An Oblivion mod worth looking at

[Data4]

Oh yes! Another Oblivion topic! Flame away!

This is for anyone who might be holding out to see if modders can make Oblivion more of a game worth playing. There are people working on mods to make the cities open, rather than within their own worldspace. The first is Chorrol and I have to say it looks quite good. I'd say it's in wide beta, as it's available for download but they still have kinks to work out.

Here is the ESF thread with the details

Now, does it fix the borked up game mechanics? No. Does it add branching dialogue with meaningful, roleplaying choices? No. Does it add turn-based combat? No. Surely the hivemind will pan this, however I believe in giving modders the chance to improve the game, even if they shouldn't have to. In my oh-so humble opinion, this is the kind of improvement I like to see.

Ah'ite, get to flamin'.

-D4

 

[Hazelnut]

Surely no one cares whether the cities are open or not - do they? It's just a simple implementation detail, and not one of the multitude of WTF's that riddle the 'game'.

I dare not enter the ESF to find out for fear of my sanity, and lets face it there's only room enough for one Volly on this board!

 

[Micmu]

Surely no one cares whether the cities are open or not - do they?

Nope. More fluid shit is still shit.

 

[Twinfalls]

Ewww!

Anyway, as this presents an excuse to laugh some more at how bad Oblivion turned out... Anyone remember back when MSFD was posting here, and the only advantage he could identify that Bethesda's fancy scripting might give to quest mechanics was what he termed 'push' quests - ie NPCs could 'find' you, walk up to you, and initiate quests?

Check out all the official mods. Every single one is initiated with an automatic on-screen message. No AI 'pushing' of quests in sight. It's even more simplistic than Daggerfall, which at least covers this simplest of all mechanic with some attempt at written atmosphere.

Bethesda, your suckage is supreme.

 

[Data4]

Actually, the only "push" quest I recall is that paranoid elf in Skingrad (we called him the Sri Lankan back in the pre-release days).

At any rate, I've long since become bored with the game after the little diversion that it was. I guess I'm just an optimist, hoping someone can take the building blocks of this mess and make a real game with it. Sue me for hoping. :shrug:

-D4

 

[Lumpy]

How about the Thieves Den official mod? It sounds better than the others. Possibly one of the best house mods so far.

 

[Balor]

How about the Thieves Den official mod? It sounds better than the others. Possibly one of the best house mods so far.

You have NO idea how pathetically pleading your last post was.

 

[Hazelnut]

I guess he's having a subtle jab at the official mods Balor... well I hope he is - made me laugh anyway even if that was not the intent.

 

[Balor]

Well, I sure hope so too .
Otherwise we can state that Bethesda finally devoured his brain .

 

[Hazelnut]

Psst, Lumpy, there's your get-out of jail free clause my friend ^

 

[Lumpy]

I'd never pay 2$ for a house mod. However, at least this mod doesn't completely suck compared to fan made mods, which may be a step in the right direction. You actually have to do a quest to do this, has some decent backstory, you can hire people to work for you, and a huge cavern and a haunted ship is much more interesting than an ordinary tower or house. I don't think there has been a house mod as complex as that, although I'm not sure, since the only mod I've installed so far is Oscuro's.
As for Bethesda devouring my brain, it's possible, since I pretty much like Oblivion. The main storyline, although quite unoriginal, is quite interesting, and indeed more "epic" than Morrowind's. It has its logic inconsistencies, just like many other quests, but not too big.
I also like the new approach to most things: chance to succeed was removed - now, every attempt to make a potion, strike with a sword, or cast a spell, will succeed. Your skill will instead determine the power of the first two, and the mana cost of the last (like in Daggerfall). It makes things less annoying.
Since I'm playing a mage right now, the only missing skill is Enchanting, which was a good addition in Morrowind in my opinion. What was bad about Enchanting in Morrowind was the chance to fail, which almost forced you to save before attempting to create an enchantment with a Golden Saint soul. If the efficiency of the enchantment was affected by the skill (the charge consumption) rather than the success chance, it would have worked much better. Another retarded change was making all weapon enchantments Cast When Strikes, and all clothing enchantments Constant Effect. While replacing "Fortify Willpower 6 points for 200 seconds" robes with "Fortify Willpower 6 points Constant Effect" was a good idea, since it basically leads to the same result, while removing the annoyance of the first, it also removed the possibility of having a Ring of Healing or similar items. And not allowing any other enchantment type on weapons but for Cast When Strikes is simply retarded.
Walled cities are stupid - what the hell, why are there even roads inside the Imperial City when horses or carriages are forbidden to enter, and suppose they could, the latter would be stopped by the stairs to the gates between the districts.
By the way, horses are awesome, even without mounted combat. I never fast travelled, since the speed on horses is perfect to enjoy the environment without getting bored.
The graphics are great, if you ignore the distant hills problems, which I do.

 

[Hazelnut]

Oh.

