:


Other than that it'll probably just be another Korean grindfest.

 

Don't know why you would compared Unity 4 or even 5 with Pearl Abyss' Black Desert Engine, an engine we know nothing about as it
appears to be used by one single game company for one single game that has been in testing for the past 4 years. I really hope SOTA will
continue to upgrade with Unity 6 and beyond, it'll be the most realistic way to keep the youth interested as they will always be all about
the graphics. I for one am already beyond the graphics and enjoy the game as it is, I think the game looks better in minimal settings
as opposed to max, and I can function just as quickly in both options equally.

But like has been said, it's hard to compete with these stats for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim:

http://www.statisticbrain.com/skyrim-the-elder-scrolls-v-statistics/

Skyrim Development Statistics
Number of years it took to develope Skyrim 3.5 years
Skryim development and marketing budget $85 Million
Number of game developers employed 90
Number of actors employed for character voice overs 83

 

Except that game has been in development since 2010 and has a three publisher's, and possibly Sony's, money behind it. I couldn't find a staff count for Pearl Abyss but since they wrote their own engine to use for it, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's bigger than Portalarium.

That's probably not a fair game to compare to for what SotA "should" look like.

 

if you guys are willing to add a few years more to SotA's development and also willing to invest a few more millions then why not... we'll get a more polished game...

 

It was said that a persistent online game could not look as good as a single player RPG. I just showed that it can indeed. It was not to compare SotA with Black Desert, just a general explanation that persistent online games can indeed look great and even better than single player games.

 

I think SOTA will look better once it is released. But if anyone is expecting Black Desert or Skyrim level of graphics my guess is they will be disappointed. It just doesn't have anywhere near the budget or team size those game had/have. Not to mention less development time on SOTA.

 

I just sat through 2 trailers for Black Desert and the graphics & animation are incredible. But the things I really want right away in SOTA are :

1. Mounted Archery - being able to pincushion your target from your mount is just awesome
2. Wagons
3. Tamer class - the clips shows this very cute girl character with a kind of black wind-wraith-wolf which she can use as a mount or as a fighting companion. The wolf sort of flies from enemy to enemy as a writhing ball of black smoke which is just so cool to watch. Gender locked in the game unfortunately so your character has to be a girl

 

Since Unity 5 was brought up , here's a direct link to the tech preview. It sort of answers the question of whether this was the right engine for SOTA. Now it's just a matter of time, money & people that's needed to get the kind of graphics this generation seems to be expecting. I suspect that it's going to be a phased evolution.

 

As cool as the shots look. they're marketing shots. The real game won't be that impressive.

The same thing happened with thief. it's nowhere near as good looking as the marketing shots made it seem. Or fun.

I dont' trust companies pre-release graphics when they're from all kinds of weird camera angles like that.

Say what you want about SoTA, they never hyped us up with amaze balls graphics lol

Also, it's got too much eastern influence again. I've played a million mediocre JRPG style games.

it's time for the west to step up and made good games again in this genre that don't have pretty bishonen dudes in questionable armor everywhere

 

Until the game is in the hands of players I take any videos/screenshot quality with a grain of salt.

FF14 has the best graphics out of any MMO I've personally played...




And it isn't nearly as good as FF13 graphics. Also, you need a high-end system to make it look that good. lower end graphics settings and it starts looking pretty bland and dated. (My laptop looks terrible, my desktop it looks gorgeous).

But again, these are big budget games with a ton of artists and expensive (usually in-house built) graphics engines with development time lines 3x+ as long as SoTAs.

With each episode they can make the graphics look better. So far I'm happy with the way they look. I don't need bleeding edge high quality graphics. If it was just about the graphics minecraft wouldn't have sold so many copies.

 

I think this is something that is commonly overlooked. When release day comes, that isn't the final product. The development team will be constantly adding to the game.

I believe I remember Starr saying that they are hoping to continue their monthly builds after the release date [DLMB ].

 

The OP wants something that looks like Skyrim. Context matters.

While an art style like Skyrim's might be technically attainable for an MMO, the budget requirements would be enormous (unless Bethesda just handed us their engine), and anyway, I don't think I'd even want that in an MMO. There's something to be said for stylized graphics, and Skyrim's graphics are heavily stylized. That style lends itself to a game where you play a loner wandering desolate mountain paths and open countrysides, but it doesn't lend itself to a social experience very well at all.

 

But unfortunately a game is judged by the state it is in when it is "released". That is when magazines give their scores and that is when the game is "on the radar" of players looking for new a new game. Good example: Star Wars - The Old Republic. Judged when it was released and has a mark on it since then.

And here we go again. SotA as an MMO as opposed to a single player experience. Now what is the focus of the game when it wants to be both?

 

Because it is an MMO. It doesn't matter if it's anything else when the fact that it is an MMO is the limiting factor. Context matters.