Graphical Quality and Animations looks dated

First off im just gonna say that im an Royal Founder of this game on the Collector level because i believed (and to some extent still do) that this game will be worth my money.
Ive tested a few of the builds but usually they happen at a bad time for me and i get no time to test it during the few days its available.

When that is said, my reason for this post is the current state of the game. Its graphical quality and the current animations in the game.
Now, i anticipate heavy fire for this, as is usual whenever someone criticize something that someone else loves, but so be it. I want to get it out of my system and perhaps also get some answers about it.

The game looks like crap in its current state. I watched the E3 video earlier today and i felt like i was watching a game made in 2009 (dont take this literally) . The graphics looks really dated. Granted they got the time of day and the shadows etc which looks nice, but texture quality and geometry looks bad.
Low resolution on the textures makes everything look like plastic and the geometry looks very low-polycount (i recon thats the correct term? Im no graphical designer so i might fumble up the expressions, hopefully its clear what i mean).

When they show a stone keep it doesnt look like stone, every corner is straight, every wall is flawless. Parts can be fixed by better and higher resolution textures but to make it look GOOD it would need a lot more detail in the design (increased polygons, more edges, crannies etc). Kinda looks like walls, stairs, doors etc, are carved out with a laser..

And for the animations, well.. Looks pretty bad.

Now, i recon at least animations can and will be fixed before the game is finished and released, but what about the graphics? Are they limitations of the Unity Engine or can they manage to make it look more like a 2014 game?

Hopefully i can get some good answers out of this, and maybe spark a discussion about the current visual state..

 

yup... graphics sucks... combat sucks... it's laggy as hell in owl's head... character models (players, NPCs and even the animals) sucks... skill icons sucks (too cartoony)... overland map sucks (uses too much GPU for a paper cloth map)... in all honesty, the game just sucks... BUT... they've done a lot of progress since Pre-Alpha Release 1... I still won't judge it's suckiness until I see the final release of the game... ^_^

 

I agree that the graphics look really dated at the moment (never had the opportunity to test for myself yet but watched plenty of videos), but it's certainly not a limitation introduced by the Unity Engine - to see what it's capable of, I'd recommend watching some game trailers for "the forest".

I hope they improve it, but I'm afraid the laser cut wall edges will stay. Well - I knew what I was backing when I did (just pledged today...), so hopefully they can use some of my money to iterate some more.

 

Wow, @kabalyero that was really harsh. Guys, how about going with, Shroud of the Avatar is a work in progress with a note that things will get better?

Personally I can't answer any of your questions as I don't really subscribe to judging a game by the graphics in which it is presented in so I would have to do the same thing you would, use the search feature at the top right hand side of the forum to find the answers.

It sounds a bit like a broken record at this point, but I guess we just need to put it on loop somewhere. We're getting an insight into the creation from this game, ground up, well before it's completion. We haven't even entered a Beta phase.

@nem I can't blindly defend Shroud of the Avatar based on my own opinion; graphics do not matter. But to you, exactly how important are graphics compared to the game's play? Would you play a really awesome game if it looked bad, have you before? Would you play a really crappy game, if it looked good? Have you before?

 

I did say...

Which means it has improved a lot since Pre-Alpha Release 1... and obviously, it will continue to improve with each future Pre-Alpha Releases...

Now, will the game still suck when it's officially launched? No one really knows. We'll just have to wait and see and that's why I said...

 

I just meant that we could probably leave out all the sucks and just cover it with, work in progress. No?

 

You discuss your opinion and points in a courteous manner (as one can using 'sucks' ), I see no reason why you should be drawn and quartered over your post. I too think that the graphics are not yet polished (as it is pre Alpha build at the moment), however, from looking at the screen shots on the media section here they don't look like complete bunk (to me at least).

I also have an xbox and one of the things people often post in those forums is that 'Graphics don't matter, it's all about the game play!!' which is complete BS in my opinion I believe a game has to be visually pleasing to draw you into the environment AND have good game play with a story to hold you there too. Now maybe I am wrong because 10 zillion people play the sh?t out of Minecraft and my mind is bamboozled over that one. I don't think that game has good visuals or game play but to each their own.

