EQ really shows its age now...

[PsaY]

After playing FF XI for several months now....

EQ looks like Wolfenstein 3D while FF XI is like Doom 3 if you wanted something to compare them to something.

Anyone else feel the same way? FF XI taking up all my time so can never put forth any in EQ while I'm leveling. :/

Must.....reach....level 75.

Mephistophelas
57 Red Mage/30 Black Mage [Diabolos]

Yasp
65 Arch Convoker [Ayonae Ro]

[Jait]

I've been playing since last year. I think you're stretching quite a bit in your comparison. Other than the resolution difference the graphics play on the PC almost identical to the ones on the PS2.

And they're not all the great to begin with.

It's a great game, with some great systems like Conquest, BCNM, etc..

But graphics are it's weak point, hell it's locked at 30FPS for christs sake.

[Iannis]

EQ2's graphics are showing their age already too.

[Zevus]

Originally posted by PsaY
After playing FF XI for several months now....

EQ looks like Wolfenstein 3D while FF XI is like Doom 3 if you wanted something to compare them to something.

Anyone else feel the same way? FF XI taking up all my time so can never put forth any in EQ while I'm leveling. :/

Must.....reach....level 75.

Mephistophelas
57 Red Mage/30 Black Mage [Diabolos]

Yasp
65 Arch Convoker [Ayonae Ro]

Newp, played FF XI for about 20 hrs before cancelling, didn't have any probs getting back into EQ afterwards.

More accurate comparison is that EQ looks like Master of Orion II to FF XI's Master of Orion III. We all know which is the better game..

[Duhulk]

But graphics are it's weak point, hell it's locked at 30FPS for christs sake.

Why don't you go work at SOE, you'd fit right in.

FFXI doesn't have good graphics in a technical sense, but their artists are 100X better than anything SOE has in it's little pocket. They have a venerable ARMY of artists over at Square-Enix. At least, that's how i've heard it described. Square-Enix can do more with 100polys than SOE can do with 1,000. It's not about the polycount or mipmapping or anti-aliasing, it's about style and talent.

[Braen]

Originally posted by Duhulk
. They have a venerable ARMY of artists over at Square-Enix.

Just how old is their army of artists?

But seriously. You want to talk about artists, you could goto www.sigilgames.com and check out who they have working for them.

[Fammaden]

I dont think he was trying to argue in terms of how smooth the game runs or how many FPS you can get but simply how dated and flat EQ's graphics now seem to him in comparison. On that point I think he is right, but it is not just FFXI it is any more recently developed game. FFXI is a good comparison because it is an MMORPG as well, but a newer one and not one of the stupendous failures that currently abound.

Even if I could have turned on spell effects in Everquest without lagging to hell and back during raids, I would not have, and I didnt use them outside of raids because they simply look like shit. Even the new improved ones arent that great, its a minor bit of eye candy that doesnt justify the ugly old effects. I mention spell effects because once upon a time I thought they were a cool part of the game. I used to always have them on, I used to grudingly turn them off when raids got too laggy and turn them back on for XP time. The first time I grouped with a bard I fell in love with mana song as much for the pulsing blue light moving through the bodies of the group as I did with the mana regen.

I know the mantra of gameplay > graphics reigns supreme here, and I do not disagree, but these little things really enhance good gameplay for me. Social animations where you see more then a stiff wave or bow, maybe even with facial expression, clubs that are used for beating things rather then poking them, minor aspects you dont think about when you dont have them, but after you get used to playing with them their absence seems much more marked when you try to go back. And my apologies, but making a definitve opposing statement based on 20 hours played then right back to Everquest doesnt count. If someone played Everquest for 20 hours /played then came back and told you that the game was stupid and worthless and they were quitting, you would push them off of a cliff. That is a drop in the bucket in an MMORPG, like watching 5 minutes of a one hour network televison drama and proclaiming it vapid.

[Braen]

But attacking EQ about its graphics engine that is basically 5 years old and comparing it to another MMORPG that is much newer is like saying Quake 2 graphics suck compared to Unreal 2 and blaming it on the game.

Of course EQ is showing it's age. Both it's graphic engine and main game engine are doing things it was never originally designed for. We are hoping the new engine that should be hitting in a few weeks/months will fix some graphic lag problems, but who knows?

[Laedrun]

FFXI really sucked. I forced myself to play it for about a month ( because girlfriend loved all the gardening shit), but i just couldnt take it man, fuck her!

1) The graphics are crisp and detailed, the water is great, but the character style is shit. It ranges from absurdly childish (the little monkies) to flamingly homosexual (all the others) with nothing inbetween (yeah i know the frogs are fruity in eq, but you dont HAVE to play one). There is no doubt in my mind that Michael Jackson masturbates to FFXI constantly, it has BOTH!! little monkies AND!! queer school-boys in tight leather thongs, <3<3 for teh jacko!!

