New screenshots December 17, 2004

[Tasos]

We put up some new screenshots in the Darkfall Gallery (http://www.darkfallonline.com/gallery/visuals) so I'll talk about those first. The screenshots were taken during the tuning and experimentation for the final look of the game. You may notice the significant progress - aside from some graphical artifacts due to compression issues and movement in the environment. These only appear in the stills.

Some of the screens are from Trinwood, a human area we've used for screenshots before. Other screens were taken on the Island of Namlit. You can read about both of these areas here. (http://www.darkfallonline.com/news/news_1103296323.html)
We'll follow up with more batches from every area on Agon, hopefully in rapid succession after the holidays. We also plan to show some videos, and to have a proper status update.

For now, we remain hard at work on Darkfall and firm to our commitment to releasing a finished game, and while we like to joke that this hasn't been attempted before, we can certainly understand and even relate to the community's frustration.

We at Aventurine would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays.

[Virtra]

Thanks mate! Can't wait to see the rest of Agon, keep up the good work!

[Exodeus]

Those new screenshots look awesome!!!

They look that awesome, that I am wondering if this game is going to be like a movie and I need to go to the cinema to get to see it or buy meself a state of the art new graphic card?!?!

Anyways.... uhm.... wowza?


edit: Have a merry holiday yourselves, it seems you all earned it :D

[DreadNaught]

brilliant job guys!

You're holding true to our beliefs, Darkfall will be the best MMORPG so far.

Those screenies are looking gorgious. Keep up the good work. Take it easy over christmas and have a dammed good one. You deserve it! ^^

[Teth]

We love you guys so much when you're good to us. :D

I hope you all have wonderful holidays! Lord knows you deserve them...now, who do I have to bribe to ensure the next batch of screenies is of Nagast? ;P

[Gambe]

aaamazing work.. I knew you guys would give us some great news for x-mas :) thx alot!

[Archibald]

Merry Christmas!

keep fighting the good fight.

edit* oops in my xmas cheer I forgot to say good screenshots :) not sure I like the glowy aura on things though, but beggars can't be choosers,, eh? :) good job.

[Mobed]

Thank you.

[Kyena]

uhhh.. I wouldn't go that far.. They really arent nothing special.

looks like they just put some filter fx over the same graphics.

The only thing these shots show is how far away this game really is. =o|

I think the softening is a tiiiiiiiny bit too much but that's only finetuning I guess? And I bet you didn't notice that in the first of the new screenshots she is actually casting her shadow..there were no character shadows in the older ones.

Also the Ambient Light is amazing..you actually see the sunlight in the leaves.
And I don't see how that would show how far the game is away :)

Eitherway happy x-mas to everyone ;)

[Arevin Roth]

Hehe great job devs the game loooks beautiful and i hope you dont raise the gfx bar anymore just so that everyone can enjoy a fast smooothly running game :) BEEeeeeAAAauuuUTIIfufuuLLLL

[DarkSoul]

Screen shots are wonderful, but we want Beta. That is all

[[Guildless]Opium]

:ninja: Whats with all the negativity guys? We finally got some screenies, and we should be happy. Lets not try to put too much stress on them. :)

I almost forgot to say how much awesomeness these awesome pictures awesomely contain. Thx Tasos!

[Archibald]

Opium']:ninja: Whats with all the negativity guys? We finally got some screenies, and we should be happy. Lets not try to put too much stress on them. :)

/agree

and these screenshots, more importantly, show that they are still alive up there.;)

[AkielVonStrife]

we can certainly understand and even relate to the community's frustration.

Self-awareness is good.

[[Guildless]Opium]

I just got a good look at the screenies. Holy crispy creams the weather effects are amazing. Is the moon 3d or 2d?

PS. I knew my hunch was right on!

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=11684&highlight=hunch :P

[Khabbi]

I love the new screenshots. There is something about them that just seems exciting and different. It doesn't look like every other game out there. The shading filter is a great touch that differentiates the DF screens from every other game out there.

[Beal]

Much love.

[Selo]

this game just look better and better, the armors can use some tuning but the world looks amazing

[Gunther TheBlack]

we can certainly understand and even relate to the community's frustration.


I like these graphics a lot more than the previous ones :D


btw Better change "we" to "Claus" ;)

[Dominus]

Hey, the screenshots look great! I can't wait for more screenshots and reports in the near future. Keep up the good work guys and have a merry Christmas.

[[Guildless]Opium]

Thx a lot Tasos & crew for the updates. Theres no end of happiness I feel right now. My x-mas holidays are now 10x better. :p

[Scottc1988]

Screen shots are wonderful, but we want Beta. That is all
hehe trueness.....

The screenshots are amazing, looks like we'll have dynamic lightning :] I love how the light works on the armor and the swords, nothing like the gleam of metal in the sun.

[daz_uk]

Nice screenies.

