General Discussion

So i was looking at some vanguard screen shots and i noticed how beautiful the terrain looks.  I played vanguard a total of 3 days and my computer could barely handle it on the lowest settings so i was never able to enjoy the experience of just looking around at the in-game nature. 

One of the things i really enjoy about games and mmorpgs in particular is the immersion.  I love just sitting there and looking at the landscape before my eyes.  Even world of warcraft had some pretty significant moments for me. 

Anyways, i was thinking, if immersion is a big factor for me, and i know its a big factor for many other gamers out there, then realistic looking landscape and terrain must also be a big factor since it makes the game seem more natural. 

Sooo, since vanguard has been said by many people to have the best graphics, it must also have one of the highest levels of immersion.  And since immersion is a feature that many people strive for, then maybe most people are striving for a game like vanguard. (If they can actually play it at max settings).

I know ive heard tales of vanguard being a completely horrible game that is unbalanced, buggy, and ultimately unfinished, but the question im posing is: Is vanguard truly an immersive game, similiar to Oblivion, or is everything just super shiny on the outside and no depth on the inside?

No.

well shit.

No, and this is from rescent experience.  I was tricked by people who said "Vanguard, it changed its better now."  Its still bad.  Maybe not as bad as before but still bad.  1 major factor for immersion is the amount of players to interact with.  This number is actually very small and needs to be small on vanguard.  With that big old terrain eating up all the resources, too many people in 1 area will cause troubles.  Also another factor for me in immersion is graphics and visuals.  I don't really see where they are at.  As a person who actually creates 3D and Texture work.  OMG the graphics in this game SUCK.  Ontop of that the animations are just painful to watch.

So the game might be good at some things, but I cannot actually enjoy it because of the lack of interactivity with the community and the painful to watch graphics and animation.  BTW I am capable of running the game on full graphics.  Not just Highest Quality by VGs terms, but actually going into the .ini and turning everything up.  No amount of graphical enhancement saves it.

Why first replay often a short "no"?

Gameplay is much more important than graphics imo.

So whats the nicest looking mmorpg out there if vanguard isn't?

To be honest, I cant think of a mmorpg that gives you the same kind of immersion as Oblivion but Vanguard is immersive as far as a mmorpg goes, prbably more so than any other mmorpg, at least the ones I have played. It has some very deep gameplay (some bits such as diplomacy are unique to the game) and there were some 'oh wow!' moments for me when exploring new parts of the game. 

Two things though concern me about going back to the game, firstly although some of the bugs have been addressed I am not sure if all the major bugs have been addressed and secondly I suspect the playing population will be quite low, maybe someone who plays the game at the moment can comment on those two points

And your referring to sword of the new world as the greatest mmo so far?

I'm a vanguard vet, played since closed beta... Watched the game go through many phases, played hardcore for 5-6 months at launch during what most remember as the disaster stage of the game. It still remains the best MMORPG experience I've ever had.

I'm re-patching now to hang with my old guildies and run APW, not to mention my video card upgrade will help... used to run nearly on max with my X1900, upgraded to the Geforce 8800 GT OC.

If you come, play on seradon... and send Zhuge a tell.