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Friday, April 27, 2007
Whoa! The colors!
I'm stealing screenshots from Kinless and Potshot to demonstrate the difference between the graphics of World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online. I could have done screenshots myself, but I thought using what other people think are typical screenshots of the game they are playing would be better.
The difference in style is very visible. WoW uses a lot more color, and is more comic style. LotRO's colors are more subdued and natural, without falling into the grey-in-brown trap like EQ2 did. LotRO has a significantly higher polygon count, and looks more realistic, just compare the trees. The over two years difference in age is noticeable, although of course that comes with the downside of probably needing a 2-year younger PC. In WoW your "shadow" is a round spot, regardless of your size or shape. In LotRO your shadow looks like it should look, a 2D image of you on the ground. I was seriously impressed when I crossed a ford in LotRO and noticed that in the water I could see both my shadow and my reflection. Water looks *so* much better in LotRO.I always liked the WoW comic style. It has the advantage that you can exaggerate proportions to make things more visible. For example the treasure chests in WoW really shout "treasure" at you. LotRO's clickable items are smaller and less visible, but the game gets around that problem by adding an optional floating title to everything you can click on, and having important clickable things pulsate. I didn't like the photorealistic graphics of EQ2 or Vanguard very much. But I do like LotRO's graphics better than WoW's, although I must say WoW has the better animations. For me it is easier to imagine that I am living in another world if that world looks more natural.
Another important difference is how the characters look. I mentioned before that I made a female blood-elf, because I couldn't manage to create a male blood-elf character that didn't look too much like a pretty boy. If I would create several male blood elves, they would all look like pretty boys, just with different hair styles. In LotRO I managed to make two totally different looking hobbits, one old and gray, with a pot-belly, and the other young, with freckles, and muscular. Especially for a role-playing server it is important that you can deviate from the standard good-looking adventurer stereotype. In WoW, if you want to play somebody ugly, you need to choose a Horde race. In LotRO you can change the body type, or add wrinkles or scars to your face.
Both graphics styles are certainly viable, and if you have an elderly computer you might prefer the lesser system requirements of World of Warcraft. But if your computer is half-decent, Lord of the Rings Online sure is pretty. I'm a big fan of Nagrand, but The Shire beats it hands-down. I've always been an explorer, and having a beautiful world with impressive graphics makes that so much more pleasant.
- posted by Tobold @ 11:18 AM Permanent Link
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I do find WoWs mix of bright primary colours sometimes hard on the eyes. But it is a great looking game, and I have spent many an hour admiring certain locations, and there is no denying it's easier on the less able machine.
LOTRO has something though that I've missed since Asherons Call, and that is vista's and draw distance. When I crested a hill and suddenly was confronted by gorgeous view of the Shire laid before me (I was approaching from the direction Bree) I just had to stop to admire the scenery.
The darker palette also matches the darker tone of the game. The dungeons I've been in FEEL like dungeons - the Great Barrow feels cramped and eerie. The atmosphere is spot on.
IMHO though, I think both games do what they do very well indeed.
LOTRO has something though that I've missed since Asherons Call, and that is vista's and draw distance. When I crested a hill and suddenly was confronted by gorgeous view of the Shire laid before me (I was approaching from the direction Bree) I just had to stop to admire the scenery.
The darker palette also matches the darker tone of the game. The dungeons I've been in FEEL like dungeons - the Great Barrow feels cramped and eerie. The atmosphere is spot on.
IMHO though, I think both games do what they do very well indeed.
The LOTRO animations do look weird and their char models are not perfect. Look at that hobbit, his torso is way too long with those legs...or he wears his pants down on his hips lol, either way it looks strange.
I'm also not a fan of the super long names that appear over everyone. And to me, some of the larger areas look sparcely populated; i suppose they expect the players to populate it fully.
I'm also not a fan of the super long names that appear over everyone. And to me, some of the larger areas look sparcely populated; i suppose they expect the players to populate it fully.