The bloom effect is nice but maybe a little bit much? However, the intended effect is nice as it softens the environment and allows for nice glows.

It's been so long since I saw anything new for Darkfall, but this is good to see. I am waiting for this game like we all are with baited breath!

Keep it up lads,

Daz

[kehmesis]

WOOOOOOW!

They truly look amazing, I wasn't prepared for this. I'm not an eye candy person, but these got me so excited. Great job! The shots are absolutely stunning!

[Divine_One]

Jaw dropping screenshots.

Wow. If this game has the PvP you say it does... I cannot wait for this game.

Keep up the good work

[Fikk]

This has added a sligt puff of life.

I'm also enjoying the fact that he (Tasos) said this is the final look of the game. Which means they are getting closer.

[Jangang]

HOLY BAJEBUS BATMAN!!! Those Screenshots are excellent. WoW, I'm at a loss for words...

[WonderBrick]

Thanks for the updated info and screenshots. Great progress! Very reassuring.

[chud]

Looks awesome guys...

You guys have alot of people lookin at this game, can't wait for a beta!

Thanks for SS's.

[esion]

Wow, very nice...glowy will for cause some lag during PvP...woot.

[Exodeus]

You gotta be kidding me. Jaw dropping?

These graphics look just plain bad.

The textures on the ground and objects look TERRIBLE. Washed out and low resolution.
Everything looks so low polygon.
The sky and sun look bad too..

All they did was throw a "glow" effect on the same old crappy graphics they already had. Sorry but it takes more than that.

Horizons even looks way better than this.

6 months and they come out with 4 screenshots with some new glow effect on it?

get real..

Its no problem delivering critism, hell, I am quite good at it... but who the hell are you, signing up today and give this shit?

Those screens I have seen today are atleast as equal as good as big MMORPGS as Everquest II or Worlds of Warcraft...

Sounds like you don't have much experience with it, so... take a hike...

[VoodooVane]

Wow, really nice graphics, keep it up! It's nice to know you guys are still alive!

[Phooey]

As always, thanks for the updates Tasos! http://forums.darkfallonline.com/images/icons/icon14.gif

[Preston]

Wow! Absolutely gorgeous graphics!! I love how the sunlight reflects off the swords. I can't imagine how beautiful it all must be with the grass moving.

Keep up the good work!

[Mobed]

Don't feed the trolls.

[kehmesis]

You gotta be kidding me. Jaw dropping?

These graphics look just plain bad.

The textures on the ground and objects look TERRIBLE. Washed out and low resolution.
Everything looks so low polygon.
The sky and sun look bad too..

All they did was throw a "glow" effect on the same old crappy graphics they already had. Sorry but it takes more than that.

Horizons even looks way better than this.

6 months and they come out with 4 screenshots with some new glow effect on it?

get real..

Hopefully you will keep playing Horizons...

[Random1902]

Opium']:ninja: Whats with all the negativity guys? We finally got some screenies, and we should be happy. Lets not try to put too much stress on them. :)

Exactly! Quite the bitchin! We finially know that they are alive, it is time to rejoice!

[Konlii]

What's wrong with the sky?

http://www.darkfallonline.com/gallery/visuals/2004_12_5

I think the game looks excellent. The only real problem I have with these screenies is that everything is blurry. I assume this is a problem with the screenshots, and not the actual game. Tasos mentioned "some graphical artifacts due to compression issues and movement in the environment" which only show up in the stills.

[Exodeus]

.. contents ..

Personally, graphics is not 'that' important to me... If Ultima Online(2d client) would have followed a certain path I would still be playing the damn game, and lets be honest, its not state of the art... I am just glad, with all the cancels of some very promissing MMORGPS and the bad gameplays of other recent released MMORPGS, this one is still on track with all the features we hope it will bring along.

So in short, these graphics will certainly suffice...

Gameplay, thats what counts, and they know it...

[Ren]

My immediate thought on seeing the screenshots was... "Guild Wars!" Except I don't think Darkfall's models are as good. Hopefully that changes.

But good visuals (or lack of) alone do not make a game. This mantra was repeated again and again during the development of Shadowbane as the diehard PvP crowd is quite willing to overlook many sins if gameplay is superior. In the end SB didn't look all that great. Unfortunately it did not play that great either.

[Constantine]

I love it!

Thanks for the new screenshots.

[ishu]

:o <3 nice job! thanks sooo much for the screenies guys, best christmas evar! =p hope you guys have a good christmas!

[Mashed-Potatos]

they look freakin sweet!! :D
thanks for the new screens

[Khantrah]

Man, all I needed was a "Hi we still exist" type of deal, but this is stellar guys. I've really been undervaluing the quality of Darkfall's graphics. Thanks for taking the time to fill us in.

[Dienzen]

WOWOW I love the graphic style in this game, it looks so much better than games like dnl and wish. Its got that neat looking guild wars glow to it too lol.

