


The biggest items that determine sharpness beyond the usual AA and high quality shadows are the Sampling (which you should max out), the resolution (4k is best), and the setting SET MIP_LOAD_SKIP_LEVELS found in your usersettings.ini file (found in your Documents/ESO folder). Often how well a game looks is down to how well the designers portray the illusion of high definition rather than being actual high definition. Yet due to the art direction and use of post processing and vibrant color, it doesn't LOOK as bad as some games that use character models with TEN TIMES the level of detail. it actually has very low polygon models, you can plainly see corner edges all over the place: It's the difference between "hard" graphics where the textures actually look as good as they seem versus "soft" graphics where the textures are bland and low res and amplified by post processing or use illusionary depth to give detail the appearance of being modeled onto the character when it really isn't. The game scales quite well graphically whether you're on high or low textures. Disabling all of those effect manually will generally make the world look horrible. Modern games have even lower res graphics generally but they use post processing effects, which hits your graphics card hard, to make up for it and give you an entirely different atmosphere that seems sleeker and new age. The world carries a certain washed out look that won't be undone by moving to higher definition and the early MMO attempts at ultra realism tend to look worse than the newer pseudo-realism games, purely because hyper realism doesn't look all that good without ample use of post processing to give textures that real life touch. The art studio is responsible for making the game come alive and they decided to do it the same way whether it's Skyrim, ESO, Morrowind, or an older Elder Scrolls. What you're complaining about is actually the art direction.

ESO has fantastic graphics, high quality stuff from the technical aspect.
