Why is some CC art so much better, and some EC art better? Can we take the best of both plz?

Any thoughts? Most the art I prefer is in CC. Some art in EC just looks goofy and I hate it, and some CC art just looks dated. Althought I do like the Cu Sidhe better in EC. Why cant we have a client that functions like EC with the good art?

I wonder if people could agree on which art is better. I play EC 99% of the time and the art is mostly okay, though I do think classic has some great art-- and even that which I don't care for that much, like the Gumby and Pokey horses, has a certain retro charm. I could certainly live with CC art in EH just fine

In theory great idea
In reality when was the last time you got six people to decide on a were to have dinner?  
 🙂 

Cu in EC is a pixelated and oversized mess. It looks like Westwood's Blade Runner voxel engine. The CC's is well done and sharp.

The Cu Sidhe in classic looks like it's made of origami. The reason things look pixellated in the EC is because people zoom in too far and everything becomes pixels.
The swamp dragon in the EC is great but in the CC it looks very goofy and chunky. I didn't recognise a hiryu as a hiryu it looked so different.
I'm happy with the EC as it is, I don't think they will waste their limited resources adding CC graphics to the EC, that's if they even could...

the ettins and ogres and the orcs etc look straight dumb in EC tho, that's an example of EC I hate

CC Blue Beetle - GOOD
EC Stink Bug - OMG LMAO  

jaytin said:

I'm happy with the EC as it is, I don't think they will waste their limited resources adding CC graphics to the EC, that's if they even could...

Aren't the EC graphics 3D? That means that CC graphics would have to be redrawn from scratch. It's my understanding that some of the EC models were cannibalized from a different game, which is why some look OK and others not so much. I think that apart from change in models, EC could use higher res graphics. I have some doubts about EC being able to handle the higher resolution graphics performance-wise though. As an aside, despite some ugliness, I'd still prefer EC's graphics to some of the modern UO clones that are trying to make things look like cartoons.

a lot of the 3-d art in EC looks like plain poo. seriously its depressing.

jaytin said:

The Cu Sidhe in classic looks like it's made of origami. The reason things look pixellated in the EC is because people zoom in too far and everything becomes pixels.
The swamp dragon in the EC is great but in the CC it looks very goofy and chunky. I didn't recognise a hiryu as a hiryu it looked so different.
I'm happy with the EC as it is, I don't think they will waste their limited resources adding CC graphics to the EC, that's if they even could...

That look is cool and at least it's sharp. It's not just pixelated due to zoom, it's just a low res mess and also disproportional like so much in the EC.

EC with CC style graphics that are also given more detail. 

+1 

Syncros said:

EC with CC style graphics that are also given more detail. 

Has the CC gone down in quality?  I had not used the CC since before EJ came out.  I had actually liked parts of the CC.  But when I just used the CC today for the first time since EJ the graphics looked very poor.

The horse is dead, but I guess I will give it a good kick anyway. ''Good art" is relative. The older the item in question is in the game, the less advanced the paintbrush that existed at the time to create it. Over time, CC art has gotten "better" as the tools improved. Having said that, I do not play EC for the art. However, the things I see and use on a daily basis look drastically inferior to me in the classic client in my opinion and I would be disappointed if it was changed.


Sorry, Gumby.


They both look like giant beetles to me, just different. Since they can be 5 slot killing machines now, though, I have to say the EC version looks more intimidating to me. The CC one reminds me of those lil pillbugs.


Both good imo, but different. I can see the CC ones better due to coloring.


No disrespect to the CC artist who designed the Cu many years ago, but I like EC one more.


One of the most recent artwork in the game, both look nice to me. I trained my Lasher to 3 slots, scrolled it up. NO magic skill and only one special move, so it had points for good resists, HP, and regens. It is actually very useful and I use it often - the EC artwork looks more muscled and powerful in combat imo, which just makes the rainbow more smile-worthy 🙂

@Tanager thanks for taking the time to share those screenies! I didn't realise so many things were different. Oh and I totally love your outfit in the EC, it looks fantastic! 

Recently added creatures are pretty much the same in both clients, but the artists involved in creating the KR client, from which the EC evolved, seem to have been determined to put their 'stamp' on the graphics and several creatures became completely different to what we recognised. It's the one thing about the client that I heartily dislike to be honest - that and clothes on the paperdoll that look nothing like they do on the figure in game and even less like the item in your back pack when you craft it.
Cu sidhe in CC reminds me somewhat of Dr Who's K9 Too many sharp edges.

Thanks for the outfit compliment 🙂 I stood in the pic so there could be a size comparison with rider and mount, since some one said they thought the Cu was over sized. To me, it looks large enough to actually carry a person without breaking its back.

But do not get me started on the differences in clothing, and trying to create an outfit I like that layers the same and looks decent in both clients at the same time. I enjoy RP, and a large part of RP is getting into the role - which means appearance. Not just what I see, but what I know others are seeing as well.

