Skyrim - 6 New Screenshots (July 22)

I'm surprised at all the hate the graphics are getting, this game is obviously going to look better than Oblivion and somewhat similar to Fallout 3 and NV but obviously advancing things a bit further again.

I don't mean to be shitting on consoles but that is the reality of life when you are developing something that has to be playable on 5 year old hardware. Since the hardware gap between modern PC's and current gen consoles is so wide, it's obvious studios develop for the lowest common denominator with the biggest install base and then the PC gets a few more tweakable options but basically with the same console textures stretched to whatever resolution the game ends up getting played at.

Oblivion was an early xbox 360 title and here we are 5 years later and the only thing that's really changed is software so I think some peoples expectations are rather unrealistic and if you know of any other better looking, open world game with as rich a world and lore as the Elder Scrolls series I'd love to hear about it.
 
supersaw said:
I'm surprised at all the hate the graphics are getting, this game is obviously going to look better than Oblivion and somewhat similar to Fallout 3 and NV but obviously advancing things a bit further again.

I don't mean to be shitting on consoles but that is the reality of life when you are developing something that has to be playable on 5 year old hardware. Since the hardware gap between modern PC's and current gen consoles is so wide, it's obvious studios develop for the lowest common denominator with the biggest install base and then the PC gets a few more tweakable options but basically with the same console textures stretched to whatever resolution the game ends up getting played at.

Oblivion was an early xbox 360 title and here we are 5 years later and the only thing that's really changed is software so I think some peoples expectations are rather unrealistic and if you know of any other better looking, open world game with as rich a world and lore as the Elder Scrolls series I'd love to hear about it.
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This.

I will agree that it would be beneficial for the textures to be improved, but when you are working with a world as large and expanse as any TES game, there's very little space left on the disk to house those texture files at really high resolutions, among other reasons (pointed out by supersaw).

Now, I do think that Bethesda is at fault for not making extra effort to improve the PC version. One of the beauties of playing on PC is that the developer can give you control of how high or low you change the settings to ensure optimal performance, and with a game as large as any TES game, Bethesda should take full advantage of that. Let the people with more powerful PCs run the game with ultra-high textures. But unfortunately, that was a sacrifice they made when they decided to lead on the 360. I personally think that every developer who plans on releasing their game on PC should lead on PC and then downscale/downgrade for the consoles. But then there's always budget to consider. As a business, Bethesda is looking for the most profitable method...and to them, that's leading on the 360.

I have stated this before (in a different thread), but I honestly would be okay with waiting a bit longer until Microsoft and Sony refresh their consoles so that Bethesda has an incentive to work harder on their graphical quality (I need the time anyways, since I have many other games to go through)

However, as a Bethesda (and TES) fanboy, I will buy and play and love Skyrim to death despite its graphical qualities (my boss is already aware that I will not be available the entire week after Skyrim's release).
 
WanderingWind said:
People expect, bitch too much.
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More like people played the Witcher 2 and know they can have better. Standards have been raised, and while it might be unfair to judge Skyrim since it still needs to fit on a 360, it's still a bit stunning just how much better games can look if PC is the lead platform.
 
Aaron said:
More like people played the Witcher 2 and know they can have better. Standards have been raised, and while it might be unfair to judge Skyrim since it still needs to fit on a 360, it's still a bit stunning just how much better games can look if PC is the lead platform.
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Yea, but who really gives a shit about PC?
 
Aaron said:
More like people played the Witcher 2 and know they can have better. Standards have been raised, and while it might be unfair to judge Skyrim since it still needs to fit on a 360, it's still a bit stunning just how much better games can look if PC is the lead platform.
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Yes, the Witcher 2 looks amazing but I could pick and choose some inconsistencies that make it look less than flattering in certain sections. The draw distances are largely fake in the Witcher as it's not open-world and more linear than Elder Scrolls games, when I see a mountain on the horizon in Skyrim I will actually be able to climb its peak. I think the high-res textures make a big difference though; Geralts armour looks amazing and some of the stone, wood and leather textures are close to photo-realistic. It's definitely not an open world game though and the map sizes are tiny in comparison to Oblivion / Morrowind.
 
