Oblivion: PC Gamer Praises in Preview

[~Di]

Did you just answer your own question?

 

Personally I love Oblivian because Morrowind was grrrrreat. Go go real roleplaying! Go go real diologue! Go go non-boring quests! Go go actual NPCs!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

LOL, I think I caught of whiff of the facetious, but it amused me. Actually I did not think Morrowind was great. I thought it bordered on great; it bordered on brilliant. In reality it had flaws that, for me anyway, blemished the experience with dullness and boredom in too many instances. The reason I was so excited about the PC Gamer preview was that it took each of the "flaws" I personally found in Morrowind and explained how they had been (supposedly) eliminated in Oblivion. If Oblivion is the game described in that preview, then it will indeed be an RPG masterpiece. If not, it will be another "coulda-been" disappointment.

 

Time will tell.

[J.E. Sawyer]

Wow, screw actual writing, RPGs dont need crap like that, Oblivion is going to be grrrrreat.

There are a lot of people who believe that writing an ultra-tight story with minimal amounts of mostly insigificant player choice = role-playing. I know that Oblivion seems to be going very far away from that concept and that annoys a lot of people, but it seems great to me.

 

Bethesda tries to do a lot of experimental stuff in their games. Sometimes it fails (spectacularly), but I like the fact that they are doing it.

[Nick_i_am]

Radiant AI would be very interesting if the diologue that went with it weren't utter crap.

 

'Why dont you stay with me?'

'haha, why would I stay in this dump'

'there's no need to be rude'

'haha, only joking'

'why dont you come upstairs with me so you can watch me set my dog on fire'

 

Also in terms of the AI, this sounds to me like exactly the same thing that happened when Black and White came out 'wow, this creature AI looks really cool, he'll like do things, then I can train him to do things and he will do other things!'. Then the game actually comes out 'wait, why is my creature either ignoring me, sleeping or setting villagers on fire. And why the HELL does he keep eating his own poop?'.

Edited January 14, 2006 by Nick_i_am

[J.E. Sawyer]

I admit that I would prefer if the player had the option of loading some sort of emotional content into what was being said, but I am still interested in what the end product of Oblivion will be.

[Llyranor]

From the E3 preview, they gave a non-shallow example of how to carry on conversation to affect NPC's impression of you.

 

Apparently you can joke/intimidate/bribe and so on. There's a radial menu at the top left with those options available. In a flash of roleplaying genius, when you highlight one of the options, the NPC's face reveals how the NPC *would* react if you chose that option. Put it over 'joke', and you see the NPC's face light up, and that makes you realize that this could be a good option to choose. This to me reflects deep roleplaying.

 

Player clicks on 'joke'. The NPC reacts accordingly.

"That's a good one! An Orc in a party dress. I love it!"

 

I just love this kind of consequence in my RPGs. This to me indicates a deep game.

[Magnum Opus]

I've been studiously trying to innoculate myself against the hype for this game (apologies to any who read this who are in marketing... am not really comparing what you do to spreading a virus or some such :D), but given some of the things I've read about it, it hasn't been easy.

 

Some of the descriptions of the situations their AI can generate sound like too much fun to pass up. Even if the dialogue ends up being crap, the story fizzles out

[zer"0"]

Fear the hype.

 

Also : Who are Bethesda's target audience?

 

Watch these videos : http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/702/702493/vids_1.html

 

 

That is all.

[Slowtrain]

For me the heart of a crpg is free-form adventuring. I recognize that is not everyone's cup of tea, but probably its my old skool roots that just won't let go. A story is nice and stuff, but as long as there is new stuff to see and do, characters to level, and monsters to slay and spells to cast, I can do without much of a story.

 

Linear story games can certainly be fun though. The original System Shock is a masterpiece of linear FPS actioon/adventure gaming. But I would hope that there is room in the world, and appreciation enough, for both.

[Darque]

I don't think the lack of main character communication will bother me, must be my console experience working to may advantage The silent protagonist is a given in those kinds of games.

[Meshugger]

Does Oblivion even have a releasedate yet?

[karka]

March i think.

[Meshugger]

March i think.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No exact one? Could be in summer aswell, i guess.

[Gabrielle]

Second quarter seems to be when it will be released.

[alanschu]

conversation trees progress, unlike in games like Knights of the Old Republic, without your answer. In each conversation you have a list of topics from which to choose, but your replies and questions aren't written out. This is a design choice held over from Morrowind.

 

 

 

And very effectively ELIMINATING actual roleplaying right there. I knew it!

 

 

I HATE BETHESDA!!!! :angry:

 

 

 

 

Explanation: Roleplaying on the computer depends on giving the player the opportunity to express his character through dialouge options. The player must be able to be friendly, rude, arrogant, humorous etc. through choosing dialouge options. If you replace real lines like

 

"Yes, sweet beautiful Ravel. I came back for you, my love"

 

with keywords

 

"Ask about: magic weapons"

 

or simple yes/no options. Youre not playing anyone else but yourself, sitting at the computer, playing a game. Youre not roleplaying anymore than if youre playing Super Mario Bros. for the NES

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Isn't there a "mood" circle that lets you pick the tone that you would like to speak with them in? I'd also argue whether it's needed for "roleplaying" as one of the arguably greatest RPG franchises utilized the one word dialogue options to an excellent effect, with Ultima VII being it's pinnacle.

