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Best Looking Game

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 Point Man
04-21-2007, 3:14 AM
#1
Well, I finally got Oblivion tonight, and after some "catastrophic failure" messages and then a little tinkering with the settings on my DVD RAM (What does POI mean, anyway?), I was able to get it installed. I must say, this is the most beautiful game I have ever seen. I hope the rest of the game can match up to the graphics.

So what do you think is the best looking game you have ever played?
 Rogue15
04-21-2007, 3:22 AM
#2
i dunno....recently, half-life 2. i want to get Oblivion really bad...but don't know if my computer would accept it as well as it did HL2. wish i could dload a demo for it just to see.
 oldflash
04-21-2007, 5:11 AM
#3
Well, I finally got Oblivion tonight, and after some "catastrophic failure" messages and then a little tinkering with the settings on my DVD RAM (What does POI mean, anyway?), I was able to get it installed. I must say, this is the most beautiful game I have ever seen. I hope the rest of the game can match up to the graphics.

So what do you think is the best looking game you have ever played?
For me Gothic3 is the best looking game which I have played.
Few pictures from gothic3 world (http://oldflash.125mb.com/g3)
 stingerhs
04-21-2007, 9:45 AM
#4
hmm, do you mean artistically or technically?? some games aren't very attractive because the setting dictates that its not supposed to be very attractive, but they still have the technical features that makes them look fantastic graphically ("STALKER" and "Gears of War" are excellent examples).

as far as the game with the best graphics, Oblivion definitely ranks very highly on my list, but after playing Half Life 2: Lost Coast, i know that HL2: Episode 2 has potential to look much better than Oblivion (and that's saying quite a bit). overall, though, Gears of War completely blew me away with how good it looks when i played it. so, it gets my vote. ;)
 Pavlos
04-21-2007, 9:56 AM
#5
as far as the game with the best graphics, Oblivion definitely ranks very highly on my list, but after playing Half Life 2: Lost Coast, i know that HL2: Episode 2 has potential to look much better than Oblivion (and that's saying quite a bit). overall, though, Gears of War completely blew me away with how good it looks when i played it. so, it gets my vote. ;)

I think Oblivion does environments better than any game I've seen out there but the character models leave a lot to be desired. I suppose that is the sacrifice made when you add in the option for the player to model a face for themselves.
 Vaelastraz
04-21-2007, 12:36 PM
#6
Oblivion is not that bad, Gothic III has far superior graphics though.

I guess Stalker is one of the best looking games atm. But I'm sure, once Crysis is released, it will set new standarts in graphics. In DirectX 10 of course.
 NateDogg
04-21-2007, 12:39 PM
#7
Best looking game I've played recently is Phantasy Star Universe, but that's an Xbox 360 game so it's a given the graphics will be amazing. Best looking game I've played on the computer recently is Unreal Tournament it's pretty amazing for what it's about.
 Balderdash
04-21-2007, 3:31 PM
#8
Best I'm playing at the moment is Gears of War. I haven't played enough next-gen games to really call it the best, though.
 Pho3nix
04-21-2007, 4:34 PM
#9
I always thought Half-life 2 had great graphics.

I haven't played any next-gen game, hoping for kick-ass graphics in Grand Theft auto IV ;)
 stoffe
04-21-2007, 7:17 PM
#10
I'd have to put my vote on Oblivion/Shivering Isles as well, at least when it comes the the game world. The large open world can produce some very impressive views from high ground where you can see very ar. There are also many very stunning locations, in particular during sunset or sunrise with water nearby. :)

Some random tourist photos with pretty colors :)

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8606/dementiabydaynn6.th.jpg) (http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8606/dementiabydaynn6.jpg) http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/249/dementiacloudydi9.th.jpg) (http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/249/dementiacloudydi9.jpg) http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/6691/maniareflectiveuc2.th.jpg) (http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/6691/maniareflectiveuc2.jpg) http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/4733/goldensaintdg8.th.jpg) (http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/4733/goldensaintdg8.jpg)
http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/3569/maniasunsetrn3.th.jpg) (http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/3569/maniasunsetrn3.jpg) http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/6167/maniabynightbs1.th.jpg) (http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/6167/maniabynightbs1.jpg) http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2070/wgtpanorama1ab9.th.jpg) (http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2070/wgtpanorama1ab9.jpg) http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/6698/hdrobliviongatedistancecf9.th.jpg) (http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/6698/hdrobliviongatedistancecf9.jpg)

