I plan on getting into game development, specifically graphics side. But heres an explanation.

Real time shadow mapping is impossible due to the way that shadow mapping is done. What basically has to happen is that you need to do some math for each and every pixel on screen. Now if you did that on the CPU you would be doing that one pixel at a time. In the case of GPUs you have things called stream processors which basically do this as well, except you can have hundreds of them. So you can end up doing a thousand pixels at a time rather than one. So if the CPU takes .001 second and the GPU stream processors are taking .001 second, the GPU will always finish the calculation first.

I'm sorry I have to disagree so much here.....Skyrim is way better looking then Oblivion. Also considering they were able to fit EVERYTHING on 1DVD is very impressive. It's install on Xbox360 is only 3.6GB and I htink the Steam version for PC is 5ish. Also about some textures looking low res and what not the game uses Dynamic Streaming Textures for realtime weather effect hence why new fallen snow sometimes looks "low res" cause HD Dynamic Texture/Particles would be an absolute mess for the CPU and GPU and for console at least damn near impossible with out killing it. Also the engine is new, yes it is similar to Gamebryo 2 but its not, this has been mentioned by the dev team many times. As for the physics they are still probably using Havock like they have in Oblivion/Fallout/New Vegas. Physic Engines are a pain to code new and if you have one thats easy to put in your engine and it works *for the most minus the infamous flying wheel barrel from touching it* theres no need to waste time or resources on making a new one or learning how to code one in to your engine. Personally I think it would had been cool if they used Agea Physx cause then they could had mad it hardware based on PC/360/PS3 instead of software. As for the lights they have Dynamic Lights and yes they are slightly messy but they also cast shadows from everything and anyone who does any kind of 3D modeling or animation can tell you have high quality shadows on EVERY Dynamic Light is a MASSIVE resource hog. Hence why there are also alot of static lights as well. Needless to say my rant is if you don't know what goes in to making a game graphics wise quit [censored]ing cause for the amount of detail Skyrim has and for its insanely small size it is simply amazing. /rant

http://www.gamedynamo.com/images/galleries/photo/1140/the-elder-scrolls-iv-v-oblivion-skyrim-image-comparison-1.jpg
http://www.gamedynamo.com/images/galleries/photo/1140/the-elder-scrolls-iv-v-oblivion-skyrim-image-comparison-4.jpg
http://www.gamedynamo.com/images/galleries/photo/1140/the-elder-scrolls-iv-v-oblivion-skyrim-image-comparison-6.jpg

The distant land/distant fog/ http://s7.postimage.org/g8la6v2fv/background.jpg, This was definitely a problem in Oblivion and also in Morrowind. The NPCs and wilderness (deers, foxes) they all look great, I don't know who drawn the undead or the wisp mother for example, they seem to be more detailed than regular living NPCs. The problem is with the close-up view of the land, especially the extremely low-poly mountains (if you climb around http://s12.postimage.org/6trib2xe5/Screen_Shot35.png) and the textures on them. As I said, they look good from a distance, but upon getting close, they don't switch on the LOD, they look like giant triangles and squares with very flat and stretched out textures like a game from 1995. In dungeons and beside certain roads, the textures and the models look okay so I know that many parts of the game world got extra detail, while other parts stayed low-detail with low poly meshes.

And I no comment on the shadows. They only seem to work right in the dungeons. Outside, they ruin the entire atmosphere, because they can have http://theplayvault.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Crysis-1-Ultra.jpg on how the world looks.

See the shadow thing on consoles at least is going to be a big issue to deal with cause you are dealing with the ProtoType of the HD2600 Pro in the Xbox360 and a modded nVidia GeForce 6800/7600 on PS3 which why they decided to use 2+ year dated hardware to begin I will never know. Shadows are EXTREMELY GPU intense and on current consoles realtime HD Dynamic Shadows are next to impossible. On PC you can load it off on to a videocard if you have a current one and or a multicore GPU. Intel was working on a standalone card that would enable Realtime Stencil Raytracing Shadows in ALL games that used Dynamic Shadows or Stencil Shadowing. They where showing a custom level on Quake IV with a boat in a Lake with Realtime RayTracing and Refractions for the water but just canned it and gave no reason as to why.

The AI I find to nto be a large problem at all. I find some of the AI executions sometimes a little stupid. For example *SPOILER FOR DARK BROTHERHOOD* when you attempt to poison the fake emporer the lady poors the soup into the air out of an empty pot.

Or when you give someone a journal and they stare at you and say "Wow, I can't beleive what I'm reading." Why couldn't they NPC at least glance at the journal? Stuff like that seems very problematic in 2011.

Ya there are some AI issues I have noticed as well. Getting stuck in walk cycles and such. Also on a couple of my chars *I have 6 >_>* when I use the forge in Riverun they are holding the ingot backwards....and the cool end is not even on the anvil lol. Kind of funny seeing them holding a white hot ingot hammering at nothing. "Why dos my hand burn so bad...and why isen't this dagger taking shape?"

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Nothing really new brought to the table.

It was sad when I had Delvin send me to Whiterun to rob a house, that was destroyed, after the stormcloak siege.

Seriously?

i agree that the game has faults/odd flaws but overall i think the graphics are amazing.im on a ps3 i have not had these unplayble issues people are talking about. i love the northern lights at night in certain areas,some of the dungeons and views in cities are excellent.
yes shadows are an issue,but really, why are u not looking at the graphics that are creating the shadow in the first place?
the graphics are way better tha oblivion and so is the AI

again the AI is not perfect but do you want it to be?i mean how hard would a dragon or dreauger deathlord be if the AI was amazingly good??its hard enough as it is!!!

although i have used the "shut the door" technique that another OP was talking about several times....i personally think its funny

the same go,s with the random bugs that u get in TES or fallout,s i find them funny and amusing not game breaking or giving me a bad expierence.when you consider all the items,quests,locations,npcs,etc etc its not really a big issue is it?

