That's exactly what I was (and still am) thinking. Like... today's graphics and opportunities of making game graphics are better than it was back in 2005. So like... why they could not transfer them into new graphics? 🤷♀️🤦♀️ yeah, they would look a bit different, but... exactly how hard is it to do it? 🤷♀️🙄
@@Zelda_eq give me enough time to get experience and I’d for sure do better than what is being done now because I’d simply listen to the player base 😋 they honestly make it seem easy
honestly the art now looks like barbie dolls, plastic and lifeless. even the environment is gross and reminds me of plastic playsets. like don't get me wrong the art is objectively good but it is visually ugly if that makes sense? there was millions of ways to take the art and art style, to age gracefully. they made it into a different game and didn't expect their audience to be upset. they honestly could've just split it into two games, even if it meant not really updating the older one, possibly sunsetting it. thinking about doing a video on my interpretation of "aging" the old art style gracefully with 3d models
@@Czepialska whitewashed??? girl what are you saying and honestly, there was nothing anorexic about these characters. as an example linda was and will always be black with a normal sized body. the new update did her dirty
I 100% agree with the Americanization of this game, as a Finnish person it was saddening to see Redwood Point being added to the game. On one hand, it is gorgeous, and by far the most cozy forest in the game, but did it have to have Redwood trees, only native to America, if I am correct (I am talking out of my ass). The game was so Nordic and Scandinavic up until 2018 at least, it was a very fresh unique style of game. The talking horses in Wild Woods along with the Dark Rider update really made me lose hope on the story of the game. I remember watching sso YT videos in 2013, and being very interested and invested in the story, and I wasn't even playing the game at that point. Now, they have retroactively changed so many parts of the story and the characters that it is impossible and hard to keep up with it. The original story was so dark, mysterious and magical. Now they have definitely dumbed it down for the 8 year-olds that play this game, and they are trying to push the paying customers, the teen/adult players away with it.
yeahh, i am also Finnish and it is so easy to notice how they slowly take all the nordic and scandinavian aspects away from this game, it was dark and withcy, but now it all feels so bland. i dont understand why they decided to go this way tbh
I'm swedish and I also miss the scandinavian/nordic theme the game had it which was also a reason why I loved it so much seeing things that I was familiar with. Honestly I feel offended by all these changes, not only this but also the character updates and the questline. We can only speculate how it ended up becoming more american and I think one of the reasons is Stacy place which is the current game director, she's american but also lives in Sweden, maybe she doesn't like our culture?
@@Northernlightifly It's to drive in revenue. More people live in America than up here. So its natural they changed it to please more people. Doesnt suprice me honestly. :/
The American stuff is annoying. There's so much US culture permeating everything, so something that feels Scandinavian is lovely. I'd like a lot more lore and a lot less consumerism.
Yeah, the engine they run it on is outdated and a huge problem, but it wasn't the art that broke me. I logged on for the first time in months to do the new newspaper quest they added? And I was excited...until I realized the entire thing was just repeatedly running around Jarleheim. Clicking once or twice. Over and over. They've now even removed needing to click and drag quest items from your inventory. Removed a reason to immerse or INTERACT with anything. You just click and wait for a bar to finish then rush to the next, and that was somehow the moment it finally clicked for me that Star Stable had lost ALL its charm. I've been clinging to it for a decade, and finally it was this little thing that broke me. I miss what it used to be.
omg i never thought of that but ive noticed u never get the items in ur backpack for example if u had to go put up some posters u had them in ur backpack and drag them to the wall as u said and i always thought it was fun reading the description of the item
9:55 Yeah, but the sad part is, that they did the changes so slowly, that you didn't even had a chance to, like, say goodbye to the old game. Some companies releases sequels to their MMOs, but that's another game, you can have some expectations, info about whether the old game will stay or shut down, etc. With SSO, they basically replaced the original game with a reboot without anybody noticing until after the fact. I don't think that's really fair.
I missed seeing all of the different holidays and events they brought to the game too. I'm in the US, and they really brought their culture and style into the game, which is now just about entirely gone. It's so "americanized" and dulled down it makes me sad.
2 things… 1. As someone from the US, I liked the Nordic/Scandinavian feel too and cringe watching it evolve into another commercialized, “trend-conforming,” modern ghost of what it was. ESPECIALLY what the Christmas town looked like before. So much more warm and festive. 2. I love “not my cup of cake” instead of tea lol that sounds so cute
Same! The game really used to look so familiar to where I live. With the small towns and lazy countryside. It just doesnt really feel like scandinavia anymore, it feels rather that its set in a warmer climate.
Star stable doesn't know how to "update" things they only know how to "redesign and transform" them. That's why I'll probably be quitting the game when they launch the new characters and will have changed all the npc (ms Holdsworth is literally a whole new person with a whole new body type, face etc.)
this was well said, its as if they keep launching a new game out of old one, its just like jorvik and same named characters, but nothing a like to the original
so many old players WERE upset? we are STILL upset... and with the new player interface coming to the game.. oh my god sso is going to loose SO many players. they're trying to make the pc game so much like like mobile game.. is digusting.
no genuinely like as a swede, i loved the aspect of the game that truly felt like home, like sweden! it sucks how americanized it has become, because like, EVERY other game is so american but there was this one game that not only was a huge part of my childhood and early teen years (and still in my late teens is), it also reminded me so much of home, the places surrounding me and i truly hate that it's been kind of lost
You brought up so many good points here. There were a few that really jumped out at me, because they've been my biggest issues with the game for the last few years (it's a long comment, feel free to skip, lol): -The Americanization of SSO: I started playing SSO in 2015 after I watched some playthroughs, and therefore knew it was a Swedish based game when I joined. I'm American, and enjoyed experiencing the Swedish culture through the game, especially during the holiday events. The "update" of Silverglade crushed my enjoyment of that area. The medieval, fortress like village with the wall became a sprawling mess. For all of the Western aspects, including clothing, tack, and buildings, they've so far stuck to an almost...howdy-doody... style, I want to call it? (They do nearly always say "howdy" when anything western comes up in the news or in-game, lol). I've rode Western my whole life, but most of the tack and clothes they release feels dated to me. The artwork is all well done, it's just that the style is the most westerny-western look they could possibly pick. -Aging down the game: I was already an adult when I started playing SSO, so the "oh, you just outgrew the game" argument that comes up quite a bit doesn't apply to me. I liked the game I started playing, so I never outgrew it. The game itself changed (you mentioned the writing style, which I've noticed too), and I began to disconnect with what it morphed (down) into. I've not played other MMOs, so I don't know if forever updates are a risk we take when playing them, vs. a disc or finished game that stays the same long after you bought it. I understand updates, but it seems strange to drastically change, reboot rather, the things that brought players to the game in the first place. I paid for the game, but I can't play the game I originally payed for. I think you mentioned it later on, but what frustrates me the most is the inability to replay the game, without paying on another account. It would certainly give us maxed players something to do while we wait for the occasional quest.
