Alpha First Look: Video 3 - The Black Shroud

[Totorixiii]

I completely agree. The number of visible models was simply amazing even if it wasn't absolutely perfect. For years I had a theory that Square Enix only had graphics experts but their Network and User Interface guys were just hacks who wouldn't cut it anywhere and they must have nobody who really understands how to make something for PC.

The work on version 2.0 tells me that they finally got their act together on this because the network, ui, and pc issues all seem to be a thing of the past. If they had done this well when FFXI came out then I honestly believe that WoW and FFXI would be two rival MMORPGs instead of it just being WoW.

Edit: Thinking a little more, they would have also have made FFXI a little less hard core, but I still think technical issues were FFXI's main problem.

From a JP website interview with yoshida. Has high res images close up of the character model in-game. It's similar to 1.0 polish, shiny and good rendering to me. However, 1.0 character skin is still the same on 2.0 Alpha.
http://www.gamer.ne.jp/news/201211220009/image/26/

Don't worry too much, it still looks awesome.

[Tupster]

From a JP website interview with yoshida. Has high res images close up of the character model in-game. It's similar to 1.0 polish, shiny and good rendering to me. However, 1.0 character skin is still the same on 2.0 Alpha.
http://www.gamer.ne.jp/news/201211220009/image/26/

Don't worry too much, it still looks awesome.

I saw this screenshot just before you posted and thought the same thing; that it looks pretty much the same. I'm thinking now that it is something else, like a post processing filter, that is causing the difference I see.

(I think you quoted the wrong post of mine?)

[Sanne]

I love it!
Can't wait to walk there myself!

[Akujin]

Love the music, the open environments, the detail put into it all is fantastic.

And I, for one, love the jumping. Honestly, from playing other games that enable you to jump in order to get over an obsticle, its a great feature to be included.

Cant wait to see Uldah and Limsa's new forms.

[Len]

Excellent work on The Black Shroud; the new music compliments it well!

[casker]

Just stopping to say the animation is still godawful. Fix it please.

A lot of the areas look pretty great though. I love the autumn leaves and the architecture.

But yeah. FIX THE DAMN ANIMATION

[BazzaBrute]

Game looks great, scenery looks amazing, love the new mapping system. Seen lots of complaints about the 2D grass but personally I don't see the problem. :S
I don't like the window in the upper-left which seems to display the exact same data as the bar at the bottom. Also, the jumping, so much needless jumping, it just looks ridiculous, somebody running along and then just jumping in the air multiple times for no reason. I have nothing against the jumping if it actually had a use, or if it was only usable in certain circumstances, for example, certain points in an instance, but as something people can do as much as they want, wherever they want, I think it's a horrible feature.

[kimoi]

I noticed the camp is a rest area. It says she entered a rest area in the log when she goes in.

[leomax]

The video also showcases the fact that in A Realm Reborn the map will gradually reveal itself as your character reaches new locations.

Enjoy the video and be sure to let us know what you think!

The music and ambience insects etc are great, it feels more alive than 1.0 for sure. It looks so beautiful.

I LOVED the build up in the music and how it got more sinister the deeper you went in that area at the end!

Things that need adjusting, the map exploration needs to be toned down a lot, like a grid square at a time to add a real sense of danger and seriously remove the marker/names when you haven't been there because that TOTALLY defeats the purpose of it all duh.

Couldn't really tell about the animations as you are clearly using auto run to mask it, which leads me to believe you are working on them?

[Tupster]

I think I figured out what it is that is bothering me. If you look at 50 seconds in the video, when we are looking across the water at the water wheel, it looks like there is no global lighting at all in the scene, which causes everything to kind of blend together. In particular, look at the bottom of the big building across the water with the banners hanging from it. The very bottom seems like it should be quite dark, but it is fully lit.

I'm going to chalk this up to unfinished graphics work, since pre-calculating all of that lighting takes a lot of computational power and they probably just haven't done it yet. I hope I'm right because it already looks very nice, but with full lighting put in it should be spectacular.

Edit: Another slight problem is I think the ambient occlusion calculation is causing there to be a dark halo around the characters feet... (people are going to start to think I'm super nit-picky but graphics is part of what I do for a living )