[Bek Rideout]

Bethesda was never the king of graphics.

1994

Arena: http://gridlineproductions.com/arena.png
Doom: http://diablobasher.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/doom01.jpg

1996

Daggerfall: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zw6RE6PikUc/TWgu0a9viYI/AAAAAAAABAc/IRymjZq48BY/s1600/The+Elder+Scrolls+Daggerfall.jpg
Tomb Raider: http://iantan.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/TombRaider1.png

2002

Morrowind: http://wreckedgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Lore.jpg
Splintercell: http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2003/pc/splintercell/s_790screen016.jpg

2006

Oblivion: http://www.tweakguides.com/images/Oblivion_2.jpg
Gears of War: http://www.maniacworld.com/Gears-of-War-Glitch.jpg

[Bellismydesi]

I'm not concerned about the graphics. They look good and for a person that wants to pull at least another 2 years out of my pc I'm glad they aren't trying to go way overboard.

[Timara White]

I'm not concerned about the graphics. They look good and for a person that wants to pull at least another 2 years out of my pc I'm glad they aren't trying to go way overboard.

Yeah, it's a real pity we don't have any way to like... turn the graphics down, or something. That'd really help with that.

[Stay-C]

Oblivion now has better (though slightly buggy) water than Skyrim! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDaQq76cyb4&feature=player_embedded

Well, ok the texture isn't quite as good maybe. But look, actual reflections! If Bethesda would just admit that they don't care about having top notch graphics then who would care? But no, they've gotta repeat "graphics matter a lot to us" and blah blah blah. Enough with the pr stuff.

[Reven Lord]

So far they're looking great, so can't complain. Then again, my general view of graphics is that as long as they don't interfere with the game, I'm content.

[asako]

I am very pleased so far, besides a few details that has been mentioned multiple times around here.
Having too much going on at once with textures, animations, interactive content and such, affects frame rates, so keep that in mind.
Are people willing to spend money on the technology that is required to meet all their graphic needs?

[Lily Evans]

In this type of game, the main feature is the quality of gameplay, not graphics. Morrowind has pretty bad graphic for these days, but people still enjoy playing it (at least me) because the gameplay is better than the graphics. I think having Crysis 2 graphics in games is just a bonus, nothing more than that.

I'm curious, for someone like yourself that states that "gameplay is better than graphics", how often do you play Arena or Daggerfall?

The "graphics don't matter" argument is archaic. It derives from an outdated understanding of what gaming is today. The modern day video game has transformed into something very different. The lines between all forms of media and art are becoming increasingly thin which leaves us with a gaming product that starkly contrasts gaming in the past. To downplay graphics is to remove a key aspect of what is slowly becoming the predominant role playing experience.

OP: Skryim doesn't stand a chance against Crysis 2 or Battlefield 3, but in my opinion shows the greatest graphical potential than any other open world game I have seen...easily rivaling Red Dead...

[Alyna]

I'm curious, for someone like yourself that states that "gameplay is better than graphics", how often do you play Arena or Daggerfall?

The "graphics don't matter" argument is archaic. It derives from an outdated understanding of what gaming is today. The modern day video game has transformed into something very different. The lines between all forms of media and art are becoming increasingly thin which leaves us with a gaming product that starkly contrasts gaming in the past. To downplay graphics is to remove a key aspect of what is slowly becoming the predominant role playing experience.

OP: Skryim doesn't stand a chance against Crysis 2 or Battlefield 3, but in my opinion shows the greatest graphical potential than any other open world game I have seen...easily rivaling Red Dead...

Clap Clap
Clap.

[Angela Woods]

You really cant compare the graphics to any other game as it is basically its own unique style that i have never seen copied anywhere else...so u can only really compare it to other bethesda games...skyrim compared to oblivion and even fallout 3 looks miles ahead of both the games..

[Matt Bee]

These threads always fill up with folks on two sides. Those who love their FPS games and thus come with expectations of graphics on par with graphics comparable to Crysis and those who are long time players of RPGs (especially sandbox ones like TES) who understand the amount of detail and the resources that go into a open free roaming game like TES. Of course we all on both sides of the issue would love to have awe inspiring graphics but we don't want to give up anything to get them and would rather settle for lesser in the graphics dept. to assure our game is top notch when it comes to all the little added world details and massive free roaming world.

I personally don't expect this game to meet Crysis level of graphics and it's a sacrifice I am willing to make for what will be better than Oblivions. In my opinion, Oblivion was a beautiful game. Skyrim being better will surpass my expectations as long as the quests and details are great and I can run cross country, doing what I want when I want and it has characters I enjoy and a good story.

