I vote for GW2 because of the overall style and polish. AOC facial features are poorly done although the environments are fantastic to look at. TSW is mediocre and has poor animation and VG character models are just awful and has aged badly. Rift is fairly good but lacks finesse. WoW is chunky and has very little detail, while EVE is just... EVE. I haven't played around with others that have been mentioned enough to give a proper judgement.

Entropia Universe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGwkGYbbMP8&feature=related

Originally posted by QSatu

Ff 14 overall best.

GW2 in variety. It feels like on 1 map there are more assets and textures than is some whole games.

FF14 is gorgeous, for sure.  

TSW and it's not very close.

Edit:  It appears people like cartoon fantasy games more than realistic and thus the poll and poster results.

2nd Edit:  Archeage looks to be the best of the cartoon fantasy bunch.

Originally posted by Mardukk

TSW and it's not very close.

 

Edit:  It appears people like cartoon fantasy games more than realistic and thus the poll and poster results.

 

2nd Edit:  Archeage looks to be the best of the cartoon fantasy bunch.

It's definitely TSW - the character models could certainly be a bit better but the environments and lighting are 2nd to none. Although a big reason the character models may look a little lacking is due to the fact that everything else looks so flawless.

Can't vote for TSW because of the butt ugly animations, which are unforgivable for the company that made the well animated AoC. Also, TSW completely lacks "scale"... there's no sense of scale, something you would await from a game with a modern setting. Same reason I won't vote for LOTRO either, not to mention LOTRO got very old in 5 years, character animations already sucked 5 years ago, the game has some ugly repetitive textures for hill sides and other terrain areas, and also some very "spiky" terrain (stones, hills, etc... which look like they've been cut with an axe). The game still has some amazing areas like The Shire or Evendim though.

EQ2 has washed out colors, and just like LOTRO, even though the engine was quite good at release, it has aged. Character animations aren't that great either.

Rift's characters look like they have a stick up the darkest part of their lilly white, and the graphics never impressed me that much despite having a very good DX11 graphic card and everything maxed out. Looks just like Warhammer... aka, average.

Tera has that asian style I don't like at all, and some of the most ugly mobs I've every seen in a MMORPG (even if other mobs are quite nice). Aion is even worse.

WoW is WoW... the Blizzard art team is still one of the best of the industry, managing to make wonders with only a few polygons. It deserves a special mention for that, but not the first place.

SW:TOR managed to capture the Star Wars feeling quite well actually, even with the more cartoonish take on the graphics, but that's it. For instance they totally failed towns graphically, Coruscant is just another level, and not a town. Doesn't feel at all like the Coruscant of the movies. The animations are not too bad though.

Conan is great, but GW2 has a scale even Conan lacks. Cities are something you've never seen in a MMORPG before.

My vote goes to GW2, no contest.

Originally posted by bcbully

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. 

You obviously don't have a clue about what tesselation is, or you confuse it with displacement mapping which exists for ages now.

Originally posted by Aethaeryn

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.

S'ok, I've played six of them, on his original list.

But I don't evaluate graphics the same way GPU salesmen do, never have.  Aesthetics are greater than the sum of your techniques.

Unfortunately, evaluating aesthetics leads us to the land of amateur art critics; where anything goes in the Opinion Arena.  And indirectly, right back to fanboy central.

Originally posted by ShakyMo
Tesselation makes flat surfaces more 3dish. It does make ground textures and stuff look better.

That's displacement mapping, tesselation doesn't affect textures at all.

Tesselation subdivides polygons to add more details to the objects, not to the textures. One of the result is that even low polygon count models don't look "spiky", and you can achieve rounded surfaces with only a couple of initial polygons.

I can create e.g. a rectangular brick area with only two polygons (triangles), no tesselation at all, yet make the bricks appear being in 3D with displacement mapping.

Originally posted by Icewhite

But I don't evaluate graphics the same way GPU salesmen do, never have.  Aesthetics are greater than the sum of your techniques.

I do program graphic effects for a living (among other things), and never have I either. You can have the best technician providing the most advanced effects, tesselation, displacement mapping, shaders, etc..., if you don't have a good art team behind to use those features, your project (be it a game, or anything else) will look like crap.

Pretending otherwise is like saying Mozart was a musical genius only because he had the best quality music instruments.

Originally posted by BadSpock

Originally posted by Jaedor

The Secret World. With a good system, the details really pop. Dawn in Kingsmouth is nostalgia-inducing.

I think TSW's modern setting gives me an Uncanny Valley reaction.

I just can't stand it and think people are crazy for believing the game has good graphics.

Completely agree with the "uncanny valley" argument... Too many devs get enamored with graphical "realism" and paint themselves into a corner with either this or the fact that standards of "realism" pretty much follow moore's law.

Imo, that's why games like WoW or TF2 have almost unlimited longevity... I can see myself playing TF2 in 10 years lol, there is nothing I would take away or add to gfx of that game... just like you can watch 60 year old tunes 60 without them feeling dated.

Tera, gw2 , aoc (but is showing age lately) , tsw (except characters)

Recently I bought a high performance graphics card and the game that has surprised me more in terms of graphics is..... RIFT!!!

Thats right with ultra settings and a good monitor its the best around here. Was deeply impressed myself cos i was used to play it with another graphic card.

Truly amazing.

It's not just so easy. I'll split it into two parts.
I. (objective)Technical and
II. (subjective) utilization of said technology

On a technical level

1. The Secret World.
DX11, Tesselation, TXAA, high resolution textures, HDR, AO.

2. Archeage
Personally the Cryengine 3 is superiour to Funcoms, but they don't have TXAA (yet) and Archeage is not utilizing as much as possible

3. DX11 / 10 "capable" MMOs such as Lotro / WoW (yes i really did write WoW!)

4. DX9+ Games where TERA with Unreal engine 3.5 leads the bulk

Utilization of said technology

1. Archeage (seamless zones > fixed zone "maps" so it's before TSW)

2. The Secret World

3. TERA (That's how you pump up DX9)

4. FFXIV - AAR (Character Detail / Mesh - Polygon utilization even blows out Archeage and TSW, landscape "was" lacking which AAR is fixing, that only leaves low texture resolution which is a good 4th place)

5. The shallow "REST" with "DX11 capable" games like Lotro and low poly / low detail objects and characters like GW2 and abyssmal texture resolution like SWTOR.

im sorry the gameplay may have been buggy and the game may have lacked content but its rather obvious at least to me even with the asian styled graphics tera looks the best its no contest even with GW2.

Edit: Unreal Engine in general is just badass and any game that has it will be ontop in terms of graphics. until a better engine is released.

Originally posted by wordiz
Say what you want about it, but GW2 is PRETTY. So much to look at too.

Yeah, gotta love DX9..

Sure, they obviously did a great job with the limited technology available, but it will not compare to newer DX11, or even DX10 MMOs (obligatory IMHO).

Iiiiiiiii'm just sayin'

Originally posted by Mesfenlir

Tera, gw2 , aoc (but is showing age lately) , tsw (except characters)

Recently I bought a high performance graphics card and the game that has surprised me more in terms of graphics is..... RIFT!!!

Thats right with ultra settings and a good monitor its the best around here. Was deeply impressed myself cos i was used to play it with another graphic card.

Truly amazing.

This is obviously pure opinion, but I agree wholeheartedly.  I run Rift on max settings, and I love their art style and the attention to detail everywhere you look.  And it just keeps getting better.  Trion is the hardest working MMORPG developer there is.

Sorry, my Rift Fanboyism is showing.  blush.jpg