Post all your thoughts on Oblivion here.

[bryce777]

poop

 

[Excrément]

and am I the only one to find the world too small? (when they put the fast-travel option, I thought it was because the world was too huge, but in fact it's not I am pretty sure you can cross cyrodil in a 20-30 minutes horse riding...)

I think this was one of the biggest things people complained about when the game was being developed - the idea that fast travel was necessary when it would take a relatively short amount of time to travel between locations anyway. This is why it really seemed a gamey feature - ensuring you can get straight to the action without anything inbetween. Thankfully, it is optional. I still would have preferred in character fast travel services than out of character free from hassle and no cost teleports.

fast travel doesn't disturb me at all because it's optional. And sometimes even for my ranger character I use it because sometimes I just want to go direct to the action withtou walking even if it's rare. Fast travel is a nice feature because it is optional and I think it's a pity it was not in MW.

but for the compass I have some mix reactions :
it could be very useful for some non-fun explorating part. For example, take the first quest of the fighters guild, I was happy to have the compass which indicates me where the house of the woman with the rats problem is. Because I don't see anyfun to ask some anvil citizens where is her house. so in this situation, I liked the compass.

but when I am wandering in the country, and I have always indications where the dungeons are, I don't have anymore surprise to find a dungeon by myself.
The most stupid part it's that you can see bandits settlement on your compass, so you are no longer suprised by their attacks. You just have to follow your compass while sneaking, and kill them all before they spot you and that stinks!

 

[kingcomrade]

it could be very useful for some non-fun explorating part. For example, take the first quest of the fighters guild, I was happy to have the compass which indicates me where the house of the woman with the rats problem is

I've been playing Arcanum, and I just got to that first big city, and I've got to say, I agree. Trying to remember which street is where is such a pain. Especially, the map of the town doesn't start out filled (the names of the buildings and such), you have to manually go through and read each sign post to get it into your map. Perhaps that's realistic, but seriously.

 

[Lord Chambers]

I pretty much only use fast travel to get to the right district in the Imperial City, or to go back to the Peyon Weyory (or whatever it is) to get my horse which though"stabled outside the city" after fast traveling, and visibly in the stable when I go to ride him, counts as a stolen horse. Wee.

 

[VenomByte]

The world certainly 'feels' smaller than Morrowind.

Whether that's because of the repetitive scenery, or the massively zoomed in map, I can't be sure.

 

[Excrément]

The world certainly 'feels' smaller than Morrowind.

Whether that's because of the repetitive scenery, or the massively zoomed in map, I can't be sure.

the world is bigger than morrowind but feels smaller because there is no fog this time and from skingrad you can see the imperial city.
You couldn't see Vivec from ebonheart whereas it was maybe 300 meters away...

 

[Data4]

What's up with Chefe? It's like he suddenly turned into Evog, only more fanatical.

Seriously... I keep skimming through recently posted-to threads, looking for a punchline. :D

-D4

 

[suibhne]

Fast travel is frustratingly noobish in its current implementation. It's still a great idea overall, but it needs some retooling:

A. Intra-town (i.e., within a single town) fast travel should always be available between districts, even if you haven't visited the district in question. (That's the way it is now.)

B. Outside of town or between towns, fast travel should only be possible between locations you've already visited - and even then only if you have some mode of fast travel available. There should be small merchant caravans between some cities - e.g. Anvil (the port city) and the Imperial City - and a horse could get you anywhere else. This would also provide added incentive for buying a horse, since right now it's basically just dress-up Barbie stuff.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Fast travel is frustratingly noobish in its current implementation.

That's the problem with Oblivion: everything is frustratingly noobish in it's implementation.

 

[RK47]

Don't use Fast Travel. IMO it's spoiling the game for me lol. I am having a hardtime resisting that shortcut. >_<

 

[glasnost]

it could be very useful for some non-fun explorating part. For example, take the first quest of the fighters guild, I was happy to have the compass which indicates me where the house of the woman with the rats problem is

I've been playing Arcanum, and I just got to that first big city, and I've got to say, I agree. Trying to remember which street is where is such a pain. Especially, the map of the town doesn't start out filled (the names of the buildings and such), you have to manually go through and read each sign post to get it into your map. Perhaps that's realistic, but seriously.

