One of my gripes with LOTRO is that the graphics in the starting areas, while good, are not near as fantastic as the areas a bit further into the game. For instance, check out this screenshot from Eregion...

http://www.lotroblogger.com/?p=179

I wish new players could experience some of the more fantastic areas before forming their opinion of the game. Those starter areas are nice, but the vistas later on are downright breathtaking.

I think what probably makes a worse impression on new players is the rather poor character graphics (yay, I have hair like an action figure). And the starting armor that looks like pajamas. Though the last has been addressed by the outfit system now applying to all characters, apparently, not just level 15 (or 10, or whatever it was).

i think the graphics are the stupidiest ever!!!

the characters look like they were built in 3DS max by a starter!!

though that the game is super...just the graphics dont belong to this game :)

Originally posted by sprmni100

i think the graphics are the stupidiest ever!!!

the characters look like they were built in 3DS max by a starter!!

though that the game is super...just the graphics dont belong to this game :)

 

Yeahhhh......

Originally posted by sprmni100

i think the graphics are the stupidiest ever!!!

the characters look like they were built in 3DS max by a starter!!

though that the game is super...just the graphics dont belong to this game :)

 

As if starters can afford Max... ;)

And does anyone else find "stupidiest" .. well, stupid? :)

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by sprmni100

i think the graphics are the stupidiest ever!!!

the characters look like they were built in 3DS max by a starter!!

though that the game is super...just the graphics dont belong to this game :)

 

Yeahhhh......

Thanks for visually proving the point.  In most cases the clothing/armor looks like body paint.   Fix that and the character animations and they'll fit seamlessly with the great enviroment.

And back to the topic.  I think the starter areas look pretty good.  And considering how soon you leave them for the wide world I don't think it makes much difference. 

Originally posted by rendus

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by sprmni100

i think the graphics are the stupidiest ever!!!

the characters look like they were built in 3DS max by a starter!!

though that the game is super...just the graphics dont belong to this game :)

 

Yeahhhh......

 

Thanks for visually proving the point.  In most cases the clothing/armor looks like body paint.   Fix that and the character animations and they'll fit seamlessly with the great enviroment.

And your comparison is based on........?

I guess all that talent on making efficient, high fidelity textures and models isn't worth a dam.

Because, see that guy in the front there, he looks fantastic, and doesn't rely on brute force FPS sucking techniques to do so.

 re-read this thread:  

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/205652/LoTR-best-grahics-in-MMOsnot-a-well-known-fact-.html

all the arguments are contained within....no need for it to be rehashed again in this thread, especially considering it's not the topic at hand.  

It's all personal preference anyway...

Originally posted by rendus

 re-read this thread:  

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/205652/LoTR-best-grahics-in-MMOsnot-a-well-known-fact-.html

all the arguments are contained within....no need for it to be rehashed again in this thread, especially considering it's not the topic at hand.  

It's all personal preference anyway...

All subjective opinion, and being a Graphic designer myself, I can appreciate the ability to use refined older techniques, rather than inflating the system requirements with cutting edge ones.

I posted in that thread as well. There are so many things that simply cant be compared. And yes, its all subjective, except for the facts.

Simply put, for the system requirements, there is not a better looking, or smother running game. This includes avatars.

Its apples and oranges.

Graphics in ,my opinion are the best in the industry not only in aesthetic  but performance. One reason you won't get high amount of graphic impac in start area is cause when the game launched there 500 people in each beginning instance, then over 1000's people running around the newbie instances all over the server. When you head in to Moria you see why trimming down graphics is certain locations is a must, becuase of the amount of people in that particular area at once. All games do this, and it is a weak troll attemp.

I'm a Lifers as well, so thanks for your opinion.

WoW's graphics are bland and monotone, and far from optimized. Pretty much the opposite of GW's graphics.

Although not currently playing anymore, I think the other issue at hand is people don't look good enough to download the Hi-Rez version of the game. This version will link you to a site with a program called Pando or something that lets you grab the Hi-Rez client if your machine can support it. This makes a world of difference in the graphical quality of this game. y Turbine does not host this version on their own client is beyond me.

Originally posted by sonicbrew

Although not currently playing anymore, I think the other issue at hand is people don't look good enough to download the Hi-Rez version of the game. This version will link you to a site with a program called Pando or something that lets you grab the Hi-Rez client if your machine can support it. This makes a world of difference in the graphical quality of this game. y Turbine does not host this version on their own client is beyond me.

Still bland and monotone, just takes up 2 more gigs of space.

Originally posted by erandur

WoW's graphics are bland and monotone, and far from optimized. Pretty much the opposite of GW's graphics.

This is the LOTRO forums, and you don't know what you are saying.

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by erandur

WoW's graphics are bland and monotone, and far from optimized. Pretty much the opposite of GW's graphics.

This is the LOTRO forums, and you don't know what you are saying.

I DO know what I'm saying, and lotro's graphics are far from impressive...

