Originally posted by Aerowyn

also for anyone who hasn't seen this before it's a good video of comparing graphics and aesthetics and sort of shows how people can really like a games look a lot better with decent graphics but great asthetics than the one with a  higher polygon count

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/graphics-vs.-aesthetics

Good video but I cant say that it is as clear cut and dry as that video make it look. For instance, some of those games they say look great because of aestethics I think look pretty silly so it is partly subjective.

I originally thought GW 2 had better aesthetics than TERA but that was just because I hadn't play through all TERA zones. Aftter doing so I feel the aesthetics in TERA is better just because of the shere variety where as GW 2 looks similar, but good, throughout all the zones so it gets boring. Also the armors and weapons in TERA I feel look much better, not because of polygon count, but rather the style which is entirely subjective because I prefer shining and overly big and glamorous weapon and armor where as others do not.

So GFX is definetely not the answer to great looking game but neither is aesthetics because the latter is subjective. However GFX is not subjective so it is atleast a metric you can measure.

Originally posted by Ridelynn

 

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Originally posted by Izik
Graphically TSW wins hands down.  It's the only mmo (and game) in the world that utilizes the new TXAA anti-aliasing technique, among other things (http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/the-secret-world-txaa).  You're delusional if you think any other game comes close to the technical prowess TSW displays. TERA also has an incredibly strong graphical engine.

 

Aesthetically speaking, that's your opinion. A lot of people love GW2 aethsetically - but it does not mean the game has "good graphics". People need to realize the difference between apples and oranges in this case.

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TXAA - meh. I think Shader-based AA is nice (TXAA is MSAA-based, not shader based), but to call a game "More advanced" because it uses one form of AA that is heavily marketed by one video card manufacturer - nah. I haven't seen TSW in action - it may very well be worthy of the title, but just on the basis of it using a buzzword-loaded AA type promoted by one video card manufacturer that likely got paid to include it - nope.

If you've never seen TSW in action, how can you prefer one AA over another? 

It's not just marketing rhetoric either; TXAA looks amazing if you have the rig to run it.

Voted GW2.

What's the point of this poll? Of course, a game which was released 2 months ago will look prettier than MMOs which were released 4-9 years ago.

It's like asking what's more graphically appealing? Call of Duty Black Ops 2 or Half Life 1?

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Originally posted by Izik

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Originally posted by Ridelynn  

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Originally posted by Izik Graphically TSW wins hands down.  It's the only mmo (and game) in the world that utilizes the new TXAA anti-aliasing technique, among other things (http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/the-secret-world-txaa).  You're delusional if you think any other game comes close to the technical prowess TSW displays. TERA also has an incredibly strong graphical engine.   Aesthetically speaking, that's your opinion. A lot of people love GW2 aethsetically - but it does not mean the game has "good graphics". People need to realize the difference between apples and oranges in this case.

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  TXAA - meh. I think Shader-based AA is nice (TXAA is MSAA-based, not shader based), but to call a game "More advanced" because it uses one form of AA that is heavily marketed by one video card manufacturer - nah. I haven't seen TSW in action - it may very well be worthy of the title, but just on the basis of it using a buzzword-loaded AA type promoted by one video card manufacturer that likely got paid to include it - nope.

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If you've never seen TSW in action, how can you prefer one AA over another? 

It's not just marketing rhetoric either; TXAA looks amazing if you have the rig to run it.

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AA is AA, no matter how you get there. The whole idea is to help eliminate the "stairstep" effect that is introduced by digitization - we have to represent our pictures via pixels on our output devices (well, we don't ~have~ to, but there are very, very few vector-based output devices available to us, and none that I can think of that you can game on). Since we have the limitation of dealing with pixels, we are going to have "jaggies" when we have lines that have some angle compared to the pixel orientation of the device.

SSAA is probably still superior graphics-wise. It's basically the "brute force" method of AA, and such it's extremely expensive performance-wise. TXAA may compete well, but it's just one technology - Antialiasing. There are 100 different ways to skin a cat, but in the end, you still end up with a hairless cat - so long as you "have the rig to run it" who cares how you get there. And the fact that TXAA is only supported by and promoted by nVidia, only in their 600 series, and really only a feature in a handful of games - makes it fairly irrelevant to me in half of the computers I game on with AMD cards, and none of the nVidia products I have.

Originally posted by fivoroth

Voted GW2.

What's the point of this poll? Of course, a game which was released 2 months ago will look prettier than MMOs which were released 4-9 years ago.

It's like asking what's more graphically appealing? Call of Duty Black Ops 2 or Half Life 1?

