Oblivion 3 Days To Go Video

[Intruder]

http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloads/media_movies.htm

Today's videohighlights the spoken dialogue and lip-synching in the game.

You know the drill - Liquid

[Heretic Machine]

Big problem with the link.

[HonestIago]

http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloads/media_movies.htm

[Intruder]

Yea, got borked somehow. I fixed it though. Should work fine now.

[Deathbane27]

You can edit it yourself, even if it's on the front page.

You can see a little family resemblence between Sean Bean's character and the Emperor. :D (Spoiler withheld for those that don't recognize his voice.)

[Intruder]

Ya just saw that and fixed it, something got whacked when they posted it. I fixed it and it works now.

[Rirath]

Ya know, with /every/ NPC being this detailed and having voice... random killing is going to be a bit err... harder for me I believe. Then again, the annoying ones surely won't last long. :cool:

[notcivx]

It's awesome how almost everyone sounds the same and the lizard and tiger people and that orc thing don't have 'accents' of any kind. That really draws me into the game!

[Royal Fool]

Most of those mirrors either have really shitty queue systems or don't actually have the video up yet. Great.

[Pluvious]

This is the only link you need for any video.. QT and WM.

http://www.gametrailers.com/

[Royal Fool]

Like I said, most of those sites don't have the day 3 video up yet, including Gametrailers. :p

[notcivx]

www.hexcorps.net/tes4_countdown_3days.wmv

hexcorps to the rescue

[GoblinToe]

They all sounded pretty medicore to me, except for the priest and Jean-Luc Picard.

[Grimgrock]

It's awesome how almost everyone sounds the same and the lizard and tiger people and that orc thing don't have 'accents' of any kind. That really draws me into the game!

Just because you are Trollish doesn't mean you are required to have the accent one expects a troll to have. Much like someone from New York City doesn't necessarily have the (traditional) New York accent. As I understand it, different parts of London have their own variety of "English accents".

I lived in Texas for over 20 years and I don't have the (traditional) accent to match. Does that mean that my voice work is bad?

[Savok]

Ok, Bethesda, you don't just need to hire voice actors, that's a good start but good voice actors need good direction as well. These people most likely don't play your games, they don't know exactly what to do from the word go, they need a direction.

Also, static features, baaaaaaad. But I don't care as long as the gameplay retains the freedom.

[ezzkmo]

Does every single NPC have voicework for everything they say? And if they do, then there is either less NPCs/dialogue this time around, or they've been doing voicework for the past 39 years for this game.

[The Continental]

I'm not sure which is going to be better about the 21st. Oblivion coming out or the Oblivian hype train grinding to a halt. I've made it a point to avoid pretty much any video/shots etc. from the recent months in an effort to give the game a more fresh feeling, a venture which the interweb has done its damnedest to thwart.

[Mason]

I'm not sure which is going to be better about the 21st. Oblivion coming out or the Oblivian hype train grinding to a halt. I've made it a point to avoid pretty much any video/shots etc. from the recent months in an effort to give the game a more fresh feeling, a venture which the interweb has done its damnedest to thwart.
He says from an Oblivion thread.

[Heretic Machine]

He says from an Oblivion thread.

What, didn't you know? It's hip to do this to a high-profile game just before release.

[PixelSamurai]

Maybe I should save this for the "Oblivion in 2 days" thread, but with the level of hype surrounding this game, it is sure to dissapoint.

[Nichols]

Looks like complete and utter shit.

[The Continental]

What, didn't you know? It's hip to do this to a high-profile game just before release.

So is unquestioning fan boy devotion apparently...

You do realize I speak of Oblivion in a positive light, right? I'm just as excited about it as many of the EA readers, I just think the hype is a bit excessive.

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

Hahahahaha. Wow that was hilarious. They werent all horrible the but the black guy mainly, lmao.

