Screenshots!

[Mrbloodworth]

Unlike EQ2 and most Turbine games the clothes/armor actually look 3D which is a big plus in my book.

I noticed this - EQ2 and LoTRO both look flat to me in comparison.  Even WoW looks less flat than EQ2 and LoTRO.  CoX looks flat as well.

What is responsible for flatness?

AoC doesn't have it.  Oblivion didn't either.

I like non-flat.

Shall i break it down?

[Brogarn]

Unlike EQ2 and most Turbine games the clothes/armor actually look 3D which is a big plus in my book.

I noticed this - EQ2 and LoTRO both look flat to me in comparison.  Even WoW looks less flat than EQ2 and LoTRO.  CoX looks flat as well.

What is responsible for flatness?

AoC doesn't have it.  Oblivion didn't either.

I like non-flat.

Shall i break it down?

Yes and in rhyming couplets.

[Murgos]

I noticed this - EQ2 and LoTRO both look flat to me in comparison.  Even WoW looks less flat than EQ2 and LoTRO.  CoX looks flat as well.

What is responsible for flatness?

AoC doesn't have it.  Oblivion didn't either.

I like non-flat.

AoC and Oblivion use 3D models (I've done a few for Oblivion mods) for armor that is 'worn' by the character model.  This also has the advantage that if you pay attention to clipping issues while you are designing it then any character can wear the piece and you can mix and match pieces easily.  Also, with careful use of textures, bump maps and transparency you can make 1 basic piece of armor look like dozens of completely different ones just by changing the textures.  Also, because they are separate models you can animate them independently of the character model.

I loathe the 'painted on skin' look of games like LotRO.

[Rasix]

Couple shots from the Lovecraftian "House in Bubshur" instance.





Closeup.

[Kirth]

View from mountain hunting lodge



I found a cave



Wonder what happened to this guy



Don't mess with the double skulls

[Pennilenko]

I hate you guys. I have to give up vanguard if i want to try AoC.

[Signe]

I hate you guys. I have to give up vanguard if i want to try AoC.

That makes no sense.  You should adore us!

[Falconeer]

[Pennilenko]

I hate you guys. I have to give up vanguard if i want to try AoC.

That makes no sense.  You should adore us!

Hehe now i really hate you all, I picked up the game at 8pm ish its now 1 am and i have work to sleep for.

[Engels]

My Dark Templar

[Special J]

Kyalla, Herald of Xotli.  Harald of Xolti.  Harold of Xolti.


Tortage, blending in with the pirates.


Don't know if it's a bug or not, but my hair turns white after I go into demon form.  When I zone it goes back to normal.  Hope it stays that way; it's kind of a cool side effect.


Khemi.  I've become some sort of tourist photographer.

[Surlyboi]

You misspelled, "Harald" 

[schild]

More liek Harlot of Xotli. Ho ho ho.

[Slayerik]

Harlot of Hottie

Im digging the dark skinned babe, nicely done! 

[Signe]

I have a char who looks just like that, hair and all.  In fact, I have characters who look just like lots of other characters here.  Making yourself look good is easy but making yourself look is different is HARD.

[schild]

Different is overrated.

[Slayerik]

I have a char who looks just like that, hair and all.  In fact, I have characters who look just like lots of other characters here.  Making yourself look good is easy but making yourself look is different is HARD.

I'm different AND ugly. Luckily my wife saw past all that and still married me. 

[Special J]

I have a char who looks just like that, hair and all.  In fact, I have characters who look just like lots of other characters here.  Making yourself look good is easy but making yourself look is different is HARD.

Yeah, I know I've got the 'Robe of Everyone in Khopshef'

You misspelled, "Harald" 

Fixed!

[Signe]

Different is overrated.

That's a very Lineage thing to say! 

[Lantyssa]

You misspelled, "Harald" 

Fixed!

It's 'Harold'.

[Signe]

When I was little, we had a neighbour named Harold Maynard and we used to sing "Hark the Harold Maynard sing" at Christmas.  Not to be funny but because we thought it was right.  Just reminiscin'...

[Engels]

In german its Harald :P

[Tarami]

Thought I would post my Tosser too. :) Sorry about the lacklustre armour.

[tmp]

AoC and Oblivion use 3D models (I've done a few for Oblivion mods) for armor that is 'worn' by the character model.  This also has the advantage that if you pay attention to clipping issues while you are designing it then any character can wear the piece and you can mix and match pieces easily.  Also, with careful use of textures, bump maps and transparency you can make 1 basic piece of armor look like dozens of completely different ones just by changing the textures.  Also, because they are separate models you can animate them independently of the character model.

I loathe the 'painted on skin' look of games like LotRO.

Ehh, LotRO uses custom meshes for worn armour pieces -- you can easily see it changing into various robes, shoulder guards, boots, gloves etc. AoC gets additional 3d illusion over surface of the armour mainly from the normal maps, and from more details/polygons given to it in general.

[schild]

When I left Sanctum with Rattran last night, the sun was rising in the Wildlands. The way light hit everything I just had to get my way out of that entrance and get to the ledge of a mountain.

In motion it was pretty fucking amazing. I should turn up my foliage density and such for cases like this.

[Xanthippe]

AoC and Oblivion use 3D models (I've done a few for Oblivion mods) for armor that is 'worn' by the character model.  This also has the advantage that if you pay attention to clipping issues while you are designing it then any character can wear the piece and you can mix and match pieces easily.  Also, with careful use of textures, bump maps and transparency you can make 1 basic piece of armor look like dozens of completely different ones just by changing the textures.  Also, because they are separate models you can animate them independently of the character model.

I loathe the 'painted on skin' look of games like LotRO.