While I'm not impressed with the character graphics I do think that the world art and graphics are outstanding.  The fields with grass and wildflowers are great.  Some of the dungeon instances are really breathtakingly well done.  I'd give LoTR a 10 in graphics for most stuff.  My only gripe is the characters and armor.  I know the drawing is good and the detail on the armor nice but it just isn't upto par with other games in terms of being 3d.  Maybe they went with a low polycount or something.  I'm not sure but it looks flat and unreal to me.  And the characters don't seem much better from a design and animation point. 

But thats my opinion.  In the end though it is a minor issue to me.  LoTR seems like a great game overall.  I'll not really be able to have a final opinion till I'm max level but so far I really like the game.

Ok check these screen shots from eq2.  These are new shots from the eq2 shader 3.0 graphics update coming in the next update.

Eq2 might not be as nice for world graphics as LoTR but I think the character equipment and looks are nicer.

LotRO has some of the best visuals out there. To say otherwise would be trolling at it's finest. Even on low to mid settings it's great to look at. EQII was ok for its time. But tended to look fake (like plastic shiny armor) to me.

Lotro could've looked so much better if they used some 'fancy' techniques. The only reason they have an option to use DX10, is for better, and far from optimized lighting, and newer water reflections. But you can still look at the bottom on the lake at lake evendim, so you can see the texture tiles very clearly, while it could be solved with a few extra lines of code in the water shader... Or the new lighting, it looks better than DX9's in most cases. Except for lotro's, where they forgot to add AA to the shadows, creating a stuttering effect, it even got me as far to disable the DX10 graphics.

So like I said, they're graphics are far from amazing, just because they aren't optimized. Everything they did is the bare minimum, and camouflaged the huge flaws by creating over-sized textures.

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by sprmni100

i think the graphics are the stupidiest ever!!!

the characters look like they were built in 3DS max by a starter!!

though that the game is super...just the graphics dont belong to this game :)

 

Yeahhhh......

HahA! Take a look again at the armor again Sir Blood...Tell me that armor doesnt look like a pile of cow poo. I've grown to hate LOTROs characters models. Don't get me wrong Middle Earth looks great but the toons simply look horrible. I could care less if theres a cocmetic system, 80% of the clothing look horrible in LOTRO as well.

Now...wheres those Aion screenshots....you wanna see armor?

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by erandur

WoW's graphics are bland and monotone, and far from optimized. Pretty much the opposite of GW's graphics.

This is the LOTRO forums, and you don't know what you are saying.

Get a grib on yourself Sir Blood.......lol

I have to say LOTRO graphics are by far my favorite in any MMO. 

Originally posted by erandur

Lotro could've looked so much better if they used some 'fancy' techniques. The only reason they have an option to use DX10, is for better, and far from optimized lighting, and newer water reflections. But you can still look at the bottom on the lake at lake evendim, so you can see the texture tiles very clearly, while it could be solved with a few extra lines of code in the water shader... Or the new lighting, it looks better than DX9's in most cases. Except for lotro's, where they forgot to add AA to the shadows, creating a stuttering effect, it even got me as far to disable the DX10 graphics.

So like I said, they're graphics are far from amazing, just because they aren't optimized. Everything they did is the bare minimum, and camouflaged the huge flaws by creating over-sized textures.

The graphics, and techniques used were to create a large as possible install base. And it works, also the results speak for themselves.

Using older techniques with a high level or proficiency is not a "Bad idea".

That is a screen shot from my client, running DX10 at 1400 x 900 all things on ultra, and AA enabled.

Even the shadows are stencil, THROUGH ALPHA TEXTURES on the leaves of the trees, and also follow the UV animation of them. Turbine always will go with the side of performance, but even with that, the results are amazing for the system requirements. Typically, in this scene, i get over 80 FPS.

Going by your comments, and having personally worked with such systems, i dont think you are qualified to say what you have. They client is extremely optimized for its output. You just are not looking at, or realizing everything that is going on.

Even the grass revives, and casts dynamic stencil shadows that move.

Even player models revive, and ALSO self shadow themselves.

And with all that on, i can still participate in battles such as this (all of thoes are players) with over 60 FPS with out changing any setting.

In the world of game art development, its a game of give and take, and only the final composition matters, not the individual parts in isolation.

Most of you are also confusing personal tastes in style, with execution. Aion is also a beautiful game, they are use the same techniques. It also just came out, LOTRO is 2 years old.

The problem with LotrO graphic imo is that its not consistent. (is that a word?) The world is 100% awesome but when it comes to animations, models and armors its hit and miss. Some animations lok great and some are awefull. Some of my characters looks better than any character I have seen from other games, but there are armors/clothing that are ugly and makes the characters look wierd.

I think Turbine should really take a look at and fix some animations and characters in the game and bring everything to the same quality.

For me, no MMO comes close to the screenshots Bloodworth posted.

Originally posted by lotroblogger

One of my gripes with LOTRO is that the graphics in the starting areas, while good, are not near as fantastic as the areas a bit further into the game. For instance, check out this screenshot from Eregion...

http://www.lotroblogger.com/?p=179

I wish new players could experience some of the more fantastic areas before forming their opinion of the game. Those starter areas are nice, but the vistas later on are downright breathtaking.

Agree:)

The Man starter area I would give a Visual grade of "D:"

The Character models I would give a "C-"

But, the rest of the world is stunning! I would give the rest of the game world a "A+++++".