Interview HomeLan Fed talks Oblivion with Ashley Cheng

[Spazmo]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

<a href=http://www.homelanfed.com>HomeLan Fed</a>'s <a href=http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=28114>interview</a> with Bethesda's <b>Ashley Cheng</b> about TESIV: Oblivion is now availible for everyone's reading pleasure.<blockquote>HomeLAN - The last Elder Scrolls title was a truly massive game in terms of content and quests. How "big" will the game be in terms of quests and gameplay time?
<br>
Ashley Cheng - Oblivion is a larger game. The landmass is larger than Morrowind. Exploration will always be a major feature of our games. However, we’ve also redesigned the interface compass and maps to make it easier for you to “find the fun” if you so choose. If you’d rather get yourself lost, so be it, but it’s there if you need it. We’ve removed the boring, repetitive traveling that you had to do in Morrowind. The feedback has been nothing but positive with our initial playtesting of the fast travel functionality. The key to balancing the exploration with the fun is that you can only fast travel to locations if you’ve previously been there. There are exceptions, so we pay careful attention to this feature as quests are being implemented. Plus, it’s optional, so if you want to walk everywhere, go right ahead.</blockquote>Thanks to <B>Mr. Teatime</b> of <a href=http://www.duckandcover.cx>Duck and Cover</a> for the heads up.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

However, we’ve also redesigned the interface compass and maps to make it easier for you to “find the fun” if you so choose.

You mean the compass will clearly point towards fun and boredom when you're travelling? Cool.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

If you're running it in a window, the compass will point to the uninstaller. Ha! Ha! Ha! I kill me.

 

[Nicolai]

You better.

 

[Jung]

It's called a "Funpassâ„¢," a design feature of Oblivion, not to be confused with the "Dumbass," which is a target demographic of Oblivion. Somehow they are related.

 

[Sol Invictus]

When I first played Arcanum, I tried to walk to the new areas without using the map. I did this for about 3 minute before I started to recognise repeating terrain. How fucking brilliant of Troika.

 

[dojoteef]

When I first played Arcanum, I tried to walk to the new areas without using the map. I did this for about 3 minute before I started to recognise repeating terrain. How fucking brilliant of Troika.

Well what do you expect, walking the game world of Arcanum would probably take weeks. They did that conciously so that if you wanted to explore you could, but you couldn't possibly find all the places on the map without first discovering them through dialog.


Oh, and I would like to state that the interview questions this time around are actually well phrased for once. These are the sorts of questions you ask instead of:

1. How long will it take to walk from one end of the game world, to the other?

you get something intelligent like:

HomeLAN - The last Elder Scrolls title was a truly massive game in terms of content and quests. How "big" will the game be in terms of quests and gameplay time?

 

[Sol Invictus]

Speaking of more retarded area-related issues, I really don't like Bloodlines's "phantom locations" that dissapear from the taxi cab map after you've left the scene.

 

[dojoteef]

Speaking of more retarded area-related issues, I really don't like Bloodlines's "phantom locations" that dissapear from the taxi cab map after you've left the scene.

Agreed, poor design decision on Troika's part.

 

[ArcturusXIV]

Home LAN Federation is definitely one of my favorite Internet sites. Heck, one of its writers even professed to being a console hater. I'm all there.

 

[Jed]

So Rex, you don't like large, continuous persistent locations, and you don't like small, hub-based non-persistent locations--what exactly do you like?

 

[Mr. Teatime]

So Rex, you don't like large, continuous persistent locations, and you don't like small, hub-based non-persistent locations--what exactly do you like?

Anal sex?

 

[Sol Invictus]

So Rex, you don't like large, continuous persistent locations, and you don't like small, hub-based non-persistent locations--what exactly do you like?

What are you talking about? I don't like hub-based non-persistent locations. That's all Arcanum had anyway. Did you misinterpret my post about Arcanum's 'exploration'?

My point is that it was an illusion. You were just running in circles. You couldn't get anywhere by doing that.

 

[Fresh]

..giving or receiving?