# posted by 
: 27/4/07 12:40
: 27/4/07 12:40
To my eyes, LOTR has a serious "uncanny valley" problem. That hobbit's face looks like it's painted on.
And there's some nasty tiling on the earth textures. The distance viewable is good, though, and I've seen it look quite pretty, but on the whole I prefer a more non-photorealistic style like WoW.
And there's some nasty tiling on the earth textures. The distance viewable is good, though, and I've seen it look quite pretty, but on the whole I prefer a more non-photorealistic style like WoW.
Taking the Blood Elves and their zone/city as a reference was not fair :)
Sure, WoW is more colorful and comicesque than other games in the genre, but it's not all that candy as your screenshot tries to implicate.
You might as well compare the Blood Elves' starting zone with the Undead one; Tirisfal is miles away from being colorful...
As for the graphic features (more detailed tree models, polygon shadows, water with reflections): all of them were alredy standard (at least in DAoC) when WoW was released. WoW's 3d engine was substandard upon the release of it, and hasn't improved since then (heck, I hoped they would do so for the first expansion). The weather system is merely non-existent, and the day-night cycle is a joke, both compared to DAoC.
Yes, they could to better in the aspect of the 3d engine, especially when it comes to water reflections and a better weather/daylight system, which both could be implemented without having any noticable impact on the performance of old PCs.
Blizzard did however an excellent job when it comes to the overall design, especially in Burning Crusade. This and the vivid character animations make it still better than the other competitors, where high-detailed characters walk expressionlessly and rigid (ate a broom?) around.
At least the comic style characters in WoW bypass the Uncanny Valley effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_Valley) that other 'realistic' games suffer from...
I still hope that Blizzard reviews and refactors their 3d engine one day, so at least the environment will look better than currently.
Sure, WoW is more colorful and comicesque than other games in the genre, but it's not all that candy as your screenshot tries to implicate.
You might as well compare the Blood Elves' starting zone with the Undead one; Tirisfal is miles away from being colorful...
As for the graphic features (more detailed tree models, polygon shadows, water with reflections): all of them were alredy standard (at least in DAoC) when WoW was released. WoW's 3d engine was substandard upon the release of it, and hasn't improved since then (heck, I hoped they would do so for the first expansion). The weather system is merely non-existent, and the day-night cycle is a joke, both compared to DAoC.
Yes, they could to better in the aspect of the 3d engine, especially when it comes to water reflections and a better weather/daylight system, which both could be implemented without having any noticable impact on the performance of old PCs.
Blizzard did however an excellent job when it comes to the overall design, especially in Burning Crusade. This and the vivid character animations make it still better than the other competitors, where high-detailed characters walk expressionlessly and rigid (ate a broom?) around.
At least the comic style characters in WoW bypass the Uncanny Valley effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_Valley) that other 'realistic' games suffer from...
I still hope that Blizzard reviews and refactors their 3d engine one day, so at least the environment will look better than currently.
# posted by : 27/4/07 13:28
: 27/4/07 13:28
I prefer WoW, but LOTRO runs a close second. I think Turbine did a great job of finding a happy medium between the detail of EQ2 and the style of WoW.
# posted by : 27/4/07 13:53
: 27/4/07 13:53
With over 2 years looking at WoW i'm still pleased and do not care anymore if the look may be dated for some. Art direction isn't technical achievement. WoW does so many things right in the art department, like very few other games in general, subtle things that you won't be able to name, but wich influence your experience. Take one WoW screenshot and just by the color you will be able to tell wich place it is. You can tell any PC/NPC from war away just by its basic outershape, same thing goes with gear it's remarkable.
Let me say it this way. Do the trees in LotR look more realistic? Yes. Do they work better cause of this. Oh no.
WoW's 3d engine was substandard upon the release of it, and hasn't improved since then (heck, I hoped they would do so for the first expansion).
