Game News Oblivion mage quests (highly intricate stuff)

[Proweler]

Perhaps there is a little more to it. The University holds the enchanters and spellmakers. It might just be that the referals are just a way to get acces to those. I can't think of no other reason why they are to easy to get.

I dunno about the other qeusts, it's a poor write up anyway.

 

[EvoG]

At least all these previews point towards an imminent release, and thus the end of our collective nightmare.

hahah. :D

 

[bryce777]

I can't see how they could be much worse short of just delivering items to people.

 

[dagamer667]

A ripoff of Gothic, anyone?

 

[LlamaGod]

A ripoff of Gothic, anyone?

shhh, Oblivion doesnt copy features from games that came out around Morrowinds time and were better. Bethesda invented NPC Scripts, oh sorry, "Radiant AI".

 

[Drakron]

I liked Gothic 2 Mage fraction iniciation ... you had to buy a sheep and give then (poor sheep, all alone in a walled monestary full of NZs) .

 

[Abernathy]

I liked Gothic 2 Mage fraction iniciation ... you had to buy a sheep and give then (poor sheep, all alone in a walled monestary full of NZs) .

Hey, the sheep loved it - don't forget the monastary was built on a cliff!

(Stalin should get that joke, dunno if anyone else will :twisted: )

 

[Rune_74]

idiots.

You guys are idiotic.

its sad to even read this site anymore...vault dweller you have issues with oblivion enough already we get it...numerous posts from you tell us this...you think maybe you can make a vault dwellers I hate oblivion thread? keep it centralized?

this site has become a joke in the rpg community.

 

[LlamaGod]

this site has become a joke in the rpg community.

Last I checked, the TES Forums wernt the entire RPG community.

Also last I checked, The TES Forums were a joke in the gaming community.

ITS A BETA VERSION YOU TROLL!!1

 

[Stella Brando]

I liked Gothic 2 Mage fraction iniciation ... you had to buy a sheep and give then (poor sheep, all alone in a walled monestary full of NZs) .

Hey, the sheep loved it - don't forget the monastary was built on a cliff!

(Stalin should get that joke, dunno if anyone else will :twisted: )

Hey, im not into that wierd stuff. Anyway, in NZ its illegal to build churches, etc, next to the coast, as it attracts Vikings.

 

[Lumpy]

A ripoff of Gothic, anyone?

Yeah, everything in TES is a ripoff of Gothic. Third person perspective? Ripoff. Guilds? Ripoff. Swords?

shhh, Oblivion doesnt copy features from games that came out around Morrowinds time and were better. Bethesda invented NPC Scripts, oh sorry, "Radiant AI".

Well fuck it. When did Bethesda ever claim to have invented NPC ACTIVITIES, NOT SCRIPTS?
Radiant AI is different from scripts. A script is like this:
<<Mud -> Goto 3745, 435984, 5469854.
Bartender -> go to 3745, 435984, 5469843
Bartender -> put "01_ale_strong" on 3745, 435984, 5469848
Mud -> pick "01_ale_strong"
Mud -> use "01_ale_strong">>

In Radiant AI, it will be something like this:
<<Mud -> drink ale>>

 

[Lumpy]

Ok, maybe I'm being overly critical here, but here are my thoughts.

Quest 1: The guildmaster is worried about a missing mage, who's walking around being invisible, because he's a prankster. The guildmaster can't detect him and, obviously, has never heard of the invisibility spell. If that's not the stupidest thing you've ever heard of, I don't know what is. At least, a fedex quest is simple, but not stupid.

Quest 2: Same, but slightly tweaked idiotic design. The guidmaster lost the amulet and seeing ghosts. Obviously, she's never heard of conjuring. How these stupid people become guildmasters, I'd never understand.

Quest 1: VD, so what if he's heard of an invisibility spell? Do you suppose he should start throwing dispel spells everywhere, just because the missing mage might be invisible?
Although this quest is quite silly, I can't really find any flaws.
Quest 2: Conjuring? Nobody was conjuring anything. The ghosts appeared because she had lost her amulet. As long as the game gives a good explanation about what was going on, and about how the amulet got in the skull, it could be a nice quest.
Quest 3: Probably a piece of crap. Unless there was a big misunderstanding, which there probably wasn't.

 

[Antiphon]

Isn't the whole idea of a fantasy world ludicrous in and of itself?

It would help your argument of "Oblivion quests suck" if you could provide an example of a non-sucking quest in a similar fantasy world.

 

[merry andrew]

Is there even a similar fantasy world where axes are blunt, there are no quarterstaves or spears, and ranged weaponry is limited to projectile wands and bows and arrows?

 

[LlamaGod]

A ripoff of Gothic, anyone?

Yeah, everything in TES is a ripoff of Gothic. Third person perspective? Ripoff. Guilds? Ripoff. Swords?

shhh, Oblivion doesnt copy features from games that came out around Morrowinds time and were better. Bethesda invented NPC Scripts, oh sorry, "Radiant AI".

Well fuck it. When did Bethesda ever claim to have invented NPC ACTIVITIES, NOT SCRIPTS?
Radiant AI is different from scripts. A script is like this:
<<Mud -> Goto 3745, 435984, 5469854.
Bartender -> go to 3745, 435984, 5469843
Bartender -> put "01_ale_strong" on 3745, 435984, 5469848
Mud -> pick "01_ale_strong"
Mud -> use "01_ale_strong">>

In Radiant AI, it will be something like this:
<<Mud -> drink ale>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_hype

 

[Lumpy]

So what you're saying is, Radiant AI is actually comprised of scripts?

