Assload of new OB-screens + videos courtesy of the Germans

[Section8]

The problem with ES Lore, as has been mentioned many times before, is that it's not really integrated into the game in any effective way. It's good that it's there, because it makes the Imperial Library quite an interesting site to read. Now all we need is Cyrodiilic versions of Google Earth and Heromaker, and the game would be pretty much redundant.

What's your big fucking problem with that shot, Jennifer? Do you know how hard it is for the Imperial Garderners to get the grass and dirt outside their walls looking so SMOOTH and UNIFORM? Can't you appreciate good landscape gardening when you see it?

Don't forget the topiarists who go to great pains in shaping the foliage of each tree to make it look absolutely identical to the one next to it!

 

[The Internets]

http://www.justgamers.de/kmx/modul_cms/uploads/article/new/pc/Vergleich-2.jpg

Looks like shit.

http://www.justgamers.de/kmx/modul_cms/ ... eich-6.jpg

Looks great.


What the hell? I guess that Oblivion only looks good on 7000$ PCs.

I was just thinking, it's easy to be negative here, but in a way the nasty GFX could be taken as a god sign, in that perhaps they've spend more time on quests than we thought.


-------MY Fun Oblivion Comparison------

Anyway, I know this isn't exactly fair, but I think Oblivion holds its own, what do you think?

You Be The Judge!one one!!11

 

[Twinfalls]

I've seen a screenshot somewhere that showed a date. It was something like "Sunday, 3 Earthrise 3E154" or whatever. I'll see if I can find it again.

-D4

Find that shot, D4, and you'll have quite a hand-grenade to toss into the ESF Lore forum, or General for that matter....

 

[Teb]

As for Peake, you did start with first book in the Gormenghast trilogy - 'Titus Groan', rather the second one - 'Gormenghast', right? For the second book is a lot slower and heavier going. (I know it's not likely that you didn't, but just in case....) Anyway, Peake is definitely a matter of taste.

I actually started with Gormenghast. Was that a horrible decision?

After the BBC Gormenghast miniseries (which I didn't like), I thought I might like the books better so I asked a friend to pick up Gormenghast for me. They brought me just Gormenghast. I had seen the miniseries so I decided to try Peake's writing anyway. After reading about five pages, I decided that Peake's style was not for me.

So, would my experience have been different if I started with Titus Groan?

 

[Twinfalls]

Hell yeah. For a start, Gormenghast is a continuation of the story. You meet all the characters for the first time in Titus.

More importantly, Titus is a more coherent work, the narrative is stronger, and once you get into its flow, it never 'drags', which unfortunately, cannot be said for Gormenghast.

I really urge you to give Titus a shot, but take your time with it - savour it like a fine wine (or some other cliched comparison). If you end up liking it, I swear it'd be worth the wasted time spent in the case that you decide about 30 pages in that it's not for you....

 

[Teb]

More importantly, Titus is a more coherent work, the narrative is stronger, and once you get into its flow, it never 'drags', which unfortunately, cannot be said for Gormenghast..

Well, I'll have to try it then. I just assumed my impression from Gormenghast was accurate for the whole series. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Jung]

http://www.justgamers.de/kmx/modul_cms/uploads/article/new/pc/Vergleich-2.jpg

What's your big fucking problem with that shot, Jennifer? Do you know how hard it is for the Imperial Garderners to get the grass and dirt outside their walls looking so SMOOTH and UNIFORM? Can't you appreciate good landscape gardening when you see it?

I just took a peek at the Gothic 3 screens again, and I must say, they look infinitely betterr than that shit.

I could hand this on my wall.

 

[Venom]

http://www.justgamers.de/kmx/modul_cms/uploads/article/new/pc/Vergleich-2.jpg

What's your big fucking problem with that shot, Jennifer? Do you know how hard it is for the Imperial Garderners to get the grass and dirt outside their walls looking so SMOOTH and UNIFORM? Can't you appreciate good landscape gardening when you see it?

I just took a peek at the Gothic 3 screens again, and I must say, they look infinitely betterr than that shit.

I could hand this on my wall.

Compare that Gothic shot that was taken of a high end PC to the screenshots of Oblivion taken of a high end PC, not a PC that is minimum level as what as used for these screenshots.

 

[Jung]

Compare that Gothic shot that was taken of a high end PC to the screenshots of Oblivion taken of a high end PC, not a PC that is minimum level as what as used for these screenshots.

You do it.

 

[Venom]

Compare that Gothic shot that was taken of a high end PC to the screenshots of Oblivion taken of a high end PC, not a PC that is minimum level as what as used for these screenshots.

You do it.