2) The one dimensional atmosphere, a fucking retarded monky "shadowknight" asked me to join his group to go save all the elf babies or some shit WTF kinda shadowknight cares about elf babies? and any self respecting shadowknight that knew he was a little bouncy monky would be forced to kill himself out of principle.

3) No jump button?!?! "oh nos theres a 2 foot high pile of dirt in the way, i gotta walk around the damn thing trying to find a ramp to crawl up" WTF? Its like playing EQ with training wheels and a big plastic retarded-kid helmet.

It was just a long string of "WTF is this stupid/gay shit?" for me, i just cant understand what its fans are thinking. A better comparison would be Baldurs Gate 2 PC vs that FF crystal crap on the game cube. A more up to date graphics engine means squat when its being used to display a world you dont want to look at to begin with.

[Cybsled]

Um...wtf?

Your arguement was less then compelling ;P

However, Kevin Smith might have a few theories based on the fixation point of your post ;O

[Goanad]

Graphics heh. FFXI flopped because well, was just ghey to get hit from a hundred feet away with a melee shot from a monster you were kiting. /shrug Doesn't matter how lovely that is made to look in a graphical sense, it still blows..k?

[Digo]

FFXI did not flop, and if statistics are to be believed, it has more subscriptions world-wide than EQ.

I recently quit EQ (again) in disgust and boredom and picked up FF just to mess around with some old friends from EQ. It is a different game with different "goals."

From what I understand (as explained to me by more experienced FF vet friends), boss mobs are the focus of instanced quests. To put this in EQ terms, let's say you couldn't go after King Tormax unless you started a quest in Thurgadin. You'd have to complete a series of smaller quests and battles to proceed through the script until you were able to engage Tormax.

In EQ, you zone in, buff, pull, and kill. Thrilling, isn't it? Granted, EQ has since implemented new content centered around quests and instanced raids in GoD. However, the problem is this:

I had no fucking clue what was going on in 90% of these raids.

Most of the time, this quest was driven by the person who was online the most and figured all this shit out.

Not because I'm a rank and file lemming (on the contrary) but because I played a shaman. I sit in the back of the raid waiting for the overmind to trigger the appropriate script, have 1 individual do a tradeskill turn-in I know nothing about, and follow the herd, pressing my hotkeys like a good little space monkey.

I STILL think the highlight of EQ is the 10th Ring War. Even if you had no clue what the hell was going on in Rings 1-9, you were most definitely involved in and captivated by the final battle. It was impossible to not know there was something massive going on and getting caught up in the story.

Point is, in FF, it's a more quest-oriented environment that appeals to a different aspect of MMORPGs. I like it better than EQ because it's not like a fucking second job.

EQ was amazing. There's no denying that. That massive server drama and inter-guild conflicts were fun. EQ is a game driven by the R&F. But therein lies the problem: the game was only fun because of other people.

[Bizanich]

You can't kite in FFxi, and I'd hardly say it's flopping .

Most of the reasons people are saying it sucks here are absurd. It's "shadow knights", the Dark Knight, isn't evil in Final Fantasy, they just gain their power through hate and anger. Minor difference, but crucial if you're going to spaz about the Quests.

Speaking of which, the quests blow every quest in Everquest away. Do the Star Onion Brigade series of quests and TRY to say they're not detailed and well done.

....that being said....

Bash the game for what it really sucks for. Too many dps classes, not enough healing classes, and originally spreading the Americans over every server without a choice so the chances to get groups sucks.

I sat in Jeuno for four hours looking for group. Three days in a row. Next day I quit.

[Lost Ranger]

I still think I would of ended up quitting FF over time. However if they had put in an english speaking server I am pretty sure It would of got a few more payments out of me. A big problem for me was feeling really isolated from the rest of the server cause only 20% spoke a word of english.

The game was still ungodly boring but it may of been just a bit more fun if there were more english speaking people floating around. I quit in my 20s so I never got to "high end" FF. However I am glad I didnt get caught in that trap cause I have sense heard horror stories about it. Camping like 16 hours for 1 part of your like "epic" armor? What a load of complete BS. Another thing is having to get large groups together to just go get a spell? Think Furor linked a site about this.

Sorry, I dont log on to a game to have to work my ass off. Just look at fishing in the game for crying out loud. Yes I would prefer to just click a button and have my toon cast into the water.... I dont really want to check to make sure the weather is right... its the right day and what spot the moon is in... Id go fishing in RL if I wanted to put that kinda effort in.

To each their own though. If you think spending 150+ hours doing a quest is awesome then more power to ya. I spent too much time on EQ as it is... Dont need a game that requires even more to get anywhere... You can keep FFXI

[Tukwhump da Trollie]

Actually its entirely possible to Bind kite. I used to do it for a change of pace when I was lvling my black mage in beta... I was a Galka so it was easier just to bash the little goblins head in but it was fun when I got bored.