Ok now that I stopped laughing, that was total crap. Looks like I wont bother listening to any of the dialogue. I hope there is an option to skip the space for the voices and just leave the text... Ive been hyped for the game a long time but that just brought me down a few notches.

~It's nice how they cant even host their own videos or at least use mirrors that dont suck. Thanks for the link Notcivx.

[Mr.Green]

Looks like complete and utter shit.
Hi, it's not that I'm a complete idiot. It's just that I need love and attention.

[Nichols]

Yes, how dare I present a dissenting opinion to the almight Bethesda! Hail Todd! I love agronians and kajiits and watching my character run around a bland generic fantasy landscape while whacking people with my sword (but not with a staff!). This is truly roleplaying at it's finest, the next-generation. Forget those old dinosaurs Fallout and Arcanum and Geneforge this is the true roleplaying game.

[Intruder]

For those who didn't play the older Elder Scrolls games, cheesy dialogue is part of the game, always has been and hopefully always will be. It is part of what makes the Elder Scrolls.

[Mr.Green]

Yes, how dare I present a dissenting opinion to the almight Bethesda! Hail Todd! I love agronians and kajiits and watching my character run around a bland generic fantasy landscape while whacking people with my sword (but not with a staff!). This is truly roleplaying at it's finest, the next-generation. Forget those old dinosaurs Fallout and Arcanum and Geneforge this is the true roleplaying game.

There is a difference between an opinion and troll vomit my friend. Saying it doesn't do much for you because you think other games have done a better job at whatever you think is missing from what you know of that game would be an opinion. Saying it's complete and utter shit is almost as stupid as me wasting time posting this.

[Intruder]

I love agronians and kajiits and watching my character run around a bland generic fantasy landscape while whacking people with my sword (but not with a staff!).

not sure if that was sarcasm or not. You do realize that Staves are in the game and are among some of the mightiest of all the weapons. They block well and can have powerful magical properties.

[johnperkins21]

Up until this video I was on the fence on whether to get GR:AW or Oblivion. I am definitely getting GR:AW now. That looks horrible.

The other videos made it look good, but I just don't think I could put up with that much bad dialog. At least in Resident Evil, it was funny. I suppose I should reserve judgement until I rent it, but still, I am very disappointed.

[Intruder]

I don't really see how it looks horrible... but okay. GRAW is a great game, but it has it glaring problems too, don't expect it to the a perfect game by any means.

You said the others videos made it look good but now after a 15 second clip it look horrible? Not sure I would jump the gun so soon.

Ask yourself these question.

Did you play Morrowind and if so did you enjoy it? If so get Oblivion.

If you didn't play morrowind, do you enjoy open ended RPG that allow you to roam freely and do pretty much whatever you like? If so get Oblivion.

Otherwise it would be a smart bet to wait and see like you plan on doing. Waiting for reviews and rentals is always a good thing if you are unsure.

However being the "rabid fanboy" that I am I will rush out and throw my cash down and love every minute of Oblivion despite and issues it may have. If I could play through Morrowind and Daggerfall multiple despite the bugs they had, Oblivion should be great.

For me Bethesda and the Elderscrolls games have always had some hype around them, but to me they have delievered as promissed most of the time.

[Genital Eclipse]

There is a difference between an opinion and troll vomit my friend. Saying it doesn't do much for you because you think other games have done a better job at whatever you think is missing from what you know of that game would be an opinion. Saying it's complete and utter shit is almost as stupid as me wasting time posting this.

Give me a break. He said it looked like shit.

That's a valid opinion. Why must one go more in-depth when it's blatantly obvious what they meant.

[IndependentGMR]

Looked and sounded ok to me. To each his own I guess.

[ezra]

I love it when people just call things 'shit' without any justification, and when they clearly don't know at all what they're talking about.

"Hi, I have no idea exactly what good voice acting is, nor am i an actor of any sort, but I play video games and post on an online forum, and I say I dont need to back up my generalized and inflammatory statement with any sort of logic! Take that!"

