Preview Gamesradar previews Oblivion

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

<a href=http://gamesradar.msn.co.uk>GamesRadar</a> has posted a <a href=http://gamesradar.msn.co.uk/previews/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=36698&subsectionid=1599>preview</a> of <a href=http://www.theelderscrolls.com/home/home.htm>Oblivion</a>. Nothing new is revealed, but if you want to read more about how awesome the graphics are, click on that link.
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Here is an interesting paragraph:
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<blockquote><u>The lifeless text-based dialogue system has been replaced by an unbelievable 50 hours of speech</u>, including erstwhile Enterprise captain Patrick Stewart as the human emperor. They've wisely given up on the messy stream-of-consciousness journal system, and the new quest log is similar to that of World of Warcraft.</blockquote>
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Tell me it aint so
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</A>

 

[Spazmo]

Goddamnit, we know it's all got magnificent voiceovers--fine. But how does the dialog actually work? Why won't they tell us instead of just going "hey yeah dialog PATRICK STEWART!"

 

[Vykromond]

The stream-of-consciousness journal would have been brilliant if you didn't need to page back all the way through to get to something. They more-or-less fixed it with patching, but it should have just been fully, properly indexed from the beginning. Wikijournal, go go go!

 

[Sovy Kurosei]

Well, the dialogue in Morrowind is pretty lifeless.

 

[Elwro]

But how does the dialog actually work? Why won't they tell us instead of just going "hey yeah dialog PATRICK STEWART!"

I'd guess it's just because the dialogue has the same shitty system as in Morrowind, but made worse by excluding the hyperlinks from within the texts. Iirc the only info from which we could try to infer that the dialogue will be better is one developer's remark that in some conversations there will be a few responses to choose from. The fact that they don't brag about the new & improved dialogue system means imo that the system stayed the same.

 

[Atrokkus]

Shit, that's what I thought....
but still had a flickering hope that maybe they'll fix it somehow.

WEll, maybe Radiant AI will someohow substitute that... well, prolly not.

 

[MrSmileyFaceDude]

No, it just means that we haven't said much about it yet, Elwro. There's a lot about the game that we haven't said much about -- but that doesn't mean that these features are identical to Morrowind's.

 

[vazquez595654]

the new quest log is similar to that of World of Warcraft.

What does that mean?

 

[Elwro]

No, it just means that we haven't said much about it yet, Elwro.

Well, since I liked both Daggerfall and Morrowind, I'm really looking forward to playing Oblivion. Maybe I'm being too paranoid, but for me it's just suspicious that we hear so little about Oblivion's dialogue system. I surely hope it'll be an improvement over Morrowind's; but by that I really mean that I'd like dialogue trees. I don't care about speech samples, I want well-written dialogue. I'd also like different dialogue options for characters of different races/stats (of course when appropriate). Let the PC speak with full sentences!

 

[Atrokkus]

Yep, that's what really should be your (bethesda) primary objective!

WRITE DIALOGS, GODDAMNIT!

 

[Elwro]

And could anyone describe WoW's quest log? I haven't played the game (and I won't cause I don't like the monthly fee).

 

[Vykromond]

From the menu bar, there's a "Quests" (there's a hotkey for it, too, but I haven't used it). You click it, and it brings up a tab of all the quests you currently have. They're sorted by area of the world in which you got them/they need to be done, and colorized by their relative difficulty (green, red... you get the idea). When you select a quest, it lists an "Objective," a "Background" (basically, what the NPC who gave you the quest said, for flavor), and a benchmark (1/10 Snail Spleens collected, for instance).

 

[Atrokkus]

yeah, that's certainly an EXTRAORDINARY quest log system!

Anyways, never really cared for those quest/journal logs... most of the games just use it as a summary of events that player already knows everything about (if not forgotten).
The only really interesting journal i've seen is in Torment.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

No, it just means that we haven't said much about it yet, Elwro. There's a lot about the game that we haven't said much about -- but that doesn't mean that these features are identical to Morrowind's.

... but they previewed the game, right? I mean, they saw it right in front of their fat little faces. Not sure I'm a fan of "dialogue" being completely removed and replaced with a generic "Sim-like" talk interface. At least, that's how I understand it.

 

[Atrokkus]

Hmm... I heard that audio-clip from E3 presentation...
There was a sample of dialog there, but it's quite to see the interface in audio file...
so

does anybody has a link to the video-clip of that presentation? It could shed some light on that shit with dialogs, or their absense.

 

[Elwro]

Thanks for the description, Vykromond. Seems pretty functionable, but I'd like the journal to store also some snippets of info that wouldn't seem related to any active quests, but might generally come in handy sometime in the future.

 

[Killzig]

Poor voice over actors had to pronounce Khajiiiiitttttt and other fantasy tripe

Did they get paid extra for that?

Any one know if the map system/menus have improved any?

 

[Atrokkus]

Any one know if the map system/menus have improved any?

They were good enough in Morr.

Anyways, what if they changed? It wouldn't change the game, really.
GUI is easy to design. RPG is not.

 

[Vykromond]

Seems pretty functionable, but I'd like the journal to store also some snippets of info that wouldn't seem related to any active quests, but might generally come in handy sometime in the future.

I agree, actually. Journals are a very easy/good way to provide atmospheric depth to the game and add to the storyline's flavour and mystique. Reducing them to quest logs is meh. If there's a journal and a WoW-style quest log, I'm all for that.