that has got to be one of the coolest and creepiest things I've ever seen!

Here is my take on that. Why would they build a new engine, and leave that out? Kinda shooting themselves in the foot if you ask me. I know it can be added later, but why not debut your new tech to it's fullest?

Says you! There are many games that use both, I don't see why Bethesda would cripple/limit themselves. Would you build a brand spanking new engine just to use nothing but old features? I sure as hell wouldn't, and I believe Bethesda wont either.

I'll be crushed if you're right, but I don't think you are.

what benefit would non console tech give them? its a waste of money to them- besides, the consoles have pretty good graphic capability anyway. the xbox is an old brick, but the ps3 could still look prettier without exploding.

i am sure most of the forums believe graphics are less important than gameplay

DX11? You say it's a waste of money and time, I disagree. I have no issues with consoles, I just do not want my PC version to be crippled due to them!

True, but what is wrong with both?

I have one, and only one, request.
The people in Oblivion were ugly as sin. Orcs. They looked okay, but their Orcs dammit you expect them to be ugly. Same with Khajiit, and Argonians. If the people look as good as they do in Fallout without the lady-staches I will be a very happy man. Hell they'll probably look better than fallout with a new engine, and +4 years development time (I'm pretty sure Todd said they've been working on it since they finished Oblivion).

Like a fine wine this will, hopefully, be well-aged game people!

You'd be surprised at how many "need better graphics omgomgomg" threads will pop up after the first playthrough round of Skyrim. Sure everyone will be excited just to beat the story but then comes the stage of making it beautiful. Textures, shaders, graphic enhancers, all will be of need once the time comes. No one is saying that graphics need to come first but instead how about make a great story game with mind blowing graphics as well? The two can co-exsist quite peacefully.

Yeah, You are right . There's no need for ultra-mega-hyper graphics if the story is good enough - if it is, the graphics will come along (see MGE). And, ffs OPTIMALISATION! I don't recall any Bethesda game to be optimised to some point (maybe both Fallout's, but in a little extent), and with the new engine, guys at Beth have some field to show their talents.

As for the topic, i propose epic snow storms and snow that You bury in when walking - that would be cool

I truly agree with the optimization crowd. I personally would like to see better character graphics to make characters actually resemble people and not... sad excuses for people. But really I could live with fallout levels of graphics if it ment we could get an elder scrolls game actually optimized for once.

Easy..
I wish for graphics that my computer will be able to handle

Tessellation could fix so many pop in problems and make complex geometry like armor looks so much better if its not in there I'll be very disappointed.

Basically I want it to look close to Red Dead Redemption. The visuals were great, the animations were awesome, the physics were spot on, and the world was seamless. If Bethesda could do this in Skyrim, I would be more than happy.

most rpgs having flowing water textures now. oblivions plain sheets of glass are archaic by comparison.
vanguard saga of heroes even has water currents so you drift whilst treading water and its harder to swim against the current.

improved weather. fork lightning and not just flash the screen white like oblivion.

better physics engine. not using havok, its old tech - that one thats used in gta4 and force unleashed is better imo.

soft shadows from everything.

higher res textures, parallax mapping. volumetric fog. dx10 and possibly 11 support for soft pixel shader support enablng better smoke and fogging.

im expecting a lot from a brand new engine in this day and age.

I want Skyrim to be moddable, so you can release a texture overhaul for it as well, AmpolX

The thing I would want the most is realistic weather; blizzards, real falling snow etc. etc.

Of course optimization is also a thing I want

I want great big volumetric clouds and their shadows cast upon the ground (where and when appropriate) :goodjob:

This is what i've been thinking. Why make a brand new engine and NOT base is on future technologies (future proof it) it'll make for less work later on AND they will be doing what they did with oblivion and morrowind, top end graphics and tech.

I think its very possible we will get dx11 and im really hoping im right.