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

Hi, it's not that I'm a complete idiot. It's just that I need love and attention.

When trolls troll trolls, gotta love it.


I love it when people just call things 'shit' without any justification, and when they clearly don't know at all what they're talking about.

"Hi, I have no idea exactly what good voice acting is, nor am i an actor of any sort, but I play video games and post on an online forum, and I say I dont need to back up my generalized and inflammatory statement with any sort of logic! Take that!"

Anyone who thinks that voice acting is anything above "meh" must be going deaf. In game it could be better but as a preview it just makes it look like crap.

[Kefkataran]

Anyone who thinks that voice acting is anything above "meh" must be going deaf. In game it could be better but as a preview it just makes it look like crap.

I'd say the voice acting isn't that great, but I also don't think it's as utterly terrible as the overreacting trolls in this thread are making it out to be. Mediocre voice-acting in a videogame?! WHO'DA THUNK IT?! Regardless, though, how does some so-so to below-average voice acting make the game instantly into shit?

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

Regardless, though, how does some so-so to below-average voice acting make the game instantly into shit?

Well I never said anything like that, and I dont think it does. However considering there is supposedly a shit load of recorded dialogue I would hope for it to be of decent quality, which I.... guess it is. A simple greeting from each character would be good enough for me, then I can just read the rest and use my own imagination combined with a voice.

[Rendelius]

They have 50 hours of recorded dialogue. I know how hard it is to get even 30 seconds for a commercial (spoken by highly paid pros) to sound just like I want it to sound, so I will forgive them for having mediocre voice acting in the game.

Folks, don't be to harsh. For another game by another company (name not important), I was asked to calculate the costs of the german localisation. I made them an offer, in which I would have used actors form the Burgtheater and Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna/Austria, and I was able to get these folks for a fee that was substantially lower than what voice over would cost in advertising. Now, THIS would have had great voice acting - but their budget for voice acting was 1/5 of what it would have cost to do it in the way I wanted it to do.

And again, the samples from Oblivion, I think, were not that bad. I doubt they used a director for this, most likely someone from Bethesda did that job.

What I think could REALLY suck are the local versions :-)

[Xaerin]

Personally I thought that was great. If anything was a problem it's that everyone has an american accent which kind of detracts from the whole medevil theme. Other than that it was fine.
And I'm sure if it's ever a major problem for anyone there'll be an option to turn the voices off and just read the dialogue which is right there. Failing that turn down ur speakers for conversations. Simple as.

[Royal Fool]

Trolls can only be killed with acid or fire.

Anyway, after watching this preview, the voices certainly aren't that bad. I mean, heck... 50 hours of dialogue? That's insane. My main complaint isn't that they sound too bad (Although quality will obviously vary), but rather that the voices often don't seem to quite fit the characters well. But I'm prepared to overlook that.

What I think could REALLY suck are the local versions :-)

This game is a localization nightmare in all aspects. :p

[ChaosDent]

Haven't any of you played Jede Empire or Knights of the old Republic? Those have bad voices, terrible at times and in the case of Jade Empire very out of place. These oblivion samples don't look any worse than Bioware's games lately.

[Taco]

It is funny how nearly all the dissenters have only come out recently after years of heavy coverage. Nichols needs a GREEN name.

[TacRod]

It's the sequel to Morrowind. How could anyone not throw their cash after that? I hate fantasy and I think CRPGs are boring, but Morrowind sucked me in like noone's business. It still does.

What is there to hate? Substandard dialogue? That's it? Pffffft. Stop whining.

[mixuk]

Someone should try to make a proper voice synthesizer middleware for games. I am certain there would be a market for something like that.