[Erratic]

Wow, great screens.

Thanks for the update as usual. I eagerly await the next batch.

Keep up the great work, we all appreciate it.

[DarkSoul]

Sorry, but you misunderstand. Did not intend to be negative. 'That is all' is a figure of speech used by my guild. I forget sometimes that it's meaning is not universally understood.

[[Guildless]Opium]

I wasn't specifically responding to your post, DarkSoul. I totally agree with you, because I also want beta. Right now though screenies are the best we can get, public testing is a looong ways ahead. :)

[Melorath]

well, i'm impressed. is the game really going to have that glow to it? or is it just the screenshots. i personally love the glow, gives it the atmosphere that is absent in so many other fantasy games. it also gives it a cinematic quality that will greatly aid in the immersion.

[Merrin]

Inspiring.

I can just imagine how many players are hoping those birdmen become a playable race some day.

[Teth]

My immediate thought on seeing the screenshots was... "Guild Wars!" Except I don't think Darkfall's models are as good. Hopefully that changes.

But good visuals (or lack of) alone do not make a game. This mantra was repeated again and again during the development of Shadowbane as the diehard PvP crowd is quite willing to overlook many sins if gameplay is superior. In the end SB didn't look all that great. Unfortunately it did not play that great either. Heh, I mostly agree. As far as I'm concerned, Darkfall's real graphical strength lies in the world. I mean, most people seem to be eminently impressed by the moon in the sky and the fields and the mountains, and I tend to agree with them! The old shots we have of the desert city always managed to stir something in me.

And, so you all know, bloom is actually useful for performance. It conceals or minimizes a lot of imperfections in terms of texture sharpness or model 'jaggies', so you get a smoother picture without resorting to antialiasing or higher-resolution models/textures, therefore resulting in better performance and technically comparable image quality. Huzzah!

[ThonSCZ]

It's nice to see something new. The engine looks pretty good. Some of the screens seem blurry... although that may not be as much of an issue when movement is mixed in. Also, the metalic effects look great.

Anyway, Happy Holidays.

[Darkmatter]

I am very impressed, the graphics are absolutely beautiful ! Well suitable for a game of DFOs caliber.

Thank you devs for giving us this update :)

[Gowel]

I have just one humble request that if possible, the "bloom" effect be something we can toggle on and off, as it seems to give me bad headaches in other games and I've heard of many other gamers with the same problem.

Thanks for the update.

[Celandil]

Wow those screens are breathtaking! Looks almost like a painting very impressive!!! This just makes me more anxious to play... Where do I send my money hehehe :D. Ah a very good Christamas present of I do say so.

Anyways I hope and anticipate that the gameplay will be above and beyond as I would still play UO if it the gameplay wasnt fuct and look at it its just a 2d game...

__________________
Ultima Online Legacy Your Gateway to Pre-UO:R (http://www.ryzama.com/legacy)
Kellandil Great Lakes circa 1999-2001

[Falstaff]

Damn those character models are sweet, and the lighting effects rock too, i've nver seen a sword shine like that before. Good work guys/gals!

[Iko'L]

I just orgasmed, like, 5 times.

Sweet ass graphics, with gameplay to rival it, even only half of the cool stuff we've heard about so far was implimented.

Oh, and make that 6 times.

[Decius]

Looks great! I can't wait to see those batches of screenshots of other areas in Agon and the video(s)! Thanks for saying hi and for the information.

[Yuengling.OoB]

Happy Holidays!!!!

I remain anxious for screenshots of Nagast.

[Avitus]

Thanks for the update guys.

[Mandor]

great screenshots thanks! Cant wait till this game comes out!

[Gremlin]

Mighty fine, mighty fine indeed.

[Ferox]

bravo... bravo


I love the screenshots, and I like how the weapons and everything else seems more to scale.. instead of giant swords and crap.

[Tekerton]

Much thanks from the Black Company! Our forges burn a bit brighter, our eagerness grows...the dogs of war are hungry

[Kmac]

Hot Damn! Thank you guys, and a VERY Merry X-mas to you. :)

[TheMageLord]

Nice. I love the landscapes. The world looks more alive than I have seen in other games.

Very bright and colorful.

I also love the appearance of the sword and armor and such.

My only worry is, as someone else stated, that the effects might give people headaches while playing. I personally get my eyes bloodshot sometimes when the graphics are extra bright :P

Being able to customize the way it looks would be a huge plus.

But I have confidence that anyone who can design a game like this with such a big emphasis on player freedom would also allow ample customization of the appearance of the game, to help those less fortunate (with lower end machines, ofcourse) with the graphical issues and to allow people to change things if they find them annoying in some way - as the bright lights can be bothersome to some people.

And, if not, I can always turn my monitor's brightness down :D

[huapua]

Holy crap, my computer almost exploded just looking at those beautiful beautiful SS's. I've never seen anything as good as that.

