Age of Conan

I can attest to the fact that LOTRO graphics, especially the directX 10 engine is a notch beyond anything available today. They also play fantastically smooth (talking again about the directX 10 engine. Bravo to Turbine for making such a smooth graphics engine, an engine that was upgradable from directX 9 to directX 10 and is seamless as well.

Comparing LOTRO graphics on the highest setting to WoW graphics on the highest setting leads me to believe that people are either blind or delusional.

After playing LOTRO, I've never would have thought that somebody would make a game that looked so good and played so smooth at the same time.

That been said,

AoC's directX 9 graphics are a notch above LOTRO's directX 10 graphics. However they came with a price. The world of AoC is zoned as opposed to the seamless LOTRO (although I'm wondering sometimes whether AoC is zoned because they started with a zoned engine and build upon it, the graphics couldn't handle the graphics overload or the port to consoles dictated the choice).

All the AoC screenshots we've seen so far are indeed directX 9 and not 10. So I'm expecting to be amazed a bit more once I witness the directX 10 graphics.

That been said again,

LOTRO engine behaves a lot smoother. I guess we'll have to wait for AoC retail to see if the directX 10 engine of AoC is as smooth as it's best competitor out there.

Originally posted by jimsmith08

Those screens of lotro look like AA switched off too-so they actually look even better and smoother than that. Turbine did a sterling job on the visuals.

 

If you just click them once it sure looks like i took them with AA off but clicking them to their original size smooths out some of the edges.

And to page.

Yes it's possible to fiddle around with a lot of the graphical settings so you can play it on a pretty old rig and it still looks pretty ok even on low settings.

I will try later today to make a screenie where i'm on lowest settings possible and then the highest settings my PC can handle.

AOC looks good so far, except for the female toons that look horrid.  I can appreciate multiple art styles, but one thing I can not tolerate is an art style done poorly, and the females in AOC are really bad.  Either that, or the person making the toons and taking the screenshots are trying intentionally to make the ugliest toons they can.

Originally posted by page

This is not a shot at AoC. I played most all MMO's, at least the heavy hitters. And I spent most all day outside but I was thinking about graphics and how far they had advanced in the last few years, and my OPINION is not very far.

WoW= cartoon

EQ2= a little better, but something just seems off

Vanguard=same as EQ2

D&D= a little better, but thats just me

Lotro= same as WoW, but I guess it got better from what they say ( kind of smart, by doing it with a patch ) 

Tabula Rase=same as EQ2 but the terrain is not as flat

From old to new they just don't seem to get much better, Warhammer seems as if there playing the safe road and just do the WoW thing, BUT Age of Conan is trying to give what a lot of people are screaming for high end graphics. And of coarse I'm not a dev., but to do this it seems as if they have to have smaller zone's and load times and maybe even walls, like a lot of off-line RPG's and they just were not prepared for people to not except that.

So I guess technology is  not their yet, maybe not even close. So i guess they have to make a choice. I guess in 2008 good graphics still comes with a price tag.

Vangaurd is nowhere near EQ2. Vanguard was never really finsished. But the finished parts are very good. They have excellent textures and models. Just not everywhere. And the lightning of the modified unreal engine is not very good for outdoors tbh.

EQ2's engine is old and a mess. It was build around a nvidia3 chip and does havily use the CPU. There is a discussion about it, and a developer said that a lot of code has to be rewritten to utilize modern GPUs and less CPU. However, the engine is able to do very good graphics. Just SOE has to stick to the appearance of the 2004 release. Kurnak could look far better, but it wouldnt fit to the rest of the game. Although Kurnak does look much better in some cases.

It will take a few years to have a mmo in a quality like the final fantasy movie. However, games will always have a little cartoony touch. This is a psychologial thing. To much realism is not good for a game.

Originally posted by page

One last thing before i go to bed,

I understand that if needed you can lower the lotro settings so any computer can play it. However i'm not sure. 

I resized all 4 pictures and merged them into one so you can't see the original size but it still gives you an idea how much you can raise/lower the graphics to suit your PC.

At Medium settings(the one top right),most PC's today can play with 30+ fps no problem.

I really hope that Funcom has a graphic engine that is as polished as Turbines when it comes to quality/performance.

Can't wait for May 20th.

^ It's no crysis.

Originally posted by Terranah

AOC looks good so far, except for the female toons that look horrid.  I can appreciate multiple art styles, but one thing I can not tolerate is an art style done poorly, and the females in AOC are really bad.  Either that, or the person making the toons and taking the screenshots are trying intentionally to make the ugliest toons they can.

There are screenshots with old and new female characters on them. Dont mix them up. And... well.. everyone has his own idea about a good looking woman. The story is as old as mankind ;)

Originally posted by vickypollard

^ It's no crysis.

you got that right but it's also an old engine Turbine is using.It's their old Asherons Call II engine.Amazing what they have done with that old engine.

I tried crysis btw but my PC choked so bad i thought it would explode.That game sure requires a lot of PC power.

I got a medium system but couldn't run Crysis even on lowest settings with a reasonable FPS.

Intel Duo 2,4 Ghz

2 Gm ram

256 MB Gfore 8600 gt.

I sure hope Funcom does a better job at optimising their engine than EA did

k lotr is pretyt good looking, but wow aint b ad.