What's Your Opinion on PSO 2 Graphics?

[Kanivakil]

Although its good, and maybe even very good. The graphics aren't nothing spectacular for games that take up similar HDD space.

[Ezodagrom]

PSO2 is an online RPG, usually online RPGs are not as good graphically as other games.
In my opinion the graphics in PSO2 are fine, there's only 1 thing that I would like to see improved, the draw distance.

[Sizustar]

I don't think using storage space is a good indication of good graphic.
Graphic engine, year the game is released, etc would be a better comparasion.

[Kanivakil]

I don't think using storage space is a good indication of good graphic.
Graphic engine, year the game is released, etc would be a better comparasion.

Many people will generally think bigger is better and leave the technical geek stuff for the geeks.

[Sizustar]

Many people will generally think bigger is better and leave the technical geek stuff for the geeks. Many of us just play the game, make assumptions, and leave the specifications out the window.

That's still a terrible example.
That's like saying, X Book is better then Y book, because it has more page.
If you wish to compare, you should use another game to compare it to.

So for example, an anime style MMORPG would be Project NT that was shown at G*Star 2012 recently.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQfgcAZnnYg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQfgcAZnnYg

[Kanivakil]

That's still a terrible example.
That's like saying, X Book is better then Y book, because it has more page.
If you wish to compare, you should use another game to compare it to.

It is not an example but rather a fact: assumptions are a day to day occurrence.

[Ezodagrom]

Wow. You are argumentative. It is not an example but rather a FACT: assumptions are a day to day occurrence. And like it or not, many, NOT ALL, people will generally think bigger is better.
Well, you're the one who mentioned hard drive space in the first post.
Graphics and required hard drive space are not related, it's true that for a game to have better graphics quality, it'll need more space, but that doesn't mean that a game that requires alot of hard drive space will have great graphics.
For example, games like World of Warcraft and Sims 3 (with all the expansions) require alot of space, but their graphics quality is nothing special.

[Kanivakil]

Well, you're the one who mentioned hard drive space in the first post.
Graphics and required hard drive space are not related, it's true that for a game to have better graphics quality, it'll need more space, but that doesn't mean that a game that requires alot of hard drive space will have great graphics.
For example, games like World of Warcraft and Sims 3 (with all the expansions) require alot of space, but their graphics quality is nothing special.

Good with your specifications and correction on geek facts, something that many of us do not care about. And again, like it or not, many people will often think bigger is better; not everyone cares to research the facts, especially, a video game. So how about we go back to the thread's question of, "What's your opinion of PSO 2 graphics?"

[NoiseHERO]

That's still a terrible example.
That's like saying, X Book is better then Y book, because it has more page.
If you wish to compare, you should use another game to compare it to.

So for example, an anime style MMORPG would be Project NT that was shown at G*Star 2012 recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQfgcAZnnYg

looks like mabinogi and DOMO put together but with a better artystyle and more of the typical "pointless things that aren't actually fun that no one actually does but it makes it look like the game has a lot to do in it" content. revolves around looking cute then the next thing you know you're spending 50 dollars a week on it just to progress in the game and nobody talks to each other in it.

[Sizustar]

looks like mabinogi and DOMO put together but with a better artystyle and more of the typical "pointless things that aren't actually fun that no one actually does but it makes it look like the game has a lot to do in it" content.

Well, the game is more focused on user created content.
So somewhat like Mabinogi.
Except supposedly beside building your own towns, you can also create your own "anime" using the tools provided, how that will work isn't known yet.

[Ezodagrom]

Good with your specifications and correction on geek facts, something that many of us do not care about. And again, like it or not, many people will often think bigger is better; not everyone cares to research the facts, especially, a video game. So how about we go back to the thread's question of, "What's your opinion of PSO 2 graphics?"
Geek facts? Even if a game doesn't have great graphics, a game that has alot of content uses more space, shouldn't that be common sense?

Sticking to the subject of the thread, hmm, you're the one that brought up hard drive space in the first post, so isn't this discussion still on topic? :>

Anyway, I already gave my opinion before, I think graphics are fine for an online RPG, but I think that the draw distance could be alot better than it is now.

[NoiseHERO]

I don't think graphics are important, but the way you artistically use what you have. Or at least if you can get the point across. I know it's 2012, but that doesn't mean every game will automatically have block buster budget graphics. As well, this game was designed for shitty computers to be able to run it. To make up for not being on consoles?

Remember?

I say remember as in a LOT of people were bitching about whether or not they'd even be able to play the game? Especially if you consider that PC gaming isn't huge like that in Japan? (probably why this is coming out on Vita)

There's a lot of reasons why this game doesn't have ultra graphics, ones I'd at least consider good. And with the graphics it has, I think they did a good job. Especially with the character models. But I do think they could have some better textures... (At least for grass.)


>My legitimate opinion on PSO2's graphics since the last time someone brought up this topic they were really just some butthurt weirdo that probably quit a while ago looking for a chance to talk trash about the game while saying some uglier game is better, then trying to BS their way out of it.

[Sammickk]

I'm pretty sure this game is DX9, some of the newer Graphical wow as u might say is in DX 10,11 soooo the graphics look good In my opinion, but hey its a MMO, you usually strive to have a game that most people can play, rather than the best graphics. I haven't acually got to play the game yet, but i've watched allotta videos and i think they did a good job!

On the topic someone posted about draw distance: maybe there is an INI or CFG file u can edit to increase this? I've done it with several games in the past.

[Darki]

Good with your specifications and correction on geek facts, something that many of us do not care about. And again, like it or not, many people will often think bigger is better; not everyone cares to research the facts, especially, a video game. So how about we go back to the thread's question of, "What's your opinion of PSO 2 graphics?"

