Sorry, but Etceter is ugly

I don't want to sound negative, but the town of Eceter does look really ugly. There is no detail there, no atmosphere, no "personality".
There are next to perfectly aligned houses in empty streets. There are a few tufts of grass here and there but genarelly the whole town just looks lifeless, sterile, empty...

Those screenshots should illustrate what I mean:

Just an empty, lifeless street with no details, just a brown texture on the gound a few tufts of grass:



Another empty street, totally devoid of any details:



Nothing here to make me go: "WoW, what an interesting city, look at all of those details!"



Empty and lifeless:



Lifeless and empty:



Even entering the city doesn't want me to explore it as it is so devoid of any details...



I hope that this is just the first pass and there will be lots and lots of details added to the scene to make it interesting and beautiful.
I fear that this does sound etremely negative but I think that Etceter is a really ugly city

 

I appreciate that you have your own opinion. But I like the town, I thought it looked good.

I also think some of the screen shots taken here might be less unfaltering if they were taken at different angles.

 

I must agree with Darkmoon.
Something is off with the city.
I don't think it's because it's empty. The city center is quite busy.
But something is off. Just can't put my finger on it.

 

I hope 90% of the graphics are still placeholders
Except some textures the game looks "old" ...
As you say, lifeless and no details (take a look at the new Brittany Graveyard).

On the otherside there is the new Nighshade Pass - TOOOO MUCH details what takes a lot of power and ressources of the computer

But I love the game - or did I love what the game could be?

 

I like the areas close to the water and the little stilt houses (I hope these will be made available to players eventually!) And I thought the little market area of the scene looked pretty nice as well. I'm sure it will get more polished as we go along.

 

I totally agree, I found the town very bland without any defining character.

 

I didn't have high expectations from a town run by satyrs, but now that you mention it, the dirt is rather monotonous. Even some cobblestone textures between the rows of houses would help. What bothers me much more are the constant grunts coming from the satyrs

 

I'd love to see some wooden plank walkways to keep our boots from getting too muddy. (and their hooves).

Etceter was the town I was most looking forward to, since it was so nicely described in the book, 'Blade of the Avatar'.. and from that I had imagined a much larger town, and it was supposed to be a hillside port town. One of the characters in the book lived along a long avenue that worked its way up the hill from the docks, and there was supposed to be a large building where all the leaders of Novia would meet up.. This place needs to be much bigger, instead it feels like a near carbon copy of the podunk Kingsport town, with no evidence of ruins from the huge city that once populated the area. Huge disappointment, when I had spent the last 2 years thinking I might want to live there..

 

I agree with Miracle Dragon that the town is a bit too small. I too am wondering why there isn't any evidence of the old city that once stood there. I had considered moving to this town as well, but perhaps a bit of tweaking and "sprucing up" is in order beforehand.

 

I agree with Darkmoon. Hopefully we will see some more town development soon.

 

Believe me if i tell you that you that i often need to search for those ancles and positions that show the best of the game in some scenes.
There is a huge discrepancy of visual quality of instances in this game still.

And Eceter has no ancle i did find suitable to place into a trailer that promotes the best of the game.
It either had nothing new or something impressive.

I also find that some need to accept that critical opinions are made to improve the games.

I find it actually damaging to truly say:
Eceter is a good looking town.
Because this created a false positive feedback in my opinion.

It is not. It needs huge improvements to keep up with Adoris or Soltown or Kingsports.

There are far better Instances out there that are visually great and well done in this game.
Many instances or Towns have a own character, theme ore nice Points of Interest.
Besides the Fisher Houses i did not find anything giving Eceter a own personal character or culture.
Eceter fails so far. I asume it is still far from finished. Early version.

 

Look, I don't troll. I don't waste my time giving feedback to get a rise out of other people. If you want to say the scene is bad, you're welcome to do that. I appreciate your right to give your feedback. But try to appreciate my right to give my feedback.

I went back to Eceter just now because I wanted to see the town again and see what all the fuss was about. and I took the following screen shots.

This seems like a colorful scene very similar to Kingsport, imo. I like the benches around the tree.

This is actually my favorite image. I like the dirt and closeness of the buildings. Kingsport doesn't have this same layout with NPC buildings and so I appreciate the subtle change.

Lastly I wanted to show that there was water in this town. Something you left out of your screen shots for some reason.


I'm not in love with this town. But I understand that every town can't be Ardoris and every town can't be like Desolis and have an epic background. Some towns are just small little fishing villages that don't have a whole lot going on in them.

I don't think there's anything wrong with this town, and HONESTLY when I first visited it on the Tour Guide Quest my first reaction was very positive.

It's ok if we disagree. But please no not tell me that my feedback is "false" and that I'm damaging the game by giving it. The only feedback that damages the game is the feedback that goes unsaid.

 

Another problem the town has is that there is nothing about it that says "Satyr Town" other than the presence of satyrs which I just found really odd when I first visited. It just looks like every other human town. This is in contrast to Vertas which has an interesting layout, lots of elven houses, the special trees and other details, and the keep which has been modified to look unique to the elves. Not to mention the overall scenery anyway.

For what looks like a major location on the official map it needs a lot of work in my opinion.

 

I appologize. You are right. Your feedback is not false then anyones else is.

I was very dissapointed about Eceter to be honest and had a hard time reading approvals about this town.


So sorry from my side. Was a unnessesary emotional post.

 

Please continue to post your ideas on what would make it better. I think all the towns can use that kind of feedback.

 

Am I going there at the wrong times maybe? Each time I have been there the NPC's wont sell you anything, they claim to be on a break.

 

Perhaps Blade of the Avatar is not required reading at Portalarium?

 

From seeing some of the recent descriptions of things being developed based on BotA, I am beginning to feel such is definitely NOT the case...

This is one of those things I was worried about when it came to the story and the absolute lack of QA from the community because they want to keep it close to the breast. For instance: Dire prophecy or Dirae prohecy.... which is it?

 

Perhaps Etceter has changed since the ancient history of the novel?

 

Terrain textures need more work to indicate well worn paths. Also needs to more closely align with Blade of the Avatar description. It will get better.