EQ 'Next'

[Margalis]

https://www.everquestnext.com/

The lamentations of the neckbeards about shoulderpads has already started and it is glorious.

How to completely kill interest in a game with a single image. Set course for WoW clone, Warp Factor 9.

I really really hate that the lesson devs took from WoW art was not "make sure your game runs on modest computers" but rather "use gaudy color schemes and giant shoulder pads."

It's not so much that it looks bad - taken by itself it looks fine. The problem is that it signals a complete lack of ambition to be anything other than WoW, at least in terms of art.

[PalmTrees]

Don't give up.  There's still one last hope for female pants behind one of those blacked-out figures.

Spoiler:  She won't have pants.

Actually she does! I was quite surprised. And disappointed. I like a girl without pants.

[Falconeer]

I can literally picture Christopher Walken in my head visiting the art department every other day telling them it's all great but it is missing something. "Guys, guys, this is awesome, really, but I think it lacks something. What about shoulder pads? I need more shoulder pads, give me more shoulder pads!"

[Zetor]

It's pretty amazing how they consistently misspell Gábor Szikszai's name on that page. Szkiszai? Wut?

... and that is all I can contribute to this thread

[palmer_eldritch]

I think Firiona is actually dead in EQ2 lore, although you can travel to the afterlife and speak to her there . . . or something. I've played the expansion where this all happens but couldn't swear I understood the story.

[Draegan]

Apparently each EQ game is in a different universe or something.

[Falconeer]

The real problem with the new painting is that it is really ugly, and the character style is terribly (un)inspired by all the puppet-cartoony shitty stuff we have seen in the last 10 years or so. I mean, check the details. Is that supposed to be Firiona on the left? If so, I am seriously disgusted. I really hate it and it feels nothing like EverQuest.

[Pennilenko]

I may be reading it wrong ,but I was under the impression that the painting is just a pr marketing thingy and not actual concept art.

In honor of EverQuest Next's worldwide debut, fantasy artist Gabor Szkiszai has reinterpreted Keith Parkinson's original EverQuest masterpiece. On July 30th, the full piece will be available for download. You can speed up the process, and download exclusive EverQuest Next wallpapers, by joining our social networ

[Scold]

I may be reading it wrong ,but I was under the impression that the painting is just a pr marketing thingy and not actual concept art.

In honor of EverQuest Next's worldwide debut, fantasy artist Gabor Szkiszai has reinterpreted Keith Parkinson's original EverQuest masterpiece. On July 30th, the full piece will be available for download. You can speed up the process, and download exclusive EverQuest Next wallpapers, by joining our social networ

Hush you, with your facts and your reading!

[Merusk]

Yeah you appear to be correct in that.

Falconeer - Welcome to Fantasy Art of the last 12 years. This has been the trend since at least D&D 3rd Ed was released and I started bitching about it then.  

In fact, looking at her closer, Firiona looks exactly like one of the 3rd Ed elves from the Player's Handbook.

[Mrbloodworth]

How dare they use color.

[Malakili]

I don't really feel strongly about this either way, but my understanding is that people are complaining on the style, not the color.  That is to say, the exaggerated features and so forth that have become the norm in a lot of fantasy art.

[Merusk]

Yep.

[Mrbloodworth]

Your right, that's new.  










People see color, and cleaner features, and just revert to "Looks like Wow" As if that some deep critical analysis, and not their own ignorance.

[Paelos]

I like the more cartoonish style. It holds up better over the long term in my mind.

[Merusk]

Yes, because I said "looks like WoW" was my complaint. 

Fuck, that wasn't even Falc's complaint. It's Margalis' usual one-note input into any art discussion.

For the record, the features in all those photos are no where near as distorted as FA of the last 10 years has been. Except maybe in the 1st picture and I find that one aesthetically displeasing in general.  But then I've never been a Hildebrant fan.

[PalmTrees]

Looking at the higher res pic in the thread, Firiona has some real man-hands.

[Lantyssa]

The real problem with the new painting is that it is really ugly, and the character style is terribly (un)inspired by all the puppet-cartoony shitty stuff we have seen in the last 10 years or so. I mean, check the details. Is that supposed to be Firiona on the left? If so, I am seriously disgusted. I really hate it and it feels nothing like EverQuest.

What's to hate about Firiona using a bow on the wrong side of her arm to shoot swords?

<snicker>

[Threash]

Looks like the EQ1 art to me:

[Falconeer]

/green or glasses, Threash, you pick.




And Bloodworth, if you ask me Gábor Szikszai has been influenced more by this





than by Hildebrandt. Especially noticeable in the first and second women from the left in the EQ Next painting.

[shiznitz]

I strongly prefer the EQ1 image.

[Nonentity]

No Erudites in the new image. Sad.

[Falconeer]

That's fucked up. They removed the black guy.

[Threash]

No halflings either, and the ogre is now an orc i guess?

[Miasma]

Why are we reading so much into a drawing?  It's not like the game is going to look like that.

[Malakili]

Why are we reading so much into a drawing?  It's not like the game is going to look like that.

Because there is no other information available so wild speculation abounds. 

[Ruvaldt]

Because there's nothing else to talk about.  f13 abhors a vacuum.

You're right, of course.  EQ1 looked nothing like the art shown above either.  Erudites didn't have tall heads in-game until Luclin, for rinstance.  A lot of people are just lamenting the current state of fantasy art.

[Numtini]

I assume that's what the game's going to look like because everyone's going to that Asian influenced look from manga/anime. That has nothing to do with the image, just that in general, that's where things are going.

[Ingmar]

Yeah you appear to be correct in that.

Falconeer - Welcome to Fantasy Art of the last 12 years. This has been the trend since at least D&D 3rd Ed was released and I started bitching about it then.  

In fact, looking at her closer, Firiona looks exactly like one of the 3rd Ed elves from the Player's Handbook.

This looks nothing like 3E art to me, it looks far more like late 80s/early 90s TSR stuff - its basically the intersection of Parkinson, Caldwell and Elmore with some WoW color choices and shoulder pads thrown in. First of all, I don't see any unnecessary buckles.  Second, WotC made a major effort to de-sexify the character art in D&D, this is not remotely like anything that they would have put out. Paizo, sure.

[Stormwaltz]

I don't like the painting's art style, aside from the fact that after 14(?) years, the elf finally got a pair of pants.

When we get some actual screenshots, I'll decide whether or not to rail against the game's art style.

[Mrbloodworth]

Posted this a while back.



Nothing "Wow like' about it.

[Ingmar]

On the contrary, I would say the enormous exaggerated armor - especially the shoulder covering and the belt - there is pretty much the core element that makes something make me think of WoW.

[Mrbloodworth]

There is no help for you then.  

[palmer_eldritch]

Firiona Vie appears to be some sort of ranger in that picture when in real EQ lore she is an illusionist as every true fan knows, and furthermore

Be honest, aren't you all looking forward to finding out what this game will actually be? I know I'm going to watching the Livestream on August 2.

[Paelos]

I await the day where they release key features that will kill everyone's dreams.