Let's Play Oblivion

[DraQ]

This thread will be EPIC . Im tellin ya'.

Also 3 gb of additional download to make it playable... nice. Too bad you don't have Shimmering Isles, heard it's pretty decent (as for OB and Beth's).

It's quite a bit better, there's even a pinch of choice/consequence. The story/world is more interesting, it generally feels more akin to MW.

However many issues remain; the world feels rushed, there's little in the way of wilderness detail (less than Obliv) and outside of the main quest there's nothing really in the way of side quests.

The new monsters and stuff are quite nice thoug, as are the morrowindish vegetation and prefabs. Bethesda also for the first time ever I think created characters with character, in the case of Sheogorath and his butler.

Indeed, I'd say that SI is vastly superior to vanilla Oblivion. It's still far from perfect, but at least it was genuinely enjoyable, unlike Oblivion, which I couldn't endure. There are only two primary types of terrain, but they form landscapes far more interesting than anything Oblivion could offer, populated by some rather interesting monsters. The expansion's MQ is also quite refreshing after the ultimate retardation that passed for MQ in Oblivion - the game moves away from cliched Good-VS-Evil Epic(tm) Conflict. Both the MQ and some side quests are also improved by the addition of some actual, albeit minor, C&C. The game could have used some genuine insanity, but it still looks as if someone at Bethsoft excercised creativity, which is quite stuning on it's own.

I think I won't exaggerate by saying that the difference between vanilla OB and SI is of the same order as the difference between BG1 and PST.

Also, I want to hug the person who wrote this piece of dialogue, especially the underlined bit.

Spoiler

The Madgod has given you a task. Surely, someone of your copious talent should be able to handle it.

Xedilian
Yes, quite an amazing place really. Wonderful for relieving one's tension as you watch those troublesome adventurers suffer... no offence. I'd say your next move is to head to Xedilian and get it reactivated.

Reactivated
Yes? Ah... silly me. The book has no pictures. Can't really expect you to read that, now can I? To reactivate Xedilian for my Lord's pleasure, you'll need to find three Focus Crystals and return them to their resting place. Each crystal has a matching receptacle called a Judgment Nexus. Even you can't miss them. Without the crystals in place, the Resonator of Judgment, Xedilian's power source, cannot be restored.

(copied verbatim from TIL)

Of all the shitty decision, the one I can understand the least is their levelling system. In order to become powerful you have to pick major skills that you never use. If you want to burn shit down as a mage and pick destruction as a major skill you're fucked.

I believe they might have been genuinely Oblivious to this, rather obvious, exploit.

 

[Gragt]

Well thanks for the list, it'll give me an idea if I ever want to replay it. Already started looking for mods a couple of weeks ago just to see how the game would change but then I got a ton of them hitting me in the face...

I mean I'm all for modding games, tweaking stuff that could use tweaking but here it seems the game needs a bit more than that.

 

[Astromarine]

aah. no idea, haven't got it

The C&C and EQR sound awesome, but C&C requires Cobl, which I think is a bit too late to install now. I have no idea if it would interfere with the rest of the overhauls and such

 

[MetalCraze]

So, the verdict so far is positive bla bla

of course it is. mostly because the only thing from oblivion that's left there is it's engine.

 

[Gragt]

Don't forget Patrick Steward!

 

[DoppelG]

Nice.
But, don't really see the point in wanting to experience how bad Oblivion was by playing it heavely modified.

 

[A user named cat]

For as shitty as Oblivion is, it's really fun to mod and tweak. When you go to grab some environmental mods later, make sure to get a weather overhaul mod. From what I remember, Arthur's natural environments was the best of the bunch.

I made a brighter torches mod a while back that also removed light flickering that kills your FPS, I think it's still on Planet Elder Scrolls somewhere. I started working on a huge audio overhaul, to make booming thunderstorms and other ambient stuff but I started getting bored as shit with the game and ditched it for good. Wish I still had my work to give to you but there were some audio mods that were usable already.

 

[Astromarine]

to the doubters: I don't really care about wanting to experience how bad oblivion is. I want to, let's put it this way, play the game as it should have been. Does that make more sense? That's why I added hardly any actual gameplay additions, just a couple quests for thieves. Just shittiness removers.

