Why do folks say the graphics are dated?

[Leetsolja]

People, its called stylized realism. MMOs would not have over 1 million subscribers if the gameplay was laggy. If you have a nice computer then it wouldnt matter but imagine the people who dont have a 1000 dollars to spend. Do you think that Bioware wants their money too? Yes they do. MMOs have never looked good. Thats not the purpose. Content is the most important thing in an MMO. They will fix the graphics bugs. Would you rather them not release the game until Jan 30th so that they could get the textures and AA right. I dont think so. Patience is the key word here. Use it. Have a wonderful New Year everyone!

[LilPika]

They look great to me.

 

And really, there has been a ton of media showing game play, progression, etc and they kinda include the graphics. Just sayin'.

 

Because they're stylised and people STILL can't seem to understand that graphics can be artistic before realistic. If people want to see what happens to a game that focuses too much on looking good and real, go look at EQ2 for what happens. Then look at WoW, a game with "poor" graphics but visual style, and which looks better?

 

TOR is a mash up of the Star Wars style mixed with some Clone Wars style character models.

[ClayPeopleCry]

Because their graphics whores. Really I could care less about graphics as long as the game is fun. Amazing graphics is mostly used now a days to coverup bad game-play mechanics.

[Mamono]

Because their graphics whores. Really I could care less about graphics as long as the game is fun. Amazing graphics is mostly used now a days to coverup bad game-play mechanics.

 

Here, I recomand you buy this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Tribe-Precipice-ebook/dp/B002B9MGIM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325256613&sr=8-1

 

No graphics and just a good storry.

[ClayPeopleCry]

But I should mention that they aren't wrong. I mean look at this free MMORPG Vindictus. It came out a year ago but the graphics are worlds ahead of this game and its FREE.

 

http://ui28.gamefaqs.com/2363/gfs_161367_2_1.jpg

Edited December 30, 2011 by ClayPeopleCry

[OkuKeelus]

Because a lot of people are unable to distinguish between good graphics and particle effects done by a programmer aka the "Uhhhh, shiny"-effect.

 

The graphics in the game are fine and the art direction is good; not LotRO good, but still good and in a lot of places great.

 

The fancy and shiny engine options are lacking tho. That is however a very deliberate decision on BioWares part.

 

The fact that a few thousand nerdy kids and geeky adults only count 3dMark scores and constantly feel the need to whine about FPS numbers, never forgetting to include that very relevant gaming mouse and keyboard in their post while doing so, doesn't change these things.

[christhesithlord]

You can have scalable graphics you know. Though the issue is as an earlier posted noted, mostly due to bugs. The game neither supports the high-res textures nor Anti-Aliasing (***!?) right now which makes it look rather dated.

 

actually you can enable AA you just have to go to a game file

[kanelex]

It's not just that the graphics are bad they are lazy.

 

Water reflections

 

Sparse building interriors - including special rooms such as a dukes quarters or a room belonging to a person of importance

 

Lack of wildlife - critters , wind solar glare

 

Active weather - snow , rain , no sand storms in a desert planet like tatooine -

 

day/night cycles

 

lack of character/age in any of the construction of buildings - everything is very clinical looking

 

old characters in age don't look very old - still have young body character models

 

 

---

 

It's a good game but it does make you wonder why more of the money wasn't spent on the graphics .

[DarkSeverance]

People are upset because the graphics don't look like a top level single-player game.

Pretty much. They heard it was Bioware so they expect to see Mass Effect level like graphics. No MMO should ever have top notch graphics on par to current single player games or FPS. Despite the fact there are gameplay videos, its been featured at PAX and other conventions for 2 years, etc.

 

People are saying the graphics are outdated, because the graphics are outdated

 

Even newer zones/models/etc. that are put in World of Warcraft have better graphics, and WoW was never a game with high-end graphics

You honestly believe WoW has better graphics? Really... seriously? I just have one thing to say.... prove it. Show me the screenshots because this I have to see.

[adamqd]

Why do folks say the graphics are dated?

 

because they look crap lol, as others have said the textures will be, and oh my god, NEED to be, made better/allow high level setting.

