MultiDiscussion : TES5: Skyrim, BattleField 3, COD, R6 etc.

[Second 0]

I have little hope for a good Elder Scrolls, considering Oblivion and Fallout 3/New Vegas.

I'll stick to Morrowind.

Indeed. And moving to Skyrim isn't most touching move to make for me personally. Going for Blackmarsh would have been new exotic location to explore, much like Morrowind was. If Blackmarsh would be made properly it might serve as really mind blowing experience!

Right now i'm expecting us to get yet another generic viking-world with generic-vikings doing little more than boozing and kicking ass. Much like Oblivion was about generic fantasy-land with generic fantasy-stereotypes, with little originality and some design-flaws which broke the lore's reliability and continuity... Which for me is key to immerse myself into universe of Elder Scrolls, lore is very important and things like turning Cyrodill into temperate climate with no trace of Jungles (as there was supposed to be according lore) are eating away reliability of lore.

So overall: i'm not very exited but will buy it if it scores as high review ratings as Oblivion did.

[Flash Thunder 10]

gamebryo engine= No buy

[dmarkwick 261]

Much like Oblivion was about generic fantasy-land with generic fantasy-stereotypes, with little originality and some design-flaws which broke the lore's reliability and continuity... Which for me is key to immerse myself into universe of Elder Scrolls, lore is very important and things like turning Cyrodill into temperate climate with no trace of Jungles (as there was supposed to be according lore) are eating away reliability of lore.

So overall: i'm not very exited but will buy it if it scores as high review ratings as Oblivion did.

I'm compelled to point out that the high review score of Oblivion seems to have not much actual relation to the quality of the game itself :) If you disliked Oblivion despite it's high scores, why will you rely on a similar method for ES5? ;)

[maturin 12]

Well a game isn't any less fun for being shallow and contrived.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

After I heard about it I decided to fire up good old Oblivion again. Made myself a Nord Hunter and went fishing. Other than it's graphics looking just slightly old, I still find it looks pretty good. So for the graphical aspect, I think the engine still rocks.

And as one of the few, I have to say that I prefer the Oblivion countryside compared to the waaay too fantasy inspired Morrowind, where I feel like an ant among giant plants. Just too weird for me. But for me, Oblivion is far too small, and as far as the main story goes, offers little replayability compared to Daggerfall with it's excellent story, story telling, and many twists and branches. Both Oblivion and Morrowind felt really linear in terms of what you're supposed to do (excluding speed runs obviously).

Dragons? Hmm. Not sure. May be better than the stupid Oblivion gates which for sure wasn't up my alley. But I prefer chivalry based with earthlike kings (multiple), heirs and heirlooms, and some complex mysterious story that unfolds rather than being told from the beginning what is to come. Instead of the supernatural with hell and whatnot.

When you buy an expansion manual to a dice based RPG, although you may combine some skills, you typically end up with a lot more of everything. With both Oblivion, we got a hell lot less :confused: And the interface wasn't good either after it's transformation to the console world.

Funny though, although I liked Oblivion more than Morrowind, I seem to remember more from Morrowind. Skyrim? I guess time will tell, but I won't be running to the store this time. I guess.

[sic-disaster 311]

Well a game isn't any less fun for being shallow and contrived.

It is when the previous entries in that series were not shallow and contrived.

[Shadow NX 1]

Not so sure about Skyrim as setting but its a new TES game so... yay!

Btw, not 100% sure about it being availeable in english yet ( for those who speak german, definatly try it, its completely professional voiced ) but i definatly recommend everyone that has Oblivion to try out the "Nehrim:At fates edge" total conversion.

Or in short, its mainly all that Oblivion saddly wasnt.

Im at 80+ hours atm and still far from the final mission of the MQ...

Better than any RPG i played lately and all that comes for free.

http://www.nehrim.de/indexEV.html

[NeMeSiS 11]

gamebryo engine= No buy

I am glad i am not the only one who is annoyed by that, every game in this list that i played made me wish it was on a different engine.

Anyway, even though i am absolutely not a fantasy fan, i prefered the Morrowind world over the Oblivion world. Morrowind is easily one of the most atmospheric games i have played, while Oblivion just felt bland.

Remember that Silt Strider cry? Absolutely amazing.

Edited December 13, 2010 by NeMeSiS

[Maio 293]

Well don't know what to say ... I have hunch that will get a console RPG again ... Hope not though .

[mosh 0]

I never tried Morrowind but did mess around with Oblivion... I really used to get into that fantasy type stuff, but just didn't ever get around to finishing the game. I did like a lot of the mods though. My favorite was the one that added a naked female companion for me... :D

I will check out the new one, I've failed in most of my game purchases this year though, so I'll mostly likely hold off for awhile when released.

EDIT -

Not so sure about Skyrim as setting but its a new TES game so... yay!