The BE models have a visible higher polycount than the old models. Dranei do not. The engine is capable to scale upwards, they could switch old models for more detailed ones without changing the engine much. That said, there are situations in BC where a PC wich was ok for WoW 1.0 will see framerate drops to sub 25s, they already walking borderline for some players. Why should they force the playerbase to upgrade just for eyecandy. Other games tried that and failed. Not everyone buys a new system every 2 years, at least not the average WoW player.
With BC they pushed the engine way more, especially for environments but do not expect upgrades from WoW 1.0 to Doom 3 look.
Let me say it this way. Do the trees in LotR look more realistic? Yes. Do they work better cause of this. Oh no.
WoW's 3d engine was substandard upon the release of it, and hasn't improved since then (heck, I hoped they would do so for the first expansion).
The BE models have a visible higher polycount than the old models. Dranei do not. The engine is capable to scale upwards, they could switch old models for more detailed ones without changing the engine much. That said, there are situations in BC where a PC wich was ok for WoW 1.0 will see framerate drops to sub 25s, they already walking borderline for some players. Why should they force the playerbase to upgrade just for eyecandy. Other games tried that and failed. Not everyone buys a new system every 2 years, at least not the average WoW player.
With BC they pushed the engine way more, especially for environments but do not expect upgrades from WoW 1.0 to Doom 3 look.
# posted by : 27/4/07 14:08
: 27/4/07 14:08
The engine is capable to scale upwards, they could switch old models for more detailed ones without changing the engine much.
Higher polygon count does not require changes on the 3d engine. And the low-poly models don't bother me, in fact they perform better in mass-scenes, and that's what MMOGs are about :)
With BC they pushed the engine way more, especially for environments but do not expect upgrades from WoW 1.0 to Doom 3 look.
The only change I noticed in BC is the multilayered skyboxes, which look way better in the BC zones (especially in Nagrand) than in the 'vanilla wow' zones.
A better weather system (more rain, snow, fog, and a more versatile cloudscape) would be easy to implement, and doesn't affect performance notably. Again I take DAoC's weather system as a reference, where night and day made a real difference, and the weather changed way more often (It took me more than a month to see it rain for the first time in WoW after they implemented the weather system). Frosty mountains with snowfall at night, or dark clouds coming up, bringing fog and heavy rain, this is what I'm missing most from DAoC (and the ability to dye your armor, of course :). Apart from that, WoW just made everything better, in my opinion).
Higher polygon count does not require changes on the 3d engine. And the low-poly models don't bother me, in fact they perform better in mass-scenes, and that's what MMOGs are about :)
With BC they pushed the engine way more, especially for environments but do not expect upgrades from WoW 1.0 to Doom 3 look.
The only change I noticed in BC is the multilayered skyboxes, which look way better in the BC zones (especially in Nagrand) than in the 'vanilla wow' zones.
A better weather system (more rain, snow, fog, and a more versatile cloudscape) would be easy to implement, and doesn't affect performance notably. Again I take DAoC's weather system as a reference, where night and day made a real difference, and the weather changed way more often (It took me more than a month to see it rain for the first time in WoW after they implemented the weather system). Frosty mountains with snowfall at night, or dark clouds coming up, bringing fog and heavy rain, this is what I'm missing most from DAoC (and the ability to dye your armor, of course :). Apart from that, WoW just made everything better, in my opinion).
# posted by : 27/4/07 14:29
: 27/4/07 14:29
I do have to point out that Warcraft's style is built upon the "anime" like style. Since warcraft 2 even, and far more evident in warcraft 3.
Not to mention ive seen plenty of ugly humans.
As a consequence, I cant even play Lord Of The Rings Online, My computer is only just beginning to show signs of age but it refuses to give me a decent frame rate, So i wont be buying it.
Not to mention ive seen plenty of ugly humans.
As a consequence, I cant even play Lord Of The Rings Online, My computer is only just beginning to show signs of age but it refuses to give me a decent frame rate, So i wont be buying it.
I gotta say WoW beats Lotro in an over all sence of visual appeal. The main factor here being the unique art concept blizzard uses, and the animation.