Ghost_Protocol said:
Uh... What the hell is this? Hopefully a joke of some sort. Witcher 2 blows this out of the water.
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Everyone...stfu about the graphics. The game is running on 6 year old hardware. The Witcher 2, yea sure, it looks better, but you can't GO ANYWHERE YOU SEE. Enjoy the game for the sake of the game.

Stop flipping out b/c it's not realistic enough for you.
 
Aaron said:
More like people played the Witcher 2 and know they can have better. Standards have been raised, and while it might be unfair to judge Skyrim since it still needs to fit on a 360, it's still a bit stunning just how much better games can look if PC is the lead platform.
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Witcher 2's not open world, and those graphics came at a price. The game was much shorter and more constricted than TW1.

Not that I'm denying that Skyrim would look better if it was pc only, that's an obvious truth.
 
VbHBc.jpg


tu7LN.jpg


Is the second shot a Pc and the first a console one or what? The difference is tremendous.

*game looks great in motion regardless. My body is so ready
 
kingofthedead45 said:
Is the first screen shot a Pc and the second a console one or what? The difference is tremendous.

*game looks great in motion regardless. My body is so ready
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As someone previously mentioned it looks like some of these shots might have been messed with in Photoshop so they come out better in print.

The first shot is unusually bright.
 
supersaw said:
As someone previously mentioned it looks like some of these shots might have been messed with in Photoshop so they come out better in print.

The first shot is unusually bright.
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Yeah I read that. I don't know, to me, dat texture. It looks funky. The armor looks so washed out/muddy with these new shots. Just odd.
 
Derrick01 said:
Witcher 2's not open world, and those graphics came at a price. The game was much shorter and more constricted than TW1.

Not that I'm denying that Skyrim would look better if it was pc only, that's an obvious truth.
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I know an open world means you've got a crapload of more things to design and textures to make, so the work to make it look at the level of the Witcher 2 is enormous, but that still doesn't change I've seen some of the best fantasy graphics that can be done on a PC... and runs well on my five-year old machine. It's hard to temper one's expectations.

I'm picky. I admit it. I wouldn't be able to play New Vegas without graphics mods. The plain version of the game is just too jagged and ugly for me.
 
Looks like the mod community yet again will have to fix the game so it looks good.

I guess they kinda know that they will anyway regardless of how hard they try. I guess kudos to understanding that. Just as long as the gameplay is good, than the thing will be worth modding to people.

Really needs some self shadowing though, come the fuck on.
 
zmoney said:
Everyone...stfu about the graphics. The game is running on 6 year old hardware. The Witcher 2, yea sure, it looks better, but you can't GO ANYWHERE YOU SEE. Enjoy the game for the sake of the game.

Stop flipping out b/c it's not realistic enough for you.
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Take a look at Red Dead Redemption, and then this.
 
SiriusTexra said:
Looks like the mod community yet again will have to fix the game so it looks good.

I guess they kinda know that they will anyway regardless of how hard they try. I guess kudos to understanding that. Just as long as the gameplay is good, than the thing will be worth modding to people.

Really needs some self shadowing though, come the fuck on.
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Watch the E3 Gameplay demo. There's definitely some self-shadowing going on.
 
supersaw said:
pthRc.jpg


Crappy console textures in both? There will be a lot more things to do in the Skyrim world vs. Red Dead I know that for a fact.
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Texture quality is fairly bad on both, but RDR features a much better level of detail in it's environments and much more pleasant character modelling and indoor areas.
 