yes! i am swedish and ur totally right, they even moved josh and removed his western race in moorland to the ranch?? firgrove is completely different, it still looks like firgrove and they updated firgrove village amazing 10/10 THAT is an update but then u go south and u see the ranch and ur like ''huh?'' its very scandinavian and then its an ranch which is an american thing?.. they could def made a completely NEW area that is very western and not add and change current areas :/ like they did with south hoof, its very like english/irish for me (well they have the welsh ponies so) and the stone thing is def inspired by stonehenge so why couldnt they just make a new area with western based story and art and stuff
As a player who started back in early 2013, I really appreciated this video. Hearing someone talk and share my feelings about the graphics and look/vibe of the game was very comforting. I miss the mysterious vibe of the game, the "personability" of the game. The term "Reboot" was a perfect way to describe this. I'm from America and I loved the different culture in the game. I can't express how much I miss old sso, it's extremely difficult knowing you can no longer play that game anymore and have to deal with the left overs of what looks like the older game. But all in all, thank you for making this video and sharing your thoughts
I honestly believe that if fortnite never existed that the artstyle would be DRASTICALLY different, cuz its weirdly coincidental that when the new area (mistfall) came out it was at the exact same time fortnite became popular
Also, western riding - they could focus on going upwards with map and leave most of western to the Summer Riders area. It would fit better. And we could have some more open areas instead of squashed wildwoods.
I agree with everyone else in the comments but I haven’t seen anyone bring up the fact that they made James look like a normal person, he was almost a dwarf before and he was CUTE 😭
his old model made great use of shape language, it told you a lot about his personality (well, his starshine legacy personality at least) now he's just a guy, like all the other npcs just a guy
i once played a horse game on roblox and the fact that i had more fun playing the horse game on roblox, than playing SSO, the horse game i used to love and log on to every single day for years the game i'd play for hours, the game that i had fun and friends on. the game has changed so much that if i wouldn't have played it for so long, i'd be close to hating it. Idk thb i might even hate it already which makes me very sad. Love your vids you put it together so well thank you for your content
star stable is so random, it reminds me of a minecraft world that you create just to play around with when you get bored. In this case the team made the minecraft world and is the one playing around with it.
Honestly ive come to the realisation that the old version of Sso could also just be called StarStable: Online Horse Adventures. This is how they used to market it swell, as did I a lot of other early 2000 horse games.(2011-2017) and this new era is just Star Stable Online.
You can critique art guilt-free - in all art, all opinions are valid. But this type of art isn't creative expression for its own sake, it's guided entirely by commercial values. So critiquing it for basically selling out is perfectly valid.
I feel like immersion was just thrown out the window when they changed to the fortnite graphic art style. Also the redesigns of the characters entirely changed their personality .
And what KILLS the immersion is how the horses are going into a more realistic style (Which I adore! although there are some hits and misses with some of them looking weirdly cartoony or having really weird animations.) vs the rest of the game very clearly going into a more fortnite cartoonish style.
I never thought I would ever want to buy the crusty gen 1 horses but they do look kind of cute and make me feel cosy. Now they're the only old thing (besides the gear) that I can still cling to furiously. Not even Hollow Woods bird Chirpy was safe from the graphical changes man wth 😭
also idk bout u all but the horses don't feel special anymore, like back then i got sooo excited to buy a new horse and it kinda had its own personality in my head even though they had 'no life' to them idk how to explain it tbh
I’m glad they’re improving the graphics etc. and are trying to appeal to new players but god do I miss the old magical feel it had especially the glow some areas had :(
The reason SSO has an 'inconsistent' art style is because they are trying to cater to both their old and new audiences where their preference in art style obviously varies, it's not "which one is it?" it's both, they make both cartoon-like horses and also realistic ones. They want to make sure that there are consistent combinations of both styles so they don't lean into one style too much, or people will complain the game is changing too much. I think in game developing nobody should be approaching things in black and white thinking, it's either this or that. Star stable is supposed to be a realistic-type horse game, if they didn't add any of the more cartoon-like features it wouldn't be a game anymore, it would be like a horse simulator, which is obviously not what they intend to make it.
I feel like they can make the game LOOK realistic but they struggle to make it FEEL magical. I'm fine with the updated graphics and such s they don't look bad but the atmosphere just isn't there anymore. I feel like the last time I felt that "otherworldly" feeling was dino valley and the marshes of New Hillcrest. Why? I have no definitive answer.
@@skybluepainter i mean it feels magical if you still have the quests and stuff, but for people who don’t do the quests it is very much a normal non-magical game
i think the idea is that there was a different way to approach semi realism without going in a fortnite direction. because art is limitless, and they settled with a fornite barbie plastic art style instead. i think a good example would be alicia online, which aged gracefully despite releasing before star stable. it has a "realistic" approach on the environment and horse textures, while also maintaining cartoon proportions and simplifying textures enough to fit between realism and stylization. it's charming despite it's low texture resolution. objectively though, sso has inconsistent art because they aren't directing their teams in the right direction, even the interns. they aren't doing some sort of mental genius gymnastics by putting out inconsistent art to please people, it is literally just the case of bad direction. if they did that on purpose that would be poor game design and direction.. and it is. it should be either this or that or "black and white" because your game needs an identity that is consistent. like any product, it needs to scream its name. you think they just committed to changing the entire art style but can't commit enough to how realistic/ cartoony their horses are?
