Preview Truckload of new Oblivion screens at AG.ru

[Whipporowill]

I think maybe I'll remake it with legal screenshots, as we have some legal interface shots and I think it's a valid point.

Sure is! Inventory interface was the worst part of the UI, albeit the rest could do with a little smaller font I could probably live with it.

 

[Atrokkus]

Technically it's not a "leaked" build. Russian publisher 1C had the build for localization purposes, and they provided the website access to the build so they could write the article. There's not an early build of Oblivion circulating around. It's all looking like it's a misunderstanding. The website has already removed the new screenshots.

Well, that explains a lot. Now the question is: had 1C rights to give this copy to AG.ru? Probably not, and it does conflict with Bethesda's interests.

I didn't know that, however, what kinda moron would think that this was an exclusive info? No, really? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

For us, it may be clear, but not for an average player whose only info site is AG.ru (because he doesn't know english, or just doesn't bother to visit other sites, including official). Plus, as it turns out, it is not really pirate version, but a misused localization copy.

 

[Vault Dweller]

But frankly, this is starting to grow old. The little insults...
...Bark on little doggie

Yeah, you sure hate those little insults.

Working to keep a site fresh is not breaking the tradition, but posting something positive for a change just might.

I promise that whenever a decent RPG will be released, I'll be all over it in a very positive manner. Besides, I'm making a game and always eager to have design discussions, does that count as positive?

Trying to make the codex sound as something more than a silly niche game site is ridiculous

It is, I agree. Now, who tried that? The Codex is a small site where people who share the same position on RPGs get together and praise good games and bitch about crappy games. That's all.

 

[pseudo intellectual]

promise that whenever a decent RPG will be released, I'll be all over it in a very positive manner.

What's the chance of this with Troika gone?

 

[Shagnak]

The Codex is a small site where people who share the same position on RPGs get together and praise good games and bitch about crappy games. That's all.

Damn, I knew I was at the wrong forum...

Anyway
...RPGish stuff missing from Oblivion that would be nice to keep...CHECK
...over-large UI that may or may not be resizeable...CHECK
...high possibility of consolish compromises...CHECK
...possibilities that Shagnak will have some fun regardless...HIGH

I don't think anyone who is moaning about specific things are necessarily determined to hate the game as a whole.

 

[Whipporowill]

I thought the point was that we seldom share the same position on everything - everyone can basically agree with someone on something, or a certain game (often Fallout, or classic games), a general dislike of jpgs and so on - but I can't remember when I found my opion being a clone of someone elses...

 

[Twinfalls]

everyone can basically agree with someone on something, a general dislike of jpgs and so on

How many image compression discussions have I missed out on here?

 

[Whipporowill]

everyone can basically agree with someone on something, a general dislike of jpgs and so on

How many image compression discussions have I missed out on here?

Me, I prefer gifs! Uh, that's supposed to be jRpgs...

 

[Vault Dweller]

The opinions are different, and that's great, but they all fit within the same position on RPGs.

 

[Trash]

Yeah, you sure hate those little insults.

Heck, it's all about evolution. If one cannot adapt, one will soon be another sad footnote in history. Besides, I really loved the chihuaha post. :D

I promise that whenever a decent RPG will be released, I'll be all over it in a very positive manner. Besides, I'm making a game and always eager to have design discussions, does that count as positive?

That's cool and all. It's just that I do like the codex, I'm just thinking that it could be a damn lot better.

It is, I agree. Now, who tried that? The Codex is a small site where people who share the same position on RPGs get together and praise good games and bitch about crappy games. That's all.

Sometimes the codex gets a bit carried away. The bitchfest can be a lot of fun when one is in the mood, otherwise it's far fetched and boring. People often seem to be reaching a bit far seeking the shit parts while "discussing" a game. A bit more real discussion and less bitching for the sake of it might help. But hell, who am I?

Well, I had fun on a boring sunday afternoon otherwise filled with work. G'night y'all!

 

[Vault Dweller]

Missed that post, my bad, Fint.

Well, sweetie, we've seen so little dialogue it's hard to make a fair comparisson.

Like I said, the design of what we've seen tells you enough, unless you don't want to see. The font, the simple sentences, the "cinematic" or cutscene style tell you that you shouldn't expect anything deep and creative. Besides, considering that number of screens covering pretty much everything the Russians have posted, don't you think that if there were deeper dialogues, we would have seen them?