[Porthios]

Your computer? My ass almost exploded while looking at them.

Thanks devs! This is one of the best christmas present ever! I can't wait to see the videos.

[Viranth]

Very nice looking screenshots! The sky with it's moons and what not looks amazing. The blur effect is also very nice, seen it in action with other games and it really adds something to the graphics. The grass and trees looks cool, lots and lots of grass so you can hide and such, well... if you're a dwarf.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year DF Devs =)

[Ariakas]

Nice screens. I think I can already smell my video card melting (poor old gf2 needs a replacement :o ).
Glad too see lots of grass trees and other obstacles in the terrain.

[Filip]

Nice screenshots indeed, I love the fact that there finally are loads of vegetation on the gorunds, lot of grass and flowers...
The blur effect is really nice aswell, reminds me a bit of Savage...
The trees could be done a little better at the bottom, they look a little like street-lights at the bottom, too straight/vertically; If you look at the trees on this screenshot http://www.darkfallonline.com/gallery/visuals/2004_12_6 except for the one which is all twisted you might understand what I mean...

All in all, great graphics, now what I wonder is, with what kind of graphic card was it taken (I guess that you're no longer taking screenshots with Geforce 2 cards :p)

[doma]

*crawls out of cave*
Looks great guys! Keep it up!
*crawls back in for another 6 months*

[Radagast]

Awefully impressive boyz, can't wait to immerse myself in Agon.

WOOT!

Regards,
Radagast

[Ferox]

*crawls out of cave*
Looks great guys! Keep it up!
*crawls back in for another 6 months*


rofl!... so true... so true..

[Unknewn]

rofl!... so true... so true..

Who couldnt agree on that? only thing i didnt like so much was; TOO MUCH GLOW, I know the glow graphics make the game alot cooler/smoother but too much glow can turn it from great into bad, keep up the good work DF Team!

[Bacileios]

At last new visuals :))))))))
Well done devs the pics are awesome,keep up the good work...

[mudge80]

You guys are still alive! I was starting to wonder. These shots look great! i may have to get a better videocard for this monster when it comes out. Thanks for the update! Happy holidays!

[Adam-X]

I've never lost hope. I can't wait till Darkfall comes, and I really don't care how long it takes.

[CIRE]

I fall in with the rest of the crowd when i express my opinion on the latest screenies. I was simply stunned. I will undoubtedly be making return visits to the gallery to absorb them some more. Even though a grafx card is my top priority after Christmas already, I am curious about the grafics card used to capture these screen shots.

Thanks 4 the Update and Captures,
And Best of Holiday Wishes to the DFO team,
CIRE

[biculeh]

Awsome stuff. Keep it up.

VOTE 1

[Drake Whitewood]

I gotta admit... I was, and still am, skeptical.

However... I'm pleased beyond words at news that there's still a heartbeat here. Provided you guys keep it together and release this game with all the features that are being discussed... and I will literally fly/drive to your headquarters, and buy you all a beer.

[Feoir]

Realy nice shots.
Thank you for the update and enjoy the christmas time.

[zorena]

one year on the forums now :) you been doing good just give ous beta now plz :)

[Drax]

Nice screenshots but at this stage of development i am more interested in hearing aboat pvp mechanics. Rather then great screenshots.

Doesnt matter how great grapics are if game play doesnt live up to hype, Anyway hopeing things start happening in the new year.

[AshTheUgly]

Looking good, but mostly I'm just glad to hear from you guys. A little bit of faith has been restored.

[Taneos]

Nice. Loads better than before, but still, some of the Models are quite "rough" ... But the Skins are better.

[Baal]

Amazing job guys... Even though I was a bit worried by the looks of the previous set of screenshots, I was hopping to see something like that in the end. Keep up the good work!

[Baal]

Nice. Loads better than before, but still, some of the Models are quite "rough" ... But the Skins are better.

Well not only... if you remember there was a quite strange perspective in a lot of the previous screenshots... but as u can see the gfx are gonna be kicking some serious ass :D

[thirty two]

OMG FINALLY I LOVE YOU GUYS. seriously tho thank you guys for working so hard the game looks absolutely amazing. i cant wait to get started. i'm soooo glad i thought to stop in today. the graphics are stunning you guys did an awesome job

[Spawl]

Maybe it is just me, but I think this is huge. I never remembered seeing a dual weild character before this series of pictures.

The graphics are a bit fuzzy, but I dont really care about graphics anyways. I allways turn my settings all the way down for performance anyways.

See ya in the new year fellas, keep up the good work and happy holidays.

[Jax]

the shadows, the glare from the swords and armor, the flora, the lighting; they all add to a great looking screen. cant wait to play.

[Darwin]

I'm glad to see evidence of life returning to Darkfall, but I never imagined all of 2004 would pass without seeing the actual game.