[Mr.Green]

When trolls troll trolls, gotta love it.
I fight fire with fire... and wine. Way too much wine. http://img.chefkoch.de/img/smileys/booze.gif

[ezra]

Yeah, the problem with all this criticism of Oblivion is that its misplaced. Sure there are going to be problems with it, sure parts of it might suck, no it will not be perfect. But its still going to sell like wildfire, and I think a lot of us are going to love it. TES games are about doing a lot of things, and its the experience as a whole that matters - not individual aspects of the game.

No, the voice acting is not perfect. If this was a movie, I might care.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

The voice acting in Morrowind wasn't that great either, but it didn't really bother me. It certainly wasn't ear-grating like the voice "acting" in Sonic Adventure. Just thinking about that game gives me a headache.

Is this game going to have anywhere near the amount of literature in it that Morrowind had? Reading the books was one of my favorite parts of the game. I'd sit there in game and read for an hour or two in real time. The stories about the Orc bride assassin (or thief, whichever) were great, as were many of the others. The histories were fun to read as well.

[TheBrainKills]

Well... I thought it was good.




Did I just Troll?

[ezra]

Is this game going to have anywhere near the amount of literature in it that Morrowind had? Reading the books was one of my favorite parts of the game. I'd sit there in game and read for an hour or two in real time. The stories about the Orc bride assassin (or thief, whichever) were great, as were many of the others. The histories were fun to read as well.

Oblivion has all the books from morrowind, as well as books from previous TES games and (I think) about 100 new ones. There's a good faq on the official forums (which are down right now) that has some exact figures about that. I think its around 600 total books.

Also, there's a team diary (http://www.elderscrolls.com/codex/team_teamprof_mlampert.htm) on the main site about sound/voice acting if anyone's interested.

[Qoz]

I don't care if the speech is mildy irritating.
What really annoyed me in the past was the blend of having no speech and speech (mostly for important characters). I remember how much I loved having full speech in Gothic2 - it made the world come alive and I suddenly cared about the story and the schemes the NPCs had going . It needs to be really awful for me to like it less than no sound at all.

Just having a text-box when the villain is screaming foul language is just not good enough anymore. Reminds me of how films did excatly this when there was no sound! Lets have full speech already in all games (about time) and then slowly work towards improving quality.

[Mason]

What, didn't you know? It's hip to do this to a high-profile game just before release.
Hip, sure. But it is only smart to hate on a game before its release if everyone is totally oblivious to something that's going to suck.

Like Doom 3. Before release, everyone was convinced that its 4-man DM multiplayer was going to be totally tubular (in fact, I frequently heard that the so-so SP campaign was acceptable, as its MP was strong enough to sell the whole game!). I got to dissent on that, and was vindicated.

The people hating on Oblivion...what have they got? We all know that it'll probably suffer to some degree the same issues as Morrowind. Still, a prettier Morrowind with improved combat and skill diversification is enough to get people excited. There's no fundamental misperception to correct here: Oblivion will be the best Western RPG we've seen in a long time by default, regardless of its quality.

And for the idiots who think we should all give up and play Infinity Engine RPGs until the end of time, bite it. Oblivion getting so much attention will inevitably make it easier to get publishers to okay CRPG projects (the same way WoW launched dozens of MMORPGs). Maybe you hate everything Oblivion stands for, but the die-back among CRPGs makes TES4 an important title for any fans of the genre.

[Steele Johnson]

Got to love the web. After all these years it's still the same. Click on the link to download and watch the load icon spin. Click on another link, watch the load icon spin. Waste time looking for a server that's not experiencing a heavy load. Finally find a server with no wait time but requires a subscription.

It just amazes me how stagnant web technology is. Even after all these years. Who was it that said that the web would be like electricity someday? I remember someone said that about 15 years ago. But really, even with faster Internet connections, it still suffers from the same problems that it did 15 years ago. Web servers suck. :)

[notcivx]

www.hexcorps.net/tes4_countdown_2days.wmv

derp (might be a little slow, I dunno. But it beats waiting in line)

[TheBrainKills]

Yup ..even the 2 day combat video looks good to me. I like how the screen shakes when you get hit. Maybe next generation we will have gashes and limbs lopping off, and lots of blooood. MUhahaha.

