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  1. #1

    Graphics vs Features

    I remember when swtor launched and the glorious shit fits that were thrown over the high resolution graphics not being in at launch. Then, bioware scrambled over themselves to get the high resolution graphics out... At a time when a part of the population was having difficulty running the game on "low".

    Looking back, I feel that bioware should have ignored the complaints about graphics and focus on the features.

    When I look at Gw2, tera, rift, swtor... On ultra they all blow the industry standard out of the water.

    But the higher detail comes at a cost. People are less accepting of a poor animation if the figure is more life like. Take the human rogue eviscerate. Not only is it poorly animated, but the legs ignore footing and current movement (sometimes it doesn't. Most of the time it does). So your character does an electric slide while wiggling his arms out in a weird wobble motion. But, its cartoonish and is perceived as such.

    Now, all the other games have these sort of animation issues in one form or another. But they are far more jarring despite being less obvious.

    People report that they "just don't look right".

    So, not only does raise the graphics bar raise the animation bar... But they most likely devoted testing and man hours on getting all the tearing fixed. Before they added ranked WZs or a group finder.

    I really feel like that's a bit messed up priority wise.

    Now, you can debate weather certain features are "needed" in a MMO but you definitely do NOT need shiny graphics to play it.

    I don't know. It irks me.

    I would rather a game launch with its core game strong, pvp and pve, and the features that go with its core, group finder and ranked, than the game be pretty.

    Might just be me though.
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  2. #2
    Scarab Lord Forsedar's Avatar
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    I agree with you. While graphics are a nice touch, gameplay is still key. Don't get me wrong, you can't have a really bad looking game with amazing gameplay- because people simply won't be attracted to it. Developers have to find that median between the two. Or, if they can have great graphics with great gameplay that would be, of course, our end goal.

  3. #3
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    While I generally agree on the features vs graphics front, my understanding is that the graphics issue were merely fixes (the stuff was there but not functioning correctly) while the missing content was simply not there.

    Also you cannot "ignore the complaints about graphics and focus on the features"; it simply doesn't work that way. The guy fixing graphic is not the same guy developing content and while both in the end require the same ressource - money - you can't substitute one for the other short term near product launch.

  4. #4
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    too many people judge a game on graphics rather then gameplay, this the case in every game genre and its a shame.

  5. #5
    There are issues with that though. All of the marketing materials labeled as "In game footage/images" included the high resolution textures ect. That's false advertising if it's not in the game, and it's very misleading for consumers. You can't go about doing that and then pulling the feature, especially without telling people (they only admitted to it after a big uproar if I remember correctly).

    If they hadn't used it in all the promotional materials, fine. But as with many other things, they backed themselves in a corner that left them with no clear "good" moves to make without pulling off a miracle.

    Redit: It's especially embarrassing for a game with as big of a budget and as much talent behind it as SWTOR to launch with textures that were significantly lower resolution than those from the gear in the most recent WoW expansion. If it had a smaller development/marketing budget, fine, but they hyped it up WAY too much for anyone to expect anything less.
    Last edited by Edge-; 2012-08-28 at 01:58 AM.

  6. #6
    I prefer art-style over graphics fidelity, but ofc gameplay beats all.

  7. #7
    The Lightbringer Razael's Avatar
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    I agree with you i take the substance of the RPG or in this case a MMORPG than the CoD, Crysis etc. graphics any day of the week.
    Still i look at ToRs engine and graphics and now i look at my characters in Guild Wars 2 and the difference is still large. And GW2 also runs better and with more maxed options than Swtor does.
    Anyways drifting off the topic, i agree with you, they should have had (or at least implement before starting to bleed subs) all these options like Group Finder, the Legacy stuff , Ranked Warzones etc sooner. Although i'm quite happy now with the state of the game (not counting lack of regular updates) its a shame that it came at a great cost of over a million players.

  8. #8
    SWTOR has the best graphics of any MMO I have played, and that includes GW2. I would like to give Tera a try at some point, but I have not yet.

    I have to be honest about GW2, in the beta weekend I was in they were having some problem and my graphics on max settings looked kinda like an old 16bit SNES game. So I still don't really know how GW2 looks in game. I didn't really like the art style that much anyways.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by iceberg265 View Post
    SWTOR has the best graphics of any MMO I have played, and that includes GW2. I would like to give Tera a try at some point, but I have not yet.

    I have to be honest about GW2, in the beta weekend I was in they were having some problem and my graphics on max settings looked kinda like an old 16bit SNES game. So I still don't really know how GW2 looks in game. I didn't really like the art style that much anyways.
    You will be unable to find a single objective person who will agree with you. See that's why most people left SWToR because the community takes anything mediocre and makes it into the best thing out there, even though one just need to put them side by side to see how wrong they are.

