Elder Scrolls Oblivion review

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2006-03-25 09:23am

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba wrote:I adore this game. I'm running it around High Quality(plus anti-aliasing and shadows, though these look bad on faces) and it's fucking beautiful, as is the music and everything else.

Turn off self-shadowing. As far as anyone (at nvnews.net, at least) can tell, it only affects faces. Character and tree shadows are still present when self-shadowing is off.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2006-03-25 12:38pm

My only real complaint is that horses are kind of a bitch to control and you can't fight on horseback. Other than that I really haven't had any problems yet.

Luzifer's right hand · Post by **Luzifer's right hand** » 2006-03-25 12:52pm

I casted soul trap on one of my horses and got a massage that I'm expelled from the Thieves Guild for stealing from one of it's members.
I was like WTF, relloaded and tried it again.
The result was the same and got expelled from the Mages Guild for the same reason after I used the spell a 2nd time on the horse.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2006-03-25 01:07pm

Flagg wrote:My only real complaint is that horses are kind of a bitch to control and you can't fight on horseback. Other than that I really haven't had any problems yet.

Horse back is great in 3rd person POV

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-03-25 06:32pm

They still haven't really solved the problems with their levelling system: at the start of the game I was levelling like mad (and getting +5s to speed) due to extremely low acro/aero. Now, I can't get a speed bonus to save my life, but my four magic skills (including alchemy) level me too quickly, and simply levelling your minors before sleeping doesn't adjust your modifiers. Result - magic user who has recieved more bonuses, at level 15, to speed and agility than willpower and intelligence.

Just call me Vampire Hunter Simon.

Seggybop · Post by **Seggybop** » 2006-03-25 06:39pm

alright, big problem

Apparently enemies and loot are scaled to your level, sort of like FFVIII. If you level, everyone else in the world levels. So does the quality of the items they carry. You're basically as good at lv1 as you are at 30.

wtf were they thinking...?

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2006-03-25 06:42pm

I've looked at the recommended specs, but before I go and drop cash on this and find out it won't run decently, can I get by with the following?

Pentium4 3.20 GHz
1 GIG RAM
ATI Radeon X800 XT (256 MB RAM)

I'm able to run Doom 3 at 1024x768 with everything pretty much maxed, same goes for HL2.

Latest drivers and all of that, as well.

Anyone with a similar setup? Worth a try for Oblivion?

Seggybop · Post by **Seggybop** » 2006-03-25 06:54pm

That will be fine. Medium-high detail, probably.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2006-03-25 07:10pm

Seggybop wrote:That will be fine. Medium-high detail, probably.

Excellent. Thank you!

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2006-03-25 09:19pm

I have almost nothing but praise for this awesome game, but let me interject a serious point of criticsm:

When I heard about the psychic guards, etc. before I actually got the game, I worried that it might be too hard to be a bad guy, that it would be frustratingly difficult to get away with crimes, and therefore not fun to play that type of character. Well, I was right, and it's worse than I thought.

I have a stealth character who mostly uses a bow to take down people. Years of playing the Thief games have made me pretty damn good at this weapon, so I can usually headshot people at a decent range. The point is that people almost always go down in one hit, which is a lot of fun. Makes me feel like the silent killer that I am. However, unarmored civilians not only don't go down from the bowshot that routinely kills armored bandits, they don't even go down from a 6x damage backstab to the head. It usually takes the backstab and then many arrows after that, as they flee at an impossibly fast rate of speed. There's just no excuse for that.

Add to that the psychic guards that instantly recognize you and read off your list of crimes no matter what you did, where you did it, and whether they could have possibly found out about it. They also confiscate your stolen goods instantly with nothing you can do about it. Even if you resist arrest, your goods are still magically confiscated.

I understand that all this bullshit is a reaction to the problem in Morrowind where you could easily kill someone and take their house, but it's absolutely the wrong way to fix that problem. If you kill someone and take their house, eventually someone will notice and the guards will come knocking on that door. Instead they made it basically impossible to kill someone. This is something that IMO needs to be fixed by modders immediately if not sooner, because it makes a lot of cool character concepts completely un-fun to play.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2006-03-25 09:29pm

I should clarify, about the speed issue: I was referring to enemies that matter. lessed Daedra, Arena fighters, and the like. Not random pussy-ass banditry.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-03-25 09:33pm

Yes, the hamfisted methods of enforcing the law are a bugbear for me as well. Honestly, how does someone know an apple is stolen?

The 'Radiant AI' - which is worthless - should have been used to simulate sensible responses to crimes. As it is, if you play by the 'rules', you can steal EVERYTHING in a town and fence it, and nobody cares. No increased guard presence, no upgraded security, no bouncers in shops, nothing. Instead, you get psychic guards combined with civilians who don't mind that much that you just broke into their house while they were awake. They just politely ask you to leave!

I even stole from the Thieves Guild guy, and he didn't notice. He'll never try to use that key, so he'll never try to find out who stole it.

A friend of mine - playing a Khajiit, the race of thieves - once followed a guy home, loitered outside all day, broke in at night, then had the owner come back while he was in there and be asked to leave! Nobody cares that a Khajiit came running out of a house which just had everything stolen in the middle of the night.

