Claw said:
Shagnak said:
I went into Oblivion via the gate at Kvatch when I was 2nd level.
It was ridiculously easy.
Yet many people complain it was too hard. I would like to see someone who had trouble with a lvl10+ character try again with a character going straight for this gate, just to see how the claims that the different experiences are a result of varying player skill hold up.
In my game I went into the first Oblivion gate and the subsequent battle at Kvatch at level 15. It was incredibly difficult. The guards and soldiers were ridiculously weak, and died instantly. The Captain has to live to the end, so he wound up being unconcious the whole time. So it was me versus an army of high level Daedras. I got through it, but barely and was forced to reload several times.
I had saved a character right at the exit to the first dungeon where you can change everything before leaving, so I made a new character and went immediately to the Gate and Kvatch. I did it the gate very easily at lvl1, then levelled to 2 for the castle battle and did that easily as well. Only 1 guard died in the whole battle. It did seem very silly. The forces of evil that raze an entire city taken down by someone who just picked up a sword for the first time.
So what people are saying is true. You could probably finish the entire game at lvl1 if you wanted tp. No, I am certain you coud.
This is no question a huge mistake on Bethesdas part. I think they did it, to appeal to the average gamer more and make sure that they could experience everything in the world. In reality, they are going to ruin the experience for the average gamer, because he/she will not create an optimized build likely and when it scales it will get too difficult.
Oblivion is the only RPG game I have ever played that gets significantly more difficult as you level up. For a game designed for a hard core RPG audience, and done a little differently than Bethesda did it, that might be a great way to go. Let's face it, in all RPGS for the most part you build to some huge final battle to save the world, and it would make sense for it to get harder and harder as you go along. Most RPGs get easier the more powerful you get.
Bethesda really should not have done it this way. The outisde forests and stuff make sense to have this leveling scheme so you can GET TO any destinaition in the game you want to, but not necessarily be able to complete it. Random places should have been a combination of fixed difficulty locations from easy to extremely hard, and some that scale. The side quests you get could be based on level and steer you to the right ones. If you go off on your own, well you are on your own. The main quest should have been a set level thing designed for you to do each part at a certain level, so that everyones experience in the main quest is similar and the epic scale of it could be felt. This does not mean they should make it easier, but at a set difficulty designed for certain character ranges.
If you go to anywhere that they are talking about this, this is the big topic. Bethesda should rethink this and rebalance the game similar to what I suggested.
On items: item scaling is completely reatarded. It is not quite as bad as some are making it, but it is pretty bad. My character did find some items early on that were out of depth seemingly though.
Having said all that, I still like it. For someone like me that has played almost every RPG that has been released for computers since the days of the C64, I find it fun and quite challenging. I am now in the early 20s for a level. I have not found an area I could not get through. But it requires constant changing of of the skills and strategies that you use each time you level. You have to use a combination of ranged, melee, spells, stealth to get through. It is very challenging and quite fun. And it is doable albeit very difficult. It requires a lot of thought and planning and choosing the right tactics and combinations to get past each situation. In other words, all the combat skills I have developed over the years in various RPGS and tactical games. I think a newer player though would get frustrated and give up though. But many here for example, might like the challenge.
One final thing. Many of the side quests are quite excellent. They are interesting and varied, so far better than the main quest. One in particular is one of the neatest side quests I have done. The Oblivion areas are really kind of unimaginative and predictable on the other hand.
Long post but to summarize:
Yes the balancing and leveling scheme is as bad as everyone says. The lower the level of the character the more powerful he actually is relative to what he has to fight.
Bethesda desparately needs to rebalance this game and offer a patch. It is quite silly and broken the way it is.
For hard core experienced gamers though, the combat difficulty can and does make a rewarding challenge.
Unfortunately, Bethesda listens to their customers maybe the least of any company, and made many many very poor design decisions in this game purely for perceived financial reasons rather than to make a great game such as the interface which sucks hard on the PC, the removal of HDR and AA to placate Nvidia, and the render distance thing. I think the odds of them doing the right thing and rebalancing are about the same as me having a 3 way with Uma and Liz Hurley tonight unfortunately.
