looking good sqweenix. now wheres my episode 3

Those look amazing compared to the alpha
Can't wait to get this on my PS3

IIT: GRITTY AND BLOOM!

Characters don't cast shadows, but there's lots of ridiculous lights everywhere.

I'm guessing SH lightmaps + normal mapping on the surfaces, baked into the maps. Usual Quake-style lightgrid (or possibly Source-like SH lightgrid) for characters.

>Beta

wat

>>59896293
Characters in FFXI casted shadows. I'd be really, really surprised if FFXIV didn't have it too.

>>59896376
Okay, definitely SH lightgrid. Notice directional lighting and normal mapping on characters.

Looking better. Gives me hope that they're still working on the visuals.

Proceed

>>59896457
Whatever they do, there won't be actual, correct shadows. The lighting's baked into the maps. They could maybe do something like precomputed map geometry shadowmaps for each light, and then render characters on top and then lookup when rendering the world, but then they'd have to store each light's contribution in a separate lightmap. With that many lights I don't think it would run well on low-spec hardware.

>>59896293

See:

>>59896131

Shadows.

SPOILERS: Betas are never at maximum detail.

>>59896640
Look at that fucking pipe in the background there.
>no shadows

I'd expect this shit from a Jedi Knight Academy map or something. This is just inexcusable. Unless the graphics are really tightened the fuck up (on level 3) by release, I may just pass this up.

>>59896746

It's beta man.

Have you not noticed the changes from alpha to beta?

>>59896682
Looking at more screenshots, it looks like they just make a single shadow based on an approximation of the light's direction at the character's place in the lightgrid, then darken the floor a little.

>>59896293

This is not official screenshots faggot.

You can't turn graphics to high yet, to get a real idea of what the game will look like, wait until e3.

>>59895848
>but I'm sure someone will chime in to say it still looks terrible and the game is going to suck

But it still does look horrible compared to guild wars 2.

>>59896746
>passing up a game because pipe has no shadows
>QQ

it still looks terrible and the game is going to suck

>>59896914
>implying turning up the graphics will change how the renderer works in such a large way

Well, maybe they've got a bunch of different renderers like STALKER.

>>59896938

>GW2

Now THERE's some potential for a fuckwin game.

>>59896954
The pipe isn't the issue, it just speaks of the level of quality right now.

>>59897005
Definitely just using an approximation at a given point to cast a single shadow. Look at this guy, why is the shadow pointing the wrong way? Too little light under the ship, incorrect shadow direction.

>>59897017
Kinda like the potential of Guild Wars I?
owaitthatgamesshitnow

>>59896293
>>59896470
>>59896457

ITT idiots.

THESE ARE SCREENSHOTS FROM PEOPLE IN ALPHA PLAYING THE GAME AT LOW SETTINGS.

So your conversation has no meaning.

>>59897176

But I enjoyed it at first, and no longer play because Anet fucked it up.

Thus, the beginning of the game should be good, and the expansions questionable at best if they follow the same formula.

>>59897231
actually these are internal beta shots SE provided to the press. this looks shitloads better than alpha, look at the first 2 I posted.

>>59897359

they provided screenshots without anti-aliasing?

what the fuck SE?

Not OP, but alpha tester here.

For anyone who cares, here's the confirmation there will be an auction house. You can't enter it yet, though.

>>59897359
>Press shots from the dev
>No AA

I'll say it, the rocks still look kinda bad and (next shot) night is still way too blue. Oh well. FFXI's graphics didn't exactly blow my mind away either, but this I can live with.

>>59896470
>I took Into to 3D Design

last shot, will close with world map

>>59897518
People were expecting there to not be an AH?

Lighting looks so much better, though I still hope they give us more options to tweak the graphics so they look similar to the cutscenes. pic related

>>59897679
>Lighting affects everything but the ground

I must say, that's pretty jarring.

FUCK FF14 is in africa

>>59897771

Dunno, but I know /v/, you have to confirm every tiny detail or they'll throw a shit fit.

