Oblivion First Impressions

[mkreku]

The best part is when baddies chasing you fall off cliffs/bridges/whatevers to their death.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actualy, I think that's the best part of the AI: it actually tries things, which sometimes fail.

 

I was entering a fort of some kind the other day, when a really mean Daedra Lord found me. In panic I climbed up to the top floor of the fort, but there the floor was broken. As I had almost no hitpoints left, I ran to the edge and jumped across the hole in the floor to a window sill on the other side. The Daedra Lord followed and tried to do the same, but didn't have enough speed to reach my little plateau, and thus fell and died two stories down. I thought that was awesome. Gothic had the same type of AI, where it seemed the intelligence was actually coming up with ideas, some which worked and some which failed.

[Sargallath Abraxium]

...jus' picked up a copy o' Oblivion an' I gotta say, with the exception o' targetin' suckin' on 3rd person view (me preferred view), she may jus' be the best new game I's played since the ol' IE engine retired; so far, anyways, ain't terribly far in her yet...certainly surprisin', what wit' Boringwind blowin' soo damn hard...if NeverWinter Nights 2 can boast this kinda gamin' entertainment, Obsidz'll 'ave hit the mother load...

 

 

...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!...

[Gabrielle]

Yeah...

[Tigranes]

So once you reach master in your primary skills, your level is capped right?

 

Also, stealing is still easy. I'm level 13 and 52 sneak, managed to rob half the shops in Imperial City blind, but I still can't get good weapons, and am forced to skip dungeons with the stupid will-o-wisps until I can find somewhere to spend my 3000 gold on. :/

[Cantousent]

BTW, for all you naysayers, here is undeniable proof that Oblivion is a RPG, because labelling matters! http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.p...howtopic=315667

 

Er, yeah, for the record.... I did not edit the wiki subsequently.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This game is an RPG. I don't need wikipedia or some other such nonsense to give me that fact. Folks complaining that Oblivion is not an RPG are probably the elitist scum who put themselves on the fringe of gaming and ensure that publishers don't listen to their voices in the first place.

 

I sure hope I didn't step on any toes by telling the truth just now.

[alanschu]

THat's what I suspect.

 

People have gone to great lengths to classify RPG games that they don't like as something other than an RPG. Roguelike is my favourite....wtf does that mean?

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

Stark Reality may be the funniest spell ever. It has a really funny quest to go along with it as well.

 

Funny thing as I was running naked for my life I came across another shrine :D

 

<it will all make sense if you find the spell>

Edited March 30, 2006 by ShadowPaladin V1.0

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

So once you reach master in your primary skills, your level is capped right?

 

Also, stealing is still easy. I'm level 13 and 52 sneak, managed to rob half the shops in Imperial City blind, but I still can't get good weapons, and am forced to skip dungeons with the stupid will-o-wisps until I can find somewhere to spend my 3000 gold on. :/

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I expect you cap when you can no longer spend 10 points in primary skills. So in theory you get more levels with low starting skills rather than high ones. Although I havnt found much use for leveling. I did come across one quest with a minimum level of 8.

 

I stopped leveling at 14 , my skills keep going up but I just avoid beds. I bet there will be one of those mandatory beds along the way though.

[Tigranes]

Why do you avoid levelling? You don't want high level opponents? (Apparently at 25+ lions are super-powerful and all the bandits wear elven/daedric/glass armour. Jumping from 12 to 13 I suddenly see dwarven axes everywhere.)

 

At least I have a loot scaling mod.

 

Oh, the plane of Oblivion is a piece of crap. It looks crap, it's not scary, and all you do is fight. Like a half-assed dungeon.

[Baneblade]

So once you reach master in your primary skills, your level is capped right?

 

Also, stealing is still easy. I'm level 13 and 52 sneak, managed to rob half the shops in Imperial City blind, but I still can't get good weapons, and am forced to skip dungeons with the stupid will-o-wisps until I can find somewhere to spend my 3000 gold on. :/

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I expect you cap when you can no longer spend 10 points in primary skills. So in theory you get more levels with low starting skills rather than high ones. Although I havnt found much use for leveling. I did come across one quest with a minimum level of 8.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No, You can spend time in jail to lower your skills.

 

There's no actual level cap in Oblivion [or Morrowind for that matter], how ever you stop gaining levels after you've maxed out your stats->

So, if you choose a sign that doesn't give you stat bonus at the begining, you have total of 330 stat points [320 + 5x2 from class] which leaves 470 increases. As you gain increases to 3 stats per level it's possible to achieve level of 158 [as 470/3=157, and you start at level 1] but you must build your character very carefully[Munchkinism at it's worst] in order to achieve this.

 

I stopped leveling at 14 , my skills keep going up but I just avoid beds. I bet there will be one of those mandatory beds along the way though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

That's Metagaming...

so sad. <_<

[Tigranes]

Level 158 Rats!

[Lyric Suite]

Well, i just caved in and bought Oblivion. I suck.

 

At any rate, by fiddling around the first dungeon i can attest the combat is heaps ahead of Morrowind, if anything. If all else fails, i might at least enjoy this game as an FPS.

 

I'll wait for a few more modded fixes before launching into the game though.

 

BIG disappointment with the interface. I actually like Morrowind in that aspect, where pretty much everything fitted into one screen and you had an actual inventory.

