The "mainstream" platforms are still years old consoles. Sure, the optimizations can go through, but in the end you are held down by the static console hardware. I've seen the screenshots from GI, they look promising, sure.

But a huge leap over oblivion? I doubt it. The faces, for example look much better, but that's not because they are more detailed, it's because they are modeled better. Eyeballing it (I'm a 3D modeler by profession), polygon wise the game doesn't go too far from oblivion. Which is fine really. I'd take pretty models over ugly models any day, even though they have the same amount of polys.

That and, I'm glad I'm on PC. They'll probably unlock the true potential/settings of the game on this platform alone..

Sure, its the same console but don't tell me that Mass Effect 2 or Halo Reach or Uncharted don't look loads better than Oblivion.

This game will look good, no doubt, but it will probably not be a huge leap from Oblivion.
We'll have to wait for the next generation of consoles or hope the next game will be a PC exclusive, (As if that would happen.) if we are to get significantly improved visuals.

You'll just have to wait and see - reserve judgement until we see some moving images, I reckon :thumbsup:

So... I was playing Just Cause 2 about 20 minutes ago on my PS3 and I compared it to Oblivion... and... yeah... no...

Seriously, though, Just Cause 2 looks amazing and Oblivion looks and runs not too well in comparison. I think Oblivion's engine was just a teeeeeeeny bit unoptimized.

Technically? No.

Oblivion just botched loads of polygons into ugly females and zombie facial animations. So people get the feeling the graphics are better now, because they hired someone who can actually model a decent face.

Yes, because devs never continue to get better using the power of consoles. Games continue to look the same for the entire life cycle.

Also, people seem to forget that they're comparing Oblivion/Skyrim, which has HUGE environments to some games that load a segment of a map that is MICROSCOPIC in comparison.

The fact that they've added dynamic shadows to ALL objects further convinces me that all in all, the graphic engine will not be a huge leap at least when it comes to polycount. They just can't squeeze it in. Dynamic shadows on everything = HUGE.

Basically I use this anology

It's not going to be a huge leap in graphics

Say from Daggerfall to Oblivion.

It's going to be more like from Morrowind to Oblivion, in other words it's going to look better and feel better but it's not going to be a huge leap in terms of graphics like people are thinking.

You've already said the screenies "look promising" - what's the problem?

I just mentioned Just Cause 2...

It has a seamless, 400 square mile gameworld.

For a big RPG on consoles, I think http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEMxSUGZ6TU (Red Dead Redemption) is about the best Skyrim can look like.

But it should look even better... since it will be released almost 2012. You should expect more for every year that passes

well if you are comparing it with oblivion. then it can look a lot better. Even though target hardware hasn't changed, ie 360, rendering and optimization techniques have come on strong in the past 4 years..

Never said there was a problem. And yes they do look promising, mostly because some aspects of oblivion were ugly in comparison.

Which brings me to a conclusion - intentionally make segments of your game look like crap so the sequel can benefit more with less effort (imagine if oblivion had an actually good looking woman).

Was commenting on someone mentioning Mass Effect 2. I didn't play JC/JC2 to comment on that game.

Hopefully they like the PC players enough to put in DX11 support and all the nice graphical advancements it provides, but I doubt it. I hate how most developers don't bother to add support for even DX10, which has been available for years and most PC gamers have good enough hardware for it too. =/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kjs-SC70Wg

I'm mainly a programmer but I have modeled a fair share and I say we still can't say how the graphics are until we see it on the PC will full graphics and see it with a full range of HDR and lighting. I mean, the only thing that makes Crysis so gorgeous is the way the light accentuate the landscape such as the ever prominent tropical island.

Atleast we can hope that with technological limitations, the devs are forced to think outside the box and focus creativity on more refined systems and art, instead of just leaning half their weight on awesone hardware.

I agree. As long as it is playable and looks pleasing on all systems, I will be happy. I would say the art is looking better, but that's just me.

I can't either. Like I said I was just eyeballing the scans from the magazine. The PC will have superior settings for sure, it's just a question of how much effort will they spend on PC specific features. Part of me believes that they're just gonna let us slide the "draw distance" setting more than it is on consoles and similar settings that don't take any time nor utilize the latest GPU features. Every multiplatform dev team seems to be doing that AFAIK.

I'm sorry if I came off as combatative, I was just saying in general what I think, it wasn't aimed at you or anyone else. I'm hoping that they will put in the effort to enhance their textures specifically for the pc when they have finished the game for the consoles. With so many people I would think it would be within the time frame to be able to if they don't get behind their time table atm. I have faith that BGS will alter the game to better facilitate the graphics capabilities of the PC.

Not that much better. 6 year old hardware is still 6 year old hardware, no matter how much you try to squeeze out of it.

I don't know how you got that impression but I wasn't offended by anything you've said.

I agree they could make the textures look better. Typically, they will import high res textures then scale them to fit the limited console memory. All they need to do is save some textures that are, say, double the size they use on consoles and keep them on the side to be used for the PC.

Who knows though.



That's what I'm saying. At least they've hired better modelers this time around, and hopefully better animators. Animation can mean so much and it isn't restricted by hardware. This is another thing that could be hugely improved. A lot of the animations in Oblivion were too "mechanical".. all you needed to do was watch two people fight, they looked like clumsy robots swinging at each other.

I'm hoping this as well, but I doubt it. In Oblivion they didn't even take the time to adjust the horrible console user interface. Which would have been a tiny effort compared to optimizing the textures and graphics for the PC. I guess it will be draw distance, number of shadows on screen etc, but no major graphic features that aren't available on consoles.