WoW graphics are colorful and unique. Think exagerations. Larger weapons, sholder pads, etc... No one is ever going to be using a two handed sword that is the size of a tauren, not even a tauren. It is cartoonish. Combined with the super smooth animation, from the running, to the dancing, to the magic spells.
Lotro graphics are amazing in a still pictures. The water is amazign to look at as well...but its just a shader that has been used in every game for the past two years. I'm suprised WoW didn't use the same shader since it was avaliable then. Lotro suffers once you see actual movement. My human champion's animations are so un-natural and stiff. Lotro also has a system to lessen textures at distances, while being good for frame rate, it looks really silly coming up to house and seeing the transition from blurry to sharp in one frame. It happens a lot when I turn around. At level 15 I have yet to see any nice armor or swords. I'm sure they have them at higher levels though.
One game no one mentioned is Guild Wars. I think guild wars has the best graphics out of any MMO. The characters and envirnments are all lush in color and realism. The animations are smooth, not stiff. Magic effects are the best. While Guild Wars is a great game as well, its just not as in depth as other MMO's so I don't play it.
WoW graphics are colorful and unique. Think exagerations. Larger weapons, sholder pads, etc... No one is ever going to be using a two handed sword that is the size of a tauren, not even a tauren. It is cartoonish. Combined with the super smooth animation, from the running, to the dancing, to the magic spells.
Lotro graphics are amazing in a still pictures. The water is amazign to look at as well...but its just a shader that has been used in every game for the past two years. I'm suprised WoW didn't use the same shader since it was avaliable then. Lotro suffers once you see actual movement. My human champion's animations are so un-natural and stiff. Lotro also has a system to lessen textures at distances, while being good for frame rate, it looks really silly coming up to house and seeing the transition from blurry to sharp in one frame. It happens a lot when I turn around. At level 15 I have yet to see any nice armor or swords. I'm sure they have them at higher levels though.
One game no one mentioned is Guild Wars. I think guild wars has the best graphics out of any MMO. The characters and envirnments are all lush in color and realism. The animations are smooth, not stiff. Magic effects are the best. While Guild Wars is a great game as well, its just not as in depth as other MMO's so I don't play it.
Few people would criticize a Monet or Renoir because "it's unrealistic", but, well, it IS unrealistic. However, the goal is not realism, but setting a mood.
WoW is obviously not at the level of Monet or Renoir, but my point is that WoW is about setting a mood with what is seen and heard in the environment; not about pure realism. This concept makes a lot of sense when you think about it; I mean, what does a "realistic goblin" look like?! Are goblins really from the Bronx? Why are goblin inventions so prone to explode?
And speaking of mood, take a character from Silvermoon City south into the Ghostlands and finally to the Scourge lair, and feel the mood that is brought by what is seen and heard.
And one more thing that stills can't show is how movement works. There have been very few times in WoW when I noticed unnatural movement. That's important to me, since I have to look at this character's back side for hours at a time. Walking, running, fighting -- all are believable in WoW.
Doeg
WoW is obviously not at the level of Monet or Renoir, but my point is that WoW is about setting a mood with what is seen and heard in the environment; not about pure realism. This concept makes a lot of sense when you think about it; I mean, what does a "realistic goblin" look like?! Are goblins really from the Bronx? Why are goblin inventions so prone to explode?
And speaking of mood, take a character from Silvermoon City south into the Ghostlands and finally to the Scourge lair, and feel the mood that is brought by what is seen and heard.
And one more thing that stills can't show is how movement works. There have been very few times in WoW when I noticed unnatural movement. That's important to me, since I have to look at this character's back side for hours at a time. Walking, running, fighting -- all are believable in WoW.
Doeg
# posted by : 27/4/07 16:22
: 27/4/07 16:22
Uncanny valley -- that's the term I was looking for, and found through a few comments above. :)
When I look at the pair of pictures you posted, Tobold, my first impressions are:
1) Wow, those blood elves are garish.