Wow, seriously, cool down and leave the smartass attitude. If you don't want those so called "geek facts" you might find more luck changing the title of the tread to specify that you only care about non educated answers...

Also, I'm sorry but the terminology that Ezodagrom and Sizustar are using is pretty far from geek, unless you were born in the sixties and lived in a bunker till last sunday, anybody who likes videogames enough to have a cultivated opinion on different MMOs would know what are they talking about.

You sound as "un-geek" as my mom. It makes me wonder how is that you even know how to navigate a forum.


Now on the matter, personally I think this game has much better graphics than most MMOs I've tried. It looks more professional, to put it short, looks pretty solid and very beautiful. I've seen games with better graphics, but considering that a MMO needs to manage that many players and effects compared to single-player ones, it's only logical. It wouldn't hurt if they allowed for more RAM usage, though. It gets wonky when there's too much people, and my computer should be able to handle that fine.

[Kanivakil]

Geek facts? Even if a game doesn't have great graphics, a game that has alot of content uses more space, shouldn't that be common sense?

Sticking to the subject of the thread, hmm, you're the one that brought up hard drive space in the first post, so isn't this discussion still on topic? :>

Anyway, I already gave my opinion before, I think graphics are fine for an online RPG, but I think that the draw distance could be alot better than it is now.

I asked a question and inputted my own opinions on the games graphics and instead of answering the threads question, you needed to correct an assumption which was irrelevant.

But of course, technical geeks have an irresistible itch when assumptions are made and would go mad if it wasn't corrected.

[Sizustar]

I'm pretty sure this game is DX9, some of the newer Graphical wow as u might say is in DX 10,11 soooo the graphics look good In my opinion, but hey its a MMO, you usually strive to have a game that most people can play, rather than the best graphics. I haven't acually got to play the game yet, but i've watched allotta videos and i think they did a good job!

On the topic someone posted about draw distance: maybe there is an INI or CFG file u can edit to increase this? I've done it with several games in the past.

The Ini and ingame graphic option is really limited, so draw distance isn't something that can be modified currently.
And the inability to use a SMAA Injector is also not that good, although that's more of Gameguard's problem.

[Kanivakil]

Wow, seriously, cool down and leave the smartass attitude. If you don't want those so called "geek facts" you might find more luck changing the title of the tread to specify that you only care about non educated answers...

Also, I'm sorry but the terminology that Ezodagrom and Sizustar are using is pretty far from geek, unless you were born in the sixties and lived in a bunker till last sunday, anybody who likes videogames enough to have a cultivated opinion on different MMOs would know what are they talking about.

You sound as "un-geek" as my mom. It makes me wonder how is that you even know how to navigate a forum.


Now on the matter, personally I think this game has much better graphics than most MMOs I've tried. It looks more professional, to put it short, looks pretty solid and very beautiful. I've seen games with better graphics, but considering that a MMO needs to manage that many players and effects compared to single-player ones, it's only logical. It wouldn't hurt if they allowed for more RAM usage, though. It gets wonky when there's too much people, and my computer should be able to handle that fine.

Not everyone cares about the specifics of a video game. But again, where are we? In a video game forum. And what is a video game forum? Filled with some geeks. And what do geeks do? Tear out their hair when people make assumptions on non essential matters.

[Coatl]

I don't think graphics are important, but the way you artistically use what you have.


This. Different MMOs have different artistic approaches. Look at Blade and Soul, and then look at PSO2. They obviously draw their artistic design from different places.

[Darki]

Not everyone cares about the specifics of a video game. But again, where are we? In a video game forum. And what is a video game forum? Filled with some geeks. And what do geeks do? Tear out their hair when people make assumptions on non essential matters.

You use the term "geek" as if it was negative, and as you yourself said, you're in a videogame forum which is supposedly filled with geeks. I don't even know anymore if you're that dumb or you're just trolling for the fun of it.

You asked for opinions on the issue and stated your own opinion. If you have any problem with someone commenting on your opinion maybe you didn't get the meaning on participating in a forum.

[Sammickk]

lol blade and Soul..... that game has the most boobiest curvy-ist voluptious women i hav eever seen in a MMO lol

[Agitated_AT]

The game looks mostly terrible with terrible draw distance. But the new ruins area does look gorgeous. This proves that the game uses the right technoligy, it's just they haven't executed it that well untill now.

So in conclusion, the visuals look bad only because of the bad design, but used well it can look amazing. I hope they'll conisistently continue making apealing area's and eventually update the older ones.

[Coatl]

lol blade and Soul..... that game has the most boobiest curvy-ist voluptious women i hav eever seen in a MMO lol

You must not have seen Queen's blade yet.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_RBee9Kjj8


I think 80% of the character development was spent on their chest.
No male characters either. :v

[Akaimizu]

I would say that the graphics are not great for PC standards, but still a step up for Phantasy Star. However, what really matters more is that they managed to still improve the graphics from before while having the game perform a lot better on PCs than their previous efforts. So the mere fact that the graphic optimization for PC is way better than anything they produced before, is the big plus and why I like these graphics better than previous PS games. Seriously, this game runs better , all the way through, on PCs that struggle with areas of PSU and PSO Blue Burst. Mostly because the previous games have some strange odd issues with a whole slew of various cards, including a number of Nvidia ones, causing massive slowdowns on cards that should be 8+ times more powerful than what is needed to represent their graphics.

Of course, compared to the average Big-title game, the graphic quality is not even in the contest. On the other hand, it still is unique in its art design which basically still keeps the visuals relevant. It's very important that if you don't wow with game engine visuals, you at least strike your unique angle in the art design.