 

But its an MMO with a wide audience range in mind, we were never going to get Mass Effect standard.

Edited December 30, 2011 by adamqd

[Malastare]

No anti aliasing this makes things look smooth, it's an old feature.

 

It's not an "old" feature, it's a common feature. However, if you knew what you were talking about, you'd know that not every game engine supports it fully (Looking at you, Unreal Engine 3) and that getting it right isn't as simple as flipping a switch. Forcing the AA through the card is a suitable solution. No, its not perfect. A "perfect" solution requires quite a bit more coding than you seem to understand.

 

- They released the game with out high resolution textures, when you look at your characters shadow you will notice blocks.

 

The shadows have nothing to do with textures. Please research before you complain. This is due to using fast/efficient shadowing calculation. With all the dynamic objects in the game, using more precise (see: Skyrim) shadows would bog down even high end video cards. Would it be nice to have the option? Sure. Would I want the devs to waste even a week of time on it when there are more important issues, no chance.

 

- DX11 support (doesn't add a lot in a game like this though it will boost some people their GFX cards by 10 FPS)

 

...and it would require a decent amount of reworking on the graphics engine. Again, you don't just add "directX_version = 11" to get these things working. Multithreaded rendering takes a bit more work than that and tessellation needs to be designed in, not tacked on. Beyond those things, DirectX 11 doesn't buy you anything. That's why its still not common in games today.

[kanelex]

Pretty much. They heard it was Bioware so they expect to see Mass Effect level like graphics. No MMO should ever have top notch graphics on par to current single player games or FPS. Despite the fact there are gameplay videos, its been featured at PAX and other conventions for 2 years, etc.

 

You honestly believe WoW has better graphics? Really... seriously? I just have one thing to say.... prove it. Show me the screenshots because this I have to see.

 

[Bubba_Jett]

They graphics are dated. Considering we now have MMOs using Cryengine 2 and 3. To me the combat is very dated also. This game is made for star wars fanboys not real MMO players. Real MMO players completely see the lack of open worlds and the quest system of WOW. That being said it is a decent single player or co-op game. Not a real MMO.

[origosis]

I agree that the graphics do not compare texture for texture to some games that have come out in the past 4 years. I personally find them beautiful.

 

I think the game has a great balance of performance and beauty.

 

Some games look great at max settings, but may not run that smoothly.

 

Some games look great at any setting.. I find that this game looks pretty darn good, and even when I am on my laptop and have to drop everything down to the lowest, it holds that beauty.

 

But remember. How good a game looks is someones opinion. And there is nothing wrong with that if they find this game ugly or the best graphics ever.

[Bubba_Jett]

 

Cryengine MMO

[TheHauntingBard]

I know not every engine supports AA how ever this engine does.

We're not talking about how difficult it is to program it, we're talking about picking an engine and programming it from the start.

AA is something you plan.

Besides why on earth would you not pick an engine that does not support AA when you make a game for the PC only.

 

 

The shadows have nothing to do with textures. Please research before you complain.

 

That depends entirely how the shadows are made, you can 'fake' them as well.

WOW does it pretty well 2D and shadows are being 'faked' left and right.

Though I admit I might have been mistaken about high res textures and shadows that look like blocks, who knows the shadow option might not work proper either.

Still for a game brought out around this time you expect shadows not to be made out of blocks, it's painfully obvious.

 

It looks very bad, if your engine can't handle it why bother with shadows for characters at all.

 

 

 

 

As for multi threading and DX 11.

 

 

He is the catch multi threading has been around for a while and if properly optimized it is a huge boost.

The moment Bioware picked this engine they knew that this engine would not take advantage of it.

The development didn't start when multi was some futuristic concept.

 

Yes now its to late, you can't just reprogram an engine.

DX 11 can be added but it will do a little ,aside from a performance boost.

 

Don't bother with comparing it to Skyrim either, Skyrim has been made for consoles and got ported to the PC.

Bioware aimed for the PC market there for they could have done much more about the optimization and graphics.

Edited December 30, 2011 by TheHauntingBard

[stealthydflame]

I played Battlefield 3 on high settings and then SWTOR came out.