 

In fact, you could probably argue that full on sentences involve less "roleplaying" as your words are already chosen for you.

[mkreku]

Yeah, it was the awkward dialogue choices and premade character "quirks" that killed Planescape: Torment for me. I never felt like I could choose the dialogue line that suited me (because there were none) and since the game was entirely an interactive story with some crummy combat attached to it, the game just died on me.

[Slowtrain]

In PS:T you could pretty much remove every game feature except the badly written page after page of text and have virtually the same game. Ergo: PS:T wasn't a crpg; it was a book. And a badly written one at that. Wot a chunk of poo.

[Jorian Drake]

Oblivion will be cool (if all the promises come true), and it should rub on Fallout 3

[Meshugger]

In PS:T you could pretty much remove every game feature except the badly written page after page of text and have virtually the same game.  Ergo: PS:T wasn't a crpg; it was a book.  And a badly written one at that.  Wot a chunk of poo.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wow, hold it there miss. If Planescape: Torment wasn't a good story, then what is a good story for an RPG?

Edited January 17, 2006 by Meshugger

[Slowtrain]

In PS:T you could pretty much remove every game feature except the badly written page after page of text and have virtually the same game.  Ergo: PS:T wasn't a crpg; it was a book.  And a badly written one at that.  Wot a chunk of poo.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wow, hold it there miss. If Planescape: Torment wasn't a good story, then what is a good story for an RPG?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Where did I use the word story?

[Meshugger]

In PS:T you could pretty much remove every game feature except the badly written page after page of text and have virtually the same game.  Ergo: PS:T wasn't a crpg; it was a book.  And a badly written one at that.  Wot a chunk of poo.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wow, hold it there miss. If Planescape: Torment wasn't a good story, then what is a good story for an RPG?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Where did I use the word story?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No need to be a smartmouth.

[Shadowstrider]

Isn't there a "mood" circle that lets you pick the tone that you would like to speak with them in?  I'd also argue whether it's needed for "roleplaying" as one of the arguably greatest RPG franchises utilized the one word dialogue options to an excellent effect, with Ultima VII being it's pinnacle.

 

In fact, you could probably argue that full on sentences involve less "roleplaying" as your words are already chosen for you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Not exactly. The "mood wheel" you refer to is the speechcraft skill menu. I'm not sure what I can say about it, at this time, but there is a lot of information available on the subject. Check the internets.

[Craigboy2]

I really have no problem with Bethesda. Because they ara making crappy games, and i am not buying them. Everyone is happy, right? Yes, but until Fallout 3.

 

Please Bethesda, don't touch my game, don't touch my memories...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What games? Name one crappy game.

Edited January 17, 2006 by Craigboy2

[Craigboy2]

Radiant AI would be very interesting if the diologue that went with it weren't utter crap.

 

'Why dont you stay with me?'

'haha, why would I stay in this dump'

'there's no need to be rude'

'haha, only joking'

'why dont you come upstairs with me so you can watch me set my dog on fire'

 

Also in terms of the AI, this sounds to me like exactly the same thing that happened when Black and White came out 'wow, this creature AI looks really cool, he'll like do things, then I can train him to do things and he will do other things!'. Then the game actually comes out 'wait, why is my creature either ignoring me, sleeping or setting villagers on fire. And why the HELL does he keep eating his own poop?'.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That was just for E3, in the game she won't set her dog on fire and she'd probably won't let you inside her house while she's sleeping.

[Slowtrain]

In PS:T you could pretty much remove every game feature except the badly written page after page of text and have virtually the same game.  Ergo: PS:T wasn't a crpg; it was a book.  And a badly written one at that.  Wot a chunk of poo.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wow, hold it there miss. If Planescape: Torment wasn't a good story, then what is a good story for an RPG?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Where did I use the word story?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No need to be a smartmouth.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

No smartmouth here. I ws merely noting that tere is a difference between "story" (ie plot) and the writing that conveys said story. Plus PS:T has a lot of writing that has nothing to do with the stoiry arc in the first place.

 

Thirdly: my primary point was not about the poor and self-indulgent writing (hello Reekwind! wtf? ) but that the most seriously interactive aspect of PS:T is moving the scrollbar.

[Llyranor]

That was just for E3, in the game she won't set her dog on fire and she'd probably won't let you inside her house while she's sleeping.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

E3 just being a 'demo' is no excuse for writing the dumbest dialogue of all time.

 

"The whole thing is terrifying, actually. Would you mind staying around for a while? Just to keep me company?"

"Why would I stay in this dump?"

"There's no reason to be rude! You can leave now if you want!"

"I'm only kidding, my friend."

"Oh, silly me. I should have known you were only teasing. Please, come on upstairs with me."

 

I mean, seriously, what the freaking crap?