An Oblivion mod worth looking at

[Lord Chambers]

- I'd be giving money to Bethesda.

Huh?

 

[Data4]

- I'd be giving money to Bethesda.

Huh?

You know... buying the game?

Yeah, I agree with you, Twinfalls, but I guess what I'm hoping is for some really good story mods to come out. Something that totally disregards the gates and other Oblivion main quest crap. Not so much a TC, but something along the lines of Wizards Island or, as goofy as it looks, Glory Road.

I really wish I had the time and patience to mod. As it is, I can model a little bit, and occasionally come up with some kind of model for use in the game, only to lose interest long before its ever workable. One would think that somewhere out there exists a modder or modding team with the talent, skill, and patience to come up with something that overcomes the limitations you rightfully cite. I dunno... The community at the ESF is shit, and shit begets shit, but every once in awhile there is potential.

So someone thought that bringing elements of the Thief series would be neat. It's not original obviously, but the tiny optimist in me thinks these relatively small efforts by a few can be built upon.

Sometimes cynicism can get old, and it's those times that I try to find a speck of good in even the worst cases.

-D4

 

[Twinfalls]

Oh don't get me wrong - the Thief mod you mentioned looks absolutely superb, and along with others, speaks volumes of the creativity and drive of modders out there. I think it's terrific that there are people making this stuff and helping others wring enjoyment from it, and I'm in no way dismissing the worth of that stuff.

It's just that for me, the OC is so utterly awful that I still cannot play it. I'll never be able to play it.

What was needed here was a true sequel. Daggerfall was a game which simply needed patches. What few mods there are for it are just bits of icing. No amount of modding however will change the fundamental failure of Oblivion as a continuation of the TES which Daggerfall belonged to.

BTW did you ever try Wizard's Islands? How was it?

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

I somewhat agree with Twinfalls. I don't even feel like modding fun features for Oblivion like I did for Morrowind, just because the game has no soul. I am not sure if enough story and lore mods could be embedded to give it that soul. And story mods within Oblivion are severely more difficult due to the audio dialogue - or they stick out like a sore thumb if they don't have it.

No if I ever do any modding with Oblivion, it's going to be a new world, built from the ground up.

 

[Data4]

BTW did you ever try Wizard's Islands? How was it?

I lost interest in Morrowind long before it came out, and never looked into it when I tried to revive my interest a few months ago. I hear it's good, but by whose standards, I don't know. If it's general ESF-standard good, it'll probably have a decent narrative, but not much in the way of branching paths and real roleplaying opportunities, but admittedly, I'm only speculating.

-D4

 

[psycojester]

Yes, we could spend years modding wonderful features and a brilliant storyline into Oblivion, but i'm reminded of that old saying "you can't polish a turd"

 

[somnium]

Yes, we could spend years modding wonderful features and a brilliant storyline into Oblivion, but i'm reminded of that old saying "you can't polish a turd"

Well technically you can, certainly if it is few years old one that has dried up.

 

[VenomByte]

I somewhat agree with Twinfalls. I don't even feel like modding fun features for Oblivion like I did for Morrowind, just because the game has no soul. I am not sure if enough story and lore mods could be embedded to give it that soul. And story mods within Oblivion are severely more difficult due to the audio dialogue - or they stick out like a sore thumb if they don't have it.

No if I ever do any modding with Oblivion, it's going to be a new world, built from the ground up.

My thoughts exactly.

I was expecting a crapload of removed features from Oblivion, but nothing quite prepared me for the bland genericness of it all. I mean seriously, is it even physically possible for the realm of Olbivion to be any more stereotypical and dull? Flames, lava, and a couple of towers. Every single damn time. And Cyrodiil is not exactly as depicted on all the maps. Instead, the landscape encompasses the bewildering variety of everything from foresty hills, to hilly forests.

I might do some Oblivion mods eventually.... anyone know if they've fixed it so levelled lists can be merged and mods can share global variables yet?

 

[AlanC9]

Well technically you can, certainly if it is few years old one that has dried up.

And fozzilized dung polishes quite nicely. I've got a dinosaur dung paperweight that's nice and shiny.

So maybe by the time TES 8 comes out we'll all be posting about what a great game Oblivion was compared to the latest POS.

 

[ad hominem]

So maybe by the time TES 8 comes out we'll all be posting about what a great game Oblivion was compared to the latest POS.

