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Oblivion First Impressions


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Combat at least is harder, which helps make it fun. TES's battle system isnt built for tactics anyway, so we can't hope for that.

 

Running decently on Radeon 9600 and 512mb ram, by which I mean doesnt look that much better than morrowind but I personally don't really care.

 

Sneaking appears to live up to the promise, sorta. There are odd moments where guards dont' notice a battle fairly nearby, but that happened in Thief too.

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Combat at least is harder, which helps make it fun. TES's battle system isnt built for tactics anyway, so we can't hope for that.

 

Running decently on Radeon 9600 and 512mb ram, by which I mean doesnt look that much better than morrowind but I personally don't really care.

 

Sneaking appears to live up to the promise, sorta. There are odd moments where guards dont' notice a battle fairly nearby, but that happened in Thief too.

 

Wow, that actually does look frighteningly much like Morrowind. o_o

Nice that you can scale it enough to work with Radeon 9600 and 512mb ram though.

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Okay, I've been progressing further into the story. I'm about to cross into Oblivion. For all intents and purposes, that means I haven't much more than last time, really, but the story at least seems to be picking up. There was some cool roleplaying potential when I arrived at the city I am now (Kvatch), but instead the devs opted to force a completely linear path onto the main storyline. A shame, really. That could have been great. I would say so far the story hasn't wowed me yet, but it's compelling enough to keep me playing. This is a good thing.

 

I've tried a few misc quests here and there in the Imperial City and Chorrol. They really felt pointless - some Morrowind flashbacks there. I think I'll stick to the Dark Brotherhood one, and maybe some of the guilds (though we'll see if that actually works out at all, since I'm not playing a stealthy character). In any case, I've initiated the DB quest line after I finally successfully murdered the old beggar hag. The guards caught me, but I resisted arrested and escaped the city. Now, I'm supposed to go kill some old guy at some inn. That will come later.

 

The best part of the game is how you can play around with the corpses after you strip off their clothes. Will you drag their feet around, or will you move that torso back and forth? Or will you bring those hands into compromising situations? Oh, the possibilities!

Edited by Llyranor

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I have it...finally...and I'm loving it. More detail once I can pull myself out of the damned thing.

I had thought that some of nature's journeymen had made men and not made them well, for they imitated humanity so abominably. - Book of Counted Sorrows

 

'Cause I won't know the man that kills me

and I don't know these men I kill

but we all wind up on the same side

'cause ain't none of us doin' god's will.

- Everlast

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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.

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Remembering tarna, Phosphor, Metadigital, and Visceris.  Drink mead heartily in the halls of Valhalla, my friends!

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What kind of mage character are you playing? In morrowind high damage spells cost too much mana and I needed to rest often and this made monsters to reappear.

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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.

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Join the revelry at the Obsidian Plays channel:
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but it's not so bad with the new engine from Valve.

 

 

The engine isn't from Valve, it's a heavily modified Gamebyro(sp?).

 

 

edit: And I've seen some people here say that the combat has no tactics whatsoever involved, especially with kaftan who says it's simply going back and forth with blocking and bashing. I was wondering if anyone used stealth, alchemy (poisons especially), and spells while fighting? Or are you simply playing a mindless brute which would be nothing but blocking and bashing?

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

Fionavar's Holliday Wishes to all members of our online community:  Happy Holidays

 

Join the revelry at the Obsidian Plays channel:
Obsidian Plays


 
Remembering tarna, Phosphor, Metadigital, and Visceris.  Drink mead heartily in the halls of Valhalla, my friends!

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- You can make your own class. Mine: Hitikiri Battosai

 

Shouldn

"Some men see things as they are and say why?"
"I dream things that never were and say why not?"
- George Bernard Shaw

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

"The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."

- Some guy 

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- You can make your own class. Mine: Hitikiri Battosai

 

Shouldn

"Some men see things as they are and say why?"
"I dream things that never were and say why not?"
- George Bernard Shaw

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

"The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."

- Some guy 

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Rats are re-play value! Do it!

kirottu said:
I was raised by polar bears. I had to fight against blood thirsty wolves and rabid penguins to get my food. Those who were too weak to survive were sent to Sweden.

 

It has made me the man I am today. A man who craves furry hentai.

So let us go and embrace the rustling smells of unseen worlds

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Rats are re-play value! Do it!

 

I see that you have aswell discovered the true essence of Oblivion: Sewer Rats (w00t)

Edited by Meshugger

"Some men see things as they are and say why?"
"I dream things that never were and say why not?"
- George Bernard Shaw

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

"The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."

- Some guy 

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A friend of mine has discovered the first gamestopping bug. He can start the game, stand in the cell in the beginning for a minute or so and when the Emperor and guards come, Oblivion makes the computer reboot itself.

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Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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Bug alert:

 

 

After I started the Kvatch caslte quest, the captain of the guard kept running up on the castle gates. The gates wouldn't open so I figured I needed to find something in the area. After a half hour, I decided to reboot from the autosave on entering the area. Lo and behold, it seems I missed the trigger the first time and he sends me in to see someone in the temple.

 

 

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.

Fionavar's Holliday Wishes to all members of our online community:  Happy Holidays

 

Join the revelry at the Obsidian Plays channel:
Obsidian Plays


 
Remembering tarna, Phosphor, Metadigital, and Visceris.  Drink mead heartily in the halls of Valhalla, my friends!

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A friend of mine has discovered the first gamestopping bug. He can start the game, stand in the cell in the beginning for a minute or so and when the Emperor and guards come, Oblivion makes the computer reboot itself.

 

 

No. More likely his video card is overheating.

Specs?

 

Bug alert:

 

 

After I started the Kvatch caslte quest, the captain of the guard kept running up on the castle gates. The gates wouldn't open so I figured I needed to find something in the area. After a half hour, I decided to reboot from the autosave on entering the area. Lo and behold, it seems I missed the trigger the first time and he sends me in to see someone in the temple.

 

Known issue, you actually did miss something. There are 5 enemies in the area, the trigger is killing all 5. Somehow, one of them evaded you... RAI hard at work... too hard.

 

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.

 

I'm not sure what you think is going to happen, then again, I don't recall any surprises (intentional or otherwise).

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