Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

[Akashimo]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

Meh, I think ffxi does a good job of making anything possibly coppied orginal and work into the style of things

[SuperHeroSeth]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

ha, lawsuit nothin, just proves all mmos copy from one another and eventually there wont be any difference between em

[Murphie]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

Exactly, Jei. Even though it's not very realistic, it's consistency makes it all work.

[Jei]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

One thing that WoW does really well (but that you can't see as well in screenshots) is that it succeeds in making everything seem real, even if it's colors or shape are unnatural. Things move. There are rabbits and squirrels among the foliage (who often fall prey to the predatory mobs in the area), and birds and butterflies that flit through the air. And the NPCs have complex behavior, and they react in a (relatively) realistic way that helps to make the illusion more complete, even though it is still fantastic.

The thing that holds WoW's graphic together so well is their consistency. Every textures share the same characteristic and quality: They are all hand painted and the artists weren't even hiding their brush strokes. Pretty cool if you're into digital painting and start looking at them up close.

[DakAttack]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

(chocobos are cute and cuddly - that phoenix looks more likely to step on you than nuzzle you).

That's because everything in WOW is angry and agressive by default. There really isn't anything cute and cuddly, which is strange when mixed with such Disney graphics.

[Icemage]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

Most of what makes WoW pretty is the animation and particle effects used. The actual polygon count of the models is relatively low (this is a mostly because Blizzard is obsessed with performance) which does hurt the quality of the artwork a bit, but the flamboyant use of particle effects and small touches like the hunter/prey AI in the wilds and moving townsfolk make up for some of that.

From an aesthetics viewpoint, I'm not personally fond of the highly saturated colors of WoW. There are a few places that aren't quite such a riot of color, but they're few and far between - this is quite the opposite in FFXI, where you see only occasional bursts of color. Still, there are a lot of people who like the artistic style in WoW, and that's OK too.

Coming full circle back to the original topic, I doubt it's a rip-off or even a subconscious attempt at one. I don't even think it's an attempt to hold onto FFXI refugees; that steed doesn't look much like a chocobo at all (chocobos are cute and cuddly - that phoenix looks more likely to step on you than nuzzle you).


Icemage

[Murphie]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

[Name]strider (Plainstrider, etc.) is a nomenclature that they use throughout the game for that breed of animals. They have had ostrich type mobs since launch, so it's not something that they just decided to do recently.

[DakAttack]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

Oh, at the bottom of the Cockatrice article it says they renamed the mount as Hawkstrider. That's good, because it doesn't look like a hawk either.

[Murphie]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

In WoW's defense, they do have areas of green trees, blue skies, and rolling meadows. The starting area for Humans is the quintessential forest village, for example.

One thing that WoW does really well (but that you can't see as well in screenshots) is that it succeeds in making everything seem real, even if it's colors or shape are unnatural. Things move. There are rabbits and squirrels among the foliage (who often fall prey to the predatory mobs in the area), and birds and butterflies that flit through the air. And the NPCs have complex behavior, and they react in a (relatively) realistic way that helps to make the illusion more complete, even though it is still fantastic.

[Nerotu]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

IMO, WoW looks FAR TOO colourful. Orange trees, massive purple things it's just too...ehh. I know it's supposed to be that way, but seriously, I like a game with a bit of realism, such as a blue sky and green leaves.
Right, now for the chocobo thing. Although WoW hasn't ripped off FFXI, they still did a VERY poor job on what they were trying to do. The artwork isn't good, the realism isn't good, the sizes aren't proportional, and how the feck are they suppose to get on its back?

[Jei]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

Behemoth & Leviathan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Behemoth3.jpg

I like this Leviathan gravings a lot @@;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:D..._Leviathan.png

[DakAttack]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

Ok first off, the mount is a cockatrice, not a phoenix. This is a phoenix. Which is an epic flying mount (that's also the Dark Portal in the background). As others have pointed out: How unique can, what amounts to a ridable ostrich, get? So no, WoW isn't ripping off FFXI when it comes to the cockatrice mount.

FFXI has both a cockatrice and a chocobo, and they don't look anything alike. Though FFXI's cockatrice doesn't look exactly like its description, it sure as hell doesn't look like an ostrich or chocobo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockatrice

Way to go Blizzard. If you're going to rip off a well known fictional mode of transportation, don't give it the name of a legendary creature without giving it any of the features. What a lazy bunch of gits.

[Manatra]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

*puts her flame retardant suit on*

Ok first off, the mount is a cockatrice, not a phoenix. This is a phoenix. Which is an epic flying mount (that's also the Dark Portal in the background). As others have pointed out: How unique can, what amounts to a ridable ostrich, get? So no, WoW isn't ripping off FFXI when it comes to the cockatrice mount.

To the person spouting off about Renaissance vs Impressionist work, your point is...? As far as I can gather, you're trying to say that the FFXI art style is better than WoW's art style by comparing the period and movement. However, both the artists from the Renaissance period and the Impressionist movement were quite successful in what they set out to accomplish. The same can be said for WoW and FFXI, each game's art style sets out to accomplish different things and both are quite successful.

As for the instances, it's largely a preference thing. I prefer instances because you can get some fairly unique fights that are more than just tank and shank which you couldn't do when you have "competing" groups. You also start getting what I call the "Half-Life" effect where the story can be incorporated into the instance. Hard to explain, but if you've played through Half-Life you should know what I mean.

Oh, and finally to those saying that WoW rips off a whole bunch of MMORPGs and coming off as if FFXI is innocent in this matter. FFXI is basically Everquest draped in Final Fantasy clothing. This was especially apparent when it was first released. It's shocking, I know, but it's how the industry (and entertainment in general) works.

Anyway, in the name of balance here are some WoW screenshots:
http://www.worldofraids.com/v2/img/n.../Karazhan2.jpg
http://www.worldofraids.com/v2/img/n...ar/exodar1.jpg
http://www.worldofraids.com/v2/img/n...fang-Raid2.jpg
http://www.worldofraids.com/v2/img/n...songwoods4.jpg
http://www.worldofraids.com/v2/img/n...Peninsula4.jpg
http://www.worldofraids.com/v2/img/n...ngarmarsh7.jpg

And some videos:

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?doc...42698758513414
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...77589167214073 (Note: The editor did embellish the graphics a bit in Adobe Aftereffects, especially the "circle" animation.)

(yes I know, I helped make both of the videos and it's a shameless plug but meh)

[Theyaden]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

The person I was responding to made a blanket statement the game held no challenge which is patently absurd to anyone who had played it for any length of time beyond the starting levels. There's a big difference to someone making educated criticism or even offering an opinion based on experience but the person in question was just spewing stupidity and maligning a good game. So, before you start defending people's freedom of speech and expression then please make sure you read and understand both sides of the discussion and I'd be grateful if you refrained from trying to put words in my mouth.

I have no interest in putting words in your mouth I quoted your statements without omision so it would be clear what I was refering to in my own statements.

Opinions are not all posted with our own personal standards that we may consider worthy if he was right or wrong is beside the point in my opinion. The price of having our views tolerated is we must sometimes allow those whos ideals are repugnent to us also speak. I actually like the fact you presented arguments as to why you feel is is wrong you telling him to shutup was where I took exception. If you wish to discuss this in more detail please PM me and we can discuss it further without subjecting everyone else to our walls of text.

[Macht]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

Ehh, instance zone I don't like. Especially not to that kind of scale, the competiton with other for an NM is actually an enjoyable part for me. Also a big zone entirely to yourself? that's just taking away a lot of the world feel to it and almost sounds like GW was somewhat taking the idea from .hack in a way.