Have the devs at Bethesda seen what magic CDprojekt did with 'The Witcher 2' graphics?

Are they just resting on their laurels from fallout 3 and Oblivion?

I hope these guys are aware that a new bar has been set for graphical quality in the genre

I hope they are working to beat....

Graphics don't make the game good.

Gameplay is average at best in W2 though. Combat is all fluff and no substance. Potion mechanic is atrocious. No thank you.

They sure as heck help. Its just another aspect of many that make a game, there is nothing wrong with wanting bethesda to make the most of what they can do instead of holding back.

Its just like I wanting to have the best story telling possible, and we all know they can improve on this as well.

Who has said that?

Everything matters. Sound, story, gameplay, graphics, etc. How much it matters depends on what the game is trying to achieve. Skyrim obviously isn't Mario so it does try to achieve "high graphics"; which Bethesda has also stated they want.

OT: I hope the graphics will look better by 11/11/11. Some screenshots look almost like Oblivion and FO3 imo, which isn't that great today. I want to be stunned, amazed and say "WOW" not... "Meh". Right now, I can't say "WOW" without lying to myself, sadly :confused:

Agreed, the first priority should definitely be immersion and game-play, imo. That's not to say graphics aren't nice, and can't make a game better, just that it shouldn't be the primary selling point.

don't expect skyrim to have better graphics from witcher 2. Console fans is the bethesda target and pc fans is cd projekt target, hope you get it.

What's really sad, is http://bethblog.com/index.php/2011/05/29/tes-modding-check-out-the-trailer-for-andoran-prologue/ , an upcoming total conversion mod for Obvlivion, looks better than what we've seen of Skyrim so far.

In my opinion of course. Given the Skyrim footage is off of the 360.

Graphics matter.
Gameplay matters.
Soundtrack matters.
AI matters.
Story matters.

You see, making a game is like baking a cake - you need to get ALL the components right to make a masterpiece.

Ahhh...
And here we go again.

You do realize the very first adventure videogames had text descriptions and were essencially pictureless. You entered a room and you were told how the room looked. At the very best you got a very pixelized shot once in a while.

You sure you wanna go back?
Because if you're going to sst the above statement of yours in stone, be prepared to accept its corolary.
Ahh...the graphics-don't-matter Mantra.

No graphics do play a big part in overal game quality.
And The WItcher 2 has some of the best on the RPG department, something i'm sure Todd Howard has already delve into.

Skyrim looks great as it is and will offer much, much more gameplay.

No fricken way dude. The Skyrim trailer looks superior to that. It definitely looks quite a lot better than vanilla Oblivion though.




Agreed.

and a non linear story too?

You might think that, but obviously there's a lot of people disagreeing...
Some people even hate the way they've gone with gameplay.

You do realize he is just talking about the graphics [technical] quality, don't you?
Your touchy reply appears to be stock material.

You do know that The Witcher 2 is linear and not open world as Skyrim? It's also a PC exclusive game. Seriously, it's like comparing BF3 to Skyrim.. If the Witcher had the amount of detail that Skyrim will have, your computer would explode.

Nicely said, but what has the combat and potion to do with graphics? The graphics in TW2 are pretty awesome. When you say "no thank you" you say you do not want graphics as impressive as TW2's in Skyrim?

Awesome. Had a little fuzzy moment seeing some stuff I made make an appearance in the trailer, amidst a crap ton of other peoples work I recognise. bliviongate:

Well, that is certainly the case at the moment, however, a console port for The Witcher 2 is looking more and more likely. Will be interesting to compare the console graphics of Skyrim and TW2, see which is graphically(sp) superior then.

@Dragonborn1 - What do you dislike about TW2's potion mechanic? The idea of not being able to drink potions in the middle of a fight sounds good to me, but that is the only feature of TW2's potion mechanic I'm aware of.

Are you sure?
How is immersion even possible without good graphics? Graphics play a big big part in immersion.
I'm sorry. That statement is just nonsensical.

Really?
Witcher 2 got at least as much detail in the world as Skyrim, judging from videos and screenshots. The environments are extremely detailed.
Moreover, the areas which are open in Witcher 2 are huge before they are seperated into another chapter. Finally, Skyrim got full cell seperation, while Witcher 2 got none.

I definitely don't think there's a technical problem here, but I can't be 100% sure and neither can you by complaining about it.
I think the "problem" lies more in what the game prioritizes. They are after all... different games, with different goals.

Witcher 2 VS Skyrim... Here we go again

I hope they don't it would be don quixotesque... they can't make a fully open world game look like the Witcher 2 but still be playable on 256 mb ram consoles. It's just impossible, they better focus on fluid gameplay and a [censored] good story.

Hmm, didn't think of it that way. I had always believed that immersion was the ability to do what you wanted to at the time with minimal restrictions. I suppose that in a more literal sense immersion would likely also require high enough graphics to truly believe you are part of the world. Is that what you meant? If so, I stand...er sit, corrected

He's just saying that graphics don't make a good game. They help, but when the gameplay is bad you're no better than a game with average graphics and awesome gameplay.

It really is a careful balance of material that makes a good game. Graphics matter, but they don't matter any more than the story, the gameplay, the soundtrack, etc. The Witcher 2 looks shiny enough, but I can say without a doubt that Skyrim's gameplay quality will surpass its easily, just as how no one praises Crysis for its excellent gameplay. Most games have a strong point that make them stand out. For instance, just look at the different fantasy games out there. Elder Scrolls is clearly the gameplay. BioWare games are famous for having comprehensive storylines, such as in Dragon Age 2. The Witcher 2 seems to be dominating on the graphics front. What people look for in video games nowadays is essentially an interactive movie. The kinds of things that make movies good (quality CGI, an engaging plot, proper film techniques) are comparable to the things that greatly help the quality of video games. The day of arcade games where gameplay is the only thing that mattered is gone. It doesn't matter http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800320/, the movie can still be bad. The graphics can be amazing, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/. People have different tastes, it just depends on what you value more.

The Witcher 2 is a very good game though and I recommend it to everyone. If its console port is very successful, I hope Bethesda takes a look at their example and chooses to develop for PC first so the Elder Scrolls can be amazing on all fronts.