For me, the ideal solution would be more useful maps and clearer directions.

Adding beacons and homing devices just encourages lazy design and exposition. If a magic dot guides you to your target, why bother writing NPCs who actually tell you how to get places? Which is what they *would be doing* if this were a conversation taking place in reality. This also opens up other narrative possiblities: NPCs can lie about where something is, and a trusting PC (who doesn't bother to ask someone else/study his map) gets sent on a wild goose chase, or to his demise.

Tracking down Caius Cosades was one of the things that Morrowind did right. The NPC directing you to him didn't know where he was ('cause he doesn't live there), but he pointed you to a tavern, where somebody would know. If you didn't know where the tavern was you could ask any citizen of the town and be pointed in the right direction. Thus conversation, investigation, and a little careful thinking, this is what should be built upon, not substituted by 'meta' features that have no analog in the real world (unless you're contending that the Romans used GPS to navigate).

"You know, you're too damn hard to find," also instigates a line of conversation in which a writer could provide more background about an NPC's personality and habits...it's a story hook. You lose this kind of thing by "streamlining."

 

[Data4]

it could be very useful for some non-fun explorating part. For example, take the first quest of the fighters guild, I was happy to have the compass which indicates me where the house of the woman with the rats problem is

I've been playing Arcanum, and I just got to that first big city, and I've got to say, I agree. Trying to remember which street is where is such a pain. Especially, the map of the town doesn't start out filled (the names of the buildings and such), you have to manually go through and read each sign post to get it into your map. Perhaps that's realistic, but seriously.

For me, the ideal solution would be more useful maps and clearer directions.

Adding beacons and homing devices just encourages lazy design and exposition. If a magic dot guides you to your target, why bother writing NPCs who actually tell you how to get places? Which is what they *would be doing* if this were a conversation taking place in reality. This also opens up other narrative possiblities: NPCs can lie about where something is, and a trusting PC (who doesn't bother to ask someone else/study his map) gets sent on a wild goose chase, or to his demise.

Tracking down Caius Cosades was one of the things that Morrowind did right. The NPC directing you to him didn't know where he was ('cause he doesn't live there), but he pointed you to a tavern, where somebody would know. If you didn't know where the tavern was you could ask any citizen of the town and be pointed in the right direction. Thus conversation, investigation, and a little careful thinking, this is what should be built upon, not substituted by 'meta' features that have no analog in the real world (unless you're contending that the Romans used GPS to navigate).

"You know, you're too damn hard to find," also instigates a line of conversation in which a writer could provide more background about an NPC's personality and habits...it's a story hook. You lose this kind of thing by "streamlining."

I usually don't do the whole "QFT" thing, but you hit the nail on the head. Elitist as it may sound, people who couldn't find Caius in Morrowind have no business playing RPGs, period.

-D4

 

[Nog Robbin]

For me, the ideal solution would be more useful maps and clearer directions.
...

I agree fully. In fact, if such a thing as a homing beacon is required (and with generally available better directions etc. it shouldn't be essential!) it *could* be implemented as an in world/in character feature - e.g. a spell. Not always useful - for example, to locate someone or a specific thing you need to either have owned the object or know the person - or be with someone who had/does. Cast the spell, and an area of the map is highlighted. The closer you are, or the more powerful you are, the more precise the targetting. Once you've cast it for a specific person/object you can recast even without the original person being nearbye (as long as you haven't "located" anything else since). The effect would fade from the map, again dependent on caster strength.

It has an ingame cost - it has limitations - but on top of that it maintains immersion whilst still adding an easier way of locating things/people that may move around.

 

[lostpwd]

Instead of starting a new thread, I'll just put my observations in here.

There will be a few minor spoilers in this post, I'll mark them with ***'s


I think that oblivion weakest points, are in plot and dialogue. I mean, are there reins for the horses or not? I've played the game for 60 hours or something, and I haven't remembered to check and see if the reins are actually there, despite the controversy there was about it, just prior to release. Are the graphics nextgen? Or are the this gen? Well, I think they're mostly beautiful, nextgen or not, I doubt anyone could seriously think that they are ugly?