Anyway, I'm done for today. Played only for around 2 hours. Didn't do much else in the Imperial City, as a couple of books I read gave a good sense of urgency about the main quest. By the way, it's silly how you can just read every book that's on a house somewhere, even if you can't pick it up afterwards. Skill books give you the point anyway. Bah.

So anyway, the play session consisted of basically leaving the IC headed West to Chorrol. On the bridge to the mainland, was the barrel with instructions and supplies for the crafting mod. It looks pretty neat, actually. Nothing doable at the stables outside the city, they say their horses disappeared. Whatever. I managed to avoid combat by sticking to the road, until it passed under a fort. There were a couple zombies with huge fucking maces, which I killed more or less OK.

I explored the fort a bit, but only outside. I was a bit cautious of getting in it, after I found the undead. I'll come back once I deliver the amulet - it's been two days already since the old man croaked, I don't want to stall the whole kingdom cuz I'm off chasing undead somewhere.

Which is when I get accosted by a GODDAMN FUCKING KHAJIIT HIGHWAYMAN. Out of the blue, which gave me quite a jump. He asked for my money, I gave him a beating. Still, it was *very* hard, and again I ended up almost dead and exhausted. Had to drink a couple good potions, too. Sorry about the lack of combat pictures, I was a bit stressed. :D

With the whole mess in the fort and having to heal and stuff, I noticed the sun setting. It'd goten late. I didn't plan the trip well, which means either I hurry the fuck up or I have to sleep outside. NOT a good plan. I burn two potions of cure fatigue, so I can run uninterrupted for a minute or so.

Luckily, I manage. I talk to the guy, he tells me I have to go to Kvatch. Great. More walking. On the plus side, he did allow me access to a chest full of the good stuff. Maybe there'll be something in this for me after all...

I lolled at this: behold, my friends: THE EVIL OPTION! (didn't go for it. I'm amoral, but a mage and I like to read books. I believed the books about the amulet of kings and the Oblivion plane, so I want this coronation to happen. Nowish would be fine.

So, that's it for today. Went to bed, ate breakfast, and now I'm ready to take the trip south.

 

[Relayer71]

that's the thing though. I'm giving the game an actual shot

Play it without mods if you really want to give it an actual shot.

(not that I advocate it, more of a dare really...go ahead...I dare you...)

 

[Pussycat669]

No, it actually looks like it's fun that way. Keep it and god's speed to you sir!

 

[xedoc gpr]

It's a good, fun game with some mods attached to it. I don't know why no one wants to admit it.

 

[Claw]

Oh, screw you. Every time I hear about awesome mods I get this tingly feeling of wanting to play a new CRPG, and TES does sound great on paper.

I know where it ends, however. I'm not falling victim to your siren songs. The mods are never as good as they sound. Never!

 

[Kingston]

Ya mang. That game sounds playable, fun even, with mods. But I won't fall for it.

 

[A user named cat]

I played it with a shitload of mods back when I was into tweaking it, Francesco's being the best one. No matter what content you seem to add or modify, the game still becomes a huge monotonous bore not far into it and nothing really addresses some of the major problems. Like there being 3 voice actors, uninspired dialogue, dull quests, brainless combat (even with Deadly Reflex mod), repetitive areas and a boring as hell storyline.

So yeah, don't fall for it unless you want a short fix on a decent roaming adventure game. Because some mods do make it look and sound outstanding, but nothing beyond face value.

 

[Raapys]

Yah, been there, done that. I installed over a hundred mods, big and small, changing just about every aspect possible. I also downloaded all the official stuff and the expansion. Truth is, at least for me this game is fundamentally broken( unlike Morrowind, which does actually become a great game with mods ).

You'd basically need to scratch the entire story, all the voice acting, most of the quests, the entire dialog system, the UI, the minigames...in fact, go ahead and scratch the entire game world, it sucks.

While they did improve on the combat from Morrowind, they unfortunately managed to ruin everything else in the process.