Characters are a mixed in quality. Making a good-looking head is insanely hard and time-consuming. (Makes you admire nature for getting it right so many times in real life. :)) Requires the better head texture mod though or it will look too low-res to look good. The body models look fairly believable, though perhaps a bit on the skinny side. But the animations... ugh. A clear improvement from Morrowind, but this is still one of Bethesda's weak points. The stances, poses and moves makes the body models look uglier than they really are. :)

When it comes to spell effects however Oblivion is sadly lacking compared to other games. All spells work the same, some unimpressive projectile and a little explosion and potentially some force when it impacts. Neverwinter Nights 2 is much more visually impressive in that regard even though it isn't a fully 3d world without any real physics. Bloodlines have some rather good-looking and varied spell/discipline effects as well.
 Rabish Bini
04-22-2007, 12:59 AM
#11
For some reason, I reckon Doom 3. Great game too.
 Commander Obi-Wan
04-25-2007, 6:59 PM
#12
Well, from what I've played I would say.... Knights of the Old Republic. Well, at least when you play on the Unknown planet and there is a ledge you can go on and look off of and see the Ebon Hawk and the ships in the ocean. Also, when you are in the temple and you just see the mountains. That's a view. :)
 mimartin
04-26-2007, 3:33 PM
#13
My vote would go with Oblivion first and foremost. I was blown away the first time I played KOTOR , but it is stick figures when compared to Oblivion.

I sometimes run around Cyrodiil just for the views. I just wished the weather was clear more often. It seems to be raining every time I’m in Leyawiin and snowing when I’m at Frostcrag Spire or Dive Rock. There are very magnificent views from both on one of the few clear days around Cyrodiil.

I’m hoping Mass Effect is another leap forward.


Beautiful screen shots Stoffe.
 Rogue15
04-26-2007, 6:06 PM
#14
damn it.....i MUST HAVE OBLIVION!!!!!!!!!!!! why is it still $50.....:( wish my ****ing car didn't break down!!!!!!!!!! ugh. morrowind is nice looking too. :)
 Sabretooth
04-29-2007, 5:21 AM
#15
Hmm... A lot of games starting to look good recently... I'd wager that my Half-Life 2 looks and plays decently on my system. It works with all the settings cranked up to highest except anti-aliasing and only goes slow at the start of each level, otherwise it's great.

I recently got Call of Duty 2 as well and while its graphics aren't mind-blowing, they're great till now. I really like the Egypt levels - that is good graphic and level design.

Like Rogue, I wish I had Oblivion, but it will murder my system. :D
 Lord Spitfire
04-29-2007, 8:14 AM
#16
Well, KotOR.

Now, even though the graphics are good, compared to games like Gothic III and Oblivion KotOR is horrible, it's the artwork that makes it so great . . . as Commander Obi-Wan said.
 Ztalker
04-29-2007, 8:52 AM
#17
The Legend of Zelda; The Windwaker.

Like Lord Spitfire pointed out, sometimes the artwork is so beautifull that you don't even look at the 'real' graphics anymore. Zelda did a similar thing to me. :)
 Jeff
04-29-2007, 10:35 AM
#18
Oblivion and then Gears of War though I don't have either of them. Eventually I'd like to get Oblivion now that my PC can run it and when I get a 360 I'll get GoW.
 Sabretooth
04-29-2007, 11:23 AM
#19
Eventually I'd like to get Oblivion now that my PC can run it and when I get a 360 I'll get GoW.

They are porting GoW to the PC. :)
 Commander Obi-Wan
04-29-2007, 1:24 PM
#20
Oblivion and then Gears of War though I don't have either of them. Eventually I'd like to get Oblivion now that my PC can run it and when I get a 360 I'll get GoW.

Luckily enough for me, I'll probably be getting both of them for my Xbox 360 soon. Though, I'm torn between which one I want first. Plus, I'd have get them both for 360 since my PC wouldn't be able to meet the requirements of either of those games.
 Jeff
04-29-2007, 8:04 PM
#21
They are porting GoW to the PC. :)I'd probably still rather have it for 360. I'm definitely getting one eventually.
 Cygnus Q'ol
05-11-2007, 8:01 AM
#22
PGR and NFS Carbon are visually stunning at high speeds.

Old New York in the 40's is detailed brilliantly in Godfather.

The realism and lighting/shadows are absolutely fantasic in 2K7 baseball.

The snowy enviroments in Lost Planet seemed to come alive.

Gears is, well Gears is just plain awesome.

The graphics in Fight Night3 are so good, my face hurts after each fight.

Of course, these are all played on 360 at 1080p.



