You can buy the game for $4, yes, 4 dollars, on Ebay.  At that price, why not just buy it and form you own opinion?

Originally posted by eugam

Originally posted by bluealien1

And to the guy complaining about the graphics, this game has what, like the 3rd best graphics of any MMO to date after AoC and LotRO, doesn't it?

 

Its both. People have to understand the history of VG. The world is big and a lot of devs worked on it. The game also was released in an emergeny rush due to lack of money.

The result is that some things in this game are ace and some are sub par. Animations, graphics, adventuring and diplomacy for kojan humans is ace. Monk and disciple really have kung fu animations. The landscape looks like china and the lore of the diplo quests is chinese folklore. There is even a quest where you fly over the roofs like in those old kung fu movies. ;)

Other parts, like the gator caves are subpar. The whole cave has a ugly brownish texture. It looks like a 1999 game inside the cave.

The submarine areas are dead zones. No plants, no fish, nothing. At the same time there are lush rainforests. Some rocks are perfectly txturized, a few others not.

Some landscapes are breathtaking and others look silly/unfinished.  Some dungeons look cool, others dull. This is all because the game was released to early and some content was rushed in a few weeks.

An the client still has no AA. With  x2 or x4 AA the game would look much better in many areas. And the engine is much better indoors. See the screenshot of the psio in the other thread. Its an indoor shot. Outdoors the lightning is lacking  a bit.

I would also say that graphically speaking AoC > LotRO > VG.

eugam has done a good job of explaining why this is the case.

I quit VG in September, came back for the free month during the holidays, left after the free time expired, patched and logged in when this free time period started. Although I really enjoyed the open world and combat mechanics, I won't be able to give VG a fair shake until they improve the character models and add some challenge back to basic combat. What used to be group content is now solo content -and relatively easy solo content at that. I suppose it was a necessity considering the population.

Originally posted by Perception

You can buy the game for $4, yes, 4 dollars, on Ebay.  At that price, why not just buy it and form you own opinion?

I fully agree with this statement. Grab a copy on e-bay for $4. It's definitely worth that.

Originally posted by daelnor

There are quests, there are a couple dungeons, the crafting is ok, if not a bit tedious...the diplomacy thing is a card game and is an interesting idea.

Ok you are way understating this.  VG has a ton of dungeons.  I'm not counting but I'd estimate off hand they probably have more then 30 dungeons in the game.  Dungeons are also one of the best things in VG.  They are deep, exciting and loads of fun.

Originally posted by ethion

Originally posted by daelnor

There are quests, there are a couple dungeons, the crafting is ok, if not a bit tedious...the diplomacy thing is a card game and is an interesting idea.

 

Ok you are way understating this.  VG has a ton of dungeons.  I'm not counting but I'd estimate off hand they probably have more then 30 dungeons in the game.  Dungeons are also one of the best things in VG.  They are deep, exciting and loads of fun.

You have to be kidding.. VG has hundreds of dungeons.

Originally posted by tarkin1980

You have to be kidding.. VG has hundreds of dungeons.

Dungeon Finder shows 88.

88 is 12 short of 100, so I might have also guessed the same amount.

It is certainly more than a "couple"

Originally posted by morpin

88 is 12 short of 100, so I might have also guessed the same amount.

It is certainly more than a "couple"

I have seen ethion lurking around here for quite some time and he is quite experienced with the game. I think he was probably referring to premiere 'group' dungeons, in which case he'd be pretty accurate with 30.

I just wanted to get the resource link out there for anyone it may help

Originally posted by DailyBuzz

Originally posted by morpin

88 is 12 short of 100, so I might have also guessed the same amount.

It is certainly more than a "couple"

 

I have seen ethion lurking around here for quite some time and he is quite experienced with the game. I think he was probably referring to premiere 'group' dungeons, in which case he'd be pretty accurate with 30.

