Graphics vs Aesthetics

[Commat]

Aesthetics isn't something you can make an exact quantification of. It's all a matter of artistic sensibility and cultural focus. The only way to evaluate it is to ask many people how much they feel touched by a certain piece of art or, in this case, by the game's environments and overall design. Evidently, many FFXIV users are criticizing exactly the world's environments and their design, meaning the game has poor aesthetics. There's really not much that can be added. A few good looking armor sets and items won't affect the game's aesthetics, like adding two pretty flowers to a boring green field won't make a painting interesting. It's a much more general matter and i can't see a clear way to solve it.

Good news, i found a way to solve it.

Stop making boring ultra-realistic "fantasy" worlds and make a game that looks like the the grand companies of eorzea page artwork.

Its the best looking visuals associated with this game. SE has always had a fantastic 2d art team. Always underutilized and ignored. Anyone play SF2? best looking game they ever released.

[Vesperia]

Am I the only one that likes FFXIV's artistic sensibilities?

[Yellow]

It seems to be the popular trend now

Final Fantasy 13 was an example I guess... IT wasn't that bad.. but definitely was far from being great.


and lol @Vesperia

GW2 Looks like crap :S Have you seen many videos? It looks amazing xDD ~ Interesting gameplay, different setups for fights -- Not a WoW clone. It's something different =D Will be interesting to see how it goes!

and saying Koreans can only make games?

Then please Don't go near any western/japanese games. Keep to your Korean games ^O^

I'm all for any game that I like.. but I'll never say this country is better at making games. It's all a matter of opinion.

[Vesperia]

It seems to be the popular trend now

Final Fantasy 13 was an example I guess... IT wasn't that bad.. but definitely was far from being great.


and lol @Vesperia

GW2 Looks like crap :S Have you seen many videos? It looks amazing xDD ~ Interesting gameplay, different setups for fights -- Not a WoW clone. It's something different =D Will be interesting to see how it goes!

and saying Koreans can only make games?

Then please Don't go near any western/japanese games. Keep to your Korean games ^O^

I'm all for any game that I like.. but I'll never say this country is better at making games. It's all a matter of opinion.

Yes Ive seen the videos of GW2.

Are you referring to the videos which showcase cities that look like amusement parks (full of gaudy colours and clashing characters in their ensemble garbs)? Or are you referring to the videos that show contextually irrelevant aliens operating robots? Or are you referring to the videos which demonstrate the comical, adolescent voice-overs which remind one of saturday morning cartoons from ones' childhood? I could go on...

I seriously don't know what people see in the areas. Nor in the character models.

The combat looks okay (but not compared to B&S or TERA). The dynamic quest system looks okay (but not compared to the dynamic world of ArcheAge or Dark&Light).

So I just wonder why people are so enamoured by it besides the F2P aspect.

I mean, look at this rationally, ArcheAge will probably come out sooner, look prettier, have more features, have more consistent lore, destructible instances, and will be way more DYNAMIC (which is supposedly GW's selling point), and this is because the goals in ArcheAge aren't scripted. The game doesn't GIVE you a "personal story". In ArcheAge, you make one.

Graphics aside, the thing that turned me off about GW2 the most was the whole "personal story" mumbo jumbo. I thought the world was supposed to change from our actions. I didn't think that when they said "the world" they meant "your own world". And by "your own world" I didn't think they meant "a tiny instance in the middle of town which only you can enter".

LOL, that's not dynamic content.

You are setting yourself up for disappointment with GW2, i assure you of that. But maybe compared to FFXIV it wont seem so bad.

[kukurumei]

If it doesn't look good...it doesn't look good.

[Zantetsuken]

One thing FFXIV has going for it, is that the game has a much more grounded and realistic look to it than the other games mentioned in this thread.

Most other MMO games give away the farm from day one with insanely flashy graphics, extreme locations, and elaborate monsters. Graphically, this means that the game will only be able to grow by upping the ante to the point where things begin to get absurd.

FFXI and now FFXIV have set the initial design bar rather low, so there is plenty of room to grow without the game looking OTT in it's later years.

Granted, this approach is best tailored to hardcore players who will appreciate the slow growth of the game rather than your average casual player who will want to see most of the cool stuff up front.

[gifthorse]

Archeage doesn't look too bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yAyxR2WPSc

[Gramul]

Archeage doesn't look too bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yAyxR2WPSc

Pretty. Not quite the effects and detail of XIV, but still, very nice.

[Ilean]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ytxRhXQKgA&hd=1

Good stuff starts around 3:00, love the overall mood of the zone.