Crystal Tower ... meh or wow?

red_emu

So as hyped as I am for Summerset (and taking all my 8 Altmers back home) I couldn't stop cringing when I seen the Crystal Tower in both trailers. It looks awful. Like big, giant concrete .... cucumber!

We were expecting this:


But instead we got this!:



What's up with that? I can accept the concrete block, medieval cities as it's been speculated before that the visitors to Alinor might have been exaggerating a little with the glass houses and insect wing architecture, but come on. Something as epic as The Crystal Tower should have been done properly! It's meant to be on par with the White Gold Tower and Direnni Tower. This dreadful looking industrial chimney is not what Altmer would be proud of

Seraphayel

The entire artstyle of Summerset architecture is a bit off. It's nothing like explained in the lore. It is just Auridon 2.0 with better textures. It looks great but it is just not Summerset.

Leeched

Well, my Altmer chars approve the tower form

Carbonised

Faulgor

I like that the shape looks somewhat alien compared to the other architecture. Almost sci-fi.
The texture and material I'm less happy with.

AzraelKrieg

Never has Crystal-Like-Law/The Crystal Tower been described as being made of crystal or glass. The internals could very well have a lot of crystal and glass inside but just because it has crystal in the name doesn't mean it is made of the stuff. Besides, this is the first time the Tower has been included in a game since Arena.

Kajuratus

Agreed. I feel that Alinor being exaggerated is still stupid though, because how can anyone justify human traders mistaking what we saw in the trailer for a glass city? Do you go up to a church or cathedral with stainless glass windows and think to yourself "yep, thats a glass building there"? Whats so frustrating is that they've got the outline of Alinor right, with the docks being towered over by those impossibly high towers. How did people mistake that for architecture reminiscent of insect wings?

red_emu

AzraelKrieg wrote: »

Never has Crystal-Like-Law/The Crystal Tower been described as being made of crystal or glass. The internals could very well have a lot of crystal and glass inside but just because it has crystal in the name doesn't mean it is made of the stuff. Besides, this is the first time the Tower has been included in a game since Arena.

I get your point but even the White Gold Tower looks better! This just looks very unimpressive even compared to the civilian architecture shown!

bottleofsyrup

All you can really see is the spire. Most of it looks hidden by that cliff.

red_emu

Kajuratus wrote: »

Agreed. I feel that Alinor being exaggerated is still stupid though, because how can anyone justify human traders mistaking what we saw in the trailer for a glass city? Do you go up to a church or cathedral with stainless glass windows and think to yourself "yep, thats a glass building there"? Whats so frustrating is that they've got the outline of Alinor right, with the docks being towered over by those impossibly high towers. How did people mistake that for architecture reminiscent of insect wings?

Probably all the visitors to Alinor were blind and being told by the tour guide that everything around them is made of glass and crystal.

Turelus

I'd rather see it in some kind of crystal material, I wonder if there was a technical reason why it wasn't done that way.

Storm_knight22

Given that its the aldmeri dominion you forgot the middle grown between meh and wow. Specifically meow!

Vanya

Even with a "Giant Concrete Cucumber" I m more than satisfied. It is far too early to judge or to dread by all means the mid and lower sections could be hidden by the cliffs. The expectations were too high and unreal for certain players and then you often end very unsatisfied. It appears rather unique,immensely powerful and tall and perhaps interior is peculiar!

red_emu

To anyone saying that the part of it is hidden by a cliff. It isn't. Check out the CG trailer.

https://youtu.be/ZijsFN0IlbE

I don't think there are technical limitations to make it look like crystal? Just look at any glass windows in the game how they shimmer and reflect light.

red_emu

This is a material I was imagining more alike to it:

gurluasb16_ESO

red_emu wrote: »

To anyone saying that the part of it is hidden by a cliff. It isn't. Check out the CG trailer.

https://youtu.be/ZijsFN0IlbE

I don't think there are technical limitations to make it look like crystal? Just look at any glass windows in the game how they shimmer and reflect light.

In the cinematic it's hidden by clouds instead...the base that is.

Highlor3

red_emu wrote: »

[...] insect wing architecture [...]

There are windmill sails with insect-wing-like architecture.



I think there was a better view of it in the Twitch stream.

red_emu

Highlor3 wrote: »

red_emu wrote: »

[...] insect wing architecture [...]

There are windmill sails with insect-wing-like architecture.



I think there was a better view of it in the Twitch stream.

Good find. Like I said I didn't expect a glass city. That would be impractical even for the Altmer but The Crystal Tower? It's meant to take your breath away not make you think... hmmmm... giant concrete fallus?

In the screenshot the base is sort of visible. I think it would be weird to have these ornate colonnades and balconies that you can see running all the way down the lower part and have this weird Soviet Union style spire just sitting on top of it?

Carbonised

The two teams that /always/ deliver top notch in ESO are the visual design and the audio/soundmaster teams. And concrete cucumbers or not, I don't expect it to be any different in this Chapter either.

There were a few oddities in Morrowind here and there as well (who recalls the infamous flesh towers? Well, you could say they have started to grow on my by now), but overall Morrowind was and still is visually and musically very impressive and gorgeous for an online game.

I have faith in the design team this time around as well, and will reserve my judgement until we actually get to visit the land itself in the PTS, instead of concluding from 2 minutes of gameplay scenes in a presentation.

red_emu

Don't get me wrong. I am by no means criticising the art direction of this chapter. My jaw dropped to the floor when I watched the stream and pre-ordered collectors edition straight away. I will most certainly spend a lot of time on Summerset but this tower is just an eye sore compared to the beauty surrounding it.

