Skyrim scans

[Excommunicator]

Dual casting, for extra damage.

 

[.Sigurd]

^ That looks worse than Oblivion. What is your point?

I'm talking about the draw distance, that mountain looks close but actually it's very far. I can see much more far than any first person game that I played thanks to the big draw distance. In Mortal you don't have some kind of fog limiting your view while in Oblivion half of the game world is covered by a blue fog (remember, you can see the IC from any place but nothing more far than that). TES V will be the same, just look at that new screenshot and you will see that blue fog again.

 

[Turisas]

Well you can thank the consoles and their pitiful RAM for that. And Bethesda for being too lazy to adjust it for PC.

 

[DraQ]

^ That looks worse than Oblivion. What is your point?

I'm talking about the draw distance, that mountain looks close but actually it's very far.

A tree and a building visible in the background, up the mountainside in the screenshot prove you wrong.

 

[King Crispy]

Re: graphics

deluded

 

[Begriffenfeldt]

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/ ... video.aspx

Moar concept art!

Music by J. Soule.

 

[Gilithus]

Re: graphics

One thing that is supposed to be good about Skyrim is their new engine allows drastic draw distances compared to Fallout and Oblivion.

"Supposed" is the keyword here.

Awsum!!1 draw distances would be a great thing in large, procedural game like Daggerfall, in small, handcrafted world meant to represent much larger area as is the case of TES>=3, it can at best be inconsequential, at worst, detrimental. Distant land in oblivious wans't an improvement over lack of it in Morrowind, if anything it killed the illusion that the world was actually big.
The best use of distant land enabled by MGE is tweaking it so that it eliminates clipping, but doesn't increase actual view distance beyond the usual distance between major landmarks, otherwise it makes the game look like Disneyland.

So, either the SkVrim will use MW broken-up terrain, except with higher, view-obscuring mountains and the increased draw distance will be of no consequence, or the draw distance will actually come into play and reveal that the supposedly major portion of the whole continent is in fact no larger than my hometown.

Supposed IS in fact the keyword here, that is why I put it there. In the deepest parts of my soul I am hoping that they actually aren't pulling shit out of their ass and feeding it to us on a shit infested platter. If you assume that the game is going to be what they say it is, however, then the face of gaming will be changed so drastically that it is borderline batshit-insane.
I'm going to admit that I am a new generation gamer, being 15, and as such I never really got to play Morrowind in its heyday. I did play Oblivion however, and loved the shit out of it. Of course, looking back, it did have its bugs (some game crippling), and reviewing the posted claims of what Oblivion would be able to do, taken directly from the developer's, they pretty much lied out of their ass. But at the time, I had no knowledge of these claims and no previous Elder Scrolls to compare it to; and you know what? It was a fuckin' good game. Maybe not a wonderful addition to the Elder Scrolls series, but it was certainly a good standalone game. Much better than that flaming garbage called "Just Cause 2" (I know that is a bit random but somebody mentioned Just Cause 2 earlier and I just have to say that graphics isn't everything if gameplay is composed of an interesting gimmick and a shitty-everything-else).
One thing to mention is that I'm pretty sure I remember reading in the GI that they plan to make Skyrim's map much bigger than Oblivion's; and even though I remember Skyrim as a tiny ass country up northwest, who knows; that could have only been a fraction of the country and its entirety will be revealed in the game. Of course, they could also be lying out of their ass, which they seem to have a history of doing - but lets not jinx it if they are actually being true.

 

[circ]

Uh, being young isn't really an excuse for liking Oblivion. Why, back when I was young, characters consisted of black and white blocks moving horizontally and vertically across a screen. That didn't mean that Oblivion somehow amazed me with its frog faced citizens, most of whom looked alike. But you would think this was an improvement over black and white pixels. Yes, but not over stuff inbetween that and Oblivion.

And then there's the challenge portion. Why should I play Oblivion for the challenge aspect, when it's about as challenging as watching television.

Finally, I find it hard to believe you hadn't read better writing in a random toilet stall (INSERT COCK HERE), than in Oblivion.

So, this love for Oblivion is confusing. Personally, I'd rather play Pong.

 

[Flanged]

Re: graphics

But at the time, I had no knowledge of these claims and no previous Elder Scrolls to compare it to; and you know what? It was a fuckin' good game. Maybe not a wonderful addition to the Elder Scrolls series, but it was certainly a good standalone game.

That's how I first came to Morrowind (which also has a ton of problems) and it helped a lot to know nothing about the lore, the area, the races, the people. Literally just dumped off a boat in a strange place and left to survive as best you could. I kept expecting to walk into an invisible barrier or an impassable mountain range that would stop me from wandering too far, but it never happened. It was the first game of that type I'd ever played, and I tried to learn everything I could about this odd country and it's hilariously unfriendly and racist population.

