Why do people hate Oblivion so much?

[Desiderius]

I didn't play Oblivion at launch and since I am the sort that would be spending hours prior picking through mods for any of these games regardless, I'd rather do it for the one that benefits from it most.

I guess that explains it. Most people who hate Oblivion hate it, because they compare it to Morrowind. If Oblivion would be your first game (even on the release day), then without any frame of reference it is probably not that bad of an experience. And if you play it modded... Well, it would probably come to you as a surprise that some people may "hate Oblivion so much".

Oblivion was my first TES game. Well, I lasted for about 15 hours in Arena before regretting the purchase.

Loved Oblivion until I hated it.

Played Morrowind later and had a more even experience. Slow start but had more staying power, never great.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Oblivion starts with a dungeon, Morrowind with bureaucracy

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

 

[Losus4]

Unlike Skyrim, Oblivion can be fun with some essential mods.

Skyrim is a hiking + slot machine simulator hybrid. No amount of mods can change this fundamental aspect of its design and it is delusional to think otherwise.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Wow, someone (Modron? You can run on the dex but you can never hide) broke the record for the most retard/virgin queen/undisputed queen of faggottry/etc tags on codex! Poor Ash has been dethroned.

Regards Elder Scrolls IV; it was okay with the right mods that tried to fix a bland game. Problem was that the mods made it go from bland to broken. Remember the unofficial community patch that broke a main quest, or the texture packs that caused CTDs at the exact moment you hit 4GB? That was fun.

 

[The Jester]

Unlike Skyrim, Oblivion can be fun with some essential mods.

Skyrim is a hiking + slot machine simulator hybrid. No amount of mods can change this fundamental aspect of its design and it is delusional to think otherwise.

Yeah, I think we've all experienced spending hours modding Skyrim, only to get bored after 30 minutes of playing it.

 

[ds]

Regards Elder Scrolls IV; it was okay with the right mods that tried to fix a bland game. Problem was that the mods made it go from bland to broken. Remember the unofficial community patch that broke a main quest, or the texture packs that caused CTDs at the exact moment you hit 4GB? That were fun.

Just pile on some more mods until it works again. As for the main quest in Oblivion, that's just something to do when you get bored with everything else and want to sign off - no big loss if it gets broken.

 

[goregasm]

I sort of split scrolls games into two phases (could/should be more)

The "classics" 1&2 and the new 3-5, because outside of some "lore" threads they are fundamentally different games.

Oblivion is my least favorite in the 3-5 range, by a mile. It had some interesting aspects, even had some fun aspects-which were almost always things from previous entries-but ultimately the desire to go with full VA pulled me out of the experience, as well as level scaling, basically all of the criticisms people hurl at it are well founded- from it's setting to it's copy pasted ayelid ruins.

Is it the worst piece of trash I have ever played? No. Is it an ES game I look to go back to? No. Did I absolutely hate playing it? Nah. Was it a side/downgrade from previous entries? Yep.

I think also as others have said, your first ES game is typically the one that you enjoy the most, if you enjoy them at all.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Wanted to mention something I saw posted here earlier. The dungeons (other than the Gates) in Oblivion were frequently massive and actually interesting to explore, especially some of the Ayleid ruins. It's one of the most vivid things I remember about the game. Some clever mods introducing news areas would allow you to teleport to ruins that were deep underground, sometimes beneath lakes, pitch dark and not accessible anymore from the surface. From what I remember of Skyrim, yes, many of the dungeons were straight and single level, except frot the main quest ones. So, yeah, exploration was a strong point of Elder Scrolls IV IIRC.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

In all seriousness, I have played and modded each TES extensively and with the right mods, Oblivion is the best of the lot.

This is a sentiment several people have expressed on here, and every time I have to ask which mods. I've played around with a lot of rebalance and tweak mods and while it is possible to get the combat half-decent, nothing ever seems to overcome the problem of the empty samey dungeons, which is the biggest problem for me.

I never played a modded version of TES: Arena. I liked slogging through this one but there is a certain point I just bum rush the main quests. TBH, I don't even recall side quests. There was a radio show that used the "Level Up" sound bit in their show. It might have been that horrid Dr Laura radio show or maybe it was Kim Komando. I want to say it was Kim as that'd make more sense. You catch gaming soundclips used on radio and TV a lot.

 

[goregasm]

Wanted to mention something I saw posted here earlier. The dungeons (other than the Gates) in Oblivion were frequently massive and actually interesting to explore, especially some of the Ayleid ruins. It's one of the most vivid things I remember about the game. Some clever mods introducing news areas would allow you to teleport to ruins that were deep underground, sometimes beneath lakes, pitch dark and not accessible anymore from the surface. From what I remember of Skyrim, yes, many of the dungeons were straight and single level, except frot the main quest ones. So, yeah, exploration was a strong point of Elder Scrolls IV IIRC.

