I get we're supposed to be looking at this whole medieval fantasy world thing but I swear even back in Morrowind the houses and shacks looked absolutely awful and here we are now in 2012 with Skyrim and they look just as bad.

They are U.G.L.Y.

Maybe I'm just hard to please I don't know. I play on PC so I'm hoping some enterprising modder will tear the horrible things down and build something that is not the aesthetic equivalent of a rubbish tip in someone's backyard. I'm not just talking about low res textures here, I know we are lumbered with the technical awfulness of the PS3 and XBOX360 for it is they who Bethesda aim to please and they alone and who can blame them six year old technology is clearly where it's at right? I'm talking about the lazy art design. Just get a few grey pieces of wood, slap them together, stick a roof on them and there you go, houses. Is it time for lunch yet? Whose round is it down the pub? Hang on wait for me I've got to do a military building I'll just make the same crappy piece of wood a bit bigger and stick some kind of military sign on it and I'll meet you there mine's a Budweiser btw get them in!

I hate to infringe on the valuable time of the building designers (did I just call them designers? ffs....) but it would be nice to see something that looks interesting occasionally in an open world role-playing computer game. Did they just make one and cut and paste them all everywhere? I don't know. Maybe since it was designed for consoles they thought the textures were so blurry nobody would notice how crap they look. What you can't see you can't complain about right? Hey, what's that big blurry thing over there? Oh wait, it's my house hahahaha I can just hear them all joking about it now.

So yeah, that's my little rant abut houses. And shacks. And other stuff. I don't suppose anyone cares but that's okay, I'm off to get a lobotomy then I'm going to send my CV off to get a job at Bethesda and make houses it's going to be great.

Wish me luck.

Sounds about right. Personally, I've been liking the architecture.

Not sure if you know about the Economy in Skyrim at the moment.


It's NOT good at all.

I for one would like to see what you would define as a good looking shack.

I'm not surprised. You couldn't pay me to live in that dump. Times must be hard for Bethesda too if they're paying these clowns to slap a bit of horrible looking wood together and call it a house. I always hate it when game designers use the 'delapidated world' excuse to a) put tiny towns and hardly any buildings in a huge world and endeavour to ensure the aforementioned are terrifyingly awful to look at.

Many people in medieval times lived in a one-room wattle-and-daub cottage with their livestock and a firepit. People in Skyrim have it pretty good, by comparison.

I've only liked one building. And that is Jorrvaskr, or however you spell it.

LOL.
Now your blaming Bethesda and their designers?

Your a FOOL for doing so.

Honestly, who cares about the buildings?
If your worried about it that much, use fire to burn the dang houses.

I don't get it... You dislike the graphical part or the artistic part? By your "2012 Standards" (As there isn't a Annual Art Standard) you seem to refer to the former.

And what exactly would you refer as good?

It's not the fault of the designers? Whose fault is it then? And 'I' care about the buildings or I wouldn't have started the damn thread would I?

It's FAULTED TO NOBODY.

If you honestly are going to whine about the buildings (The last thing to worry about), then email them personally.

I am just curious what do you do for a living?

I'm referring to the art style, or lack of it. 2012 has nothing to do with it we had exactly the same stuff in Morrowind I was stupidly expecting them to have moved on by now. Maybe it's nostalgia? I suppose they might have grown attached to the same buildings and used them all again? The sentimental old fools eh? Let's face it they must be old by now if it's the same people. They should be pensioned off and looked after in some old persons home for the terminally devoid of artistic talent instead of being forced to dig out their old art models from Morrowind and stick them into Skyrim. They've done their bit, let them rest ffs.

My opinion is exactly the opposite. I think Skyrim's art design is not the most accomplished, most creative, most interesting I've seen in any recent video game, including all the other titles in the Elder Scrolls series.

Wait.....you can burn down buildings?!

You say the art style is the same as in Morrowind or the architecture is the same as in Morrowind? I'm just trying to understand.

So the buildings just appeared there sort of by magic? How did that happen? I must apologise to Bethesda I had no idea the friggin buildings just sprouted up out of nowhere and weren't 'designed' by anybody.

It's not for you to decide what's important and what isn't. The buildings are important to me and it's my thread so if you don't like it toddle off to another one and talk about stats or gameplay or some other crap.

No, I was being sarcastic.

I wish you could.

Rats!

I am not going to just "toddle" off, only because your argumental detail is VERY low.
Yes, the designers made the buildings, what's wrong with them? They are big enough, who cares about the color. What, do you think they had modern siding like us?
NO, so they had to use wood. Also, do you think they had spray painting back then to make the wood a Lime Green, or Blue color?

No, they didn't.

All the buildings I can think of at the moment look very well designed. The Nord buildings look very medieval Norse, the Dwarven architecture has its own look, and so forth. The only city I have problems with is Windhelm, but it has nothing to do with architecture.

Anyway... Here are some pics from simple villages for comparison:

http://images.wikia.com/annex/images/b/b1/SeydaNeenOverall.jpg (Brick Roof, Stone Walls, Small)

http://static.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/30865-1-1270267911.jpg (Hay Roof, Stone Walls, Small)

http://www.h3xed.com/img/skyrim-ss-09.jpg (Hay Rood, Wood Walls, Medium)

Those are the only similarities that I could see.

Morrowind and Oblivion unlike Skyrim had a great many building styles and architectures. Skyrim has a few shanty shacks and houses the likes of which were scattered all over Morrowind (though they were not the only buildings in that game by a long shot) and the very first thing that came to mind when I first played Skyrim was I have been transported back in time to Morrowind with really lousy artwork that has been duplicated and re-used all over the place. That would be okay if it had areas where the art style changed dramatically. It never does, ever, hence apart from the open world itself I find Skyrim to be very boring aesthetically.

Oh LOL.

For pete's sake - have you not visited the varying places in the game? The military towers and forts, the different cities, the Dwemer ruins? None of these look alike. Riften doesn't look a thing like Whiterun, which looks nothing like Solitude. I'm beginning to doubt you've played more than 5 minutes of the game.

What the heck is the OP talking about? What does "moved on from Morrowind" mean?

I guess he thinks Skyrim should have had a Renaissance of architecture