Oh, please, don't give us that. I've got an Atari 800 sitting out in the garage. I've watched graphics go from CGA, to EGA, to VGA, to Super VGA, to 3d. And I still think it's not as good as it could be.

It may have a new engine, but it's still running on the same old hardware. That means the best they can do is optimize it to run more efficiently. While that will allow them to squeeze out a bit more graphical power, it's not anything significant. The rest is simply an improved artistic direction.

Long-distance yes, short-distance no.

No, it's not stupid to tell you it looks better because of those things, engine wise or not, because they had to rebuild there engine to achieve them. Yes, it's made to run on 360 which... fine, is a piece of junk at this point I guess, but it does look a lot better than Oblivion. It's ridiculous to say otherwise. They had to rebuild their graphics engine to achieve what I outlined above even if it was designed around 360 hardware. It wasn't simply a matter of... spending more time on animations and models and everything else. It's far superior to Oblivion. I've never seen Oblivion modded, but I doubt it looks anywhere near as good as Skyrim. Negating that though, you said it looks exactly like Oblivion un-modded. That IS utterly false... even if Oblivion is able to look as good as Skyrim with mods, because it definitely doesn't without.

And I'm sorry, but graphics capabiblities including geometry, has a direct link to artistic design. If you can't achieve a certain technical quality, it's going to limit your design capabilities.

Of course it does. I never expect nor want graphical fireworks from TES, but in this case the graphics are better than I expected.

Anyone saying "It looks like modded Oblivion" needs to have their eyes examined or replaced. That's simply not the case. Character models in particular look much better, but hell, they looked much better in Fallout3 as well, which is a Gamebryo-Engine game.

I don't mean to imply that the models of Skyrim are OMGHAXAZOMEYO, but I'm saying how absolutely terrible the Oblivion Models were.

Environmentally, Oblivion actually was pretty good, except at Distance. I agree, things like Texture Resolution and such, are mostly unchanged. Games played from the First-Person perspective are much easier to scrutinize there though, Red Dead Redemption, for example, looks amazing all the time, unless you can get the Camera up close on something (Like a gun) which has to be done intentionally and is quite difficult. The detail doesn't hold up so well then. One thing I don't actually Mind, is lower-resolution textures. I tried doing things like putting ultra-high res in both Oblivion and Morrowind, and the clean textures actually underscore more of the visual problems, and it's much easier to pick up on one of my personal pet-peeves, repeating ground texture patterns.

Definitely, the biggest Graphical improvement, is the Art style. Much more inspired, especially in the landscape. I'll wait until I got the retail to really call it brilliant, but from what I've seen, I am tenfold more impressed than I ever was with the Oblivion trailers.

To say that the engine hasn't surpassed what modders have done with Oblivion is, I think, downright false. The lighting in http://cdn.gamerant.com/wp-content/uploads/Elder-Scrolls-5-Skyrim-Woman.jpg is FAR superior to http://chorrol.com/files/74/obx10B.jpg, and no that's not something that can easily be changed by mods. The fog is way better, the draw distance is also something that mods have not changed for Oblivion (which is better in Skyrim), you already brought up dynamic shadows, the animations are using a different system which I think might be superior to Oblivions, but that's hard to tell right now.

In all I think the engine really looks updated graphically, it's just their art design that looks really similar, but still a lot better IMHO.

Granted, I do play Oblivion on 360, but I felt that the textures looked quite a bit better as well. They were really bland on 360, and I did play on PC a while back. I don't remember it being a whole lot better. I don't know for sure, but I do know for sure that virtually everything else definitely looked better. Maybe using 360 as a baseline svcks for PC players and I'm sorry about that, but it's still much better looking than Oblivion regardless, which is one thing I know I'm not alone on.

neutral. deleted my vote after thinking about it, id be lying if i said i was completely satisfied with what i saw.
do i like it, yes! its a major improvement over oblivion...but is that enough....depends on how much content is in the game, then i wont care what it looks like ill just play. but if its got about the same amount of stuff in it as OB ill be expecting it to look gorgeous on my computer..i'm saying along the lines of pure amazing, directx11 support if not at launch added at a later date through a patch or expansion [like wow did] and some beastly mods for when i grow tired of skyrim and want to travel a bit.

Good yes, spectacular no.

Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed by what they are managing to squeeze out of a 360, but it is not graphically spectacular to me.

Derp. It looks like mario for N64 .perD

It looks good enough, meaning crazy awesome! Cheese... For everyone! Scrach that. Cheese for no-one. Skyrim looks great, yes I'm looking at the 18 who said no O_O

Don't lame us! Blame the OP for using such a superlative.

Pretend it says "good" and vote yes ^^

Voting no on whether it looks spectacular isn't a slight against the game. All that can mean is that it doesn't push boundaries. I am more than pleased with the graphics. Do I think it looks spectacular? No.

Does it have cutting edge graphics, up there with the best today's tech has to offer, is a question with a definite answer. But anyway you cut it , 'does it look....' is a matter of opinion.
The answer to the first is sadly no, the answer to the second is whatever you and I think.

In a nutshell,the graphics are good enough,considering the type of game and that it's mulit-platform. Deal with it and accept it,move on and enjoy it. No amount of moaning etc is going to change what bethesda is doing.

exactly, I mean lets list the companies that try to make games like ES...

oh wait

ONE....

AND they give us the CS for free to mod the game...

I am a huge fan of the mountains, now all they need to do is make the mountains climbable and I'll be happy. The rest of the game could be empty for all I care.

I think the landscapes and environment look absolutely amazing and I can not wait to get out of the habit of fast-track hopping my way around and exploring the lands majestic beauty!

Yes it looks great. I don't judge a game on its graphics though. It does look great though.

Looks stunning and thats the Xbox screenshots. Todd was right when he said you will think you have a new console :hubbahubba:

Wise Man Once Said: It's Not About The Graphics, It's About The Game.

I felt that the dragon in the trailer had a few low-res parts, but in general it looks awesome. The point anyway, I think, with TES games isn't whether they have the best graphics or not, but that they use the graphics available to them in an amazing way (especially when it comes to the environment).

PS. Anyone who says graphics aren't important is just plain wrong.

Making a great game on this level of quality is like baking a great cake. There are ingredients, and although some of the ingredients are more crucial when it comes to actually making the cake, you won't get an excellent cake unless you add all of the other ingredients as well, and in the right order.

Graphics and sound are equally important to gameplay, because it adds to the immersion. Just try and play a really old RPG; you might still love it for nostalgia and because you remember it as a bloody good game, but it won't be nearly as immersive as it used to be, back when its graphics were considered great.

True. I loved Daggerfall when it first came out and played it for a long time, more recently, I downloaded it free from Beth, full of old nostalgia and glee.. I got 10 minutes into the first dungeon and quit out.

The Graphics were just too 2d, pixellated and ugly..

it`s hard to recapture that magic you get, when you first play a new game :biggrin:

1. Skyrim looks fine. Not amazing. ?Amazing? is a superlative adjective that means ?awe-inspiring?.
2. Not only there is room for improvement, but also people on this very forum have given clear, precise and reasonable examples where such improvements could happen.
3. I wonder if those who keep telling others no to ?nag? about graphics behave the same way when, say, in their capacity as paying customers they find a prospective fault in some other product.

*Edit*

Battlefield 3, now that looks
Amazing.