Hello,

It feels to me that real reason for Old Republic to look so cartoony is Lucas Arts iron boot that steps on bioware and forces them to make it look like the cartoony CloneWars tv-serie. Marketing over style and immersio.

I quess it's not a secret that cartoony style doesn't appeal to my Star Wars taste.

Like this game wouldn't be appealing enough for the youger audience, make it cartoony. Well i guess we know where the WoW Kids move when the time comes :(

I think the real reason has been explained enough times now, but you're welcome to your opinion.

I think the real reason is so they can make a open world with a lot of stuff going on that would work on low spec PCs without crashing.

Originally posted by tkreep

I think the real reason is so they can make a open world with a lot of stuff going on that would work on low spec PCs without crashing.

Fair enough. Similarity still makes you wonder... :)

Originally posted by Lesrach

Originally posted by tkreep

I think the real reason is so they can make a open world with a lot of stuff going on that would work on low spec PCs without crashing.

 

Fair enough. Similarity still makes you wonder... :)

It’s a possibility, this is going to be a T rated game I assume, so it will appeal to various age groups, and Lucas Films seems to have trademarked that stylized look. The thing that sticks out to me the most as to why they went this route is just like what they said, they went with stylized realism instead of photo realism because of its timeless appearance.

If you look at games that have gone for the more photo realistic look, some look dated by today’s standards, such as SWG, KOTOR 1-2 due to design limitations of the time. Some look poorly designed, like in Mortal Online, or abstract or ethnic because the artist perhaps took that approach like in Aion, LOTRO and AoC. (an example of ethnicity would be how some perceive Aion avatars as having Asian features)

With the direction they chose this gives them a lot more design and performance freedom, and allows them to worry less about all avatars looking detailed. Since most of us spend a lot of our time in Armor, you may notice they are putting effort into “what you wear” clothing and armor variances seem easier to render than smaller facial details and minor quirks players may add.

In the end this design direction consumes less processing power on the user end and allows them to achieve fluid animations in densely populated areas (better performance) across more platforms.

If you did not notice, they focused a lot on environments, because that is what the player mostly focuses on and interacts with and it’s mostly static. When you play you may find you pay less attention to what your avatars face looks like, more to how cool the worlds look. Hope that explains it.
 

Originally posted by tkreep

I think the real reason is so they can make a open world with a lot of stuff going on that would work on low spec PCs without crashing.

This would be my first guess on the graphic situation.  Of course the fact that it mirrors the cartoon SW makes me think that there is some influence from that angle as well.  Overall, I feel they knew there was already a more realistic looking SW game SWG, even if it is on its' last leg and they wanted to go with the fresh look.

More or less, just trying to make it as available to all possible players as possible. It's familiar with the WoW demographic, their most obvious target audience, and probably the only MMO that is even justified in trying to attract them as a massive whole with any sort of chance of success. It also has a good bit to do with the fact that they are targetting the young demographic in general, which is the smartest choice on a profitable margin, but not one I'm exactly happy about. Though I won't say it isn't a smart and sound business choice.

You basically have a lot less to lose and a lot more to gain with stylized and cartoon graphics over the extreme graphics of a game like Age of Conan, at least in terms of MMOs. Not that there's anything wrong with AoC's graphics, and I approve of them trying to push things forward two years ago, but it was too much too soon. I just feel like this game is doing too little too late in terms of graphics, being on par with WoW and, in all honesty, I'm pretty certain at least 80% of it's players can play the game on maximum settings at this point with no problem, and any mid-range computer in today's time could easily surpass it's limits.

Yes, but, firstly, over many many years Star Wars (unlike Warcraft) mainly was a movie franchise, so many people expect more realistic graphics, unlike Warcraft, which is based on a series of previous cartoony games.

And secondly, realistic graphics can also run well on low end computers (see for example LotRo). In the end, all what matters is the poly count.

Cartoony vs realistic is a deliberate choice.

The cartoony graphics of SWTOR are done in order to appeal to a young target crowd (maybe in the age range 14-24), and people who are a bit older are often disappointed.

If they really think "cartoony is good for WoW, so it must be good for SW", then they are terribly wrong.

I don't even see ToR as cartoony, I kinda see a cross between the two. I was never a fan of "realistic" graphics in MMOs due to the speed at which they age.

the argument that its make game run better is complete rubbish, its to appeal to s younger crowd. plenty of games with low system specs go for a realistic look , ie counter counter strike most popluar fps. game runs fine on even most basic computers, its simple they dont  exagerate faces and body dimensions and use a more neutral colour pallete and general physics in game is more natural.

cartoony graphics can have their place, i think its works great in team fortress 2 completely suits the game, but for star wars no it jars with the films which the fans are used to. older fans just have to accpet this fact they are not going for more mature crowd it will be simplified and have not much depth to it. much like the original trilogy compared to the prequel trilogy its not for older fans its for new generation, lucasarts /bioware want new fans dont see the point of preaching to the choir with more mature game.

This is no way looks like the Clone Wars TV series. However, the new SOE Star Wars MMO based on the Clone Wars using the Free Realms engine might be another story.