Why do I have this bad feeling that what you just said will come true?

I think it'd be great if someday they could just release the construction kit, utterly unlocked. Then let the mod community pick up storylines, alter the mechanics, etc. It would be episodic content that didn't suck! All you'd have to do to be able to use each modder's story would be to plunk down $20-$30 for the barebones construction kit itself. There are some really talented modders out there, if they started charging $5-$10 a pop for fairly involved storylines there might be enough incentive for them to really go all out.

I have no idea if this would work or not, but it seems like the only way to salvage the series.

 

[User was nabbed fit]

So maybe by the time TES 8 comes out we'll all be posting about what a great game Oblivion was compared to the latest POS.

Why do I have this bad feeling that what you just said will come true?

I think it'd be great if someday they could just release the construction kit, utterly unlocked. Then let the mod community pick up storylines, alter the mechanics, etc. It would be episodic content that didn't suck! All you'd have to do to be able to use each modder's story would be to plunk down $20-$30 for the barebones construction kit itself. There are some really talented modders out there, if they started charging $5-$10 a pop for fairly involved storylines there might be enough incentive for them to really go all out.

I have no idea if this would work or not, but it seems like the only way to salvage the series.

Sounds awesome, but then Beth wouldn't have a reason to make any further TES games, as modders' work > theirs.



Edit: Maybe that statement is a little too strong, as not all modders can pull-off a large 'campaign' style mod. And kiddies would still need dumbed-down content, which Beth flawlessly provides.

 

[Data4]

Ever the optimist, I found another. I have hopes for the modder and what he has to offer. Despite the bullshit I've given at the ESF about installing Oblivion again just to check out so-and-so's mod, this one might just make me do it for real.

The Butcher of Armindale

-D4

 

[LlamaGod]

Sounds awesome, but then Beth wouldn't have a reason to make any further TES games, as modders' work > theirs.

Well, it's the same thing with Valve though. All you have to do is wait to be able to make a sequel to the engine and then attach a ho-hum game to it and provide a new toolkit.

People would end up buying the game just for the core and kit.

 

[User was nabbed fit]

Well, OOO 1.3 is finally out, which makes Oblivion a little less crap, and a lot more better. Apparently, anyway; I haven't tried it out yet, but I've just finished downloading it.



ESF thread.

Homepage.

If there ever were a mod to redeem the fact that some of you may have spent money on Oblivion, it's this one.

 

[RK47]

ok time to give it another chance. i'm out of games to play anyway

 

[suibhne]

Wow, I had no idea they fixed the problem with levelling mods applying retroactively to saved games. I really will have to give this a shot now. I didn't want to lose all the time I'd invested in my character, even tho each hour made me hate myself even more , but I also didn't want to play another minute of Oblivion without fundamental changes.

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

I somewhat agree with Twinfalls. I don't even feel like modding fun features for Oblivion like I did for Morrowind, just because the game has no soul. I am not sure if enough story and lore mods could be embedded to give it that soul. And story mods within Oblivion are severely more difficult due to the audio dialogue - or they stick out like a sore thumb if they don't have it.

No if I ever do any modding with Oblivion, it's going to be a new world, built from the ground up.

I'm not one to post simple agreements, but I'm with you 100%. I'll happily mod for a game which is flawed, but a game which is irrecoverably broken...

 

[RK47]

Yeah, there's a lot of broken things in Oblivion due to the scaled levelling, I'm really surprised someone managed to fix that with only a mod tools no less.

That's why for those who own Oblivion , you owe it to Oscuro or yourself to try the mod out. And see how good can Oblivion get when a lot of fixes are made. Dude's still planning for more updates in a far off future.

Basically I think he just did more than a future expansion pack planned by Beth that'll cost us $40.

 

[dongle]

If there ever were a mod to redeem the fact that some of you may have spent money on Oblivion, it's this one.

Yeah, 'cuz the one thing Oblivion was lacking to redeem itself is Amazonian Man-Hunters:

Give me a fucking break, and stop spamming this worthless kidde-mod shit.

Now, maybe Oscuro had a well-considered idea on how to re-vamp the leveled lists and fix the scaling problems. Maybe not. If I were still playing Oblivion I'd have little incentive to test it out based on the childishness of those screenshots. Hordes of bikini-chicks attacking you? If you want to make that type of mod, and tee-hee over it, fine. But, why is everyone suddenly talking about how this inane shit is going to completely solve all of Oblivion's problems?

