Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[Tovarish 0]

even with this topless mod you will not see anything more than every summer at the beach.

Your beaches sound like they beat anything we have in Canada

[Mr_Tea 0]

Haha, it must be too cold in Canada.

[Oeil2Lynx 0]

a pair of boobs --> mature content

hung rotting corpse--> teen rated

some guys got strange vision of things or i miss understood something ?

ps: what about that :

uncovered woman face--> mature content

tear apart your neighbour with a chainsaw--> 6+

[Guest Ti0n3r]

The ESRB is an American/Canadian invention, so that's really no surprise to me. I thought we all knew that nudity will be the end of the world

[Daddl 10]

Just started the game today- can't complain about it being a power whore. Played it for a while on the train on my notebook and even with battery power and the cpu (Mobile Athlon 64 3700) throttled to 33% (=800 MHz, and because of the power saving mode the build-in Mobile Radeon 9700 was throttled, too) the game ran ok in 800x600 in windowed mode with 2xFSAA and 4xAnisotrophy.

Of course gfx settings were low and I didn't play any outdoor levels, just the first dungeon. But still, I'm sure my desktop with it's old Radeon 9600 (basically equivalent to my notebook's gfx card) will run the game fine enough till my new Radeon X1600 card arrives.

The game looks good so far, but it's a bit early to make any definite statements. The atmosphere seems great, as do the graphics (even in the low settings I was using). The lockpicking minigame seems amusing, but I can imagine it will get tiring as you progress...

[mr burns 131]

Of course gfx settings were low and I didn't play any outdoor levels, just the first dungeon. But still, I'm sure my desktop with it's old Radeon 9600 (basically equivalent to my notebook's gfx card) will run the game fine enough till my new Radeon X1600 card arrives.

You´re on the safe side there, but nevertheless you´ll praise the new gfx card as soon as you ran Oblivion with it.

Be careful though, the game really sucks you in..

i´m doing sidequest after sidequest, haven´t even touched the main storyline and am lvl12 yet.

Somehow reminds me of the old Civilisation/TotalWar/Sims effect: "Just one more round" only difference being it´s dungeons now (well that just doesn´t sound right, pardon me )

[Daddl 10]

Be careful though, the game really sucks you in..

i´m doing sidequest after sidequest, haven´t even touched the main storyline and am lvl12 yet.

Somehow reminds me of the old Civilisation/TotalWar/Sims effect: "Just one more round" only difference being it´s dungeons now (well that just doesn´t sound right, pardon me )

That's true! Not that I wasn't warned after having played Morrowind and the extensions, as well as the (quite similar and very good) Gothic series. Good thing I won't be able for a week at least - that keeps the addiction in check!

After escaping from the prision I first joined the thieves guild in the capital, then went to meet Jeoffrey. Now I'm doing sidequest in the cities around the capital trying to join the mages guild and gain some experience before finding the heir. Already got some nice equipment!

Edit: I have only one thing that I don't like about the game as of now: that the german dubbing is a bit incomplete and really sucks sometimes (anyone care to tell the speakers that 'Arboretum' is pronounced 'Arborétum'?! ) - I wish I had bought the english version...

[DracoPaladore 0]

Too bad I don't have any comp modding skills. I would so make a Warhammer Fantasy mod for this. Big arse Orcs and goblins, with stone giants stomping around. Chaos bandits and chaos knights, slaneesh, nurgle, the likes. Elves that kick ass, Dwarves, etc.

Be so awsome.

I wish they made the weapon designs in this game a bit more interesting. The hammers are kinda boring (personally, I'd like a warhammer that Adrian Smith gave these guys.) and the axes are dull. The swords too.

Hopefully some mods come out that spice things up a bit.

[Sgt Anderson 0]

Oblivion is a good game. Got it a while back and have had lots of fun with it.

Positive:

--------

-graphics

-literature (books .etc)

-building/character design/enviroment

-music

-lots of stuff to do...

Negative:

---------

-damn town quests... I dont know about anyone else but I am getting tired of these run-around-town missions that RPG developers having been stuffing their products with. These mini-quests are getting out of hand in the Elder Scrolls series. The problem solving involved in these missions is insulting to the slowest of individuals, more problem solving involving the physics engine would have been interesting ie: take treasure from altar, AI monster persues, loose persuit by cutting rope bridge behind you

-physics engine (mediocre) just try organizing items on a shelf, or stack a few plates and stuff on a table... they sit about an inch above the surface

-when you mount your horse, only arrow quivers, short/long swords or axes and shields appear on you character while on horseback. So say you have a broadsword on your back and ya walk up to get on your horse - once climbing aboard, the sword on back dissapears... I can understand the clipping issue with a broadsword on your back while on the horse but just having the currently equipped weapon dissapear when you get on is bad... why wouldnt they just change the angle of the broadswords position on your back when on a horse, the sword hangs slighty to the side of the horses rump and does not clip... hopefully a plugin comes out for this

-dynamic daily routine for AI is reptitive after a bit, and you hear the same conversations float around amongst townspeople

-travellers/more highwaymen, and the only people riding around on the roads are newspaper couriers and Imperials... no bands of adventurers to encounter, or groups of bandit on horseback...

