Interview Oblivion answers at GameSpot

[Saint_Proverbius]

You sure try hard to turn everything into a negative concerning Oblivion. I have a feeling if this information was released about another game, you would be raving about tit.

I'd probably be raving around it more if I hadn't seen that feature in other games before. Like I said, it's a cool feature to have. I just question whether or not brainless undead should be that smart. I even clearly spelled out why I like dumb undead.

Anyways, why are horses "pointless"?

If all you can do is ride them, they seem pretty pointless to me. Imagine GTA where the only thing you could do with cars is drive them - i.e. not shoot from them or run people over.

 

[Tintin]

If all you can do is ride them, they seem pretty pointless to me. Imagine GTA where the only thing you could do with cars is drive them - i.e. not shoot from them or run people over.

Pointless usually means there is no point. By saying all you can do is ride them, they're already not pointless. But anyways, in real life people don't just buy horses to fight each other from them.

I just question whether or not brainless undead should be that smart.

I see your point, but then again, if the skeleton AI goes along with your description, I see people complaining about Oblivions simplistic AI, even it if it's only for the skeletons. For something like roaming creatures I would get.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I like smart undead. As long as they're skeletons, not zombies. Zombies are supposed to be dumb, but the skeletons in Sinbad and Evil Dead were all pretty smart, so I guess it works. When I think of zombies, I think of animated corpses, given an unlife in which all they wish to do is to feed on human flesh. Whereas with skeletons, I think of them as having a purpose, as magical guardians or minions, with specific orders to fight and defend a relic. If they know how to fight with sword and shield, I'd imagine that they'd know how to pick stuff up as well and their limited magical instructions (e.g. AI!) allow them to discern a magical sword from a rusty one.

 

[Greatatlantic]

If all you can do is ride them, they seem pretty pointless to me. Imagine GTA where the only thing you could do with cars is drive them - i.e. not shoot from them or run people over.

This can be explained in game terms vary easily: the stir-up hasn't been invented yet. The first thing Roman Cavalry would do before fighting was dismount. Otherwise a cavalry charge into a line of infantry would be suicide. Until the stir up was invented a horsemen just didn't have the striking power needed to be effective against infantry units. There are exceptions, however, such as Alexander the Great's cavalry which could be decisive in battle. And considering how much of the Imperials are inspired by Rome... it makes sense that they wouldn't have stir ups. On the otherhand, the architecture is definitively Gothic, and they definitely had stir ups. Oh well.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Pointless usually means there is no point. By saying all you can do is ride them, they're already not pointless

Factor in world map travel and tell me what the point of riding the horse is other than "This is a picture of my character. Now here's a picture of my character on a horse."

But anyways, in real life people don't just buy horses to fight each other from them

Yeah, because in real life, we have cars, tanks, and tractors now. Neat, huh?

 

[Ismaul]

Anyways, I'm not trying to prove anything, I'm just curious since I've heard that "gothic wannabe" line before and I've always wondered about it. What are these features that Oblivion is implimenting that screams "gothic wannabe"?

Well, "wannabe" is not really a good word for it, but there's lot of things that go in Gothic's direction. First there's the NPC's AI. Then you've got collision-based combat, with active blocking. And, like Greatatlantic said, visually it resembles Gothic a lot, in the overall design, polish and environments. You also have dialogue trees and voiced dialogue, but that's not particular to Gothic. Anyways, those are all good improvments.

If an NPC or creature has a weapon, they won't try to get a better one. Only an unarmed (or disarmed -- there are skill perks you can get that give a chance to disarm) skeleton would pick up something that's lying around. Also if their weapon breaks and there are others lying around, they'll grab a new one.

The only time a non-player actor would switch weapons is if they have both ranged and melee weapons. They'll switch between them depending on the distance to the opponent.

Great. Seems like combat will be fun this time around. Usually, in Morrowind, when you had an enemy in front of you, you just didn't pay attention to him and focussed on your tools to kill him. This time, with enemies reacting to their environment, you'll actually have to pay attention and interact. That's great for immersion. Add active blocking and you've got a player engaged in the game's combat instead of bored of doing the same old combo.

 

[Atrokkus]

What I really approve of is the improvement in combat system. Now it's much more logical and exciting and challenging. They actually took the Gothic approach but improved it in the way of adding more focus on stats.
No more dumb-clicking the mouse to death.
Check.

AI is good, too.

But aside from that, I still can't see will it be a pure RPG or not... (still didn't read the interview, so may miss something)
I certainly hope they scrap their old dialog system (or rather an absense of it) and make it at least close to real RPG dialogs.

If they succeed in that, then I would be proud to retract all my anger towards Bethesda for dissapointing me so with Morrowind.

 

[NeutralMilkHotel]

Anyways, I'm not trying to prove anything, I'm just curious since I've heard that "gothic wannabe" line before and I've always wondered about it. What are these features that Oblivion is implimenting that screams "gothic wannabe"?