NBtoaster said:
Texture quality is fairly bad on both, but RDR features a much better level of detail in it's environments and much more pleasant character modelling and indoor areas.
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I don't know about that, the micro detail of the foliage and the water physics in the Skyrim E3 demo looked pretty awesmoe, I think almost every game at this late stage in the current gen's lifecycle is pushing the limits of what's possible. We already have a lot of these games running at sub-hd on the consoles.

I own Read Dead, an xbox360 and a gaming PC, I will be purchasing Skyrim for PC and if Red Dead was available on the PC I would have done the same.
 
VbHBc.jpg
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These must be placeholder textures from an old build or something. The textures on that guy's goat skin are almost Morrowind quality.

I'm not too worried atm, though, because the E3 footage looked fine. Unless the game had a drastic downgrade between then and the release of these screens, I think we shouldn't have anything to worry about. This is probably just a batch of screens from an old ass build of the game.
 
Hulud said:
These must be placeholder textures from an old build or something. The textures on that guy's goat skin are almost Morrowind quality.

I'm not too worried atm, though, because the E3 footage looked fine. Unless the game had a drastic downgrade between then and the release of these screens, I think we shouldn't have anything to worry about. This is probably just a batch of screens from an old ass build of the game.
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Well, the last time Bethesda showed Oblivion at E3, the lighting and shadows was beyond brilliant. By the time the game released, all the beautiful lighting/shadows were taken out. I hope they don't do the same thing this time and I hope that these are old build screens. If these are recent for sure, then I may be led to believe that Bethesda shows all the beautiful stuff at E3 to build hype and then tones down for release, but that would just be wasted time and effort, so I am keeping myself from believing that. Other than them actually runnIng into performance issues later in the process, I see no reason for them to downgrade.

I wonder if what they showed at E3 included the full world. I mean, they could easily have created something much smaller since they knew what they wanted to show. Because of that, the 360 wasn't as taxed as it would be with the full map mesh so they were able to use that extra power to make it look nicer. But now that the showing is over, they add everything and find that it's too much for the system to handle, so they have to take things out or downgrade to save performance. I don't know if I explained that clearly, but that's just something I've been wondering.

Any thoughts or ideas?
 
wit3tyg3r said:
I wonder if what they showed at E3 included the full world. I mean, they could easily have created something much smaller since they knew what they wanted to show. Because of that, the 360 wasn't as taxed as it would be with the full map mesh so they were able to use that extra power to make it look nicer. But now that the showing is over, they add everything and find that it's too much for the system to handle, so they have to take things out or downgrade to save performance. I don't know if I explained that clearly, but that's just something I've been wondering.

Any thoughts or ideas?
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I think it would be counter-productive if they got caught out on it, I also don't know how easy it would be for them to compartmentalise it that much, in the outdoor shots you can clearly see the mountain ranges off in the distance and they hop around the map in the demo as well as showed the zoom out effect of the map so it seems to me like the full map.

I'm hoping for higher resolution textures for PC but if that's not possible due to time/budget constraints I'm sure I will still love the game regardless. I'm sure the console versions will look as good as is technically possible on 5 year old hardware.
 
Hmm, a couple of the screens look rough, mainly due to the high contrast, but I still think overall the game looks like it will be great, especially considering the early screens. Heck, even if it looked like Oblivion, or Morrowind, chances are high it'd still be a fantastic game (to me at least).

Also, the footage looks great, really can't wait to play this.
 
Videos > pics, especially ones that are supposedly meant for a magazine.

And the E3 videos looked fine. Amazing, actually. So yea, don't know why people are freaking out. I can't wait for this game.
 
kokujin said:
PC people need to calm down, we get mods and it will look better than this on the PC at launch.
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This I have a problem though. One shouldn't have to wait for "mods" just so the game should look a certain way. Personally I've removed this from my pre-order list until I see some actual PC game footage. I want to know exactly what I'm getting here and just how different it will look from the consoles.
 
