Cantousent

Let me give an update. Didn't have a ton of time to play today, but what I did play was good. However, the horses suck. I hate them, and it would be a trip to the glue factory for the damned things if I had my way. What possessed Bethesda to implement them in such a way escapes me, but they are a pain. I don't care in the least about empty cities. I don't want resources going to take care of huge numbers of pointless NPCs. Some folks think it's important. More power to them. For my part, I don't care. I want to have more interesting interaction, not more pointless dialogue. If you want huge populations, play an MMORPG. Shadow, you're plain wrong. If it's a design feature to have the creature able to disappear into thin air, then it's a bad one. If it's a bug that I smote some ten creatures under the bridge and every squar inch I could access then don't tell me I missed something. I scoured the area. If something is that good at hiding and it's necessary to kill it to further the quest, it's a bug. Don't go the Troika route and tell me it's a design desicion. Well... I'll forgive you, but pay attention to how folks treated Troika over the same thing. The instant travel feature is great. I hate my horse. If I want to travel and explore, which I have, then I have the opportunity. I hate my horse. If I'm in a hurry and want to get from point A to point B, which I have, then I have the opportunity. I hate my horse. The option is great. If I were my horse, I'd shoot myself. It'd be hard using my hoof, but I'd find a way. Meanwhile, travel is so much better in Oblivion than Morrowind that it's like a new game. Wait, it is a new game with great exploration instead of a sucky, drab world with some random monster attacking me every inch of the way. More observations as I play. OH, and the quests are much better. Shadow was completely right about the gate quest. It was great. Clearly, someone over at Bethesda is proud of their work and they should be.

Bug alert: This is a much better game than Morrowind, I can tell you right now. For one thing, I'm more interested in finishing quests than leveling. I've decided to do some side quests, but I'm not going to get lost in them. I think I've got the "surprise" made already, but I'm hoping the design team decided to do something truly remarkable and break the last minute surprise cliche and surprise me. Anyhow, 4am and I'm finally going to sleep. That means I'll get some 3 hours of sleep tonight. That in and of itself is a sign of a good game, dammit.

Well, since I'm having trouble sleeping, I'm going to play the mindless mage casting and dodging.

I've been spamming snowball and... flare? I think. Anyhow, I have most of the magic disciplines but I switched in Athletics and Speechcraft. I don't know why I switched Speechcraft into the mix. I liked playing a smooth talker in Fallout/2, but the dialogue was better. In Oblivion, I should have taken Blades or one more magic discipline.

Hey, how about you, Blank. Stop being an agent provocateur and spin out the rest of the courtroom scene. Sawyer's a big man in these parts, he deserves a combined effort. Okay, okay, fifteen hundred TOMBS points to the fellow who manages to finish the scene.