 

[Balor]

Fuck. Just FUCK.
And given that they use that MOBS system that supposed to make weapons realistic... but doesn't do so at all, I guess I'll stick with Adventures.

 

[Lumpy]

I played Oblivion with Oscuro's 1.23, and I never encountered an Amazon. On the other hand, I still defeated the Daedric infestation (since you can't really call a bunch of scamps an invasion) at Kvatch at level 2. So it was still leveled as hell.

And one of the mods OOO 1.3 includes is "Chain Bikini".

 

[Jasede]

Yeah, 'cuz the one thing Oblivion was lacking to redeem itself is Amazonian Man-Hunters:

I am sorry to intervene with something unimportant and meaningless, but why has one of the women a feline head? That looks very, very gross. Please do not tell me that that is what they did to the Khajiit. That is just wrong.

 

[Lord Chambers]

dongle, did you read the entire readme, or are you just parodying an ESF poster's reading comprehension?

Surely the addition of factions, where your choices impact your standing with them ala Daggerfall, is not a bad thing.

 

[User was nabbed fit]

dongle, did you read the entire readme, or are you just parodying an ESF poster's reading comprehension?

Surely the addition of factions, where your choices impact your standing with them ala Daggerfall, is not a bad thing.

What? No! OOO 1.3 is ALL about the man hunters! There's nothing else at all to make it worthwhile!

 

[dongle]

dongle, did you read the entire readme, or are you just parodying an ESF poster's reading comprehension?

Nope. I'm a Graphic Whore, remember? I clicked the link, clicked on "screenshots", saw Amazonian bikini chicks in the first two shots, lost all respect for the mod author.

<short pause>

OK, now I've read the FAQ & readme. (whew, lotsa words) My opinion remains unchanged.

You can sort of chart the mods history through the readme. He started out trying to fix the leveled lists, to reduce the obviousness of the scaling. Then threw in some skill/birthsign/interface text improvements. Looks like a good job too, some rational thought went into it, and he's tweaked his system back and forth to perfect it. Must have been a lot of tedious work to fix something Bethesda should have done right in the first place. DoublePlusGood +1. He should have stopped there.

Then we start adding stuff. Corralling a bunch of other mods, and trying to cram it all into the one true mod to rule them all. And we go steadily downhill from there.

Coloring a Minotaur white and giving it slightly different stats is the type of mod I never appreciate. (this is in the sixth screenshot down) For me it glaringly highlights the fact that it's the same old model used over and over, not add new levels of immersion. To me it's the most amateur type of mod out there. Don't get me wrong, I understand why folks enjoy doing it, and it's the first thing I ever did to Morrowind. If I were to play this mod tho, it'd jar the immersion right outa me.

By contrast, the worn armor looks pretty good. I can see that adding to the game in a subtle realistic way. Still, I think it doesn't belong in this mod.

I hate mods that add things that make no sense within the game universe. I can remember playing the highly regarded marksman mod for Morrowind and finding a vampire's coffin with a big red cross on it. In a world that doesn't know Christ, or have any crucifixion myth, that made no sense, and reminded me I was playing an amateurish mod. In OOO take, well, Amazonian Bikini Warriors. Having them run around in their underwear serves no purpose other than to make the kiddes go "OMFG, b00bies" sproooing. (although, to be fair, Bethesda has played that card often enough) Then, within two seconds, I wondered in a world without an Amazon river, why are they called that? Sorry, but this content is extremely sub-par to my eyes.

He should have polished off the leveled list mod, maybe add some other transparent fixes, and called it a day. If he wants to do a B00bie Warriorz mod, fine, but keep it separate.

Surely the addition of factions, where your choices impact your standing with them ala Daggerfall, is not a bad thing.

Sorry, I didn't see anything about complex non-linear quest-lines in the readme or FAQ. They may be in there, but it doesn't pimp them on the linked site.

That's the main problem I'm having here. Folks are holding OOO up as the one solution to any complaint about Oblivion. It may well do an admirable job fixing the level scaling, which is it's main purpose. It also adds some half-assed poorly thought-out content. It does -not- fix every other issue that keeps one from enjoying Oblivion.