 

Oblivion uses the same dreaded, menu system of KOTOR, with the added bonus you can use a mouse, which makes it slighly more berable, but not much. I hate consoles.

 

Ho, and what was the point of the extremely complex facial creation system? It took me almost 20 minutes to get something that wasn't completely butt uggly. Graphics seem to be state of the art, yet they still managed to make character models and faces uggly as sin. I just can't figure it out...

Edited March 30, 2006 by Lyric Suite

[LoneWolf16]

Ho, and what was the point of the extremely complex facial creation system? It took me almost 20 minutes to get something that wasn't completely butt uggly. Graphics seem to be state of the art, yet they still managed to make character models and faces uggly as sin. I just can't figure it out...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I know. Complete pain in the ass to get anything half decent.

 

Just one more reason why I'm always a beast race.

[Cantousent]

No, I'm with Lyric Suite. I had to experiment with the thing for a while before I was satisfied. I like playing good looking female characters. Simply put, if I'm going to spend hours looking at a character, I want to find that character pleasing.

[Calax]

Hence Eldara

[LoneWolf16]

No, I'm with Lyric Suite.  I had to experiment with the thing for a while before I was satisfied.  I like playing good looking female characters.  Simply put, if I'm going to spend hours looking at a character, I want to find that character pleasing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Same here actually, though "pleasing" can be substituted with "bad ass".

[mkreku]

I found a pair of gloves tonight that gives my character permanent 105 ft radius Sense Life (I think it was called). It's a great pair of gloves so now I have to put up with everything shining purple through walls and stuff. Oh well, such is life. I also found a piece of body armour that removes 15% of the damage inflicted upon me. Together with my boots of "run like hell" (something like that at least) I only need magic greaves and a magic helmet and I have a complete set of magic armour.

 

Anyone know of any quests that give enchanted helmets?

[Tigranes]

Never even found one for sale. The helmet that is. Most enemies don't seem to helmets, only cuirass/greaves/gauntlets set and some random boots.

 

I'm still wearing clothes because my armour skills are crap (wonder why) and I like hitting things with sneak attack 5 times until they die. (In some places). Found a dungeon in the Skingrad-Kvatch region, its' absolutely fricking huge (my feather items/spells give me about 200 free space, and i had to make 5 runs to get all the most valuable stuff). There's also a nice boss battle vs a mage.

[kefka]

Well, apart from the tragic leveling/loot system (which has been discussed ad nauseum on the official boards) I'm quite impressed with Oblivion. It surpasses Morrowind in almost every way, though some people will probably say that isn't hard to do.

 

Combat is greatly improved. The sheer ferocity of melee battles is a sight to behold. You feel like you are taking those blows. The new physics engine is a welcome addition.

 

The world is extremely beautiful, but this splendor does come with a high price - you need a well equipped PC to take advantage or most of the graphical lushness is lost. Speedtree (I think they use that?) enables a very convincing woodland. The best I've seen yet. Dense, highly detailed foliage like this would have been impossible a few years back.

 

However, the aforementioned level problem comes very close to ruining the whole experience.

 

Other games have leveled enemies but never so blatant as here. When you see plain old bandits fully decked out in Daedric armor with all manner of magical weapons, you know there's a problem. This is the case for every fort or ancient ruin you visit. And apparently the main plot is the same. Depending on your level when you take on the Daedra invasion the enemies are scaled to you. Not just weaker or stronger but different - say, stunted Scamps vs Flame Atronachs! I hate this level-based crap. Gothic 2's model is far superior. Love or loathe that game it never cheated the player.

[karka]

This leveling system is ridiculous and the worst idea i've ever heard. No, i won't be buying this game. I don't want to play a game which has lot's of meaningless exploration...

Edited March 30, 2006 by karka

[Judge Hades]

I like meaningful exploration but also exploration for the sake of exploration. Sometimes, when the mood hits me, I do that myself. Got a bit of trouble when I went on a exploration binge at Pearl Harbor.

 

Oh, for those who don't like the interface here is a neat little mod I found: Click Here

Edited March 30, 2006 by Judge Hades

[Musopticon?]

http://myspace-225.vo.llnwd.net/00605/52/26/605496225_l.jpg

 

Noes! Hot skooma!

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

There's no actual level cap in Oblivion [or Morrowind for that matter], how ever you stop gaining levels after you've maxed out your stats->

So, if you choose a sign that doesn't give you stat bonus at the begining, you have total of 330 stat points [320 + 5x2 from class] which leaves 470 increases. As you gain increases to 3 stats per level it's possible to achieve level of 158 [as 470/3=157, and you start at level 1] but you must build your character very carefully[Munchkinism at it's worst] in order to achieve this.

 

 

That's Metagaming...

so sad.  <_<

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I've never been caught "

 

Perhaps, but the games leveling scale scheme is seriously whacky.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

Not just weaker or stronger but different - say, stunted Scamps vs Flame Atronachs! I hate this level-based crap. Gothic 2's model is far superior. Love or loathe that game it never cheated the player.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yep, trying to take that lot with an original 3 damage steel short sword. Not to be recomended.

[Judge Hades]

http://myspace-225.vo.llnwd.net/00605/52/26/605496225_l.jpg

 

Noes! Hot skooma!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>