Btw, not 100% sure about it being availeable in english yet ( for those who speak german, definatly try it, its completely professional voiced ) but i definatly recommend everyone that has Oblivion to try out the "Nehrim:At fates edge" total conversion.

Or in short, its mainly all that Oblivion saddly wasnt.

Im at 80+ hours atm and still far from the final mission of the MQ...

Better than any RPG i played lately and all that comes for free.

http://www.nehrim.de/indexEV.html

Thanks for that info, Shadow NX, it is available in English and I'm d/l it now.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Mosh

[DieterWeber 0]

This game is using a new engine, to whoever said it wasn't. The company that made Gamebyro went out of business. Bethesda has created an in-house engine.

[dmarkwick 261]

I really tried to like Oblivion, I wanted to like it as much as I liked Morrowind, but it had too many game ruining "enhancements". Like the built-in walkthrough. You know, that system of arrows and texts that always shows you exactly where to walk, who to talk to, what you think when something happens etc. I'm told this enhancement was in response to gamer complaints from Morrowind where gamers were getting lost and confused and unable to play the game.

Well, it seems the clueless gamers won out, in my mind getting lost and confused IS gameplay, not a barrier to it. Particularly in a game world like Morrowind. However, seeing as the vocal majority seems to want easy to follow linear gameplay, instead of playing the game and just seeing what happens, we get a built in walkthrough. Gamebreaking :)

[NeMeSiS 11]

I really tried to like Oblivion, I wanted to like it as much as I liked Morrowind, but it had too many game ruining "enhancements". Like the built-in walkthrough. You know, that system of arrows and texts that always shows you exactly where to walk, who to talk to, what you think when something happens etc. I'm told this enhancement was in response to gamer complaints from Morrowind where gamers were getting lost and confused and unable to play the game.

Well, it seems the clueless gamers won out, in my mind getting lost and confused IS gameplay, not a barrier to it. Particularly in a game world like Morrowind. However, seeing as the vocal majority seems to want easy to follow linear gameplay, instead of playing the game and just seeing what happens, we get a built in walkthrough. Gamebreaking :)

Well, the journal in Morrowind was kind of inconventient. Having to look through >100 pages to find out some details about a quests could be quite annoying. This was fixed in Oblivion, however then they fixed it 'too much'. :p

[privatenoob 0]

Ok this is good news but this is even better: NEW ENGINE!

http://twitter.com/nickbreckon/status/14015054991069184

[Second 0]

I'm compelled to point out that the high review score of Oblivion seems to have not much actual relation to the quality of the game itself :) If you disliked Oblivion despite it's high scores, why will you rely on a similar method for ES5? ;)

Beucase you look it too much in shades of black and white? :p

Morrowind sucks pretty much as a game. Oblivion was far better game.

In what Morrowind shines far above Oblivion with it's lore, rich culture(s), exotic world... And ofcourse it had less monsters and they didn't level-up as openly.

Why would i rely on ES5's high scores? Because they tell to me that Bethesda has once again created game which has pretty good game mechanics and most likely is enjoyable to play. Even if it's world can't suck me to play it for as long as Morrowind did.

[paragraphic l 2]

I'm exited, yesterday actually checked the Dev. diary from Oblivion just to relive some magic.

I do hope, as I see many others here, it will go back to what made Morrowind such a great experience. And focus on making a true PC game again, although I actually could enjoy Morrowind on the Xbox.

EDIT: Found the press release: http://bethblog.com/index.php/2010/12/13/skyrim-featured-in-the-next-issue-of-game-informer/#more-11943

Edited December 13, 2010 by ParaGraphic L

[Daniel 0]

Hmm, I played a bit of both, but I only found the time to complete Oblivion (dear God those Oblivion levels...:p). Although I actually enjoyed fighting with swords, shields and arrows in Oblivion, unlike Morrowind. I'll concede Morrowind had a much better atmosphere.

[kavoven 4]

I hated the oblivion levels. 2-3 would have been ok, but there were sooooo many!

[froggyluv 2136]

Liked Oblivion until I realised you couldn't swing your weapon from horseback...had to dismount first....who does that?

The beauty of it was there were many more like me on their forums and thats when we discovered the awesomeness that is Mount & Blade

If they ever put in a similar combat engine I'd be game on!

[eggbeast 3684]

yeah i run 100+ mods in oblivion, including theone that turns off the annoying messages and the annoying compass markers. fantastic community support for the game, much like arma :)

was always a bigger morrowind fan though.

for the last year i've played oblivion as a flower picking elderly rasta with a gang of 6 female rangers who look after him. whereas my son has played as a mindless axe-wielding vampire maniac who kills everyone he sees, inlcuing all of the guards in the cities...

it's the possibilities to play it your own way that make TES such a great experience, whatever the differences between game versions.

