Whats behind the decision to go with an oversaturated and blurry shung jea monastery map?

[zealex.9410]

We've seen ingame footage of the map since the reveal and today as well with the newest video showcasing the area and a couple things stick out like a sore thump:

 

Why is it so uncharacteristically (for gw2 visuals) saturated and bright? Seriously the plants and flowers in cantha look like they produce their own light and its obnoxious how sharp the colours are. I hope post processing tones that way down.

The bloom is also very noticable on this map.

Alot of the plants dont actually look that detailed and i get the impression the oversaturation is there in an attempt to hide that. Its fine the game is date bu the artstyle and colour palete has helped it age well, i dont believe this explosion of saturated colours is gonna age as nicely.

[Ashantara.8731]

I don't see it being particularly "blurry". The whole game is blurry when you don't use a proper ReShade sharpening, so it's a general issue with the game.

However, after seeing the trailer, I have to agree on the oversaturated part, and especially the toxic green grass and trees - ugh, awful! 🤢

Edited October 6, 2021 by Ashantara.8731

[Faridah.8431]

Looks beautiful except for the over saturation. I do hope they tone that down as it makes the area look actually very unnatural. Putting that part aside, I think it looks great and can't wait to explore.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Faridah.8431

[Randulf.7614]

It’s been pointed out since the assets were first shown in that last fractal. The toxic grass look does not come across well at all and has been raised a few times. It won’t change of course, but yeah it’s a very jarring visual and takes away from what would otherwise be another high standard of in game art

[Tyncale.1629]

I agree it looks ugly. The textures seem to show less details; for instance the grass or moss that covers stonework looked pretty bad.  I have been playing with a reshade forev er now so I may be a bit spoiled, but this looks even worse then core Tyria with no reshade. Over the top coloring definitely plays a role there too.  I am just hoping it looks better when we are actually in the game.

[Voosh.7946]

Hi,

 

Have you participated last elite spec beta ? Every spec reveal video had that same saturation on armor and skills, yet in game everything looked as usual.

 

I believe that saturation is only for trailers, and I personally like it. Now if you want a preview on how Cantha actually looks in game, I suggest you watch that video and chill about it:

 

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by Lennn.5934
Missing word

[Dami.5046]

I want to love it, but it looks crowded, too green and i just can't get behind the 'Holiday' destination vibe they went for..

[radda.8920]

As i thought it looks nothing like shing jea from gw1, I don't ask for a copy but at least to feel the atmosphere and soul of cantha

I feel like we are in a sylvari area, this fluorescent green, it's horrible...

Looks like blade and soul with playstation 2 graphics, I think they never set foot on gw1 faction to have a result so far from reality

 

And I misread or there will be only 3 maps?

Edited October 6, 2021 by radda.8920

[Randulf.7614]

4 minutes ago, radda.8920 said:

As i thought it looks nothing like shing jea from gw1, I don't ask for a copy but at least to feel the atmosphere and soul of cantha

I feel like we are in a sylvari area, this fluorescent green, it's horrible...

Looks like blade and soul with playstation 2 graphics, I think they never set foot on gw1 faction to have a result so far from reality

 

And I misread or there will be only 3 maps?

Where did you read only 3 maps? I can’t imagine anything less than 4 and this point, 5 should be the minimum in my opinion

[radda.8920]

18 minutes ago, Randulf.7614 said:

Where did you read only 3 maps? I can’t imagine anything less than 4 and this point, 5 should be the minimum in my opinion

In the article about shing jea, on the official website, the most recent one

A few hours ago, it was written:  discover one of the 3 new zones

Edited October 6, 2021 by radda.8920

[Randulf.7614]

Just now, radda.8920 said:

in the article about shing jea, on the official website

the most recent one

Hmm let me re-read it and see what I missed

[radda.8920]

1 minute ago, Randulf.7614 said:

Hmm let me re-read it and see what I missed

 

A few hours ago, it was written:  discover one of the 3 new zones

[Randulf.7614]

2 minutes ago, radda.8920 said:

 

A few hours ago, it was written:  discover one of the 3 new zones

Hopefully a typo they removed. 3 new zones after such a wait would be a disastrous outcome for an expac

[radda.8920]

4 minutes ago, Randulf.7614 said:

Hopefully a typo they removed. 3 new zones after such a wait would be a disastrous outcome for an expac

 

Yes I just saw, I hope it was just a mistake, it scared me a bit ..

4 would be the minimum to exploit the continent and 5 would be perfect. Because of course, they will do the rest with a  living story but the expansion maps are always much more elaborate and vast.

So I don't want to see the south of Cantha wasted in small maps of living stories ^^ '

Edited October 6, 2021 by radda.8920

[Randulf.7614]

1 minute ago, radda.8920 said:

 

Yes I just saw, I hope it was just a mistake, it scared me a bit ..

4 would be the minimum to exploit the continent and 5 would be perfect. Because of course, they will do the rest with a  living story but the expansion maps are always much more elaborate and vast.

So I don't want to see the south of Cantha wasted in small maps of living stories ^^ '

Assuming LS follows the standard pattern, which there is no guarantee of. They may well use this as an excuse to completely change up the delivery system if EOD is indeed ending this story arc.

