Sorry to draw comparisons but SotA should look to Bards Tale IV for visuals

Take a look at this engine video.



Now, I am not particularly saying that the visual quality of SotA should be on par with that BUT all of those elements like wisps flying around, the particles, the atmosphere and how the world is presented and how you can interact with it is just great. For example the way the heroes open the gate to the dungeon. Will such animated elements be in SotA? Those small balls rolling around, how they set aflame the roots in the corridors... the lighting... how the hero takes out the paper map... Just from those few minutes I get the impression that the world looks so alive. Maybe SotA can take some inspiration from this...

 

WOW that was truly AWESOME.... did i say TRULY AWESOME ???? hehehehe yes you did my precious

 

Indeed that is quite amazing... raising the bar even higher...

 

That is a great video, I also love the wisps flying around as it keeps the scene interesting and makes it come to life, I hope the devs will add similar things later down the road in a polish pass.

 

I can't wait to see the first ingame video to compare. It is a great promo video but nothing more. Wonder how long they worked for it and if it will be a cutscene.

 

I believe inXile actually has a larger art team so they can do stuff like this. I could be wrong though.

 

If you look at the Wasteland 2 credits on Mobygames, you'll see about 25 artists who worked in some capacity on the game, be it part or full time.

 

Yeah while I think it would be great if SOTA could get somewhat close to this level of graphics. I do not think it is likely they will get quite to that level.

 

I personally Do NOT think that is an ingame video, but a Promo.

 

I don't think that graphics are that primary focus for Sota. Also from the content prespective Sota and Bards tale are not compareable. Such graphics in Bards Tale will surely require much higher computer specs. Not saying Sota needs no graphical improvements (looking at the water graphics ^^), but Portalarium done a lot of polish since the first releases.

 

To quote Starr from a couple Steam threads asking about the graphics and animation:

From this post back in Nov. 2014:

...and this post back in Dec. 2014:

I agree with that priority: gameplay over graphics. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to give critical, specific feedback on where the visual polish needs to be improved. The more specific (with examples, screenshots), the better.

Should we expect the graphic fidelity seen in that Bard's Tale IV video? It is in-engine footage, but perhaps just it's a tech demo showing key gameplay concepts. We don't know if it's actual gameplay, with all the other critical game systems implemented and competing for CPU / GPU cycles. Then again, this is Unreal Engine, which imho, has a much better (and more optimized) rendering engine than Unity.

I like what Lord Darkmoon said above...take inspiration from the gameplay elements, such as how the dungeon / cave door was re-assembled, along with the glowing lightballs moving about, setting fire to the cave walls to light the path, etc. It does make the world feel alive...do we have that feeling in SotA? I think even with the Unity 5 engine they can achieve similar gameplay elements, but perhaps not at that level of graphic polish and fidelity, given not just the Unity engine but their resources/priorities to do so.

 

Yeah... that's definitely a highly polished promo scene (even if made/played in the in-game engine) but the final game will no doubt have lots of "generic" just walking around moments where the scene/time is not densely packed with effects and action like in that video.

I'm glad the focus in SotA will be on providing a deep simulation first. Graphics can always be polished later if there is time. A believable, interactive and open world is the most important thing to get right (see Dwarf Fortress for a prime example of a rich simulation of an open world).

 

For a simulation to work, the world needs some "simulation" as well. This means the flora and fauna need to be simulated as well. We have some of those things in the game right now with some rabbits and deer hopping around but I think this needs to go even deeper. Just like in the Bards Tale video, wisps or faeries flying by, some deer drinking at a pond near a waterfall, cats going for a mouse in a city, a dog running after a cat. Fishermen catching fish, a thief snatching an apple from a market and the merchant yelling after him... But also in regards to Dungeons. Why not have some dungeons opening up like the dungeon in the Bards Tale video with a cool animation? Being able to set fire in a cave etc. This makes the world and the simulation much deeper and feel much more alive.
The graphical quality does not need to be as vibrant as in the Bards Tale video but the world in this video feels and looks so alive and interesting that I want to explore every part of it. The places shown look so unique and special...

 

Reminded me of a Disney World ride lol. But in a good way.

With all these cool games people are linking to, hoping for art direction or combat direction to be looked at for inspiration, will like... anyone be playing SotA next year?

 

I will PLay Sota till the END!

 

And again a single player game as reference for something that's more an MMO than an single player rpg.

 

I think in the wild there should be more than "combat targets" and "harvesting targets" -- though I'm sure you could harvest something useful from anything. But in addition to deer and stag, there should be doe, and in addition to bears, there should be bear cubs, and in addition to wolves there should be wolf cubs. There should also be birds like ravens and owls and larks and cranes and geese.

 

Wrong. SotA is as much a single player game as a MMO. And for a game that also wants to be a single player RPG and even offers such a mode (even offline!) with special elements - like a party of NPCs - it simply will be compared to every other single player RPG out there.

 

We could as well say its neither off or online and both parts will have to deal with the fact they don't get then "end tier" in their segement.

 

Portalarium and its loyal devotees are going to have to get used to that, because there are a lot of backers who are here because of the SPO/FPO feature of this game, not the MMO aspect. If it sells short in this category, it sells short; it isn't an unfair comparison or inaccurate evaluation of the game. It's marketed as a single player game and will have to stand on its own in that regard, just like it will also have to stand on its own as an MMO.