[Colossus 2]

fantastic community support for the game, much like arma :)

I probably wouldn't have played Oblivion or ArmA, for that matter, if it weren't for the community mods/addons. Lets hope the in-house engine doesn't ruin this completely.

Shame my Oblivion stalled due to a bug/mod conflict that causes it to CTD if I kill a zombie. I'd hate to reinstall aaaaall those mods again.. ^_^

Edited December 13, 2010 by colossus

[eggbeast 3684]

just take out a-e then f-l then m-r then s-z and eliminate your mod conflict in about 10 minutes...

[SteveJA 12]

I have played both obliven and morrowind for too many hours.

Morrowind is IMO best

Heres why

The game loads and i first hear the music, dum dum, dum dum, and the screen fades to a view of the inside of a ship with creaking wood and the sea. "This is Epic!" The best start to a game i have ever experianced.

So you go along and build your character and etc and then your left to your own devices. Now i look back and i wish i followed the main plot. I never did though, never got bored. While in that house (at the start) i nicked everything that i could pick up, every wooden spoon and candle haha, and i went strait to the shop to sell it all. and i got my first rusty sword and shield. After exploring the starting villiage for a while and killing a few mudcrabs, i finaly run away (after nicking too much haha) and i end up walking down this path and it starts to rain. Suddenly "WTF was that" a man falls outa the sky on to ground "wtf is this, is it a glitch". I end up taking his things to sell and i read the book he had, which explained his little story. I then got lost becuse i was trying to collect all these green shrumb things and i lost the path haha but in the end i discovered a new town. I was very carefull about entering it, were there enemys, did the guards know me?

Its the only game ive ever known that i just loved exploring. when i found a boat that would take me somewhere i would take every destination offered and worked my way up the coast, past balmora, past the sand storm place all the way to that wierd plant island with a castle lol.

The world created in morrowind was rich and diverse. The map(IRL) that came with the game only had the major settlements shown. THERE WAS NO QUICK TRAVEL! no shity click and go. which ment you HAD to walk or take certian transport such as ships, or the "Giant flee". Because you walked you end up going past random settlements or tombs. ahh the tombs they scaredthe shit outa me haha the frigging bonewalkers terrified me. And each one was different and interesting, always something new. Another thing was you HAD to be carefull. when your a shit level you are shit, nothing is leveled to your level, nothing is made easier for you. If you decide to take on a level 30 when you start, more for you, Good luck. It also ment that rare equipment was well, rare. frekking hech i played the game for years and i only found half a set of glass armour and one ebony braclet! you get to level 30 in obliven and every bob, tom and harry is wearing glass, ebony and dadric. I remember being told to go places and id have to open up my map IRL and plan a route and navigate it myself. I loved that sort of, do it yourself attitude rather than the hold your hand the entire way as it is now. Ahh sadly i belive games like these will not be created again until people buy games where they have to think for themselfs :(

[eggbeast 3684]

yeah you nailed it. totally. in oblivion i installed loads of mods to strip out fast travel, put in boats and carriages, strip out compass clues, de-level stuff as much as possible, slow development etc, but it was never the same. i also loved how in morrowind there were places you could not get to until you enchanted your stuff to give you more jump/ levitation and then you could get into a valley you had never been able to reach... that was awesome.

[dmarkwick 261]

I have played both obliven and morrowind for too many hours.

Morrowind is IMO best

Heres why

The game loads and i first hear the music, dum dum, dum dum, and the screen fades to a view of the inside of a ship with creaking wood and the sea. "This is Epic!" The best start to a game i have ever experianced.

An odd effect that Morrowind had - after spending weeks & weeks in different landscapes & places, coming back to Seyda Neen, with it's familiar music and vegetation really had a sense of "coming home" :) first & only time I ever had that feeling in a game.

---------- Post added at 04:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:48 PM ----------

yeah you nailed it. totally. in oblivion i installed loads of mods to strip out fast travel, put in boats and carriages, strip out compass clues, de-level stuff as much as possible, slow development etc, but it was never the same. i also loved how in morrowind there were places you could not get to until you enchanted your stuff to give you more jump/ levitation and then you could get into a valley you had never been able to reach... that was awesome.

You can do so much with Oblivion, but it has it's basic gameplay design at fault. So you can strip stuff out, make it seem "Morrowindy", and it works to certain extent, but it's not quite there. Giving gamers access to everything, all the time, and little reason to worry about consequence of desicion ( like for example joining one faction removes the possibility of joiining another faction) makes it seem.... gamey. Rubberbanding levels are annoying too :)

One thing I did notice in Oblivion when all the hints & arrows were stripped out, you noticed all these little paths that you never noticed before, and exploring them always led you into more interesting places. Following arrows & fast travelling made these details irrelevent.