I would much rather a big content focused expac and less worry put on delivering extra maps in the old LS format to fill the space. I never felt the expanded Elona ones quite fit alongside PoF thematically or in size (although a couple were very good)

[Raknar.4735]

8 hours ago, radda.8920 said:

 

A few hours ago, it was written:  discover one of the 3 new zones

I‘d still go with the 4 zone markers shown on the EoD page, where only the shing jea one is currently active. Maybe your eyes are playing tricks on you, or as Randulf mentioned, it was a typo.

Interestingly enough, massivelyOP states there‘ll be a Arenanet livestream on friday showing off the new zone with a gameplay preview: https://massivelyop.com/2021/10/06/guild-wars-2-teases-end-of-dragons-lush-shing-jea-zone-in-new-trailer/

So anyone that isn‘t afraid of ingame spoilers can join in to check if the grass is really greener in shing jea!

[radda.8920]

28 minutes ago, Raknar.4735 said:

I‘d still go with the 4 zone markers shown on the EoD page, where only the shing jea one is currently active. Maybe your eyes are playing tricks on you, or as Randulf mentioned, it was a typo.

Interestingly enough, massivelyOP states there‘ll be a Arenanet livestream on friday showing off the new zone with a gameplay preview: https://massivelyop.com/2021/10/06/guild-wars-2-teases-end-of-dragons-lush-shing-jea-zone-in-new-trailer/

So anyone that isn‘t afraid of ingame spoilers can join in to check if the grass is really greener in shing jea!

I read that in the French article about shing jea. Maybe they made a mistake or it was an unintentional leak.

We'll see, I hope you're right!

Edited October 7, 2021 by radda.8920

[Jukhy.2431]

13 hours ago, Lennn.5934 said:

Have you participated last elite spec beta ? Every spec reveal video had that same saturation on armor and skills, yet in game everything looked as usual.

I agree with this. Likely has more to do with the settings used on the system/program they record these videos and screenshots with. Settings might be bit off or perhaps bit too oversaturated in editing phase or it's just visual design decision they made for the trailers.

[Randulf.7614]

1 hour ago, Jukhy.2431 said:

I agree with this. Likely has more to do with the settings used on the system/program they record these videos and screenshots with. Settings might be bit off or perhaps bit too oversaturated in editing phase or it's just visual design decision they made for the trailers.

It’s not. It’s the in game style. Part of it can be seen in the last fractal they launched which uses the glowing grass and was picked up by players at the time and the devs said it was part of the new assets they were using for the expac. This isn’t a trailer thing, it’s what they have gone for Cantha

[Dami.5046]

I'm reading that as if they are showing us 3 zones out of what they have. I doubt they will spoil every map. 

 

[zealex.9410]

https://imgur.com/a/90dY4Lh

 

heres a colour edit someone did and its so nicer on the eyes.

Edited October 7, 2021 by zealex.9410

[Teratus.2859]

Tbh i'm more curious about how there are so many Tengu still over there despite all the lore around Canthan xenophobia and the hunting of other races etc.
Not only that but these Tengu seem to be living side by side with humans comfortably.

It goes against a lot of what we suspected Cantha to be based on the previous lore we had about the region and the actions of the Ministry of purity.
And we know that what happened to the Tengu on mainland Cantha also spilled over into Shing Jia Island as well.

Suffice to say this is something Anet better address in the expansion story and not just leave it as a "Cantha always had Tengu" thing.
Considering how the IBS utterly disregarded some lore, the last thing those of us who really care about this game's lore want to see is more of that in End of Dragons.. the new upcoming release that is largely supposed to reignite interest and faith in the future of this game.
Lore and story are two things they must get right this time if they want people who care about the story to keep on caring.

I said a good while ago that if EOD ends up being a failure then it'll probably be the end of this game.. and I still stand by that..

[Jukhy.2431]

2 hours ago, Randulf.7614 said:

It’s not. It’s the in game style. Part of it can be seen in the last fractal they launched which uses the glowing grass and was picked up by players at the time and the devs said it was part of the new assets they were using for the expac. This isn’t a trailer thing, it’s what they have gone for Cantha

To me it looks that only the teasers and some screenshots have bit too high color intensity. If the foliage in Sunqua Peak and the fishing & skiffs gameplay videos looks too bright you might want to adjust your settings. Maybe do a monitor profile to be used with GW2 with toned down brightness/green color intensity.

[Randulf.7614]

34 minutes ago, Jukhy.2431 said:

To me it looks that only the teasers and some screenshots have bit too high color intensity. If the foliage in Sunqua Peak and the fishing & skiffs gameplay videos looks too bright you might want to adjust your settings. Maybe do a monitor profile to be used with GW2 with toned down brightness/green color intensity.

Yeah my settings are fine. It would affect other parts of the game if there was an issue. Def not a settings issue, this is the new colour palette and new assets as previously talked about by the team after the release of sunquaa that would be used for upcoming content (it originally had also more assets from EOD that got removed before it was released)

Edited October 7, 2021 by Randulf.7614

[aspirine.6852]

It's a bit too green..  The coloring looks fake or artificial. Not sure how to say it. I would tone it down a lot and make it a bit more like how the game is now..