We all are used to looking at the beautiful environments of Tabula Rasa....

Well...

Look.

At.

THIS!

hahahaha!

Those are screenshots from 2004. Wow, the game has made alot of improvements!

Wow nice find.

lol amazing.

heh yeah, was just browsing the screenies and TADA and I was like WTF

TBH the game looked more original back then. With some modern tech improvements and polys it would look a million times better than its bland bleh self does now.

Originally posted by DefiledF

TBH the game looked more original back then. With some modern tech improvements and polys it would look a million times better than its bland bleh self does now.

I disagree... I may not play Tabula Rasa, and am not a fan but this game has some of THE best environments ever... Previous screenshots make it look like one of those F2P games like Knight Online and such...

It is not bland, at all.

Heh, those old screenies are VERY Asian-looking.  Thank God TR dumped that boring, trite, and horribly over-used and pandering (to the Asian market) look and opted for what's now a VERY nice, clean, unique and artistic look.  I say good riddance to bad rubbish.

Also, if you take a closer look, the old screenies are VERY fantasy-oriented.  Again, thank God they moved away from that done-to-death mythos and moved into a deeper sci-fi direction.

Yeah :D

Those old screenies look like Asheron;s Call 1 and Saga of Ryzom had a baby! :)

Heck... who am I kidding...  I'd have still played it :P

Originally posted by Mithrandolir

Those old screenies look like Asheron;s Call 1 and Saga of Ryzom had a baby! :)

Heck... who am I kidding...  I'd have still played it :P

Really? Even if it was released in 2007 with those graphics?

GFX arent a big consideration for MOST of the people.

But graphics are one of the many deciding factors for me when looking for a new MMO to play.

Imo the girls from the old TR looked way better (sexier) than the current ones

Originally posted by dA_fReAK

THIS!

hahahaha!

Those are screenshots from 2004. Wow, the game has made alot of improvements!

The game has not only made a lot of improvements since then, it was actually scrapped to the ground at some point.  The game that those screenshots were made for has ceased to exist.  The Tabula Rasa beast we're looking at today was completely revisioned.

Ummm...someone is ripping off TR...there is a stupid little Bi-Corn in one of those screen shots lol.

Sure am glad they didn't make that game

Originally posted by DefiledF

TBH the game looked more original back then. With some modern tech improvements and polys it would look a million times better than its bland bleh self does now.

Tell me you are joking! The sad part is that here is more like him!  Can you compare that old garbage with the new TR? Plz, this old thing would crash and burn! Even with new graphics I think that the idea to merge sci-fi with fantasy wouldn´t work at all! I saw some videos and all I can say...

Man, all that COLOR!  Wish we could get some of that in today's TR.  And I like the girls. lol  (OK, pig, I know.)  I guess the current TR is more real as a sci-fi wargame, but, damn.  Everybody looks the same except for the one or two folks who've spent the time (and cash) to keep coloring their armour.  I've only just started coloring mine because I've been getting new pieces with each mission.  I guess I need to get higher level, but I sure do like the look of those old screenies better.

Originally posted by dA_fReAK

We all are used to looking at the beautiful environments of Tabula Rasa....

Well...

Look.

At.

THIS!

hahahaha!

Those are screenshots from 2004. Wow, the game has made alot of improvements!

“Uninspired Results”

Moving Tabula Rasa forward, at this point, meant moving backwards. Garriott and his team took a close look at what they had: With an eye on time to market, and a belief that MMOs didn't sell based on graphical quality, the team that hoped to innovate on every front had chosen to use a licensed rendering engine. The backdrop of their world was a blending of sci-fi and martial arts served up in an awkward futuristic art nouveau style. The choices in male avatar costuming were so poor that nearly everyone chose to play as a female. A focus on making story the center of the game led to a dependence on instanced content, making the world feel desolate and lonely. Despite a chorus of voices warning the Tabula Rasa team that the game just wasn't working, the developer continued on in a belief that, according to Garriott, it would all somehow come together in the end. http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060323/huebner_02.shtml

Originally posted by Reklaw

 

Despite a chorus of voices warning the Tabula Rasa team that the game just wasn't working, the developer continued on in a belief that, according to Garriott, it would all somehow come together in the end. 

 

 

I have to say that this one quote really sums up what happened to the original game and why it finds itself in the shallow and unfinished state that it is in now.

And I have to say that you're deceiving yourself.

Well, actually, I have to agree with a lot of these beta burn outs when they say that the game seemed shallow and incomplete.  However, I think they might not realize that:

• The game was shallow because it was beta, and so there was no real significance to what they were doing seeing how it was all going to be wiped anyway.  Also, a few overriding mission structures (Targets of Opportunity chains) came into play that helped with that.  Finally, it's also possible that they were not making use of cover or abilities - the game feels shallow until you learn to do so regularly.
• The game was incomplete because they were playing the beta state of the game.  It's still not entirely complete, but the only real issues I've seen so far in about 20 hours of play in the 3-day head start was that sometimes mission goals don't register as complete for members of a team in an instanced mission area and also the Enemy Logos marker has a duplicate.

Of course, there's also those beta players who latched on to the beta balance and decided to throw a massive muckraking compaign because the developers decided against some game design balance that they preferred.  In which case, they should really stay away from betas.

Anyone to judge a game from a beta should never be allowed to beta.

There is a crapload of changes since beta all of them good that I have noticed. Was not going to buy the game decided to try the 3 days head start and am pretty set on buying it now :P

As for the pics from 2004 thank god they didnt go for the ganeric korean mmo style.

Originally posted by geldonyetich

And I have to say that you're deceiving yourself.

Well, actually, I have to agree with a lot of these beta burn outs when they say that the game seemed shallow and incomplete.  However, I think they might not realize that:

• The game was shallow because it was beta, and so there was no real significance to what they were doing seeing how it was all going to be wiped anyway.  Also, a few overriding mission structures (Targets of Opportunity chains) came into play that helped with that.  Finally, it's also possible that they were not making use of cover or abilities - the game feels shallow until you learn to do so regularly.
• The game was incomplete because they were playing the beta state of the game.  It's still not entirely complete, but the only real issues I've seen so far in about 20 hours of play in the 3-day head start was that sometimes mission goals don't register as complete for members of a team in an instanced mission area and also the Enemy Logos marker has a duplicate.

Of course, there's also those beta players who latched on to the beta balance and decided to throw a massive muckraking compaign because the developers decided against some game design balance that they preferred.  In which case, they should really stay away from betas.

I'm no fanboi of TR, hell, I'm not even buying it right now.  But the quoted post is DEAD ON correct re: betas.