I feel like Oblivion and Skyrim both have rather repetitive dungeons, I think Skyrim went full retard with the "QOL" shit, with literally every dungeon having a shortcut/loop back to entrance, Oblivion definitely did some cooler things like some paths being "fuck you" dead ends.

Unfortunately both suffer from a bit too much same-ness in it's unending use of dragur and ayelid ruins over and over so much so, that you ultimately run into nearly identical ones with nearly identical puzzles to deal with.

Very over saturated there, and I think morrowind, personally, had more variety in types and layouts of dungeons, some just existed as bad guy hideouts, slaver coves, vampires, necromancers, smugglers etc, it at least felt more varied to me in fights, layouts etc.

It wasn't all, turn the pillars like Skyrim or get the Ayelid crystal mcguffin like Oblivion I suppose.

I think personally I would have enjoyed them more if there were fewer, meatier, versions of them, being more akin to days long journeys rather than an afternoon jaunt.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Wanted to mention something I saw posted here earlier. The dungeons (other than the Gates) in Oblivion were frequently massive and actually interesting to explore, especially some of the Ayleid ruins. It's one of the most vivid things I remember about the game. Some clever mods introducing news areas would allow you to teleport to ruins that were deep underground, sometimes beneath lakes, pitch dark and not accessible anymore from the surface. From what I remember of Skyrim, yes, many of the dungeons were straight and single level, except frot the main quest ones. So, yeah, exploration was a strong point of Elder Scrolls IV IIRC.

I feel like Oblivion and Skyrim both have rather repetitive dungeons, I think Skyrim went full retard with the "QOL" shit, with literally every dungeon having a shortcut/loop back to entrance, Oblivion definitely did some cooler things like some paths being "fuck you" dead ends.

Unfortunately both suffer from a bit too much same-ness in it's unending use of dragur and ayelid ruins over and over so much so, that you ultimately run into nearly identical ones with nearly identical puzzles to deal with.

It might have been mods that made the dungeons in Oblivion less "samey" for me. There was one where I was attacked by an enormous mob of fast-moving pygmy undead about 2' high. Wasn't expecting that but thought at the time, "Wow. This is, um, different." Last time I played Oblivion (modded) was about 15 years ago. I wanted to complete Shivering Isles but one of the big mods I was using (OOO?) caused the game to randomly crash every few minutes, especially during large battles. Never looked back though I've been tempted to give Nehrim: At Fate's Edge a go.

 

[goregasm]

Never actually played Oblivion modded, don't own it on pc, played on xbox at release. Been many years since, so yeah, I get it being perhaps a bit murky.

I just distinctly recall it being meh with those ruins in particular, and pretty cool in other areas, zombies were cool looking (for the day), actively blocking with a shield was great, had some fairly decent designs of architecture/armor/weapons, again wouldn't say I hated it, I enjoyed it mostly, but the disappointment with it in many areas, especially in things scaled back from previous entries, stood out more than in Morrowind or even Skyrim for me, I guess.

 

[Losus4]

Very over saturated there, and I think morrowind, personally, had more variety in types and layouts of dungeons, some just existed as bad guy hideouts, slaver coves, vampires, necromancers, smugglers etc, it at least felt more varied to me in fights, layouts etc.

Morrowind dungeons were more like actual places that are only considered "dungeons" because of their arbitrary underground location. Take the Kwama mines for example... most egg-mines in Morrowind served no function whatsoever, but that's the point... the egg-mines weren't there for the players amusement, they weren't there to reward you with a big pile of loot once you'd wacked enough moles, they were there so the people of Vvardenfell had a food source. That was their purpose and it made Morrowind feel like a real place.

 

[Cohesion]

Daggerfall > Morrowind > Skyrim > Oblivion.
I didn't play Arena much.

 

[boot]

Vanilla Oblivion is retarded. Never bothered to mod it.

 

[The Jester]

Never actually played Oblivion modded, don't own it on pc, played on xbox at release. Been many years since, so yeah, I get it being perhaps a bit murky.

I just distinctly recall it being meh with those ruins in particular, and pretty cool in other areas, zombies were cool looking (for the day), actively blocking with a shield was great, had some fairly decent designs of architecture/armor/weapons, again wouldn't say I hated it, I enjoyed it mostly, but the disappointment with it in many areas, especially in things scaled back from previous entries, stood out more than in Morrowind or even Skyrim for me, I guess.