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

The 2 day vid was great.

[TheBrainKills]

The people hating on Oblivion...what have they got?

No imagination. Really.. Elder Scrolls games will never be perfectly fleshed out huge interactive worlds. It requires an imagination to fill in the blank spots. What you put into it, is what you get out.

[Rendelius]

No imagination. Really.. Elder Scrolls games will never be perfectly fleshed out huge interactive worlds. It requires an imagination to fill in the blank spots. What you put into it, is what you get out.

Well said. And that's a part of the appeal of these games.

[Oddmaker]

Sweet! 2 days left!!

[Oddmaker]

Oh and the 2 days video, does the water look a bit crapper than it was in the old game?

[Nichols]

No imagination. Really.. Elder Scrolls games will never be perfectly fleshed out huge interactive worlds. It requires an imagination to fill in the blank spots. What you put into it, is what you get out.
No, that's not the problem. The problem is that the games are getting dumbed down more and more and the devs are just getting lazier and lazier.(Nobody uses crossbows! Let's just dump 'em! Mounted Combat? Oh that's too hard sorry! Levitation? That's for fags! et cetera et cetera). They overhype graphics over gameplay elements to attract the morons that sit and drool over half-naked elf chicks for hours and that's a goddamn slap in the to RPG fans and fans of the series.

The games are nothing more than slightly dressed up hack and slashers. Morrowind was pure combat, and I expect Oblivion to be the same and all signs point towards me being correct. Not to mention the utterly horrible linearity of the games. Oh wow, you can wander off into the bland and boring woods but you still ahve to go to point a to point b to c to x to y to x in a neverending fed ex quest. Todd Howard even said that Oblivion would be even more linear than Morrowind. Oh wow, I'm just getting so excited.

I couldn't give two shits about the voice acting. I play most of my games without sound anyway. What I DO care about is the atrocious dialogues (still using that bullshit wiki system no less) and the retarded gameplay.

All that Oblivion has going for it is the "big wide open world" and the overhyped RadiantAI. And you know what? They were all featured almost 14 years before in Ultima VII. Oblivion is the quintessential bimbo of gaming: Pretty to look at, and not much going on inside.

Oblivion will be the best Western RPG we've seen in a long time by default, regardless of its quality.
You obviously don't play a lot of RPGs.
And for the idiots who think we should all give up and play Infinity Engine RPGs until the end of time, bite it.
I hated the Infinity Engine games. They're in the same boat as TES. Shitty dialogues, stats with little affect on things outside of combat, horrible linearty. It's all there.
Oblivion getting so much attention will inevitably make it easier to get publishers to okay CRPG projects (the same way WoW launched dozens of MMORPGs).
And notice how all the WoW clones are sub-standard crap (even by MMORPG standards which mandates that all MMORPGs must inherently suck). Publishers will jsut want to dumb down RPGs more and more until they're indistinguishable from action games, Oblivion is the genesis of this.
Maybe you hate everything Oblivion stands for, but the die-back among CRPGs makes TES4 an important title for any fans of the genre.
Important in how it signals the beginning of the end.

[Zanzibar]

Haven't any of you played Jede Empire or Knights of the old Republic? Those have bad voices, terrible at times and in the case of Jade Empire very out of place. These oblivion samples don't look any worse than Bioware's games lately.

If you're calling out Bastila from KOTOR, you will soon be tasting my lightsaber.

[Nichols]

bastilla was a whiny whore and her voice matched perfectly

[absolut taco]

I looked at my CompUSA ad on saturday and it looks like they will sell the PC version for $39 and the 360 version for $45... If you want the game, get it there.

[Savok]

I couldn't give two shits about the voice acting. I play most of my games without sound anyway.
I love how you go on this "I'm so hardcore" rant and then say something like that.