P.S. -- 80% of all Queen's Blade related development (whether game or not) is on their chest. Can't fault the game itself when its just following the source material. (Though this is the first time I've even heard of a QB online game)

[Kanivakil]

You use the term "geek" as if it was negative, and as you yourself said, you're in a videogame forum which is supposedly filled with geeks. I don't even know anymore if you're that dumb or you're just trolling for the fun of it.

I gave no implication the word geek had a negative or positive connotation. You made that assumption, or is it rather because you are dumb or "just trolling for the fun of it?"

[Sammickk]

You must not have seen Queen's blade yet.

Queens Blade Online Character Creation (CBT1) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_RBee9Kjj8)


I think 80% of the character development was spent on their chest.

OMG hahahahahahahah, your right i haven't seen that game until just now


*** ONE: ok Watson, we need some fresh new innovative game play ideas to Draw in players to a new an exciting world full of beautiful lush worlds and massive content!!

TWO: ......uhhh sirr we've alread blown 90% of the budget on boobies!

ONE: ah oh well....

[Sizustar]

I would say that the graphics are not great for PC standards, but still a step up for Phantasy Star. However, what really matters more is that they managed to still improve the graphics from before while having the game perform a lot better on PCs than their previous efforts. So the mere fact that the graphic optimization for PC is way better than anything they produced before, is the big plus and why I like these graphics better than previous PS games.

Of course, compared to the average Big-title game, the graphic quality is not even in the contest. On the other hand, it still is unique in its art design which basically still keeps the visuals relevant. It's very important that if you don't wow with game engine visuals, you at least strike your unique angle in the art design.

P.S. -- 80% of all Queen's Blade related development (whether game or not) is on their chest. Can't fault the game itself when its just following the source material. (Though this is the first time I've even heard of a QB online game)

Well, another thing to take into consideration, is that Japan the main market, doesn't have that big of a PC Market, and to them, state of the art would be something like a GTX 560TI. so making games with the type of graphic such as BF3, and a majority of people uses notebook instead of desktop, further limiting the graphic potentional of target audience.
The Queen Blade MMORPG isn't related to the Hobby Japan Queen Blade franchise that has a few anime serie, started out as art book/fighting book.

[Coatl]

I gave no implication the word geek had a negative or positive connotation. You made that assumption, or is it rather because you are dumb or "just trolling for the fun of it?"


Filled with some geeks. And what do geeks do? Tear out their hair when people make assumptions on non essential matters.

If you didn't throw around the word geek like it's a derogatory adjective people could start taking you seriously. :-?

[Darki]

I gave no implication the word geek had a negative or positive connotation. You made that assumption, or is it rather because you are dumb or "just trolling for the fun of it?"

The implication was clear when you used that term for anybody who stated unnecesary (from your point of view) concerns.

But nice try.

[Sammickk]

I don't even like the Geek label....., just look at my sig, its my computer build! so i'm a Geek? But on the other hand i spend most of my daylight hours on a Motocross dirtbike! having a hobby is not a bad thing.... people have interests that you might not find apealing, for instance i'm sure most of the people on here have no Idea what a SX250 is or a CRF250r or a KX450f and know all the ins and outs of these Bikes yet on a dirtbike forum I would start a "geek" war by Saying two stroke is better than 4 stroke.

[Kanivakil]

The implication was clear when you used that term for anybody who stated unnecesary (from your point of view) concerns.

But nice try.

Argue as much as you want. You in your head think I gave a negative connotation to the word geek, but I define it as a person who concerns himself about more detailed and exact specifications, i.e., video games, than a day to day person could care about. YOU are the one who interprets it if that has a positive or negative connotation.

To help you understand further:

Geek: A person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest: "a computer geek".

So what is the end result? It is expected that a debate will occur if nonessential information is incorrect, for a geek. Why? A day to day person wouldn't care and stick to the thread.

[BIG OLAF]

I like the graphics. Sure they aren't Mass Effect or anything, but I enjoy them. I'm no snob.

[Kanivakil]

I like the graphics. Sure they aren't Mass Effect or anything, but I enjoy them. I'm no snob.

LOL. instead of commenting on my own question, which caused a disturbance, I should have rather asked for answers in a 10 point rating scale.

And of course, games don't have to have the best graphics to enjoy them. I still own and play games that are 10 years old.


Thanks to all those who have answered the question and not nit-pick the assumption I made that HDD space correlates with gaming graphics.

Of course, I had my doubts, but those are things I don't care about; I just play the game.

[Gama]

pso2 needs to be able to run in several diferent pc's . low to high performance. so this might be one of the reasons they didnt trow a "hedgehog engine" quality in the game.

aside from that they could have tesselation for monster gaming pc's, but oh well.

the lack of control in certain graphics aspects is a bit anoying, making a person either play in high quality or in basic quality. a mid quality would be welcome.

having advances shaders with everything off is hardly a mid setting.

the fact tht mags dont have shadows aswell is a bit meh, some textures in the game are psov1 quality and some are poorly knited, a distance slider would also be welcome. so depending on the system you could see far.

[gigawuts]

it's no halo but what're you gonna do

lol

[Finalzone]

aside from that they could have tesselation for monster gaming pc's, but oh well.

It is Direct 3D 9 related issue which does not support tessellation (PSO2 is optimized for Directx9 in Microsoft Windows). Sega could allow both OpenGL(used for Playstation Vita and Android under OpenGL ES) and DirectX11 like Unigine.

[yoshiblue]

I like them and the fact that you can kinda relive the PSO days via lowest settings is kinda nice too.

[Flame]

The character modeling is nice but the environments in this game are pretty crap.