1. Seasons. Autumn would be awesome. This requires some nice scripting and a good engine though, I think.
2. Dynamic shadows as you stated. The world looks very... "blank" without it. It's a must for a new game like Skyrim. I was disappointed when I saw Fallout NV didn't had it, then again... it was on the same engine.
3. Really good looking textures. I hope we won't have to make a new QTP3 for Skyrim. Please make this right from the start.
4. MUCH better water than Oblivion. Real waves, that "splash" against the shorelines.
5. 3D trees, I don't like 2D. 3D handles lighting much better... but if they use godly looking speedtrees, then sure, since it helps with performance. Then again, this depends a lot on the engine. I hope it's a good one
6. Better weather, including lighting. Oblivion's default weather looked very washed out.
6b. "Darker" and "stronger" lighting in general. Oblivion's default weather and lighting looked very washed out.
7. DX 11 support, that would surely help with performance.
8. A subtle depth of field. This is important, and I think they can do it quite easily.
9. Dynamic sky boxes like Red Dead Redemption as you said. Watch this video. Looks awesome, and it shouldn't be too difficult to do either. A mod did this for Fallout NV. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqNJOnhJPFY
10. GODRAYS! But keep them quite subtle, kinda like Crysis.
11. More unique environment (not really graphics, but still). Oblivion's environment was way too alike... wherever you went. Some variation... high rocks, high hills, low valleys, strange rocks formations, look-out points, big rivers, very small rivers, very deep forests, not very deep forests, real farmlands, etc... the list goes on.

If they manage to do all this, it will become one of the best looking games out there. And if they succeed in gameplay and story as well... oh boy. Then you have a game of the CENTURY!
I believe most of this depends on not using a Gamebryo engine, seriously... please don't
Bethesda can reach a much higher potential concerncing graphics if I don't.

1, epicness
2, dx11
3, something cool

I want nice tesselation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blZHGKTpS6I

Looks godlike!

1. Tesselation
2. Parallax Mapping
3. Motion Blur
4. Depth of Field
5. Weather System
6. HighRes Terrain Textures
7. HighRes PC / NPC models
8. Better Outdoor and Indoor Lightning ( dynamic Softshadows / Transparent windows / open towns again / etc. )
9. 3D SkyBox
10. Better / more Animations (especially better shifting between two states)
11. Deformable Terrain (real Footsteps in soft earth and snow, maybe done with bumpmapping)
12. Interaction between weather and armor / clothes / weapons / body ( dirt / snow / rain / dust )
13. Interaction between weapons / magic and NPCs ( dismemberment / cuts in clothes / wounds )
14. Interaction between weapons / magic and the world ( cutting/burning trees / frozen trees / tear down walls with a hammer )
15. more wildlife and diverse structures ( rocks / trees / plants / flowers / grass / etc. )
16. more diverse castles, ruins, towns, etc. ( make not every town look similar )

1. GI is wonderful but would seriously strain a non-pre-rendered system, and I seriously do not want Skyrim pre-rendered. I love Myst, but please keep Myst out of my Elder Scrolls.
2. This, however, would be nice.
3. Could be faked, would look nice.
4. Yes.
5. Yes.
6. Yes.
7. Yes.
8. Sure.
9. See issue 1, but it could be faked.

What I want to see is truly impressive mountains, something I have yet to see in a video game.

Graphics? Okay, but I hope gameplay takes precedence over graphics.

Just imagine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJqOD55xiK4&feature=player_embedded with Skyrim. (Re: Crossfire. Requires The Eyefinity line supporting 6 monitors and latest drivers.)

Or there is just http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBjQEqBZETs for us with normal crossfire capable cards.

Either way would be just awesome. If you can get past the bezels. I'd do 3 24" monitors @ 1920x1080 in landscape personally. I probably will in fact.

Seconded. One time I was driving 60 mph or more down a long stretch of road in Virginia during a particularly rainy day, and I was heading straight in the direction of a mountain's silhouette... For well over fifteen minutes. I was pretty much jawdropped by the sheer size of that mountain, comparing it to what I'm used to in eastern Pennsylvania. I mean, making an experience like that in Skyrim would be impossible at current game technology, but considering how southern Skyrim is much higher than the northern area, then it would be something to see a massive hulking mountain redefining the southern horizon from all the way up to the northern coast. Something that would be tall enough to be visible from up north, and a good indicator for an area of the game world that is comparable to Morrowind; if you're looking for a real challenge, just walk in the general direction of Red Mountain.

I was watching again screens of the month on oblivion elder scrolls files page and i realised how beautifull this game is, even for todays stantards but then one thing occured to me, that there were never any birds in the sky, or on the branches of the trees, in generall despite the creatures that you may encounter the forest was lifeless, i really believe a more dynamic inviroment would be fantastic, even see snakes crawling on the ground, and defenitely some rocks should be able to handle from stronger characters, it would be great to be able to light a fire at night in the woods to keep you warm, or cut trees to make a house, branches to make arrows, so i wish a more living inviroment, the graphics are really great even from oblivion