-no horseback archery, or swordfights from horses...:( Silly having to dismount your horse just to start fighting with an enemy thats had enough time to run up on you while dismounting "Oh, you wanna fight highwayman?... Gimme 2 seconds, I gotta dismount".

-Backround LOD compared to foreground detail -shamefull-

no smooth transition

[Antichrist 0]

So are you guys over this crappy game yet? I am way over it. Didn't take me long.

[Akira 0]

Quote[/b] ]-damn town quests... I dont know about anyone else but I am getting tired of these run-around-town missions that RPG developers having been stuffing their products with. These mini-quests are getting out of hand in the Elder Scrolls series. The problem solving involved in these missions is insulting to the slowest of individuals, more problem solving involving the physics engine would have been interesting ie: take treasure from altar, AI monster persues, loose persuit by cutting rope bridge behind you

Well they do serve the purpose of 1) increasing the town villagers reaction to you (or decreasing it) and 2) giving your character extra chances to level. As well as something different to do then close Oblivion gates, follow the story, or random dungeon crawls.

Quote[/b] ]-physics engine (mediocre) just try organizing items on a shelf, or stack a few plates and stuff on a table... they sit about an inch above the surface

Can you imagine the requirements for your computer with the graphics AND that physics model? Not to mention the level of code required.

Quote[/b] ]-when you mount your horse, only arrow quivers, short/long swords or axes and shields appear on you character while on horseback. So say you have a broadsword on your back and ya walk up to get on your horse - once climbing aboard, the sword on back dissapears... I can understand the clipping issue with a broadsword on your back while on the horse but just having the currently equipped weapon dissapear when you get on is bad... why wouldnt they just change the angle of the broadswords position on your back when on a horse, the sword hangs slighty to the side of the horses rump and does not clip... hopefully a plugin comes out for this

Again probably code/model related though I agree with you. And I can do less with the horse jumping into a fray and getting in the way of my wild swinging.

Quote[/b] ]-dynamic daily routine for AI is reptitive after a bit, and you hear the same conversations float around amongst townspeople

While not disagreeing with you, the amount of conversation tree coding to implement more random conversations probably was prohibitive to the product. Would you rather the coders concentrate on gameplay/quests or giving their time to thinking of random conversations for players to hear when we all just run past them anyway...

Quote[/b] ]-travellers/more highwaymen, and the only people riding around on the roads are newspaper couriers and Imperials... no bands of adventurers to encounter, or groups of bandit on horseback...

Well I can't speak for you, but I've come across plenty of bandits on the road, including some hiding in the bushes to waylay me.

I also come across to Legion Foresters that were shooting arrows at each other. Between them was a dead deer. I just sat there and watched them (took like 5 minutes for one to finally die) and then I whacked the survivor.

Quote[/b] ]-no horseback archery, or swordfights from horses...:( Silly having to dismount your horse just to start fighting with an enemy thats had enough time to run up on you while dismounting "Oh, you wanna fight highwayman?... Gimme 2 seconds, I gotta dismount".

I don't know about you but I flail about enough without having a speedy horse to worry about as well.

I just run a distance past, get off, and then head back to the fight.

Quote[/b] ]-Backround LOD compared to foreground detail -shamefull-

no smooth transition

I can only imagine this has to do with the level of graphics involved.

Oblivion probably by far is the most addicting game I've come across, and I've played the Elder Scroll games since Arena (which you can now download for free on the Oblivion site...wish they'd also come out with a Daggerfall that can play on XP).

[Antichrist 0]

Quote[/b] ]

Well they do serve the purpose of 1) increasing the town villagers reaction to you (or decreasing it) and 2) giving your character extra chances to level. As well as something different to do then close Oblivion gates, follow the story, or random dungeon crawls.

Well if there was a point to it all i'd understand. As the game stands now there are only two tupes of npcs: enemies (attack you on site) and other (pay money to increase standing). There is no point doing any quests if I can get a better reaction out of them by paying 30 gold.