I just wanted to get the resource link out there for anyone it may help

Yeah I was just tossing out a number thinking back to dungeons I personally remember not trying to be exact but no way I could let it sit that there were only a couple dungeons but I was lazy and didn't want to look it up or go and overhype it tossing out a number that was higher then I really knew.

Bottom line though the dungeons in VG are amazing and if you do play VG you absolutely must group and do some of the dungeons to really get a good feel for the game.  Dungeons are large, diverse, have many quests and many of them have neat little unique special features, like a gnome dungeon I like where the gravity is reduced and there is the gnome sniper that one shots many classes and you need to send someone in in stealth mode to find him and kill him before you can advance.  Very fun dungeon.   Or there is one where you get a power suit and rockets and other special abilities.  Been awhile since I played these but they are very typical of VG dungeons.

Originally posted by bliss_bliss

I bought it yesterday. The graphics are so horrible that I actually couldn't stand playing it. Everything is so damn ugly.  If you think that really ugly graphics is annoying (and I mean *ugly*) then I wouldn't recommend this. I actually can't believe a 2007 release can have this awful graphics. How it can get a 9.3 rating is beyond me. Sad really.

I am having this same problem right at this moment. I log in, see that god-awful ugly character staring at me, try making a new one which is just as god-awful ugly and exit out.

I've made it as far level 2 in three or four of the starting areas. Because I can't stand the graphics. I've run every imaginable (ini) tweak and can only get decent fps (30-40) when I lower all the settings to the lowest they will go. And that makes the game look like something from 1995.

The game world looks adequate when I bump everything up to the highest settings, but of course I'm only running about 5-9 fps. When I adjust the game and have a bit higher than the lowest settings I get about 19 fps, which just doesn't cut it for me anymore, it hurts my eyes. I can't believe that it takes such processor power to generate nice, but still mediocre, graphics.

But I could learn to live with the 19fps and gradually finesse it up a few notches because I would really like to experience all the other aspects of the game that are supposed to be really good ... but then I look at my fugly-ass character again and the absurdly bad animations and I - you guessed it - exit the game.

Watching the dude run is laughably bad - except I'm not laughing because I've wasted time and money on getting his ungainly legs moving. I'm starting to think this game rightfully earned its (negative) reputation and I'm not sure the recent interest (perhaps sparked by the AoC flop?) is going to last given the factors. I mean, sure the graphics are ok when they are maxed out, but if you are going to spend big bucks on top-notch rig, don't you want better than "ok?"

Don't take this as a flame, I'm just a little frustrated. I'm sure there is a gem here somewhere, but it is far too ensconced in graphical manure for me to find it.

Originally posted by fortuente

Originally posted by bliss_bliss

I bought it yesterday. The graphics are so horrible that I actually couldn't stand playing it. Everything is so damn ugly.  If you think that really ugly graphics is annoying (and I mean *ugly*) then I wouldn't recommend this. I actually can't believe a 2007 release can have this awful graphics. How it can get a 9.3 rating is beyond me. Sad really.

I am having this same problem right at this moment. I log in, see that god-awful ugly character staring at me, try making a new one which is just as god-awful ugly and exit out.

I've made it as far level 2 in three or four of the starting areas. Because I can't stand the graphics. I've run every imaginable (ini) tweak and can only get decent fps (30-40) when I lower all the settings to the lowest they will go. And that makes the game look like something from 1995.

The game world looks adequate when I bump everything up to the highest settings, but of course I'm only running about 5-9 fps. When I adjust the game and have a bit higher than the lowest settings I get about 19 fps, which just doesn't cut it for me anymore, it hurts my eyes. I can't believe that it takes such processor power to generate nice, but still mediocre, graphics.

But I could learn to live with the 19fps and gradually finesse it up a few notches because I would really like to experience all the other aspects of the game that are supposed to be really good ... but then I look at my fugly-ass character again and the absurdly bad animations and I - you guessed it - exit the game.