>>59897590
I absolutely hate the rocks so much... it just looks so incredibly amateurish... still I'm really looking forward to this game

Ear armor.

(alpha screenshot)
armor dying confirmed

>>59897920

The rocks become more detailed when you're close to them. I'm pretty sure you can increase the size of the "the rocks look good"-bubble in the finished game.

It looks a shitload better than Aion at the moment, Aion had fantastic models and other assets, but the actual world terrain looked terrible. Yet to see if TERA or this ends up looking better.

Not that I care that much, I don't really play an MMO to demand massively high graphics, so long as they can present an interesting vista or 2 and good equipment, I'll be pleased.

I'm going to avoid starting in Limsa Lominsa just so I don't have to see those fucking rocks.

>>59898080
Ah, I sure hops so. I mean graphics definitely aren't everything, but the rocks really bothered me... it's stupid but they're such an eyesore to me.

I really do look forward to seeing all the graphical options we can enable and see it in full use.

They also changed the looks of some NPCs around compared to the pre-alpha screenshots on the site.

Here's one from the site. Comparison incoming.

>>59897938
>armor dying
OH GOD ELABORATE
You mean dying as in coloring
not as in degrading until it explodes, right?
RIGHT?

>>59898312

And this is what they look like now.
Lack of ear-chainmail makes me sad.

Sup guys?

>>59898360
Who the fuck would call "armor durability" "armor dying"? Are you fucking mental?

these look pretty bad

why are people excited for this shit again?

>>59898360
haha. yes, of course. it seems like gear has a "finishing" material that modifies appearance (color, possibly texture, don't know).

>>59898458

It's in alpha. The engine is probably being retooled for MMO and shit.

>>59898451

Dye. As in color.

WoW cata screenshots look better than this pile of shit

>>59898554

dat texture

Looks like the world has no life at all. Great, another fucking disappointment.

>>59898619

0/10

>Beta screenshots
>Implying it isn't still in alpha

everything is fucking white or brown

>>59898685
That was something I didn't like in FFXI. Outside of the three cities, it was just mobs and empty land.

Too bad the game is still a god damn borefest.

>>59898624
is this a new screenshot of her? she looks much better and the details in her eyes, hair and hair ornaments look fantastic.

>>59897938

It's like I'm really playing Dark Age of Camelot.

>>59898725
>reading comprehension
>implying it wasn't already explained that these are press release shots from more recent internal builds than the crappy alpha build the public is playing on right now

Do these dumb ass japs not understand night or something? the lighting is STILL fucked up. Jesus christ.

This is why we can't have nice things.

Because there will always be faggots like you judging alpha-state graphics.

PLEASE DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT play this game. Stick to your lolwow, we dont want you ruining another community.

asians couldnt make an mmo if their life depended on it

Seriously, this doesn't look good at all. Stop deluding yourselves.

>>59899003
FFXI has got quite possibly the worst community of any P2P MMO. Enjoy your grinding bullshit.

My lalafell will be sporting facial hair.

>Graphics are important

Sure is children in here.

omg what is this

>>59899093
>thinks people play MMO for awesome next gen graphics when the most popular MMO looks like this

>>59899189
Atmosphere is though.

Also, nice vidya sage.

>>59899104
Not if you like asian emoticons and faggots who play catgirls that say "RAWR x3" a lot.

Am I seriously supposed to be impressed by these? nevermind the fact that the combat system is shit. The only people who are going to play this are the thousands of FFXI no-life having addicts.

Enjoy your /1000+ played days

Ok you hate it.
I understand.

>>59899282
umad

it's shit, move along

>Enjoy your /1000+ played days
>insulting by suggesting that the game will stay fun for a decade

I want my muskateer class god damn it

I was so hyped for this until I saw the first trailer, and now these screens are just sealing the deal.

>>59899411
Yeah but this is FFXI we're talking about. It's anything but fun.

>>59899414
it's coming, bro, it's coming. it's already been datamined, it's in the game.

