Most beautiful MMO ever created?

[squ]

I've been hardcore playing MMO's ever since EQ1 (pop-release) and have been thru numerous MMOS already.Last night I got my new supercomputer, and I started playing my swashbuckler again, but I turned up the gfx and the sound (got the fatality xetreme gamer XI-FI soundblaster card)Ooooooh boy, I litterally went around for 15 minutes thinking "WOW"Using very high quality, and all Sound-thingies enabled, this game must be the most beautiful MMO ever created..The music, the creatures, the characters, the cities, the open area.. antonia.. Timorous Deep.All I can say is "WoW"

[Dragowulf]

I agree.  I have everything turned up, but shadows.  W/O shadows the game seems lifeless, but shadows lag like a.....anyways, yeah...it is awesome, i think they could of made the sky a little neater like some other mmos, and maybe more different textures, etc., but the game is still beautiful.drago.

[Shemyaza]

<p>i'm going to have to say no to eq2 as the best looking mmo ever. the average rig will make lotro look much better than eq2. </p><p>if you have some sort of computer that could take over the world if it wanted, you have to run vanguard on it. for all its problems - and they are legion - vanguard has the best landscapes and vistas of any mmo i've ever played. of course, it also has some of the most barren and mindnumbingly boring stuff too.</p>

[Nayurayne]

<p>EQ2 is incedible at high settings I would agree but I do not think that it is the most beautiful MMO out there. That title for be belongs to Saga of Ryzom. </p><p>It has lush, diverse landscapes and real weather and seasons. The trees bloom in the spring and there's snow on the ground in the winter. The jungles are lush and green as are the forests. The lakelands have beautiful plants under the water and even the deserts are incredible. There are so many little details in that game that I have never seen anywhere else...ever. Migrating animals, fluff bugs to add to the atomosphere.....many others. To bad the game is dying though.</p><p>Everquest as I said before though is still beautiful. Certainly better then most games out there..although this entire discussion is barring all the newer MMO games that you practically need a supercomputer to play. Psh I only ever saw EQ2 on high settings once because I decided to look at a still picture of my character before I could change the settings back. I envy all of you that can play it at very high settings continuosly. </p>

[Novusod]

I have turned the settings all the way up and was not that impressed. Compared to the visuals of an MMO like Sword of the New World this game is quite lacking.

[Cynziel]

<cite>Novusod wrote:</cite><blockquote>I have turned the settings all the way up and was not that impressed. Compared to the visuals of an MMO like Sword of the New World this game is quite lacking.</blockquote>As a fan of Asian styled games I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you. The only reason, and I do mean the only reason a game like SoNW looks better is because of the amazingly good texturing. That is all. If you don't know the magic of texturing I suggest checking out Elderscrolls for the PC, Morrowind and/or Oblivion and applying texture mods... It's pretty amazing. EQ2 and Vanguard are beautiful too but not in the same way, it's another style where the colors are more rich and deep and the model design is 'thicker'. The feeling I get from this game compared to Sword of the New World is a lot more intense and vibrant, while in Sword you feel like you are playing doll house. I also used to not be able to see the higher settings on this game and thought it bland, but then I got more ram and killed <b>most </b>shadows, I left environment ones on, turned off bloom and pushed my video card to anti alias the game from the control panel. I was quite impressed with what the game is actually like with max textures ^_^ <3 EQ2

[Sapphirius]

<p>I have to agree that EQ2 is an absolutely gorgeous game. What's more is that, with the proper settings, it looks beautiful from all angles... even while running around. (I just wish I could say the same of the armor.)</p><p>Is LOTRO beautiful? Yes, it most certainly is, but it's also cartoonish and flat to my eyes. LOTRO is not the same from all angles. In screenshots and just standing still, it's nice in certain areas, but the minute you start moving around... Yeah. I'm a very visual person, and I couldn't play LOTRO because of how it looked once I started moving around in the zones. I forced myself to stick with it for a bit to see if the flat hollow style and painted textures would grow on me. It didn't, and I cancelled my subscriptions.</p><p>A lot of people sit there and gripe about EQ2. It looks awful. It's flat. It's boring. It's unrealistic. It's bland, etc. Then I see a screenshot of what they're seeing on their screen, and my first thought is, "Oh, that explains it. The game looks way better than that." It's when those same people get a better system or a more powerful graphics card and kick their settings up a little bit that I see posts like this one... the posts where they go, "Oh, wow. I didn't know that was there."</p><p>Is it a shame that EQ2 requires high performing systems to play the game on the pre-defined high qualities that you see on your Options page? Well, yes it is, but you don't have to use teh pre-defined settings to see the game at its best. Even on my old craptastic computer, I'm able to play on extreme quality settings with some tweaks (like no shadows)... so I get to see all the pretty details and rich colors that the OP is noticing for the first time.</p>

[Nightstriker]

