I was thinking, Skyrim would still be awesome even if it had last gen graphics (but the exact same gameplay).

I think Bethesda (the publisher) could do very well for itself making (outsourcing) a portable port for the 3DS (with lots of 2D sprites and low poly models).

I think that would be awesome. The system can have 4gb game cards, so why not?

I'd love something like that to play on the bus.

Heck, they could make a game about a small island off tamriel or something, just to tie it all in, be wicked!

Doesn't it?

Umm...It already has last gen graphics. Only with mods the graphics become close to this gen, but still only DX9.

Edit: If the game looked like Oblivion...I think I would still play it. And mod it to look better. Gameplay is still more important than graphics.

You bet. I think Oblivion looks great.

To the OP: the graphics are last gen. Fortunately, the game world design is beautiful.

Last gen would be Morrowind, not Oblivion. Oblivion is on the same gaming machine as Skyrim so they are the same generation. Vanilla Morrowind's graphic is quite dated so most people would be turned off after playing Skyrim.

Skyrim on a mid-high PC now should be the same as the next gen consoles coming out in the next 2-5 years.

No, MW is not last gen. MW used DX8 which is stone age by now. Oblivion is last gen technology and Skyrim graphics, unfortunately, hasn't changed that much. The sad thing is that Skyrim doesn't have godrays and other DX9 shaders that just about every current games have.

Shadow of the Colossus is still the best looking game I've ever seen, and the HD remake is even better. The beauty is in the art not the pixel count.


Oblivion looks like hot trash, it's over saturation is just so unappealing.

Skyrim is a "last-gen" game.

The really really sad thing is that there are people out there that think Skyrim's graphics aren't last gen. Industry hype has worked well on people. Just because the PS3/xbox you bought last month was new don't mean it's technology is. For proof of that look at 2007'sPC game Crysis and ask yourself why the consoles have last gen graphics compared to that 5 year old game. If you still think Skyrim is current generation graphics you must be blind.

Gameplay is more important than graphics, but Oblivion/Morrowind style graphics are just too awful for me. I operate on two extremes. Either it's good 3D (Skyrim, Fallout 3/NV..) or it's in 2D (preferably isometric).


If Skyrim was in isometric 2D, hell yeah I would play it.

Exactly. That's why I said above about Skyrim having last gen graphics but the game world design as a whole is the best so far in TES.

Yet Wind Waker still looks great.

The graphical difference between Oblivion and Fallout 3/Skyrim isn't very big. Skyrim uses the same sort of technology with some additions that honestly don't look as good as they ought to by now. Skyrim even has some limitations Morrowind didn't have, which is why I could decorate my house in Morrowind with enough lights to look like a disco.

Gamers these days have an odd obsession with the tools used to create their games rather than the design of the games. Sometimes the dungeons in Skyrim look worse than parts of the dungeons in Daggerfall. It's all in the design, since obviously Daggerfall is very limited on the technical side.

And yes, I play Daggerfall. I'm more interested in game design than graphics most of the time. My favourite additions in Skyrim are the things that make the world more interesting to play in, like the rivers and waterfalls, more ingredients, etc.

It's mostly about the textures, not the meshes. Oblivion had very bright, cartoonish textures and peoples' faces were just science awful while Fallout 3 had much more polished, realistic textures even if the meshes themselves had seen little improvement (since there was no need).

Are you guys living in the future and playing on your x720? Hello, this is the year 2012 and we are on the seventh generation of consoles, wii, xbox360 and ps3.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles_(seventh_generation)

PS: please provide next week's lottery numbers.

no. looks like they are playing battlefield 3 and uncharted 3 like me, wich looks like a 8th gen games, imagine if skyrim looked like uncharted...

I have to say the faces and the body's in oblivion were awful if skyrim had last gen graphics i probably wouldn't have bought it I mean I tried to go back to oblivion for the magic system and I just could not deal with the graphics

Not if it was on the 3DS I wouldn't....

Would it count if someone threw a 256 color shader on top of the graphics and reduced resolution to 1280 x 800?

Skyrim's graphics are last gen. You know the consoles are outdated right? Call me an elitist, but it's reality. Do you think the PS3 or 360 can run current generation graphics? They can't. Crysis came out 12 months after the ps3 did. Name one game on the PS3 that looks as good as Crysis does. There are none because a year after the PS3 came out graphics on the PC were already capable of so much more than a PS3 could ever hope to do. PC has had DX10 come and go and now we are on DX11. The consoles can't run what is current. Current gen graphics are far past what current gen consoles can do. Just cause you buy a console now don't mean it is current. Them things were outdated compared to PC's the day they launched.

Or wait are you trying to say the phrase "current gen graphics" should only apply to the consoles and we should just ignore the graphics found on the PC? If so then you may have a point, but it would be like living in denial.

I play in 480p when I'm capturing gameplay on my Avermedia - and it's still a looker. That said, the 360 has more than just better screen resolution than the XBOX.

I'm still playing Morrowind. I care little for graphics. Besides, I actually think Skyrim looks quite pretty overall, even more so in dwemer dungeons where you got statues and awesome shadows etc.

Skyrim is a great game. But if Skyrim had last generation graphics I think the story would be better.

If it was a better game, yes.