"I see games . . . as the ultimate combination of art and technology"
Todd Howard, DICE 2012 (watch on YouTube, at about 5:00)

The Elder Scrolls series is very visually ambitious - whether you're wandering through Vivec, Cheydinhal or Solitude, or just examining a bottle of mead you picked up in Skyrim, we all LOVE the meticulous and creative design that goes into TES games, right?

An MMO (remember, it's a totally different team working on TESO) is never going to match this standard of design. We all saw the first screenshots from TESO, and apparently few of us liked what we saw.

Let's think: There are NINE provinces in Tamriel, and although three have already been designed in detail, TESO takes place much earlier, and that still leaves SIX entire provinces to design from scratch! These 'unexplored' provinces are also some of the toughest to visualise (read up on Black Marsh, Valenwood and Summerset Isle if you don't know what I mean!).

Many of us may get a miniature nerdgasm at the idea of exploring Falinesti or the Ceporah Tower, but we've been looking forward to these places being brought to life by BETHESDA SOFTWORKS, or at least a team with similar priorities, not by a bunch of guys trying to force a TES-shaped peg into a WOW-shaped hole (there's a quote for the haters).

TESO could be a triumph in many other ways. However, what TES fans DON'T want is to explore an underwhelming version of Tamriel just because MMO's have different constraints. Worse still, the design decisions made by the TESO team MUST have implications for the way these locations are brought to life in future games, and The Elder Scrolls VI: Valenwood (or whatever) is likely to be a lesser game as a result.

That svcks if you ask me.

Do you guys agree?

well to me, the lack of graphic quality really isn't a big deal... its not going to look as pretty as skyrim or oblivion did and thats quite obvious considering the hundreds of characters on-screen and the sheer size of the world. but if you look at the screenshots it still looks like elder scrolls... you can quite clearly make out orcish armor in one or more screenshots and also what appears to be an aleyid ruin. thats what is important to me, it still looks like the elder scrolls even though its not as detailed or as pretty. i don't understand how this could impact future games.

I do not agree even in the slightest.

First off we can't say "few" of us liked the art style because this forum is only a very small part of the fan base.

The MMO absolutely does NOT have to have any effect on future Bethesda ES games, none what so ever. There is no reason for a future TES game to be "lesser" in any way at all because of TESO.

Also this isn't just a "bunch of guys", they are very avid TES fans to the core, they are working hand in hand with Bethesda Lore Masters and are NOT trying to fit a "TES-shaped peg into a WOW-shaped hole", no doubt about that at all, and yes they do have similar priorities as far as making the game feel like ES as much as possible.

I am confident this game will turn out very well.

In a simple word: No.

For all we know TESO was put so far in the past that future single player games will be far enough removed from it that any differences in design, landscape, environment, atmosphere, etc can easily be explained in lore or mechanics.