The game is obviously huge, there are what seems like a gazillion quests and points of interest in the game. So many that it will take ages getting through just half of them. I've currently played though about (my guess) 75% of the mage guild quests with one character, and 100% of the thieves guild quests + 50% of the dark brotherhood quests with another character, and it still feels like I've just scratched the surface.

Here is where the weak points come in, plot-weakness first. Most of the quests are really sorta bland.. For the context they're in, they mostly make sense, but most of them doesn't really have any oomf or whoa! plot wise. It's not that they're not pretty fun, but many lack any purpose, other than getting to the end, imho. In general there are no really awesome plot twists, or surprising changes in the narrative, no real originality. This isnt completely true of course, there are some quests which are really cool and exciting

*** minor spoilers ***


For instance, the quest "into the painting" is pretty nice, where you have to enter into a painting to rescue the artist, from some trolls, that some theif painted in after the painter was in there, pretty funny and well made. The dark brotherhood quest, where you have to kill 6 people, who are locked into a house, in the search for a chest full of gold, is an awesome spin, on the classic horror movie story with one of the guests being a insane murderer (which is you, of course) it's a hilarious quest. Many of the dark brotherhood quests are actually very nice, many of them made me really uncomftable actually carrying out, by far the most interesting questline I've seen in the game, this far. There is also a "into the dreams" quest, where you have to go into the nightmares of some person, to rescue him. It's pretty good as well, and an interesting change of pace.





*** Spoilers off ***

So, there are clearly good, interesting plots/quests in the game, there just isn't that many of them. I think it's partly because of the games enormous scale. I dont think it would be possible to make 200+ interesting, awe-inspiring quests a 'la the best game ever made, plane scape. Especially because the game has no overarcing plot. There is the main quest of course, but it's not really related to anything else, I think it's an limitation of the design. These minor quests cant really relate to you, because they dont have the luxury of other less freeform oriented games, of knowing what you have been through, or what you have done, this far. There is no telling wether you have been through the thieves guild quests(even the main quest), or not when you embark on some other quest, that makes it impossible to use your past experiences (experianced or told) "against" you, plot-wise. Plane scape did this very well imho, that's not saying much of course, as plane scape did every excitingly well. It also makes it impossible to have completely story changing plot-twists, as there is no real story to change (I'm thinking of stuff like the one moment of kotor, that completely rocked, imho.. I was so taken with my pants down at that turn in the storyline, awesome experience imho). As such, most of the quests lack any real involvement or emotion, the dark brotherhood series being somewhat of an exception (hehe, somewhat disturbing), mostly because you cant help feeling a little bad about what you're doing, well.. To each his own, I guess. So far, I havent' seen any really horror oriented quests either. The game is imho, perfect for it, but I dont think there is any there. I am of course, thinking of the "shalebridge cradle" level, in theif 3, that level alone, is worth buying 10 thief III cds, imho. For me, that level was the pinnacle of ambience and storytelling use to create a perfect enviroment, that quite simply, scare the crap out of me. I have unfortunately never before or since, had a gaming experience quite like that. (Sure, there are better games, more interesting plots, etc, but the cradle really was an amazing accomplishment)


Dialogue wise, the game is clearly lacking, imho. Most of the dialogue is just uninteresting and bland if not boring. It's just the same old yes, no, "blah" replies and answers you can give. It's a real shame because, inspiring dialogue really can carry a game a long way, and even with the freeform style of oblivion, it should be more than possible. Kotor was great in this respect (some may disagree). The dialogue in Kotor was some of the most hilarious I've ever seen in a game. I found myself at numerous occations, taking what I knew was the "wrong" response, just to see what would happen. The killer robot was hilarious to talk to, and the dialogue between oneself and the female jedi was in my opinion extremely funny and well-written. There is very little of this sort in oblivion. It's not entirely lacking of course, but interesting dialogue seems very rare. In the dark brotherhood questline, you can basically respond "<say noting>" to anything, anyone tells you, and it somehow fits perfectly.. That is pretty funny. Dialogue in oblivion is mostly limited to extracting information you need, and nothing else. It's a shame, because the possiblity of cool interactions is definitly there.


Anyway, in general, I really like the game. Despite the sad, dreary dialogue, the often lackluster plots and quests. Sounds strange, but it is a good game, and it does really shine, once in a while.

