What do you guys think of the graphics and animations in SWTOR?

Am I the only one who finds the Hero Engine a bit clunky and weird looking? I know there is like a year until the game comes out, but I have a problem with the way the character models and animations are in the developer dispatches so far, they just look so stiff and awkward.

I think they look a bit cartoony, or at least the faces.

I think the apparent clunkiness is from the video player they use. Doesent have the best load times, and shutters around a bit.

But as long as it has lightsabers i'm happy..

Toranilor wrote:I think they look a bit cartoony, or at least the faces.

I think the apparent clunkiness is from the video player they use. Doesent have the best load times, and shutters around a bit.

But as long as it has lightsabers i'm happy..

I remember when the first developer dispatch was put onto the site the lightsabers were really fat and short looking hehe.

I think it looks okay ... but I see your point. Unfortunately, a lightsaber battle in a game is not going to stack up to the "real thing" no matter what engine they use ... at least for the time being. It will always look choppy. And if you think it looks choppy in these videos, which were made with optimal settings and not from a client's computer connected to a server with thousands of other people, then you may be in for a nasty surprise when the game is released.

I don't like the graphics, huge lightsabers, weird looking people, cartoonish textures, and gigantic NERF gun blasters.

The original KOTOR graphics are 100 times more realistic looking then these and i hoped they would go with that style but upgraded. Eh, its star wars at least.

I think once we get in the game and start playing, it'll grow on us. I mean...look at WoW. It's not exactly got the streamlined look of Everquest II yet it blew that out of the water.

I agree it does look a bit cartoonish but thats the direction they wanted to go, not fully cartoonish and not fully real looking and I can respect that.
I think alot of the clunkyness is with the player they're using. Especially with the animations on each of the class pages. When you look at videos of gameplay footage from other websites who took their own footage at conferences and such it looks much smoother, I remember one video saw of a chick bounty hunter... her ass just kept moving side to side even when she was standing still, and even more when she was moving, it was hypnotizing... and smooth. I don't think theres that much to worry about.

I remember in one of the videos that they said the reason it looks cartoonish is because it lower the requirements to run the game, and they keep stressing that they are trying to make it available to as many people as possible.

I don't like when games choose to be 'realistic' because it is usually at the expense of content.

I have no problem whatsoever with the 'stylised realism' of TOR. I like it and I think it gives the game far more potential than a high-end-only styled game.

Jacan Na'al wrote:I don't like when games choose to be 'realistic' because it is usually at the expense of content.

I have no problem whatsoever with the 'stylised realism' of TOR. I like it and I think it gives the game far more potential than a high-end-only styled game.

I agree, story and content outweigh the importance of graphics. Yes it is nice to look a little different from a million other players and I agree that an 8ft long 3 ft wide vibro blade looks dumb, but that is not the only thing that helps you identify with your character. We as players like to feel we are making a difference in the game. We like being the hero or for some the villian. If the game can draw me into the story and make me feel I'm really there I can put up with less then perfact graphics.

I dont mind the cartoonish style of graphics bioware decided to roll with, My question is :Will they upgrade or improve its graphics style 3 or 4 years down the track when it becomes waaaay outdated?

Ruka wrote:I dont mind the cartoonish style of graphics bioware decided to roll with, My question is :Will they upgrade or improve its graphics style 3 or 4 years down the track when it becomes waaaay outdated?

I don't think it will be necessary. Has WoW updated their graphics? (I really don't know, as far as I can tell they haven't...)

Jacan Na'al wrote:I don't think it will be necessary. Has WoW updated their graphics? (I really don't know, as far as I can tell they haven't...)

No they haven't, which probably adds to the many reasons why WoW is on the decline.
I believe an MMO has to move with the trends at some point in time. I mean hypothetically asking : would you play WoW at its current state 5yrs down the track when people are playing 3D compatible games?

Ruka wrote:the many reasons why WoW is on the decline.

I wasn't aware they were on the decline. Whilst many new MMO's have been coming out none of them have been holding the attention of the consumers for anywhere near as long as WoW has or did. IN fact from the various groups I communicate with most are returning to WoW or following their friends from brief stints in new MMOs and playing WoW for the first time.

For a game that has not so great graphics it still lures in more players and lures back old players.

I for one never liked WoW, I tried it and could only stand getting as far as L40ish before deciding it wasn't for me, but that was nothing to do with the graphics.

I got up to level 50 something in WoW and did like 1 small/medium raid with like 23 other people then got bored of all the questing and repetitive combat, plus at the time Battlegrounds PvP was really unbalanced and stupid but it's not the graphics I'm talking about...it's also the character models, the body parts are proportioned really weirdly too, probably not a big deal either though.

Jacan Na'al wrote:For a game that has not so great graphics it still lures in more players and lures back old players.

I forgot to mention that Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime revealed that two thirds of new World of Warcraft players leave the game without making it past level 10

Ruka wrote:

Jacan Na'al wrote:I don't think it will be necessary. Has WoW updated their graphics? (I really don't know, as far as I can tell they haven't...)

No they haven't, which probably adds to the many reasons why WoW is on the decline.
I believe an MMO has to move with the trends at some point in time. I mean hypothetically asking : would you play WoW at its current state 5yrs down the track when people are playing 3D compatible games?

I'm not really sure that 10 million active accounts is a decline.

Hmm i'm not a huge fan of the current graphics, but as most already stated I rather play an ugly awesome game then a pretty sucky game...

Anyways, wow had a clear grapic increase after return of the lich king. Just look at the armor sets before and after the expansion.
They looked way better after, with better and clearer graphics..

Carlen Darko wrote:I'm not really sure that 10 million active accounts is a decline.

Yea I guess soo
Well after reading the faq about whats new in the WoW expansion Cataclysm they are going to make graphic improvements soo that probably answers my initial question.

Well then if it's possible for Blizzard to upgrade the graphics of an existing game then I am fully confident that BioWare could do it when it seems necessary.

I agree with most of you. I made a comment pertaining to this discussion somewhere before. As far as i am concerned, as long as it is good gameplay and good story, I'll play it over and over... I mean, I still play ES3: Morrowind and ES2: Daggerfall... (Which, in my opinion, is as close to a REAL RPG as you could get.)

I don't like the weird proportions and "cartoony" look but, to give it such graphics as to make it playable by a bigger crowd makes me happy... The more the merrier!

I still play Final Fantasy 7 and that's rather pixelated on all screens I currently possess.

Jacan Na'al wrote:I still play Final Fantasy 7 and that's rather pixelated on all screens I currently possess.

who dousn't?

i have seen the videos and they are ok. nothing special but its still early days and I believe that we will be suprosed when it all gets released