Visual Art Direction of AoC | Concern

Hey everyone,

I want to start by saying that I fully support Ashes of Creation and the overall direction the game is taking. The passion and creativity behind the project are evident, and it's exciting to see the world of Verra come to life. However, I’ve noticed something in the recent showcases that I think is worth discussing.

A little over two years ago, we were treated to the seasonal update of Verra, and it was nothing short of breathtaking. The world was vibrant, colorful, full of life, and rich in texture and detail. The environments felt alive, with a level of intricacy that truly set a high standard for what we could expect from the game’s art direction.

Fast forward to the most recent showcase, and I can’t help but feel that there’s been a noticeable shift in the visual quality. The textures and overall detail in the environment seemed less refined, less color, almost as if the graphics had been simplified or even downgraded compared to that earlier seasonal update and the past Commission showcase. This change has left me a bit concerned.

I’m wondering if this is because the area we saw is still a work in progress? Were the graphics toned down for performance reasons or to meet the deadlines of these showcases? Do we like Verra with less color and vibrancy with this new lighting change? Is it possible that the team is focusing on other aspects of development right now, and we’ll see the level of detail return as things progress? I’m all for giving the developers the benefit of the doubt, but I think it’s important to have a conversation about this to understand if others have noticed the same thing or if there’s a particular reason behind this shift.

Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this. (Please keep things cordial)

Seasonal + Commission showcase showing a vibrant and detailed world.

Comparing above and below screenshots, you see a very dramatic change in color, richness and detail.

Recent Bard showcase showing a very desaturated world with a lot less detail and texture.

Example if today's lighting and color was applied to Commission showcase 5 months ago:

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Effah

i think they are still working on the lighting which affects everything.

TheDarkSorcerer

P0GG0 wrote: »

i think they are still working on the lighting which affects everything.

But do you like the direction they are heading in for lighting and colorgrading?

arkileo

I agree that it looks desaturated/bland after the most recent update. Some of the feedback I gave about bard vfx is that the colors seemed a little bland for a bard, but really the whole world seemed to become a little washed out.

I hope this is still a WIP thing and they're tweaking back to the older colorfulness. The new lighting otherwise looks good, aside also from spell effects in dark areas, which was acknowledged.

Liniker

I think its just color filter options, lots of games have a few different ones we can pick

TheDarkSorcerer

Liniker wrote: »

I think its just color filter options, lots of games have a few different ones we can pick

Not just color, overall graphics. Felt like Elder Scrolls Online from 2014. Comparing screenshots below, they could be the same game.

Elder Scrolls Online:

Ashes of Creation:

Liniker

TheDarkSorcerer wrote: »

Liniker wrote: »

I think its just color filter options, lots of games have a few different ones we can pick

Not just color, overall graphics. Felt like Elder Scrolls Online from 2014.

Elder Scrolls Online:

Ashes of Creation:

trust me, I am very picky with graphics, its just the colors, the game is gorgeous and youtube videos dont make it justice, cant go into details but even based on the videos, colors and lightning bugs is the main reason posts like this exist, I wouldnt worry about it

Effah

i always fix what i dont like using reshade app.

tautau

Game play is so much more important to me than environment.

Environment is nice, gameplay is critical.

Taleof2Cities

tautau wrote: »

Game play is so much more important to me than environment.

Environment is nice, gameplay is critical.

Exactly.

Most players choose an MMO for the group content and camaraderie (not graphics).

Why would ESO still be hovering around the top 10 MMOs despite being 10+ years old?

TheDarkSorcerer

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

tautau wrote: »

Game play is so much more important to me than environment.

Environment is nice, gameplay is critical.

Exactly.

Most players choose an MMO for the group content and camaraderie (not graphics).

Why would ESO still be hovering around the top 10 MMOs despite being 10+ years old?

There are plenty of threads to discuss gameplay. This thread is specifically about the visual art direction of AoC.

Songcaller

I think the gameplay over graphics is a poor reference to make. There has been a clear downgrade in graphics, either on purpose or by technical realignment elsewhere. I used to state the issue was old ue4 assets placed into ue5. Now, I believe the assets made in ue5 are worse in terms of graphics than the ue4 assets.

I'm a simple man and I write books. I do not do a first pass that's equal to toilet paper first because editing takes double the time otherwise. At the rate we're going the devs will have to create the game twice over to make the assets and world dynamics synergise better better.

Aszkalon

TheDarkSorcerer wrote: »

But do you like the direction they are heading in for lighting and colorgrading ?

How about we get an Option so we can choose a more colorful or more greyish World ?

