Preview The screenshots Bethesda didn't want you to see

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Keeping in line with our Oblivion theme this morning, <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=9905">you may remember</a> a <a href="http://www.ag.ru/">Russian website</a> posting some <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/gallery.php?game=oblivion">screenshots of Oblivion</a> which <a href=http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=9913">were pulled down</a> a day later because Bethesda didn't like what they showed (funny hands and faces among other things). Well, we've got a hold of those screenshots and decided to upload them to our own <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/gallery.php?game=oblivion">Oblivion Gallery</a> where you can judge them for yourself.
<br>
<table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="10"><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/screenshot.php?file=oblivion/emperor02.jpg"><img src="http://www.rpgcodex.com/images/screenshots/oblivion/emperor02tb.jpg" border="0"></a><br />These hands are my hands.</td><td align="center"><a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/screenshot.php?file=oblivion/darkelf01.jpg"><img src="http://www.rpgcodex.com/images/screenshots/oblivion/darkelf01tb.jpg" border="0"></a><br />Ghost Elf.</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/screenshot.php?file=oblivion/scroll01.jpg"><img src="http://www.rpgcodex.com/images/screenshots/oblivion/scroll01tb.jpg" border="0"></a><br />A newspaper, in font size +1.</td></tr></table>Thanks to <b>Irwanday01</b> for those.

 

[hiciacit]

fun times are coming

 

[Fresh]

Anyone who now starts whining about OB's graphics are going to be shot and molested and stabbed.

 

[Balor]

What's to whine about, anyway?
Nice graphics, if sometimes not finetuned - well, it's a beta, logically.
*shrugs*
Has nothing to do with game being RPG (or even a somewhat good game), too.

 

[SlavemasterT]

Does anyone else think the perspective on the fence in the Ghost Elf one looks a little weird? Like it's a little too big?

 

[DarkUnderlord]

All it really shows is Bethesda were right to pull back release and opt for further development. You can see the hands and faces of everyone look absolutely bloody terrible, especially when compared to how good the rest of the world is. That said, they are asking for trouble when they demand a site pull screenshots simply because they're not flattering.

Nice graphics, if sometimes not finetuned - well, it's a beta, logically.
*shrugs*
Has nothing to do with game being RPG (or even a somewhat good game), too.

No, that's what the thread below this one dealing with the lack of any actual dialogue is about.

 

[Zomg]

Having the print newspaper juxtaposed with the faux-medieval alchemy instructions is anachrotastic.

 

[spacemoose]

My biggest complaint is about the newspaper - when they list the emperors sons, they start with a paranthesis - '(' but end with a bracket ']' This is the kind of carelessness that gets on my nerves. The graphics are fine, and since when does anyone here care about graphics?

 

[Fresh]

Where is Eitar? I dont see her in any of the screens. They must be censored.

 

[Jora]

I don't like the newspaper. The style is too modern.

Edit: the writer even sounds as if he couldn't care less about the death of the most important man in the world.

 

[Thorndyke]

I can see why they didn't want anybody to see them. It looks like the game was running with a very resource friendly configuration. I can't see any shadows, the textures are of questionable quality and if I'm not mistaken there's no AA at all. I highly doubt the finished game will look nearly as "crappy". Not on a high end system anyway.
By the way, Arcanum's newspapers looked far more convincing and immersive.

 

[Fresh]

 

[theverybigslayer]

rpgcodex = graphics whores

I can't believe it.

 

[Curois]

It look so....console-ish

 

[Balor]

DU, you should note in that post the configuration those screens were shot on:
P4 3.4 GHz, 2 Gb RAM, GeForce 6800 with 256 Mb, all seettings maximum (except for AA, so much as I recall), 1024х768х32.
They claimed it featured at least 20 FPS on average 'except for some places with unoptimised geometry'.
Indoors FPS was noticeably higher.
Yea, ini settings and whatnot... but expect that it'll look WAY worse on 'average Joe's' computer.

 

[hiciacit]

haha

 

[Section8]

Personally, I think they all look fantastic, even if they're not AAed and bloomed "to the eexxxxxxtreeeeeeeeeeeemmmmme!". Any criticisms I'd make are stylistic, or continuity related.

 

[NoisyKillerHPB]

It doesn't take that could of a computer to run something like that, HL2 looks better and I run that fine, so is stuff just really badly optimized or what? The characters look cut and pasted in and jaggy

 

[Fresh]

It doesn't take that could of a computer to run something like that, HL2 looks better and I run that fine, so is stuff just really badly optimized or what? The characters look cut and pasted in and jaggy

Great comparison!

Those two games are really similar!

 

[Sol Invictus]

He means to say that the engine sucks. He'd be right.

 

[VasikkA]

You guys are so rebel.

It seems these screenshots are the first screens of actual gameplay, not the tuned and polished press release/game show crap. I'd like to see screenshots from other aspects of the game than the usual 'looking at an orc with a shiny sword in your hand' - like dialogue, map, journal and the like. Just to see how gamepad compatible they look like.

 

[obediah]

seas and decyste - these are ill3gal1l11!l!!!!!!!!!

 

[Proweler]

So thats what Oblivion is going to look like on a crappy PC? Looks playable to me but I'll probebly invest in a better rig.

 

[Vault Dweller]

P4 3.4 with 2G RAM is a crappy PC? Since when?

 

[crpgnut]

Ok, these are really old now. Those shots were taken last fall and all they've been doing is optimising the game since then. I thought the hands were fine, except the glow from the torch made them look weird.