Oh certainly, it will inevitable look better than the 360 version EVENTUALLY.


Thing is, us PC users will buy the game on release day, then we will have to wait to discover all the .INI fixes, and endless websites to post "How to Tweak Skyrim for PC" articles.

Then we will have to wait a few months(maybe more) for a comprehensive texture pack. And that will get revised and added to for YEARS before it is final.

Then we will have the inevitable Skryim Graphics Extender, which will come years after release, constantly being tweaked and added to.

To top it off all of this will have larger hits on framerate because it was not implemented naturally.


What will happen when I pick up Crysis 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Metro 2034, etc etc?

I will simply go into options and crank the settings to max. Play. DONE.

That is the sad reality of things.

This means... no deffered shading. Wow, I don't like to insult people. Sorry Beth graphics programmers but either you guys aren't trying hard enough or just aren't talented. I've never seen so many mind numbingly baffling decisions made about a supposedly triple A game since... since Oblivion. Oblivion 2.0 indeed, and I didn't like the first one, especially not after the some of the developers proved to be as arrogant as they were ignorant. I've gone from excited to wondering if I'll skip this game in less than two weeks. Awesome

What I'm a bit afraid of is if all the versions look the same, AND the PC version is so badly optimized with respect to modern hardware that all the versions get the same jittery gameplay.

I want multi-core optimization!

Don't really mind if it's just 'Oblivion with dynamic shadows' graphics-wise, as long as it takes advantage of my machine and runs silky smooth.

I don't understand why people say this. You do know that you are capable of toning down graphics? Just because options like DX11 and tessellation are there does not mean you have to use them and run the game at max settings no matter what.

It woudnt matter if you had to buy a new laptop. The point is that if you have a laptop you can run on low - med settings. wheras me and some other people have rather high-end computers we will have to install some mods which many people are iffy about. its not really that hard to implements low med high settings. Modern pcs shoudnt have to run the games only a little bit better than a 360 from 2006.

Nothing some mods can't fix. And I hate DX10/11 anyway, anyone can pull great graphics with DX9.

I don't play on extremely large resolutions, so high-res textures isn't a priority. All I want is AA and AF, which are already in!

So, where's Qarl these days?

Bah, I guess Bethesda won't bother because they know that within 6 months there'll be huge texture packs, graphics extenders, .ini tweaking programs, and 500 other mods to improve the visual quality of the game, so why would they burn extra production cash on the PC, when it's going to be done by the community anyway, for free. They'll just focus on consoles which, according to Todd, may be up to 98% of the playerbase. And a large chunk of it will never actually create a forum account or provide written feedback. So, there you have it.

It's a shame the industry came to that, because Todd Howard himself is a fan of great visuals. Unlike most people in this forum, his opinion about the importance of graphics is actually very remarkable:

Planet Elder Scrolls: What do you think was the greatest new development(s) of The Elder Scrolls games over the years? (3D environments, lip-syncing audio dialog, physics, etc.) --> also: non-appearance related developments. Actual gameplay changes, or developments in Bethesda’s approach to the series?

Todd Howard: Technically, it’s fully realized 3D environments. I think the main character and story in our games is the world around you. What the flowers look like, the chairs, the castles, you name it. Exploring that world is the key driving force, and as 3D graphics have gotten better, so have the games. People usually scoff the importance of graphics, but I feel it’s probably the number one thing in a game like this. It immediately puts you in another world, it suspends your disbelief and makes it feel new, or amazing, whatever you want to call it. We obsess over the world detail, and the art and technology to make that happen.

I couldn't agree more. Sadly, as we all know, we're stuck with old Xbox hardware, and that's what driving sales.

My intention was to buy a core i7 + motherboard and Ram by the end of the Summer, I'm glad I won't have to fork out for a new GPU

I think this makes most sense.


------------------------------------------------------------
And to all people that says things like "graphics aren't everything" "if you want graphics go play Crysis" "gameplay is more important"; stop using pointless standpoints that have no supported ones at all.
I think the story, gameplay and the graphics are the most important parts of a game. What all of these three features share, according to me, is atmosphere. And that is really important to me. Graphics can really help improve the atmosphere a lot. Make the world more believable... more beautiful, a whole new experience.
I'd say it's an equal share of importance though; from lore, gameplay and graphics.
Each factor is equally important.

