Originally posted by einexile

I wrinkled my nose for a minute then realized this stuff looks like Ralph McQuarrie's old concept art. What a nice idea - I just hope they stick with it. Age of Conan once had a similarly painted look and they jettisoned it.

You people complaining that the art style is childish are only exposing how wet behind the ears you yourselves are by comparing it to something as new as WoW and ignoring the whole history and purpose of Star Wars.

Not comparing it to WoW, but to the Starwars world that lives in my head... and it doesn't match.

I'm looking for something darker and less cartoony.

But, it all boils down to personal flavor.

Funny thing is ... i'm playing the SWGemu right now .... the graphics are crap and it still is riddled with the popular swg bugs. Yet i enjoy it more than any of the new games.

Originally posted by Woopin

Originally posted by darwa

Originally posted by Woopin

 

Also I know a ton of games that Alpha screens never made it to Open Beta / Final Production so I would not worry about graphics as of yet.

 

How many of those games actually took on a different graphical look? Name them please; I'm really curious.

*****EDIT*****

Games that changed development companies don't count

 

 

Trying to not go off topic here but a few I can think of Tabula Rasa changed the whole way it looked. I wish I could find the old thread on this as they had screens from Alpha early stages to Open Beta stages. I will post it if I find them for you. Other games include Planetside but they went the opposite way round and there Beta screens was worse than there Early Alpha screens.

 

I am not saying they will change how it looks but it is way too early to say this is what the finished product will look like. I am sure if I had time to look into this more I could list a whole bunch of examples again these are just off the top of my head.

 

You have to remember that early alpha stages they change and swap textures about like crazy. I doubt the models will be touched but at least there is hope that they will skip the cartoon graphics and go for a more realistic approach.

Just as  a comparison to how graphics can change from alpha to release  here's Guild wars.

Guild wars Alpha

Guild wars present day.

I'm willing to bet that the majority of people complaining about the graphics would also be the ones complaining if the graphics were too good, requiring them to get new hardware.  Some people are simply happiest complaining.

Personally, even at the Alpha stage, I think the graphics look pretty decent.  If you look at the most recent Clone Wars movie and the TV show, the graphic styles are very similar. 

The graphics will be fine.  It's early.  All Bioware games have at least decent graphics, certainly not bad graphics.

In a way it almost looks like they tried going the way of the recent animated movie while trying to keep to the idea of the KOTOR look.  Maybe I'm nuts though.

As it is I think that the landcape looks decent, but I don't like a single thing about the characters.  It's not that they're bad, it's simply that they don't fit in a Star Wars setting.

The light sabers, as many have pointed out, desperately need fixed.

That said, it's still pretty early in the game's development and I won't write it off as some game geared toward pre-teens.  Now if these were release shots...

Whom ever compared it to WoW graphics needs to be slapped with a dead fish.

Overall i would not mind if it looked like that could run max graphics and prolly still get great FPS the main problem with next gen graphics is that there are a lot of ppl out there that can just plain not afford to upgrade so i think medium settings in graphics are good , get more playerbase that way.

 Since the Screenies that we have seen are from Pre Alpha i think they are quite good.

The Graphics will get MUCH better as the months go on and they add textures, shaders, Bloom, lighting, shadows ETC ETC.

IF this is what the game looks like as of Pre alpha, i cant wait to see some newer screenies, Hell i cant wait for the first vid clip :)

Originally posted by jinxit

Just as  a comparison to how graphics can change from alpha to release  here's Guild wars.

Where did you find that screenshot? It looks nothing like the alpha screens I see when I google for Gamespot screenies to verify your post (not that I checked all 275 - the first few were enough).

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/guildwars/preview_6101559.html

I wasn't going to derail this thread any longer, but if you look, as suggested by Woopin, at early Tabula Rasa screens, yes it was different, but only textures, lighting, and shadows. You can easily tell it's the same work though. I can't find anything conclusive about Planetside though, so can't comment, but I suspect it followed the trend

Send me a pm or something if you intend to respond - no sense in having this discussion in here.

I wouldn't be worried if these were some leaks.

I'm worried because they felt they were good enough to be shown next to their first announcement.

I'm not really liking what I see so far but I need to see more before I really make up my mind.  However, if this is what it takes to play the game at acceptable framerates, I can live with the graphics.

Right now I prefer Star Wars Galaxies graphical style. 

Aion before and after.

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/8845/sanstitre1qz2.jpg

Originally posted by tkreep

Aion before and after.

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/8845/sanstitre1qz2.jpg

 

 

That's only lighting differences.

These are Aion's alpha graphics. (E3 2006)

I have to agree with both sides of the arguments i've seen

the graphics are pre-alpha and may not represent what they will look like and the backgrounds do look quite good for early screens

on the other hand what the character models look like now is some bog standard kids WOW clone with lightsabres

fingers crossed here is all i can say atm

Originally posted by tkreep

Aion before and after.

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/8845/sanstitre1qz2.jpg

 

 

Not sure what point you're trying to make, but thanks. It's a good example of what a difference a little 'polish' makes. The images are clearly the same, just the latter one has been prettied up.

The graphics at this stage are more than fine.  I'm perfectly happy with what I've seen.

I think what we are trying to get across is never judge a games graphics by the alpha screens they do change considerably.

Originally posted by Woopin

I think what we are trying to get across is never judge a games graphics by the alpha screens they do change considerably.

Sage advice indeed, but why would such large and experienced companies as Bioware and Lucasarts parade these images if they weren't (almost) final?

I'll be more than willing to eat humble pie if they overhaul the graphics. In fact, I'd be delighted if they do, but experience tells me that won't happen.