Regarding the art direction...

rpgmaniac

AoC is a Medieval-Fantasy MMORPG this means that you can't avoid having the usual bright areas like forest full of vegetation & vast green plains full of colorful flowers etc, but I would appreciate if you moved from all those common staff that we have seen before on hundreds of games of this type to a more Dark-Medieval art direction, the kind of environments I have seen till now from this game didn't only not impressed me in the slightest, I find them completely boring & I didn't felt that there is anything special or impressive about them.

What I would like to see to really get hyped would be for example some Gothic architecture like a huge half-destroyed temple, also some ancient castle ruins with an entrance to some dark dungeon area, some medieval sewer area, a medieval cemetery kind of area, definitely a mausoleum area that also lead to an underground dungeon that is full of skulls & human bones, I speak for creepy stuff & the mobs must be properly designed to bring the horror to life else it would be pointless, I think by reading the examples I gave you get for what I'm talking about, those are some of the stuff that would definitely help me get hyped about this game.

So is there any change to see this kind of dark, atmospheric & creepy environments on AoC or the rest of the map would keep the same tone more or less without anything similar to what I describe?

Vhaeyne

I am going to push back a little here. The idea that the theme of a area and the environment of a area must agree at all times is very tacky.

What I mean is that every funeral does not happen in a cemetery during a rain storm or overcast. Some times even the most depressing areas see the most beautiful weather or plant grown.

WOW is a painful example. Dark Shire is located between some of the brightest locations in the game. I don't know what the lore is. Maybe it is cursed or something stupid, but to me any lore explanation is just a lazy excuse to make the zone the same at all times. All areas should be capable of good weather. Most of WOWs zones look the same every time you see them. Some of them have permanent storms. It is not epic, its just dumb.

I don't want the whole world to be a dark pit of despair, and I don't think that a location that is themed to be creepy should not see its share of good weather. I am sure some of the darkest events in human history had amazing weather and plant life.

To purposely try and make the environment of an area match the theme is just plain tacky. On the other side of that. I hope every location is capable of having dark nights and thunderstorms too. Maybe a silent hill ass fog every now and then.

maouw

OP is dirty Tulnar!
They want to bring their filthy underground cities and build them on the surface.
All the more reason to exterminate them!

Taleof2Cities

@Vhaeyne is right.

I wouldn't mind seeing Dark-Medieval environments in pockets of each Ashes biome ... but it shouldn't be the centerpiece of the game's art direction.

Temkkey

I agree and would like a more realistic art direction. Personally I think that especially the mounts are to silly and cartoonish.

bloodprophet

We are returning to a previously destroyed world. I am sure we will have ruin's and crypts to explore and conquer.
Probably no gore though it not a grim dark / horror setting.

rpgmaniac

Temkkey wrote: »

I agree and would like a more realistic art direction. Personally I think that especially the mounts are to silly and cartoonish.

I'm gonna agree on that, I felt the same way myself watching some of the mounts on this game, there was too many ridiculous, silly stuff that literally killed the mood, the immersion, the hype, everything...

I mean is it so hard to figure out what kind of mount players that wanna get immersed in the world would prefer to have for their character? doesn't make more sense to create some wild animal mounts that are scary & their presence is intimidating & maybe it's something that have long fangs & sharp claws? I mean if it's anything other than a horse then it would definitely be something like that right? am I the only one that feels that way?

Sadistic Turtle

Vhaeyne wrote: »

I am going to push back a little here. The idea that the theme of a area and the environment of a area must agree at all times is very tacky.

What I mean is that every funeral does not happen in a cemetery during a rain storm or overcast. Some times even the most depressing areas see the most beautiful weather or plant grown.

To purposely try and make the environment of an area match the theme is just plain tacky. On the other side of that. I hope every location is capable of having dark nights and thunderstorms too. Maybe a silent hill ass fog every now and then.

I agree with this perspective, variety within every setting theme would be nice. We also know they have a weather and season system planned for the game (see one of their old Youtube videos) so we should see variations of grim and happier weather in most locations.

rpgmaniac

Vhaeyne wrote: »

On the other side of that. I hope every location is capable of having dark nights and thunderstorms too. Maybe a silent hill ass fog every now and then.

Well I didn't mean the devs to make the whole map look dark & grim ofc there is a need for variety I just haven't seen any kind of area like those I described in my comment in any game image or gameplay video, as for what you said about dark nights with thunderstorms I'm all for something like this if there is something I miss since I quit BDO was that thing, a thunderstorm during night was so fucking amazing in BDO, it was such a joy just sitting there & watching completely immersed in the world it was so realistic so impressive haven't experience something like that since then on any other game

Here enjoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=360&v=BPQfgspR4es&feature=youtu.be amazing right?

Ostaff

I am loving the art of what I have seen in the game so far. And I also believe that zones should have unique imagery. So there should be zones that do look very dark and forbidding while at the same time there should be zones that look very ethereal and breath-taking. There should be trees like in Dark Sun that grow down instead of up (their roots grow into the sky) and just unique different imagery than the norm. All of these will make exploration and travel a joy and not a boring chore like riding in a car through the midwest states of the US.