@@skybluepainter the answer is game design :D a good game will tell you how to feel through ambiance, music, color, weather, etc! some people argue bloom helped with this, honestly in most games bloom is very annoying but i'd have to agree in a weird way. it gave a very dreamy look, it was perfect for a children's game. i think the sound design is very lacking now, i don't remember how it contributed to the older versions or if the visuals just carried. i will say for certain theOST did have a magical and calm atmosphere though. i think if you compare the game to something like plague of a tale, book of travels(visuals and simple ost), or even just the blood born soundtrack (it's very compelling, gets the point right across) you'll see how important visuals and sound really is to the player and how it affects their interpretation of an experience. game design is an art medium :)
totally agree. Everyone complains about it changing and the horses i mean yea its a game that's constantly improving? they're trying to get new players interested as well as keeping the older players interested too. That's very hard thing to do. And the fact that some horses look more cartoony than others is fine? Some people may prefer cartoony looking ones but others prefer more realistic looking ones. Some (like me), prefer both and thats fine! The option is there. Why are we complaining about it? I think them updating characters is a good thing too. Their visuals have improved and that will only get more players interested. I think they do lack in storytelling though. Apart from that everything is great :)
This is kind of wierd for me since I started playing on around the starting point of the updates. There are some things I couldn't imagine being different, and I find those good and natural (for example the horses) but there are a lot of things I find very wierd and disturbing too. Like how at this point in time all the characters in game have a different style? The soulriders look slightly cartoony but still very realistic, some NPCs, for some reason mostly the old ladys, look VERY realistic, while other NPCs and the players still look very old cartoon style-ish. The same can be said with the areas. I personally don't have that much of a problem with the look of the newest designs but it really just would have been better to make a SSO 2.0 at this point. Also RIP Silverglade TwT.
I think what you said about them not updating areas but completely redoing them is completely correct. It was bad enough with Silverglade but looking at the new Hollow Woods it is a completely different area they just put it in the same place and did not change the name
I have an old laptop with starstable starshine legacy etc and it still works and idk where the laptop is but only my dad knows where it is and I'm so socially awkward at this point that I can't even ask my parents if I could play old starstable again on the laptop I can't 😭
I don't know if I'm the only one but I hate desigh of new grass 😂 the old one was so... detailed? There were small halms and they were even moving in the wind... but now it looks more like there's just some texture of big grass printed on some green floor 🤷♀️
I miss the old version of Starstable, its not the same game anymore. The storyline is gone. I wish that sso let us choose the game launcher that we wanted to play on. So like, if players want to play the 2014 version still
i dont mind if some horses look realistic and others look more cartoony. I n ever thought of that as an issue. I think it adds character to each. For example some horses may look more cartoony which makes them seem more fun to play with whereas the more realistic looking ones look very serious. It's just about your preference and i like both.
as a older starstable player, this game did need to be updated, like any other game, but they WAY they updated it is just odd. yes the graphics had to be updated, but idk was this the best way to go? it just feels odd, they keep updating everything the hardest way yk, like why this game looks so different now? i dont understand how the lore has been same over 15yrs and then suddely they decided to change it, or they way they keep removing stuff instead of updating it, like the bus and making global store so many ppl wouldnt visit mall etc so they wouldnt need to update it. or even the order the updates are coming, why they couldnt just take a time to focus on one topic, like map graphics, the characters, then horses? theyve been updating the map for 5 years now and its still missing many areas, and it makes the game also look weird, because when theyre finally done with the map updating, the graphics in mistfall etc starts to be outdated.. i feel like they just focus on making the game for kids, and i do understand, but afterall adult players are the most important ones.. i love sso, but it is not the same game as star stable, its like two different games. both are great but nothing a like.... its like as if you were comparing rdr2 and sotc, two totally different games but with the same concept. ive been wating for north link to open up for years, because it always had that hole there, and i thought that when sso came out, it wouldnt take more than like 2 years to open up?? but no. i know i cant have everything i personally want and that i should be thankful for them even keeping jorvik lore ongoing, and i am, but the way they wont listen to the players until its happy feedback only.. when theyre gonna admit that theyre sorry for making this whole game so messy? i just feel so unheard and disrespected in this community.. and if we think about it, starstable went from teenagers game to like children game slowly eventho no one asked for that, no one. just sad to see how this game is totally different from what it used to be, but it is what it is i guess
I loved unique and cartoony style of old sso and g1 horses. Now every horse game is trying to be realistic, which makes sso's new art style not so unique, or, hot take, even appealing. Like, almost every new horse breed looks the same (unless it's a very unique breed like friesian or arabian). I know that they used to re-use the same models for multiple breeds, but damn, now that they're "putting more effort" and they still look the fucking same? Also magic horses are almost all ugly and they killed their uniqueness
I know im a year late lol sorry but i just wanted to mention that as a swedish person, The new silverglade village looks a lot like swedish villages to me. For example where my grandma lives and a town near me called Trosa. And i dont love the change but i think its a bit easier to navigate now lol even if i prefer the older version. Another example is the yellow house with the two rabbits in the east part of the village, The house reminds me of pippi långstrumps house a lot with the architectury and the color too.
I am honestly sad how much starstable online has strayed from the original Starshine legacy games. I hate how they have dumbed it down for little kids to play, when originally it felt more targeted towards teenagers and felt a lot more engaging and deep. Some quests from the original games were scary, yeah, but it made it exciting! Makes me feel like how the Pollux horsebook club dumbed down and changed to Penny & friends. The subscription boxes used to have really awesome stuff, which included the Starshine legacy games!! We got stuff like towels with horses on, plushies, books, horse care items etc, but then everything changed.
as of writing this were waiting for a character update today, and ngl all i wanted was to be able to change my character name 💀 They could have just tweaked their textures to be modern as you said, but now it got americanized and they sold themselfs which makes me so disgusted, so ill just quit. Maybe ill check in once in a blue moon but thats it, the game is dead
22:02 even changing her clothes she still looks like a 10 year old when her old design made her look ATLEAST 16 but imo I always HC she was atleast 18 like she looked older in the old art
Its so funny actually because i showed a friend a picture i took in the game in the new graphics and he thought it was from World of Warcraft. After that i was remembering that Star Stable Online was meant to be like a WoW for girls is so ironic how similar their graphics have become
as a gamer who playes alot of ganres and a player of sso for 10 years. the character do not look like fortnite even my bf who is more of a game addict than myself sais the same. and yes i do miss the vibes sometimes. but honestly i like it much better the style is starstable i would recognise it anywhere. the quest are more grindy but thats normal. games now adays are grinding games. graphyics and gameplay wise everyone likes something else. but they had to update if they dont follow trends and what is popular now we would not have sso. but compairing the characters to fortnite characters is just no they are not .
I think you mixed the info. 13 min into the video. About the horses and sounds. I'm a very old player of SSO. And the horses used to be making more sounds back then than now. As well slow down after some X seconds and you have to make it go fast. Now days. No noises from the horses. As well no limits of time for speed.
