Far Cry

[Venmoch]

Meh I've got Battlefield Vietnam...

[Geminosity]

grrrr... it's a kitty smiley.  Think =) but kitty.

Anyways, the MMO I'm cautiously optimistic about is Guild Wars
It has no monthly fee (instead you pay for story chapters, the great thing being that you don't actually have to buy them so you only have to pay when something is actually added basically and even then there's nothing forcing you to fork out for it... you can still keep playing alongside all your friends and have fun regardless of what you've paid for =o ), no massive level grind (there's a lil bit of levelling but it's not the point of the game... so it's over reasonably quickly), the team say the emphasis in combat is player skill rather than hours invested (omg!) and if you look at the screenies you'll notice that not only is it eye-meltingly pretty but the female avatars for the first time in recorded 3D MMORPG history, don't look hideously ugly =o

[lolfighter]

Well, the female characters in Lineage II aren't exactly ugly either... One might of course argue about the image that they present, but that's a different topic.

[Geminosity]

well ok... lineage II aside :p
It just sounded more dramatic without mentioning that.  Besides, most korean MMOs have nice female avis ^^
It's the western ones that usually have ones designed by people who obviously haven't seen a woman in their lives... that or have the modelling/drawing/skinning skills of a 5 year old when it comes to the female form =P
Miraculously the male avatars in most western MMO games are fine, it's the just la femme who get done badly.

[SaltzBad]

Its probably just a tad bit easier to represent the male shape symbolically with the bulky forms that early 3d games restricted themselves too - and most MMORPGs. Add in some stretched and filtered textures over pyramid tittys, et voila - really crappy avatars.

That, and MMORPGs for some reason feel that good models and animations are secondary, even when countless singleplayer games have done several leagues better

(Compare say Tomb Raider to Neo Cron - now remember just how old TR is :p ).

Edit : and before anyone rants about the humongous tittys in TR, I'm referring to modeling and animation quality, not sheer stupidity of the design ("M'kay, so this version lets give her bigger tittys and more wobbly, yay!")

[Geminosity]

well, despite my usual rerailment of the topic, I was really going on about the faces.  I can put up with a not so well done body (as long as it's not bandy-legged, fat or overly muscley), it's the faces that are usually dire most of all.
One thing you have to keep in mind mr saltz is that tomraider only had a maximum potential rending of lara plus about 4 badguys... try putting lots of heavily modelled players in a town like you'd find in an MMO and watch your PC scream, froth at the mouth and fall over, especially in neocron where it was common to have massive crowds =3

...not that it excused 90% of the female models being so hideously ugly I ended up picking my class because it was the only pretty one :p

Seriously though, I've seen some good low poly, low detail female models in games before.  I just don't know why the modellers/skinners they hire for MMO games tend to be so hopelessly inept at one thing.  The monsters are usually fine and the guys are fine (not because men are supposedly simple to do either).
I dunno if it ocurred to these weirdos but few girls actually appreciate having to pick from ugly avatars; funny that, huh? =3

[Sancho]

Just tried it.

Hrm, I actually kind of like it.  Reminds me of Goldeneye.  I really like the giant island you can explore.  The indoor fighting is just more of the same.

To answer lolfighter's question, I'd say this is the main thing that stands out for me at least:

- Big, Fully explorable Levels

Not sure if I would buy it, but it certainly wasn't a waste of time

[Uranium - 235]

PC scream, froth at the mouth and fall over, especially in neocron where it was common to have massive crowds =3

$Uranium.geekpoints++;


I read that and thought "Player Character" instead of computer... I had to read it four times before I understood...

[Lemur|Zoboomafoo]

I thought it sucked, personally. It's a Far Cry from a winner.  Another Blood II if you will. (Graphics/effects that blow you away, but the gameplay is utter crap)

[lolfighter]

well ok... lineage II aside :p
It just sounded more dramatic without mentioning that.  Besides, most korean MMOs have nice female avis ^^
It's the western ones that usually have ones designed by people who obviously haven't seen a woman in their lives[...]

Conclusion:
Western game designer: Typical videogaming geekboy who goes "omg gurl" upon seeing member of other gender, proceeding to stare BELOW her neck instead of above it when speaking to her.
Eastern game designer: Gets the chicks.