Okay, I broke down and bought it. I've got a third level character ready to advance to fourth. I don't even carry weapons, only spells. The casting is a lot like Morrowind, but it's not so bad with the new engine from Valve. Anyhow, I rather like the fact that it came on a DVD. No switching out multiple CDs. I decided to learn from my mistakes and tackle the main storyline. That means I'm in an impossibly tough fight with my third level character running up against Daedra in the Gate mission. I've already gotten well into it. I suspect that I'm almost done, but I finally got killed. The battles in this area are considerably tougher than anything I faced previous to this mission. The graphics are stunning, of course. They decided to put a little more color into the game. Blues, reds, yellows, and even the return of some o' that ol' brown. Vol will be happy. The music and sounds are quite good. The NPCs have lame conversations... Yeah, the NPCs have lame conversations. If you're lame enough to stick around listening to NPCs' inane conversations, then it's your fault. Here's a thought: go sit in a bus terminal and tell me how many insteresting conversations you find there. Shut up about the NPC conversations with anyone but the main character. The dialogue that remotely interests me (in other words, involves me) is functional if uninspired. Someone talked about the terrible voice acting. Whoever you were, go stand in the corner and berate yourself. The voice acting ranges from excellent to overthetop but none of it has forced me to cringe. While I'm more forgiving about most things, I'm usually harder to please when it comes to voice acting in these parts, so I'm suspicious when folks who've given other games a pass when it comes to voice acting suddenly talk about Oblivion. That sounds more like axe grinding than bad acting. The writing overall is not Junior High material. It's mostly boring and, like the dialogue, drab. Still, the ideas behind the dialogue and story aren't so bad. I'd like the structured approach of Oblivion combined with the feeling and exuberance of KotOR2. That'd be a great combination. Mostly, the design team conveys the ideas I need to know. I just wish they got there faster. Give me a lot of great reading that I'll enjoy for its own sake or give me quick reading that lets me get back to the joy of the game. Some funny observations: I keep switching modes because I'm trying to reload my weapon ala Halflife 2. I keep sheathing and unsheathing my weapons because I'm trying to use my trusty flashlight ala Halflife 2. In my current area, I'm enduring flashbacks to doom3, looking for imps and trying to equip my shotgun. I thought the daedra had done something to slow me permanantly when I realised I turned off my always run toggle. The new engine is quite good, but it does bring out the FPS player. That's not universally good. Twitch players won't appreciate that aspect as I can easily us movement to avoid hits from the little beasties. I can run backwards and cast spells to take out the big'n'uglies and I can side-step to avoid ranged shots. This works particularly well against other spell casters. The guys who really scare me are the mace weilding daedra on my current mission. Still, I've managed to plant a few of them, so it's not like confined areas mean certain death. All in all, though, the twitch player will have an advantage. That doesn't mean a non-twitcher will necessarily have a disadvantage.

See, you're not stupid. It was the anticipation that made it all worthwhile! heh heh I have to admit that was irritated by the scale of Morrowind. ...But I did get a lot of hours out of it. I mean a lot of hours. Most of it was tedious and I started bypassing all the side stuff and just going for the main quests to end the damned thing.

+1,000.03785 points to meta for finding one of my all time favorites. In the original, you were a British soldier. I played mine on the Atari, and it was awesome.

Curse you, meta. Swineheart.

Well it's not just time. But also satisfaction. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> If you continue to play a game for 50 hours without it satisfying you in some way, you're quite stupid.

Let's get back to the reviews, shall we? Anyone want to do the second half of Sawyer's review? huh? Pixies? Can I send a little love your way by letting you finish the trial?

So what do you say, meta? Think it's worth the money or not?

Well, congrats on the whole living thing, Ros. I've always been rather fond of you, so it would be a shame to have you all dead and such.

I'm having trouble understanding. Did I just get flamed? :Eldar's shaking his head with a wry grin icon:

Ah, the irony. He's eating the brains of a creature that traditionally eats the brains of him.

Oh, now Hades managed to get some sympathy from folks eager to agree with him at one point and so he uses this tired excuse constantly. I'm sure it's happened to him. I'm equally sure he's maybe made a little more out of the experiences than they warrant. At any rate, try not to slap the pond.

You're a one track mind sort of fellow, aren't you?

Hmmm. How long has it been for you? And however long it's been for you, apparently it's been longer from Shadowstrider.

Yeah, nothing like waking up to the ringing phone only to have some fellow named "Dave" offer to make me a bid "to pick up my trash and haul it to the dump." I know why the swine used an autodialer. He wouldn't have wanted to hear what I'd've had to say. I dunno. I've always thought of irony as requiring layers of meaning, at least two will suffice. I'm not much of a stickler for grammar or spelling, though.

Young grasshopper, do you not know? When you slap the surface of the water, you only get your hand wet?

There are two kinds of reviews I'd like to hear. One is a detailed review of the sort that Dark Helmet, Llyranor, Dhruin and others have provided. That's helpful in assessing the game. The other review is a simple "I suggest it" from certain members. Gromnir and I, no matter what else, have had such similar tastes in games over the years that I tend to give weight to his verdict just as much as his argument. Likewise, it seems that meta and I have similar tastes. One person's opinion doesn't make or break the deal, but it can certainly make a difference in my decision.

Ugh. I don't know if I feel sorry for you... or for Bob.

Oh, you're just jealous! :D

I feel insulted, meta. It's not too late for me to dip my pen in the venom inkwell. You'd better watch out!

Quite useful, Llyr.