/facepalm

So I guess Crysis (released in 2007), arguably the best looking game of all time, doesn't look as good as say...Halo 4? Your logic is flawed, dude.

Originally posted by Ridelynn

 

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Originally posted by Izik

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Originally posted by Ridelynn  

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Originally posted by Izik Graphically TSW wins hands down.  It's the only mmo (and game) in the world that utilizes the new TXAA anti-aliasing technique, among other things (http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/the-secret-world-txaa).  You're delusional if you think any other game comes close to the technical prowess TSW displays. TERA also has an incredibly strong graphical engine.   Aesthetically speaking, that's your opinion. A lot of people love GW2 aethsetically - but it does not mean the game has "good graphics". People need to realize the difference between apples and oranges in this case.

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  TXAA - meh. I think Shader-based AA is nice (TXAA is MSAA-based, not shader based), but to call a game "More advanced" because it uses one form of AA that is heavily marketed by one video card manufacturer - nah. I haven't seen TSW in action - it may very well be worthy of the title, but just on the basis of it using a buzzword-loaded AA type promoted by one video card manufacturer that likely got paid to include it - nope.

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If you've never seen TSW in action, how can you prefer one AA over another? 

 

It's not just marketing rhetoric either; TXAA looks amazing if you have the rig to run it.

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AA is AA, no matter how you get there. The whole idea is to help eliminate the "stairstep" effect that is introduced by digitization - we have to represent our pictures via pixels on our output devices (well, we don't ~have~ to, but there are very, very few vector-based output devices available to us, and none that I can think of that you can game on). Since we have the limitation of dealing with pixels, we are going to have "jaggies" when we have lines that have some angle compared to the pixel orientation of the device.

SSAA is probably still superior graphics-wise. It's basically the "brute force" method of AA, and such it's extremely expensive performance-wise. TXAA may compete well, but it's just one technology - Antialiasing. There are 100 different ways to skin a cat, but in the end, you still end up with a hairless cat - so long as you "have the rig to run it" who cares how you get there. And the fact that TXAA is only supported by and promoted by nVidia, only in their 600 series, and really only a feature in a handful of games - makes it fairly irrelevant to me in half of the computers I game on with AMD cards, and none of the nVidia products I have.

It's not just about AA. TSW has full tesselation aswell all in DX11. Tesselation makes every pebble, every brick and even clothing 3 deminsional, where as other games have pictures of bricks and such. 

The graphics is TSW strongest asset more so than story or whatever else. It's so far ahead of the current curve the game wont need a graphics update for the forseable future. This one thing that bodes well for TSW staying around awhile. 

Heck take the free trial and check it out.

Originally posted by Ridelynn

 

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Originally posted by Izik

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Originally posted by Ridelynn  

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Originally posted by Izik Graphically TSW wins hands down.  It's the only mmo (and game) in the world that utilizes the new TXAA anti-aliasing technique, among other things (http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/the-secret-world-txaa).  You're delusional if you think any other game comes close to the technical prowess TSW displays. TERA also has an incredibly strong graphical engine.   Aesthetically speaking, that's your opinion. A lot of people love GW2 aethsetically - but it does not mean the game has "good graphics". People need to realize the difference between apples and oranges in this case.

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  TXAA - meh. I think Shader-based AA is nice (TXAA is MSAA-based, not shader based), but to call a game "More advanced" because it uses one form of AA that is heavily marketed by one video card manufacturer - nah. I haven't seen TSW in action - it may very well be worthy of the title, but just on the basis of it using a buzzword-loaded AA type promoted by one video card manufacturer that likely got paid to include it - nope.

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If you've never seen TSW in action, how can you prefer one AA over another? 

 

It's not just marketing rhetoric either; TXAA looks amazing if you have the rig to run it.

---

 

AA is AA, no matter how you get there. The whole idea is to help eliminate the "stairstep" effect that is introduced by digitization - we have to represent our pictures via pixels on our output devices (well, we don't ~have~ to, but there are very, very few vector-based output devices available to us, and none that I can think of that you can game on). Since we have the limitation of dealing with pixels, we are going to have "jaggies" when we have lines that have some angle compared to the pixel orientation of the device.

SSAA is probably still superior graphics-wise. It's basically the "brute force" method of AA, and such it's extremely expensive performance-wise. TXAA may compete well, but it's just one technology - Antialiasing. There are 100 different ways to skin a cat, but in the end, you still end up with a hairless cat - so long as you "have the rig to run it" who cares how you get there. And the fact that TXAA is only supported by and promoted by nVidia, only in their 600 series, and really only a feature in a handful of games - makes it fairly irrelevant to me in half of the computers I game on with AMD cards, and none of the nVidia products I have.