Ehh, LotRO uses custom meshes for worn armour pieces -- you can easily see it changing into various robes, shoulder guards, boots, gloves etc. AoC gets additional 3d illusion over surface of the armour mainly from the normal maps, and from more details/polygons given to it in general.

It's not just the armor though.  It's the whole feel of the game - the scenery, the buildings, everything.

It can't be polygons.  Even WoW looks more 3Dish than LoTRO, and I'm pretty sure WoW has a lower polygon count.

[Slayerik]

When I left Sanctum with Rattran last night, the sun was rising in the Wildlands. The way light hit everything I just had to get my way out of that entrance and get to the ledge of a mountain.

In motion it was pretty fucking amazing. I should turn up my foliage density and such for cases like this.

Had a very similar experience last night in the Broseph Province outside the Black Castle...Fuckin' pretty.

The last game where a sunset awed me was SWG, the sun rising over Naboo Palace was one of those MMO moments that stick in my mind.

[tmp]

It's not just the armor though.  It's the whole feel of the game - the scenery, the buildings, everything.

It can't be polygons.  Even WoW looks more 3Dish than LoTRO, and I'm pretty sure WoW has a lower polygon count.

Yeah that's why i said "AoC gets additional 3d illusion over surface [of the armour] mainly from the normal maps" -- the bumps and lines 'etched' in the surface scatter the lighting in ways you're used to see in normal world and add extra sense of depth.

Mind you, personally i don't find WoW to be less flat ... to the contrary if anything since LotRO utilizes at least specular mapping which helps with appearance of surfaces like cobblestone and such. Looking at my screenshots of WoW human city (Stormwind?) that detail is lacking, and everything is given the same amount of lighting.

[Murgos]

Ehh, LotRO uses custom meshes for worn armour pieces -- you can easily see it changing into various robes, shoulder guards, boots, gloves etc. AoC gets additional 3d illusion over surface of the armour mainly from the normal maps, and from more details/polygons given to it in general.

It's the difference between putting most of the form of the object in the mesh vs the texture.  The meshes in LoTRO tend to have the least amount of polys as possible with the majority of the detail left in the hands of the texturer.  It's a very poor style.

For example in this image: http://www.dragonsteelmods.com/Images/articles/LOTR/resize/lotr1.jpg

The arm 'armor' is just a texture laid on top of the arm, maybe raised slightly but really just the same mesh, in AoC or Oblivion the lower arm guard is an independent meshes and the upper arm is its own mesh both of which is different than the arm mesh.  The chest below the neck to the waist is the same sort of thing.  The belt and 'layers' of the skirt are all the same mesh just painted in detail.  Etc...

[tmp]

The meshes in LoTRO tend to have the least amount of polys as possible with the majority of the detail left in the hands of the texturer.  It's a very poor style.

I'd have to disagree with that last statement, based on belief it has little to do with "style" and much more with design focused on game performance. Not to mention WoW takes the same approach (pushing it to even more extreme for that matter) and the "poor style" is probably the complaint you're likely to hear the least when it comes to it.

For example in this image: http://www.dragonsteelmods.com/Images/articles/LOTR/resize/lotr1.jpg

The arm 'armor' is just a texture laid on top of the arm, maybe raised slightly but really just the same mesh, in AoC or Oblivion the lower arm guard is an independent meshes and the upper arm is its own mesh both of which is different than the arm mesh.  The chest below the neck to the waist is the same sort of thing.  The belt and 'layers' of the skirt are all the same mesh just painted in detail.  Etc...

Except that screenshots shows character who isn't wearing gloves, which normally alter the shape of lower arm to create effect of worn armour. Similar is the chest area complaint -- while that screenshot does poor job showing it, in game you can see easily the geometry is there to add thickness of cloth and/or collar over the character skin.

The belt and layers and such are flat indeed, that's the parts where AoC gets an edge with normal mapping like i said. Even that isn't universal effect though, scroll up few posts to that Harlot of XXX for example, and note how there's no thickness whatsoever to her belt over the robe ... something you'd see on the outline of the hip if it was actual geometry rather than normal mapping.

tl;dr: LotRO has obviously less geometry/surface detail than AoC, but it pays enough attention to it (given technical constraints), hardly deserves to be called flat.

[Xanthippe]

tl;dr: LotRO has obviously less geometry/surface detail than AoC, but it pays enough attention to it (given technical constraints), hardly deserves to be called flat.

Ok, I won't call it flat.

But it lacks something that's present in WoW, Oblivion, and AoC.  I don't know what that thing is.

It's like looking at a really pretty painting.  It's really pretty, but I don't feel like I'm inside it.  I feel like I'm looking at it.

EQ2 and GW are similar in that they, too, look like paintings instead of worlds.

[schild]

WoW had great animation but was completely and totally flat. You could tell that clothing was just painted on and it looked poopy. Sure, through stylization they made characters look more impressive with GIANT SHOULDERS and shit, but while they were rocking the 80s look, they still looked like they had polyagonal arms reminiscent of the N64 era.

LOTRO had SOME great art direction, but it wasn't quite there. As for EQ2, well, the original artists, particularly the character designers were just bad. Some of the later stuff was OK but they would have to redo every asset to achieve what AoC achieves. Funcom did the right thing and hired a team of asians right from the get-go. Oblivion was fucking horrible looking.

GW is basically the WoW art style with better meshes and textures. And MUCH better lighting. But too much bloom.

[apocrypha]

Great garden ornaments:


I seem to have a miniature drunken sailor hosing me down:


Sorry:


Edit: those were way too big, fixed :)

[photek]

In AoC its simple to tell which guys play female characters. Only they will undress their characters in a diseased slaughterhouse while waiting for boss to respawn.

Nudes. Again.

[schild]

Why do people keep posting topless girls. The game being M and the official forums allowing it doesn't mean we will. Stop that. Fuck.