Why do XIV threads get trolled so hard?
XI threads are usually fine

fgsfds

>>59899104

What you call grind, we gave a meaning to it. You haven't played a real co-operative rpg, until you play FFXI. You have no idea because you never obviously, played the game. From a 6 people xp group to massive PVE, everything needs a fine tuning, an alignment, and a timing, that makes games like wow seem mentally challenged.

As for the community, troll harder.

>>59899525
Defensive WoW-fags.

Even talking about any MMO that isn't WoW, they'll take it as an insult.

>>59899525
WoW kids and GW faggots

>>59899525
I usually just ignore them.
Heck, they're just opinions. Let em rant off.

>>59899349

Can not wait to get this game. Fuck it's going to be the most amazing game this decade.

>>59899525
>XI threads are usually fine
no they aren't, unless they turn into mithra dumps. this is general /v/ FF trolling.

>>59899615
Hey woah, I can understand the WoW hate, but I liked GW :\

Looks fantastic for a mmo.

Too bad it's gonna be casual easy mode waste of time like wow.

>>59899525

Asspained wow faggots.

Looks nice, they should show more green areas though.

>>59899611

But I'm a WoWfag of 5 years that is looking forward to XIV =o. Of course, I played FFXI for 3 years prior to that and loved every second of it.

>>59899655
the monsters look so good. why does the world look like utter shit?

>>59899615
>>59899611
Notice how these white knights immediately assume anyone posting about how terrible this game looks MUST be a WoW-playing or GW-playing kiddie.

I lol'd

>>59899845
>white knights
You're using that wrong.

>>59899845
>Implying that the majority of MMO players on /v/ aren't playing WoW

>>59899784
Gridania (one of the other starting cities) is going to have tons of trees and streams and shit, but they've already said it won't be playable until retail. Maybe we'll get press release screenshots of it at some point though.

>>59899845
>I lol'd
Troll confirmed.
Ignoring...now.

THIS GAME LOOKS SHIT CHECK OUT MY AMAZING WOW CATACLYSM GRAFIKS

>>59895848
personally i hope FFXIV does well, i used to play FF11 and enjoyed it (for a time) and moved on to WoW.

i might give this one a shot.

>>59899845
>Using white knights incorrectly

Newfag detected

>my face when the mapmaker's surname is Ironheart

Didn't read through the whole thread, but so they've already sent out beta invites? This makes me a sad panda, nothing in my mailbox.

I'll admit, it looks good. Just wait when it comes to OB, game will be terrible. Enjoy your non-supportive company.

>nitpicking shadows
>see leaked alpha video of an archer soloing a slightly stronger mob with bow at point blank range on a non-responsive, 1000 ping server
>conclude that the combat is slow and the game will suck

I'm glad that people like these won't be playing this game
These alpha leaks actually work well as idiot-filters

>>59899985

I didn't know they still made Dreamcast games.

>>59899570
You're not fooling anyone, no matter how eloquently you try to make FFXI/this game seem. Seriously who do you think you are talking to? This isn't whatever FFXI circlejerk shithole you came from. We KNOW for a fact MMOs are god damned terrible and the people that play them are even worse.

>This Thread

I'm real excited for this game, looks great.
Also, is it okay if I like this game, FFXI, GW, and WoW? It is apparently a sin according to my father.

>>59899736
>implying if it was hardcore it would suddenly be worth the time

Jesus fucking christ, shut the hell up about the graphics. You goddamn people are the reason gaming is dying a slow, casual death, and driving the cost of games up while the quality of everything but the graphics continues to decline. The graphics are fucking fine, let them finish the parts that matter. Are you seriously more concerned about the lighting engine than the gameplay in an MMORPG? GTFO my hobby.

I MAD.

>>59900003
>Ironheart... where have I---

O_O

But seriously, it says that on the map in this thread?
where?

>>59900089
That's not a fact.
That's an opinion.
>>59900031
Can I borrow your time machine when you're done with it?
I need to tell my past self that under no circumstances am I ever to come here.