[Nichols]

Why? Most games have crappy soundtracks and voice acting so I just turn them off and listen to WinAMp in the background or nothing at all. It's not that big of a deal. Sound means nothing, it's the gameplay that matters.

When I said that the game looked like shit, most people assumed I meant the graphics and sound, so I had to clarify. Is that okay with you, Dr. Nitshit?

[Kefkataran]

Nichols, I couldn't disagree more with most of what you said about Oblivion. I guess we'll see how it actually is in a few days, though.

[TheBrainKills]

Why? Most games have crappy soundtracks and voice acting so I just turn them off and listen to WinAMp in the background or nothing at all. It's not that big of a deal. Sound means nothing, it's the gameplay that matters.

When I said that the game looked like shit, most people assumed I meant the graphics and sound, so I had to clarify. Is that okay with you, Dr. Nitshit?
I beg to differ, the Ambient sounds in Morrowind really draw you in, the rain, the wind, the birds chirping, the swamp noises. But whatever, you do not like the way this action RPG has gone, so why get so worked up about it? The faults you raised in your previous rant mean little to me yet I am not a "morons that sit and drool over half-naked elf chicks for hours".

I am curious as to what is your favorite RPG though.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

I am curious as to what is your favorite RPG though.

Sudeki perhaps?

[Savok]

Why? Most games have crappy soundtracks and voice acting so I just turn them off and listen to WinAMp in the background or nothing at all. It's not that big of a deal. Sound means nothing, it's the gameplay that matters.

When I said that the game looked like shit, most people assumed I meant the graphics and sound, so I had to clarify. Is that okay with you, Dr. Nitshit?
So you're playing games getting only half the experience? You're a bigger fuckwit then I thought if you think sound is meaningless.

See this is what you people (by that I mean assholes that sit there name dropping indepentant developers while cursing out the mainstream) can't understand is that graphics and sound ARE important to games.

And what most folk mean by good graphics, is what looks good, not how many fucking shaders there are which you kneejerk elitists seem to think it is. Darwinia (name drop) is the perfect example of that. Same with sound, even the fucking NES could do amazing things with sound and that was decades ago.

[sparkfizt]

sound is quite important. With a new game I always play the ingame music and listen to the dialog. Usually with MMO's after I get a good feel for the game then i'll turn off the music and turn on my own. But I do find nichols logic train rather cool

[Oblivion voice acting sucks] -> [Therefore Oblivion sucks] ->
[oh but i dont listen to voice acting anyway...]

wouldnt this mean the voice acting quality would have 0 impact on the enjoyment nichols would have ?:P

There's a ton of hype for oblivion right now, and they've got a lot to live up to. ultimately if they can manage morrowind++ then I think most people will be very pleased with it. Oblivion is in a very very small genre it's not often we get first person rpgs of merit. Arx fatalis was actually a pretty good one, but I never completed it because important quest items werent managed well... and so I was missing a quest Item that either poofed or i dropped it in some dark corner somewhere never to be found again :P

[Nichols]

I am curious as to what is your favorite RPG though.
I have several, but my top three would be Arcanum, Prelude to Darkness, and Gearhead.
So you're playing games getting only half the experience? You're a bigger fuckwit then I thought if you think sound is meaningless.
Sound isn't meaningless. If it's nice I turn it on and I even have several game soundtracks in my library, but it's certainly not important. I love roguelikes and I play them more than any other kind of game and most have no sound. And you know what? I'm still immersed, because I don't need fancy sounds and graphics to immerse myself. Sure, nice graphics are a plus to have, but they shouldn't be at the top of the game dev's (or the gamer's for that matter) priorities.
[Oblivion voice acting sucks] -> [Therefore Oblivion sucks] ->
[oh but i dont listen to voice acting anyway...]
Are you a moron? Where did I say that Oblivion sucks because of the voice acting? I stated my reasons for disliking the game, and voice acting wasn't one of them. That said, the voice acting is sub par but it;s not big deal.