Just go check the 1 Week Countdown video or the official site screenshots page to see the same type of quality.

Try running Gothic 3 on the PC used to make these Oblivion screenshots and I can assure you it won't look that great.

 

[Drain]

Gothic wins on High end PCs

 

[Venom]

Damn! That looks sick! Can I see more screenshots to judge the draw distance?

 

[Jung]

http://www.gothic3.com

 

[Levski 1912]

If there's one thing that really bugs me in modern games (not just Oblivion), it's the plastic look. And Oblivion looks like it has it in spades.

 

[Venom]

If there's one thing that really bugs me in modern games (not just Oblivion), it's the plastic look. And Oblivion looks like it has it in spades.

Let me guess...Gothic 3 doesn't look plastic....

 

[Venom]

http://www.gothic3.com

Shitfuck! That game looks ace! Sweet Jesus!

 

[Twinfalls]

1. Please do not use the word 'sick' as an adjective here. It is not allowed.

2. Those Gothic shots are obviously renders, for chrissakes. It will not look like that. But - we can be assured it's not going to look as bad as Oblivion, at least not when it comes to big-ass textures, and the smooth blobs of uber-gardening.

We know Gothic 3 will look good, because Gothic 2 before it looked good. That game had long view-distance forests, with no texture-free expanses of blob in sight.

 

[Venom]

Why couldn't I use 'sick', lol?

And why blast Oblivion's graphics on a low-end PC? Shouldn't you judge the game at it's best?

 

[Twinfalls]

Check the German screenshots again. You will notice that the texture-free expanses of environment are present on the high-end shots. As they are on the DumbBox360.

And the poor animation and unfinished horse models are not going to be saved by the high-end gaming PC that God himself uses for his gaming leisure time.

 

[merry andrew]

Oh dear the game is sluggish in those videos. Reminds me of when I first got Morrowind... those were the days.

 

[Jung]

2. Those Gothic shots are obviously renders, for chrissakes. It will not look like that.

Could you elaborate?

 

[Twinfalls]

Yes. 'Render' meaning the (colloquial?) term for graphics which have not been generated in real time by the final game-engine, and which are at a higher resolution and overall quality (lacking any LOD loss and artifacts for example) than the final look of the game.

It's a qualitative judgment I make on G3's shots, based on seeing countless publicity shots of games in the past, but I remain confident that it's accurate.

 

[Drain]

I think the graphics in Oblivion was bashed here for the lack of artistic taste(also for the sake of bashing). Oblivion looks like a disneyland park. Everything is... very clean. Perhaps bloom contributed significantly to this impression or maybe shaders. Everything has a happy fairytale feeling... Let me illustrate what I mean.

Later images with fog, images taken at the morning/evening look better, IMO.

 

[dongle]

http://www.justgamers.de/kmx/modul_cms/uploads/article/new/pc/Vergleich-2.jpg

So, what the fuck, I know the grass pops in at medium distance, but the rocks do too? Top shot has boulder the size of a house dead center, bottom shot it's gone? WTF?

I don't think all this "low-end-PC" stuff holds up. As long as you have an OK graphics card that supports all the shader features and Dx9c (I would imagine any game magazine would?) it'll be fine to take a screenshot with. You may be running at 5FPS, but the saved screenshot will look the same as a bazillion dollar rig, no? Video is a different matter.

In any case one of the few things I actually want to do in Oblivion anymore is go around and find each spot where the screenshots on the official site were taken. Take a shot of my own and compare bullshot with reality.

For me these new screenshots are a mixed bag. As maligned as soil erosion is I have to say it looks excellent. The environment, especially the mountains in the distance, look better than anything. Next I think the gothic/imperial style of building/dungeon looks pretty good. I think initially it looked great, but I see a lot of misaligned textures and models that don't quite mesh together. I think they started to rush through at the end. Mostly of the rest starts to go steeply down hill for me, until we get to the NPCs. Dear god, is this the best 100 developers working for four years can do? Unbelievable, almost scary.

I suspect these are what the real game looks like tho. Very similar to the supposedly beta ag.ru batch.

 

[dongle]

Hell yeah. For a start, Gormenghast is a continuation of the story. You meet all the characters for the first time in Titus.

I have the trilogy as a single hardcover edition, so I just think of it all as "Gormenghast". I thought it was a great read. His style is a bit off kilter, and you can't just plow through it, but I found it very visually stimulating. Like in the very beginning when he's climbing around on the rooftops I could really "see" it all from the way he described all the details. I like that a lot. Compared to, say, late Robert Jordan where you get useless detail piled up just to pad the book out to 1,000 pages.