Some things are made with as few polygons as possible(rock formations in Desert, background islands in Floating Continent), background elements are often flat pixelated images (the satellites in Desert, the backdrop during the Quartz Dragon fight), and some textures look like they're from the dreamcast era. Sega has no excuse for this level of half assed artistry given that they normally deliver stunning environments for us to explore. To be fair, forest is pretty nice.

The art direction in general is a giant step down from PSO1 and even PSzero. PSU on the other hand did have its share of underwhelming environments.

[gravityvx]

Graphics good, environments awful. BUT they proved they can make very ridiculously good looking areas with their engine with ruins today, shame on you sega for being lazy.

[eharima]

I like them and the fact that you can kinda relive the PSO days via lowest settings is kinda nice too.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
^5

yeah, where is setting 6?
they realy slacked out on the amount of visual content in the levels tbh, most open air levels are litterally just a backdrop on the top half and, er, thats it...

i think they limited themselves with the way random map generator works. iuuno

[Angelo]

I hate the term 'graphics'. A graphic is literally just a blanket term for visuals.

In terms of horsepower and polycount PSO2 isn't that great. I consider this type of architectural polycount judging to be how we view the game with our left-brain, and is arguably objective. The game just doesn't measure up to a lot of recent online games.

In terms of aesthetics and presentation, it's wonderful. This type of holistic and romanticized judging is how we view the game with our right-brain, and as a result can be very subjective. So in my opinion the game absolutely nails this department. It takes relatively low resources and paints an amazing picture and provides a unique atmosphere that does complete justice to the franchise.

[Cyron Tanryoku]

It's good for what it is

[Zyrusticae]

We've been through this before.

The nice thing about the game engine, though, is that it is extensible, so there's the possibility that they'll add more graphical niceties down the line (like Aion or EVE Online). As it is, with supersampling and ambient occlusion, I find the graphics serviceable enough. If Gameguard would let me use SweetFX with it, I could push it further, but, well, y'know, it's Gameguard...

[Flame]

In terms of aesthetics and presentation, it's wonderful. This type of holistic and romanticized judging is how we view the game with our right-brain, and as a result can be very subjective. So in my opinion the game absolutely nails this department. It takes relatively low resources and paints an amazing picture and provides a unique atmosphere that does complete justice to the franchise.

What. Desert is a photorealistic desert and Tundra is a photorealistic tundra. Where is the creativity or artistic merit in that? What amazing picture does this paint? What you're talking about sounds more like PSzero, a game that while extremely limited in polys and palette produced some truly amazing impressionistic looking environments reminiscent of Nights into Dreams. This game, with much more power at its disposal does very little in terms of thinking outside the box visually.

Obviously this is my opinion but I am interested in debating this point because as far as I'm concerned, PSO2 really dropped the ball aesthetically when it comes to the environments.

[Sesheenku]

Good with your specifications and correction on geek facts, something that many of us do not care about. And again, like it or not, many people will often think bigger is better; not everyone cares to research the facts, especially, a video game. So how about we go back to the thread's question of, "What's your opinion of PSO 2 graphics?"

First off this is basic facts, this isn't something you have to be a geek to know. If you don't know that space taken by game files are not related to graphics directly then what are you doing playing MMO's on a PC?

People that play MMO's generally know these basic little things. The people that don't are very likely few and far between as any experienced PC gamer knows from experience things about the games they play and how things are done.

Btw I am not trying to call you dumb or offend you, I'm just pointing out that for the average PC MMO player this is basic knowledge.

Anyways the graphics on PSO2 are great for a f2p MMO. I don't see a reason to complain about them, in fact they're downright beautiful. Rather than compare I would actually just set this game's graphics as a good standard for future f2p with anime styles unless they're going the cel shade route. They're good and pretty to look at. Some textures could use some higher resolutions perhaps but that's not engine related.

[ShadowDragon28]

I think the visual style and graphics look excellent for an multiplayer online game. Sure it's not to the level of Crysis 3 or other "HD realism" style games, but IMO it doesn't have to be.

I'm very happy I can run this pretty dang well on my Dell E520 from 2007, 3 gigs of Ram, and a GeForce 8600GT.

[Kanivakil]

...what are you doing playing MMO's on a PC?


I'm not. I played PSO 1 on the Dreamcast, a console if you do not know. I'm here to see what's new. Anyways, I'm done with this argument what a geek is and isn't and if it has a negative or positive connotation. Everyone makes assumptions. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Great job everyone for keeping the thread on topic:)

[Lostbob117]

I would like to see improvement on the field textures instead of have spikey edges of things.

[Angelo]

What. Desert is a photorealistic desert and Tundra is a photorealistic tundra. Where is the creativity or artistic merit in that? What amazing picture does this paint? What you're talking about sounds more like PSzero, a game that while extremely limited in polys and palette produced some truly amazing impressionistic looking environments reminiscent of Nights into Dreams. This game, with much more power at its disposal does very little in terms of thinking outside the box visually.

Obviously this is my opinion but I am interested in debating this point because as far as I'm concerned, PSO2 really dropped the ball aesthetically when it comes to the environments.

I'm not concerned with debating on the internet. Though it was nice how you cherry-picked two zones out of the game instead of looking at the game as a whole. Even Tundra and desert have very surreal elements to them just because it's not bright-popping-in-your-face-anime like PSZero.

[gigawuts]

i know whenever I look at pictures of the desert it's got fields and fields of satellite dishes on skyscrapers, crumbling to the ground, filled with robot spawning green bubbles that when popped may/may not drop 6* disks

also enormous evil tentacley teleporting antlions

[Valimer]

The character modeling is nice but the environments in this game are pretty crap.

Some things are made with as few polygons as possible(rock formations in Desert, background islands in Floating Continent), background elements are often flat pixelated images (the satellites in Desert, the backdrop during the Quartz Dragon fight), and some textures look like they're from the dreamcast era. Sega has no excuse for this level of half assed artistry given that they normally deliver stunning environments for us to explore. To be fair, forest is pretty nice.

