Lackluster Graphics in FFXIV

[Abriael]

As someone who's played Aion for more than a year, I can honestly say that even with the current engine, Aion's character graphics beat FFXIV. Although the faces aren't as realistic, Aion's character models in terms of armor, clothing, and weaponry have a level of polish that I've yet to see in FFXIV. Both games have texture problems, however, when it comes to terrain.

Really now

Aion

FFXIV


You talk about armor, clothing, weaponry and especially polish, and there's simply no comparison. Pics are better than a thousands words. FFXIV's equipment looks much more realistic thanks to the normal mapping (while aion's look extremely flat due to the very limited use of mapping), on top of that due the fact that Aion uses lower resolution textures, the oweral look is much more blurry. Everything in FFXIV's characters is very visibly sharper and more defined.
This without even mentioning that NCsoft has to grow up quite a lot more before getting even near to SE's art direction and character design.

Again, place two pictures of any kind side by side, and FFXIV completely obliterates Aion.

[gifthorse]

Really now

Aion

FFXIV


You talk about armor, clothing, weaponry and especially polish, and there's simply no comparison. Pics are better than a thousands words. FFXIV's equipment looks much more realistic thanks to the normal mapping (while aion's look extremely flat due to the very limited use of mapping), on top of that due the fact that Aion uses lower resolution textures, the oweral look is much more blurry. Everything in FFXIV's characters is very visibly sharper and more defined.
This without even mentioning that NCsoft has to grow up quite a lot more before getting even near to SE's art direction and character design.

Again, place two pictures of any kind side by side, and FFXIV completely obliterates Aion.

I agree with this. FFXIV's character models, armor models, and animations are beyond compare.

[Malakhim]

I'm not entirely sure why I'm posting seriously in this thread, but whatever.

So I checked out official screen shots for games such as TERA and Rift, as well as some gameplay vids for both, and I've gotta say, while there are some interesting aesthetic variations and scenery, the claim that FFXIV's graphics can't hold a candle to them is bullocks. Sure the aesthetic design might be more appealing to those who want the "Dragon Age" D&D take on MMOs with big hulking ogre things and lots of hard edges, but that's just aesthetic design, and has nothing to do with graphics.

A few more pieces of grass here and there isn't game changing. Tera definitely has some cooler vistas, and looks much less of a WoW clone than Rift, but the gaudiness in character and gear design that pervades most korean MMOs is still prevalent and still a huge turn off for me personally. A lot of the vistas in Tera look like stuff we got in Aht Urgan, Promathia, etc. There isn't anything to say we won't get some mind blowing awesome stuff(and I still think stuff looks great now) later on down the road, but in terms of actual graphics, FFXIV is in the lead, hands down.

That isn't to say anything of the gameplay, which this thread isn't about.

Anyway, that's my peace. I'm out.