So I was standing there at nightfall on the East Empire docks, having just discovered that part of Windhelm, when I looked up and saw for the first time the lights of the aurora borealis shimmering through the broken clouds, above the farm and steep mountain beyond the flowing river in front of me, watching as the utterly convincing smoke from the dock's pyre's floated past the boat masts towards the sky- all to the tune of Jeremy Soule's choral. I must say, my eyes got a little misty. I stood there the whole in-game night, just amazed at this beauty of a game. I would have taken screenies but I'm playing on a console and I didn't want to pause it even for a second to take a digital picture. So what was your beautiful moment- or, the first time you saw the northern lights in-game?

The game looks stunning. It may not be the most technically advanced graphically, but everything must comes together so well and there are some really great touches throughout the world. I particularly love the fog over bodies of water.

Also lots of variety in the environments and long distance viewing make this game so grandiose graphic-wise. The color palette is INFINITELY better than in Oblivion where everything was happily bright and candy-coated. There's a war going and you can see it in people's faces, unlike in Oblivion. And those details like northern lights, snow breezing off the mountain, lots of wildlife, fog over water... Overall this game's graphics definitely have a magical impact. Everything not just feels and sounds but even LOOKS epic! This is Elder Scrolls, my friends!

I just love the snow pouring down. It feels cold!

Visually, it is stunning. And the music is just PERFECT. The music is what makes me want to cry with joy.

It's no Witcher 2, but it's pretty decent for a DX9 game. The shadows are terrible. We shouldn't have to choose between what would be considered medium-setting shadows in any other game, and having Minecraft shadows over a large draw distance.

Whenever the northern lights come out I can't help but admire the effect for few minutes.

Love how when you very north or into the mountain tops that the icy winds just stream across the landscape. sometimes an Ice wraith cathes me by surprise though.

yup it's very pretty. they really out did themselves this time.

Yes, the MUSIC. The harmony of the orchestra simply catches the atmosphere of every moment, from exploring the wilderness to gazing at the night sky. It's like nothing I've ever experienced in a game.

Bethesda = Da Vinci/Chopin of game development.

I like the far northern snowy areas, but overall there's too much brown and orange. Maybe I'm just nostalgic about Cyrodiil, and I know we're in a different, more rugged province, but I'll always love the elegant, verdant, cosmopolitan 'generic fantasy' world of Cyrodiil. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but, try as I might, I can't get into the visual atmosphere of Skyrim. I really wish I could too, but I guess I'm just too much of a bland, boring person.

I agree that the palette is infinitely better than Oblivion's. Also, not sure if you live somewhere where it snows often but there's this lighting effect on a snow-covered land that they captured perfectly. As an artist myself I am just awestruck with it. I don't play many games so not sure how Skyrim compares technically.

Your avatar is the only way I can describe the beauty of Skyrim, especially at night, when the Aurora Borealis is active. <3

I agree, there are moments were I simply dont believe what I am seeing in a game. This game was crafted with alot of tender loving care. Only gripe I have is lack of a "classic" interface and random CTDs. Otherwise simply awesome.

YOU HAVE NOT SEEN HOW COOL THIS GAME IS UNTIL YOU GO TO THE DWEMER CITY UNDERGROUND WITH THE GLOWING ROCKS AND MUSHROOMS OMG SO NICE

The Shadows look horribly blocky, and some of the textures literally look like they're from Daggerfall. If you can overlook these two atrocities, then yes the game looks "gorgeous". It is certainly carried heavily by the artistic style which is first rate, and the atmosphere and artistic intention still shines through the dulled graphics. That will have to fulfill my need for eye candy until a PC patch is released.

Apart from the graphics issues, the game is so well done, I could get lost in it for weeks at a time. However I am playing it sparingly, since you can only see things once for the 1st time, and I want to see first them in all their glory AFTER a graphics patch has been released.

Skyrim owns! Graphics and playability both.

Got Core i7 860, 8GB Mems, ATI 5870 1GB - it runs the game on maxed settings, no lag.

I don't know how so many people can fail at getting their setups screwed up for this game with very high end machines.

I was really starting to feel bad with so many complaints. This game is state-of-the-art-beauty!

P.S.: More and more I realize people comparing other games are comparing subjective tastes instead of actual art in itself.

Bethesda lives up to the hype in my book.

Is this the new engine? Its definitely the smoothest Elder Scrolls game out of the box since before Morrowind. I especially love the new direction in the graphics of the creatures and people. Its kind of Oblivion meets New Vegas.

The aurora came out the very first night in my game, it was amazing, there was a partly cloudly sky with the red and green aurora and both moons with the stars behind peeking through the holes in the clouds.

The aurora is beautiful, and I literally stood there looking at the sky for about 5 minutes when I first saw it.

My new favorite spot: The mountains south of Winterhold (Azura's Shrine). Go trekking there at night when the skies are clear.

The star-filled sky coupled with the majestic mountainous landscape was even more impressive a sight than any northern lights I've seen so far.
Will definately be going there any chance I get.

I looked down on the world from High Hrothgar. [/thread]

This, and yet you only told so little. I'm not amazed that popular culture feels that "epic" must be delivered "more epicly" all the time. This is the case with Skyrim's music compared to Oblivion as well. Yet, there are SO MANY KINDS of music in Skyrim which TES games never did! There are politically infuenced tavern drinking songs, steady violins just to call forth the following epic unleash, a Morrowind music comeback, some silent minimalistic music in quiet situations, etc., etc., etc. Just perfect music for every situations, and - is it? - even different in different towns, etc. Also there are very high quality, fitting and loud sound effects everywhere to boost every single aspect of the music and overally the world.

I think the music and sound effects are so good they just blend in the overall feeling of the game; you cannot often even notice how variable and fitting they are until you pay close attention. This is definitely a huge part of why I call the game's vibes magical.

Yeah, I was pretty awestruck the first time I saw the aurora, as in all my excitement about Skyrim in general, I'd completely forgotten about it being in the game.

However, I don't think anything will come close to the first time I wandered into Riverwood, having followed the river down from Whiterun. It was sunset, everything had this early-evening orange/red sheen, there was the music playing, and the river. A moment of complete and utter perfection.

Yeah, thanks a bunch Bethesda. The real world looks like [censored] now

And i'm talking about the world, not the graphics. Real dirt looks better than Skyrim's dirt

ive played 40+ hrs on ps3 and 27 on the pc.. thats = 67hours.. and im barely sleeping. ive downed 12 dragons, including afew "blood dragons".. captured the azura's star, bought a home in whiterun.. cleaned out numerous keeps & holds, gone toe - to - toe with saber tooth tigers, giants & Mammoths.. two mammoths and 1 giant was the epic battle i scraqed through last. im lv 19 roughly on both ps3 and pc. ive cured myself from a certain "desease".. found a shrine that was in plain sight but hidden so well.. Collected rare "Mammoth Cheeses".... been gawking at the lovely mountains with fog and with throughout.. OMG those mountains!!

and the music, makes me feel so emotionally tied to the game. the music that was in the video we saw on the ART being turned into the actual game places.. i dunno what its called but that music in the game just about brings me to tears when seing a great open view. every single grain of salt, where the rocks and trees and floiage etc are placed, the way the landscape is shaped .. EVERYTHING feels so right... Bethesda... THIS IS GAMING! now ezcuse me.. im gonna go play skyrim and cry at the beauty it holds..