Madden sucked
NBA Live sucked
Spiderman3 sucked
Over G sucked
Virtual Tennis3 had decent visuals, but sucked

I really do hope Mass Effect lives up to the hype. It looks very intriging.
 Commander Obi-Wan
05-12-2007, 12:43 AM
#23
Yeah, Gears of War has some outstanding visuals to see when you are playing. Though, it's not 'pretty' in the way that Morrowind, Oblivion, KotOR, etc. would be, but in the aspect of architecture of the buildings and the areas that you play in. It also helps when you have a TV that helps enhance that graphics of the game. :p
 zinervadonella
06-01-2007, 2:45 AM
#24
Prettiest game world would have to be Oblivion, but it's boring visual effects, substandard character textures and poor animations leave the overall game wanting.

VtM:Bloodlines is a visually stunning game with great gameplay that suffers from activision's unrealistic min and rec specs. The game does not look or perform well even on a rig meeting the rec specs. Throw enough machine at it though, and it may still be the best looking SOURCE game made, at least until HL2: Episode 2 is released.

NWN2's official campaign stinks, but the visual effects in this game are stunning.

Jade Empire SE for the PC. While the graphics themselves may not be the best out there, the better textures help a lot though, I just love the way this game looks. The character animations are superb in my opinion, probably because they were motion captured. The visual effect are a bit substandard though, being not much better than Oblivion's.
 Rabish Bini
06-02-2007, 6:10 AM
#25
I changed my mind about my post. The best looking game is Super Mario Kart for the SNES. Awesome graphics for 1992. I'm still playin it! :)
 Dagobahn Eagle
06-02-2007, 7:30 AM
#26
Ground Control by Massive Entertainment. Hands down. Music, effects, everything. Nothing beats the screenshots you can pull out of that game.
 Killwithhonor
06-03-2007, 6:55 PM
#27
Oblivion looks very good and has awesome landscapes but the only things that bother me is that it can get chopper when going through the forest more often then not, tho i have put down the game for quite some time because i got really tired of the whole gates of doom, there was just way too many so i've recently picked it back up to start side questing
 Sabretooth
06-04-2007, 12:49 AM
#28
I just got Half Life 2: Episode 1 from a friend (crap small game isn't worth buying) and it's got awesome graphics. The textures and expressions are improved as they are, but the HDR really adds the finishing touch. And it actually runs much better than Half-Life, on my pensioning system.
 Arбtoeldar
06-04-2007, 6:26 PM
#29
Well, I finally got Oblivion tonight, and after some "catastrophic failure" messages and then a little tinkering with the settings on my DVD RAM (What does POI mean, anyway?), I was able to get it installed. I must say, this is the most beautiful game I have ever seen. I hope the rest of the game can match up to the graphics.

So what do you think is the best looking game you have ever played?


Just FYI Since you are using an older almost ancient optical device (DVD-RAM). It is the way the optical device communicates with the motherboard-CPU. How it communicates depends on which is the older technology.

First there was PIO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmed_input/output)

Then there was DMA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_memory_access)

Next came UDMA all of which are a part of the older Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT_Attachment) standard.

Now computers are using Serial ATA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA)
 Balderdash
06-06-2007, 10:22 AM
#30
Stoffe - were you on top of the imperial palace tower in the penultimate screenshot? If so, how do you get up there?
 stoffe
06-06-2007, 11:52 AM
#31
Stoffe - were you on top of the imperial palace tower in the penultimate screenshot? If so, how do you get up there?

You can't normally get up there, so I made a quick mod that made the top solid and allowed you to access it via a teleporter inside the palace. The view is pretty nice from up there of the surrounding lands. On a clear day you can see all the other towns except Anvil from there. :)
 HerbieZ
06-06-2007, 3:05 PM
#32
I have been playing that gam a fair bit recently although my pc is showing it's time, the graphics ain't half as good as stoffe's on my pc. Still it's a game i can keep coming back to. My favourite view is south east of Lake Canulus on a mountain side looking towards the Imperial City .
 Balderdash
06-07-2007, 4:54 AM
#33
I've got it on the 360 so the graphics are quite a bit better than Stoffe's screenies (better still if we had a giant TV), but I can't use any PC mods obviously. I've never been really big on doing the whole modding thing myself though, so it's a fair trade-off, and although it would be nice to use other people's, it's not like there's any shortage of regular game content. :)