<cite>Shemyaza wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>i'm going to have to say no to eq2 as the best looking mmo ever. the average rig will make lotro look much better than eq2. </p><p>if you have some sort of computer that could take over the world if it wanted, you have to run vanguard on it. for all its problems - and they are legion - vanguard has the best landscapes and vistas of any mmo i've ever played. of course, it also has some of the most barren and mindnumbingly boring stuff too.</p></blockquote>LoTRO looked bad on my on PC and its an average comp. EQ2 is ftw i have evverything at max minus Complex Shader and shadows and im still in "ahhhh" at some of the stuff i see and my highest toon is only lvl 38(started playing last month)this game has motivated me to buy a new rig so by this summer ill be running everything max playing in bliss<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Lichbane]

I'm going have to disagree with the OP.  LotRO with the DX10 and everything turned on is simply stunning ... and it runs at a decent framerate.  EQ2 with everything turned on doesn't look anywhere near as good, AND it plays like a slideshow.I still prefer EQ2 for gameplay.

[Iseabeil]

All combined Id say EQ2 is the most beautfiull mmorpg Ive played, but when its comes to pure scenery Dragon Empires was way ahead (unfortunatly that game died during beta). Several layers of clouds all moving independently, wonderfull weather effects along with northern lights playing over the sky up in the mountains, gorgeuos water effects etc. Taking a screenshot there looked like a photo from a nature magazine. I wish more could have seen it before they pulled the plug. :/ The character models werent any awesome tho wich puts EQ2 above it in my mind.

[Vaelaen]

<p>I still think eq2 is at the top of the list even beating out the directx 10 games atm. when eq2 incorperates DX10, lookout. for a game that has come out in 2004, eq2 has held the crown for best graphics in an mmorpg in my eye's hands down. I play it on extreme quality with 2xaa and 8xaf, and i can tell you that eq2 still has it. I have played linage2, lotro, wow, eve, sotnw and several others not worth mentioning.</p><p>I can maybe see conan start to eclipse eq2 in the environment visuals, but thats a directx10 game as well. I think once eq2 has full dx10 support, it will be untouchable once again.</p>

[Sola]

<cite>Sapphirius wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>A lot of people sit there and gripe about EQ2. It looks awful. It's flat. It's boring. It's unrealistic. It's bland, etc. Then I see a screenshot of what they're seeing on their screen, and my first thought is, "Oh, that explains it. The game looks way better than that." It's when those same people get a better system or a more powerful graphics card and kick their settings up a little bit that I see posts like this one... the posts where they go, "Oh, wow. I didn't know that was there."</p><p>Is it a shame that EQ2 requires high performing systems to play the game on the pre-defined high qualities that you see on your Options page? Well, yes it is, but you don't have to use teh pre-defined settings to see the game at its best. Even on my old craptastic computer, I'm able to play on extreme quality settings with some tweaks (like no shadows)... so I get to see all the pretty details and rich colors that the OP is noticing for the first time.</p></blockquote><p>Yes, this is the main reason I believe as to why EQ2 did so poorly on release and people still talk bad about EQ2.  If management would allow the devs to fix the engine by simply moving the shadows, bloom, etc.. to be handled by the graphics card and not the cpu, I feel it would do the game some real justice!  Thing is, they should have done this back with the release of EoF or before as most people try out a new MMO on initial release or when an expansion comes out.</p><p>Please devs, if you read this, push to fix the graphics engine!!!</p>

[dixieladye]

<cite>Novusod wrote:</cite><blockquote>I have turned the settings all the way up and was not that impressed. Compared to the visuals of an MMO like Sword of the New World this game is quite lacking.</blockquote>I am new to EQ and am quite disappointed in the graphics except for the armour. Lotro and even Guild Wars has much better graphics. I have a good card and have things set on high. I used to just stop and stare at the beauty in those games.

[Ishina]

<cite>dixieladye wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>I am new to EQ and am quite disappointed in the graphics except for the armour. Lotro and even Guild Wars has much better graphics. I have a good card and have things set on high. I used to just stop and stare at the beauty in those games.</blockquote>It boils down to personal taste, since I have seen those games and think the complete oposite to you. EQ2 blows them out the water imo. Having played EQ2 on high graphic settings, I could never go back to those games - it's just stunning, and anything else would be second best.Still... variety is the spice of life. It would be a dull world if we all liked the same thing.So, for me, yes - it is the most beautiful MMO ever created. Hands down.

[Shemyaza]

<cite>Vaelaen wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I still think eq2 is at the top of the list even beating out the directx 10 games atm. when eq2 incorperates DX10, lookout. </p></blockquote><p>the chances of eq2 running on dx10 are somewhere between never and ha-ha.</p><p>if they can't even make it run on multi-core cpu's without screwing the whole thing up, what makes you think they are capable of running on new tech?</p>

[Lichbane]

<cite>Shemyaza wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Vaelaen wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I still think eq2 is at the top of the list even beating out the directx 10 games atm. when eq2 incorperates DX10, lookout. </p></blockquote><p>the chances of eq2 running on dx10 are somewhere between never and ha-ha.</p><p>if they can't even make it run on multi-core cpu's without screwing the whole thing up, what makes you think they are capable of running on new tech?</p></blockquote>EQ3?