The art direction in general is a giant step down from PSO1 and even PSzero. PSU on the other hand did have its share of underwhelming environments.

I agree the environment design is seriously lacking, both aesthetically and technically. But I disagree about Forest looking "pretty nice", I find that Forest lacks the most. I just can't get over the hallway approach to the level design and the rocks that only use ~6 polygons. It's very uninspiring to me.

[Flame]

I'm not concerned with debating on the internet. Though it was nice how you cherry-picked two zones out of the game instead of looking at the game as a whole. Even Tundra and desert have very surreal elements to them just because it's not bright-popping-in-your-face-anime like PSZero.


i know whenever I look at pictures of the desert it's got fields and fields of satellite dishes on skyscrapers, crumbling to the ground, filled with robot spawning green bubbles that when popped may/may not drop 6* disks

also enormous evil tentacley teleporting antlions

photorealistic in terms of the visual styling and color choices of the environment, not the content of the levels. Obviously there are sci-fi props littered throughout, they're just not very interesting or memorable looking. Bland or uninspired would be a good way to describe them. Sega's done the bare minimum when it comes to convincing us of these locations. They look like they could be from any video game, ever. Especially tundra, yuck.

Also I resent the suggestion that something being colorful makes it kiddy or for cartoons. There is an incredible range of colors to be found in real-world natural settings and there's no reason that in a completely fictional world built from the ground up that things should look this boring. I'm not even asking for brighter colors, just smarter choices. Tundra is so bright, it hurts my eyes when I have the graphical settings to full. How was that a good idea?

And yes, I cherry picked 1/3 of the game's environments. My apologies. It's not as if any of the other ones look very good either. With the exception of forest, which looks pretty nice. I would bet dollars to donuts that the majority of development was spent fiddling with that environment until the staff realized "oh shit we have to make more than one level"

[Sizustar]

photorealistic in terms of the visual styling and color choices of the environment, not the content of the levels. Obviously there are sci-fi props littered throughout, they're just not very interesting or memorable looking. Bland or uninspired would be a good way to describe them. Sega's done the bare minimum when it comes to convincing us of these locations. They look like they could be from any video game, ever. Especially tundra, yuck.

Also I resent the suggestion that something being colorful makes it kiddy or for cartoons. There is an incredible range of colors to be found in real-world natural settings and there's no reason that in a completely fictional world built from the ground up that things should look this boring. I'm not even asking for brighter colors, just smarter choices. Tundra is so bright, it hurts my eyes when I have the graphical settings to full. How was that a good idea?

And yes, I cherry picked 1/3 of the game's environments. My apologies. It's not as if any of the other ones look very good either. With the exception of forest, which looks pretty nice. I would bet dollars to donuts that the majority of development was spent fiddling with that environment until the staff realized "oh shit we have to make more than one level"

I think they might be more limited in that the stage are supposed to be randomly generated?

[Flame]

I think they might be more limited in that the stage are supposed to be randomly generated?

totally possible. If so, I'd seriously question if it was worth it.

[Zyrusticae]

No, the ruins proved that they can do visually pleasing environments.

I'm of the mind that they just kind of half-assed it while focusing heavily on the character and monster art. Bit of a shame, really. Caves in particular could have looked way better with some more believable magma...

For example:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Pepper/Sigons2.jpg
In motion, the magma actually bobs up and down. For such a simple effect, it looks phenomonal, especially for a game as old as it is.

And then they could have done more things with the lighting, like so:
http://www.asiaexplorers.com/vietnam/sung_sot_cave/12.jpg

That looks freaking beautiful. Why didn't they go for something like this? I will probably never know... :(

[Sizustar]

totally possible. If so, I'd seriously question if it was worth it.

So instead of "randomly" generated.
Each stage instead have...3~4 well designed stage to shift from, and they can add more well designed stage into the mix would be better?

[Noblewine]

I'm impressed with the graphics so I don't really mind that its on a pc. I just hope I can get it to run on my computer.

[Ezodagrom]

photorealistic in terms of the visual styling and color choices of the environment, not the content of the levels. Obviously there are sci-fi props littered throughout, they're just not very interesting or memorable looking. Bland or uninspired would be a good way to describe them. Sega's done the bare minimum when it comes to convincing us of these locations. They look like they could be from any video game, ever.
Well then, what would you do to make a desert interesting for you?

To me the desert looks better aesthetically than other sand areas in previous games, like the crater in pso ep4, or kugo desert in psu.

[Zyrusticae]

Well then, what would you do to make a desert interesting for you?

To me the desert looks better aesthetically than other sand areas in previous games, like the crater in pso ep4, or kugo desert in psu.
For one, they could have gone with a much better ground texture. The current one is too noisy/low-res to look believable. Same thing with the cliff walls, for that matter - they look terrible! The whole thing really feels half-assed, especially next to the mech models.

Here's an example of what desert should have looked like:
http://www.saharamet.com/desert/photos/desert2.jpg

Pay particular attention to the stone outcroppings. Compare:
[spoiler-box]https://xptjdq.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pvuuPPfYzGYdpM7ErTzpjQDuh65XxIbN3wx12cUc8KY1m8rg klL46K6u6PuN5mB81x_6WCEIcOb4/pso20121031_181119_003.png?psid=1[/spoiler-box]
I don't know in what world those textures are acceptable, but, well... they're bad. They're reeaally bad.