Quote[/b] ]While not disagreeing with you, the amount of conversation tree coding to implement more random conversations probably was prohibitive to the product. Would you rather the coders concentrate on gameplay/quests or giving their time to thinking of random conversations for players to hear when we all just run past them anyway...

The problem is that they didn't concentrate on quests. Every single quest is half assed. So you sort of start to wonder if RAI is shit and quests are shit, what exactly did the developers do?

Quote[/b] ]Well I can't speak for you, but I've come across plenty of bandits on the road, including some hiding in the bushes to waylay me.

You mean like 10 bandits for the whole Cyrodil who never move or do anything unless you approach?

Quote[/b] ]

I also come across to Legion Foresters that were shooting arrows at each other. Between them was a dead deer. I just sat there and watched them (took like 5 minutes for one to finally die) and then I whacked the survivor.

Yes! Because that situtaion really makes sense, doesn't it? I wonder why I don't see shoot-outs between cops on the streets every now and then.

Quote[/b] ]

Quote[/b] ]-Backround LOD compared to foreground detail -shamefull-

no smooth transition

I can only imagine this has to do with the level of graphics involved.

I can only imagine that's got to do with Bethesda hands growing out of their asses skills.

[chipper 0]

Quote[/b] ]

I also come across to Legion Foresters that were shooting arrows at each other. Between them was a dead deer. I just sat there and watched them (took like 5 minutes for one to finally die) and then I whacked the survivor.

Yes! Because that situtaion really makes sense, doesn't it? I wonder why I don't see shoot-outs between cops on the streets every now and then.

He did mention between them was a dead deer so one of them most likely shot the other and then the 1 that got shot fired back and so on. It's quite common really to see this fights that happen like this.

[mr burns 131]

Quote[/b] ]Well I can't speak for you, but I've come across plenty of bandits on the road, including some hiding in the bushes to waylay me.

You mean like 10 bandits for the whole Cyrodil who never move or do anything unless you approach?

Just yesterday while hiding away from a bear the animal eventually came across an aelyd ruin...when i arrived (took another route to collect herbs) there was a nice fight going on between 2 bandits and the bear. Another badguy lay dead on the ground aswell..

Nice to watch, better than arenafights, and also got me an enchanted warhammer + some mithril armor .. of course the bear won

[NeMeSiS 11]

Quote[/b] ]

I also come across to Legion Foresters that were shooting arrows at each other. Between them was a dead deer. I just sat there and watched them (took like 5 minutes for one to finally die) and then I whacked the survivor.

Yes! Because that situtaion really makes sense, doesn't it? I wonder why I don't see shoot-outs between cops on the streets every now and then.

He did mention between them was a dead deer so one of them most likely shot the other and then the 1 that got shot fired back and so on. It's quite common really to see this fights that happen like this.

Common? yes, Normal? no

Come on, this happens just too often to be normal, half of the imperial legion slaughtered eachother because of this...  

[GoOB 0]

Common? yes, Normal? no

Come on, this happens just too often to be normal, half of the imperial legion slaughtered eachother because of this...

And what's up with the Imperial legion? OK, Kvatch has been destroyed... But ehr, all they get in terms of reinforcements are four legion soldiers who saw the town burning on their patrol.

And why on earth weren't the blades mobilizing all their über powers to save the emperors heir before I came to them with the amulet?

All in all, after playing this game for a bloody long time I have to say I love it, the main quest is half-assed, so are many of the other quests... But still I play it :S

[Antichrist 0]

That so called Radiant AI is pissing me off more and more. I played the game a bit yesterday and was on a quest to close Bruma gate. So while in Oblivion i accidentaly killed one of the Bruma guards during a fight. It was a mess, i was using my bow and one arrow got stuck in that guards neck. Fair enough, shit happens, he would've never made it out of Oblivion anyway. So we close the gate, complete the quest. Next I travel to Imperial city and guards are trying to arest me and charge 1000 gold.

AFAIK what happens in Oblivion stays in Oblivion. How the hell did every single guard in Cyrodiil know about that FF incident? That kind of stuff really pisses me off.

[Colossus 2]

You got to love the AI's

[FallenPaladin 0]

When I played Oblivion with my first character (guess what... a paladin of course  ) I didn`t follow the main quest. I solved lots of additional quests and ended up with a level 19 paladin when I first came to Kvatch. Because of Oblivion trying to provide me with "fitting" enemies lots of the huge crocodile-like daedroth attacked me inside the citywalls. All my fellow AI soldiers were slain in a couple of seconds. It`s a shame that these guys didn`t get a higher level, too... So I ended up standing on a high rock killing the daedroth with my two-handed sword.  