[kparton]

Life never left Darkfall, their just busy busy busy

[Aldgorn]

Those pics just look brilliant, cant wait for the update :P

Thanks

Aldgorn

[rekker]

Very cool!! I love the look of them - sorta reminds me of guildwars.

I'll return to posting now; i thought this game was dead!

Great to see things happening!

[LyfeBane]

Overall I think the screenshots are good. There is some concerns I have with them, which will probably be able to fixed by changing contrast and gamma.

Just seems like whoever took the screenshots had their gamma blasted way up. Maybe it's just a very sunny day, but it seems like there is light reflecting off of every object, and several light sources coming from everywhere. Maybe this is the "glow" or "bloom" effect you guys have been talking about.

Although the terrain, sky, etc. looks amazing, the player models seem very weak. I think of all graphical things, this should be the most important because I think the majority of people want their avatar to look good.

The lighting effects look kind of patchy in certain screens. It's like someone took the still into photoshop and rampantly used the dodge tool in spots.

I'm worried that they are focusing to much on the 'flashy' stuff like light and shadow effects instead of the important graphical stuff.

I'd also like to mention, that I hope you WON'T be able to turn OFF the terrain or vegetation. I think since there will be no 'invisiblity' or 'sneak' skills, it would be amazing to actually have people slinking through the tall grass to ambush people.



Anyways, even though I had some issues with the screenshots, I would like to point out that I consider graphics less then half of what I look for in a game. It would be silly to say that graphics doesn't matter at all, because it does. It helps immerse you and get you into the game. Alongside graphics, a wide diversity of armors and clothings to make your avatar unique is just as important imo.

Love me Strong.

[kehmesis]

Lyfebane,

I really disagree about the character models. I think they look really nice. They don't have a high poly count and the high resolution textures we *might* be used to, but they still look very good, and it'll be good for raids and stuff. I want to have a lot of people on my screen without having them look like mushrooms. So basically, the character models look great, they're just not as technically detailed as, let's say, EQ2's. But then again, is it really that important? I don't think so, we just want to look cool. And damn, they do look cool.

I'm worried that they are focusing to much on the 'flashy' stuff like light and shadow effects instead of the important graphical stuff.

Such effects are coded. The artists have nothing to do with that. And what important stuff? You're talking about the importance of the graphics for immersion and you don't care about the lighting and shadow effects? I'm confused. I think that's THE most important part. I think good lighting on matchstickmen looks pretty darn cool if the animation is right.

DF won't have the best graphics, but I'm pretty sure it'll be the most immersive RPGs ever, graphically. I won't start on the gameplay ;)

[Brink]

Whew. A month or so ago I thought I remembered hearing something about Darkfall being cancelled - so glad that was nothing but a bad dream.

I mean, my girlfriend's going to be pissed but oh man I cant wait for this game

[Alienyouth4jc]

Three cheers!

Maybe afte ri get out of boot camp and into a permanent station DF will be in beta testing. Ive been waiting ahile.

[G.Struepp]

Thx for screenshots :)


I share a lot of point of views here, in positive and negativ ways.

But - no matter how good/bad screenshots look, as long as i don't see moving pictures, or better, able to play the game - i won't judge about the general graphic impression in a game.

Great Textures and an other tech-bling bling, doesn't mean anything about how the graphic "feels", if the world is just looking steril or alive, etc.

The best think about the new screens, is that there is finaly a life sign after month of darkness, i was already thinking about starting a seti programm to search for darkfall signals ;)

[Soul]

REally like the pictures, but grafic is a very small part for most of us.. and nice grafic is only getting people to buy it... game play and the feel is what make people stay.. soooo please dont forget about content, game play and feel... like all the rest of the new games do!

/Soul who is despratly hoping for an exelent game

[Khael[SUN]]

WOW these new screens look ALOT better than the last bunch. For the last batch you posted my comment was, that we need shades and movement and battle.

You delivered with this batch, I am very happy ;)

Happy christmas everyone.

[Hybris]

Nice XMas Present, will i find the completed game next Year under my tree? :D

[rekker]

Well i really like them. They look really professianal and kinda remind me of Guild Wars (Which has great graphics)

[Damartyr]

The screens in general are absolutely gorgeous.

#9 Suggests that one will be unable to see beyond a certain distance in low light situations (I do not know if this is the case or not)

In #8 the monster? seems to be unnaturally shadowed in comparison to the light environment. It gives a very dark perception of that particular Mob, hopefully this is some kind of evil-footman-thing and not something more mundane.

After looking at #7 I realize that the fighter pictured in #8 is a player character. Everything around seems brilliant. However the player characters seem unnaturally shadowed.


In #3 the shadows on the back of the knight are very well defined. More impoortantly that shadows are not cookie cutter and appear to mesh well with the rest of the environment.

