Age of Conan was a great looking game, LOTRO had beautiful environments, I don't see Aion being in the same category of looking great. I find the characters/animations of the characters in Aion look great, but the scenery/landscapes is absolutely horrible in some situations. If I remember I will post some screenshots of some very badly textured terrain, it somewhat reminded me of WAR in that respect. Very blotty looking terrain in some places. There's many things I like about aion, but most of the graphics are not one of them. I suppose this is all subjective.

It isn't really my taste in a game but Aion looks better graphic wise. Although there are games coming out next year that look a whole lot better than it.

 For me AoC is still on top, but Aion beats Lotro for 2 main reasons, first, the trees and grass look like papers sheets crossed between them and second, character animations and models are just horrible for such a beautifull game, i mean, they dont even look like they belong there, apart from that LoTRo's  landscapes are simply beautifull and one of the best and most realistic i've ever seen. Plus, the combat animations and special effects in Lotro are just plain poor

When will you all undestand that you can not discuss about thing like these. What you all see in game is composition of many elements of visual design: Interface design, modeling art, texturing art, enviromental design, level design, character design,etc. To have all of that things perfectly balanced to appeal to your taste means that every other game that does not have that kind of balance (for your taste and liking) means rejection from your brain.

How many of you can really say why you do not like some features of visuals? If you ask yourselves what is that you do not like, it would be ussually be couple of things, and thouse things are done outside your brains tolerance for color, art, shape and form. But it does not say it is bad, it is only not appealing to you.

Originally posted by Aleste

 Performance must be taken into account when discussing graphics. Aion currently delivers the best overall package, its how all graphical elements compliment each other.

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/9882/aionaltgard.jpg

 

In his latest interview with Aionsource, Yongchan lee (Aion producer) said they are planning to implement additional real-time rendering techniques that will improve the game visually [Prolly means HDR support]. He also said they are reviewing adding DX10 support.

 

 

dx10 for aion??? Well Dx11 is under devolopment for Dx11.

personaly i think  Lotro have the best graphics, then SGW, so Aoc and then Aion.

Originally posted by Gameloading

From an Artistic standpoint, Aion easily beats both.

From a technical standpoint, it's AoC , Lotro , Aion with the difference between Lotro and Aion being very small.

Uh what. Aion is easily one of the most boring looking MMO ever made.

1. AoC

2. Vanguard

3. DDO

4. Aion

5. LOTRO

The environments in Aion lack texture.  At no point in time did I stop and say, "Wow, what a pretty picture."  The character models are alright, just a bit too girly, even for me. I think CO's animated style easily beats Aion's Eastern look.

In LotRO, I actually stop sometimes in my travels just to look around.  The environments are just that nice.  I remember sitting in a field of swaying flowers, just looking at the clouds rolling by.  The character models need a bit of work, though, far from horrible.  I just fill they all have sticks up their arses.

When I first logged into AoC, the visuals just clicked.  The character models are some of the best I've seen, and the environments are truly beautiful.

So, I would have to agree with the OP except for the placement of Aion...

1) AoC

2) LotRO

3) CO

4) Aion

For world graphics, I'd say LoTRO is the best.

For character models though, I'd put Aion at the top:)

I never liked AoC's world or Vanguard's worlds- just my personal taste.