Morrowinds dialogue (and DFs for that matter) was so dull that it would be hard NOT to improve on it with a minimum of effort in giving characters more personality, as Bethesda says its done.

Bethesda said many things, some of them may even be true. Kathode "illegal build" post is one of many examples.

Yeah, but come on now. Let's be real. Daggerfall had way more features then the later Elder Scrolls, but many of them were buggy, half-assed, poorly implemented features.

True, the design was ambitious and the bugs were numerous, and yet, YET!, 90% of those crazy things worked. DF aint the second coming of Jesus, but even with bugs DF was much bigger, better, and deeper game than MW was. As an RPG, DF offered a solid and deep character system, tons of features to use the skills on, huge variety of quests, etc. It wasn't a perfect game, but it was a pioneer. MW was a dumbed down shallow world. We'll see what OB will be like.

Don't get me wrong, Daggerfall was a great game, but I think Oblivion is more about implementing a smaller number of features well rather then a huge number of features poorly.

The number of features is so small now that I'd rather take huge and buggy. We'd know soon enough.

 

[Tintin]

the "cinematic" or cutscene style tell you

Now you're saying cinematic isn't deep or creative? Wow.....

The number of features is so small now that I'd rather take huge and buggy.

That's a joke. You know that there is a wide variety of features. Just because all you focus on is "no mounted combat, no horses in cities, no jumping over city walls", don't muddle them up and start thinking you can compare what is in with what isn't.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

And again you just took two sentences, disregarded the rest of the post and made a nice easy bash. My posts kinda boiled down to the fact that the codex is stale. The gimmick is getting tiresome and it would be a good thing for the codex to start doing some more neat stuff like more articles and reviews.

Bashing Oblivion is just a gimmick now is it? Cool. By the way, you are aware that suggested articles for us to write at the moment are all previews on Oblivion. I'm sure more Oblivion bashing is what you'll enjoy.

What I personally like though, is how you compain about us bashing Oblivion and then go right ahead and bash it yourself. That's irony right there folks.

My posts kinda boiled down to the fact that the codex is stale.

It's called position, son.

VD, did you ever think of having an abortion or you know, maybe plain out-right family murder?

True picture? Do you truly believe that this leaked beta reflects the real thing that is due to be released in a month?

No, Bethesda will perform a miracle and re-work all their text and images to look better just before the game is released and reveal something so marvellously and completely different from their screenshots that people won't even be able to tell that it's the same game.

Nope, haven't heard that one before. No siree.

Well, sweetie, we've seen so little dialogue it's hard to make a fair comparisson. If I remember correctly, I think there were only maybe one or two Morrowind dialogue screens before release

Yeah and look how much that dialogue system sucked, sweetie! The Wikipedia is great but it ain't no dialogue system which, if you'll recall honey buns, is what we were actually promised this time around.

the "cinematic" or cutscene style tell you

Now you're saying cinematic isn't deep or creative? Wow.....

Not for an interactive form of entertainment it isn't. Depth in games comes from playing the story and taking part, even changing the outcome, not sitting back and watching it unfold in scripted cutscenes.

I don't think anyone who is moaning about specific things are necessarily determined to hate the game as a whole.

Agreed. I'll be buying Oblivion the same as I bought Morrowind (never bought NWN or Kotor though, I guess I'm just a graphics whore at heart). However, I - like others here- are perfectly entitled to complain about the lack of options present in what supposedly is an "RPG" and what gets touted around at various other gaming web-sites as "taking RPG to new heights" when as far as I'm concerned, it's taking them backwards. So far a lot of implementations on what we DO know are half-arsed. Horses you can ride but can't swing weapons from, right after Bethesda said "Fantasy to us, is about riding around on horseback killing people LEWL". Weapons that aren't in the game for seemingly no reason what-so-ever, calling sharp weapons "blunt" etc... the list goes on and on. None of which bodes well for the real RPG features like good dialogue with real choices and a non-linear story. Marketing types focus on selling what their game has, not on what it doesn't have. Is it therefore surprising that Oblivion isn't being pushed around on the back of the dialogue or great interactive plot?

