Cantousent

Originally, Pixies asked if I played as a girl. I usually do because I'd rather look at a pretty female character. I generally don't play in 3rd person, but I still end up seeing my character. Okay, thanks for cleaning up the thread, meta. I appreciate it. Lots. Anyhow, I've gotten a couple 5s and some 4s, but most of my levels give me 2s and 3s for my attributes. I like the 60 luck, meta. How did you end up with such a high attribute?

Who's the chic?

I'm surprised I haven't been flamed yet. You guys know I was just giving you a hard time over the horse thing, right? :Eldar's tongue in cheek grin icon:

I don't know. I've never used anything other than light armor, and I ditched, and will ditch, that when better mage gear comes along. I really liked the middle screenie where the guard accosts you. hahaha. "your spree is at an end." Comedy.

Nice screenies. I especially like the armoured version. Anyhow, I don't play in third person as it's hard to tell when I can click on objects and whatnot. I access inventory and spells a lot, however, and that means looking at my character's face.

It would get me slapped. My wife sometimes watches me play these games, you know. Anyhow, I don't actually use my horse. I only see it when I've fast travel to some place that doesn't have a stable.

Just because we're talking about horse doesn't mean you have to be a jackass, Pixies. Anyhow, I named my first character after my wife. It would be weird seeing Catherine riding around on Catherine.

On a lighter note, I've decided to end my current game and start over again. I was never happy with my decisions for my first character. No, it didn't seem to make the game particularly difficult. It was just galling when I discovered how bad a decision it was to use Speechcraft as a primary skill. For that reason, I decided to retire my former character as the Arch-Mage of the mages' guild. I feel good about it. For me, Oblivion is a game about exploration and adventrure. Not finishing the main story arc is unusual for me, but the way I see it, there are many story arcs. For Catherine, the new head of the guild, the main story was making the guild safe. Her work was vital in preserving the security of the empire from a danger nearly as grave as the one posed by the oblivion gates. So, here's my character build for Deirdre. Feel free to comment, ridicule, mock, scorn, admire, flame me for hating horse, or whatever else springs to mind. Deirdre uses magic as her primary inclination. She prizes Intelligence and Willpower. She was born under the sign of the Mage. She is a lovely High Elf. Her primary skills are: Athletics Blade Alchemy Alteration Destruction Restoration Illusion I swapped out Mysticism, which I very rarely used. I included Alchemy so I would have something to pump my intelligence. (I know, it's a fast leveler, but so was Speechcraft and that didn't seem to hurt me much) I swapped out Speechcraft because it was largely unnecessary, especially in the mid to late-game. I included Blade so I could gain a little extra strength and it's always nice to have alternatives to magic in a fight. My former character mowed down everything, but it sometimes required patience. Now I can finish off battles with my blade. I expect to rely on spells as my primary weapon in combat, but I welcome having options.

This made me laugh out loud. I really should. I really wouldn't feed him to the mountain lion, you know.