[Chik'Tikka]

it's no halo but what're you gonna do

lol

not a bad comparison+^_^+ Halo 3 and Reach (and i think maybe 4 *feels so broke $$$*) run DX9, and Halo 3 hit console records by having a 14 mile in game draw distance+^_^+

[SPOILER-BOX]
For one, they could have gone with a much better ground texture. The current one is too noisy/low-res to look believable. Same thing with the cliff walls, for that matter - they look terrible! The whole thing really feels half-assed, especially next to the mech models.

Here's an example of what desert should have looked like:
http://www.saharamet.com/desert/photos/desert2.jpg

Pay particular attention to the stone outcroppings. Compare:
[spoiler-box]https://xptjdq.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pvuuPPfYzGYdpM7ErTzpjQDuh65XxIbN3wx12cUc8KY1m8rg klL46K6u6PuN5mB81x_6WCEIcOb4/pso20121031_181119_003.png?psid=1[/spoiler-box]
I don't know in what world those textures are acceptable, but, well... they're bad. They're reeaally bad.[/SPOILER-BOX]

kinda have to agree with you there, the stone outcropping suspiciously look like Halo Forge rocks, or for RL comparison, look like a lot of rock outcroppings seen in places the glaciers covered during the ice age (in wisconsin, i see outcroppings like that quite often up north)+^_^+ where they were moved to that position faster then normal time would allow rocks, could Lillipa then in fact have once been a green and fair planet covered with oceans, ice caps, and glaciers?? and if so, what happened to turn Lillipa onto the wasteland we see?? guarded by the lost war machines of a people that don't exist any longer? Perhaps some sort of WMD? (doesn't believe the Ewoks made all that infrastructure or rampant robots)

[Darki]

Argue as much as you want. You in your head think I gave a negative connotation to the word geek, but I define it as a person who concerns himself about more detailed and exact specifications, i.e., video games, than a day to day person could care about. YOU are the one who interprets it if that has a positive or negative connotation.

To help you understand further:

Geek: A person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest: "a computer geek".

So what is the end result? It is expected that a debate will occur if nonessential information is incorrect, for a geek. Why? A day to day person wouldn't care and stick to the thread.

And yet you start embellishing your words at first to end coming back to your one-sided definition of a geek being someone who fills the discussion with useless concerns and calling them as "eccentric" and put them oposed to "day to day people" like if they were aliens. On top of that, you repetat the word "geek" in a pejorative way, calling anybody who doesn't participate in this thread the way you wish a geek.

And of course it's ME who interprets it as offensive, because, precisely, in a forum you're treating with other people, so what YOU mean and what I interpret are perfectly valid statements. If you don't want to be interpreted in a bad way then you might try to be more clear with your posts, because the fact that not only me but more users took your post as offensive is a clear testimony that your posts are easily taken as such.

I'm sorry, but there are several problems with your attitude here. First of all, as it has been constantly pointed out since the first page, having knowledge of the differences between the graphical and memory ussage of a game is something as common nowadays as knowing how to install it. Second, apparently you want a "discussion" in which people don't "discuss" your posts. What's the point of it, then? Do you simply wanna see your own opinion written by different nicknames?

And third, I'm sorry, but you keep repeating that what "geeks" keep doing is to derail the thread when the one who started it was you trying to impose what can be discussed and what not. Technical stuff about this game's graphics is as on-topic as any other matter, specially considering that YOU called this thread "What's your opinion on PSO2 graphics". So why would be discussing about PSO2 graphics offtopic?

[Skye-Fox713]

The graphics for what it is works for the game, though by far Ruins is the best looking area. Though with game guard in place you can't put in some post processing add-ons that enhance the game like FXAA, or ENB. Basicaly if it weren't for game guard i'd graphically enhance the fuck out of pso2 like I could and did with skyrim from stock graphics to modded (kinda like adding in some after market parts to a factory vehical to enhance its engine performance).

[Sizustar]

The graphics for what it is works for the game, though by far Ruins is the best looking area. Though with game guard in place you can't put in some post processing add-ons that enhance the game like FXAA, or ENB. Basicaly if it weren't for game guard i'd graphically enhance the fuck out of pso2 like I could and did with skyrim from stock graphics to modded (kinda like adding in some after market parts to a factory vehical to enhance its engine performance).

True, Bugging Sega and Nprotect to try to allow us to use post processing injector.
No reply from either side = =;

[Chik'Tikka]

The graphics for what it is works for the game, though by far Ruins is the best looking area. Though with game guard in place you can't put in some post processing add-ons that enhance the game like FXAA, or ENB. Basicaly if it weren't for game guard i'd graphically enhance the fuck out of pso2 like I could and did with skyrim from stock graphics to modded (kinda like adding in some after market parts to a factory vehical to enhance its engine performance).

*has no issue using Nvidia Inspector to add FXAA and use GPU driver based MSAA* +^_^+ looks good, better then in game AA and less taxing on hardware+^_^+ (just realized instead of using in game screen caps, i can just use snipping tool to capture shots with FXAA, or maybe Afterburner now that I've been fiddling with that+^_^+)
[SPOILER-BOX]http://i48.tinypic.com/2yzcvip.png[/SPOILER-BOX]

(this pic was taken with AA maxed out, without FXAA, thought my PC was gonna have a heart attack, gonna re-do with FXAA for logbook)
[SPOILER-BOX]http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w363/ChikTikka/PSO2%20Miscellaneous/Untitled-4.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

at any-rate, the same method injectors and whatnot use to alter games can be used to change other things, like Launcher fire rate, so i don't expect SEGAC (and certainly not nPro) will allow injectors anytime soon+^_^+

[Flame]

I just the spent the evening in ruins and holy shit it is gorgeous. It basically proves they can totally still design drop dead amazing looking environments. Meaning that certain other, ahem, areas were completely half-arsed.

