Yeah, those are TES screenshots. And that's why I think http://www.gamedynamo.com/images/galleries/photo/1140/kingdoms-of-amalur-pc-ps3-xbox-360-preview-screenshots-2.jpg

Oh wait... no, that's Kingdoms of Amalur. My bad.

The less cartoony feel than we see in the screenshots. I'm no artist, but I'd say THAT'S what's bugging me. Some would say that Oblivion has a cartoon feel to it, but I disagree. I feel like I can recognize an Elder Scrolls game when I see one - with the possible exceptions of Arena and Daggerfall, due to restrictions of the time - and I don't recognize the screenshots from the MMO as TES.

Just an opinion though. I'll still be playing this MMO to see if I'm wrong.

There are two screenshots one with hotbar and one without. Does this mean you are able to turn hotbar to be on keyboard and have realtime battlemode on?

im asking what is so unique about the previous titles art.

I agree with you 100%. This isn't so much about graphics as it is about art style. For example, I think Vagrant Story (a PSOne game) has one of the greatest art styles ever to grace a video game. Being a PSOne game though, it has really outdated graphics. TES Online may have less polygons and lower textures than Skyrim to ensure it can be played on a wider variety of home computers, and that's understandable, but they diverted from TES' realistic art style to an overused cartoony one, presumably because that's what WoW did - the same justification for most of their decisions.

Look at the old Warcraft games though, and you'll see that WoW's cartoon art style fits perfectly with the series' established art style. You could even argue that SWTOR fits (though it would be debateable) because of the recent push for cartoony art styles in the Star Wars universe through the Clone Wars and Star Wars Kinect. But TES Online adopting this cartoony look... doesn't make sense.

Ahhh okay. I can help there

Focus on proportions. Of both anatomy and architecture. Whether it's the nobles in the Daggerfall screenshot, the Redguard in the Morrowind shot, or the straight lines of the architecture in any of them. They're all realistic in proportions and angles, despite technical limitations obviously holding them back from looking real.

Now look at any of the leaked screenshots, or the officially released one, from TESO. Proportions are skewed to better match the colourful look. Whether it's the overly chunky arms and legs of the warrior in the official shot (and just look at the size of his hand holding that sword!), or the subtle curves visible in the architecture of the leaked shots. It's going after that... I don't know if 'cartoony' is the best word for it... but http://www.wowscreenshot.com/image/Westfall-tower.jpg

like this? http://www.gamesas.com/images/games/gamescrn_redguard_01-B.jpg

Again, realistic proportions, which is quite an achievement considering the engine they used for that game and the fact that polygons were entirely new back then. The colours certainly pop, but lighting in 3D environments was as basic as it got back then.

Indeed, I dont think its that important that the MMO looks like the TES RPG's.
They are not the only games in the elder scrolls series and the other games have always had their own look and feel to them.
I think it should be viewed as part of the whole picture and that includes the travel games and the adventures.

Thing is, this is not a TES game. Its an elder scrolls game, that plays in the same universe and has the same lore, but its not part of the main RPG series.
I dont think its fair or constructive to restrict what is possible for the MMO by what the RPG does, they are wholly different genres.

When it comes to the cartoony feel, I dont know.
I kind of like it, but once more, Ive never played WoW.

no more realistic than what we've seen, really. its only the heavily armored people that look off. and thats because they have armor. the environment and landscape seems very TES.

Yeah, you're right. But you can understand why people are upset, right?

Being TES fans, we assumed the MMO was aimed at us. Incorporating all the things we love about TES and letting us play together. Instead, it's quite clearly aimed at a typical MMO crowd. Sure, there will be some TES players who love that MMO gameplay enough to think that it would be a great way to experience Tamriel. But this backlash is clearly happening because the crowd of players who would be immediately interested in the concept of a TES MMO were expecting to see TES mechanics and a TES art style.

I have no doubt that it will find its own player base (however large or small). I just highly doubt that the current TES fanbase will make up the bulk of it.