I don't dislike the horses in Oblivion. I hate them. I think some snappy game developer should create "Horse Sim 2006" for those of you who think having a horse is great. Other developers should only include horses if they add something to the game other than a ridiculous horse maneuvering mini-game. BTW: I don't hate the horses because they're hard to handle. I hate them because they're slow and pointless. I don't use them at all. I still have that painted horse that I got for free and the only thing it does, other than gloat because I can't sell it to a glue factory, is show up whenever I use the fast travel option. Arguments about horses in real life are completely irrelevant. Should the horses defecate and urinate in the streets? Should the player be forced to pay for the upkeep of his horse? Should the horse be subject to injury after several days hard riding without sufficient feed or care? Should the horse run away when the player engages in combat near it? Should the character be thrown from the horse when it's spooked, thus risking injury? SHould the player be subject to injury or death if the horse rolls over on him during a fight or at some other unexpected event? Don't give me the realism nonsense. Now, this horse business is nothing but gimmick. It's completely unnecessary for a game like Oblivion. On the other hand, mounted combat is a big chunk of the DnD ruleset, and so I'd much rather see a game that uses that ruleset include horses. ...But not just so a few rabid horse fanatics can sing the glories of looking at the damned things. Make use of the mounted combat rules or simply drop horses entirely. Every hour spent on implementing horses so a few overgrown 4Hers can get their kicks is an hour not spent tightening up the physics, checking for bugs, or implementing something I truly miss in Oblivion... flying. Of course, unlike the idiotic horse-loving crowd, I'm not going to rail against Bethesda for excluding flying from the game. Hell, for all I know, it's in there somewhere and I just haven't found it. On the other hand, maybe they took flying out of the game so they could include horses. A stupid design, but one must bow to the wannabe catwpokes amongst us. On a lighter note, I've decided to end my current game and start over again. I was never happy with my decisions for my first character. No, it didn't seem to make the game particularly difficult. It was just galling when I discovered how bad a decision it was to use Speechcraft as a primary skill. For that reason, I decided to retire my former character as the Arch-Mage of the mages' guild. I feel good about it. For me, Oblivion is a game about exploration and adventrure. Not finishing the main story arc is unusual for me, but the way I see it, there are many story arcs. For Catherine, the new head of the guild, the main story was making the guild safe. Her work was vital in preserving the security of the empire from a danger nearly as grave as the one posed by the oblivion gates. So, here's my character build for Deirdre. Feel free to comment, ridicule, mock, scorn, admire, flame me for hating horse, or whatever else springs to mind. Deirdre uses magic as her primary inclination. She prizes Intelligence and Willpower. She was born under the sign of the Mage. She is a lovely High Elf. Her primary skills are: Athletics Blade Alchemy Alteration Destruction Restoration Illusion I swapped out Mysticism, which I very rarely used. I included Alchemy so I would have something to pump my intelligence. (I know, it's a fast leveler, but so was Speechcraft and that didn't seem to hurt me much) I swapped out Speechcraft because it was largely unnecessary, especially in the mid to late-game. I included Blade so I could gain a little extra strength and it's always nice to have alternatives to magic in a fight. My former character mowed down everything, but it sometimes required patience. Now I can finish off battles with my blade. I expect to rely on spells as my primary weapon in combat, but I welcome having options.

That's just because Swedes don't have anything worth bombing.

I think some MMPORGs have been doing it for a while and MMPORG players certainly have since UO days at the least. I think it's the first time I've heard of someone trying to charge for content so soon after the game was released though. Sales of Oblivion been disapointing or something ? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Classic case of damned if they do and damned if they don't. Okay, StillLife hates sales of extended online content. I think that ship has sailed, but I respect his position. What I don't like is that the same thing is take either as evidence that the sales are disappointing or that the developer dropped the ball by taking too long. Come on. It's ridiculous. It's a complete shame that they intentionally withheld horse skins only to charge the players later. ...But that's the nature of a capitalistic society. The nature of a non-capitalistic society is the lack of incentive to create games in the first place. So I'll take my chances with these damnable horse skins. The biggest shame of all are the the horses themselves. What the hell was Bethesda thinking? I honestly hate the damned things. I guess I'm fixating on the horses, but I've always figured that things like horses were just some bone of contention for a very vocal minority who think that we should have workable toasters and a tea service in every game. I always assume that things like horses take away from other design items that might make more sense. For example, tweak the physics a bit and include a better interface than this silly z thing. (As an aside, thanks for the info, Kaftan.) Now, maybe if I knew where to score that unicorn that mkreku has, I might, might like horses a bit more. For the time being, I just hate them.

Oh, it's just the usual nonsense of folks speculating about the lackluster sales of a game. It's almost like a sharks feeding frenzy, these discussions where folks argue who's game didn't sell as well as some other fellow thought it should or some such. Confuses the hell out of me. Anyhow, I have a question: Speaking of the Arch-Mage quest, it's as good a quest as I've seen in any CRPG. Sure, it took a little while to get into it, but I was quite happy with it. It wasn't very hard, with one small exception, but I'll save that just in case I decide to join the review mania.