#2 Shows a brilliant contrast between steel gleeming in the sunlight, and the shadowy side of a character.

[ermis333]

The graphics are something between WoW and EQ2 so nice job guys...


Nice Job guys..


We are now waiting for the beta..

[rekker]

i dont really think anything can top EQ2's graphics... theyre STUNNING!

[Turkish]

The graphics are something between WoW and EQ2

ya right.. Maybe you should actually go play those games first.

Looks like someone took some high res Shadowbane screenshots added in some shiny blurring then shrunk them down to make low res screenies.


http://www.darkfallonline.com/gallery/albums/visuals/2004_12_4.jpg


http://www.darkfallonline.com/gallery/albums/visuals/2004_12_7.jpg


cause these graphics look like a engine from 3 years ago.

[Pumpkin]

EQ2 don't look any better than that dude. In fact some it looks WORSE. Stop buying into the EQ2 engine owns everything hype.. cause it really doesnt.

proof

http://www.angelfire.com/ak5/werty0/


Here you go. Thatose r high resolution shots of the sooper dooper EQ2 engine. Love the awesome tiling effect and complete lack of texturing they got going on the landscape in the first shot...


post stolen, give you a cookie if you find the source

[Turkish]

them screens of eq2 are like on The lowest engine settings..

http://everquest2.station.sony.com//screenshots/general/054.jpg
http://everquest2.station.sony.com//screenshots/general/052.jpg
http://everquest2.station.sony.com//screenshots/general/045.jpg


there aint no mmo that has better graphics than the eq2 engine can do on near full settings.

and this games graphics still look no better than shadowbane.

[Decius]

them screens of eq2 are like on The lowest engine settings..

http://everquest2.station.sony.com//screenshots/general/054.jpg
http://everquest2.station.sony.com//screenshots/general/052.jpg
http://everquest2.station.sony.com//screenshots/general/045.jpg


there aint no mmo that has better graphics than the eq2 engine can do on near full settings.

and this games graphics still look no better than shadowbane.
Decent looking screens though not mindblowing. And even if they were, great graphics in a crappy game are less inspiring to me than mediocre to acceptable graphics in a good, enjoyable game.

[Loskrel]

WOOOOOOOO-

My thirst for an update has been quenched for the time being! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

[Khahan]

I think the softening is a tiiiiiiiny bit too much but that's only finetuning I guess? And I bet you didn't notice that in the first of the new screenshots she is actually casting her shadow..there were no character shadows in the older ones.

Also the Ambient Light is amazing..you actually see the sunlight in the leaves.
And I don't see how that would show how far the game is away :)

Eitherway happy x-mas to everyone ;)
My take exactly. I was floored with how good the graphics have come along compared to the previous batch of screenshots. I'm not going to give it praise without criticism though as that would not be me. The criticism is: I didn't like the softness/blurryness. Then again it's hard to tell from screenshots, as it might look heavenly in-game with everything swaying in the wind and dynamic light dancing off objects.

Did anyone else notice the bluryness besides me and Kyena? Maybe it's our video cards.. ATI 9800 Pro

[Vardox]

Yeah baby, Looks sweet!!! :PPP I can hardly wait!

Those pics are about as good as the first WoW ones. :O Very nice!

Keep it coming. :P

[dOcman]

i think the graphics are amazing after playing DAoC ,Shadowbane, WoW, EQ2- sucks very bad game and wish graphics suck well see tho im in beta along with 300000 others and a side note

alien youth you say "after i get out of boot camp"..... how are you writing this? o wait you mean basic training right? boot camp is exclusively for marines and basic training is easy as hell compared to boot , dont mistake that cause it actually means something to go through boot, if your not in it already then nm and good luck its all worth it trust me

[stounedi]

Umm. Nice. But why so much photoshopping? I mean come on, all the blurring and softening makes my eyes hurt. Or are you really saying this is what the game will look like? I doubt it, sorry.

[rekker]

I dont really like Everquest2... i couldnt really find much i wanted to do. I can see why it would appeal to some though as its a game by geeks for geeks and really does have a good setting. I dont mind people saying its the best MMORPG in existance (its their opinion after all)... and i also dont mind if some people completly hate it as it isnt a game that requireds alot of player skill.... but i will COMPLETLY disagree with anyone who says EQ2 doesnt have the best graphics on an MMORPG to date because they obviouslly havnt played it.

stoundi: those screenshots are unaltered

[Tonka]

I will slap each and every single one of you UO players coming here talkin smack about graphics. You better go upgrade.

[Tekerton]

game system > game graphics

[Xeryus]

EQ2 sucks a fat one, graphics are good, but not great thats for sure, those sony screenies above...well, im running a x800xt and it laughs at eq2 on max and it dont look that good thats for sure. but away from eq2 bashing, because its happening on all forums. game looks good hopefully we can see some beta action in the near future. And hopefully it will have the diversity and deepth and "some skill requirement" to seperate it from the above mentioned mmorpg's " exception of UO :) make this ur benchmark!