I need to know if this happened to more people. over the last couple of days, I've noticed that whenever I come near my gen 1 horses, i get a so-called "network error" which all my other devices dont seem to have. So I logged back on, same thing. I wanted to ride my gen 1 (i was riding a gen 3) and when I went near it to ride, network error. It never happens when im near any of the other gen horses. It happened to my Andalusian, to my Arabian including my north swedish and I just need to know. Is this a coincidence? Am I overthinking this or does anyone else have this too? Is sso literally trying to not make me ride these gen 1 horses?? I know it seems highly unlikely, I'm very aware!! but still there's a little voice telling me so and I need to know if any of you have noticed this too? (edit) This doesn't happen all the time by the way, it happened about 4 times now. I am still able to ride them its just that I get a network error surprisingly often when im near or riding these horses and never when im riding a gen 2.5 or 3. And please note, I rarely ride my gen 1's! And it has happened 4 times, while im riding newer gen the maturity of the time and it never happened.
Silverglade village is very Swedish now and it’s nice BUT it’s not silverglade village. I’d like it more if it were in another location like a new area
I agree with many of the points here, but i don't think it's fair to bash sso for updating their style and character models (like with Sabine and the soul riders) like they have. I mean, you can't say "it looks like Fortnite" as if Fortnite holds authority over that kind of style. It doesn’t, and associating it with that in such a negative manner hurts both games for merely having an appearance. Early sso style ran close to the chunky, Bratz-esque, early 2000s girls games go (except in 3D) and nobody seems skeptical of that. Just... to point out... The truth is, the game's community is so heavily divided that opinions on how the game should look, run, etc. often give entirely opposite perspectives. The game needs a revamp but everyone is hit or miss with the graphics. They get around to doing something the community asked for and it's never good enough. We look forward to the horses looking realistic, but then they either don't or they look "too realistic," and we nitpick their flawed movements to the bone, saying they look lame or too silly. Yet we somehow look to the models that barely pass as a horse to be superior. At what point do we stop to think that we're *not helping* by giving them feedback as if we make the game? At some point, I expect sso to just stop listening to its community entirely, because they get so much hate and conflicting arguments no matter what they do. That will be their downfall, I'm sure, but I can see it happening. I'm not one to typically like or agree with the actions sso takes, but I don't flat out hate them for their choices. I see it both ways. The reasons in this video aren't entirely reasonable. Star Stable, in its team abd its community, is full of angry hypocrites.
Ikrr I literally saw a video where people were nitpicking about something bad in the new horses animation.. I looked at that video multiple times and I didn't see a single thing wrong with the animation, so people are literally angry over the smallest, tiniest little mistake in animations on horses so it just seems like this community is never happy..
@shannondonnelly2958 Which horse was it, out of curiosity? And so, so true. I think they did the game and its community well with the mustangs by taking their time on them, personally. Versus the other recent ones that they've been pumping out loke crazy. I don't hear nearly as much hate regarding them. Hopefully they keep going with that method and can get back into good graces with their players. It's a small step, but a good one.
@@kristenrasmussen4135 yeee, and it was the gen 3 arabians I think? I'm not the greatest with spotting little details in horses animations tbh so I've never been bothered about it too much. But people fussing over tiny details feels a bit much to me xD
I don't think it's about graphics but in fact it's about immersion the truth is that most of these Cozy games are not realistic at all and immersion is not about making something similar to real life after all we can feel the RPG style games chibi or even those from 10/20 years ago, what SSO has lost along with realism (gameplay) is strong branding and unique a style that could have been improved, replacing it and focusing on changing the graphics to realistic ones and not creating a game to be like a real one, they may come up with a bad situation someday, after all, whether some graphics are better is easy to discuss, it's easy to replace a game based only on this, but the game with a good story and community? NOTHING can replace the emotions of a good story and all this, even after many years, people come back to old games because they love them for what they convey, not just for the cover. I feel sorry for them because now they have to undo it somehow XD but they made it happen themselves. in addition, the Americanization of this game has gone in a terrible direction, I would like a game with a unique exotic culture, we already have many games about cowboys and westerns, give us at least one Scandinavian one :((((((((((how can anyone say that replacing something like this is ok in the name of diversity, especially since this culture is so rare in horse games and after all, it's not only about horses but about everything about the atmosphere architecture, people and holidays cannot be replaced...
I like the new graphics/textures but like... just apply them to the original npc characters/horses/landscapes?? I was inactive for like 2-3 years and came back to the new character models, new areas everywhere, and a new UI. Not all the changes are bad- I like a lot of it :) but there are things that I feel like they've changed unnecessarily and it's just changed the vibe completely. The UI now looks like a soulless mobile game. I miss the eyesore blue flip phone one lmao. If they still have the original files, it would be so cool if the developers patched them together and released the game as it was. They should've separated it into two versions before the changes got too egregious and preserved the old one as well as the weird new Ship of Theseus game we have now tbh.
![The End Of Star Stable Online? [documentary] #StarStableFixYourGame #NoMoreStarCoins](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fYcFjqyrrLM/mqdefault.jpg)
Sometimes I am like “why don’t they just renew the graphics and NOT change the outfits?” Like, is it that hard, star stable???
That's exactly what I was (and still am) thinking. Like... today's graphics and opportunities of making game graphics are better than it was back in 2005. So like... why they could not transfer them into new graphics? 🤷♀️🤦♀️ yeah, they would look a bit different, but... exactly how hard is it to do it? 🤷♀️🙄
Seriously!! How hard is it? 😂 that’s all the old player base wanted
@@LUN4321 you try developing a game then
@@Zelda_eq give me enough time to get experience and I’d for sure do better than what is being done now because I’d simply listen to the player base 😋 they honestly make it seem easy
@@LUN4321 No but this is so real, seeing Star Stable failing players makes me want to make a game myself genuinely.. Its my toxic trait xD
They changed the soul riders as a whole... their characters? Gone. Their looks? Gone. Storyline? At this point its totally different from what we knew
honestly the art now looks like barbie dolls, plastic and lifeless. even the environment is gross and reminds me of plastic playsets. like don't get me wrong the art is objectively good but it is visually ugly if that makes sense? there was millions of ways to take the art and art style, to age gracefully. they made it into a different game and didn't expect their audience to be upset. they honestly could've just split it into two games, even if it meant not really updating the older one, possibly sunsetting it. thinking about doing a video on my interpretation of "aging" the old art style gracefully with 3d models
From when storyline changed? Literally everything’s on the place. As well as the designs looked anorexic, and some of them were whitewashed
@@Czepialska whitewashed??? girl what are you saying and honestly, there was nothing anorexic about these characters. as an example linda was and will always be black with a normal sized body. the new update did her dirty
“We have a game that now has way better graphics but it no longer feels like Star Stable” is such a good way to put it
@juliakarlsson6065 agreed:/
I hate what they did to Silverglade village 💀💀💀💀💀
Fr
Me too, especially steves farm. I remember all the cool clubs would hang out in the little paddock type thing
I 100% agree with the Americanization of this game, as a Finnish person it was saddening to see Redwood Point being added to the game. On one hand, it is gorgeous, and by far the most cozy forest in the game, but did it have to have Redwood trees, only native to America, if I am correct (I am talking out of my ass). The game was so Nordic and Scandinavic up until 2018 at least, it was a very fresh unique style of game.