    SWToR graphics are just a tiny bit better than WoW and the art is completely terrible compared to WoW and GW2. Comparing GW and SWToR graphics is like comparing a Da Vinci masterpiece to something a 3 year old drew.

  10. #10
    Scarab Lord Forsedar's Avatar
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    igame,

    With everything in TOR maxed out through the Nvidia control panel, GW2 does not come close to it. Keep in mind I am avidly playing GW2 right now (level 61) so I have been around the block once or twice. GW2 is nice in its own way, but SWTOR does trump it when everything is fully maxed out. Its still possible for GW2 to take the lead in future updates.

    Either way, that is my opinion. Things can surely change down the road.

  11. #11
    The Lightbringer Razael's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Forsedar View Post
    igame,

    With everything in TOR maxed out through the Nvidia control panel, GW2 does not come close to it. Keep in mind I am avidly playing GW2 right now (level 61) so I have been around the block once or twice. GW2 is nice in its own way, but SWTOR does trump it when everything is fully maxed out. Its still possible for GW2 to take the lead in future updates.

    Either way, that is my opinion. Things can surely change down the road.
    I play both maxed and GW2 looks superior.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Mirve View Post
    I play both maxed and GW2 looks superior.
    I played both maxed and both look inferior to Tera.

  13. #13
    -_- Game A looks superior to game B or C or D, is entirely subjective guys. Dependent on many things least of which is not your computer you happen to be playing on. If you want to compare graphics across games in some way that is not subjective you have to use specifics like number of pixels in a square inch (totally random and possibly made up just used as an example).

  14. #14
    I think with the budget all of these issues should have been in the game at launch.
    but yes, I also feel that their priorities at launch were one of the few big mistakes bioware made. but I doubt the same people fix graphic bugs and implement warzones and group findeers, so it doesnt really matter.

  15. #15
    The Unstoppable Force Kelimbror's Avatar
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    MMOs appear differently depending on the aesthetics they are trying to achieve. SWTOR aesthetics are closer to WoW than any other game, but still light years away. SWTOR has always looked great to me. I like the style. I also think TERA and GW look amazing. I don't really find a whole lot of ways to compare any of them.

    They are just intended to look too different. We should be thankful for this.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by igame View Post
    You will be unable to find a single objective person who will agree with you. See that's why most people left SWToR because the community takes anything mediocre and makes it into the best thing out there, even though one just need to put them side by side to see how wrong they are.

    SWToR graphics are just a tiny bit better than WoW and the art is completely terrible compared to WoW and GW2. Comparing GW and SWToR graphics is like comparing a Da Vinci masterpiece to something a 3 year old drew.
    To me, comparing GW2 and SWTOR is like comparing an SNES with a PS3, respectively. You are welcome to your opinion though, even if I can't understand it...

  17. #17
    The Unstoppable Force Kelimbror's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by iceberg265 View Post
    To me, comparing GW2 and SWTOR is like comparing an SNES with a PS3, respectively.
    I started spending the time posting thumbnails of how terrible your metaphor it is, but everyone knows how to use google search. Your metaphor is ridiculous and wrong.

  18. #18
    Scarab Lord Forsedar's Avatar
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    Just like Arlee said, its all subjective. Everyone has different opinions. Every game has its own style.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Forsedar View Post
    Just like Arlee said, its all subjective. Everyone has different opinions. Every game has its own style.
    There's a difference between arguing over subjective opinion of art style and aesthetics, and arguing over graphical fidelity, which is actually remarkably similar between the two. One may look better than the other to people, but saying it's like PS3 compared to SNES is painfully wrong.

    If he argued one looks like picasso and the other looks like a da vinci, sure, that's fine. Both are extremely talented, very famous artists who use two VERY different styles. But comparing the PS3 and SNES is a bad way to go since the fidelity between the two systems is so drastically different.

    I happen to prefer how GW2 looks as far as art direction and style, but both games seem to have very similar levels of graphical fidelity to me. GW2 went the more painterly route whereas SWTOR went a bit more, cartoony? (don't know how I would categorize it, but it's a stylized, non-realistic direction). Both fit with their respective games and look great though.

  20. #20
    Scarab Lord Forsedar's Avatar
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    Oh I agree Edge! I was just trying to remain within my neutral boundaries. I'm sure you understand :P

    You hit the nail on the head though. SWTOR definitely took a more cartoon route, more-so like the animation style of the Star Wars TV series that appeared somewhere (not sure where... didn't watch them).

    I love the graphics of BOTH games, but I prefer the more cartoonish route instead of the "painting".

    Regardles: This thread is about Graphics VS Features. We have definitely sidetracked with the comparisons of GW2 and SWTOR so lets get back on track!
    Last edited by Forsedar; 2012-08-31 at 11:31 PM.

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