Age of Conan can display tens of characters that are almost as geometrically complex and have more textural details. It's actually a pretty system demanding game. You'll need at least two of the newest GPUs to run that game at max settings.
I don't really know how to take this one. I thought Age of Conan, from what I have seen, is pretty ugly looking. I'd imagine it's demanding for VERY different reasons, though. I mean, for the type of game it is, the visuals are pretty detailed. Do you have some ultra high-detail shots from your rig handy? Going off of these shots, however, I think FFXIII looks MUCH better (from a pure visual standpoint). Obviously, AoC doesn't seem to have any sort of cinematic elements going on that would allow for a proper comparison. Like I said, it's hard to compare the two.
It's hard to compare shots, but here's a couple. First of all, the FFXIII shot I've chosen uses the lower detail models (you can see that the models have lesser geometric detail in comparison to the close-up shots), so it's a good comparison as this is probably the level of detail you'll see while playing (battles/exploring). The Age of Conan shot was chosen as it SUPPOSEDLY represents a high level of detail (you'll have to confirm) and was nicely anti-aliased. Both shots have two characters on screen. I dunno, do you REALLY think Age of Conan LOOKS more impressive here? I know it's a more demanding game, but in terms of pure looks?
Another comparison attempt...
If you're just talking about a few characters on screen, then the Nurien demo already has character models that are even more detailed than the ones in FF13, plus the boobies in Nurien are animated by PhysX.
I was talking about actual games. Tech demos are something different entirely, but in all honesty, I didn't think the Nurien demo looked better at all. I think it's a fair comparison as the tech demo was made to push the hardware (so the designers focus ONLY on visuals) but obviously lacks the budget/time that Square can put into the art design of their models. Of course, Nurien is supposed to be UE3, right? Anyways, the motion WAS really impressive in Nurien, no doubt, but it looks even chunkier than FFXIII in stills. I'm sure the hair in FFXIII won't feature such high quality motion, but then again, the Nurien demo seems to have been designed to showcase just such a feature.
I guess the point is, you basically suggested that you weren't impressed as a result of your PC experience as if the PC is receiving visuals that exceed this level on a regular basis. Again, I realize that different games have different demands, but I don't see why visuals such as these can't get some credit even from hardcore PC-only users. Even by PC standards, these XIII shots are fantastic looking. Of course they could be easily rendered on the PC (I'm not questioning that for a second), but considering the limited hardware this is being designed for (PS3), it's damn impressive and stands as some of the best visuals we've seen in any game to date.
I'm just posting this for the hell of it, by the way (nothing better to do at the moment). I'm sure you'll find it to be 100% bullshit, so whatever.