 

[Lumpy]

All right, I take that back. From what people are saying at the official forums, this mod sucks.

 

[Lord Chambers]

And not allowing any other enchantment type on weapons but for Cast When Strikes is simply retarded.

How so? What should weapon enchantments do?

 

[Blahblah Talks]

And not allowing any other enchantment type on weapons but for Cast When Strikes is simply retarded.

How so? What should weapon enchantments do?

Cast Light, 3x per day.

 

[Micmu]

Sword of Uninstall +10

 

[HardCode]

Sword of Uninstall +10

Clever!

 

[Mefi]

Actually, the only "push" quest I recall is that paranoid elf in Skingrad (we called him the Sri Lankan back in the pre-release days).

At any rate, I've long since become bored with the game after the little diversion that it was. I guess I'm just an optimist, hoping someone can take the building blocks of this mess and make a real game with it. Sue me for hoping. :shrug:

-D4

Nah. But you do need to put more points into "cynicism" on your next level up.

Oblivion is a perfectly fine hack n slasher. But it's so dumbed down and streamlined, that I think you'd be better off making your own game from scratch than to try and mod it back to something as 'good' as Morrowind. (Good of course being a relative term in this case).

 

[Kendar]

http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/inde ... 69&st=100#

the fps hit was minimal

Maybe the developpers who closed the cities because of performance issues are just dumb designers taking dumb decisions.

 

[Lumpy]

And not allowing any other enchantment type on weapons but for Cast When Strikes is simply retarded.

How so? What should weapon enchantments do?

What they did in Morrowind and Daggerfall? Constant Effect and Cast When Used. Since Oblivion removed the latter, at least the first should have been available for weapons.

The problem with these Open Cities mods is that they screw up any other mod that adds anything to the town exteriors.

 

[suibhne]

And not allowing any other enchantment type on weapons but for Cast When Strikes is simply retarded.

How so? What should weapon enchantments do?

You're joking, right?

Anyway, the Cast on Strike bs is so poorly implemented in Oblivion that it's worthless; you need to re-enchant after every 5th or 6th fight, and re-enchanting costs an f'n pile. And Varla Stones are neither a clever solution to this nor plentiful enough to even be practical. I'd be surprised if most long-term players didn't just say to hell with magic weapons, as I did.

There's also the weirdness that a weapon becomes "magic" (for purposes of damaging ghosts etc.) when you enchant it - but it still remains "magic" even when it's totally out of "magic". Like, huh?

 

[ad hominem]

Anyway, the Cast on Strike bs is so poorly implemented in Oblivion that it's worthless; you need to re-enchant after every 5th or 6th fight, and re-enchanting costs an f'n pile. And Varla Stones are neither a clever solution to this nor plentiful enough to even be practical. I'd be surprised if most long-term players didn't just say to hell with magic weapons, as I did.

Yeah, this bugged the hell out of me. Either bring back enchanting or just pitch the whole damn system and start over. At least in Morrowind only the initial enchantment was prohibitively expensive (it was cheaper to just train yourself up to like 70 in Enchanting, but that's neither here nor there), and you could re-enchant it yourself (or just rest). Enchantment in Oblivion = totally broken.

 

[Lumpy]

You can reenchant it yourself in Oblivion. Yes, the cost is big, but it's much cheaper if you are a mage yourself and can trap your own souls. Which is the way it should be, isn't it?

 

[Data4]

Okay, then, how about this one?

The objective of this mod is to give many of the named NPCs in the game many more things to say and greatly expand (or place) dialogue trees to make the conversations in Oblivion more like they are in other games such as KOTOR, the Fallout series and, of course, Planescape: Torment. Most of the NPCs who served little more as 'Rumor' dispensers will be given more background and purpose.

While several dialogue options still rely on using Personality and Disposition, it will require common sense and cunning throughout the branching dialogue to make NPCs reveal their secrets, instead of repeatedly playing the Speechcraft minigame until someone, say, reveals the location of the heirloom they buried before the Imperial Guards seized all their property.

-D4

 

[geminito]

Okay, then, how about this one?

The objective of this mod is to give many of the named NPCs in the game many more things to say and greatly expand (or place) dialogue trees to make the conversations in Oblivion more like they are in other games such as KOTOR, the Fallout series and, of course, Planescape: Torment. Most of the NPCs who served little more as 'Rumor' dispensers will be given more background and purpose.

While several dialogue options still rely on using Personality and Disposition, it will require common sense and cunning throughout the branching dialogue to make NPCs reveal their secrets, instead of repeatedly playing the Speechcraft minigame until someone, say, reveals the location of the heirloom they buried before the Imperial Guards seized all their property.

-D4

1. I like that mod because I am good.
2. I hate that mod because I am evil.
3. Exit dialog.

<sarcasm>Yeah, I sure miss the cunning required in KOTOR's dialog...</sarcasm>