Shadowstrider

If it's so easy, why didn't you finish it before you "got tired of it"? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Logic not your strong point? In order to continue something, it must be amusing. This test was not amusing. Therefore, I did not want to continue it. Aside from the fact that I didn't say it was easy. Ease of completion != compelling to complete.

This test doesn't prove anything, really. Except that all of these can be found in 10 minutes on google or wikipedia. I got 26 in about 3 minutes before I got tired of it.

There are no "experience points" in Oblivion. However, you can increase your alchemy skill by picking AND using ingredients in potions.

Yes, you're in the part I often feel less than enthusiastic about. It definitely picks up from there.

Actually, NPCs can/do close Oblivion gates. There are at least three quests involving this. I can't really comment on Radiant AI, but I will say this, it came to a point where the AI was, literally, ruining the game for the PC.

Most of the time, you get text telling you the horse has returned. In special cases (such as Maborel's horse) you get no feedback.

I'm asking for opinions about the scaling leveling system, where every creature of the world levels as you level, thus making leveling rendundant in terms of gain of personal power as well as making the gameplay frustrating to some people or certain gamestyles. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You don't get access to "cool" armors unless you level up. You can't cast a lot of spells without leveling up those spell schools. Can you complete the game at level 3, 2 or even 1? Yes, but I fail to see how this is a bad thing, at all. Enemies scaling to level keeps the game challenging, no matter what level you are. On the other hand, if we ramp up the difficulty and have it SET, you have people who do side quests and outlevel the enemies, or people who don't level fast enough and complain.

If you legally owned a horse, and mount a different horse it returns to it's "home stable." In otherwords, if you bought a horse from Bravil, and then mount Prior Maborel's horse, the horse from Bravil wanders back towards Bravil.

The music is in MP3 format, readily available on your hard disk if you own the game.

Glad to see Battlewookie is still the same ole Battlewookie. 1) Enemies dying with 1/4 health. Huh? Can't say I've ever seen it. 2) Mudcrabs with money. I've never seen one with more than 1 or 2 coins. As to why they have it, who knows, perhaps they accidentally ate it. Perhaps they subscribe to Meta's "ooooh shiny" life philosophy. 3) Dialogue choices becoming gray. A line of text becomes gray when you've selected it once, whether or not there are sub catagories. It becomes white again if they have something new to say if you select that topic, irrelevent to sub topics. 4) In game help text. Are you playing in a foreign language version of the game? If so, which language are you playing in? Which help text is not helpful enough?

They are utterly optional, if you want to go the "traditional" RPG route you can auto-attempt the lock picking game, which uses your characters skill and a random number to overcome the set difficulty. If you DO try the minigame manually, character skill does make it easier. As for the persuasion minigame, your character's stats increase/decrease the positive/negative effects on the NPC's disposition.

Yes. When they first told me "you won't get a copy of the game for free" it was basically a miscommunication. I got a free copy of the game, a few free copies. What they meant was "you won't get free copies to give to others."

It didn't spawn, it likely followed you.

I wanted the coin, not because it was shiny, but because I thought it would be a cool conversation piece.

Enemies aren't really "spawned" in Oblivion, at least not in the traditional sense. You'll have to explain how it "spawned behind [you] out of thin air." Enemies either are there or aren't in Oblivion, what exactly happened? Did you read the manual or the demo text on lock picking? You must secure the tumbler before moving onto the next. Meaning, once you have pushed a tumbler up you must hit the activate button to keep it in place and then move onto the next one. There are some tricks to the lock picking minigame, but I assure you, it isn't impossible.

I'm not sure where this is coming from. There are no elements in the main quest which have no relevence to the main story. Are you going to continue to harp on the issue? I've already stated it is a bug. It isn't a bug for the reasons you state, but it is a bug. As I said, it is a bug. It is being looked into. I'm not quite sure where this comes from: "This isn't a matter of failing a mission because one got away. I don't think Bethesda would be best served by using that argument." I've already said it isn't a quest that should be failed.

This particular quest is not one that can/should be failed.

The creatures scale to level. Eldar likely faced Scamps and Stunted Clanfear. If someone were to be level 20 they would face different (more difficult) creatures. Additionally, there is no effect, at least that I know of, that would detect certain creatures (its either life or nothing). An option would have been quest markers for each creature. The issue isn't what the creatures were, etc..., the issue is the creature(s?) appeared to "vanish" to the user, and it could have made the quest incompleteable. It is an issue that we'll have to look in to.

...and now you see one of the many reasons why RAI was toned down.

The Septim is about the diameter of a USA fifty-cent piece, and the thickness of 2. In otherwords, it is large enough to not get lost and serve as a very mild paperweight.

I would bet my life savings that the creature didn't "disappear into thin air." Instead, he transitioned out of the area and ran off in fear. Unless you have a save at the point in the quest where you couldn't progress, I can't prove it, but if you do PM me and I'll give you a console command which will prove it.

The indoor areas are extremely dark, much to my chagrin.

BioWare SAID there would be these things in the games. They weren't. Therefore, BioWare does not "*always* [do] what they say." Logic > Volourn.

You're right. I still enjoy playing my BG2 character in NWN. It made the game feel much more epic.

I'll tell you if it sucks or not after E3.