Elder Scrolls V

[vanpeebles]

I want this all over my face!

[Neon Ignition]

Very pretty. If it holds up when populated and running locked at 30fps then fair credit to them.

[Matt]

Surprised people get excited about screenshots like this these days. They're all bull****. At best, you get to see the art direction. We all know the end game (particularly on console) will never achieve that level of polish and smoothness.

Now, in terms of art direction, I really like the look - looks straight out of LOTR, which suits me just fine

[Daragon]

I'm assuming that's going to be a PC screenshot?

Call me fussy, but I've seen better looking visuals on games from last year. God only knows how the 360 version will look.

Still looking forward to the game hugely. I just hope it'll be more Oblivion and less Morrowind.

[eastyy]

Surprised people get excited about screenshots like this these days. They're all bull****. At best, you get to see the art direction. We all know the end game (particularly on console) will never achieve that level of polish and smoothness.

oh yeah with the mods and downloads and pc hardware now i have finally got oblivion to looking as good as it showed before it was released

[EvilBoris]

I don't think that looks unrealistic, a fair bit higher res than it will be on console, but otherwise looks like a big pile of shaded effect rocks and castle. Gears of War or Infinitey blade on iOS look just like that.

Incase you haven't seem infinity blade, have a screenshot of the in game engine title screen

Crazy mobile phone graphics!

[Rossco]

I think it looks great. Yeah it's not the highest of graphical fidelity but for a huge world like Elder Scrolls then it's not to be snuffed at.

I don't think it looks too good or anything to even be lies. Based on the scans I've seen from Game Informer, some of the other shots we'll see in future will look utterly gorgeous compared to this.

[Malc]

I agree with Rossco.

You have to remember that the size of the world (twice as big as Oblivion) will mean that there isn't going to be a huge leap in graphical fidelity, especially that Skyrim is running on the exact same hardware as Oblivion was. However, being 5 years on from its predecessor (and Bethesda having another game under it's belt), means they will have refined a lot of the game's tech underneath. The ability to seamlessly transition from outdoor to indoor environments, as well as improving the physics, animation etc. will provide a very global refinement of (hopefully) every aspect of the game.

[Flabio]

I don't think the environment engine really needs to improve a huge amount. It could do with a bit more variation in the art style (Morrowind was visually far more varied as you went from place to place), but that's not really a technical issue.

Where they really do need to make improvements is their character animation and human modelling. It's better in Fallout3 than it was in Oblivion, but it's some way off being state of the art. Quite looking forward to seeing what the actual people in this game are going to look like...

[PeteJ]

Timelapse of some concept art being painted. Pointless, but impressive.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/01/18/skyrim-the-time-lapse-art-video.aspx

Contains some new music too.

[SuperBeatBoy]

I don't think the environment engine really needs to improve a huge amount. It could do with a bit more variation in the art style (Morrowind was visually far more varied as you went from place to place), but that's not really a technical issue.

Where they really do need to make improvements is their character animation and human modelling. It's better in Fallout3 than it was in Oblivion, but it's some way off being state of the art. Quite looking forward to seeing what the actual people in this game are going to look like...

Game Informer scans show off some shots of the people. It looks a hell of alot better compared to Fallout 3s.

[Rossco]

I don't think the environment engine really needs to improve a huge amount. It could do with a bit more variation in the art style (Morrowind was visually far more varied as you went from place to place), but that's not really a technical issue.

Where they really do need to make improvements is their character animation and human modelling. It's better in Fallout3 than it was in Oblivion, but it's some way off being state of the art. Quite looking forward to seeing what the actual people in this game are going to look like...

True, when you look at Oblivion on PC today, some of the scenes you get are amazing. Considering it's on a 5 year old engine being forced together with all these random mods.

[Flabio]

From Morrowind to Fallout:NV, I've yet to play a game that does the open wilderness anywhere near as well.

[SuperBeatBoy]

With all the talk about Skyrim. Don't know if you guys have heard, but some guy has compiled an almost hassle free really good mod package for Morrowind that makes it look like a darn treat. However due to the arsehole Bethesda Mod Community hes been getting **** for it.

More info here http://morrowind2011.ultimaaiera.com/

[Flabio]

To be fair, he built a single package containing lots of other peoples work without asking for permission, nor giving proper credit. I can kind of understand the narkiness.