2) That hobbit's face is scary.
When I look at the pair of pictures you posted, Tobold, my first impressions are:
1) Wow, those blood elves are garish.
2) That hobbit's face is scary.
Look at the armor in WOW vs LOTRO. The armor in LOTRO looks great even on a lower level whereas the armor in WOW looks TERRIBLE, unless you happen to be wearing a full set of Tier X gear. My char is decked out in full blues that all came from the same dungeon and honestly, he looks like a freak. For all of you who said that the WOW developers do so well with art direction, you need to take a step back and look at things a little closer. If the devs over at Blizz were such artists, why is their world populated by people with purple plate leggings, yellow shoulders, a chest piece with dots, and a helmet that looks more like a beanie minus a propeller? Blizz would have been better off making us jump from one full set of armor to the next at least then maybe some of us would slightly match.
The environment in LOTRO wins hands down vs WOW. The trees are beautiful and realistic, the water has a nice gloss over the top, and mountains look great.
Where WOW shines IMO is in the animation department. In WOW my char looks like he is running as an upright mammal should run. The animations in LOTRO remind me more of vanguard: unrealistic and stiff.
Both are fun games IMO, but I have to give LOTRO the Academy Award for graphical achievement.
The environment in LOTRO wins hands down vs WOW. The trees are beautiful and realistic, the water has a nice gloss over the top, and mountains look great.
Where WOW shines IMO is in the animation department. In WOW my char looks like he is running as an upright mammal should run. The animations in LOTRO remind me more of vanguard: unrealistic and stiff.
Both are fun games IMO, but I have to give LOTRO the Academy Award for graphical achievement.
# posted by : 27/4/07 16:53
: 27/4/07 16:53
This is a set of screenshots that someone in my kinship took in LOTRO -- she's retracing the quest of the ring in pictures.
http://www.mzhome.dk/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=16
They really are beautiful.
http://www.mzhome.dk/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=16
They really are beautiful.
# posted by : 27/4/07 17:48
: 27/4/07 17:48
This is kind of an exaggerated view of WoW, as you admit, but the two shots really capture a lot. Actually I think that at some level I respond better to LOTRO because the tones are more subdued and naturalistic. The garish colors WoW uses everywhere (even Nagrand! compare with the Shire, e.g.) kind of irritated me, though I didn't consciously realize it until I started playing LOTRO.
Guild Wars' graphics are quite nice, but I'm responding more positively to LoTRO on the whole. With GW, I kept wanting to have the freedom to run whereever I wanted, but the pathing is so restrictive, you're on rails much of the time. Give me the freedom to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff!
Guild Wars' graphics are quite nice, but I'm responding more positively to LoTRO on the whole. With GW, I kept wanting to have the freedom to run whereever I wanted, but the pathing is so restrictive, you're on rails much of the time. Give me the freedom to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff!
# posted by : 27/4/07 18:56
: 27/4/07 18:56
Tobold, I couldn't disagree more. The screen you chose to represent LoTRO looks terrible. The hobbits head is deformed, and his face looks 2D, his torso scales disproportionatly to his legs and belley, and his expression is akward.
I also would question the graphics setting the WoW player is using. Notice the pave stones on the ground, contain no texture. That is a sign of the settings turned down, as on mine, I have shadow and texture in that very same spot in the game.
Low settings would also explain why the trees lack the textures that I normally see.
I think LoTRO has some nice visuals, especially their long range vistas, but in close comparison, I actually was rathur unimpressed with their modeling.
I also would question the graphics setting the WoW player is using. Notice the pave stones on the ground, contain no texture. That is a sign of the settings turned down, as on mine, I have shadow and texture in that very same spot in the game.
Low settings would also explain why the trees lack the textures that I normally see.
I think LoTRO has some nice visuals, especially their long range vistas, but in close comparison, I actually was rathur unimpressed with their modeling.
I have to agree that the scenario chosen for the LOTRO screenshot was not the best, which made the comparison too favorable to WoW.