But yeah, ruins is lovely. The color choices are the exact thing I was looking for. Dat crystal blue water. Those rainbow pillars. Dat red/orange tower looming in the bg. Speaking of which, if you look all the way up the tower you can see that its the purple energy tree that was visible from tundra. Pretty splendid stuff.

[Agitated_AT]

I knew you would like it :P

[Flame]

I knew you would like it :P

I thought of you as I played it!

I jumped into VH ruins at lv 42 and I have to say it was pretty challenging! Me and my friends got as far as the rockbear reskin midbosses and I have to say they moved incredibly fast and had a slide attack that covered distance with terrifying determination.

The game gets a bit more tense when getting hit from anything has a high chance of doing more than half your life :P

[Agitated_AT]

Haha yeah same here! As soon as I entered I felt like I entered a place where the bar was raised over everything before it visually. I did it on normal and it's very challenging even there. For the first time in the game I felt underpowered.

It was very intense. However saying that, I hope they fix every content after ruins normal, on hard to feel like there's actual progression in difficulty. At the moment it sucks going from someting really intense into easy things untill you reach ruins on hard again

[gigawuts]

I really think what makes ruins great isn't just its design, but that it's an interesting level. Forest is, you know, dirt and trees. Great-o. Caves is...dirt and lava. Nifty, if you like steam turning everything grey. I don't.

Mines is something that approaches interesting with why and how it's there, and then ruins is interesting for the same reasons oh plus green water (always cool).

[[Ayumi]]

I'm one that never cared for graphics, but I do like when something looks nice.

To me this game looks great. I have no problem with it. And I don't even play on the highest settings. (I'm a bit above the mid and below the highest).

[Zarode]

Can I see what is going on, even on low settings? Can I actually say to myself, "I know what is going on and what I need to do?"


That really is the only answer I care for anymore, fuck the HD age of gamers.

Game looks amazing.

[Akaimizu]

Well for me, there's only 2 things I care about when it comes to graphics.

1. Is it functional and allows for fantastic gameplay?
2. Is it artistically nice?

In that order.

I tend to like games that don't try to push too much in forced graphical whistles. They, at least, allow a greater majority of people to play the game at a reasonable performance. I'm a performance before beauty kind of person.

Especially since we live in a time where just about anything can play games with nicely presented artistic graphics, just that they suffer when they try to layer all kinds of extra engines on them that technically don't affect gameplay.

Then again, I'm a person who still plays Roguelikes even though the machines they are played on are over a thousand times more powerful than what's needed to run them.

[HFlowen]

Graphically generic with a massive ammount of post processing used to cover up flaws.

Like most games.

Which is fine, don't get me wrong. At least PSO2 lets me disable the more nauseating effects like blur. Blur is dumb.

[Blizz3112]

Today I got my new computer... lets see how good PSO2 will look with a good graphics card... :-D

[Zyrusticae]

Graphically generic with a massive ammount of post processing used to cover up flaws.

Like most games.

Which is fine, don't get me wrong. At least PSO2 lets me disable the more nauseating effects like blur. Blur is dumb.
I COMPLETELY DISAGREE.

More games need to use motion blur. Correct motion blur, like the kind our eyes see during fast motion, so that they don't look so craptastic running at 30ish FPS.

Hell, it's the only reason I can run this game with the 30 FPS limit without gouging my eyes out.

MOTION BLUR. IT IS THE FUTURE. AND THE FUTURE... IS NOW!

[HFlowen]

like the kind our eyes see during fast motion

But we don't, as far as I remember. The brain will automagically replace the split seconds of fast motions from our eyes with the last clear image perceived.

Otherwise we'd be wasting brain space with a ton of useless imagery.

[Lostbob117]

I agree with HFlowen that blur is dumb.

[Zyrusticae]

But we don't, as far as I remember. The brain will automagically replace the split seconds of fast motions from our eyes with the last clear image perceived.

Otherwise we'd be wasting brain space with a ton of useless imagery.
Um.

Do me a favor, and wave your hand in front of your face really fast while your eyes focus on the monitor.

That's motion blur.

(I shouldn't even need to point this out, really...:-?)

[Porkmaster]

Note that I am speaking in general and not to any specific person.

I agree with Zyrusticae, the motion blur in this game is pretty well done. If you don't like the motion blur in this game, then I'm going to go ahead and assume that your computer is incapable of running the game at a steady 30 or 60 FPS without stuttering.

[Chik'Tikka]

^ i just turn it off for pic taking+^_^+ it's not bad, could be better, but blur is hard to pull off with strobing lights+^_^+

[Husq]

Note that I am speaking in general and not to any specific person.

I agree with Zyrusticae, the motion blur in this game is pretty well done. If you don't like the motion blur in this game, then I'm going to go ahead and assume that your computer is incapable of running the game at a steady 30 or 60 FPS without stuttering.

Wait, that makes no sense. Motion blur is only useful for weak machines, to mask the choppiness. If you get 60fps or more it is useless imo, but visual perception is always subjective. So if your machine can only do up to 30fps you should be turning it on, not the other way around. Motion blur is less demanding on machines than you think.

[HFlowen]

Um.

Do me a favor, and wave your hand in front of your face really fast while your eyes focus on the monitor.

That's motion blur.

(I shouldn't even need to point this out, really...:-?)

More of an optical illusion from the refresh rate when dealing with a moniter. Eyes don't see in "blur" like movies and photography might make you think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccadic_masking

If that's too wordy, look up the "stopped clock illusion"

If something moved fast enough for you to not focus on it before exiting your field of view, then it would "blur" regardless of silly post processing or not. Kinda like what I alluded too in my first post: effects like blur are only there to cover up crap framerates or poor textures. Sometimes it's "better" for you to see less of the game.