Then came Oblivion after years of hype and anticipation - with it's invisible walls, retarded and nice populace, and it's anodyne, bloodless, unthreatening locations, and incredibly stupid quests (the guy sucked into the painting quest, for example, isn't cool - it's idiotic and badly presented, as well as unoriginal). Give me a fetch quest any day of the week over the more "in-depth" shit that Oblivion had, like where you selected from a pop-menu menu whether to drop a minotaur's head on top of a target... or not. That's not even a choice.

Anyway, if I'd come to Oblivion blind, and younger, like you did, I might have liked it. But I still kind of doubt it.

 

[ironyuri]

So, this love for Oblivion is confusing. Personally, I'd rather play Pong.

circ is edgy and keeps it real.

 

[.Sigurd]

^ That looks worse than Oblivion. What is your point?

I'm talking about the draw distance, that mountain looks close but actually it's very far.

A tree and a building visible in the background, up the mountainside in the screenshot prove you wrong.

The mountain itself stretch like a series of canyons as you can see behind the huts.

Here another exemple of proper done distance draw:
http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/1699/fabsunset1.jpg

 

[circ]

Ya nice draw distance, but those textures and tree placements are really bad. It's like looking at a really badly made lego landscape.

 

[denizsi]

Enjoy your mighty Skyrim being reduced to a shitty backwater patch of rocks of snowturds:

In just two games, they have managed to reduce the mighty Tamriel of vast landmass, mix of cultures, political games and violence into a lulzy small backwater colony of warring local tribes with overblown self-importance and pretense of political grandeur.

Morrowind might be excusable, being just the Vvardenfell however small, but at least it still wasn't the entire landmass of Morrowind.

Daggerfall did more of everything by virtually limiting the game area to a small bay and they could do it again, keeping the same game world size they had in MW and OB except focused in a local area instead of pretending that one entire fucking province could fit laughably cramped proportions, abstractions be damned.

 

[CrimHead]

There are relatively few dungeons on my trek to work in the morning, Deniszi.

 

[roll-a-die]

Your trek to work is also likely a shit load larger than the Oblivion world map.

From my new house to my work, is 24 miles, I bike that everyday, takes me roughly an hour and thirty minutes on my bike. In contrast, that distance is roughly 1 and 1/3 the length of Cyrodiil as portrayed in Oblivion. That's ridiculous, I shouldn't bike my way crossed an entire country in the space of my morning commute. Now make that size say, the size of the imperial isles, focus it on the smaller scale. use the same architecture, and you've got a vastly better scale, and vastly better realism factor.

 

[Excommunicator]

Going to have to agree with all the size abstraction comments, but let us not pretend it isn't the case with almost every game, ever. Obviously it is necessary in some way, but Bethesda do take it to whole new ridiculous levels given their pretenses of exploration and large-scale geography.

 

[baronjohn]

There are relatively few dungeons on my trek to work in the morning, Deniszi.

That's what you think

 

[circ]

I think GTA SA did size good. Well it did everything better than Oblivion. Shame it had planes that made it unplayable.

 

[MapMan]

Any mirror? I tried to avoid this thread at all cost but ive finally gave in.

 

[DraQ]

Re: graphics

I never really got to play Morrowind in its heyday.

That's not an excuse.

Go play Morrowind and Daggerfall before this discussion can continue.

 

[.Sigurd]

Looks like you will start at Skyrim's border with Morrowind. Note the "greater" pointed on the map.
How convenient, it's close to the biggest city in the game.

Ya nice draw distance, but those textures and tree placements are really bad. It's like looking at a really badly made lego landscape.

Talking about the first image? That's was beta, at the time the trees used placeholder models and all textures were low res versions from the current ones.

 

[Begriffenfeldt]

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/the_e ... ombat.aspx

Apparently Todd was inspired by Bioshock.

 

[Tycn]

Even if you can't combine spells, magicka students will have no shortage of options, with over 85 spells divided into five schools of magic – destruction, restoration, illusion, alteration, and conjuration.

Sounds like they might have removed the spellcrafting mechanic.

 

[Mastermind]

Even if you can't combine spells, magicka students will have no shortage of options, with over 85 spells divided into five schools of magic – destruction, restoration, illusion, alteration, and conjuration.

Sounds like they might have removed the spellcrafting mechanic.

It was pretty shitty after daggerfall anyway. It's also possible that a feature like that is beyond the capabilities of a gaming journalist to comprehend and he just didn't mention it.

 

[Luzur]

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/the_elder_scrolls_v_skyrim/b/xbox360/archive/2011/01/24/skyrim-building-better-combat.aspx

Apparently Todd was inspired by Bioshock.

so we can expect to get our magic from dispensers placed around Skyrim?