Watching the dude run is laughably bad - except I'm not laughing because I've wasted time and money on getting his ungainly legs moving. I'm starting to think this game rightfully earned its (negative) reputation and I'm not sure the recent interest (perhaps sparked by the AoC flop?) is going to last given the factors. I mean, sure the graphics are ok when they are maxed out, but if you are going to spend big bucks on top-notch rig, don't you want better than "ok?"

Don't take this as a flame, I'm just a little frustrated. I'm sure there is a gem here somewhere, but it is far too ensconced in graphical manure for me to find it.

Vanguard has very good graphics when a player has a pretty decent system to run it on. It sounds like some folks are running a lower end machine and are expecting outstanding graphics with it.
 

I, personally, have an average machine with an 8600GT GPU and the graphics are amazing on high settings and I am getting an average of 30-40 FPS with high graphic settings.

The only thing that I can agree with is the current character models. However, the new, improved character models will be released next month(August) so this problem will be fixed.

The only thing I can say as to why you would think that the graphics are bad would be you own opinion/preference. Folks who come from WoW are more used to the cartoony graphics, whereas Vanguard has a more real-life type graphic.

The reason that the game has a 9.3 rating is due to the excellent graphics, excellent gameplay and excellent community. This is not only my opinion but rather the opinion of many people who agree on the game rating.

Im sorry you are having problems with the graphics and frame rate but I honestly think that it is your system and not the game.

This game is really not worth buying the controls are clunky and the animations/effect's are of Megaman 4 quality.

it's everquest 3 really. same old sh*t

Originally posted by Vespers

I, personally, have an average machine with an 8600GT GPU and the graphics are amazing on high settings and I am getting an average of 30-40 FPS with high graphic settings.

The only thing that I can agree with is the current character models. However, the new, improved character models will be released next month(August) so this problem will be fixed.

The only thing I can say as to why you would think that the graphics are bad would be you own opinion/preference. Folks who come from WoW are more used to the cartoony graphics, whereas Vanguard has a more real-life type graphic.

Im sorry you are having problems with the graphics and frame rate but I honestly think that it is your system and not the game.

I am playing this on a gaming laptop with an AMD TL-50 (dual-core), nvidia 8600m G and a 2 GB dual-channel CAS4 DDR2 667 RAM. Admittedly my 5400 RPM SATA1 hdd is my main chokepoint in more than just this game right now. Heat is not an issue due to the way I have rigged the machine.

So no, it's just "not my system." As I said, I understand the limitations of my machine and I adjust my expectations accordingly. I don't expect the greatest, but neither do I expect the worst. As of now Vanguard has failed spectacularly compared to the couple dozen other 3d games and apps I have used on this machine.

My problem with Vanguard's graphics are twofold:

1. The background environment does not look bad at all - when cranked all the way up. I do not feel the power required to crank them all the way up is proportional to how good they look when cranked up. This is not a game-breaker for me at all, I'm just stating that. It annoys me that the game seems to be so poorly coded you have to use jet fuel to run a go kart.

2. The character models and animations are the worst I may have ever seen. And I am trying desperately hard not to exaggerate (I really want to like this game). But they are just plain, no-bones-about, irredeemably awful. And somehow I doubt that adding a few sliders next month is going solve that, though I hope differently. And does being able to raise or lower the bridge of your nose fix the horrendous animations?

And what is up with the WoW ad hominem? I wonder why MMO fanbois always bring up WoW when attempting to discredit an argument about why their favorite game fails. I'm sorry you do not like WoW or its cartoony graphics, but that has exactly zero to do with my opinion of Vanguard. Unless, of course, you consider that WoW plays smoothly and has a consistent graphical feel across a wide range of systems from low to high. But this isn't about WoW is it?

VSoH has some great content and a huge world.  However, if you are looking at getting involved in an MMO soon I'd recommend skipping VSoH and going with WAR which will be released in Sept.  It is sure to be a success.  VSoH, I consider a success, but not a huge success.  I feel it is a good game if you enjoyed EQ2, but if you are sick of the same old same old then you should go with WAR, as it will be fairly innovative with things you've never seen before in MMOs. 