Salvas_Aren

red_emu wrote: »

What's up with that? I can accept the concrete block, medieval cities as it's been speculated before that the visitors to Alinor might have been exaggerating a little with the glass houses and insect wing architecture, but come on. Something as epic as The Crystal Tower should have been done properly! It's meant to be on par with the White Gold Tower and Direnni Tower. This dreadful looking industrial chimney is not what Altmer would be proud of

Tbh I would expect such a thing in Rift under Haelga's bed, not in the centre of an Altmer Capital.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Seraphayel wrote: »

The entire artstyle of Summerset architecture is a bit off. It's nothing like explained in the lore. It is just Auridon 2.0 with better textures. It looks great but it is just not Summerset.

Inclined to agree. The buildings are pretty but too...quaint. It doesn't look like Summerset. I've mostly been operating under the assumption that all the pictures have been of one city and the others are made differently, but if this is all the Altmer have been fighting tooth and nail to keep outsiders from seeing, then I have to say it's a bit like hearing about a great treasure-filled tomb, fighting past traps and monsters only to find that the treasure is someone else's family photos.

I expect better from the Altmer, is what I'm saying.

Carbonised

red_emu wrote: »

Don't get me wrong. I am by no means criticising the art direction of this chapter. My jaw dropped to the floor when I watched the stream and pre-ordered collectors edition straight away. I will most certainly spend a lot of time on Summerset but this tower is just an eye sore compared to the beauty surrounding it.

Think of it as the Telvanni Towers of the Morrowind Chapter. Might take some getting' used to

Menelaos

I think it's mentioned that Crystal-Like-Law was built to resemble Ada-Mantia or White-Gold. That would mean the early Aldmer tried to mimick the Direnni Tower architecture rather than use their own design flavors. Also, the Tower was built in the middle Merethic Era, "shortly" after the Aldmeris exodus to Tamriel. It's clear why it would look somewhat off and alien.

Also, the city of Cloudrest was said to include various types of architecture, including maybe early Sload buildings. This seems to indicate that Summerset architecture in general is a mixture of different styles.

myskyrim26

red_emu wrote: »

We were expecting this:

We? Who are these "we"? I didn't expect that. I'm happy with what I will get.

JD2013

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/File:AR-quest-Crystal_Tower.jpg

This look like glass or crystal to you?

Aethereal'Golden

Why would glass be impractical for high elves? Some types of tamrielic glass are as strong as steel. Their island is tropical, and high elves themselves are mages, so giant crystal and glass structures should be their preferable choise.

But no, we have something italian-disney instead, so human-like. Meh.

Darkstorne

Turelus wrote: »

I'd rather see it in some kind of crystal material, I wonder if there was a technical reason why it wasn't done that way.

@Turelus Yep, I brought this up with a big Skyrim mod team I work with, and there was a lot of speculation that the engine simply can't handle all the alpha transparency and reflections that glass/crystal architecture would require. Pretty much every window in this game has zero transparency and is just a solid block of colour, so the idea of creating entire cities and super-structures out of a material the engine can't cope with... yeah.

That does of course beg the question of why they decided to attempt Summerset at all, but I guess they realized most of their playerbase already doesn't care about how poorly implemented locations like Valenwood and Mournhold are, so they could get away with it assuming most players know nothing about the lore. So long as Bethesda Game Studios ignore all of ESO's visual direction when they get around to these provinces, I can live with it. This game will just always feel like fan fiction.

Aebaradath

Ask Fëanor to slap a Silmaril on that tower and you can't tell the difference.

NeroBad

Altough myself also is a little disapointed visually, I have to accept that it is realistic compared to the known existing world (Nirn). The exaggeration is very typical for travelers and nationalist, so a more delicate architecture could be insect wing like, and beautiful glass windows could make a name as glass city. In the timeline of TES1-TES4 Summerset Isle was part of the Empire for centuries. It would be unrealistic that the main province Cyrodiil would be that behind architecturally for that long. Also the Clockwork City for me was visually striking(and lived up to its reputation), it should be (with Artaeum) the most advanced/magical place. Also if I put aside my high (and unrealistic expectations) the gameplay video showed a beautful and interesting zone, which could be the most beautiful one yet!

Turelus

Darkstorne wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

I'd rather see it in some kind of crystal material, I wonder if there was a technical reason why it wasn't done that way.

Turelus Yep, I brought this up with a big Skyrim mod team I work with, and there was a lot of speculation that the engine simply can't handle all the alpha transparency and reflections that glass/crystal architecture would require. Pretty much every window in this game has zero transparency and is just a solid block of colour, so the idea of creating entire cities and super-structures out of a material the engine can't cope with... yeah.

That does of course beg the question of why they decided to attempt Summerset at all, but I guess they realized most of their playerbase already doesn't care about how poorly implemented locations like Valenwood and Mournhold are, so they could get away with it assuming most players know nothing about the lore. So long as Bethesda Game Studios ignore all of ESO's visual direction when they get around to these provinces, I can live with it. This game will just always feel like fan fiction.

Couldn't they just make it a purple texture with some other colours. I mean we have soul gem models etc which could work on a bigger scale. Although maybe that just ended up looking too ugly.