EQ2 going the cartoonish way?

[Levatino]

<p>Logged into Test and was not very pleased with the UI changes. I can understand the Persona window and Inventory screen merging but I don't like the outcome of the new UI it looks to cartoonish for my liking.</p><p>The way you look in the new char screen is a lot smaller then it was before and the buttons on the downside of the screen, helpfull indeed but it looks like the game is taken us back 10 years.</p><p>Am I alone in this observations?</p>

[jamzez]

<p>Nope I shocked greater faydark looked like a saturday mornin cartoon for kids.</p>

[Irgun]

<p>EQ2 needs an engine-revamp - I'd like to see Oblivion-engine or so....</p>

[Cusashorn]

<p><cite>Irgin@Valor wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>EQ2 needs an engine-revamp - I'd like to see Oblivion-engine or so....</p></blockquote><p>Revamping the engine = COMPLETELY REDEVELOPING THE ENTIRE GAME. This would take years to accomplish and the end result would be a brand new game that is no longer EQ2. Might as well go create EQ3.</p>

[jamzez]

<p>It's called EQ next.</p>

[ElnAckom]

<p>As so often is the case, our esteemed colleague Ouka is spot on. There's no such thing as retrofitting an <em>engine</em>. Sure, it'd be fascinating to try and see someone take something like the Crysis engine (rofflesox in advance) and build an MMORPG around it, but we're talking sequels of sequels here.</p><p>Let's stick to the meat and potatoes here. WoW is Saturday Morning Cartoons. You want quests and storyline, this is the grocery story to shop. The engine will do what we need it to do, provided the content keeps a'comin'. Bug fixes, streamlining, improved code where we can? Sure thing. But if you want to take a Chevy Impala and retrofit it with a Corvette C6 engine, transmission, suspension, chassis, and interior... that's easy. Sell the Impala and buy the Corvette. EQ2 != EQ3.</p><p>I think some of the recent new mob models have been pretty good about blending realism and immersion with existing EQ2 visuals. I'd like to see more of that.</p>

[Armawk]

<p>EQ Next concept art is pretty clearly going the cartoonish route. Meh.</p>

[Kilaelya]

<p>I absolutely love EQ2's realistic looking world. I'm always a little sad when they make changes that start chipping away at it's original beauty.</p>

[Zirbus]

<p>I wouldn't draw any conclusions off of the concept art. Even realistic looking games like Crysis use cartoons and paintings for concept art. </p>

[Gungo]

<p><cite>Zirbus@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I wouldn't draw any conclusions off of the concept art. Even realistic looking games like Crysis use cartoons and paintings for concept art. </p></blockquote><p>2 of the images were actually in game screenshots. freeport and the swamp. </p>

[Kordran]

<p>In a practical sense, I'm sure they're looking to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. When EQ2 launched, one of the things that did hurt them was the minimum specs for the game (at the time); if you didn't have a fairly new machine with a lot of horsepower, memory and a current graphics card the game either ran extremely poorly, or not at all. WoW, on the other hand, could run well on pretty much anything.</p><p>The people who created the client engine gambled on a few things. That people would be willing to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to upgrade their systems to be able to use it. That systems would continue to come with single processors and that the industry would continue to escalate clock speeds to ramp up performance, so it was no problem to create something that depended heavily on the CPU rather than GPU, and that there was no need to concern themselves with multithreaded design.</p><p>Lo and behold they were wrong, on all counts.</p><p>The lesson that every MMO company has learned from Blizzard is that eye-candy is wonderful, but not when it comes at the expense of a larger playerbase. As the saying goes, "better" is often the enemy of "good enough", particularly when it comes to maximizing profits.</p>

[Aurorrae]

<p><cite>Gungo wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Zirbus@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I wouldn't draw any conclusions off of the concept art. Even realistic looking games like Crysis use cartoons and paintings for concept art. </p></blockquote><p>2 of the images were actually in game screenshots. freeport and the swamp. </p></blockquote><p>That was freeport?  Meh.  It looked like a cross between free realms and wow.  And when the swamp picture came up, the guy behind me yelled, Zangermarsh!!!</p>

[Gungo]

<p><cite>Arandar@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>In a practical sense, I'm sure they're looking to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. When EQ2 launched, one of the things that did hurt them was the minimum specs for the game (at the time); if you didn't have a fairly new machine with a lot of horsepower, memory and a current graphics card the game either ran extremely poorly, or not at all. WoW, on the other hand, could run well on pretty much anything.</p><p>The people who created the client engine gambled on a few things. That people would be willing to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to upgrade their systems to be able to use it. That systems would continue to come with single processors and that the industry would continue to escalate clock speeds to ramp up performance, so it was no problem to create something that depended heavily on the CPU rather than GPU, and that there was no need to concern themselves with multithreaded design.</p><p>Lo and behold they were wrong, on all counts.</p><p>The lesson that every MMO company has learned from Blizzard is that eye-candy is wonderful, but not when it comes at the expense of a larger playerbase. As the saying goes, "better" is often the enemy of "good enough", particularly when it comes to maximizing profits.</p></blockquote><p>cartoonish has no bearing on the quality or the system specs. </p><p>That is simply art style. A cartoonish style could very well use just as much polygons and have more shaders and textures then the current eq2 system and be just as much of a system hog.</p><p>They are going for the cartoonish look because that is what this type of genre of game generally prefers. It also appeals to a wider audience. </p><p>Personally i like the realistic look but I know my taste are not the mainstream fantasy choice. </p>

[Kordran]

<p><cite>Gungo wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>cartoonish has no bearing on the quality or the system specs. </blockquote><p>I was thinking specifically of WoW when I wrote that, and they did intentionally choose an artistic style that would allow them to use a more limited palette, fewer polygons, etc. to reduce the overall system requirements for the graphics. It also worked for them because it inhereted the same general style as the Warcraft games, and so it was a decision that worked on many different levels.</p><p>I don't think there's any question, however, that the closer you try for photorealism in any game, the harder that's going to push the hardware.</p>

[Jaremai]

<p><cite>Levatino wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>helpfull indeed but it looks like the game is taken us back 10 years.</p></blockquote><p>10 years?  Really?</p><p><a href="http://blog.weflyspitfires.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/eq_original_ui_inventory.jpg">http://blog.weflyspitfires.com/wp-c...i_inventory.jpg</a></p><p>I'm a fan of hyperbole when used properly, but..</p>

[LadyMist]

<p><span style="color: #00ccff;">Me and my friend who plays EQ2 love these Ui changes. they are more streamlined and visually friendly in color and tone.</span></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff;">Don't know what this cartoony business the op is taking about. I like the new spell animations ect. Though it's going to take getting used to to not hit P or O or I. I tend to do that a lot I noticed.</span></p>

[Lera]

<p><cite>Arandar@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The people who created the client engine gambled on a few things. That people would be willing to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to upgrade their systems to be able to use it. That systems would continue to come with single processors and that the industry would continue to escalate clock speeds to ramp up performance, so it was no problem to create something that depended heavily on the CPU rather than GPU, and that there was no need to concern themselves with multithreaded design.</p></blockquote><p>Yes, there's some issues with graphics, but EQ2 is still the best-looking MMO out there, unlike WoW's cartoony look, and unlike EQ1, which looks like a 10-year-old game.</p><p>But I'm afraid the OP is correct, since SOGA is the new default models, and how many new players will really know about the original models?</p>