Well, "wannabe" is not really a good word for it, but there's lot of things that go in Gothic's direction. First there's the NPC's AI. Then you've got collision-based combat, with active blocking. And, like Greatatlantic said, visually it resembles Gothic a lot, in the overall design, polish and environments. You also have dialogue trees and voiced dialogue, but that's not particular to Gothic. Anyways, those are all good improvments.

Yeah, I understand, but to be fair, collision-based combat and active blocking weren't anything new when Gothic came around either. Anyways, it doesn't matter. I just don't like the "wannabe" term, since to me (my apologies if my meaning of the word is skewed) it denotes that it's shabby or inferior or a rip-off of the other thing, when it in this case it seems like taking a feature, improving it quite a bit and making it it's own (and the AI system reminds me much more of something like The Sims than Gothic's, where it's actually dynamic with AI instead of just scripted/static day after day).

Something in one of the latest interviews peaked my interest in the system:

Games.Net: The Radiant A.I. system looks awesome. How will it affect gameplay? For instance, it's one thing to hear that all the NPCs have real lives, jobs, and goals. Does that ever impact upon the player, or does it just make for a more realistic town environment? Will you ever bump into characters in unusual places, as they go on adventures of their own? How will the A.I. system affect combat? Will wounded enemies exhibit emotions, run away, etc?

Todd Howard: It's all of that. When you first play the game, it's really just for show. It makes the world believable and entertaining, and I think that's important. But as you play, you start to figure out what you can do with these NPCs, and how you can influence their behavior, and when doing a quest, it really comes into play. A simple "get the diamond from that guy... quest can be done in hundreds of ways now. Is he sleeping? When is he home? Does he take the diamond to work with him? Does he like me? Can he sell it? Should I kill him? Pick his pocket? Steal his food and see if he sells the diamond to eat? That's just some off the top of my head.

Makes me wonder how much they've improved the quests this time around (with AI or none).

Pointless usually means there is no point. By saying all you can do is ride them, they're already not pointless

Factor in world map travel and tell me what the point of riding the horse is other than "This is a picture of my character. Now here's a picture of my character on a horse."

World Map/Fast travel is only available to places you've already been to. And really, I'm sure plenty of people will want to travel on their own as well even to places they've already been to. You don't like it, obviously, but it's not pointless.

 

[Tintin]

Factor in world map travel and tell me what the point of riding the horse is other than "This is a picture of my character. Now here's a picture of my character on a horse."

Simple. The first time you go places you can't fast travel to them. Plus, if you're on a quest, to find a cave or something being on a horse beats walking anyday.

Yeah, because in real life, we have cars, tanks, and tractors now. Neat, huh?

Right, let's reword that then. In medieval times, people didn't just get horses to fight from them.

 

[Atrokkus]

Horse addition is great.
I don't understand why it's deemed to be such a complex feature... i mean, it's the same car, but just the physics is different and it can be killed...

Most MMORPGs have already featured mules and rideable animals.

 

[bryce777]

Well, that's a point in your standard D&D fantasy where skeletons have 0 intelligence, but if Todd Howard--who presumably gets to decide what's what in TES--says skeletons are smart enough to do it, they will be. It's one of his powers.

Very true.

They are obviously more like army of darkness skeletons. If they have crazy banter like from that movie I will be happier.

 

[Tintin]

It really fascinates me that people here, if they don't like something, will somehow manage to put a negative spin on everything about it, no matter how lame it sounds.

 

[LlamaGod]

Who said it was a "NEW AND INNOVATED STEP!"?

All I see are people saying is that it's a cool feature that's not used in many RPGs. Calm down there, Sparky.

Name a non-BioWare RPG and the SUPER COOL DUDE feature is probably in it.

:arrow: Stop sucking their peepee, please

 

[Vykromond]

I like smart undead. As long as they're skeletons, not zombies. Zombies are supposed to be dumb, but the skeletons in Sinbad and Evil Dead were all pretty smart, so I guess it works. When I think of zombies, I think of animated corpses, given an unlife in which all they wish to do is to feed on human flesh. Whereas with skeletons, I think of them as having a purpose, as magical guardians or minions, with specific orders to fight and defend a relic. If they know how to fight with sword and shield, I'd imagine that they'd know how to pick stuff up as well and their limited magical instructions (e.g. AI!) allow them to discern a magical sword from a rusty one.

Well-said!

 

[NeutralMilkHotel]

Who said it was a "NEW AND INNOVATED STEP!"?

All I see are people saying is that it's a cool feature that's not used in many RPGs. Calm down there, Sparky.

Name a non-BioWare RPG and the SUPER COOL DUDE feature is probably in it.

:arrow: Stop sucking their peepee, please

Arcanum? Bloodlines? TOEE ( I didn't play this enough to know if it's in or not)? Gothic? Most, if not all indie RPGs?
I don't know, tell me all these CRPGs that have it llama.

And again, nobody called it an amazing or OMG INNOVATED STEP, so why get pissy about it?

 

[bryce777]

Who said it was a "NEW AND INNOVATED STEP!"?