Ok, you still didn't say anything because you admitted it's "irrelevant" to you due to the fact your gpu doesn't support it.

The topic is what is the best mmo graphically. Enabling all of the tech (yes, including TXAA) inside TSW easily makes it the best. You can have your opinions about TXAA, but the fact is TSW is the only mmo recently that has been pushing the boundaries in graphical technology. Whereas you have games like GW2 that are still running DX9, and yet have "amazing graphics" to untrained eyes.

Originally posted by bcbully

Originally posted by Ridelynn

 

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Originally posted by Izik

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Originally posted by Ridelynn  

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Originally posted by Izik Graphically TSW wins hands down.  It's the only mmo (and game) in the world that utilizes the new TXAA anti-aliasing technique, among other things (http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/the-secret-world-txaa).  You're delusional if you think any other game comes close to the technical prowess TSW displays. TERA also has an incredibly strong graphical engine.   Aesthetically speaking, that's your opinion. A lot of people love GW2 aethsetically - but it does not mean the game has "good graphics". People need to realize the difference between apples and oranges in this case.

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  TXAA - meh. I think Shader-based AA is nice (TXAA is MSAA-based, not shader based), but to call a game "More advanced" because it uses one form of AA that is heavily marketed by one video card manufacturer - nah. I haven't seen TSW in action - it may very well be worthy of the title, but just on the basis of it using a buzzword-loaded AA type promoted by one video card manufacturer that likely got paid to include it - nope.

---

If you've never seen TSW in action, how can you prefer one AA over another? 

 

It's not just marketing rhetoric either; TXAA looks amazing if you have the rig to run it.

---

 

AA is AA, no matter how you get there. The whole idea is to help eliminate the "stairstep" effect that is introduced by digitization - we have to represent our pictures via pixels on our output devices (well, we don't ~have~ to, but there are very, very few vector-based output devices available to us, and none that I can think of that you can game on). Since we have the limitation of dealing with pixels, we are going to have "jaggies" when we have lines that have some angle compared to the pixel orientation of the device.

SSAA is probably still superior graphics-wise. It's basically the "brute force" method of AA, and such it's extremely expensive performance-wise. TXAA may compete well, but it's just one technology - Antialiasing. There are 100 different ways to skin a cat, but in the end, you still end up with a hairless cat - so long as you "have the rig to run it" who cares how you get there. And the fact that TXAA is only supported by and promoted by nVidia, only in their 600 series, and really only a feature in a handful of games - makes it fairly irrelevant to me in half of the computers I game on with AMD cards, and none of the nVidia products I have.

It's not just about AA. TSW has full tesselation aswell all in DX11. Tesselation makes every pebble, every brick and even clothing 3 deminsional, where as other games have pictures of bricks and such. 

 

The graphics is TSW strongest asset more so than story or whatever else. It's so far ahead of the current curve the game wont need a graphics update for the forseable future. This one thing that bodes well for TSW staying around awhile. 

 

Heck take the free trial and check it out.

Exactly. Well said.

I don't even play TSW, but it is definitely worth dl'ing the free trial and checking out the graphics.

What? No poll option for 8bit mmo?

I think GW2 has the best landscape and artistic quality, while I think TERA is ahead in character modelling.  Aion has some pretty fantastic character modelling as well and its not quite so plastic-looking like TERA's is.

TSW.

TERA looks so fake and I despise asian art styles.

From a purely techinical standpoint? Tera.

From an artistic standpoint? GW2.

Overall though i'd give it to GW2.

I'm surprised so few people voted Rift..

Originally posted by ShakyMo
Rift looks like warhammer, but with better particle effects and worse artwork / character models.

Graphic styles might be similar, even down to the fonts they use.. by graphical quality?  No idea how you can say that.  Especially regarding character models.

Have you compared gameplay videos for both games?  Sometimes perception can be off, when going on memory alone.

Personally, I was tempted to go with GW2, but they made the terrain so blocky for some reason.  Performance, I guess?  Really brings it down, despite the incredible art direction, IMHO.

Originally posted by Icewhite

Originally posted by timeraider

i voted for gw2 because they are going for realism more then WoW..

Those are...the only two you considered?

Brings up a side point op--not many people are qualified to take your poll (= evaluated every game on that list).  Or even, you know, more than a couple.

Unfortunately I am.  Sort of a sad comment. . overall I voted for LOTRO though.  Not so much for the whole game but for a few areas that just blew me away.