Does Skyrim really look like that? Wow that looks cool. I have never been into RPG games. They just always seemed nerdy and slow paced. Wonder if I would like Skyrim.
Skyrim doesn't look like that without a lot of mods. I've listed the major ones I use, other Skyrim shots on this page appear to be using texture mods and an ENB config with depth of field enabled, and there's a thread elsewhere on the forums from a user who has a more anime-ish look to his Skyrim through mods. There's so many different ways to mod the game that you really can customize it to suit your preferences for how you want it to look and end up with something completely unique. And, yes, at its best, with mods, Skyrim is one of the best looking games of all time.
As far as "slow paced," it's more hack-and-slashy than a traditional RPG, but there are a lot of fetch quests, it's got a lot of level grinding and the quests start to feel very familiar after a few dozen hours. Which isn't a huge knock on the game; I think it's great (as do most people judging by the accolades it received).