Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Announced!

[Knightshade Dragon]

Hit the front page....ooooh....*drool*

[whiteboyskim]

Thank God I'll be able to run it in its full glory.

/thanks glorious video card.

[phormio]

Well, by the time it comes out my PC probably won't be able to handle it, and it sounds like it's coming out for the Xbox 2...

'course I'll have to have it.

Curse you Bethesda!!

[Destructor]

Thank God I'll be able to run it in its full glory.

/thanks glorious video card.

No you won't. All Bethesda games require future technology to run properly.

And along that note - where the hell is there an ATI Radeon X800 XT? I wanna buy one NOW!

EDIT: From the official forums:

"It is a shot using real in-game assets. The guy on the cover is actually the "player character" who we use most often when we're playing the game right now. Obviously he has been posed by hand for purposes of the cover, but there is no graphics magic or sleight-of-hand going on. That is how his armor will look when you play the game. The same for the horse, his face, and the castle in the background - all in-game assets that are rendered in real time by our engine."

Holy mother of pearl...

[whiteboyskim]

Thank God I'll be able to run it in its full glory.

/thanks glorious video card.

No you won't. All Bethesda games require future technology to run properly.

And along that note - where the hell is there an ATI Radeon X800 XT? I wanna buy one NOW!

SHUT UP, MAN!!! I WILL TO GET TO RUN IT IN IT'S....

/curses the caps lock

I think my card will be more than capable of handling itself, thank you very much.

/eyes graphics card warily

[Jack Burton]

oooooh I hope they're putting as much effort into Fallout 3....  GO BETHESDA GO GO GO!

[EddieA]

It's coming for both XBox 2 and PS3.  I wish they'd had more than one screenshot available for their big unveiling, though.

[AgtFox]

They do...you just have to pick up Game Informer.  Kathode has said that he thinks the graphics inside the story are better than what is shown on the cover.

[Fellow]

Now they just need to put more punch into the combat-engine (and more bling-bling into magic), a little more depth to the NPCs and story, and I'll be a very happy man.

Hell, they already have horses, so that's half the battle won.

[whiteboyskim]

Now they just need to put more punch into the combat-engine (and more bling-bling into magic), a little more depth to the NPCs and story, and I'll be a very happy man.

Hell, they already have horses, so that's half the battle won.

A little bit more into the story? What story? Morrowind for all its trappings, was absolutely beautiful but was nothing without all the mods from the community. Better models, more immersive environment, better stories, all of which came from the community. Maybe it's just me but I never once got involved in the back story of the world. Oh well. I'm a whore for any shiny new game so odds are I'll play this one too.

[Fellow]

Hey, I agree with you, and hence my point. It's not for the enchanting story and in-depth, diverse characters that the players return to Morrowind. Rather, the mods that've been created for the game are the enticements.

Heck, even with the NPCs, I'd rather have a more, oh... Infinity Engine-style discussions with the NPCs, instead of the generic click-a-click spreadsheet. Create a big pool of categorized standard sentences, and let the NPCs pick from the appropriate one. Out of the two choices, I'd say that's more immersive.

Of course, the previous iterations were exactly similar in spreadsheet style, so... I suppose it's a trademark of the Elder Scrolls series.

But, that's about it, really.

(Except for a more in-depth combat system)

[EddieA]

According to the Game Informer article, the NPCs in Oblivion will all have schedules that they follow.

[naednek]

Can we ban Hetz before he gets started here?  

Just kidding

[Destructor]

Wanna see screenshots without buying the mag? Some French site has all the details:

http://www.3dchips-fr.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=75189

*scroll down*

I just have to say this - HOLY SHIT.

The very first shot, the one labeled 'This shot demonstrates the incredible forests that can be generated on the Xbox 2', is utter jawdropping.

[Driver]

Holy crap - that looks fantastic.  Glad this is coming out on Xbox 2 - I can't imagine what kind of computer upgrade this would require.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Holy crap!  Guess we know what Bethesda has been up to for the last few years...

[whiteboyskim]

I'm now very interested in what the specs are for the XBox 2. If my PC even remotely compares, I might have to grab two copies (XB2 & PC) of this just to contrast them with one another. That forest is a jaw-dropper. All the wildlife and greenery just looks amazing, and if it looks that good in a screenshot, I can't imagine how good it will look in full motion. Combine this with the technology shown in the Unreal 3 demos, and graphics of the future are going to be mind-blowing.

/returns to playing Pac-Man on cell phone

[whiteboyskim]

Can we ban Hetz before he gets started here?  

Just kidding

/submits BANNINATION request to Knightshade

[Destructor]

Thank God I'll be able to run it in its full glory.

/thanks glorious video card.

You know, Mitch, I don't think you have the graphic card required to play this game in 'fully glory' anymore.

[whiteboyskim]

From the looks of it I'm going to try, but I'll be damned if I'm going to put much more faith in it after seeing those images.

[AgtFox]

Any word on when this is coming out?  I'm betting Holiday 2005, so at least 2 cycles (probably 3) of graphics cards will have passed before it comes out.

Kind of like that Unreal 3 technology...it's not supposed to be out until 2006.

[Knightshade Dragon]

"No date has been set"

Since its for next gen consoles, they'd have to be out before the game is released...now wouldn't they?

[AgtFox]

That's true...I wasn't thinking.  Although who's to say the game won't be out for PC before consoles ala Morrowind?

[whiteboyskim]

But what of the mod community? If they make this one as easy to alter as they did Morrowind, and make it just as boring out of the box as Morrowind, I see little appeal to the XBox version personally. Other than the jaw-dropping graphics.

[Fellow]

Could've sworn I heard Winter 2005 being thrown around somewhere as the release date.

Still, with this title, it's PC all the way.