The BEST thing I could see maybe happening is a legacy art option in EC that works like the legacy paperdoll option. Then there could be one client with the vast superiority of EC, but people could still have their retro art (which is the main reason everyone claims is why they despise EC so much that they refuse to use it). But even then, 2 people could be looking at a character and see something rather different... which, for RP, can be disappointing to be aware of when you are trying to look the part of a specific role.

I'm feeling artistic today, so here are a few more side by side comparisons.



Art for both of these look nice to me, just different. However, the animations of walking and combat are much smoother and realistic in EC imo. CC Ettin heads look better to me, but the EC Ettin club looks like some one is... erm, compensating for something.


Very different versions for the same creature, but the detail and art for both is well done imo. A hiryu is a Japanese flying dragon, but I cannot seem to find any images for the traditional style so I cannot say which version is more accurate. EC looks much more Oriental to me, but I like the CC better overall just for the wings (even tho it still looks like a rather large rooster to me). Neither one is so horribly ugly that I just cannot bear to gaze upon it.


Sadly, EC Greater Dragons are all the same color. (This are pics of the same beast. CC has a red one also.) But the art and animation is just much more enjoyable to me in EC. CC GD has a kind of bowlegged waddle that I find unattractive. I do like the choice of colors, though, for CC, and the lack of animation does have the advantage of being less... obstructive.


White Wyrm is larger in CC, but is basically the same art as CC Dragon and Greater Dragon.


Hard to get a good screencap of a Fire Elemental in EC, it is constantly undulating. Very lovely art tho, imo, and she is *cough* hot.


Both are great art with a lot of detail. But like other creatures, I find the animation and combat art for EC to be much more immersive. I have heard people say all the motion is nauseating, but that CAN be turned off.

Overall, the art for BOTH clients is generally good. Some of the really old stuff is outdated and blobby to my eyes, lacking detail that I personally find attractive in MMO art. Most things from about ToL onward is almost identical in both clients except for animation. Most items are the same for both clients - it is just creatures, players, and landscape that are different. And for that, I think it comes down to personal preference and what a player is already used to. Seeing it done different and being called ''better'' raises defensive hackles.

I agree art work in both are good just different but then I don't play UO for the pretty pitchers the developers provide. What other players do with the tools provided (houses) do impress me but I'm still playing after 18 years for the content.

I use EC for the tools and ease of use it provides not the art. The fact my aging eyesight finds the lager scale available on EC is not an issue.  🙂

PS Great job Tanager I would have never thought of doing comparison screen shots.

The char models but also fairly many monsters in EC are disproportional, like caricatures. The CC Hiryu looks much, much better. The blown out highlights in the EC shots are terrible. Just look at the horse.. it's a fat low-poly blob... 

Can't believe anyone would like the EC Cu Sidhe better. It's a low-detail oversized wolf, with an oversized chat model that looks extra silly riding it. The CC model has more definition! Much sharper design.

The EC is also missing hues and colors, or when they're there, they're just not accurate. It goes on and on. 

After all this time the EC came nowhere near to beating the CC client, while it has had so many functional advantages. Had the CC been properly updated, the EC would barely be alive today.

They should have just updated the Classic Client. You'd think after releasing 22 2nd clients they would have had that figured out. UO's history is littered with failed sequels and failed 2nd clients. Bizarre.

*takes away the bottle of haterade* 

Ohh an artwork thread. I love these! Personal opinion time:

I find it really interesting that, under no producer, have art assets (and certainly not animations) been able to be created in the same style that had been originally made for UO (and T2A). Its a very labour-intensive process but someone surely knows how to do it. I wonder if the original art team who would have made it would be interested in a one-off job to revamp all our artwork? 

Artwork and visual style is very subjective and, if we already have something in-game, it could be argued that it's a waste of time to bother trying to change it, no matter what client you use. I know its a very odd thing to get hung up on, but any time I see orcish brutes, unicorns, pixies, ancient wyrms and so many other in-game creatures, I just think "You look out of place.. I wish you were just a re-hued original art piece, again!". I don't judge anyone by their looks, but when I see player gargoyles in-game, I do kind of feel some kind of sadness for them. They can't help how they look, but the gargoyle monsters that shipped with the game look *really cool* and put player characters to shame.

I had this thought the other day that UO is, in some ways, kind of art in itself. Your screen, at any given point in time, is a picture that is made up by all the different images of mobiles, tiles and objects - and together they make a pretty image. So I think that, perhaps, if some of those assets are out of place, the whole thing looks strange to me. I, sadly, am not a fan of Saphireena's new/revamped art either - she is amazing and possibly the most talented person I know in her field; but I don't think it fits with the rest of the style of UO at all. Her upscaled stuff is more interesting - but it still has a different aesthetic to it. 

I think Petra summed it up with - "Cu sidhe in CC reminds me somewhat of Dr Who's K9 Too many sharp edges."...