[hallower]

I like the new screens. The lighting effects are obviously a bit much, but I've seen the same sort of effect in other games and it's a big step forward. Looking good.

I am somewhat disheartened, though, that this seems to be the only major update in a full 6 months. I guess I'll check back in another 4 or 5 months.

It still looks like one of the more promising upcoming MMOGs though. Good luck.

[rekker]

Well every game has a unique graphical feel to it and this game is being created by gamers. They know what we want! Theyre not gonna use anything that makes the game look stupid and i dont think we can really say much about the looks of the game until we see it in motion.
I have faith in the developers!

[Shad]

Looking good Tasos, keep up the good work (you and the team ofcourse :D )

[Kaylan]

Wow, those look awesome. Great job guys!

[Exmortis]

I'm pleased. Some of the environmental textures look a bit low-res, but that would be my only quibble. The lens-bloom effect is obviously a good way to compensate for an engine that needs to display a huge amount of graphical detail at times of heavy load. Good choice.

Please ensure that the physics and dynamic object interaction are showcased in the upcoming Darkfall movies. Simple environmental flybys coupled with melee combat are expected (and appreciated) in the clips, but I'd love to see some long, steady shots of ships sailing and coming into dock, and characters manipulating physical objects in-game.

[Trizzen-]

I've heard ugly rumours about a playable race nicked Alfar...... Or did you replace them with those less-manly birdmen? =\

[dOcman]

if these are the graphics of darkfall, or if the graphics will be even better.... where do i sign? im so playing darkfall asap

[Curifin Dazar]

About damn time! :P Thanks guys, for all your hard work! Happy New year! :D

[rekker]

Yeah
Happy New Year!

Hopefully we'll be playing the Beta this year!

[MightyWhitey]

man i cant wait bring this game out its like u give me some candy and then take it away after i get a taste :D

[dakkon]

Very nice screens so far... hopefully we get to see some trade skill caps soon? :P

[KarateK|d]

Love the screenshots!!

Got my hopes up again!
Was getting a bit worried for a while there, but you still have me :D

[InZaNity]

I know this was brought up before, and I was waiting to see if anything would be responded to regarding this. As far as I have read, nothing has been mentioned.

To put it in context... These items are understood:
1 - Rendering engine updates and changes
2 - Video card differences, upgrades
3 - Direct-X compatibility/Changes
4 - Image processing programs

These can all make a difference in the quality/style of images seen via the web.

My question: The images from 3 years ago were quite crisp with very clean lines and well dilineated features. The shadowing, while not in place back then was hinted at and the lighting was sketchy, the models were somewhat blocky, but that is explainable, right? And these are some really vast improvements.

My question, as well as a few others - Why has everything become much more drastically blurry? I am willing to enjoy a high performance game with a little more blocky feel to it. However the new images, just make my eyes do a double take on where I am focusing at times.

The distance views - Absolutely excellent. It will eb a joy to be a spotter/enhanced vision user in those terrains, with sight lines extending that far I hope they plan to make player animations visible from those distances, as much as is quasi-realistic, as well. The reflectiveness is awesome, if perhaps maybe a bit overdone, but that can be controlled/toned by monitor configs (at the worst) or gamma/software controls on the card, I would assume. I mean all in all they are rather nice.

The closer images seemed to forsake the cleanliness and degrade into fuzziness. Was this a decision in the rendering? Perhaps it is a lower gen vid card (first shots were with a gforce2 - maybe they still are and a gforce4 or better resolve in greater detail)? Or maybe, is this caused by the post processing to prep it for web? Maybe the shots were 800 by 600 and I am viewing them post-process as a 1024 by 768? I mean jpg and gif screenshot conversions become grainy when blowing them up, eh.

some one correct me if I am wrong about the no one answering the question..

[AkielVonStrife]

My question, as well as a few others - Why has everything become much more drastically blurry?

This may be why I don't really like the screen shots. I haven't spent a great deal of time thinking about them, but my immediate reaction was "wow, that's a big change" and "I don't really like those."

I feel that the rough (or blurry) screen shots do little to flatter the game. Really it's the character models for me, the actual landscape (background) is very nice, in my opinion. The character models seem like they were painted with an expensive water color set then someone used cotton to outline the edges. It's almost like professional artists were given a 3rd grade project. I don't know much about art but I believe that's an odd medium even for a MMORPG.

Ok, that's what's been running through my mind on the negative side. Now then, I've gone back and applied my ranting logic and it doesn't quite fit. In fact, using the above paragraph as a blueprint for what my mind is viewing, the screen shots look much better (and yes pleasing) to me. Weird...I guess they grow on you, cotton water colors and all.

[rekker]

This may be why I don't really like the screen shots. I haven't spent a great deal of time thinking about them, but my immediate reaction was "wow, that's a big change" and "I don't really like those."