 

[Astromarine]

well, the UI and minigames are taken care of. I actually like the lockpicking, especially with the springs covered. As well, I think combat for now has been awesome, but it's true that I'm still a noob with shit equipment. The bottom line is that Oblivion has never been touted (by non-retards) as anything less than a sandbox. I'm not playing it for the awesome munchkinization of combat systems, like I do Titan Quest, or for the awesome C&C and storyline like I do The Witcher and MotB. I'm playing it to explore, get surprised, get jumpscares in dark caves, find awesome gear, try to sneak around into some hidden stuff, etc. I think that after you mod away all the retardness you end up with a game that has decent combat and subpar quests and story, but in a pretty well realized world. At least that's my suspicion, and I want to check it for myself while the Witcher SE doesn't come out.

I don't think people here are wrong about the game and especially the company, but I think there's something good to be extracted from this absolutely shitty game, even if it's not a lot.

I mean, I was never the most rabid of Beth detractors, and wasn't fooled into buying Obli thinking it would be awesome, so I don't really have that much vitriol for the game (still think devs are retarded, but it's nothing compared to by burning hate for Peter Molyneux for tricking me into paying for Black and White). So I AM having fun. How long that will last is the curiosity that is keeping me playing it.

Now, please, fuck this argument. I've explained why I'm playing it, now I just want to get on with it :D

 

[Naked Ninja]

The world of Oblivion may be generic, stylistically speaking, but damn is it pretty.

 

[NiM82]

It looks great, fucking amazing even, at sunrise/sundown when there's a lot of nice colourization, but in normal daylight it looks a bit bland imo. Protip: Coloured lighting can make even ugly stuff look good

 

[Crichton]

I can't actually recommend it from experience, but I considered reinstalling oblivion when I heard about this mod:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8273


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w4w1gxeDkw

The mounted combat doesn't look like something I'd want to do all the time, but just knowing that the option is there would make a huge difference.


Edit: Link. Also, apparently some people are having trouble installing it and I doubt it works with old save games.

 

[Klaz]

Well, overall I liked Morrowind's look better, but that's because I dig the strange landscape.

 

[Anaglyph]

The world of Oblivion may be generic, stylistically speaking, but damn is it pretty.

The prettiness soon wears thin unfortunately as the landscape is so unvaried.

 

[NiM82]

I can't actually recommend it from experience, but I considered reinstalling oblivion when I heard about this mod:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8273


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w4w1gxeDkw

The mounted combat doesn't look like something I'd want to do all the time, but just knowing that the option is there would make a huge difference.

Edit: Link. Also, apparently some people are having trouble installing it and I doubt it works with old save games.

Probably does work with old saves, I've completed the game and regularly change mods that do far more than that just fine.

I find it hilarious though some modders have hacked that into the game, it finally lives up to it's hype!

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

It's a good, fun game with some mods attached to it. I don't know why no one wants to admit it.

Not really. It still fundamentally isn't much fun, and it's kind of hard to convince someone like me otherwise seeing as anything it can do modded Morrowind can do a hell of a lot better, save the shiny stuff. Bethesda kind of put themselves in a shitacular situation with Morrowind in that they either have to improve heavily in each game or stay in the dumbed-down shit market for life. Morrowind to Bethesda is like if EA released a Madden game where players could easily go online and get free roster updates, game tweaks, and playbooks. It would basically sink their "marginal update a year" market strategy and is the reason Oblivion was obsolete upon release.

Not saying Morrowind's mod-powah is bad, because it certainly isn't for the consumer, but it might have set the bar a bit too high for Bethesda.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

Oblivion is a good sandbox game that would have been great without level scaling. I'd re-install it to try that damn nice realistic fatigue mod, but I don't have the time and I'd have to download it since I lost the CD.

And Morrowind is really good too, even though the combat is terrible.

 

[elander_]

The labyrintic layout of Morrowind terrain made exploration a lot more interesting. They hand-crafted the entire wilderness.

http://www.imperial-library.info/maps/m ... ormous.jpg

Can you even compare this great map to Oblivion?

Anyway both Morrowind and Oblivion suffer from ridiculous small dungeons and complete lack of interesting or interactive dialog, not to mention npc reactions, that break immersion completely, unless a person finds immersive to bump at a fucking mini-dungeon at every corner of the road.

If someone would made a mod to pack those hundreds of useless mini-dungeons into citadels and big underground areas - similar to Ultima Underworld or Arx Fatalis - populated with underground societies and with the possibility to talk to people there and do quests, then it could be worth.