ESO Is Too Bland

SanderBuraas

The game is beautiful, indeed, but the colour scheme is often very bland and turns the game very dull to look at. If we have a look at one of latest popular games, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, one of the parts that attract many people are the beautiful skies and vibrant colours you find in the game. People tend to stop simply to have a look at the landscape or an astonishing sundown, which is what we want this game to do as well. I realize that the one game is singleplayer and the other is an mmorpg, but the art and graphics of games are not limited the same way that game mechanics are.

I took a screenshot of a sundown, located at Northpoint in Rivenspire. I decided to do a quick edit to illustrate just how pale the game is in comparison. The edit is similar to what you would find in The Witcher 3, with vibrant and contrasting colours that make for a beautiful view.




Would it not be incredible if the game had colours similar to what is shown to the second picture? I am sure people would be more impressed with the appearance of the game. What is currently lacking, in my opinion, is vibrance and contrast. If this was to be improved upon, the game would be much more visually appealing.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

It's not bland...it's natural.

Bromburak

It depends how much skooma you take.

MCMancub

I, for one, am glad we don't have unrealistic color saturation everywhere.

lathbury

The elder scrolls series is well known for its more gritty tones. Its why there was a furore when the dye system was announced.

Nice job with the pictures though.

I personally prefer the duller tones but obv its down to personal preference.

Sausage

Greyness sells, CoD, Battlefield, Skyrim are proofs of that. If they want to get rid off the blandness, add fatalities. Only color I want to see is a color of blood.

Gandrhulf_Harbard

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

It's not bland...it's natural.

Yeah, because none of us have ever seen a red sunset, right?

Oh, wait....

All The Best

Endless-Shogun

This is a repeated art style in Elder Scroll Games.
The story, the lore, and thus the games themselves are more dark-oriented.
This is a not a happy story, but has a happy ending.
We've started every game a prisoner for gods sake.

MCMancub

Endless-Shogun wrote: »

This is a repeated art style in Elder Scroll Games.
The story, the lore, and thus the games themselves are more dark-oriented.
This is a not a happy story, but has a happy ending.
We've started every game a prisoner for gods sake.

If I understand OP correctly, there should still be sunshine coming out of my butt, though.

flintstone

I don't care for either picture, one looks like 50's black and white.......and the other looks like a cartoon......sort of. My game doesn't look like either picture..........it looks pretty nice, not the best, but very good.

SanderBuraas

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

It's not bland...it's natural.

By natural, you mean similar to real life? If I look outside I see many vibrant and contrasing colours. Just because the atmosphere is dark and gloomy, does not mean we can't have vibrancy in many parts of the game, especially the skies.

Did you see the first picture? Looks like it was edited to be dull, but it is not. The edited picture is just an example - but my point is that the colours need to be amped up. Even in the lush forests of Aldmeri Dominion, the green colours are very bland.

lathbury wrote: »

The elder scrolls series is well known for its more gritty tones. Its why there was a furore when the dye system was announced.

Nice job with the pictures though.

I personally prefer the duller tones but obv its down to personal preference.

Actually, if you do a quick google search on Oblivion landscape, you see many beautiful vibrant colours that totally fit the game.

LadyDestiny

Rivenspire is suppose to be gray and drab. It's full of vampires......:D

Lord_Draevan

Bromburak wrote: »

It depends how much skooma you take.

lathbury

Smepic wrote: »

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

It's not bland...it's natural.

By natural, you mean similar to real life? If I look outside I see many vibrant and contrasing colours. Just because the atmosphere is dark and gloomy, does not mean we can't have vibrancy in many parts of the game, especially the skies.

Did you see the first picture? Looks like it was edited to be dull, but it is not. The edited picture is just an example - but my point is that the colours need to be amped up. Even in the lush forests of Aldmeri Dominion, the green colours are very bland.

lathbury wrote: »

The elder scrolls series is well known for its more gritty tones. Its why there was a furore when the dye system was announced.

Nice job with the pictures though.

I personally prefer the duller tones but obv its down to personal preference.

Actually, if you do a quick google search on Oblivion landscape, you see many beautiful vibrant colours that totally fit the game.

played oblivion dont remember it being that vibrant


but maybe as someone else suggested the gaming industry as a whole seemed to go with more dulled tones over the last few years. Notably Skyrim and it seems as if ESO is continuing along those lines.

Lord Xanhorn

Wasnt there a mod or something that made the colors more vibrant? Search Tamriel Foundry cause I think something like this already exists.

Kazzy56

PS4 EU

Doesn't look like that grey pic nor like that rather over bright one in my game. Perhaps the different graphics cards make a difference too? (For PC users). PS4 looks very good I think.

Have a good Tamriel day all.

Gidorick

I dunno.... I think ESO is quite beautiful.

GreySix

Bland color sells.

Look at the Fallout games.

FancyTuna8

My game doesn't look like your top pic on xbox. It doesn't quite have the color of the second, though. I do think games have gone a little too drab the last 5 years, but developers are still in their adolescence a bit; they have swung the pendulum from Nintendo colors
Maybe they could make it so you drink skooma in the game and the color palette goes wild. in the options menu, there could be a slider for "what the world looks like on skooma"

JD2013

I wouldn't consider this bland.

Sentinel

Hey, I'd recommend turning your gamma adjustment settings down quite a bit. It's a personal option in the system that can have drastic changes in how lighting and colors appear in the world. I personally prefer it at its lowest option.

Heres an example screenshot:


A side effect of gamma adjustment is also a bit more prominent colors. Try it out, see if you like it (Doesnt require ZOS to do anything atm to enable this option, though I would always be happy for world color improvements).

You can also use Sweet FX to improve colors (an addon).

greymittens

I don't know if I would use bland to describe it either, however, I do find that there is constantly a haze or a fog outside. I don't quite understand that. Is it only on the ps4 version? Was it done to reduce draw distance? I'd like to see a crystal clear day sometimes

FoolWitDaSnoW

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

It's not bland...it's natural.

Yeah, because none of us have ever seen a red sunset, right?

Oh, wait....

All The Best

Why do you even play the game? I've seen you on about 7 threads today, all negative.

SanderBuraas

Gidorick wrote: »

I dunno.... I think ESO is quite beautiful.

As I stated, the game is indeed pretty. I also have many screenshots that are very nice.



But I also have a lot of pictures with the reoccuring issue - grey and dull skies. The landscape itself is often very nice, but a boring background will really lessen the appeal.



A little more colour and it instantly becomes more beautiful.