Ok, so let's take a look at the graphics...name me one game that looks as good as those screens and I'll be impressed. Honestly, even those Crysis mods don't look as good as the images on page 49. I don't seem to understand why people are complaining about the graphics, they look phenomenal. It just seems to me that people had set their own expectations to high. I don't see low rez textures, or poor tessellation. I see everything and all things improved. To me, the elder scrolls was always about the immersion as in just walking around in aww of the land scape. I remember back with dagger fall I was shocked with the size and scope of the game. To be honest I was slightly over whelmed and intimidated by such vastness. When they announced Morrowind I was just as excited as I was when they announced Skyrim and Oblivion before it. Morrowind made my jaw drop from the sheer alien aspect of the world. I couldn't help but just look up and around. When Oblivion was released it was the same thing, I couldn't wait to explore every cave nook and cranny to make my character the best character their was. At it's heart The Elder Scrolls has never been about the attributes or for that matter even the Skills. The Skills Add flavor to the world, and some are necessary to do that. I would be fine with out skills as well, they don't add to the game for me.

For me, the only thing that matters is pretending that I am the greatest hero or villain that has ever lived. Skyrim's groundbreaking graphics and AI add to that feeling of my self feeling on top of the world. I may start weak, but I shall get stronger. The tougher things I can fight, the more sense of strength I get. The more powerful magic I can cast, the smarter I feel in the game. I don't need a skill to tell me I'm getting better at something so long as I can see my progress visually. That is immersion imo, can I see my progress and effects visually. The skills and attributes are just a template, they don't really add or subtract anything from the elder scrolls series. They just kind of exist. The people who are getting all up in arms about the skills and attributes need to rethink what the Elder Scrolls games have always been about. Now, obviously things are different to other people, but to me it has always about how would I live in this world, and do the visuals and lore add to that. Everything else is just icing on the cake to me.


PLEASE KEEP THIS ABOUT IMMERSION, IT IS NOT ABOUT GRAPHICS per say, I'm tired of all the off topic rants about what's better.

the only problem I have is that all the mountains are height maps and they are not hand-crafted mountain models. graphics is not just about textures, it's the object modeling as well.

do you remember in fallout NV the guns all have polygonal rear sights? yea

Do you know how hard it is to hand craft a mountain?

:foodndrink:

Out of curiosity, how many mountains have you handcrafted?

Want me to show you?
This was done in light wave 3d
http://generalarrow.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d1ogynt

I think I said, terragen but the render output was actually lightwave.

People expected next gen graphics like the jump from Morrowind to Oblivion (this obviously was not going to be the case). Realistically though, the graphics are as I expected, and are as good as any other high performance next gen game on the market. The truth of the matter is what always made TES special was the choice and option to be and do whatever one wanted. As long as that is maintained in every TES game, Bethesda can tweak and improve it as they see fit in my opinion. From what we already know of Skyrim, it already seems as though Bethesda is going in the right direction (highly customizable perk system, improved combat, radiant storytelling, dynamic shaows, unique environments and dungeons, the list goes on), and I cannot wait to actually see some in-game footage.

Haha, amazing counter.

Not taking sides of course.

I fully agree. I think that skills and attributes are just an itinerary for the immersion that you (needless to say, I) feel that ES is about. They are experimenting with a new system. It might be great, it might not be. Whether it is, I don't think it can go so poorly so that is ruins the spirit of the game.

Immersion is like tea.

Everyone has their own flavor. Some chew on the leaves and some add buckets of sugar.

there aren't that many mountains in the game

i dont think they are groundbreaking but thats only because those are the only screens we have to go off of, im guessing that those are screens from xbox360.
but its not just skin deep, some of the mechanics of the game sound awesome, like the dynamic snow. and also the handcrafted environment just speaks for how much time they have put into this game. i think they have been working on it a long time and its still not quite finished. we havent seen it all.
so everyone ...shut up :toughninja:

thiiis is kind of going off topic, please keep it on topic...

Hey just wanted to say that I totally agree with your post. I can't wait until I get svcked into that world again and lose hundreds of hours of my life. I understand what you mean about attributes and skills always beings a part of the game. They just kinda exist, like any other game has values for you character to react and move in the video game world, but elder scrolls gave you the option to see those values.

wrong thread

hmm, those looks like height maps to me.

I used to play with terragen as well, and needless to say terragen is simply just heightmaps. you cannot make extruding rocks in terragen that looks like real cliffs.

Agree with you completely, as long as graphics technology,animation and sound evolve, there is no need to see in a menu what the player is good at or not. He just needs to feel it.

are you basing this off of Oblivion? have you even seen that [censored] screenshot of the one mountain covered in clouds? it looks NOTHING like the mountains in Oblivion. it also looks a million times better than the mountains in Oblivion. until you have the HD screenshots that Bethesda will undoubtedly publish on their site none of your arguments have any merit.



do you remember in fallout NV how Bethesda didn't actually make New Vegas so why would you bring it up as a comparison? yea

I love how they aren't going directly for a realistic looking approach, the screens in the GI magazine had a hint of a "stylized" art style, which can lengthen how long a game looks "new" and still aesthetically appealing. If anything I want them to focus on animations.

Don't rationalize it by saying those are 360 screens please, also they look faantastic and I do think they are ground breaking, honestly name me one game that looks this good.


Excellent Point Agent, It's hyper realism combined with an art style, that is ground breaking.

I agree, to this day i still just walk around in oblivion or ride around a horse looking at the trees and plants... only to be disturbed by some jack ass wolf

where's the screenshot of one mountain covered in clouds? can you show it to me please

How many times to I have to say this, let's keep it on topic. I don't want a flame war about mountains sheesh.

page 48, i think.

if you don't have the magazine then clearly you're basing this off of Oblivion, in which case i'll just say the mountains in Skyrim look reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally [censored] good dude.

why is it off topic.. we are talking about immersion right? mountains are very important to immersion