I like the "realistic" style, but I don't think it would work in WoW.
I like the "realistic" style, but I don't think it would work in WoW.
I think "cartoony" is good, it gives the game its own distinctive 'look' and style. On the other hand, "realistic" in computer games rarely is and very quickly looks dated as graphics improve.
This is almost certainly true, but as somebody with a rather crap machine I'm glad they do try and keep the game playable on low spec computers. The fact that low spec computers can play the game is one of the contributing factors to WoW's success. Not the biggest factor, but one of them.I think they come into issues with trying to keep the game usable on as ancient a machine as possible.
It is cartoon'ish because it fits WoW and already is part of it, so there's no need to change graphic to "more realistic" .Even those MMO's with "realistic graphic" sometimes look like crap.
Also what the guy above said about low-end pc's, cartoony graphics for WoW is win-win here.
The cartoonish art-style has been pretty around since warcraft. It's pretty much what warcraft has always been and what has allowed it to keep it's 'timeless' graphics without looking like its becoming more inferior with every new mmo that comes out. The graphics don't really date, if anything that's the real charm to it.
If they changed it overmuch now it wouldn't be Warcraft anymore. The building models are the same basic models as were used in WC2 & 3 and immediately stamp an identity on them: human barracks, town hall, elf mage tower. Even a lot of the older scourge and forsaken buildings are taken striaght from the RTS games and scream 'Warcraft'.
I don't know the recipe for success, but I know that the recipe for failure is trying to please everyone.
Forum stupidity at its finest:
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Many people have attributed the long life of wow to its cartoonish style, it is far harder to keep a game intending to look realistic looking current, especially as technology increases in the 'realistic graphics' department, specifically for humans. The Human eye will catch imperfections in realisticly presented material, it may make exceptions for what it is currently seeing but once something better comes along then the brain will reject the older stuff as dated and bad. Cartoons however have a timeless quality to them, people can still watch Dragon Ball Z and Scooby Doo even though it was made over 30 years ago.
Are the old models extremely dated in terms of technology? Yes, but that doesn't stop people from playing them. Updating them could add another 5 years to the lifetime of this game. The Cartoon style has kept this game alive longer than a realistic game art style would of.
Yes it's cartoonish and I love the way it is.. I don't like realistic graphics that much on MMO's I'd rather play a cartoonish style MMO like WoW (and soon WIldStar) than realistic like FFXIV or ESO. But I do like some middle ground either like SWTOR (:
I love that WoW and SWTOR are cartoony. I love joining and group and knowing I'm in a group with another Tauren, an Orc, a Twilek, a Sith Pureblood... as much as I love Rift, getting into a cross faction IA and really having no clue what is in your raid other than the number of people... rather shitty.
If WoW was more realistic... Well 1: It wouldn't be WoW... and 2: It would be much worse.
In my opinion games should be cartoony. The trend of AAA games all being grown and grey and "GRITTY REALISUNNHHHHHHH" just isn't attractive. Colourful is so much better than monochrome. Also, as others have cited, if it HAD gone for a more realistic feel, the graphics would have aged abysmally. The whole "ermagerd need new character models" would be so much larger of a need than the want it happens to be now.
No I like it they way it is, I wouldn't not want to see a more realistic style.
No, love it as it is. It is what makes WoW, WoW and is one of the main reason I would play it over something like Guild Wars.
are you talking proportional fidelity? Detail fidelity? or non-stylization?
You can't create non-human humanoids that have any proportional fidelity because there is no reality for them to be faithful to (orcs and draenei don't exists in the real world)
this game definitely needs more detail fidelity (more polygons!! Less clipping!!) but these are purely technical issues that are limited by our computer power and modeling time requirements.
I prefer stylization over realism. CGI Humans look creepier the more artists try to make them look like real humans. Stylization avoids the uncanny valley, which i can't stand at all.
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When someone asks you if you're a god, YOU SAY 'YES'!
on a side note:
darker and grittier ≠ 'more real'
darker and gritter ≠ less childish
in fact extreme darkness and grittiness is a hallmark of immaturity; just as over-sexualization or any other 'attempt at seriousness'
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When someone asks you if you're a god, YOU SAY 'YES'!
No. Cartoony style is one of the better things in WoW, and I actually mind myself missing it when I try other, more "animu-realism" oriented, MMOs out there.
No, it's what attracted so many players to the game and it's what allows the game to run and pay so fluently (movement etc).
In my experience, games with great graphics usually have shit physics. I'm not trying to start a hate war here, but look at GW2. The graphics are awesome, but the physics and the movement is pretty damn shit. Rift is also a bit cartoony, thus it plays quite fluently (still not as fluent as WoW though). Tera is another example. It looks quite cartoony aswell, well, not really cartoony. But it has the asian theme to it.
The cartoony style is also what is hyping up Wildstar so much right now.