When I want to be wowed by graphics I will pick up a FPS that will wow me. :shrug:

[Amysaurusrex]

These threads always fill up with folks on two sides. Those who love their FPS games and thus come with expectations of graphics on par with graphics comparable to Crysis and those who are long time players of RPGs (especially sandbox ones like TES) who understand the amount of detail and the resources that go into a open free roaming game like TES. Of course we all on both sides of the issue would love to have awe inspiring graphics but we don't want to give up anything to get them and would rather settle for lesser in the graphics dept. to assure our game is top notch when it comes to all the little added world details and massive free roaming world.

I personally don't expect this game to meet Crysis level of graphics and it's a sacrifice I am willing to make for what will be better than Oblivions. In my opinion, Oblivion was a beautiful game. Skyrim being better will surpass my expectations as long as the quests and details are great and I can run cross country, doing what I want when I want and it has characters I enjoy and a good story.

When I want to be wowed by graphics I will pick up a FPS that will wow me. :shrug:

I think that is a fictional division of waters. I myself do not fit in any of the 2 categories. Most of the gamers i know wouldn't either.

[Eoh]

These threads always fill up with folks on two sides. Those who love their FPS games and thus come with expectations of graphics on par with graphics comparable to Crysis and those who are long time players of RPGs (especially sandbox ones like TES) who understand the amount of detail and the resources that go into a open free roaming game like TES. Of course we all on both sides of the issue would love to have awe inspiring graphics but we don't want to give up anything to get them and would rather settle for lesser in the graphics dept. to assure our game is top notch when it comes to all the little added world details and massive free roaming world.

I personally don't expect this game to meet Crysis level of graphics and it's a sacrifice I am willing to make for what will be better than Oblivions. In my opinion, Oblivion was a beautiful game. Skyrim being better will surpass my expectations as long as the quests and details are great and I can run cross country, doing what I want when I want and it has characters I enjoy and a good story.

When I want to be wowed by graphics I will pick up a FPS that will wow me. :shrug:

I think that is a fictional division of waters. I myself do not fit in any of the 2 categories. Most of the gamers i know wouldn't either.

Agree with Skyrimer here. I completely understand how the focus of a detailed free world in all the TES games. But at the same time I understand and want that world to look nice and feel realistic, like if you're actually in the game, rather than playing it.
There are no black and white sides here. It's not that you can't have both. You can have both if you have a really big budget. Money is what it's all about in the end; what comes in and what comes out.
You can also choose to focus on each equally.

In other words, it definitely doesn't have to be black and white, even though it sometimes is.

[[ becca ]]

I think that Skyrim looks amazing! Especially the "new" screens we got look gorgeus.

[Davorah Katz]

Oblivion now has better (though slightly buggy) water than Skyrim! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDaQq76cyb4&feature=player_embedded

Morrowind too. Plus waves.

[Vincent Joe]

I doubt it will be able to be match a linear shooter like Crysis... because its a linear shooter. But for a first-person RPG (or third) it will possibly be the best as of yet. We need to be asking if it will rival Red Dead Redemption, or Assassin's Creed (i know its not a RPG) but its pretty freakin huge.

[Marie]

Have you *played* Crysis? The levels were far larger than Oblivion's 2-cell load radius (And what's actually loaded is what counts, not pure size).

But alright, how about Just Cause 2? I haven't played it on console, but on PC it's absolutely beautiful, and it's a far larger world than anything bar daggerfall.

[Chloe Lou]

The latest screenshots look pretty damn good, I think, and bear in mind they're all Xbox screenshots. The PC version will look better. Also, when you consider how amazing Morrowind can look with the right mods. I really don't think it will be an issue.

Regardless, they're sufficient. Crysis 2 and Black Ops look good, sure, but they're shallow as all hell. Skyrim will be huge.

[Lyndsey Bird]

I doubt it will be able to be match a linear shooter like Crysis... because its a linear shooter. But for a first-person RPG (or third) it will possibly be the best as of yet. We need to be asking if it will rival Red Dead Redemption, or Assassin's Creed (i know its not a RPG) but its pretty freakin huge.

Yeah... Red Dead Redemption (RDR) is probably the best game to compare Skyrim with, if we have to compare with a (somewhat) similar RPG.

To be 100% honest, I think RDR looks better than Skyrim. Quite a bit better also.
It just looks more natural and realistic. The lighting also feels a lot better.
This is my opinion though. Here are two good vidoes of each, judge for yourself:

RDR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgogah1INcY
Skyrim: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSRtYpNRoN0

[Lucy]

Yeah... Red Dead Redemption (RDR) is probably the best game to compare Skyrim with, if we have to compare with a (somewhat) similar RPG.