Yea ARO and Better dungeons are essential.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

I remember a mod that took place in an underworld cave maze where you were stalked by a man-sized bi-pedal saurian creature. THe author used Akira Ifukube's Godzilla roar for the monster, and that's how you knew it was nearby and was the cue to run. Another thing I kind of liked about Oblivion (yes, it was my first Elder Scrolls game and the only one I completed) was its lore. It was interesting to me. It made me wanting to know more about the long-extinct Ayleid race for example after seeing some of their ruins. Another mod I played gave some backstory to the Dark Seducers. They were much more evil and sadistic than most siren-like creatures you encounter in fiction. I was intrigued, and was like "Bring on the bad girls (butt only if they're beautiful)!"

 

[janior]

 

[Elttharion]

Oblivion is a terrible game that you endure because of the glorious OST. But at this point why play the game at all?

I still hear the music to relax or before sleeping but you couldnt pay me enough to play the actual game.

 

[Konjad]

The music was fucking great in both Morrowind and Oblivion. It was great to listen to, it fit great in the game, and probably added half of the atmosphere there was in these games.

Speaking of which, in Skyrim even music was bland, I don't remember it and it was the most recent TES I've played.

 

[Hag]

The Green Rolling Hills of the Imperial Province are beautiful

thats fair. that moment when you finally exit the wretched sewers and youre met with

this

this is truly breathtaking.

Not pictured (but essential to the true 2006 experience) : game dropping like a brick to 15 FPS.

 

[Kabas]

Speaking of which, in Skyrim even music was bland, I don't remember it and it was the most recent TES I've played.

The overall OST feels a bit more subdued but i wouldn't call it bland.

 

[Ash]

Very over saturated there, and I think morrowind, personally, had more variety in types and layouts of dungeons, some just existed as bad guy hideouts, slaver coves, vampires, necromancers, smugglers etc, it at least felt more varied to me in fights, layouts etc.

Morrowind dungeons were more like actual places that are only considered "dungeons" because of their arbitrary underground location. Take the Kwama mines for example... most egg-mines in Morrowind served no function whatsoever, but that's the point... the egg-mines weren't there for the players amusement, they weren't there to reward you with a big pile of loot once you'd wacked enough moles, they were there so the people of Vvardenfell had a food source. That was their purpose and it made Morrowind feel like a real place.

Eh...I mean yes, sure that's one factor. But, they actually do serve a pretty important gameplay purpose: that low level players (sub lvl 15), no matter which region of the map they go, have a low level training ground to level up sub 10 weapon/armor skills and the like. The queen doesn't even fight back and has a decent amount of health so it is perfect target to level your weakest skills, and the only target of this status in the entire game. You've all bare-hand fisted a bunch of Kwarma Queens, don't even lie.
Once this is out of the way, then yeah they are good immersion multipliers and otherwise serve no notable functional purpose except the occasional one with a related quest.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

I didn't even know you could do that. I just went straight to catacombs, smuggler dens and minor daedric shrines.
I remember the first time I stumbled across a shrine and holy shit, it was a big fight. Those orc warriors can take a beating.

 

[Lemming42]

Morrowind dungeons were more like actual places that are only considered "dungeons" because of their arbitrary underground location. Take the Kwama mines for example... most egg-mines in Morrowind served no function whatsoever, but that's the point... the egg-mines weren't there for the players amusement, they weren't there to reward you with a big pile of loot once you'd wacked enough moles, they were there so the people of Vvardenfell had a food source. That was their purpose and it made Morrowind feel like a real place.

This would make sense if the game was like Fallout (where seeing Brahmin farms or w/e is cool worldbuilding) but it's not, it's a dungeon crawler which constantly threatens to become boring due to having shit combat and shit dungeons, same as Oblivion and Skyrim. Finding dull copypasted dungeons is mostly just disappointing, especially when it keeps happening over and over again as you enter samey cave/tomb/mine after samey cave/tomb/mine.

I don't buy it because it's not like MW even goes for versimilitude half the time, what with the haunted tombs next to main roads and bandit caves three meters away from towns. It feels like a heavily abstracted and surreal (not to mention entirely static) representation of a real place at best, so there's no excuse for half the world and its content being underwhelming in the name of "realism" or whatever. The game mechanics are built almost exclusively around travel and combat; there aren't any life-sim elements or whatever that would work with a realistic world (not that MW has a realistic world). Yeah I guess you could pick the eggs up and LARP being an "egg trader" but like most stuff in MW it'd be a case of the player messing around while the game completely fails to acknowledge it or react.

It works for a first playthrough where you can go "ooh aren't the kwarma weird," but as soon as that initial sheen wears off and you want to actually play a game rather than go sightseeing in a pretty world, you're in trouble. Same as Oblivion, you're constantly on the hunt for something to do but when you do finally find something, it's typically a letdown.