I feel that the rough (or blurry) screen shots do little to flatter the game. Really it's the character models for me, the actual landscape (background) is very nice, in my opinion. The character models seem like they were painted with an expensive water color set then someone used cotton to outline the edges. It's almost like professional artists were given a 3rd grade project. I don't know much about art but I believe that's an odd medium even for a MMORPG.

Ok, that's what's been running through my mind on the negative side. Now then, I've gone back and applied my ranting logic and it doesn't quite fit. In fact, using the above paragraph as a blueprint for what my mind is viewing, the screen shots look much better (and yes pleasing) to me. Weird...I guess they grow on you, cotton water colors and all.


I'd imagine it looks much better in action... we'll just have to wait and see!

[Exmortis]

The "blur" you see in the new screenshots is called a "bloom effect", and it serves to smooth rough edges and hard lines. It's being used in a lot of upcoming games (and a few current ones, like the recent Ion Storm releases). It's somewhat related to anti-aliasing, except it covers the screen and obscures everything in a feathered haze. This allows the dev team to build much lower poly models and use lower resolution on the textures, because everything blends together somewhat. The result is increased performance on our computers, which is a necessity for a game like Darkfall, which will sport many dozens of characters on-screen at different times.

[AkielVonStrife]

The "blur" you see in the new screenshots is called a "bloom effect", and it serves to smooth rough edges and hard lines. It's being used in a lot of upcoming games (and a few current ones, like the recent Ion Storm releases). It's somewhat related to anti-aliasing, except it covers the screen and obscures everything in a feathered haze. This allows the dev team to build much lower poly models and use lower resolution on the textures, because everything blends together somewhat. The result is increased performance on our computers, which is a necessity for a game like Darkfall, which will sport many dozens of characters on-screen at different times.

That's interesting, and I can see where that would come in handy if your game is going to be action intensive...but it makes the screens look like crap (or well, like blurred semi-crap that grows on you if you look at them again a month later).

Maybe the devs should put a video out next time. Just a thought.

[CyBrEn]

Likely the "bloom" will be something you can toggle. Not that it matters, I mean, not to troll, but how long haveI been following DF? 5 years... at this rate it won't matter how intense the graphics are when it finall gets released.

[AkielVonStrife]

Likely the "bloom" will be something you can toggle. Not that it matters, I mean, not to troll, but how long haveI been following DF? 5 years... at this rate it won't matter how intense the graphics are when it finall gets released.

2030 is the current release date. I have |337 insider knowledge. DF graphics won't just bloom, they'll cross pollinate with other graphics in other games! (this will make a lot more sense in 2030)

[BrandT]

2030 is the current release date. I have |337 insider knowledge. DF graphics won't just bloom, they'll cross pollinate with other graphics in other games! (this will make a lot more sense in 2030)

Haha, you are getting a little bit bitter.

I need this game to come out, specially in the winter, in the spring and summer I play baseball so I don't spend a lot of time indoors, but now, I'm tired of Madden, UO, and everything else.

[omnigol]

I don't like the screenshots for graphics that much, but I still play some really ugly games so it does not matter a whole lot to me. Which is probably most gamers who've played games for more than a few years, who've witnessed vast improvements in graphics and still great games in the old cheesy graphics. The blurry effect is new to me, and I've played both doom3 and HL2 on some top notch computers. It is interesting it could work out quite well, though it needs to be 'toned down' like everyones said.

It is cool to see some more monsters/places/armor/weapons. And its progress.

[Rashanir]

looks ready to start testing!

[Exmortis]

We'll follow up with more batches from every area on Agon, hopefully in rapid succession after the holidays. We also plan to show some videos, and to have a proper status update.

...where "rapid succession" means, "an interminable wait".

[Freddy]

That haze thing has its ups and downs, but at least the screenshots look decent.

[Adreu]

Rather impressive update on the visuals...well done.

[Kalim]

THe lighting is very impressive, little things like the side of the sword facing the sun is shining but not the other, and none of that one side is just textured darker crap

[E'Morn]

Nice screenshots, just look a bit troubled/smooth. long time since last check and you ve done good hard work. Keep on the path we need you up soon.

:eek:

[Smojukl]

The screenshots look nice, can't wait to see more. And videos...well, would love to see them :)

[Satan]

can we play it now plx

[Pashta]

Nice screenshots! The "softening" is not very becoming though. I do hope that will be an option and not mandatory, as someone else suggested. :)

[Dubiina]

those screens look awsome but lets see some of the other races in action mainly the Mahirim. other then that work faster i wanna play :D

[Ashindir]

You mean that those screenshots have not been modified? Holy cow! We seriously have the best looking MMORPG ever! I thought DF was in some money trouble, but I guess not. I'm so hyped up now! (not trolling just to troll)