The talking horses in Wild Woods along with the Dark Rider update really made me lose hope on the story of the game.
I remember watching sso YT videos in 2013, and being very interested and invested in the story, and I wasn't even playing the game at that point. Now, they have retroactively changed so many parts of the story and the characters that it is impossible and hard to keep up with it.
The original story was so dark, mysterious and magical. Now they have definitely dumbed it down for the 8 year-olds that play this game, and they are trying to push the paying customers, the teen/adult players away with it.
yeahh, i am also Finnish and it is so easy to notice how they slowly take all the nordic and scandinavian aspects away from this game, it was dark and withcy, but now it all feels so bland. i dont understand why they decided to go this way tbh
I'm swedish and I also miss the scandinavian/nordic theme the game had it which was also a reason why I loved it so much seeing things that I was familiar with. Honestly I feel offended by all these changes, not only this but also the character updates and the questline. We can only speculate how it ended up becoming more american and I think one of the reasons is Stacy place which is the current game director, she's american but also lives in Sweden, maybe she doesn't like our culture?
@@Northernlightifly It's to drive in revenue. More people live in America than up here. So its natural they changed it to please more people. Doesnt suprice me honestly. :/
@@Snekysnitch I thought their revenue drives from producing new horses all the time?
The American stuff is annoying. There's so much US culture permeating everything, so something that feels Scandinavian is lovely. I'd like a lot more lore and a lot less consumerism.
I hate Lisas "new hairstyle" I cant stand it. I always thought her punkrock style made her unike
Her new hairstyle gives ✨️Little sister wannabe cool like big sis✨️, like for Gen 1 Howleen from Monster High for example.
They turned my punk girl into cottagecore cutie what the hell (no offense to cottagecore enjoyers, I like that too).
Yeah, the engine they run it on is outdated and a huge problem, but it wasn't the art that broke me.
I logged on for the first time in months to do the new newspaper quest they added? And I was excited...until I realized the entire thing was just repeatedly running around Jarleheim. Clicking once or twice. Over and over. They've now even removed needing to click and drag quest items from your inventory. Removed a reason to immerse or INTERACT with anything. You just click and wait for a bar to finish then rush to the next, and that was somehow the moment it finally clicked for me that Star Stable had lost ALL its charm. I've been clinging to it for a decade, and finally it was this little thing that broke me.
I miss what it used to be.
I feel the same exact way, I miss the old quests and the old writing more than anything else
omg i never thought of that but ive noticed u never get the items in ur backpack for example if u had to go put up some posters u had them in ur backpack and drag them to the wall as u said and i always thought it was fun reading the description of the item
9:55 Yeah, but the sad part is, that they did the changes so slowly, that you didn't even had a chance to, like, say goodbye to the old game. Some companies releases sequels to their MMOs, but that's another game, you can have some expectations, info about whether the old game will stay or shut down, etc. With SSO, they basically replaced the original game with a reboot without anybody noticing until after the fact. I don't think that's really fair.
I'm from Denmark, and I miss the Nordic feel. Been to the US and its not my cup of cake. So I'll miss my nordic feel.
I missed seeing all of the different holidays and events they brought to the game too. I'm in the US, and they really brought their culture and style into the game, which is now just about entirely gone. It's so "americanized" and dulled down it makes me sad.
2 things…
1. As someone from the US, I liked the Nordic/Scandinavian feel too and cringe watching it evolve into another commercialized, “trend-conforming,” modern ghost of what it was. ESPECIALLY what the Christmas town looked like before. So much more warm and festive.
2. I love “not my cup of cake” instead of tea lol that sounds so cute
Same! The game really used to look so familiar to where I live. With the small towns and lazy countryside. It just doesnt really feel like scandinavia anymore, it feels rather that its set in a warmer climate.
Star stable doesn't know how to "update" things they only know how to "redesign and transform" them. That's why I'll probably be quitting the game when they launch the new characters and will have changed all the npc (ms Holdsworth is literally a whole new person with a whole new body type, face etc.)
Same. I’m finally starting Animal Crossing this week and stepping away from SSO 😞
this was well said, its as if they keep launching a new game out of old one, its just like jorvik and same named characters, but nothing a like to the original
They should just make a "classic" version, like many other MMOs if they want to change main game like that.
Yeah like where is her walking stick? Her ugly but cute red shoes that didn’t match her outfit? It made her so cute and very much old and countryside
I am such a *big* updated MS Holdsworth hater, like what did they do to her?! Who is she?!!
so many old players WERE upset? we are STILL upset... and with the new player interface coming to the game.. oh my god sso is going to loose SO many players. they're trying to make the pc game so much like like mobile game.. is digusting.
i just know i will not be able to play with the new interface it isnt even practical since sso is an mmo and not an mobile game originally
The new interface was the last straw for me I quit, shit looks like a mobile game💀
i mean, it did partially become a mobile game
no genuinely like as a swede, i loved the aspect of the game that truly felt like home, like sweden! it sucks how americanized it has become, because like, EVERY other game is so american but there was this one game that not only was a huge part of my childhood and early teen years (and still in my late teens is), it also reminded me so much of home, the places surrounding me and i truly hate that it's been kind of lost
I just wish they could've put the old music back in its place, I would be so happy 😭
You brought up so many good points here. There were a few that really jumped out at me, because they've been my biggest issues with the game for the last few years (it's a long comment, feel free to skip, lol):
-The Americanization of SSO: I started playing SSO in 2015 after I watched some playthroughs, and therefore knew it was a Swedish based game when I joined. I'm American, and enjoyed experiencing the Swedish culture through the game, especially during the holiday events. The "update" of Silverglade crushed my enjoyment of that area. The medieval, fortress like village with the wall became a sprawling mess. For all of the Western aspects, including clothing, tack, and buildings, they've so far stuck to an almost...howdy-doody... style, I want to call it? (They do nearly always say "howdy" when anything western comes up in the news or in-game, lol). I've rode Western my whole life, but most of the tack and clothes they release feels dated to me. The artwork is all well done, it's just that the style is the most westerny-western look they could possibly pick.