Graphics are great! In my opinion. Better than Oblivion with mods.That is saying something, because when Oblivion was first released the graphics where considered outstanding at the time. Shows how much graphics have progressed. Fallout 3 was actually better than Oblivion as well, but the improvements did stand out as much because Fallout 3 an intentionally "drab" game with all the rubble and dirt. Graphic improvements really show in Skyrim.

AI, no so much. I need to play the game more to form a complete opinion. But my initial impression is that AI is actually not quite as good as Oblivion AI (which wasn't great). Enemy NPCs always tend to stand it the same place. One example there was bandit chief I was trying to kill, If I went face to face with melee, the chief would kill my character in one shot. So hid and used a bow. Each time he was hit he'd run out to see what was shooting at him, give up and go back to exactly the same place. So I could just repeat for as many times as it took to kill him.

And, if your companion loses nearly all health, and go in the defense mods, NPCs seem to completely forget that the companion is there, and are surprised when the companion starts attacking again.

I'm not sure if this is considered AI, but I hate the way the non-hostile NPCs are scripted to talk to you every time you pass near them

Why do people complain about the water?
It looks great IMO

AI hasn't improved very much, but it has improved a little.

If you attack somebody, the NPC standing 20 feet away doesn't ignore you anymore. This was a huge problem in Oblivion. You could fireball a bandit and the bandit standing on the other side of the room would ignore you. This made it way too easy to 'divide and conquer' a dungeon. In Skyrim, enemies will come and investigate from much further away. I was pretty impressed the first time I fought bandits in the castle outside Whiterun and the bandit chief came down from upstairs to see what the commotion was.

They will also investigate if you fire arrows at them and miss. I think someone mentioned that already.

The other thing I really like is that not every creature is set on auto-attack as soon as they see you. Many of them will ignore you if you don't get too close, which is as it should be. I was surprised the first time a bandit told me not to get any closer and didn't automatically attack me.

IMO, the graphics look a bit more Fallout inspired, which is good because the people looked outright horrid in past games.

Yes. Both on my rig below will all settings set to the highest and without ini tweaks or mods.

When there's snow or fog skyrim looks better. But on a sunny day both look literally the same.

The art for characters has improved, but I vastly prefer the architectures and overworld of Oblivion. The texture quality in Skyrim is a notch down compared to Oblivion. You can just Youtube it, you don't need a high end rig to spot the differences.

Huge improvement from Oblivion, particularly the AI. Although the AI isn't groundbreaking it's still an improvement from Oblivion's "Damn Rats". Graphics are improved and breathtaking at times particulary at night with an aurora in the sky.

So i can't even [censored] mention graphics because you would think I only care about graphics? I just don't like when someone lies about their game, and ted said that game has completely new engine and is much better, but I can clearly see it's the same stuff just a little bit upgraded.

So I say what do I think about all this and wonder what different people think

Patently, factually false.

The art direction has changed. Oblivion had a bland fantasy theme. Skyrim has gone somewhere, and its alright. But up-close, most things still look terrible. The dwemer equipment I believe is the best demonstration.

The AI can still know where you are if you are detected, they are hostile, and you do not break the line of sight for long enough. Beyond that, some pathfinding issues and the fact that Barbas has pushed me one too many times..

beyond that, they have..not improved much for me. Maybe because I'm on PS3...

Also every children has the same face in skyrim, it's not just that there are no beast/elf children but all the children have the same faces! Even girls have the same faces as boys! Even fallout 3 four years ago had different faces for children

And again physics, they say it's a new engine... but if it would be a new engine I'm sure they would be able to make capes work properly.

I don't like to say that but bethesda is just lazy as hell.

Funny you should ask... or poll this question. I was comparing Skyrim to Oblivion a few days ago and my character still looks silly when she jumps LOL
Graphics are great, but that should be expected, it is 5 years later after all. That said though, Oblivion was far ahead in graphics when it was released.

AI is still as silly and repetitive as in Oblivion. The guards make the same comments over and over. There might be instances were the AI is a bit superior to Oblivion's, but over all, it still has the same feel to it.
I'm glad they added companions and marriage, but that system is far from finished. Once I marry a traveling companion, they should also have a new dialogue when we travel together, instead of just acting like a companion. I wish there were more interaction options with your husband/wife/traveling companion.

Overall, Skyrim is an amazing game. Some of the dungeons are a vast improvement over Oblivion, although entering an Oblivion gate was always wicked fun! LOL I love both games!

AI will forever svck in most games until graphical detail hits a wall where it can't really be improved anymore. Because until that happens developers will always sacrifice other uses of resources to make things look prettier. And it only gets worse as the hardware ages, for the consoles. Look at some of the really good looking games out there, like the great looking PS3 exclusives. Uncharted 3, for example. I don't own a PS3 and haven't played it, but I've seen lots of footage. The game looks great with mostly really good animations and what not, but it has probably some of the worst AI I have ever seen in a game.

I'd have enjoyed seeing this as a PC poll due to the impact the system has on this area. Essentially I think that there are different expectations between it on the PC (where this is not a modern game), and console (where the game is limited by the platform). Personally I found it to be extremely disappointing comparatively, however that's from the perspective of an expectation that it would make use of the latest innovations.

As things stand currently my question is simply, what is going to replace ES in the niche of pushing this style of PC gaming forward?

Ok, i've added different polls for pc and console, I didn't remove the first one because many people already voted