There is room for improvement and fine tuning on the graphics but I'm also not offended by them in their current state and if the released as they are now I'd probably still enjoy it. Hopefully they are rounded out a little more to your liking and the others who share your thoughts. I suspect they will get an overhaul (or several more) before the game is even close to release.

mittens

 

I am not trying to change anyone's mind, I wouldn't be so foolish as to try lol. Yes, the Devs will need to find and balance the very delicate middle ground between our two crowds, graphics don't matter and graphics do matter I think they can do it, every time I see it, something looks better and steady progress is what is important.

I'm one of the MineCraft Zerg by the way, I am sure you can tell... Why to me graphics don't mean anything especially in MineCraft is that I can build anything and everything I want. It may not look like a 200,000 triangle model, but it is mine, I built it, and it is the accomplishment in which I can take pride in.

 

Well, the idea is that the gameplay is supposed to take center stage over the graphics... In some cases is true.

 

SoTA just woke up and still hasn't put her make-up on. Come back later and she will be all dolled up waiting for ya.

 

I'm satisfied with the landscape and the buildings so far. But the avatars and NPCs need much polish in my opinion, but this is scheduled for release 9 already.

 

Perhaps they can create a "dream hex" for us that graphically represents the goal and intent of the team. It should not take too much time to optimize a single hex and for sure would go a long way towards defining for all the doubters the envisioned endpoint of the environment. My concern is mostly movement related. Avatars, animals, NPCs, grass blowing in wind, all should be pretty natural in my estimation. I walk down a path now and see thousands of grass clumps cut and pasted one after the other, all identical and all moving back and forth exactly the same distance at exactly the same time. I hope this will change.... A dream hex would go a long way towards stimulating me to increase my monetary support of the game.

 

Reminds me of "300-Rise of an Empire." Which cost $65 million.

 

To me graphics are important, but not as important as good gameplay and mechanics.

Gameplay itself is, at least to me, a very broad concept tho. Its like everything BUT the A/V.. If they manage to make the game feel fluid and fun then i will not mind the current state of the graphics at all. But at the moment i have to say that i think it all feels and looks "fake and clunky", in lack of a better explanatory term.

I guess im just worried that what we see now are somewhat representative of how it will turn out..

 

Getting in trouble again kabalyero ? You should really be more careful with that use of ironic overstatement.

Not everyone understands the emotes you are using, and can tell when you are fooling around.

 

The wanted to croudsource the assets, which led them to make something realistic over stylized. But this is really difficult because making things realistic looking simply highlights everything which isn't perfect. I suspect that this is ultimately what's chewing up their whole budget.

 

Do you realize this is pre-alpha? I'm getting tired of people trash talking the game. Be patient, its blown my mind. Still looks better than wow at 90% of other RPG's

 

They are still working on all the graphics and animations. If you think this is bad you should have seen the game before Release 5 it was much worse then. Someone said it looks like a 2009 game well then it looked more like a 2004 game then. So they are making progress, we just need to remember that we are testing a preAlpha game so things like graphics and animations aren't going to be as polished as you might see in a regular beta or even an official Alpha for instance. They are actively working on these issues though so if it bothers you a lot it might be best to come back in a few releases or even wait till beta.

 

Well, I'll take it looks like 2009 graphics anyway.

When we started it was "It looks like 1999 graphics".

Hahah. Graphics aren't everything. Gameplay. Course, having said that...

Gonna have to wait and see.

 

Yeah I agree. Here's the thing tho. People have never seen a game opened up all the way through development.

There are real questions about the schedule at this point, and every negative person is someone I've seen around for months.

I guess some people just want to be ahead of the curve so if it really *does* suck come next year or the beta or whenever the arbitrary date for saying "it sucks" and leaving is, they can say "I told you so".

If it turns out to be great fun, then no-one will remember the forums and the hand-wringing, so no harm no foul, they'll be busy playing the game.

The other way to look at it is we who just want to stay a tad positive are horrible defenders of evil Garriot and the rest who just want to bilk everyone from their money and put endless housing options out. It's all a conspiracy to rip everyone off, as if the team also doesn't want it to be a success so they can spend years building this game out.

What can you do ? Human Nature. One side will be right. For a game I want to be a success, I can't see constantly talking crap about how it sucks, but on the other hand, we should be vocal, because a lot of stuff changed already because we spoke up.

I can't imagine what it's like to be working hard on something and having to come on here and read some of the nastiness tho... I would probably avoid it like the plague