PSO2's engine?

[Kokurokoki]

I thought PSO2's engine was developed in-house. Whatever it is, it looks and feels old and outdated.
Visually, it can't compare to games like B&S and TERA, which were developed in 2011 (before PSO2). Those games use engines like Unreal and CryEngine.
Mabinogi Heroes (Vindictus), which was released in 2010, uses a modified version of Valve's Source engine, and also looks better than PSO2.

But PSO2 not looking great isn't just an engine issue.
It's clearly designed for lower-end machines, or for compatibility with Vita. It does not feel very optimized.
Texture size in general seems inconsistent, and environment textures don't seem very high-res. Last I checked, their compression also looked awful.
The 3d models are generally low poly, and characters sometimes have strange anatomy issues.
Characters seem to have less skeletal bones than other games (especially in the hands).
Facial expressions are also simple, and the physics have minimal collision (eg. hair doesn't collide with body).
Mabinogi Heroes has PSO2-ish physics, but they at least put simple collision volumes on the body to minimize hair going through the body.
PSO2 doesn't seem to care as much about that. Although, the flip side is we get lots more fun accessories.

One thing that really shits me is they couldn't be bothered putting proper collision on My Room items.
That stuff is not hard to do. Some engines like Unreal come with automatic mesh-based collision.
Although, the last time I checked, automatic collision tends to make you get stuck on the edges of those objects.

I have to agree with Skorned. While PSO2 isn't on par with say... Witcher 3 or Bloodborne... it is extremely well optimized considering the fact that you can have up to 12 players with different costumes and accessories (all of which have their own jigglebones) running around in a game that throws up to a hundred mobs at you.

The engine does show its age. Some of the costumes are rather low-poly. But the character rendering itself is extremely well done, and some of the newer costumes, notably the ARKS ones, have very high-res textures. The characters also don't have any finger posing, but that's hardly noticeable in a game like PSO2 where you probably aren't focusing too much on what your character's hands are doing.

[Shinamori]

Pretty sure PSO2 uses a modified version of the Hedgehog Engine which actually just a graphics engine.

[Squal_FFVIII]

I always thought this game used the same engine that PSU did since it doesn't look much better than PSU >_<

Like some of you have already said though, it's clear that it was meant to run on the Vita and on toaster PC's.

I do wish PSO2 looked much better atleast on par with TERA graphics.

[Sizustar]

I always thought this game used the same engine that PSU did since it doesn't look much better than PSU >_<

Like some of you have already said though, it's clear that it was meant to run on the Vita and on toaster PC's.

I do wish PSO2 looked much better atleast on par with TERA graphics.

We'll see with the Episode 4 PSO2 Reborn on PS4,

[[Ayumi]]

I always thought it was an altered/modified engine of PSU.
As PSU's engine was 1st altered/modified for PSP, then for PSP2 which it gotten much better, then in PSP2i which it got even better from PSP2, and then from PSP2i they give it a huge alteration which has became PSO2.

[Rayden]

PSO2 looks pretty good in my opinion. I don't understand why people are saying Tera looks better. I tried Tera (briefly) on max settings and it was terribly ugly. On top of that, it was very poorly optimized giving me low FPS on my high end system. You guys are talking about this Tera, right?

[Zyrusticae]

Tera, ugly? Hmmmm. First I've heard of that.

Generally speaking, Tera's environments are much less flat-looking than PSO2's.

I mean, if Forest looked more like this, I think you'd be seeing much fewer complaints:

Spoiler!

To be fair, there's only so much you can do with random generation... but that's still no excuse for environments to be completely bland and boring to look at.

The desert in particular is a major offender. It's so boring to look at it hurts, especially next to a place like Thanalan (from FFXIV):

Spoiler!

Yes, I went overboard on the bloom and CA. I apologize on behalf of my past self.

[Qualia]

The desert in particular is a major offender. It's so boring to look at it hurts, especially next to a place like Thanalan (from FFXIV)

Hey, Southern Thanalan though..

Spoiler!

[HentaiLolicon]

TERA's engine sucks for MMO, you can get your 120fps down to half just with 2-3 other players around, and on average rig, 60fps in town with lot of people around is impossible

[Qualia]

TERA's engine sucks for MMO, you can get your 120fps down to half just with 2-3 other players around, and on average rig, 60fps in town with lot of people around is impossible

The difference between 60fps and 120fps is honestly negligible. Also most people with an average rig would probably be fine with anything over 30.