I would agree with you, OP, under different circumstances, namely if Skyrim have had better shaders and lighting.

With more pronounced colors (although definitely not too pronounced as some screenshots in this thread have shown, just A BIT) in a game with bad shaders and lighting, it would make the whole game look cartoony.
That's one of the worst looks you can have in a game, and that's why I'd definitely avoid it.

Am I the only one who thinks that the place in this photo looks dangerously like Alan Wake :confused:

graphics are perfect in every way. But gameplay is more important

HOLY CRAP YOUR RIGHT - don't jump in the lake kids, you'll get amnesia!

bright graphics look good for some games, but not most. look at Brink for christs sake, in the original gameplay videos everything was almost gray scale and it looked amazing. when it was released, it looked like a cartoony [censored]ball being played on a potato. (i bought it, incredibly disappointed)

Huh what? You want the horrible oversaturated glass color from Oblivion back? Anyway, I think Skyrim looks fine to me: darker and grittier than Oblivion, which looked like teletubbie land sometimes.

Oblivion caused me eye damage, im sure

Erm... no. The colours are fine for me as they are. I'm not impessed by glaringly over-saturated tones. If I was I would spend my time watching American TV shows from the 70's and 80's.

I must admit I've found the exterior colour palette of Skyrim so far to be quite muted and 'samey'. It's all the same green, brown and white. I'm hoping there'll be some more variety in locations than what I've seen so far.

I don't know how to describe what I find wrong with Skyrim's colours. It's like someone put as much brightness in them as they could and then filmed it with an 80's camera. It ends up looking unrealistic while it's striving for the opposite.
That's how I see it anyway.

The game is supposed to look more gritty and look more menacing. I think the environments and how much they vary will please you when you play it.

Are you seriously telling me you think http://preorderskyrim.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/skyrim-camping-trip-skreenshot.png?w=425 screenshot looks boring/dull?

I think everything has much more color than Oblivion, the art style is also rugged, dark, and unique. I say change nothing.

And I'm not impressed by people considering real-world colours over-saturated.

I don't know, blood looks pretty dark IRL, I have gotten many scratches while in the woods, and blood is pretty dark...