>>59900027
no these are from an internal build. beta won't start for a couple more weeks at least.

>>59900195
we mad ):

My god MMOfags are pathetic pieces of shit. How the FUCK can you play a game for anywhere near 1000 days. That's straight up addiciton. I would beat my child within an inch of his/her life if he ever got that addicted to a video game. That's what most of the FFXI userbase are, fat, ugly, no future addicts who are leeching off their parents like the parasites that they are. Fucking disgusting. Makes me ashamed I even play video games.

>>59900240
It's on the website.
World -> Map -> In One Are Twelve

>>59900326
u mad

>>59900282
It's an opinion if you play MMOs and if you do your opinion doesn't mean shit so just shut your fucking mouth and take it like the bitch that you are.

>>59900297
Thanks

>>59900089

Most pay-to-play MMO's are incredibly entertaining, and while the majority of their communities are dumb fucks, you don't have to deal with them if you make your own Guild/Clan/Linkshell/etc. If you're playing MMO's on PUG mode you're playing the game wrong.

The only exception to this is FFXI. God damn that game had THE most helpful community i've ever seen.

>>59900297
Beta Phase 1 will hit around the same time as E3, and Phase 2 will be announced around that time as well.
OB will be announced along with a solid release date sometime around TGS.

>>59900326
I see.
You're pretty good with making up assumptions.

>>59899845
notice how you don't know what a white knight is, summer kid

>>59900360
>Checks it
THE FUCK?

So is that just a "lol remember that other MMO we made" reference?
Or is that a "secretly this is the same universe" reference?

SQUARE!

>>59900468
>Most pay-to-play MMO's are incredibly entertaining

>>59900282
Sega doesn't make time machines, what're you talking about?

I WANT TO SEE FIGHTS BITCH, NOT PLACES

>>59900424
That makes no sense at all now does it?
I had no idea people could be so illogical.

I'm waiting to hear about some support classes.

Seems like everything is DPS.

>>59900667

Well, if you can't find the enjoyment in 'em, I suppose it's not the genre for you then is it?

>>59900685
Oh, I'm sorry, I just assumed you had one with all that talk about how the game will be in the future.

... looking good

Looks fun, I played WoW for a year after playing FFXI for 5 years on and off. I recently quit WoW because I can't see much fun in it compared to FFXI (plus the community was horrendous).

I'm hoping to have fun with MMOs again

>>59900326
>implying they would ever have a child

>>59900885
durin high school?

>>59900089

Explain in brief what happens to an average THF party on FFXI.

You can't because if you could, you would talk about this game in a completely different tone.

You you think you're talking to? an WoW fag? or maybe a newfag playing Aion?


FFXI and EVE are the only mmo's worth playing.

The following facts lead you to your conclusion.

1.You have no idea what FFXI means.

2.You know for a fact that 99.9% of mmo's suck.

Pic related, apart from revolutionary gameplay from hate direction to aligned tanking, FFXI looks like this, being a 8yo game.

Still hoping for Bard, even though the datamined info doesn't say shit about bards or instruments.

>>59900846
I can see the future through these shades, but you can't have them.

another direct alpha->beta lighting comparison

>>59900998

I've seen a bard NPC, but that doesn't really mean a lot.

>>59901079
Who would wear shades indoors?

>>59901195
Only a badass.

>>59901105
While it still needs lightning on the floor, this is good that they are taking steps to fine tune things.

WHITE
BROWN
GREEN
WHITE
BROWN
GREEN
WHITE
BROWN
GREEN
WHITE
BROWN
GREEN
WHITE
BROWN
GREEN
WHITE
BROWN
GREEN
WHITE
BROWN
GREEN

>>59900998
Same here, Bardbro.

and another

>>59901228
Clearly.

This is why I hate the vidya of the day.

Everyone automatically assumes a game is good because of graphics.