Yeah... I don't get that at all. But each to their own. I'm an artist, so maybe it just sticks out like a sore thumb to me. I see that warrior in the official screenshot and see thighs thicker than Chun Li's

Between the announcement trailer and the screenshot, they didn't give a very good first impression of the game.

maybe so. in any case if the animations arent stiff and wooden, its definitely not TES ;p

That I understand and being a lore monkey they could seriously put me off the game if later information reveals that the lore is very much bowdlerised, disneyfied and broken.

Being the devil's advocate here, it does make business sense to aim an MMO at the MMO crowd.
That way they sweep a larger section of the market.
Get us RPG people with the main series and another demographic with the MMO.
I dont doubt that many fans of the main TES series will also play the MMO just because it is elder scrolls so this way there is a very wide section of the potential market they are aiming towards.

Also, this being an MMO, after release there will be patches and new content.
If enough fans of the RPG series make threads about something, I dont know, like 'where are the Imga?', things can change.

Im not prepared to declare ruined forever just yet.

Haha! And there, we most certainly agree

Best comment on the topic.

theres always the chance that they may change the graphics too. wow itself underwent a pretty big overhaul of the characters during development. actually got more cartoonish.

This story from Gamespy judges a book by its cover.

Yes. Thank God they formed a 2nd studio for this experiment and by all indicators
are still planning on focusing on the single player element. One can't help but wonder,
is ES:O going to affect their release schedule for other titles?

No.
Its the same publisher but not the same company.
Its akin to asking Rowling if her new book will have an impact on the release date of the new King novel.

This feels a lot like the rush job that it felt like for SWTOR - I'm really not sure what they want to bring to this market that isn't already here?

Most people, myself included have a habit of pointing to Morrowind like it was the first in the series. If you
play Arena or Daggerfall you'll see fairly quick that Oblivion was more like the first two games in terms of
art direction and what people call vanilla fantasy. Morrowind/Skyrim are the exceptions, and IMHO, the standouts.

Can you see this going F2P really, really quick?

Also, I've always wanted an ES game where I can
see characters with names like "Loballz" & "Vicodin"
dancing in their skivies in front of the White Gold tower.

I'm not taking any sides on this issue. I will reserve judgment on TESO until I have actually played it myself. However I warn anyone who would discount the concerns of others with a "this is beta" dismissal. Durring the development of Star Trek Online I voiced concerns that it felt like they were going to fail to deliver what they promised concerning the Klingon faction being on equal footing with the Federation faction. I was ridiculed for that and told that "It's beta. They aren't going to show everything." Even when beta ended and they went into their head start week for those who had been a part of Beta, with no "on-par" klingon faction to be found, there were people saying, "This is head start, just an extension of beta. the Complete Klingon faction will be there when the public launch happens next week, just wait and see..."

Public launch happened. No completed Klingon faction. And the forums were in an uprorar over it, calling Cryptic liars and false advertisemant claims were bandied about... Two years later and those who want to play a complete Klingon faction are still waiting...


Now fast forward to Star Wars: The Old Republic. I was in beta for that, too. And as it got closer and closer to release and gameplay mechanics common to and pretty much a staple of MMOs in general were missing, the same argument, "This is beta. They won't show us everything. It'll be in by launch." I told them what happened with Star Trek Online and the Klingons, and that people said the same thing about it being beta. I was ridiculed again... I was like, "Wait and see." Then launch happened. Those features were still missiong, and the forums were all in an uproar about it, again with the namecalling and accusations being tossed about.

And now here I am reading someone saying "It's beta!"

Do not dismiss what I am saying. How the game is in beta is how it will be when it goes live. The systems that will be live are in place. All that will be done will be to tweak things.

A lot CAN happen in the course of a year. I'll admit that. And there is a lot of time to add new features and make changes to things. But you mark my words. when TESO goes into Open Beta, or at least when a solid release date is announced. Don't count on things to change much beyond that point...