Nice idea, Kaftan, you big doofus. The things probably did look suspicious. It's really funny until someone actually puts a bomb in the damned things. However, I don't think the children should be punished for this action. If it didn't constitute a crime at the time, it shouldn't be treated as such. Furthermore, if it is a crime to place these objects around town, is it a crime to decorate a Christmas tree? After all, every ornament is a potential bomb. We have to be careful to protect ourselves from the fervor of the moment. The issue is more important than taking a knee jerk reaction. Just because we're starting with Mario boxes doesn't mean it will end there.

I agree with Tigranes. I mean, I like the game, but some folks have different experiences. Arguing from a code point of view can only get you so far. The idea is that, no matter what the spread is, the player should have fun. Hell, I've found odd assortments of armour and I'm level... 23? somewhere around there. Anyhow, the big thing is that the game is still appealing to enough folks to make it popular. I have a hard time taking my Hassat friend seriously, but Tigranes and SP don't seem like their going out of their way to pick a fight or grind an axe. In fact, while his endorsement has lacked enthusiasm, SP have been favorable on the balance. Yes, my experiences in playing the game are more legitimate than assessing the code. Code doesn't always work as intended. Only actual experience in playing the game makes a difference. Some folks cite things that are uncommon, and sadly some are probably completely fabricated, but some of these experiences are shared across a broad spectrum of uses on this board.

Yeah, but I can understand a collector. Sure, it's an eccentric habit, but at least it's not someone who can't ever finish a game without the strat guide making fun of someone for having trouble building his character. Granted, I'd rather waste my money on a new game than a strategy guide. :Eldar's slapping Llyranor on the back while grinning icon:

Me ? Same reason I collect books. It's just something I like to do. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> No, actually I meant in general. If you collect the damned things, that's something different. Probably still crazy, but crazy in a way I understand a bit better, I suppose.

It doesn't matter how long it is, fellas - what counts is how well you use it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Keep telling yourself that jags. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Why pay for a strategy guide when you can get one off the internet? Anyhow, I don't mind asking for help when I get stuck on something. In the old days, you didn't have the luxury of asking for help when you came up against a Granite Wall. So, no problem there. I think it's extremely poor form to flame some other member by citing the strategy guide, but I usually think it's poor form to flame another member. That's true even when I'm the guy flaming. So, some schmuck proves his superior mental acumen by admitting that he needs the strat guide to create a decent character? *shrug* I'm impressed.

My take is that if some developers start nerfing their releases, then other developers will become more popular. I don't think the average consumer is so desperately stupid that they're going to pay substantial amounts of money for things they don't want. Now, if they made a mod that made horses more of a convenience than some stupid gimick that all sorts of folks simply must have, then I'd be on board and might, although not likely, pay to have. EDIT: Oh, and by the way, my StillLife friend, you'd better hope companies make money developing and publishing game, because our hobby is all but dead if they don't.

I don't like the scaling system. It's obviously not a deal breaker for me, but I'm just one of those fellows for whom the idea of danger and suspense, the possibility of greater risk for greater rewards, and the chance to let my guard down, even a little, is worth more than this so-called balance. I haven't turned a deaf ear to the arguments in favor of the system. I simply disagree with them.

If it is, it's a good idea. They might make money from it. As gamers, we shouldn't expect developers to design, program, and distribute these games for free. Save the vitriol for real issues, not online content. The ship has sailed on that one.

Yeah, I pretty much hate it. If it works, then it will be common practice. Of course, I don't blame Bethesda for trying to make some money. It's their obligation to work out new and better ways of making money for their shareholders. I, for one, will nevertheless avoid making these sorts of purchases. Now, if they add content worth $2, and that doesn't mean a new skin for my hateful, worthless horse, then I'll shell out the cash for that content. I might pay $2 for a mod that allows me to feed my horse to an attacking mountain lion.