How about a nice picture in the Shire?
How about a nice picture in the Shire?
# posted by : 27/4/07 20:07
: 27/4/07 20:07
And compare it to a shot of Goldshire with the graphic settings turned up.
I love the graphics in both games, but I hated the way my Hobbit looked when he ran around.
He leaned forward and his torso and head remained rigid while his arms and legs pumped away. When my WoW Gnome runs he rolls his shoulders and bobs his head with each step. The Hobbit looked too mechanical and robotic.
I love the graphics in both games, but I hated the way my Hobbit looked when he ran around.
He leaned forward and his torso and head remained rigid while his arms and legs pumped away. When my WoW Gnome runs he rolls his shoulders and bobs his head with each step. The Hobbit looked too mechanical and robotic.
Graphical styles are very interesting to observe. I like this kind of discussion.
The two screenshots you show aren't necessarily indicative of all of the games (specifically, the WoW one). As an example, you could travel to the Forsaken starting area to find all the drab forest colours of the world congregating in one location :)
Styalistically the graphical comparisons are more interesting to look at. My personal belief is that WoW have lowered their detail level to provide more content - the game has more armour, more races, more mounts, more environments, and so on. It's got a huge amount of content, which means that the lower poly count and cartoon style are intelligent design choices to ensure that the game will run and not be a 7TB installer.
The more photo realistic styles of LOTRO are indicative of newer hardware being available on average, but there is still less content to go around - so what there is, is more detailed. This is also an intelligent design choice, you've got "quality over quantity" (probably the wrong term, as I don't mean to imply that WoW lacks "quality" for all values of quality).
A more interesting comparison is to compare WoW with Guild Wars. Both of those games are about the same lineage, but the images in Guild Wars are far advanced even over LOTRO (I believe that GW and DDO are probably the best/most detailed games around). The Guild Wars guys can be praised in turn for this, because they had a superb engine years ago that still looks moist and tender today. How they did it is also interesting - if you examine the world closely, you'll find a lack of things like insects and birds that are in the Warcraft outside, and because it's instanced you have control over how many people are in a zone. Very intelligent design choices as well, because they want to focus people on certain elements.
Games I don't think had very good design choices were things like EQ2, which ran like a bag of pus on hardware of the time (and hardware today still struggles). The art style was very hard to compliment, with avatars looking like your retarded cousin Joey. I felt it was too much of everything without enough of anything, if you get what I mean.
The two screenshots you show aren't necessarily indicative of all of the games (specifically, the WoW one). As an example, you could travel to the Forsaken starting area to find all the drab forest colours of the world congregating in one location :)
Styalistically the graphical comparisons are more interesting to look at. My personal belief is that WoW have lowered their detail level to provide more content - the game has more armour, more races, more mounts, more environments, and so on. It's got a huge amount of content, which means that the lower poly count and cartoon style are intelligent design choices to ensure that the game will run and not be a 7TB installer.
The more photo realistic styles of LOTRO are indicative of newer hardware being available on average, but there is still less content to go around - so what there is, is more detailed. This is also an intelligent design choice, you've got "quality over quantity" (probably the wrong term, as I don't mean to imply that WoW lacks "quality" for all values of quality).
A more interesting comparison is to compare WoW with Guild Wars. Both of those games are about the same lineage, but the images in Guild Wars are far advanced even over LOTRO (I believe that GW and DDO are probably the best/most detailed games around). The Guild Wars guys can be praised in turn for this, because they had a superb engine years ago that still looks moist and tender today. How they did it is also interesting - if you examine the world closely, you'll find a lack of things like insects and birds that are in the Warcraft outside, and because it's instanced you have control over how many people are in a zone. Very intelligent design choices as well, because they want to focus people on certain elements.
Games I don't think had very good design choices were things like EQ2, which ran like a bag of pus on hardware of the time (and hardware today still struggles). The art style was very hard to compliment, with avatars looking like your retarded cousin Joey. I felt it was too much of everything without enough of anything, if you get what I mean.