-Aging down the game: I was already an adult when I started playing SSO, so the "oh, you just outgrew the game" argument that comes up quite a bit doesn't apply to me. I liked the game I started playing, so I never outgrew it. The game itself changed (you mentioned the writing style, which I've noticed too), and I began to disconnect with what it morphed (down) into. I've not played other MMOs, so I don't know if forever updates are a risk we take when playing them, vs. a disc or finished game that stays the same long after you bought it. I understand updates, but it seems strange to drastically change, reboot rather, the things that brought players to the game in the first place. I paid for the game, but I can't play the game I originally payed for. I think you mentioned it later on, but what frustrates me the most is the inability to replay the game, without paying on another account. It would certainly give us maxed players something to do while we wait for the occasional quest.
yes! i am swedish and ur totally right, they even moved josh and removed his western race in moorland to the ranch?? firgrove is completely different, it still looks like firgrove and they updated firgrove village amazing 10/10 THAT is an update but then u go south and u see the ranch and ur like ''huh?'' its very scandinavian and then its an ranch which is an american thing?.. they could def made a completely NEW area that is very western and not add and change current areas :/ like they did with south hoof, its very like english/irish for me (well they have the welsh ponies so) and the stone thing is def inspired by stonehenge so why couldnt they just make a new area with western based story and art and stuff
As a player who started back in early 2013, I really appreciated this video. Hearing someone talk and share my feelings about the graphics and look/vibe of the game was very comforting. I miss the mysterious vibe of the game, the "personability" of the game. The term "Reboot" was a perfect way to describe this. I'm from America and I loved the different culture in the game. I can't express how much I miss old sso, it's extremely difficult knowing you can no longer play that game anymore and have to deal with the left overs of what looks like the older game.
But all in all, thank you for making this video and sharing your thoughts
I honestly believe that if fortnite never existed that the artstyle would be DRASTICALLY different, cuz its weirdly coincidental that when the new area (mistfall) came out it was at the exact same time fortnite became popular
star stable soul has gone💔 i hope SSO soul or their art style come back🌺
Also, western riding - they could focus on going upwards with map and leave most of western to the Summer Riders area. It would fit better. And we could have some more open areas instead of squashed wildwoods.
Is it bad I want sso to shut down so someone will run a private fan server of 2015 sso?
i vouch for this heavy
i really want that
I’d sell a kidney to make that happen
It would be nice if someone bought SSO rights and created SSO 2015…I wish for that…Ah If I were a millionaire…I would rlly do that
Me too bc I know sso isn't going to listen to the players anymore it's all downhill from here
I agree with everyone else in the comments but I haven’t seen anyone bring up the fact that they made James look like a normal person, he was almost a dwarf before and he was CUTE 😭
No but for real, his eyes were goofy and he had a big-ass head iirc. We really do need him back.
his old model made great use of shape language, it told you a lot about his personality (well, his starshine legacy personality at least)
now he's just a guy, like all the other npcs
just a guy
i once played a horse game on roblox and the fact that i had more fun playing the horse game on roblox, than playing SSO, the horse game i used to love and log on to every single day for years the game i'd play for hours, the game that i had fun and friends on. the game has changed so much that if i wouldn't have played it for so long, i'd be close to hating it. Idk thb i might even hate it already which makes me very sad. Love your vids you put it together so well thank you for your content
star stable is so random, it reminds me of a minecraft world that you create just to play around with when you get bored. In this case the team made the minecraft world and is the one playing around with it.
Honestly ive come to the realisation that the old version of Sso could also just be called StarStable: Online Horse Adventures. This is how they used to market it swell, as did I a lot of other early 2000 horse games.(2011-2017) and this new era is just Star Stable Online.
i really like the new artstyle personally but the warrior cat horse herd TOOK ME OUT
You can critique art guilt-free - in all art, all opinions are valid. But this type of art isn't creative expression for its own sake, it's guided entirely by commercial values. So critiquing it for basically selling out is perfectly valid.
I feel like immersion was just thrown out the window when they changed to the fortnite graphic art style. Also the redesigns of the characters entirely changed their personality .
And what KILLS the immersion is how the horses are going into a more realistic style (Which I adore! although there are some hits and misses with some of them looking weirdly cartoony or having really weird animations.) vs the rest of the game very clearly going into a more fortnite cartoonish style.
i'm so glad that someone out there has the exact same opinions as i do, and that you voice your opinion as well. thank you so much for your videos!
I never thought I would ever want to buy the crusty gen 1 horses but they do look kind of cute and make me feel cosy. Now they're the only old thing (besides the gear) that I can still cling to furiously. Not even Hollow Woods bird Chirpy was safe from the graphical changes man wth 😭
also idk bout u all but the horses don't feel special anymore, like back then i got sooo excited to buy a new horse and it kinda had its own personality in my head even though they had 'no life' to them idk how to explain it tbh
I’m glad they’re improving the graphics etc. and are trying to appeal to new players but god do I miss the old magical feel it had especially the glow some areas had :(
The reason SSO has an 'inconsistent' art style is because they are trying to cater to both their old and new audiences where their preference in art style obviously varies, it's not "which one is it?" it's both, they make both cartoon-like horses and also realistic ones. They want to make sure that there are consistent combinations of both styles so they don't lean into one style too much, or people will complain the game is changing too much. I think in game developing nobody should be approaching things in black and white thinking, it's either this or that. Star stable is supposed to be a realistic-type horse game, if they didn't add any of the more cartoon-like features it wouldn't be a game anymore, it would be like a horse simulator, which is obviously not what they intend to make it.
I feel like they can make the game LOOK realistic but they struggle to make it FEEL magical. I'm fine with the updated graphics and such s they don't look bad but the atmosphere just isn't there anymore. I feel like the last time I felt that "otherworldly" feeling was dino valley and the marshes of New Hillcrest. Why? I have no definitive answer.
@@skybluepainter i mean it feels magical if you still have the quests and stuff, but for people who don’t do the quests it is very much a normal non-magical game
i think the idea is that there was a different way to approach semi realism without going in a fortnite direction. because art is limitless, and they settled with a fornite barbie plastic art style instead. i think a good example would be alicia online, which aged gracefully despite releasing before star stable. it has a "realistic" approach on the environment and horse textures, while also maintaining cartoon proportions and simplifying textures enough to fit between realism and stylization. it's charming despite it's low texture resolution.
objectively though, sso has inconsistent art because they aren't directing their teams in the right direction, even the interns. they aren't doing some sort of mental genius gymnastics by putting out inconsistent art to please people, it is literally just the case of bad direction. if they did that on purpose that would be poor game design and direction.. and it is. it should be either this or that or "black and white" because your game needs an identity that is consistent. like any product, it needs to scream its name. you think they just committed to changing the entire art style but can't commit enough to how realistic/ cartoony their horses are?