A plus of VSoH is player housing though, I do enjoy this feature.  I guess I just needed something new, and kick ass graphics just wasn't enough for me. 

Im using a nearly 2 year old comp (intel core2 2.6ghz, 4gb ram, nvidea 6800 ultra) and Im running it on 1680x1050 with render quality high and texture medium high and I get this:






Its a level 4 twink I simply logged in where I left her 1 week ago and this is my PLAYGRAPHIC. As you see its not amazing like AoC and there are some dull textures. In the upper left corner you can see the FPS. If I move the camera its still around 30fps. Depending on objects to draw it varies between 15-45fps, but mostly its around 30. You can get the graphics better if you like.
The animation of the chars I have are not flashy. If you play games like cabal or something similar you will be totally dissapointed. In fact I wish that there would be some more bells and whistles especially for melees (caster animations are ok). Nontheless the animations are fluent. If I knew how, I would put some youtube video online to show the running animation which isnt bad IMHO. Maybe other races have different animations?
The graphics VG is using are toned down in colors trying to go for a more "realistic" look, I dont care. I love Perfect Worlds graphics, but VGs ones are good too, just a different art-style.
My ini isnt much tweaked. I simply took some time, enabled/disabled/changing graphic settings until I thought it looks ok and my fps arent too bad.

There is a certain degree of nerd-rage to my posts, but I'll stand by them.

I think for me the point about environment graphics and details is somewhat moot, as I do not think they are terrible by any means. They are at worst average and at best pretty good I think. I am somewhat disappointed at the muscle-power it seems to take to get them at pretty good, but I am not wholly unsurprised either. Even an MMO that I personally find to have really superb environment graphics like LOTRO, still has a variety of issues that either require muscle for compensation or are flat-out bugs that even power won't fix.

I think my main problem is with the characters. I simply find them ugly in the highest order. And then couple that with seeing them stiffly run around leaving a trail of choppiness in their wake. It's a huge turn-off. And I get what? Four (all ugly) hair styles to choose from? It just lacks the polish that you would expect an almost 1-1/2 year old game to have. And it's somewhat more boggling because you would expect the toons from a game of that vintage to look better in the first place.

Then you have the other contributing factors like it is eating up 17 GB of space on my drive, my general (hint: negative) sentiments towards SOE in the first place, unrelated-to-the-game issues (hint: if you like to disable scaling on your ws monitor and have an nvidia 8xxx card, don't buy a Samsung monitor lol), etc.

So Vanguard causes me some headaches and gets to be my whipping-boy for the week. Last night I started a wood elf ranger and got him up to four I think, so I'm making myself play the game. I have a feeling VSOH has some serious gameplay which is really what I want to evaluate, rather than the graphics.

It's just so hard to get past the butt-ugly toons. Perhaps I'm shallow like that. And what is up with the clothing they start with? Vomitrocious, I daresay. Hopefully the upgrade in August people are talking about will help me change this opinion, but based not only on Vanguard's track record but that of the entire MMORPG genre I hope you don't fault me for being pessimistic.

EDIT: I was just looking at the last posts screenshots and realize that perhaps I am also getting irritated by the UI and simply not realizing it. I don't want to say that it is bad by any means, but it is something I will be meditating on the next time I play it. Although I don't want to jump to any conclusions because with any game it takes a while to adjust I've found. I'm sure whether anyone likes it or not I'll be spouting off my opinion about it before long. lol.

Originally posted by Lydon

Originally posted by neonwire

Hi Sliths

OK first of all DONT listen to what Bronks says and DO listen to what Bliss-bliss is saying about the graphics. Saying he is an AoC fanboy is just the typical thing you can expect to hear from a Vanguard fanboy. Bliss-bliss is telling the truth as the graphics really are bloody awful!