I doubt you'd enjoy playing Skyrim in 2D

If you still believe you don't care about graphics; see if you honestly couldn't care about the difference of the graphics between these two videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pogBXwt3qk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpuAnc8teE0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBxzRh0Prjg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrJ4qySrhak

If you still, after seeing these videos, honestly think that graphics matter zero, then be my guest

Don't mind graphics in a computer game.

You /hate/ DX10/11? That's a very strong emotion for two things that enable technologies that can produce amazing results with much better performance than DX9. Because that's what it boils down to - you can do it with DX9, but you can do it at a workable framerate with DX11. It's better. Measurably, unquestionably better. Disliking progress because the old technology can sort of do it too is very strange indeed.

However, from your second sentence I'm assuming you're an XP user.

I never said I would, I most likely won't but it means I can run it higher than I expected. The laptop is fairly powerfull with an i7 CPU, 8GB RAM and I believe 2GB GPU memory. That doesn't mean it's a super machine though.

I said it was excellent because it makes me, personally, happy to know that I might be able to run it better than I expected to. I'm not sure why you'd have a problem with my completely subjective opinion on the matter.

Thing is, you could play the game the same as you always would have, thats why PC games have graphical sliders. Adding DX11/10 would not have hurt you at all, it only would have served to benifit others. So the point of few you hold is rather selfish. "I cant have it, so I am glad no one else can".

Where as if they would have added the support that is now standard throughout the industry, then you still would have been happy as a lark, and so would have power users, and console users. WIN WIN WIN.

Instead? We get win, win FAIL.

Thanks BGS programmers. You just made my hard drive and DX9 graphics card very happy!

Because you're not going to be able to run it better. Sure, your sliders might be higher and the words might be bigger, but you're not /actually/ running it any better, the only difference is here *nobody* can run it better.

Bethesda (<-edited) have now Officially f'd up the PC version.

Added to the whole lot of mostly horrible information that was leaked in a magazine (not GI), my hopes for this game have definitely gone through the toilet.

OBGEv2 + ENBSeries Shaders + Qarl's Texture Pack 3 look a lot better on my laptop than that second link, but I really hope vanilla Skyrim will have HD textures and DX11. If I have to install a lot of mods, the game will load a lot slower and the frame rate will be reduced.

I hope people are simply reading too much into that brief quote.

I also hope that the game will be better optimized for PCs with more than 4GB RAM and hyperthreading CPU.

Bethesda, Please do DX 11 and all the fancy stuff that has come up in the last few years. We want optimized game engines that use dual/quad cores, and all that GPU power. Do NOT succumb to lowering your graphical standards just for consoles. We are a large body of PC players who have been fans for years - don't kick us in the nuts for consoles

Edit: Nevermind, disregard this.

Hey, at least you get res mods. Any mods for that matter. Us console gamers have always gotten the downside and the PC users still complain...

So what? Is it so hard to accept that this is how it is? Do you really feel entitled to the best possible graphics that can be rendered? You are not entitled to anything, other than a product that works. How it works is up to Bethesda as the developer to decide.
If they want everyone to have the same visual experience, that is their decision and that's something you need to deal with.

I think that was a statement to please console users rather than to aggrevate PC users. I think the PC will look better. You will find that as time goes on future gamesas titles, that if the graphics do not look good the game will be received poorly which will be replayed in game reviews. I can imagine comments the game plays great but the average visuals let it down in future titles. An excellent game with averge graphics is only going to score a 7.5 to 8 which is not what a AAA title wants is game to be reviewed as. As more and more games look amazing and meet or surpass the look of Crysis, any game in a FPS look, whether it is a RPG, FPS or whatever and looking dated will be heavily penalised by both consumers and reviewers.

However the few screenshots I have seen look very good.

This irks me as much as it does you, and whats worse is there isnt a damn thing we can do about it ! :sadvaultboy:

I really hope your wrong

Well I'm thinking that people are just misunderstanding what was meant by what he said. Also, I also would like confirmation of where that quote is from. There is no way that the game would look the same on all platforms, PCs will automatically look better because just because a game has limitations on how it looks, my graphics card can push things on the game such as Adaptive Anti-aliasing which just because the game isn't made to use it doesn't mean it won't work on it if you set your graphics card to do it manually. This doesn't mean that the game can't run DX11 because he didn't say that they wouldn't be running it on DX11 support.