 

[PennyAnte]

With Oblivion, the technology is now powerful enough for us to do full blown forests that stretch to the horizon like nothing you’ve seen before.

Sounds encouraging. I wonder how leaves and grass will look though. Morrowind's trees looked great from a distance. But get up close and look at leaves from the correct angle, beside them for example, and the illusion broke down into a pixellated mess.

Oblivion's screenshots look great so far, but I wonder if they've overcome that effect. I really don't know anything about how graphics technology really works, but wouldn't each leaf have to be fully 3-D to get around the problem?

you’ll see NPCs experience character arcs.

Dynamic NPC character development? Veeery interesting. I wonder how immersive and believable this will be when the game rolls out.

Start putting money aside each week so you can get a Next Generation console or the latest new video card when Oblivion is done.

Well, there you have it, if you weren't already certain. Oblivion will cost $550 to play. ATI and Nvidia 0WNZ J00.

 

[jiujitsu]

Quick travel sounds cool. There better be random encounters, though.

 

[dojoteef]

What are you talking about? I don't like hub-based non-persistent locations. That's all Arcanum had anyway. Did you misinterpret my post about Arcanum's 'exploration'?

My point is that it was an illusion. You were just running in circles. You couldn't get anywhere by doing that.

I'm sorry to call you on this, but that's bullshit. It isn't an illusion. I explored quite a bit in Arcanum and discovered areas without actually having reached them. I did that because I had played the game several times, so I knew some locations, but I couldn't put my person in the exact location. So I would use the map to travel to a spot near the location and then walk until I reached it. And yes, it worked perfectly fine. You could also discover some areas if you walked close enough to them, so I also walked the entire world using the map and waypoints. So, no you are wrong on this one Exitium.

 

[crufty]

I thought exploring in Morrowind was one of the best things about it. I had fun doing it, anyway. Wished some of the dungeons were bigger, with scarier monsters. The Daedra never seemed that fearsome.

 

[DarkSign]

Dynamic NPC character development? Veeery interesting. I wonder how immersive and believable this will be when the game rolls out.

So lets say you have to interact with NPC Goregrimm. At the beginning of the game hes young and learning to be a fighter, and by the end of the game he's the general of some army.

Would your interaction with him change based on what part of the arc he's in? If not, why not? If so, how many different interactions can you have? - old/young, young/mature/old, young/squire/fighter/captain/general?

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[JanC]

I'm glad that they are addressing all the weak points of the first game. I am particularly interested to find that they will be focusing more on improving the NPCs. They were very boring in Morrowind.
I suspect that the 'intelligent interaction' will probably come out more like Baldur's Gate/Ultima 7 etc rather than truly autonomous agents, but even that will really help immersion in the game.
The screenshots look stunning! I'll be saving my pennies for a new computer to play this, I'm sure.

 

[Seven]

Am I the only one who thinks that Rex should keep his Troika bashing to one thread. For Christ sakes how many threads are you going to spam?

 

[Sol Invictus]

I didn't intend on going at any length about Troika in this thread but it's nice of you to try to draw me back into it, Seven. Who's stirring things up now? Me or you?

 

[Seven]

I didn't intend on going at any length about Troika in this thread but it's nice of you to try to draw me back into it, Seven. Who's stirring things up now? Me or you?

Do you realize the stupidity of comments like that? Hmm, lets see:

When I first played Arcanum, I tried to walk to the new areas without using the map. I did this for about 3 minute before I started to recognise repeating terrain. How fucking brilliant of Troika.

Speaking of more retarded area-related issues, I really don't like Bloodlines's "phantom locations" that dissapear from the taxi cab map after you've left the scene

What are you talking about? I don't like hub-based non-persistent locations. That's all Arcanum had anyway. Did you misinterpret my post about Arcanum's 'exploration'?

My point is that it was an illusion. You were just running in circles. You couldn't get anywhere by doing that.

But, yes, it is I who am stirring things up by spamming a thread on three separate occasions with mindless-unrelated-drivel. Take your crusade and your self-righteous bullshit elsewhere.