Tis your PC. Don't blame the game.

i have played the game, seen videos and screenshots and i still think the game looks horrible. there is some nice landscapes here and there but for the most part the game world is bland and empty. one thing i liked about the game is the animals, wolves, bears  and other wildlife look very realistic..other than that the game is not worth paying  a monthly fee for.

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Originally posted by ronan32

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Originally posted by Lydon

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Originally posted by neonwire

Hi Sliths
OK first of all DONT listen to what Bronks says and DO listen to what Bliss-bliss is saying about the graphics. Saying he is an AoC fanboy is just the typical thing you can expect to hear from a Vanguard fanboy. Bliss-bliss is telling the truth as the graphics really are bloody awful!

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Tis your PC. Don't blame the game.

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i have played the game, seen videos and screenshots and i still think the game looks horrible. there is some nice landscapes here and there but for the most part the game world is bland and empty. one thing i liked about the game is the animals, wolves, bears  and other wildlife look very realistic..other than that the game is not worth paying  a monthly fee for.

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Seriously if you think this game is bland and empty you're getting some really bad info or watching really bad videos. The only complaint that can be made about this game at this time is that character models are EQ2 plastic fantastic style.

I'll throw my 2 cents in:

Vanguard does have some amazing graphics.  However it does have some aweful graphics. There is this mix in the game; generally anything that isn't character related is good, stuff that is character related is bad.  Armor looks great but the characters the armor are on don't.

However: there is a revamped model set coming out soonish. I hear september..and they are showing them off at the Sony Fan Faire this august, so hopefully we'll get to see what they look like.

I love the world, I love how it is so vast and explorer friendly.  I love the classes, they are a mix of old faithful and unique classes.  All are done rather well in my opinion.  I like the community and I've had some fun times in the game.

Is it worth buying? I think so, just be aware there are still some issues.  IT is a good game to play but it isn't a perfect game.  People on this thread have seemed to either blast the game or hold it up as the second coming of MMO's.  The truth is somwhere inbetween; It is a great game with issues.

So there you go, my 2 cents ;)

Originally posted by thearidzoner

People on this thread have seemed to either blast the game or hold it up as the second coming of MMO's.  The truth is somwhere inbetween;

I agree with this completely. I think this is the case with most games.

At this point I also would not say that it is not worth a sub. Wait, what did I just say? I think it is worth a sub from what I can tell so far. That makes more sense.

Despite the awful characters, the real meat of any game is the gameplay: the combat system, quests and npcs, world lore, mini-games, etc. So far I have no complaints about that stuff with Vanguard. Granted I am still very much a newb, but there hasn't been anything that has turned me off so far. And I am excited to get into diplomacy and crafting, so we'll see after I hit those. I have a feeling even if they aren't the Greatest Thing Evar (tm), they are at least going to be fun and unique diversions.

As an example of a game I don't feel is worth a sub, I'll mention Tabula Rasa. That game has decent graphics, compelling toons, and an interesting combat system. However that game is so shallow you could lay down flat on your face and not have to worry about drowning. That's how I feel about gameplay I guess, while it completely outshines Vanguard on three rather important things, it's lack of depth, limp-wristed storyline, broken class system, the utter abomination they call crafting, and plodding development means I would never sub to that game (again). Unless is was like $3 a month or so.

While Vanguard has atrocious characters and is a resource hog like none other I have seen (even Oblivion lol and that is saying a lot) and the plain-jane click-on-mob-go-get-snack combat, so far I have seen it has an interesting world which is HUGE, an in-depth crafting system, a large variety of races and classes with their own unique modifiers and lore, a sandbox feel (which is tragically lacking in 99% of MMOs these days), etc. I would still sub over TR.

I haven't been playing as much VG as I should for my free month, though, because I am so involved in LOTRO, which is my overall favorite MMORPG right now. If VG had LOTRO's looks, DDO's combat and WoW's performance it would be the perfect MMO, I think. (EDIT: If you see this last part and respond AoC I will pull out your toenails, lol.)