I have to agree that these screenshots don't speak for the games they represent fully. For example, when I started playing LOTRO, at level 13 my captain was wearing pink "clown" shoes, green shoulders, and some other weird colored armor pieces and I couldn't believe such outfit would be possible in the game. While my draenei warrior at level 23 wearing quest reward items and some crafted pieces looked way more solid, nd not as colorful (surprise!).
What I really love in LOTRO is a night time, it gives the right mood and the area you knew becomes something else at night, something... unexplored. And new zones in Burning Crusade do look too shiny, I miss the old Duskwoood, Darkshore and Silverpine feeling.
In my opinion, LOTRO suffers more from poor animations, non scalable UI and poor combat feedback - hard to keep track of buffs/debuffs, and hard to tell if you performed a special attack by just looking at your character, than anything else.
Comparing WOW pre-TBC and LOTRO I'd say WoW was better, but with Burning Crusade's not so inspiring quests, new "too polished" zones and a bunch of sinks I'm not as sure.
What I really love in LOTRO is a night time, it gives the right mood and the area you knew becomes something else at night, something... unexplored. And new zones in Burning Crusade do look too shiny, I miss the old Duskwoood, Darkshore and Silverpine feeling.
In my opinion, LOTRO suffers more from poor animations, non scalable UI and poor combat feedback - hard to keep track of buffs/debuffs, and hard to tell if you performed a special attack by just looking at your character, than anything else.
Comparing WOW pre-TBC and LOTRO I'd say WoW was better, but with Burning Crusade's not so inspiring quests, new "too polished" zones and a bunch of sinks I'm not as sure.
# posted by : 28/4/07 14:05
: 28/4/07 14:05
Here's what I don't get. How can so many players be souring on TBC when just about every review gave it 90+ percent.
I think way too many game sites were far too quick to overlook that expansion's weak points, of which some were quite obvious.
I think way too many game sites were far too quick to overlook that expansion's weak points, of which some were quite obvious.
# posted by : 28/4/07 15:28
: 28/4/07 15:28
Minor graphics point: that The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ log-in screen is great because you can move the camera. Your character doesn't move, the camera circles him/her, and the background scenery changes. If you know the zones, you can even tell where your character is standing. That's a nice touch.
I like LOTRO's graphics a lot, although I prefer WoW's. But the one thing that really bugs me about LOTRO's is the waterfall graphics. They are just awful. The water is moving twice as fast as necessary and just looks plain ugly. It mars the otherwise beautiful scenery, and frankly I'm surprised it passed muster. You want to see waterfalls done right, head to Nagrand.
# posted by : 29/4/07 02:19
: 29/4/07 02:19
Let me say it this way. Do the trees in LotR look more realistic? Yes. Do they work better cause of this. Oh no.
Actually they do. You can't shoot an arrow through a tree in LoTR :)
Actually they do. You can't shoot an arrow through a tree in LoTR :)
# posted by : 29/4/07 02:57
: 29/4/07 02:57
it's very hard to compare both kinds of graphics.
first of all, static screenshots are crap anyways. most 3d engines look better when you walk through it. it's not meant to be static.
second of all, the style is so terribly different, it's like comparing Appel vs. Rembrandt, both can be judged on his own way :)
i prefer wow over lotro, because of the toons. faces/movement will always look stupid imho. i don't care about that in wow, because everything looks silly,stupid,over the edge etc.
in lotro i expect real movement and such, so i'm bound to get dissappointed.
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first of all, static screenshots are crap anyways. most 3d engines look better when you walk through it. it's not meant to be static.
second of all, the style is so terribly different, it's like comparing Appel vs. Rembrandt, both can be judged on his own way :)
i prefer wow over lotro, because of the toons. faces/movement will always look stupid imho. i don't care about that in wow, because everything looks silly,stupid,over the edge etc.
in lotro i expect real movement and such, so i'm bound to get dissappointed.
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