Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

[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.

[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

[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?

[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.

[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

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[Murphie]

Re: Wow Expansion hijacks chocobo

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

[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

[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