To be 100% honest, I think RDR looks better than Skyrim. Quite a bit better also.
It just looks more natural and realistic. The lighting also feels a lot better.
This is my opinion though. Here are two good vidoes of each, judge for yourself:

RDR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgogah1INcY
Skyrim: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSRtYpNRoN0

Pretty unfair comparison. Bethesda hasn't shown us everything you can do in Skyrim yet.

[brenden casey]

Indeed, it's difficult to compare an Elder Scrolls game with any other game.

RDR comes about as close as any game out there right now, (at least in terms of "openness.") It does look better than Skyrim, but really I would expect it too. Other game studios simply spend more development time on graphics than Beth does. This doesn't make Beth better or worse, simply different. RDR and Oblivion were both great games, and they both delivered a different experience, despite them being just a little bit similar.

That being said, Skyrim looks great. Not cutting edge great, but still pretty great. And that's good enough for most ES fans.

[Emily Jeffs]

Pretty unfair comparison. Bethesda hasn't shown us everything you can do in Skyrim yet.

You don't need to see everything you can do in a game in order to see how it looks in terms of graphics, especially lighting. And graphics is after all what this thread is about.

I compared it with RDR for obvious reasons though, since they're somewhat similar (as close as we can get). They're both open RPGs with lots of features. RDR's world is almost twice as big, but it got much fewer locations than Skyrim probably will have. We can't compare them fully, I've never said that. No one has ever said that. But it's the best comparison we can get when we compare two games' graphics (while having the games' extensive content in the back of our minds as well)

[Robyn Lena]

I've seen noticeably better-looking games on my console of choice, but I still think Skyrim looks great and those other games I was referring to are pretty limited in the size of any single part of the gameworld being rendered at any given time and are more limited in customization in comparison to Skyrim (such as Uncharted 2, Killzone 3, Final Fantasy XIII). I'm not trying to make a "gameplay>graphics" excuse as I do enjoy nice graphics very much, but I'm inclined to believe a game that renders more processes at any given time (take AI/scheduling, which is lacking in most other games, or the rendering/gradual revealing of distant land one can actually travel to, for example) has less power to put solely on graphical prowess. With that said, though, I still think Skyrim looks amazing. The distant land is some of the best I've ever seen and I'm extremely happy about the shadows, cloud/fog system, and new animations (I can't describe how relieved I was to see that dragons don't move like cliffracers. ). If this Havok animation physics hype is to be believed, that's also something I've yet to see in a video game, so it should be very fun. I don't like the vegetation (mostly the pine trees, really) much, though. I'm not sure what I should be expecting as a PS3 player, but some of it looks worse than Oblivion's, to me. I'm hoping the game, in action, will look at least as good as Oblivion in terms of plants, but they look quite odd, to me.

[SexyPimpAss]

Yeah, it's a real pity we don't have any way to like... turn the graphics down, or something. That'd really help with that.

Lol, I get what you're saying, but I honestly don't care. I'm sure I will play it fine. My system is older, but it is much better than a 360 or PS3. I'm just not personally concerned. Gameplay is more my thing.

[Alberto Aguilera]

You don't need to see everything you can do in a game in order to see how it looks in terms of graphics, especially lighting. And graphics is after all what this thread is about.

I compared it with RDR for obvious reasons though, since they're somewhat similar (as close as we can get). They're both open RPGs with lots of features. RDR's world is almost twice as big, but it got much fewer locations than Skyrim probably will have. We can't compare them fully, I've never said that. No one has ever said that. But it's the best comparison we can get when we compare two games' graphics (while having the games' extensive content in the back of our minds as well)

Even graphically, they just haven't shown us enough to get a good grasp of what the graphics are going to be like.

[Sweet Blighty]

You don't need to see everything you can do in a game in order to see how it looks in terms of graphics, especially lighting. And graphics is after all what this thread is about.

I compared it with RDR for obvious reasons though, since they're somewhat similar (as close as we can get). They're both open RPGs with lots of features. RDR's world is almost twice as big, but it got much fewer locations than Skyrim probably will have. We can't compare them fully, I've never said that. No one has ever said that. But it's the best comparison we can get when we compare two games' graphics (while having the games' extensive content in the back of our minds as well)

Absolutely, and an imporant difference to note is that while RDR is sandbox, it is so in a very limited sense *compared to TES, there were lots of sidequests but no where near as many as in a TES game. Of course the biggest thing to note is the contingents Rockstar had in their favor. You only play as John/Jack Martson, you can only feesably use guns, and as you said, while it's a big map that looks great 99% of it is wide open space. In Oblivion of course there's a much more complex combat system and you can be one ten different races, and there is more depth to individual characters not main-quest specific.