Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Asheron's Call: Graphics Update in the Works
MikeB
Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo of the Asheron's Call community team casually posted a tease yesterday of what appears to be a major graphical upgrade for the venerable MMO on the official Asheron's Call forums.
(Click the image above to view the after shot.)
The upgrade is likely to make it into the game as part of a larger update slated to release this November, however Frelorn does mention that it is possible that some of the texture upgrades may make it into the game even earlier.
You can view the remaining two example shots here.
[Thanks Christopher8 for the tip!]
Comments
Interesting. I actually reactivated my old account up a month or so ago and stopped through. Happy to see them still making moves with the franchise though at this point I wish they'd start working towards a new addition with maybe an AC3 or something of the likes.
Looking through the changes just makes me realise even more how much I just dont care about visuals so long as the game play stands up. It's good to see the changes imo purely from the perspective that it shows development of any kind but if you're playing AC do you really care about the shinies in the first place?
-----
The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.
Of course not, but it's still nice to see them making improvements and additions to the game that aren't directly gameplay related. The updated textures will probably be appreciated by anyone playing, for sure. And it's been such a long time coming you can't really complain about the resources spent towards the graphical upgrades.
Graphics updates are good. What about movement mechanics? I would LOVE to have the "OPTION" to use my mouse to turn and right click to talk to npcs/attack mobs and use WASD to strafe and move forward and backward, like I do with all my modern MMOs
#1 Argument to that is people would have to upgrade their computers and they don't like that. However, not updating the graphics leads to subscription cancelations due to prettier (not better in any other way) MMORPGS.
I personally wish this also happened years ago because I have such nestagila for this game.
AC1 is the best game of all time imo.
But for me to come back they need to;
1) Create a new server.
2) update the UI and graphics.
Do those 2 things and I would come back in a heart beat.
Why not revamp it with the AC2 engine?
I wondered why Everquest never did that. Why develop all this new content when you have a content goldmine already? Just update the looks.
The textures are a tad cleaner, but nothing to write home about. Not much you can do though with such an old game, but i'm sure the die hards will love it.
Archlinux ftw
If they would startup AC 2 again I would play it. And they could polish the grafix while they are at it.
Graphics updates are awesome, but I don't think they need to update the mechanics of the game like somebody above wanted. AC has always been a hard game to start up in and the movement is probably the best I have seen in any game. I don't want all the WoW tards (I still play WoW, so... am I included?) and carebears coming to my already filled carebear server and wanting to move with their mouse. Learn the mechanics or go cry about it to your friends in other games. Also, starting up AC2 would be retarded. AC 1 with AC2 graphics would be decent though.
from what i heard from other player it seems just rising the resolution to HD and correct the issue that would come with this idea would be enough.since the graphic were made to be low resolution back then!
AC was my first MMO and one of my favorite, nice to see it still getting some love although it doesn't look too huge of a change based on the screenshots. I miss the feel of Asheron's Call; the sandbox world with the skill based character development, no other MMO has brought back that magic for me except for maybe Pre-NGE SWG. Strange that one of the first MMO's was sandbox w/skill based character development and nowadays most MMO's are themepark and class based, after awhile I get bored with being confined by the limits of specific classes and I am not much of an alt-a-holic.
A new incarnation of the Asheron's Call franchise would be cool, if it were a lot more like Asheron's Call and not like AC2, which I felt was a real letdown in comparison to the original game. Given the lack of success of AC2 and the fact that Turbine is now owned by WB, I doubt we will eve see a rebirth of the AC series. We'll probabaly see a Harry Potter MMO sometime soon (unfortunately), but never another AC game.
Was going to post this in the AC forums but someone beat me to it for once, nice.
I love AC, so please don't get me wrong, because I'd love to see a new/updated version of the game, but with the graphics engine they have all they are doing is making the graphics from looking 10 years dated to looking 7 years dated... lol
The pictures are just of the texture upgrades, thats just phase 1 of the graphics update...gotta start from somewhere!
I don't understand your stance here. Being an MMO you want MORE people to play your game with you, allowing you to experience it fully. Changing the controls to be more USER FRIENDLY can only be a bonus.
Basically what you just said is what I used to say as a kid when we didn't want that guy down the street playing with us. we said "We're playing alone." or "It's my house so leave." Not realizing till later that that guy could have added a whole new dimension to any games you were playing.
Asherons's Call was my first mmorpg as well ~ tho we didnt' call it such then ~ I'de go back to skinny dippin' under Rithwic's bridge in a heartbeat myself....I love the gameplay, the open ability of creating your own unique character as you advance, not cookie cutter like almost everything since AC, the crafting, upgrading, housing, guilds, absolutely everything is done well and still beats everygame i've been in since *and I've tested and paid to play or freeplayed all in search of another AC* --- I even went back just a year ago to check it out --- it only needs the graphics to be updated so my character doesn't split in two with a robe on
or couple other small changes... it had my online life for over 5 yrs and would gladly give it another 5 and pay to play it ...*keeps her fingers crossed* here's hoping its just not a bandaid fix on graphics... I'll go back to those thrashers and shadows and corals and and and and --- banders in Rithwic Tower 
) sooooo many reasons to go back.... sorry for my rant ... it truly was the best on the market...I've heard over the years from everyone I've met that have crossed my path in other games, that were in AC as well, that they'de go back today if they made some changes to graphics too. There's always hope!
I was just about to say something along those lines. A UI upgrade, and all the stuff you said too.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Bleakmage
I've heard so many people say basically the same over the years, me included.
So. . .
1: Graphics upgrade, especially for the characters
2: UI and controls update
3: I'd subscribe and never look back.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Bleakmage
Looks great, though it would be nice if they would now upgrade the character textures also.
If people have to upgrade their computers to play this still well below par updated graphics of this old MMO, then they really need a slap with a rotten old fish for hanging on to such old Pc hardware when even a medium range Pc for gaming play games just fine.
Absolutely right - the graphics form an important part of the feel of the game itself - if Turbine are going to spend time and money, why not update the connection technology which is preventing so many past players with modern cable and broadband from playing the game? Look through the forums and there are large numbers of posts of players wnating to start playing again, but can't get past the update stage of the login due to the NAT/NAPT issue.
wtf... they should just pull up old ACII and fix it... wtf is this shit,
"Sometimes people say stuff they don''t mean, but more often then that they don''t say things they do mean"
AC2 was a travesty; there's a reason it is shut down. This is the first step towards getting me to resub and I'm sure many others feel the same way.
It shows that after almost 11 years, they still care and update the game.
Too little too late. They'll get some schlubs to resub for nostalgia, but the product isn't what I'd want in 2010.