I've heard it all before with countless games, especially Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. I wrote a huge-arse article on how much that one would suck based entirely on the impression the previews and leaked info revealed. At the time, I got the whole "but you haven't played it yet!" response because for some reason, people think you can't make a reasonable judgement based on any information until you've played it yourself. People somehow get it in their thick heads that the developer is holding back information that'll rock your socks and blow you away. That while they waffle on and on about the graphics and PATRICK STEWART, they're holding back on the dialogue system because you know, they need to keep something back as a surprise! Never mind the large font that doesn't allow lots of text, never mind the fact that all dialogue is voiced which must mean all dialogue has been written by now and that it can't be that much, unless they really did spend half their budget on Voice-Overs.

Oblivion will be a fantastic little exploration game I'm sure but that's not what the RPG Codex is all about.

 

[Chefe]

Zing.

 

[Shagnak]

I don't think anyone who is moaning about specific things are necessarily determined to hate the game as a whole.

Agreed. I'll be buying Oblivion the same as I bought Morrowind (never bought NWN or Kotor though, I guess I'm just a graphics whore at heart). However, I - like others here- are perfectly entitled to complain about the lack of options present in what supposedly is an "RPG"...

Amen Brother!

CAN WE GET A BIG OL' AMEN FROM THE HOUSE?

!!AMEN!!

!!HALELUJAH!!

!!YEEHAAW!!

 

[Chefe]

Hail Satan!

 

[Claw]

The Birthsign screen actually made me hopeful that maybe they are steering away from the magic effects in character creation like these one-shot abilities most races had in MW.
I found this to be rather annoying, probably the first WTF? moment after I was finished admiring the water.

 

[Vault Dweller]

the "cinematic" or cutscene style tell you

Now you're saying cinematic isn't deep or creative? Wow.....

First, cinematic isn't equivalent of "deep and creative", unless you've managed to miss all the shitty movies (try anything by Uwe Boll, can't go wrong here). Second, cinematic in games means a very specific thing. Try figuring out what it is.

The number of features is so small now that I'd rather take huge and buggy.

That's a joke. You know that there is a wide variety of features. Just because all you focus on is "no mounted combat, no horses in cities, no jumping over city walls", don't muddle them up and start thinking you can compare what is in with what isn't.

Yeah, I know, the number of features is amazing. You can explore crypts, or dungeons, or caves, or forests, or tombs, or crypts... Holy shit, I feel dizzy from all that freedom.

 

[Tintin]

Second, cinematic in games means a very specific thing.

So what? Syberia is a cinematic game but it is still a good game.

Maybe you meant "in an RPG"

First, cinematic isn't equivalent of "deep and creative"

I didn't say that, but you did say "cinematic means not deep and creative". There are excellent movies out there.

Yeah, I know, the number of features is amazing. You can explore crypts, or dungeons, or caves, or forests, or tombs, or crypts... Holy shit, I feel dizzy from all that freedom.

You'd think someone who wasted their past months bitching about the game would know a bit more about it....

 

[Chefe]

Maybe you meant "in an RPG"

 

[Vault Dweller]

So what? Syberia is a cinematic game but it is still a good game.

Maybe you meant "in an RPG"

*sighs* Tintin, reread what I wrote again, this time in context. You do know what context is, don't you?

I didn't say that, but you did say "cinematic means not deep and creative". There are excellent movies out there.

Here is the original quote in response to "we don't know much about dialogues":
"The font, the simple sentences, the "cinematic" or cutscene style tell you that you shouldn't expect anything deep and creative."
Still don't get it?

 

[Micmu]

The font, the simple sentences, the "cinematic" or cutscene style tell you that you shouldn't expect anything deep and creative."

My thoughts about cinematics... Few, short cinematics (intro, outro, special events, dreams, where PC is not involved, etc..) aren't so bad.
But as soon as it comes to a repetitive "cutscenning", gameplay is degraded to a very strict, pre-defined linear path with none or few irrelevant choices, because you can't do so many cutscenes for every possibility.
That "style" suggests a lot of cutscenning...

 

[TheGreatGodPan]

Half Life didn't have cutscenes, yet was extremely linear. The thing about cutscenes are, you can't interact. If I wanted a movie, I'd get a movie.

 

[Tintin]

Maybe you meant "in an RPG"

Still don't get it?

Yes, you said that combined with cinematic touch, it makes it clear it's not deep. How does cinematic contribute to it not being deep? Your basically saying cinematic = not deep.

 

[Chefe]

I'm an unoriginal dumbfuck.