Effect said:
This I have a problem though. One shouldn't have to wait for "mods" just so the game should look a certain way. Personally I've removed this from my pre-order list until I see some actual PC game footage. I want to know exactly what I'm getting here and just how different it will look from the consoles.
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Didn't bathesda say that during one of their interviews the Pc version would have full res textures? The best ones?

I'm certain they said the pc graphics would be markably better.
 
Effect said:
This I have a problem though. One shouldn't have to wait for "mods" just so the game should look a certain way. Personally I've removed this from my pre-order list until I see some actual PC game footage. I want to know exactly what I'm getting here and just how different it will look from the consoles.
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We shouldn't have to wait, but we will.Graphical fidelity is the least of my concerns when dealing with modern PC games.Things like consoltits, poor optimization and "streamlined" gameplay worry me more.The fact people with support it and mod it to playability is a great comfort to me.Think back to Oblivion, I shudder to think that people had to play that game in its launch state.
 
DennisK4 said:
Don't compare it to The Witcher 2. GAF will have your head - trust me.
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I'd compare it to The Witcher 2. Skyrim is likely to feature SIGNIFICANTLY larger areas than anything in Witcher 2, which features a gaggle of loading screens between each and every significant area.
 
Aaron said:
More like people played the Witcher 2 and know they can have better. Standards have been raised, and while it might be unfair to judge Skyrim since it still needs to fit on a 360, it's still a bit stunning just how much better games can look if PC is the lead platform.
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Hell the Witcher 2 is coming to 360 as well (albeit downgraded) This is no valid excuse.

As for the images: The trees in particular look hilariously bad. What happened with this game?
 
kokujin said:
We shouldn't have to wait, but we will.Graphical fidelity is the least of my concerns when dealing with modern PC games.Things like consoltits, poor optimization and "streamlined" gameplay worry me more.The fact people with support it and mod it to playability is a great comfort to me.Think back to Oblivion, I shudder to think that people had to play that game in its launch state.
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That is a good point and I really should have considered this. Especially since this weekend I reinstalled Oblivion and not only used the official patch but the unofficial patch that fixes even more bugs in the game. Ugh. Being able to mod a game is nice and I'm glad there are people that do that but it shouldn't be needed. It's a crutch and excuse I feel for developers to knowingly put out a sub-par product with the expectation that others, after buying the game, will finish developing it.
 
Aaron said:
More like people played the Witcher 2 and know they can have better. Standards have been raised, and while it might be unfair to judge Skyrim since it still needs to fit on a 360, it's still a bit stunning just how much better games can look if PC is the lead platform.
Click to expand...

That's the expecting too much bit. It's unfair to judge a closed off game with an open world game. Yeah, TW2 has amazing graphics. It also has much less to render. Expecting them to be equal is beyond a reasonable expectation....it's expecting literal magic to manifest itself.

And the PC version of Skyrim will have high-res textures that we haven't even seen yet, and we've yet to see the game fully in motion, save for one extremely limited demo.

Is this game going to be the single best looking game in existence? No, but it will look great on its own merits. It's stupid to compare every single game that comes down the pipeline to TW2. Extremely stupid.
 
Effect said:
That is a good point and I really should have considered this. Especially since this weekend I reinstalled Oblivion and not only used the official patch but the unofficial patch that fixes even more bugs in the game. Ugh. Being able to mod a game is nice and I'm glad there are people that do that but it shouldn't be needed. It's a crutch and excuse I feel for developers to knowingly put out a sub-par product with the expectation that others, after buying the game, will finish developing it.
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I feel that way with Bethesda too, there are just too many bugs and general lack of polish in their games.I hate companies release crap ports and then make it hard to mod their game after(ME2).
 
as its been said, game is built to run on 5+ year old hardware....Skyrim on the PC will be a 360 port simple as that really, don't expect major improvements.

Community over time may make those improvements mind.
 
WanderingWind said:
That's the expecting too much bit. It's unfair to judge a closed off game with an open world game. Yeah, TW2 has amazing graphics. It also has much less to render. Expecting them to be equal is beyond a reasonable expectation....it's expecting literal magic to manifest itself.