 

[LlamaGod]

I'm saying it's a fancy name and isn't what it's cracked up to be

 

[Lumpy]

It is what it's cracked up to be, a tool that allows NPC non scripted activities.

 

[Antiphon]

What I think I understand about RAI from my reading is it's a much more efficient way to make NPCs react to different things than scripting. Morrowind scripts ran once per frame. It was easy to bog down the CPU with too many mods running scripts. RAI code is part of the exe and runs at the speed of the CPU with timings and optimizations that aren't possible with scripts.

If you ever used a companion mod and had several companions, the local scripts running on each one could really slow down the game, especially in cities.

In Oblivion we hear there have been seen 20+ NPCs moving about in town running RAI. I don't think this would be possible using local scripts without a slideshow.

I also read RAI is supposed to make it much easier to write quests involving complex NPC behavior with little, if any, scripting. It's claimed it would help the devs write more complex and interactive quests. I guess will have to wait and see.

 

[Antiphon]

Is there even a similar fantasy world where axes are blunt, there are no quarterstaves or spears, and ranged weaponry is limited to projectile wands and bows and arrows?

I must be dense, I'm having trouble seeing how that helped the discussion.

 

[merry andrew]

Is there even a similar fantasy world where axes are blunt, there are no quarterstaves or spears, and ranged weaponry is limited to projectile wands and bows and arrows?

I must be dense, I'm having trouble seeing how that helped the discussion.

You proposed the idea that a fantasy world is ludicrous in and of itself. Then you asked for an example of a quest in a similar fantasy world. Then I outlined some of the highlights of the fantasy world of Oblivion, in an attempt to aid the discussion. I obviously failed miserably.

 

[Fodel]

Is there even a similar fantasy world where axes are blunt, there are no quarterstaves or spears, and ranged weaponry is limited to projectile wands and bows and arrows?

Yes, Geneforge , and is a very good fantasy world :D

About quests

- To get to the Mages University in the Imperial City you have to get a referral from each mage guild in each city.

Logic.

-Referral 1

Bruma was described as a log cabin type town,

A town with his own taste , well, is not Daggerfall

when he got there there was a huge snowstorm, so visibility was downgraded

Nice weather effect.

The char investigated the situation, asking around.

so the char persuaded him to tell more info about the disappearance.

OK, perhaps speechcraft is a good skill :D

This all took in about 20 minutes to complete.

20 minutes without combat, only investigate and speaking with npcs.

-Referral 2

Legawiin is described as a woodsy type esque town, very pleasant

Other different town.

She said to try and investigate the grave of her father in the Fort, and maybe you could find the amulet there.

Tipycal fedex quest, explore (fucking arrow :evil: ), kill the badass and got the item.

(The fort was described as "very active" btw, and bustling with activity).

Fine

-Referral 3

the city of anvil. Describes as very medieval and active port city, with alot of blacksmiths where all teh good weapons are.

Other different town

To destroy the rumor of cities not being active, he litereally saw 20+ people in view, in the port section of the town!!.

Fine

He asks you to go to the nearby tavern and inestigate. he also asks you to disguise as a merchant. You do so and you walk in, people are hustling, gambling, drinking, etc, very active.

We have a serial killer in town, you disguise and investigate with a challenging final combat, and tavern is not as MW, not bad.

Read a quest is not the same as play a quest, Fallout is a good exemple. :wink:

 

[merry andrew]

That's a good point, Geneforge and Oblivion both have limited ranged combat.

The quests are great because they're all not exactly the same and they have different solutions.

I am looking foward to this game because I like how the areas vary.

 

[Claw]

Quest 1: VD, so what if he's heard of an invisibility spell? Do you suppose he should start throwing dispel spells everywhere, just because the missing mage might be invisible?
Although this quest is quite silly, I can't really find any flaws.
Quest 2: Conjuring? Nobody was conjuring anything. The ghosts appeared because she had lost her amulet. As long as the game gives a good explanation about what was going on, and about how the amulet got in the skull, it could be a nice quest.
Quest 3: Probably a piece of crap. Unless there was a big misunderstanding, which there probably wasn't.

Q1: Isn't there a "Detect Invis" effect in TES? Why do these childish mages reveal their prank to the player of all people?*
Q2: In Ultima VII, I'd have used Seance to talk to the ghosts. Anyway, why is the amulet in her father's cask? Why didn't this shady mage hide it somewhere inconspicuous?
Q3: Indeed, there doesn't seem any room for for hoping that it's not complete bullshit.



PS:
*I can't just let this pass. Why not let the player find out there's an invisible mage running around? The possibilities are endless. There could be clues from talking to people (rather than solving the quest automatically), reading diaries, observing an invisible mage running around. How? Well, there IS the much-hyped physics system, for one.
Allright, maybe there is a slight possibility that the player character happened to be a smooth talker, totally winning the prankster over and solving the quest in the easiest way. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Lumpy]

Q1: No, there's no Detect Invisibility spell. The guy went missing. There was no way the guildmaster could find him, so he sent the player to investigate. Makes sense.
And the player persuaded that shady mage to tell him where the missing wizard was.

Q2: We'll see what the whole thing was about. Maybe he had some reason. Maybe he wanted that mage to get freaked out from finding the amulet in the skull.