Hi,

I'm just wondering, would the graphics be better on PC or xbox or the same? I'm thinking that it would be better for me to buy skyrim on xbox, because it likely will at least run better / smoother but I'm wondering if that would sacrifice some aesthetics. I have no idea about graphics rendering or whatever, but I would have maybe thought that it would be not as good on xbox because its kind of old now and you can't really upgrade the system, but on comptuers you can?

The PC version will look better.

That being said, don't expect a day and night difference.

Mods could change that. Speaking of mods, here is what I would do: Get the 360 version. Wait for the inevitable GOTY edition, then get that on PC. There should be plenty of good mods by then.

Well, it is going to be better graphics on the PC. Not much, but better. PCs have been upgraded since 2005/2006, so they have better specs than the wii, ps3 and the 360 (though the ps3 has a different type of proccessor that is harder to compare against the PC), but most games now are made for the consoles and put on the PCs (console ports) . These console ports aren't as good graphics as it is possible to be on a PC. It is possible to make a 360 or PS3 render the graphics at the same level of detail on the consoles, but then the draw distance has to be significantly reduced. This happened on Crysis 2 - they had to change the location from an open jungle to a closed city because they made the games for the consoles as well. Skyrim will be supporting DX11, which does improve the graphics. However, not all of DX11's features will be utilised in it, so it won't be amazing. Also, PC's have MUCH better graphics cards than the consoles (it's probably the biggest improvement on the consoles) as well as much more RAM. So, in summary, it will be better graphics on the pc, but not a huge amount more.

Other points to encourage you to get it for the PC - the PC will be able to have much greater draw distance, and the better your computer the longer the draw distance.
Also, probably the most important points for PCs, is that they can have mods. It is like a ton of free DLC, and it can do anything. How console players play normal Oblivion is beyond me - there are mods for everything, from over 1000 bugs being fixed in Oblivion all the way to stopping guards being psycic and improving the combat system.

You can probably tell from this post that I would most definetly recommend getting it for the PC.

pc is always better,but for a gamer like me,i wont nvr use pc as gaming,dun know why but pc always have weird problem and hard to figure out,unless i shift from pc gaming to console,i wouldn't mind the graphics on console,unless u played oblivion on AWESOME computer and suddenly shift to console now THATS a big difference

Forget the xbox/ps3.

If you have a decent computer then I'd recommend going PC, if only to avoid the horrible loading times on consoles.

PC's have absolutely no problems if you don't look up porm, torrent random stuff, or go on shady websites and get a virus. Whenever I help people with computer problems, they've always done one of those things. The only other thing that could go wrong is incompatible video cards and stuff like that, but if you get a main-stream provider computer normally that doesn't happen. And normally you can just update your drivers and it fixes it anyway. And also, if you refuse to use a PC because you have broken some old piece of [censored] one that cost $500 a couple of years ago, then you're not a gamer.

If you've got a good PC then there is no contest.

PC all the way.

And the argument about being able to kick back with a controller and a giant flatscreen only with console versions is bunk. This can easily be accomplished with the PC version.

I know you're asking about graphics but thought I'd throw that in anyway

I beg to differ. The Xbox is incapable of applying AA to alpha layers so the 360 is going to suffer from blocky, flickering shadows and other alpha layers present(such as tree leaves). These can all be seen in the trailer.

With higher res textures, higher rendered resolution, 4x + AA and AF the difference between PC and 360 will be night and day just as OB and FO3 were.

The PC will look better, absolutely no doubt. But I gotta tell you, Skyrim is gonna be a gorgeous 360 game. She looks real purty on the old 360.

You might as well be speaking French. I don't know what those things you mentioned are.

What we've seen of the game thus far was shot on the 360, and it looks great, IMO. I don't notice what you're talking about.

I disagree that there will be a day and night difference. 1. The 360 is the lead development platform. 2. TH has stated that BGS intends to make all versions look similar.

If you were to get up close on the 360 version, it would look " bad", but I will be 10-12ft away from screen.

Please bear in mind that I do not have an uber-rig and am not spoiled (I don't mean that in a negative way). To my eye, Skyrim looks epic, but I place little importance on graphics.

These discussions have a nasty habit of turning into flamewars. Furthermore, I have no desire to change your mind, nor do I desire for you to change mine or argue. I am done.

Goodnight.

Sorry but if you quote me in a reply i have right to retort.

AA = Anti-Aliasing(smooths blocky edges during rendering)
AF = Anisotropic Filtering(sharpens Texture blending during rendering)

Watch my slowed version of the trailer and pay close attention to the shadows and you'll observe the blocky flickering. The PC is just inherently better at rendering the exact same code and is also capable of applying hardware forced(the game doesn't have to support it) rendering improvements at runtime(AA and AF).

Not trying to start anything here but if you don't know what he's talking about then you can't judge whether it makes a difference or not. Trust me they do. They make a huge difference. Also they've stated that the game will look best on PC.

Thanks for all your replies Also, I should add that I made the error of saying PC when I actually meant laptop. I will post my specs and if you would like you can judge what kind of difference I would expect, but while I know the specs are already pretty outdates, I'm not looking to buy a new one any time soon as I'm quite happy with lil' tosh (I name my laptops, yeah). (ps, sorry if I post the wrong information, I've not done it before) (pps I'm not looking to get my laptop harshly judged, I just want to know how you think the gaming experience would differ compared to the xbox, only if you feel like reading it and writing a response of course =) )

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u mad bro?

You might be able to get away with it on low/medium-low settings on that. Your graphics card isn't really up to snuff even if it were a desktop version. I can't say for sure if it would be better on console or your laptop since we haven't tested it yet but I would probably lean heavily toward console.

Couldn't come up with a rebuttal, eh?


You might have to turn some CPU heavy settings down.


You're aren't going to be running on max quality, lets say that. According to benchmark tests that I looked up, a Radeon HD 4500 gets 16 FPS at 1680x1050 resolution playing Left 4 Dead on max settings. Turn those down and you can easily get acceptable frame rates. I'll bet you can play Skyrim at acceptable FPS, albeit on medium to low settings.

Ahhhh well,I'll make do even if it won't look as good on the 360,but we'll see.The reason
I could play Oblivion as is because it's not till the last year that it started to look a bit iffy
,but at the time,the quests,guilds and the world itself was enough,and I had no knowlage
of what was being done on the p.c.

Ignorance is bliss?

Thanks guys. Also, just a side question, I'm a bit of a huge noob at this, but in terms of resolution, how does that affect your framerate? Is it that if you run games at different resolutions your framerate is lower/higher? (and worse/better quality?)

Edit: Also, if I could only play it on low/medium, isnt it possible that on reduced graphics I may as well get it on xbox?

Higher resolution will drop your framerate and vice versa. Things like AA or AF will likely have a greater effect on your framerate though but it really depends on your hardware.

The lower the resolution, the higher the frame rate, due to decreased loads on the graphics card. The lower resolution means the screen appears smaller, so the quality is obviously going to be worse.


Yes, unless you plan on getting a better PC.

Ok I think I'm set, thanks guys =) Guess I will try for the xbox version then, but I will be overseas when it comes out Oh well, maybe I will get both:P

I'd wait until you see the game's requirements before you make that decision. You could look at FO3 or F:NV to get an idea of what might be required, but right now it's really not known.

Hmm, you're right, it is still early days. Either way I'm supersupersupersupersuper keen for this game release. Gah.