And the PC version of Skyrim will have high-res textures that we haven't even seen yet, and we've yet to see the game fully in motion, save for one extremely limited demo.

Is this game going to be the single best looking game in existence? No, but it will look great on its own merits. It's stupid to compare every single game that comes down the pipeline to TW2. Extremely stupid.
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I dislike this kind of argument.

The technology is there to do the witcher 2 level graphics in an open world game, we're just held back by the dodgey old hardware in the 360 and ps3.

I for one dislike the idea of appealing to the lowest common denominator but I'm an idealist.
 
Does Bethesda have some kind of deal with Microsoft that they can only show the Xbox 360 footage? Similar to the setup Activison has regarding Call of Duty?
 
ColonialRaptor said:
I dislike this kind of argument.

The technology is there to do the witcher 2 level graphics in an open world game, we're just held back by the dodgey old hardware in the 360 and ps3.

I for one dislike the idea of appealing to the lowest common denominator but I'm an idealist.
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If it helps any, I dislike your cloaking of unrealistic expectations under the banner of idealism. Some things simply are not possible, or if they're possible, they're certainly not feasible.

If the technology exists to do TW2 level graphics in an open world RPG, then why haven't we seen it? Likely because it wouldn't run on anything but the highest PC rigs. I mean, I have a pretty bitchin' system, but making your games so more than 15 people can play it is hardly "appealing to the lowest common denominator."

Some of you are acting like these screenshots look like Asteroids or something. "OH GOD MY EYES ARE BLEEDING!!!" Yeah, they could be better, but the hyperbole is getting a bit thick.
 
Effect said:
Does Bethesda have some kind of deal with Microsoft that they can only show the Xbox 360 footage? Similar to the setup Activison has regarding Call of Duty?
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I think they don't show PC shots/footage because the average joe would expect the console versions to look the same, or maybe they are keeping people in the dark.
 
WanderingWind said:
If it helps any, I dislike your cloaking of unrealistic expectations under the banner of idealism. Some things simply are not possible, or if they're possible, they're certainly not feasible.

If the technology exists to do TW2 level graphics in an open world RPG, then why haven't we seen it? Likely because it wouldn't run on anything but the highest PC rigs. I mean, I have a pretty bitchin' system, but making your games so more than 15 people can play it is hardly "appealing to the lowest common denominator."

Some of you are acting like these screenshots look like Asteroids or something. "OH GOD MY EYES ARE BLEEDING!!!" Yeah, they could be better, but the hyperbole is getting a bit thick.
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Pretty much. Plus these screenshots seem edited which doesn't help the look of the lighting. We've already seen video of the game in motion, it doesn't look bad. I've seen worse screenshots of better looking games.
 
WanderingWind said:
If it helps any, I dislike your cloaking of unrealistic expectations under the banner of idealism. Some things simply are not possible, or if they're possible, they're certainly not feasible.

If the technology exists to do TW2 level graphics in an open world RPG, then why haven't we seen it? Likely because it wouldn't run on anything but the highest PC rigs. I mean, I have a pretty bitchin' system, but making your games so more than 15 people can play it is hardly "appealing to the lowest common denominator."

Some of you are acting like these screenshots look like Asteroids or something. "OH GOD MY EYES ARE BLEEDING!!!" Yeah, they could be better, but the hyperbole is getting a bit thick.
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I think you're skewing my argument to far in the opposite direction to my intention.

I don't mean to say that it looks bad, just that it could look much better, and hopefully on pc it can and will. Regardless the IQ is going to be helped a huge amount and I have no doubt the game is going to be amazing, I just want it to look better, I've been spoiler by W2
 
Anyone know when Bethesda's going to release the SDCC Skyrim trailer?

Someone had youtube'd it, but it was pulled for a copyright claim.
 
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