When I finally got to the inner castle walls I fought those damn beast from under the water. Fortunately I had a ring which gave me unlimited air. So I ended up as the first "Kampftaucher" or seal in Oblivion...  

[DracoPaladore 0]

And what's up with the Imperial legion? OK, Kvatch has been destroyed... But ehr, all they get in terms of reinforcements are four legion soldiers who saw the town burning on their patrol.

Actually, they explain this. I went back to the Imperial City to ask for reinforcements, and the council guy explained it all. The Imperial Legion is spread out over other provinces, meaning that they're all over the place. There's more happening out of Oblivion.

I don't remember much, but the legion is spread out all over the continent and don't have enough to send back to Cyrodill.

[GoOB 0]

Yeah I know... Still seems a bit weird that they can't muster up a bit more men when an entire city gets sacked in the capital province. Just nitpicking from my side, as usual :P

Another thing that bothers me (this isn't just to complain about the game, I've been playing it almost non-stop since I got it) is the lack of continouity. I mean, I worked for this Ayelid collector freak for a bit, then I got the bright idea of robbing him for all the artifacts he must have gathered over the years. After getting the guard out of my way by giving her 100 gold to booze up with I snuck around and searched the whole house... Guess what, not a single Ayelid artifact except what I had brought him!

IMO, this was much better in Morrowind. Everything felt so much more alive... Despite that everyone had the same dialouge tree and didn't do anything but hang about downtown.

[Tovarish 0]

I'm loving this game!

Started the main quest and then steered way clear of it once I realized how quickly the game could be finished. Made myself a custom assasin-type class, wood-elf, became a vampire (Hunter's Eye rocks! ), and started just ripping through the Dark Brotherhood quests. My speed, agility, marksmanship, and sneak are insane. Up till recently, I used bow and arrows almost exclusively as my weapon (changing this now because I can do a crapload of damage by sneaking up and stabbing them). It's not perfect, and it has a few things that make me go - mainly the poorly done horseback, the fact that running doesn't <s>affect</s> decrease fatigue, and how the hell are "honest merchants" supposed to know about everything you've stolen anyway? . But damn it's addictive

[cozza 24]

I was playing this last night and I become Arena Champion. But now I got this stubid thing following me Really addictive like Tovaresh said

[POPKA 0]

First time I tried it, it went a bit wrong.

I did all that dungeon and underground part simple enough and the guy goes "Scout". After looking at the picture of the scout I thought, "he looks a bit puffy" so I went for the Knight instead.

I run outside, into some tavern in the elven gardens district, pick up a lump of cheese which was on the table, then I have loads of guards trying to arrest me so of course i dont want to go to jail and click "resist arrest" and then i die literally two seconds after that.

Now that ive done severel retrys im getting the hang of it. Managed to get that steel bow up to a level in which it kills many things with one shot which is nice.

[Daddl 10]

Ok, after playing the game for a bit (now on the desktop with a proper gfx card) I have to say that I really think it's a big improvement over Morrowind - and that was a good game already.

Especially the (formerly) annoying dialog system is much better now. Characters don't offer 20-30 generic dialog options leaving you to try all of them to see whether there's anything new on one of these topics. Instead they only offer a small selection (some generic stuff, too - but not as much as before).

The graphics are sweet and I can't really follow the complaints about the gui - I play in fullscreen and windowed mode and it's quite ok in both modes (not too small, not too big). Having the map visible while traveling or moving around (i.e. not only in the journal) would have been great, but you can't have everything and the compass makes up for this anyways.

The quick travel option saves you from having to run all the way over and over (in Morrowind this was really annoying if you were far away from any transport).

I can't say that the game is too much a burden on the pc - my good old Athlon XP 2800+ (now with an AGP ATI X1600 card, but the old Radeon 9600 did fine, too) copes quite well - as does my notebook (Mobile Athlon 64 3800+, Mobile Radeon 9700). As long as you have enough memory (i.e. 1GB) and you don't overstress your gfx card (i.e. keep the resolution and gfx gimmics in a reasonable range for your hardware) you'll be fine even with an older comp. And the game will still look very beautifull.

All in all I think the game got more of a Gothic feeling now (graphics, landscape, atmosphere, though not quite as much humor) which is good imo. Can't wait to finish the game, even if that will still take me quite a while (80+ hours of gameplay with my current character already and I only escorted Martin from Klatch to the keep so far) - there's just too many great sidequests keeping me busy. Especially the dark brotherhood and the thieves guild offer great missions and rewards, but there's also many small (and good) quests in the towns.