Oblivion looks very good and has awesome landscapes but the only things that bother me is that it can get chopper when going through the forest more often then not, tho i have put down the game for quite some time because i got really tired of the whole gates of doom, there was just way too many so i've recently picked it back up to start side questing
You don't have to close them all!! Just the Kvatch one and as many of the 'Allies for Bruma' quest gates as you think you'll need allies for when you close the final great gate (outside Bruma)... that quest is completely optional, it just makes the end of the main quest a bit easier. The other gates that open everywhere after Kvatch you don't have to bother with at all. Even if you close them they'll eventually open up again anyway.
 lukeiamyourdad
06-07-2007, 5:43 PM
#34
I agree that Oblivion really doesn't look that great. The art design is good, but the facial textures...ugh...Animations are also lacking (I'd love to actually go down some stairs without jumping down from the top) and effects are also quite ugly. People were complaining about how Force Lightning was ugly in KotOR, well lightning isn't much prettier in Oblivion. Physics are a bit screwed up too.

I'm putting money on Crysis for being the most beautiful game. It'll make my computer cry, but still, looks really good.
 stoffe
06-07-2007, 6:04 PM
#35
I've got it on the 360 so the graphics are quite a bit better than Stoffe's screenies (better still if we had a giant TV), but I can't use any PC mods obviously.

My computer can't handle running the game with all the graphics settings at max without things getting choppy in certain places in the game. Doesn't bother me that much though, even if eye candy does play a significant part in playing Oblivion/SI. :)

As for mods I guess it's a matter of taste. I consider both Morrowind and Oblivion pretty much unplayable without some essential mods installed that replaces ugly textures and models, fixes the character appearances, fixes various annoyances, corrects bugs and expands on things.


The other gates that open everywhere you don't have to bother with at all. Even if you close them they'll eventually open up again anyway.

Hmm, are you sure they re-open? In my current game I've closed 56 Gates and I've run out of gates to close. I've looked all over the place and the only active Oblivion Gate I can find is the one that leads to the Shivering Isles.

Perhaps they will re-open and more appear if I progress further in the main quest?


I agree that Oblivion really doesn't look that great. The art design is good, but the facial textures...ugh...Animations are also lacking (I'd love to actually go down some stairs without jumping down from the top) and effects are also quite ugly.

I agree about that. The environments in Oblivion are quite stunning, but character models, spells and visual effects leave a lot to be desired. The same was pretty much true for Morrowind so I guess that's a "feature" of the Elder Scrolls series. :)
 lukeiamyourdad
06-08-2007, 12:02 AM
#36
Hmm, are you sure they re-open? In my current game I've closed 56 Gates and I've run out of gates to close. I've looked all over the place and the only active Oblivion Gate I can find is the one that leads to the Shivering Isles.

Heavens, how much time did it take you to close all those gates o_O?

I got bored after the Allies for Bruma ones...
 oldflash
06-08-2007, 3:03 AM
#37
Is any of you saw Two Worlds (http://pc.ign.com/articles/783/783203p1.html)?) I must admit, it's better looking than gothic and oblivion. Much better.
...few pic... (oldflash.125mb.com/2w/)
 Balderdash
06-08-2007, 3:20 PM
#38
Hmm, are you sure they re-open? In my current game I've closed 56 Gates and I've run out of gates to close. I've looked all over the place and the only active Oblivion Gate I can find is the one that leads to the Shivering Isles.

Perhaps they will re-open and more appear if I progress further in the main quest?
According to the game guide, the further you get through the main quest, the more chance you have of re-opening gates. I've never looked into it myself. They all close permanently at the end of the main quest though.
 mimartin
06-08-2007, 4:59 PM
#39
Perhaps they will re-open and more appear if I progress further in the main quest?

I’m playing on the 360 so I do not know if the PC version is different, but I believe the re-opening of the gates is tied to level system. My first play through the gates would open back up almost before I closed the last one. That was before I followed Stoffe advice from another thread on how to set up my character (thanks for the sharing your wonderful advice by the way). Some gates like the Kvatch gate or Allies for Bruma gates do not reopen. I’m also pretty sure the gate outside Fort Such does not reopen (because it involve a little side quest).

Since setting up my characters the way Stoffe suggested I haven’t notice the gates reopening. This is why I believe it must be tied into the level system.

On my first play through I closed 35 gates (I thought that was the object of the entire game), before discovering the joys of enchanting items with soul gems those sigil stones were really handy and powerful towards the end of the main quest. Never had the patients to close anywhere near 56 gates.
 Gargoyle King
06-08-2007, 5:08 PM
#40
 RedHawke
06-09-2007, 12:32 AM
#41
Total Annihilation... of course I'm just partial to heavy gatling artillery! :xp:

The Unknown World in KotOR is quite good as well. Oblivion is pretty but that is about all it is sadly (Stoffe's house was the best part ;)).
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