@@skybluepainter the answer is game design :D a good game will tell you how to feel through ambiance, music, color, weather, etc! some people argue bloom helped with this, honestly in most games bloom is very annoying but i'd have to agree in a weird way. it gave a very dreamy look, it was perfect for a children's game. i think the sound design is very lacking now, i don't remember how it contributed to the older versions or if the visuals just carried. i will say for certain theOST did have a magical and calm atmosphere though. i think if you compare the game to something like plague of a tale, book of travels(visuals and simple ost), or even just the blood born soundtrack (it's very compelling, gets the point right across) you'll see how important visuals and sound really is to the player and how it affects their interpretation of an experience. game design is an art medium :)
totally agree. Everyone complains about it changing and the horses i mean yea its a game that's constantly improving? they're trying to get new players interested as well as keeping the older players interested too. That's very hard thing to do. And the fact that some horses look more cartoony than others is fine? Some people may prefer cartoony looking ones but others prefer more realistic looking ones. Some (like me), prefer both and thats fine! The option is there. Why are we complaining about it? I think them updating characters is a good thing too. Their visuals have improved and that will only get more players interested. I think they do lack in storytelling though. Apart from that everything is great :)
i miss old sso sm, the old vibe was the best
This is kind of wierd for me since I started playing on around the starting point of the updates. There are some things I couldn't imagine being different, and I find those good and natural (for example the horses) but there are a lot of things I find very wierd and disturbing too. Like how at this point in time all the characters in game have a different style? The soulriders look slightly cartoony but still very realistic, some NPCs, for some reason mostly the old ladys, look VERY realistic, while other NPCs and the players still look very old cartoon style-ish. The same can be said with the areas. I personally don't have that much of a problem with the look of the newest designs but it really just would have been better to make a SSO 2.0 at this point. Also RIP Silverglade TwT.
I think what you said about them not updating areas but completely redoing them is completely correct. It was bad enough with Silverglade but looking at the new Hollow Woods it is a completely different area they just put it in the same place and did not change the name
I have an old laptop with starstable starshine legacy etc and it still works and idk where the laptop is but only my dad knows where it is and I'm so socially awkward at this point that I can't even ask my parents if I could play old starstable again on the laptop I can't 😭
I don't know if I'm the only one but I hate desigh of new grass 😂 the old one was so... detailed? There were small halms and they were even moving in the wind... but now it looks more like there's just some texture of big grass printed on some green floor 🤷♀️
yup, I hate how you can see really obvious lines where the texture ends and repeats now :/
I miss the old version of Starstable, its not the same game anymore. The storyline is gone. I wish that sso let us choose the game launcher that we wanted to play on. So like, if players want to play the 2014 version still
i dont mind if some horses look realistic and others look more cartoony. I n ever thought of that as an issue. I think it adds character to each. For example some horses may look more cartoony which makes them seem more fun to play with whereas the more realistic looking ones look very serious. It's just about your preference and i like both.
Steves farm looks pretty norwegian tho, but I still miss the old yellow one
as a older starstable player, this game did need to be updated, like any other game, but they WAY they updated it is just odd. yes the graphics had to be updated, but idk was this the best way to go? it just feels odd, they keep updating everything the hardest way yk, like why this game looks so different now? i dont understand how the lore has been same over 15yrs and then suddely they decided to change it, or they way they keep removing stuff instead of updating it, like the bus and making global store so many ppl wouldnt visit mall etc so they wouldnt need to update it.
or even the order the updates are coming, why they couldnt just take a time to focus on one topic, like map graphics, the characters, then horses? theyve been updating the map for 5 years now and its still missing many areas, and it makes the game also look weird, because when theyre finally done with the map updating, the graphics in mistfall etc starts to be outdated..
i feel like they just focus on making the game for kids, and i do understand, but afterall adult players are the most important ones.. i love sso, but it is not the same game as star stable, its like two different games. both are great but nothing a like.... its like as if you were comparing rdr2 and sotc, two totally different games but with the same concept.
ive been wating for north link to open up for years, because it always had that hole there, and i thought that when sso came out, it wouldnt take more than like 2 years to open up?? but no. i know i cant have everything i personally want and that i should be thankful for them even keeping jorvik lore ongoing, and i am, but the way they wont listen to the players until its happy feedback only.. when theyre gonna admit that theyre sorry for making this whole game so messy? i just feel so unheard and disrespected in this community..
and if we think about it, starstable went from teenagers game to like children game slowly eventho no one asked for that, no one.
just sad to see how this game is totally different from what it used to be, but it is what it is i guess
I loved unique and cartoony style of old sso and g1 horses. Now every horse game is trying to be realistic, which makes sso's new art style not so unique, or, hot take, even appealing. Like, almost every new horse breed looks the same (unless it's a very unique breed like friesian or arabian). I know that they used to re-use the same models for multiple breeds, but damn, now that they're "putting more effort" and they still look the fucking same? Also magic horses are almost all ugly and they killed their uniqueness
Idk, i left sso last year but got stinged so bad by nostalgia recently which makes me so mad about current sso
I know im a year late lol sorry but i just wanted to mention that as a swedish person, The new silverglade village looks a lot like swedish villages to me. For example where my grandma lives and a town near me called Trosa. And i dont love the change but i think its a bit easier to navigate now lol even if i prefer the older version. Another example is the yellow house with the two rabbits in the east part of the village, The house reminds me of pippi långstrumps house a lot with the architectury and the color too.
I am honestly sad how much starstable online has strayed from the original Starshine legacy games. I hate how they have dumbed it down for little kids to play, when originally it felt more targeted towards teenagers and felt a lot more engaging and deep. Some quests from the original games were scary, yeah, but it made it exciting!
Makes me feel like how the Pollux horsebook club dumbed down and changed to Penny & friends. The subscription boxes used to have really awesome stuff, which included the Starshine legacy games!! We got stuff like towels with horses on, plushies, books, horse care items etc, but then everything changed.
as of writing this were waiting for a character update today, and ngl all i wanted was to be able to change my character name 💀
They could have just tweaked their textures to be modern as you said, but now it got americanized and they sold themselfs which makes me so disgusted, so ill just quit. Maybe ill check in once in a blue moon but thats it, the game is dead
it's a really long and time consuming game meant for older kids from the beggining and now its for children does not make any sense tf
22:02 even changing her clothes she still looks like a 10 year old when her old design made her look ATLEAST 16 but imo I always HC she was atleast 18 like she looked older in the old art
I am not even a new player but I get sad about how much it changes. Like the new Ui coming. and the character changes.