 

It's like I'm playing runescape again.

 

 

But seriously,

 

You can't say an mmo has good graphics. They design these things so ppl with old computers can still play and pay 15/month. When I look at my shadow, I see pixels. like *** mate? Seriously, pixels. My graphics card doesn't go to work anymore.

 

All you need to do is play a game with better graphics and realize how much potential Bioware had for the graphics. Instead, they gave us dung and make more money. I don't rage about the graphics but they could definitely be way better.

[LeSamourai]

Because people will complain about anything these days. That, or they don't know a thing bout MMO's, and expect them to ALL look like Crysis...yet still have lots of people.

[DarkSeverance]

You think that is better? You also realized it is an example of mostly scenery as well as way zoomed out looked, you aren't even looking at character models, just static background. When you actually play, you don't even have to zoom in just at a normal distance tree's have 2-d paper look, blocky and those are on high settings for WoW. I love the scenery in Ord Mandell, especially the crashed ship or even Hutta with the factories and we're only talking medium graphics at this point.

 

One of the only reason I can think that high graphics are disabled is because there is a memory leak issue associated with them. I'd rather it stay off, until it is fixed. Otherwise there would be even more threads.

[Malastare]

I will put Rift here because Rift is the MMO that has its release closest to SWToR. You can play Rift on an top end computer and get one hell of a nice experiance, and you can pay Rift on a notebook PC with the graphics put to minimum.

 

People keep saying things like "Rift was so much better" and "WoW had better graphics" but when I go look at screenshots, all I see is cartoony, blocky WoW graphics and Rift screenshots that could easily pass as re-skinned SWTOR screenshots.

 

From what I can see, people's complaints come down to this: "The art style isn't what I dreamed it to be". That's fine, but if you honestly go through life expecting everything to adhere to your desires, you're in for a lot of disappointment. Instead of judging things against what you assumed they would be, judge them for what they are.

 

This game is set in a universe bigger than just the game. The game has an art style that fits that universe. Have you ever seen the Star Wars movies? Outside the end of Episode II, how many dynamic cameras do you see? How many dynamic lighting environments are used? How many settings have gritty, gothic, or ornate patterns? Star Wars is based upon artistically simplistic environments, designed to be minimalistic with large geometric shapes, clear lines, and simple color schemes. Only the techno-ornate orthogonal details of the late Empire stand out (and purposefully so).

 

But I want...

 

Yeah, I know you feel you should get everything you want. Sorry, art doesn't work that way.

 

The same goes for character customizations. I know you want your pointy-eared Twi'lek, or Mirialan with purple hair but that doesn't exist in the universe. I'd rather have restricted character appearances than deal with the grossly out-of-universe characters that some people would make. See, unlike some people, I actually understand what art design does for a game and I enjoy that SWTOR has created a consistent art style which follows through the game, rather than catering to the whims of the MMO cattle who just want their checklist of features added.

[DarkSeverance]

I played Battlefield 3 on high settings and then SWTOR came out.

Battlefield 3 is not an MMO. It is a FPS which falls in line with single player game graphic ability.

[TheHauntingBard]

The forest with the Ewoks was pretty colorful and fantasy like.

Tree huts and every thing, this is also a part of Star Wars.

[DarkSeverance]

The scenery of the trees is nice. You can tell the details are in the trees background and the character model itself. You can also see the detail is not in the monsters as the leaves of the tree monster looks like it was a tree from WoW. The ground and ground clutter isn't that good either. It is also a different art style which is what makes comparisons harder, overall it isn't bad. It it easier to put detail on character models armor, mainly because they don't have to worry about it redrawing around every character during a cut scene.

[GraunKrynn]

People are saying the graphics are outdated, because the graphics are outdated

 

Even newer zones/models/etc. that are put in World of Warcraft have better graphics, and WoW was never a game with high-end graphics

 

Opinion.

[GraunKrynn]

That's your opinion and it's in the minority.

 

Also we had more graphics option in the beta and they have been removed/disabled in the live game. Also during beta most expected the lack of AA was for beta and would be in the full game which it isn't.

 

I'd have to disagree that it's the minority.