JarlFrank
I like Thief THIS much
Oblivion was quite innovative to me with things I'd never seen before in RPGs (though they did exist previously... I just hadn't played those games). Imagine my surprise when I'd go into a dungeon and find all the treasure chests plundered by another adventuring party that was still in the dungeon and that you had a choice to either fight or say FUCK YOU! to and walk away. I remember encountering a party of half-orcs like this and rather than being annoyed that my booty was commandeered I would smile because, love it or hate it (Radiant AI), it was an example of NPCs "doing their own thing" and made the world feel alive and not just a bunch of "static NPCs" literally standing around 24/7 in the same spot waiting for their dialogue scripts to be triggered (which is one of the single most immersion-breaking things in RPGs that almost all the classic ones are guilty of). Later in the game, a female half-orc (voiced by Lynda Carter) says something snide to me then slowly walks off onto a path out of the area, and if you followed her, it led to a huge free-for-all battle. It was all very new to me and very charming.
I am pretty sure that was either a one-off scripted event or two, of not a mod straight. Oblivion had no such free-roaming AI feature.
It might very well have been (at least the female half orc part) but I distinctly remember encountering looted treasure chests long before I met those other adventurers in the dungeons.
That's just Oblivion's shitty randomized loot system spazzing out.