Nefficles

My thoughts immediately go to the fact that this was a Bard showcase and not an environment showcase. Perhaps they picked less saturated environments to let the bard be the star of the show?

Of course, this is all just me guessing. However, I don't imagine intrepid going backwards in the environment design department after already getting players excited by previous showcases.

More to your point though, I loved the lush and vibrant aesthetic of the showcases prior far more compared to the recent one. Maybe it is exclusive to this one questing area since it has been taken over by undead and become destitute.

Either way, I have faith that intrepid will deliver a quality product and that it is all a work in progress.

Blaspherian

I agree with the OP. But to be honest, I hadn't noticed the difference til I read this thread. Having done so, the difference seems stark. Could just be that specific area but I know what you mean. That said, the environment looks great. Visually, it's the best part of the game so far.

For me though, the concern doesn't lie with the art direction of the environment/assets but with the character models, skill effects and animations. The character models still look out of place in the world. They don't look realistic enough for how realistic the environment looks. They look a bit 'drawn' to me. I'm not articulate enough to describe exactly what it is I see, but it's like they start with a realistic looking model then apply a 10% League of Legends filter to it. I can't go as far as to call the character models cartooney, but there's something there. I'm just not convinced yet that they belong on Verra.

As far as skill effects, it's pretty much the same issue that I have with the character models. They still look out of place. Not painted on, but not realistic or convincing. I'm even okay with visual soup, I just don't want Vegas flashbacks. I'd say the skill effect colors are too vibrant, but I don't think that's it. It's like they need more blending of the edges with the background. The best I've seen so far is reworked chain lightning, that's going in the right direction.

For animations, I'll just say there are frames during the fighter showcase where all at the same time...his torso is facing forward, his head is facing backward and his hips/legs are facing sideways. I think that says enough. Oh and sometimes characters look like they have a dump in their pants while they're running. And the cape really needs to chill, just calm down.

Dygz

Likely just different resolution settings.

Ludullu

I personally think it's about optimization. The closer we are to A2, the worse the game will look, just as all games look waaaaay worse on release as compared to their teasers.

There's a somewhat high chance that this showcase was done in the build that's currently being tested by A1 people. And having 1.5k people on the server would definitely require good optimization. And that requires worse graphics.

I'm sure that by the time we reach true release, the game might look closer to those more saturated screenshots, cause the optimization will allow people to get their settings to a point where the game looks like that. But I think A2 will look real bland for the majority of its life.

TheDarkSorcerer

Ludullu_(NiKr) wrote: »

I personally think it's about optimization. The closer we are to A2, the worse the game will look, just as all games look waaaaay worse on release as compared to their teasers.

There's a somewhat high chance that this showcase was done in the build that's currently being tested by A1 people. And having 1.5k people on the server would definitely require good optimization. And that requires worse graphics.

I'm sure that by the time we reach true release, the game might look closer to those more saturated screenshots, cause the optimization will allow people to get their settings to a point where the game looks like that. But I think A2 will look real bland for the majority of its life.

I hope so! I was so turned off by recent showcase because it looked like ESO in terms of quality and color grading. Comparing the screenshots above is day and night and look like two different games.

patrick68794

Ludullu_(NiKr) wrote: »

I personally think it's about optimization. The closer we are to A2, the worse the game will look, just as all games look waaaaay worse on release as compared to their teasers.

There's a somewhat high chance that this showcase was done in the build that's currently being tested by A1 people. And having 1.5k people on the server would definitely require good optimization. And that requires worse graphics.

I'm sure that by the time we reach true release, the game might look closer to those more saturated screenshots, cause the optimization will allow people to get their settings to a point where the game looks like that. But I think A2 will look real bland for the majority of its life.

Most games tend to look pretty much the same or even better than pre-release footage. That's why everyone always has to point to the same few games like Watch Dogs, The Division, and Killzone 2 when they talk about how games always look worse at release. Because in reality those are the few games that actually do look significantly worse.

arkileo

TheDarkSorcerer wrote: »

Liniker wrote: »

I think its just color filter options, lots of games have a few different ones we can pick

Not just color, overall graphics. Felt like Elder Scrolls Online from 2014. Comparing screenshots below, they could be the same game.

Elder Scrolls Online:

Ashes of Creation:

The color pallete is similar, but look at the repeating terrain textures and lack of foliage in your ESO screenshot. Ashes looks way better than that.

Glir

Intrepids understand that all MMORPGs sooner or later become visually outdated. They need to make a nice visual and not worry too much about it. Few games like Lineage 2, Black Desert have had good graphics for many years since their release. But I agree that the old graphics were better in many ways.

Child Item