Man, /v/ makes a ton of terrible threads, but I don't think anything tops the thread-shitting that goes on in FFXIV threads. They're always an unending circle of explanations for what a freaking alpha is and what that suggests about the graphics, then wowfags start making fun of it simply because it isn't wow, despite not knowing a damn thing about the actual game. Then it just degrades into weird xenophobia combined with pointless wow comparisons.

>>59900984

Bard gets a mob. DD gets on one side of the mob, tank on other side. Get 100 TP (you probably already do if this isn't the first mob). TA Eviscerate from behind tank. Get another 100 TP. SA Eviscerate on the DD side. Mob is dead. Bard gets another mob. Repeat.

>>59901463

Today*, rather.

>>59901463
No one said it would be good because of the graphics.

They only said it "looks good"

>>59901545
>>late response is late

SO SQUARE ENIX, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE COLOSSEUM?

>>59900984

Wait, what? I'm not the dude you're responding to, but I play FFXI, and what the hell is a THF party?

Limsa Lominsa is a pretty boring town. I imagine Square is saving the better cities for the retail version.

For instance: Ul'dah

It's a game version of Vegas, with its extravagance, drinking, gambling, arena fighting, and Sultans with

>>59901745
Not dude you're responding to, but I think he means party with a THF

>>59901881

Oh, heh, duh. -.- I imagined some weird THF-burn setup or something.

Object shadows are blobs/non-existant.

>>59901816
I agree with you 100%, Limsa Lominsa seems incredibly boring compared to just the little bit we've heard of Ul'dah and Gridania. And then there's Ishgard which I assume will be like a Jeuno-type place.

>>59900975
Yeah I played FFXI at the middle-end of HS and through college, the on and off part comes in when I tried other games. (PSU, COH)

WoW was after college when I had some friends who played it. That faded fast when they all quit before ICC came out.

but getting back on topic, like I said before I loved FFXI's community, there was lots of weaboos sure.. but compared to "GS? ACHIVE? LOL SCRUB ISN'T 2800 ARENA!! PVP!"

Amazing what a game without pvp can be like

>>59901627

pro anon is monitoring several threads at once with a stunning new innovation called "tabbed browsing"

Limsa Lominsa is basically the Sand'Oria of FF14.

Except with the confusing layout and tons of walking like Windurst.

>>59902032
Which makes you slower than ever.

>>59901984
Yeah, the only party I didn't like about the community was... Can't a THF get a little lovin? And also JP community on my server were snobs, even with the auto translator they wouldn't take ya.

The fact that WoW players are claiming FFXI has the worst MMO community is making my brain leak through my nose.

>>59902182
JP ONRY

>>59902032
>> Pro anon can't keep up with threads tabbed, so maybe should just drop this one.

>>59902097

It looks more like Bastok. They're both port towns with color palettes that consist of white and gray.

>>59902243
XI FAGS DON'T EVEN USES MEMES AS OFTEN AS WE DO!!!1!

>>59902287

I hope the JP xenophobia will be nonexistent. In FF11, all the english players came into the game a year after. It was a bunch of level 1 noobs running around messing with Level 75 jp players.

But in FF14, everyone will start from the beginning at the same time.

>>59902243
I'm a WoW player, and I have to say my time with FFXI was definitely nicer as far as players go. But not a ton. In general WoW players are mouth breathing retards, but I played on a RP server where the community is MUCH better. There is hardly any progression and no one cares about raiding or PvP, but everyone is a lot more helpful.

I'm excited regardless, even though everyone is bitching about the battle system I think shits gonna be awwwwwwwwright.

>>59902299
Technically every city and town in FFXI was a port town. The only exception was Rabao.
Which I'm glad they're changing in XIV.

>>59902299
Seems like an amalgamation to me. White/grey from Bastok, winding confusing paths from Windy, and the city's flag reminds me of Sandy.

>>59902492

There's almost always going to be some distance between most JP and NA/EU players simply due to the language barrier. Even if auto-translate is vastly improved over XI's it probably still won't be enough. Using clunky pre-chosen phrases just isn't the same as typing what you want.

