Vanguard - New Screenshots/Site Updates

[Laerazi]

It seems that Sigil did a bit of updating on their official site, including the FAQ (seems to be down currently though).

Apparently this is the overarching lore of Vanguard :

"Welcome to Telon, a vast and ancient world of magic, intrigue and adventure. Facing the challenges of a war torn world, the diverse people here struggle to rebuild their once great civilizations.

Millennia ago, the great overlord known as The Unifier became self-aware.He questioned his godly nature and searched the universe to reveal the mysteries of its origins. His journeys brought him to the world of Telon, where he discovered the secrets of the divine, and ultimately plunged the universe into a war of the gods. With the help of a mortal, The Unifier was defeated – but not without a price. His destruction sent a violent wave of devastation tearing through the world. Entire civilizations were destroyed, swallowed by the sea or engulfed in molten earth. Continents sank and mountains sprang from the ground.The face of Telon was forever changed.

Pieces of The Unifier were scattered throughout the world and lost in the passage of time as the few survivors fought to rebuild. But every five hundred years the pieces call out to each other, yearning to be whole again. With their longing cries comes great turmoil, for those who possess such artifacts wield a tremendous power and are locked in a desperate race to uncover the remaining pieces.

Presently, a fragile alliance as been struck, with the lands beset upon by invading forces, the races must band together to survive. In the north, the sprawling green hills of Thestra are plagued by an unstoppable undead menace. To the south, the deserts of Qalia have been besieged by an elemental threat spurned from the depths of the earth and to the east; inhabitants of the tumultuous jungles of Kojan fiercely battle encroaching otherworldly fiends. However, a thousand years have now passed since the breaking and the Unifier’s fractured remnants have once more cried out. A new age of conflict is about to begin and the world of Telon needs heroes.

Your journey begins now."

Included in the update are locations found in Thestra, with descriptions and screenshots of each, found here.

You can see just the screenshots here.

I'm guessing these are the more exotic places you'll see in Thestra... which isn't a good sign considering how mundane some of these places look. That said, some of the armor looks nice...

[Affinity]

It seems like a mix of really beautiful screenshots and some poopoo ones. Glad to see some new ones though

[WarderX]

http://www.vanguardsoh.com/About_Vanguard_Images/Bordinar's%20Cleft/Bordinar's%20Cleft%207.jpg is pretty leet

edit: when's this silly game supposed to finally come out, again?

[Plaeroma]

The graphics quality of some of these makes me go "...uh", but a lot of these have a lot more 'character', if you will, than previous shots imo.

[Laerazi]

The FAQ says Winter 2006/2007 now; interesting to see it's sneaking into 2007, finally.

[kcxiv]

some of them screenshots do look pretty damn nice.

[Brash]

Got damn those look good. The lighting is looking great in those shots.

[Lleauaric~EW]

The castle looks pretty awesome. I love the WH40kish 50;ft tall monks.

The Unrest 2.0 and the Ruined City look good too.

[Utnayan]

Screenshots...Too bad the game will never run anywhere above 15 FPS with those settings, with fluid animations, and, you know, a fun game to boot.

At least they are finally saying 2007 though and maybe realizing there is no way in hell they could get this game out the door this year in any reasonable condition.

With that said, last I heard no one was complaining about screenshots. Although those shots with the buildings look terrible. A lot of it is still uninspired. The only shot I liked was the Dwarven shot with the floating hammer in the middle - but immediately it was kicked in it's own ass with shitty looking dwarf character models that look like teenage boys stretched out with chemicals rather than stumpy dwarves. It reminds me of how god awful and terrible dwarves looked after the luclin models replaced what was in original EQ.

Hire someone that knows how to create a dwarf for fuck's sake.

[Senen]

I guess it boils down to taste hate to say it Utnayan not everyone will share your opinion on which graphics look good and which don't, the constant bashing you bring though is entertaining. The graphics I think are fine what remains to be seen is how will the game play, and will it be fun for the long term enough to suck us all back in like Eq origionaly did.

[Manatra]

Originally Posted by Senen

I guess it boils down to taste hate to say it Utnayan not everyone will share your opinion on which graphics look good and which don't, the constant bashing you bring though is entertaining. The graphics I think are fine what remains to be seen is how will the game play, and will it be fun for the long term enough to suck us all back in like Eq origionaly did.

Well, if graphics circa 1994 are your taste, then more power to you.

[Senen]

Yep those cartoon graphics are certainly a great comparison, seriously your an idiot nice try though.

[Jooka]

they are looking alot better than previous shots thats for sure. Some are actually look like somewhere I would want to check out. Im still not at the ill pay 50+ to check it out tho. Best be a beta in there thats open to push me over the edge towards a purchase or not.

[Manatra]

Originally Posted by Senen

Yep those cartoon graphics are certainly a great comparison, seriously your an idiot nice try though.

No, but they are the exact same style, that old 3D transformers show (name escapes me) may have been a better comparison though.

And I will say that the art direction in Vanguard is horribly off course. Everything that I have seen points to a plastic world that doesn't feel alive.

[kcxiv]

You guys are fucking crazy if you dont thinkt hem screenshots look damn good for a MMO.

We already know that one dude was going to bash it no matter what, that was a given.