That moment where you can't watch a video fully because it just hurts your heart too friggin much XD
Its so funny actually because i showed a friend a picture i took in the game in the new graphics and he thought it was from World of Warcraft. After that i was remembering that Star Stable Online was meant to be like a WoW for girls is so ironic how similar their graphics have become
The ppl on tumblr were probably just iffy about the skin tone change I feel like that specific part shouldn’t be left out
And now our characters look totally different, even the hairstyles and clothes have changed. It's so sad
as a gamer who playes alot of ganres and a player of sso for 10 years. the character do not look like fortnite even my bf who is more of a game addict than myself sais the same. and yes i do miss the vibes sometimes. but honestly i like it much better the style is starstable i would recognise it anywhere. the quest are more grindy but thats normal. games now adays are grinding games. graphyics and gameplay wise everyone likes something else. but they had to update if they dont follow trends and what is popular now we would not have sso. but compairing the characters to fortnite characters is just no they are not .
I think you mixed the info. 13 min into the video. About the horses and sounds. I'm a very old player of SSO. And the horses used to be making more sounds back then than now. As well slow down after some X seconds and you have to make it go fast. Now days. No noises from the horses. As well no limits of time for speed.
I need to know if this happened to more people. over the last couple of days, I've noticed that whenever I come near my gen 1 horses, i get a so-called "network error" which all my other devices dont seem to have. So I logged back on, same thing. I wanted to ride my gen 1 (i was riding a gen 3) and when I went near it to ride, network error. It never happens when im near any of the other gen horses. It happened to my Andalusian, to my Arabian including my north swedish and I just need to know. Is this a coincidence? Am I overthinking this or does anyone else have this too? Is sso literally trying to not make me ride these gen 1 horses?? I know it seems highly unlikely, I'm very aware!! but still there's a little voice telling me so and I need to know if any of you have noticed this too?
(edit) This doesn't happen all the time by the way, it happened about 4 times now. I am still able to ride them its just that I get a network error surprisingly often when im near or riding these horses and never when im riding a gen 2.5 or 3. And please note, I rarely ride my gen 1's! And it has happened 4 times, while im riding newer gen the maturity of the time and it never happened.
Silverglade village is very Swedish now and it’s nice BUT it’s not silverglade village. I’d like it more if it were in another location like a new area
I agree with many of the points here, but i don't think it's fair to bash sso for updating their style and character models (like with Sabine and the soul riders) like they have. I mean, you can't say "it looks like Fortnite" as if Fortnite holds authority over that kind of style. It doesn’t, and associating it with that in such a negative manner hurts both games for merely having an appearance. Early sso style ran close to the chunky, Bratz-esque, early 2000s girls games go (except in 3D) and nobody seems skeptical of that. Just... to point out...
The truth is, the game's community is so heavily divided that opinions on how the game should look, run, etc. often give entirely opposite perspectives. The game needs a revamp but everyone is hit or miss with the graphics. They get around to doing something the community asked for and it's never good enough. We look forward to the horses looking realistic, but then they either don't or they look "too realistic," and we nitpick their flawed movements to the bone, saying they look lame or too silly. Yet we somehow look to the models that barely pass as a horse to be superior. At what point do we stop to think that we're *not helping* by giving them feedback as if we make the game? At some point, I expect sso to just stop listening to its community entirely, because they get so much hate and conflicting arguments no matter what they do. That will be their downfall, I'm sure, but I can see it happening. I'm not one to typically like or agree with the actions sso takes, but I don't flat out hate them for their choices. I see it both ways. The reasons in this video aren't entirely reasonable. Star Stable, in its team abd its community, is full of angry hypocrites.
This ☝
Ikrr I literally saw a video where people were nitpicking about something bad in the new horses animation.. I looked at that video multiple times and I didn't see a single thing wrong with the animation, so people are literally angry over the smallest, tiniest little mistake in animations on horses so it just seems like this community is never happy..
@shannondonnelly2958 Which horse was it, out of curiosity? And so, so true. I think they did the game and its community well with the mustangs by taking their time on them, personally. Versus the other recent ones that they've been pumping out loke crazy. I don't hear nearly as much hate regarding them. Hopefully they keep going with that method and can get back into good graces with their players. It's a small step, but a good one.
@@kristenrasmussen4135 yeee, and it was the gen 3 arabians I think? I'm not the greatest with spotting little details in horses animations tbh so I've never been bothered about it too much. But people fussing over tiny details feels a bit much to me xD
@@shannondonnelly2958 they were fussing over the arabians?? 😭 those are literally one of the most flawless models in the game
They could've ask. The audacity.
I don't think it's about graphics but in fact it's about immersion the truth is that most of these Cozy games are not realistic at all and immersion is not about making something similar to real life after all we can feel the RPG style games chibi or even those from 10/20 years ago, what SSO has lost along with realism (gameplay) is strong branding and unique a style that could have been improved, replacing it and focusing on changing the graphics to realistic ones and not creating a game to be like a real one, they may come up with a bad situation someday, after all, whether some graphics are better is easy to discuss, it's easy to replace a game based only on this, but the game with a good story and community? NOTHING can replace the emotions of a good story and all this, even after many years, people come back to old games because they love them for what they convey, not just for the cover. I feel sorry for them because now they have to undo it somehow XD but they made it happen themselves. in addition, the Americanization of this game has gone in a terrible direction, I would like a game with a unique exotic culture, we already have many games about cowboys and westerns, give us at least one Scandinavian one :((((((((((how can anyone say that replacing something like this is ok in the name of diversity, especially since this culture is so rare in horse games and after all, it's not only about horses but about everything about the atmosphere architecture, people and holidays cannot be replaced...
I like the new graphics/textures but like... just apply them to the original npc characters/horses/landscapes?? I was inactive for like 2-3 years and came back to the new character models, new areas everywhere, and a new UI. Not all the changes are bad- I like a lot of it :) but there are things that I feel like they've changed unnecessarily and it's just changed the vibe completely. The UI now looks like a soulless mobile game. I miss the eyesore blue flip phone one lmao. If they still have the original files, it would be so cool if the developers patched them together and released the game as it was. They should've separated it into two versions before the changes got too egregious and preserved the old one as well as the weird new Ship of Theseus game we have now tbh.
wow im very early 💀💀