Skyrim - Hi-Res Screens

Originally Posted by bemushroomed
, the lightning in this shot is superb! the trees are just phenomenal…

True, this is a first shot that really got me excited.

It all looks samey in most pics thats true, but if they pull off the lightning/enviro effects right it will make a massive difference. I hear about crazy snow physics, wind affecting individual parts of flora…static screens rarely do justice to games, especially in this stage.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
These screens leave me non-plussed. Nothing breakthough in them. Just looks like a slightly (and only VERY slightly) upgraded Oblivion. Is that the best they can do? Sigh….

Isn't it the gameplay that counts? Are we really saying this level of graphics isn't good enough?

Then why did you start an entire topic devoted to nothing?

This is a general News site.

No-one is supposed to know whether some people might like a newsbit and others not …

The point of liking a newsbit or not is not the point.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
Then why did you start an entire topic devoted to nothing?

I didn't start a thread. A discussion thread is automatically started when a readers chooses to comment on a news item. DoctorNarrative started the thread.

But that's beside the point - I'm just a bit surprised at the reaction to these screens. I can't tell anything about the gameplay from these but I can't see much to complain about visually, from this tiny sample.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
What Gareth is saying is you might think you can tell the engine from a still screenshot — but you really can't. You may well be right about what is new and what isn't but that would mostly be luck more than being able to tell from a screenshot.

I don't really agree. You can tell a game is using Unreal Engine 3 the moment you see it, same with id Tech 4. Engines can often be instantly recognizeable despite artistic differences.

These screens look like the same old Bethesda technology to me. I am sure they have improved it like they did from Morrowind to Oblivion, but it's the same core. Like I said Todd Howard said as much in an interview on Eurogamer.

How much they have changed, and how new it feels, we shall see.

@Dhruin

OK, not the thread so much. But that is just a technicality, right?

Why create a news item about nothing? I mean the original screens showed us there hasn't been much improvement from Oblivion. OK, fine.

And then another news bit on high rez versions of the same thing? It's just rather pointless to me. I understand others may feel otherwise. But it's looking like empty hype to me…

Originally Posted by Thrasher
These screens leave me non-plussed. Nothing breakthough in them. Just looks like a slightly (and only VERY slightly) upgraded Oblivion. Is that the best they can do? Sigh….

Yep. Given the limits of current consoles this is in fact the best they can do. Oblivion was already scratching the limits of the current console generation so it's not like Bethesda even got much room for improvement in the first place. Open world games on consoles need to operate within well defined limits unfortunately. In an ideal world they'd put some extra effort into the PC version so that our high end PCs would get something serious to chew on but that ain't gonna happen as long as the PC version keeps on seriously lagging behind in sales. It's kinda hard to blame them for not committing (commercial) suicide.

Originally Posted by Moriendor
Yep. Given the limits of current consoles this is in fact the best they can do. Oblivion was already scratching the limits of the current console generation so it's not like Bethesda even got much room for improvement in the first place. Open world games on consoles need to operate within well defined limits unfortunately. In an ideal world they'd put some extra effort into the PC version so that our high end PCs would get something serious to chew on but that ain't gonna happen as long as the PC version keeps on seriously lagging behind in sales. It's kinda hard to blame them for not committing (commercial) suicide.

To their credit the PC versions of Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas look a LOT better than the console versions. Drastically further draw distance, some upgraded textures (mostly on characters) and full-on AA and AF. Throw in mod tools and the PC versions are really far superior to the console versions and feel like PC games.

Really it's only the UI they keeping screwing up, in my opinion, and I bet that comes down to testing. Two UIs means two different versions to play for every QA test.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
@Dhruin

OK, not the thread so much. But that is just a technicality, right?

Why create a news item about nothing? I mean the original screens showed us there hasn't been much improvement from Oblivion. OK, fine.

And then another news bit on high rez versions of the same thing? It's just rather pointless to me. I understand others may feel otherwise. But it's looking like empty hype to me…

Last post because we're going in circles. When you say the "original screens", you mean scans of the magazine article? The one screen included with a couple of the GameInformer articles? This is the first time we've posted about a collection of Skyrim screens, which seems worth a newsbit to me.

No. There was a newsbit with the same set of screens, I believe. Again, maybe you forgot. If so, then that explains it.

Or maybe I am just crabby and suffering from a case of misattribution. Sorry about that.

Originally Posted by Fantasm
Right, that's my point, there are a lot more games out there nowadays that have raised the standard of 3rd-person view, and Bethesda needs to decide if they're going to do it right, or abandon the feature altogether. It used to be they could include in the feature list, "Play either in 1st or 3rd-person view!", but those days are gone if they don't drastically improve in this area.

Bethesda has never made a game that was "equal" in 1st and 3rd person views though. In fact, I can't think of *any* game that was perfectly balanced in a way that neither view played better than the other. To be honest, I'm not sure if that's even possible.

I just how Skyrim will be accessible to everyone. If you want to just do the main quest you can do that. If you want explore every area in the game on day one you can do that too. Players should be able to use a fast travel system to get a great rpg experience in a quick gameplay session avoiding all that micro management you normally see in classic rpgs.

Maybe I'm a bit confused here but, these screens look as good as anything out there if not better….

Or is this the irrational bash bethesda because it makes you look like you know RPG's better then anyone club?

No worries. Most of the haters are going to bash it and still buy it. How can you not. I still aint payin for dragon armor though.

Who is hating on it? Who is overly defensive?

@rune_17 Good or bad, screenies do not determine the goodness of an RPG.

Who is hating on Bethesda?

………..Is this a trick question?

Apparently…