 

[Hez-hezron]

Anyway, in general, I really like the game. Despite the sad, dreary dialogue, the often lackluster plots and quests. Sounds strange, but it is a good game, and it does really shine, once in a while.

My question: is Oblivion worth those 50$? Since Dreamfall is going to be released really soon I'm wondering if I should spend my money on Oblivion or rather wait untill the price goes down.

 

[Imbecile]

That depends how important the dialogue is to you. If its paramount, I’d say steer clear otherwise give it a whirl. Even if you get bored of it quickly it’ll still eat a good 40 hours of your time, plus – you get to see what the fuss is about and get to make your own mind up as to whether it’s a pile of shite, or the best thing since sliced bread.

Which begs the question – whats so damned good about sliced bread?

 

[kingcomrade]

If it wasn't sliced, you would have to slice it.

 

[Imbecile]

If it wasn't sliced, you would have to slice it.

I was blind, but now I can see!

Would this work with other goods and services? Sliced carrots? Sliced Beds? Sliced Chauffeurs?

 

[Nog Robbin]

If it wasn't sliced, you would have to slice it.

Sod that. Just tear into it with your teeth. Of if you so desperately require a sandwich with filling, rip the load in half.

 

[VasikkA]

Post all your thoughts on Oblivion here ... otherwise the board will be clogged up with individual threads of Oblivion bashing/praising.

That's a very noble attempt, but the dozens of Oblivion newsposts alone(not to mention the amount of idiots swarming the forums) make it a rather pointless desire, don't you think?

 

[xemous]

Anyone know how to get object shadows in Oblivion.

 

[Elwro]

Well, as for Dreamfall, I read that it'll be shorter than TLJ and have action elements; also what I've read about the keyboard only interface (which would be strange for a modern adventure game) keeps me from having high hopes for the title. I doubt it'd be worth $50...

Of course, I could be mistaken as I've been reading about the game quite a while ago.

 

[franc kaos]

Anyway, in general, I really like the game. Despite the sad, dreary dialogue, the often lackluster plots and quests. Sounds strange, but it is a good game, and it does really shine, once in a while.

My question: is Oblivion worth those 50$? Since Dreamfall is going to be released really soon I'm wondering if I should spend my money on Oblivion or rather wait untill the price goes down.

Well, I just bought it today, after trying the demo for a week (Asda were selling it for £30 sterling), I thought it was worth the money. Enjoying the quests, loving the exploration, creeping thru some amazing dungeons, and looking forward to some brilliant modded quests in the future.

Hate the UI, speechcraft and emptiness of the cities.

I agree the dialogue writing leaves something to be desired, and they could've paid the old designers to come up with some new books or something, and they shouldn't have borked the PC version to keep MicroShit happy (shadows, levitation etc), but my enjoyment far outweighs the disappointments.

I still hate Pete Hines (and to a lesser extent Todd Howard (who I think is either bullied by Pete, or is his bitch)), but there are plenty more devs there who deserve the money, as someone earlier said, a lot of love has been put into this game (notwithstanding the shit 360 control interface), and it shines thru'.

I've even started playing with the construction set (which eats up hours at a time on its own), and I'm gonna try and create a quest with so much Choice and Consequence and Branching Dialogue... <just gotta take my pill - cough>.

http://www.paulazzo.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/me.jpg
Yeah, I like it - more than I thought I would.

 

[Data4]

I've even started playing with the construction set (which eats up hours at a time on its own), and I'm gonna try and create a quest with so much Choice and Consequence and Branching Dialogue... <just gotta take my pill - cough>.

Please, please, for the love of all that you hold dear, do this. I would love to see a real roleplaying, branching dialogue, open-ended in the purest sense quest in this engine. Your opinion of the game mirrors mine, so I can see how the desire to wrangle something wonderful out of it can develop.

So far, I'm seeing comments in the modding forum over at the ESF complaining that the CS has been gimped compared to Morrowind's. Buildings aren't as modular, or something to that effect, just to name an issue. I haven't cracked open the CS myself, but I want to try to finish the main quest before I dabble too much.

Anyway, if you're serious, please do keep us updated.

-D4

 

[xemous]

The game is exactly like Morrowind, theres about 5 people in the first city, world is empty and dead, not really anything to do, and then..