Which is fine. A graphical experience is about creating a good illusion.

I can max out the game at 60+ FPS just fine, so I don't need nauseating blur effects that make it seem like I'm playing the game with a vaseline filter during action, so I turn them off.

[PepperCat]

I'm in animation, and I agree with HFlowen^.

Motion Blur makes things look that much more natural... I should post two examples of work I've done, one with motion blur and the other without.

The one without motion blur doesn't look as good, since cameras and our eyes blur things naturally, when you are working with a framerate of 24 or 30 frames per second things look choppy unless blurred.

Some people dislike LCD/LED TVs that are 120 Hz or over because the picture is just TOO crisp, there needs to be a little bit of blur... otherwise most people feel disconnected.

[Gama]

I'm in animation, and I agree with HFlowen^.

Motion Blur makes things look that much more natural... I should post two examples of work I've done, one with motion blur and the other without.

The one without motion blur doesn't look as good, since cameras and our eyes blur things naturally, when you are working with a framerate of 24 or 30 frames per second things look choppy unless blurred.

Some people dislike LCD/LED TVs that are 120 Hz or over because the picture is just TOO crisp, there needs to be a little bit of blur... otherwise most people feel disconnected.

i actually get headaches if i play at 60 fps or higher.7

feels like too munch info to process.

[Purple Lamplight]

I really like the graphics.

[HFlowen]

i actually get headaches if i play at 60 fps or higher.7

feels like too munch info to process.

I remember getting headaches when my family first bought a 1080p TV. Everything was too crisp.

[Sammickk]

I for one HATE motion blur and immediatly turn it off, makes my games feel 30fps-ish and nausiates me, I'm on a intel X58 chipset I7-920, 6 gigs ramm, and two GTX 260's in SLI (this is my older computer, not the one in my sig) SO i'm pretty sure i'll be able to handle PSO2 cranked to max even on this older machine. But i think the graphics look pretty nice, from the vids i've seen, fits the pso style anyway. I guess I will see when i finally get to play the game..... HURRY UP SEGA!

I do have a question though, does PSO2 have Support for SLI mode and a Vsync option built in or will i have to force on?

[Sammickk]

I remember getting headaches when my family first bought a 1080p TV. Everything was too crisp.

lol whats with all the people hating on high end Technology??? I hadn't ever heard of this before reading it on this forum,guess its because I myself have never had any problems... to each his own i suppose. Do whatever works for you but i'll take my crispness thanks!

[HFlowen]

lol whats with all the people hating on high end Technology??? I hadn't ever heard of this before reading it on this forum,guess its because I myself have never had any problems... to each his own i suppose. Do whatever works for you but i'll take my crispness thanks!

It's not about hating, it's about a jarring change from little standard TVs to a big 1080p flat screen. Gave me headaches for a while at first. I'm perfectly fine now.

[Sammickk]

so true, going to 1080P from 480i would be a big shock lol

[Chik'Tikka]

^ that's what i did 2 years ago+^_^+ no headaches, but i was more addicted then ever+^_^+

[Zyrusticae]

More of an optical illusion from the refresh rate when dealing with a moniter. Eyes don't see in "blur" like movies and photography might make you think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccadic_masking

If that's too wordy, look up the "stopped clock illusion"

If something moved fast enough for you to not focus on it before exiting your field of view, then it would "blur" regardless of silly post processing or not. Kinda like what I alluded too in my first post: effects like blur are only there to cover up crap framerates or poor textures. Sometimes it's "better" for you to see less of the game.

Which is fine. A graphical experience is about creating a good illusion.

I can max out the game at 60+ FPS just fine, so I don't need nauseating blur effects that make it seem like I'm playing the game with a vaseline filter during action, so I turn them off.I think you're misunderstanding something here.

Monitors are physically incapable of recreating physical movement to the extent that you see blur. This is because nothing is actually physically moving, it's just a bunch of tiny pixels of varying colors changing rapidly on a flat surface. Even 120 Hz monitors cannot replicate what you see IRL.

Hence, motion blur as a post-process.

No getting around it. It has to be there.

Saccadic masking does absolutely nothing for fast motion where your eyes aren't focused on the object that is moving.

[Sebastian & PSO]

I think that PSO2's graphics are very up and down. There are alot of good points and also bad ones.

The characters, weapons, lobby's all look pretty decent and detailed but other areas lack such as items dropped or found in levels (2D graphics) and shops look pretty basic as well. In terms of level design, I find forrest 2 (very detailed) and tunnels to have awesome graphics. Floating continent seems very basic, simple design and not a lot of detail going on. The music also lacks for that level big time.

All in all I would rate

Story 4 / 10
Graphics 8.5 / 10
Gameplay 8 / 10
Music 7.5 / 10
Addictiveness 10 / 10

Certain weather patterns annoy the hell out of me, I can't stand the dust storms, when it finally clears the level design looks beautiful again.

[BahnKnakyu]

I'm in general agreement with the sentiment here - character models are great, but the polygon count for most areas (sans ruins) is pretty crap, and Caves up to Mines feels pretty dull and uninspired.

I also agree with HFlowen - I absolutely detest motion blur. I'm in a game where I throw giant balls of fire from my hands and suspend myself in midair doing acrobatic moves, I really don't need complete photorealism to have fun.

[Finalzone]

Real life cave and mines can be dull. Number of polygons are overated, the quality of rendering and textures matter the most for people who have lower system (desktop or laptop).

[ShadowDragon28]

"Tundra" the snowy forest and the icey glacial areas are some of the most beautiful areas in the game IMO.

Other than that, graphics smaphics, I just go to kill monsters and robots and waste them with cool weapon all for fun. But DuDu can go to Hell.