The JPONLY thing eventually died down a lot though; it was mostly only prevalent the first few years. It never went away entirely of course, but eh, what can you do?

>>59902287
That wasn't so bad when I was on Phoenix, it was pretty small and a good amount of nice NA players.

Except it smelled a lot like gasoline and credit cards in certain link shells

>>59902855
>The JPONLY thing eventually died down a lot though; it was mostly only prevalent the first few years. It never went away entirely of course, but eh, what can you do?

The thing is, it probably would have happened anyhow regardless of how things started. Not as bad as the first few years as you mentioned, of course.

>>59903102
Bayonetta?

>>59903266
Dem legs man.

>>59902521

Oh, FFXI has its idiots too of course, but from what (admittedly short) time I spent with WoW, if what I saw was around average for a server I don't know what the hell these people think the FFXI playerbase is like to accuse it of being worse.

Two problems I saw when I played WoW that I think hurt its sense of community:
1. World Chatroom. What the hell.
2. Its kind of hard to get people to learn how to play with others (both in terms of game mechanics and social behavior) when you can basically level as high as you want by simply soloing.

>>59903102
I'm seriously glad they are putting more patterns on their gear. I really wanted them to give their equipment designs the Akihiko Yoshida treatment with the wonderful embellishments and whatnot.

>>59903388
>Its kind of hard to get people to learn how to play with others (both in terms of game mechanics and social behavior) when you can basically level as high as you want by simply soloing.

This is one thing that I'm not a fan of that most MMOs seem to be picking up from WoW. The ability to solo -everything-. The problem with this is that people have one bad party and decide to solo level their way to max. When you're given the choice to not put up with other people and just go alone, chances are most people will just do that.

Then there's someone like me who likes to party, in fact I think soloing in MMOs is fuck all boring. If I wanted to play a single player game, I would. I'm playing a grindtastic MMO because I can do it with friends or play with random people and make new friends.

WoW eventually fixed this with their random dungeon system, giving people the ability to solo or group if they want and not being stuck just soloing (which the game was 1-60 solo for a long time) or something like FFXI where you're constantly in a party.

The problem is, games are picking up WoW's solo mentality but not the fixes they did recently to make it so you're not forced to solo. So every MMO coming out recently is basically a single player game. And so they suck.

>>59903102
Classy and sexy.
Just how I like it.

>>59903388
>1. World Chatroom. What the hell.
It's only linked between cities. Each faction has access to 6 cities (2 being shared). Still annoying as hell having hundreds of players spam the chat at once.
>2. Its kind of hard to get people to learn how to play with others (both in terms of game mechanics and social behavior) when you can basically level as high as you want by simply soloing.
It's sadly only been made worse recently.

Looking forward to XIV. Played WoW for 4 years now and I'm beginning to get bored with it. Fresh start with a new MMO will be nice.

>>59903938
Is the Alpha test over, or was that just the servers shutting down for that day?

>>59903985
which is why i'm going to get in a guild as soon as this game comes out
soloing is dull as fuck

>>59904287

Just the end of the test for the day. The tests only last 4 hours a time.

Wait it's in beta now?
Where is my invite? ;_;

>>59904769
It was all sent out two days ago! You didn't get one?

Are last names mandatory?

>>59904769
No it's still in Alpha.

I'm assuming the Beta shots are from a build that isn't implemented yet.

>>59904769
Patience.

>>59904896

So far, yes.

I'm not sure what the point is beyond having a space in your name, since all NPCs always use your full name.

>>59904815
No ;_;
I checked that I haven't been in a beta before, and AFTER I submitted my application (and extra opt ins), I get invited to two betas.
Now I am a sad rarab.

god I love the armor design, it's such a breath of fresh air after playing WoW

>>59905167

I love the ears so much.

>>59905104
They said it's so people's names will be harder to sit on.
But I interpret it as meaning there will be like fifty Clouds on each server.
Cloud Strife
Cloud Sephiroth
Cloud Leonhart
Cloudsquall Mcsephiroth