All I see are people saying is that it's a cool feature that's not used in many RPGs. Calm down there, Sparky.

Name a non-BioWare RPG and the SUPER COOL DUDE feature is probably in it.

:arrow: Stop sucking their peepee, please

No shit. All this guy ever does is suck developers' cocks all day and get excited about the stupidest shit imaginable as if it is gonna make a good game to have rollerskates on a deathclaw.

 

[NeutralMilkHotel]

Yeah, that's what I do bryce.

 

[kathode]

Well, "wannabe" is not really a good word for it, but there's lot of things that go in Gothic's direction. First there's the NPC's AI. Then you've got collision-based combat, with active blocking. And, like Greatatlantic said, visually it resembles Gothic a lot, in the overall design, polish and environments. You also have dialogue trees and voiced dialogue, but that's not particular to Gothic. Anyways, those are all good improvments.

Well it is give and take with each other, just like every other game out there. You see them talking about how big their world is and how great it is that their guilds are now seperate from the main quest. Both very obviously Morrowind influences. You can also see all the people on their forums clamoring for mounts, "pointless" or not. They are even using Gamebryo now, reportedly, like us So it goes both ways.

So they are doing pretty good in those regards. Next year maybe they will learn from us and actually have a decent e3 demo. I can't wait to play Gothic 3, but man oh man did it show poorly.

 

[bryce777]

Well, "wannabe" is not really a good word for it, but there's lot of things that go in Gothic's direction. First there's the NPC's AI. Then you've got collision-based combat, with active blocking. And, like Greatatlantic said, visually it resembles Gothic a lot, in the overall design, polish and environments. You also have dialogue trees and voiced dialogue, but that's not particular to Gothic. Anyways, those are all good improvments.

Well it is give and take with each other, just like every other game out there. You see them talking about how big their world is and how great it is that their guilds are now seperate from the main quest. Both very obviously Morrowind influences. .

Are you really this stupid/ignorant??? Is anyone?

This is just why I can't imagine a game from your company would not suck...you obviously don't even PLAY RPGs.

 

[Tintin]

Well, "wannabe" is not really a good word for it, but there's lot of things that go in Gothic's direction. First there's the NPC's AI. Then you've got collision-based combat, with active blocking. And, like Greatatlantic said, visually it resembles Gothic a lot, in the overall design, polish and environments. You also have dialogue trees and voiced dialogue, but that's not particular to Gothic. Anyways, those are all good improvments.

Well it is give and take with each other, just like every other game out there. You see them talking about how big their world is and how great it is that their guilds are now seperate from the main quest. Both very obviously Morrowind influences. .

Are you really this stupid/ignorant??? Is anyone?
.

And yet only one of you has made a successful game - the other - sitting at home complaining that the mentioned game isn't elitest pure rpgish enough for them.

 

[bryce777]

Well, "wannabe" is not really a good word for it, but there's lot of things that go in Gothic's direction. First there's the NPC's AI. Then you've got collision-based combat, with active blocking. And, like Greatatlantic said, visually it resembles Gothic a lot, in the overall design, polish and environments. You also have dialogue trees and voiced dialogue, but that's not particular to Gothic. Anyways, those are all good improvments.

Well it is give and take with each other, just like every other game out there. You see them talking about how big their world is and how great it is that their guilds are now seperate from the main quest. Both very obviously Morrowind influences. .

Are you really this stupid/ignorant??? Is anyone?
.

And yet only one of you has made a successful game - the other - sitting at home complaining that the mentioned game isn't elitest pure rpgish enough for them.

Actually I have been involved with several games, thanks. No rpgs, though.

 

[bryce777]

Also, morrowind is successful ONLY because they managed to fool buyers of daggerfall into buying their POS.

Eventually, unless they improve, people will wise up and stop buying their shit...then they will say 'there's just no market for pc rpgs any more!'

 

[MrSmileyFaceDude]

Also, morrowind is successful ONLY because they managed to fool buyers of daggerfall into buying their POS.

Eventually, unless they improve, people will wise up and stop buying their shit...then they will say 'there's just no market for pc rpgs any more!'

If that was the case, don't you think people would have stopped playing it? Morrowind still sells well, 3 years after release, all around the world. The mod community is very, very active, and if you look at the official forums or any of the many fan sites world wide, you'll see that there's a huge and active community of fans.

I don't care if you like Elder Scrolls games or not. That's your prerogative. But your hyperbole is getting a bit thick. You need to realize that your opinion is not shared by the entire world -- and that neither they nor you are wrong to hold those opinions, different as they are.

 

[Spazmo]

Quit holding back, MSFD, this is RPG Codex. Dave Gaider already once told Volourn to shut the fuck up, so you can flip out too.

 

[chaedwards]

Quit holding back, MSFD, this is RPG Codex. Dave Gaider already once told Volourn to shut the fuck up, so you can flip out too.

Although that wasn't quite as good as when he called Rosh a little doggy, and then everyone started telling him off for going too far...