Graphics and sound do mean something, I'll give you that. But there not the end-all be-all for games. They're just a nice little extra to have alongside the gameplay.

[sparkfizt]

okay so i had to go back and re-read nichol's posts to make sure I wasnt a bleary eyed idiot this morning (happens often ^^) and I found some hilarity when I clicked on his name to view his recent posts.

obliv 3 days to go thread
Looks like complete and utter shit.

obliv 6 days to go thread
Oblivion is the antichrist of gaming

oblivion soundtrack released thread

The soundtrack blows. Typical generic Soule shit.

oblivion site updates till launch thread

this game is going to suck so bad it will cause a massive black hole of suck and will destroy the universe as we know it.

Now, he's not a raging idiot in all of his posts...
He just had armor that looked vaguely robotic.

In regards to the topic, Gearhead is probably the best game involving robots and one of the best games I've ever played. Tons of skills and every one is useful, random quests, 6 (six!) main plotlines that twist and turn, choices actually affecting the outcome of quests, tons of factions to join. Oh god it's simply amazing.

*shrug* evidence shows Nichols possesses the capability of being civil, he just chooses not to be most of the time :P

just thought i'd share :)

[but the real question is how hilarious will Nichol's ensuing explosion be? ;)]

[Savok]

Sound isn't meaningless. If it's nice I turn it on and I even have several game soundtracks in my library, but it's certainly not important. I love roguelikes and I play them more than any other kind of game and most have no sound. And you know what? I'm still immersed, because I don't need fancy sounds and graphics to immerse myself. Sure, nice graphics are a plus to have, but they shouldn't be at the top of the game dev's (or the gamer's for that matter) priorities.
I was gonna go off on this thing before about these snobs that will only play the most obscure games, but I thought that was just going too far, no one is really like that.

How wrong I was. Out of interest, you're musicial tastes, do you give up on a band once more then 3 people know about it?

[Nichols]

Oh noes, I play indie games that must mean I automatically hate every single mainstream game ever made AIIEIEIEIEI.

Don't be stupid. If something's good, I'll play it. I play Doom, I play Half-Life. Hell, I even played Guild Wars and Diablo II for a bit. It's not like I run around screaming and yelling about teh eevil corporations and how their capitalist schemes are ruining gaming and trying to subjugate teh massez under bush!!!!! If Bethesda made a quality game, I'd buy it. So far, from all the things I see, it won't be the kind of game I like (In fact, it's the complete opposite).

Playing obscure games is not being a "snob." I'm bored with the current crop of games out nowadays so I turn to the internet to find the good, and lo and behold, I find a bunch of good stuff. I don't tnink of that as being a snob, I think of it as being a gamer and finding something you like. Just because it doesn't have a big-ass publisher brand stamped on it doesn't mean it's garbage.

I don't think graphics and sound should be a big priority in games. I think gameplay should tower above all and it should stay that way. Most games seem to be tech demos nowadays for the latest 1337 sh4d3rzzzzz, and I think that's the worst direction for games to take. Sorry I can't sit back and enjoy the pretty bloom effects like you can.

[sparkfizt]

it's a fine line. A game is no good if it's just a pretty tech demo. But graphics and sound can play a very large role in affecting the mood of the player. System shock 2 and Undying are great examples of how well placed sounds can serve to really creep out the player and add a whole host of abiance. Doom3 (albeit dark) does an excellent job of portraying a decrepit martian facility falling apart all around you. Doom3 without it's nice graphics would of been decidedly less of a game because your lacking the proper environment to pull you in(provided yo do your part and suspend your disbelief). The real key for the future is getting a good 3d API, if your developing a game and can put fewer people working on the graphics and more working on creating engaging gameplay then you should end up with better games in the end. Graphics are still moving at a very quick pace and until we cant think of any great things to add to increase quality of graphics then they will continue to be a driving point of gaming.