Bethesda argues that next-gen is about more than the graphics

Fallout 4 developer Bethesda admits that its upcoming RPG could have looked better – but only at great cost to the gameplay.

Some observers have questioned the visual fidelity of the recently revealed Fallout 4, arguing that its character models in particular fall short of the standards laid down by other contemporary releases.

And speaking to GameSpot, Bethesda’s marketing boss Pete Hines has argued that some graphical prowess has been sacrificed to deliver other, less obvious goals.

Specifically, Fallout 4 will apparently deliver a kind of interactivity not seen in an RPG before, with players interact with a colossal range of in-game objects

"Everything that we do is a balance," Hines said. "We could make the best looking game possible, but we dial some of that back in order to allow for all of these other things."

In a separate story GameSpot reports that game director Todd Howard detailed some of the other respects in which Fallout 4 will excel.

"The graphics matter, they do matter in suspending your disbelief. I think with each of our games, the graphics [are] always going to move along," Howard said.

"Not just the graphics, but memory is important to us. How much memory it has. If we make a world that has, not just more details, but more dynamic details that we can keep track of and stream in and load quicker, all of that suspends your disbelief that this is a real world."