What ho,

Something that's always bugged me when it comes to RPGs (in particular, MMOs) is the fact that what's described as a dense and mysterious forest usually consists of ten trees and a bunch of hills.

I realise why dense forests are difficult to achieve in MMOs, as you can't have too many objects nor use static backgrounds to create an illusion.

But what's the situation with TESO? Do we know? Will forests actually be forests, or are we, again, looking at a few trees?

Only pepple that know at this point are Zenimax. I'm sure we'll see more landscape media soon enough.

Well, if you look this, its pretty normal MMO stuff. Im kinda happy those zones looks bigger indeed than most. Also when I watch that Im really surprised if this is T-rated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxJTsq2XeKY

A dense forest is pretty tough to travel through in real life. It's also tough to really put every single motion a person can do into a video game. I mean, if we are to have a dense forest, our characters need to be able to twist and bend to climb through narrow openings between the brush. Or we have to have the ability to cut down small brush, but it doesn't mean we can just cut down trees.

Graphically it's not impossible, but mechanically it can be a true pain in the rear.

Point taken, hehe. But it'd definitely be possible. A dense forest doesn't warrant a dense undergrowth.

What was that tech demo a couple of years back? Unreal Engine? CryEngine? Anyhow, it showed a perfectly realised forest in real-time, with swaying trees and everything. I'm not asking for that much in an MMO, but I think these companies should demand a bit more from their customers. A lot of people will upgrade their rigs provided the games look astonishing.

In a demo they don't have anything going on in the world except the little scene you see. Just like cut scenes, can't use that to gauge how actual gameplay will be in a game.

Fighting anything in a dense forest would be impossible with the line of sight warning always popping up.

Well, its possible, Play Darkfall, one of the four island is basicall full of trees. Its just big companies prefer quality zones over quantity/size, thats the problem. What Trion World did, they made zones so small they didnt have enough room for monsters. Trust me its pain in the ass to ride when every second one monster jump on you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hgw9DlIK8DY#t=216s

Check this out. I've linked to a specific time in the video. Basically TES with CryEngine. Omnomnom.

If I were to guess, A lot wouldn't be a majority of those who will play this game. My opinion, a lot of people don't want to have to spend another 600 dollars or more to upgrade their rig just to play a game. Regardless of the fact that it is a MMO. I do upgrade my rig every five or so years, but that's ok. Upgrading for every new game that comes out is ridiculous. You'd also just be pushing away people who do have mediocre rigs, and those who still live off their parents that don't just buy their kids the best of the best.

If these companies wish to make a buck off of me, they shouldn't require that I have to spend even more money just for them. I believe business numbers would definitely be in my favor, especially since this is for entertainment, and nothing I am required to do in my everyday life. I'd be better off not playing this game, and playing something I know I can run and enjoy just as much.

Although, tbh, most people do have rigs capable of playing games of at least Crysis' quality. Especially people who invest the most time in games over the long run, as games are their main hobby.

You still don't want to exclude even 5% of your customer base. Business 101.

True. But how often do you see MMOs with amazing graphics and worlds that are of 2012 standard? I think loads of people will take interest in an MMO which dared to stand out that way.

Time is money when it comes to development. Now they can spend more of their time and money on making the game look nice, or they could attempt to do a balance of gameplay and graphics. Both sides, graphics and coding take about the same amount of time to develop. There is a deadline, there always is. The public may not know it, but the management do. There is also a budget. Nothing uses unlimited amount of resources, because investors don't like to just keep throwing money away with no knowledge of product or gain in the future. They can either spread the budget around so we, the customers, get a game that looks good and plays good. They can tip it either way too. It can look fabulous in the graphics department, but then play less than good because resources are tipped. This goes the opposite direction too.

Don't get me wrong. I do want to see a beautiful game. I also want to see a game that doesn't just come with a swath of game breaking bugs. I also am not trying to be a bad guy and just disagreeable. I'm just a realist.

Plus the standard would most likely be what the consoles can play. A lot of the top games are released across all the consoles as well as PC.

TBH, I would love a rich looking forest, but most of the time, it just turns out to be unpassable growth of trees that turn out to be the walls of the area, with a few trees scattered in the middle.

To answer the OPs question directly.

No, we dont know

I like forests, I want them dark, so we could play hide and seek.

Personally I am really looking forward to exploring the beautiful forests of Valenwood on my Nord or my Redgua... oh wait. I can't.

If this genre proves something its exactly opposite. WoW is exactly the reason why I loathe mankind, idiots just play what others plays, they just go where masses go, most people in life has a tunnel-vision. Actually whole game industry is quite polarized. Thats why I think Titan's success brings massive concequences, especially if other devs drop sub fees.

I dont honestly know what even helps other devs anymore. I'd honestly go universal, something ALOT bigger than Star Wars or Fantasy. Ive a bad feeling this is gonna come down as well just like SWTOR, hopefully it manages to get enough subs to surive and stay playable.

what i can see from that, there is enuff trees for my likings

Yea, and more importantly they all look different thats what I meant by "quality" when I said it.

the world looks nice, i mean i am cool with Skyrim enviroment but i liked Oblivion areas more.

i dont know what it is about Oblivion but i personally enjoyed Oblivion more then Skyrim. ( could be that when oblivion comed out it was a lot more cool as a game as skyrim was when it was released ).

Also the art of the vampire lord (the floating one) is imo bad, i would of been more happier with old skool HC looking vampire (more in humanoid form). by doing as they did it, made me like Skyrim dawnguard addons a lot less, a big let down.

in my opinion, one upgare for Skyrim should be the factions, redone 100% with a lot more content and lore, and when they have faction wars, the actual cities and strategic points in the gaming world should be visible taken by that one faction that wins it (the war in Skyrim). AND when that is possible, then all factions in game should be able to be led by player and NPC forces to conquer the whole of the gaming world.

And with all that, the faction warfare by the NPCs should prolly be a bit more lively in TESO also.

=)

i wonder if there is wood resources ingame and how they have made it, if its as dull as in Skyrim and Oblivion or if they have actual trees that can be cut down and work on and cut em. (elfs will love that )

It's indeed quite remarkable that TESO's Skyrim has a larger variety of trees than TES V.

i spotted some pretty mysterious forest around 2:00 ;&--#62; not sure if thats actually a 'dungeon' or a province

Edit: damn it looks like acave? oO what was i thinking when i watched this?

Indeed! Rift's mob density was terribly overdone. It was one of my main gripes with the game. I don't easily ragequit, but when I was in some castle/ruin in gloamwood, and for 100th time I made one wrong step and pulled 2 groups of mobs and died again, I raged.

Stillmoor is the worst by far, its so damn resrictive map it drives me nuts. Luckily they changed their style for expansion.