For me the worst part about the psychic guards is all the cases where it doesn't work. You can lure and kill one guy, and his friend doesn't care that he wandered into a bush and never came back. You can pickpocket a guy, and it doesn't matter how many friends there are around. I've had people look straight at me as I lifted a key off their companion. Where's the psychic crime info network there?

Seggybop · Post by **Seggybop** » 2006-03-25 10:05pm

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:I have a stealth character who mostly uses a bow to take down people. Years of playing the Thief games have made me pretty damn good at this weapon, so I can usually headshot people at a decent range. The point is that people almost always go down in one hit, which is a lot of fun. Makes me feel like the silent killer that I am. However, unarmored civilians not only don't go down from the bowshot that routinely kills armored bandits, they don't even go down from a 6x damage backstab to the head. It usually takes the backstab and then many arrows after that, as they flee at an impossibly fast rate of speed. There's just no excuse for that.

I'm pretty sure this is due to the incomprehensible level scaling. As far as I've figured it out so far, enemies are scaled to your level while most town NPCs have a set level. The enemies you kill outside are always at a comparable strength level while the NPC strength can vary wildly. I think, at least.

GuppyShark · Post by **GuppyShark** » 2006-03-25 10:16pm

Some guy claims to have fixed it, it's on Elder Scrolls Source at http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=1848.

I'm too scared to try it.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2006-03-26 01:13am

GuppyShark wrote:Some guy claims to have fixed it, it's on Elder Scrolls Source at http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=1848.

I'm too scared to try it.

Just wait for a re-do GIANTS Mod were we have acutal creatures, IE Zombies in graveyards, don't want to die? Don't go there. GIANTs was great as wandering the wilderness could land you accidently in a Dragon's roost(Were you would die, a horrible burning death) or a Pixie Patch(My eyes! Glitter everywhere! The Goggles do nothing!) or a dead npc surronded by carrion creatures.

And cliff racers lived only near MOUNTAINS, nuff said.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-03-26 01:54am

I've noticed some wierd scripting problems lately. I joined the arena, did the first five fights, then went home. I got visited by the brotherhood, doing their 'yo you killed those niggaz stone kold' spiel, and I kept waiting for the 'you're looking for someone else' option to appear. I haven't murdered anyone, my infamy is 1 (which I've had for ages). Buh?

Also, I managed to lose the 'buy lockpicks' conversation option from Armand.

Is anyone else slightly annoyed about the five-tier skill system? For many skills (all magic except alchemy) your actual numbered skill rating is worthless. Spells don't have proper difficulty ratings, just 'journeyman' etc. Maybe weapon damage varies based on rating, but I can't tell since they hid the damage levels behind their worthless 'sword ratings'. I didn't care at first, but it's starting to look like they dumbed it down. You can't fine-tune a spell to just fit within your skill - you're an expert, and that's it.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-03-26 02:23am

I hated the console-bullshit 'loading area' messages (I've got 2 gig of RAM, dammit, and there's never a pause when just walking around) and now there is a mod to remove it.

I'm really impressed by how quickly the irritating parts of the game are being fixed. Fuck the Xbox owners in their stupid heads, I want to know why I can't mouse over enchantment icons to find out what they are. I want stats/skills on one page, too, dammit.

Anyone else think it's funny the 'funish your house' stuff is utter shit compared to the mods for Morrowind? Not a single sword-rack or anything. PFFFFFT.

Edited for link.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2006-03-26 06:20am

Stark wrote: Also, I managed to lose the 'buy lockpicks' conversation option from Armand.

That's only for the entry mission. Buy them from your fence.

My character in battle attire. Up to date as of posting.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-03-26 08:34am

Pffffft mithril. Due to the extraordinarily shit 'level scaling', regular bandits have elven/ebony armour and weapons in my game. After a mission I was left with elven water walk boots, elven curiass of reflect 12%, etc etc etc. Sure, I'm level 19, but if you take too many magic skills that happens way too fast.

I'm sure everyone has seen that cave outside Imperial Centre by the bridge west. I killed the bandits in their recently, and got two full sets of elven and a few glass/ebony weapons. What bullshit.

However, with a nice set of mods, I've been able to eliminate all the lame messages, the small map, the super-large text, and make the crosshair a small red dot. Even the level messages and 'zomg u r teh poisoned' messages are suppressed.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-03-26 11:45am

Oblivion is here, someone make me a nice list of mods to DL?

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2006-03-26 03:39pm

The problem with the level scaling is that I don't know that it's necessarily fixable, at least not without a lot of work. Could be wrong.

I really don't understand why they went with a level system at all in the Elder Scrolls games. Everything's skill-based anyway, so levels add nothing.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2006-03-26 04:05pm

Stark wrote:Pffffft mithril. Due to the extraordinarily shit 'level scaling', regular bandits have elven/ebony armour and weapons in my game.

I'm wearing some Elven armor. The pieces of Mithril I'm wearing have badass enchantments on them. The Ambusher's Mantle, for example... permanent Detect Life at 60 feet means when I'm in a dungeon, I'm always aware of any possible threat. And can headshot it with my arrows before they see me.

After a mission I was left with elven water walk boots, elven curiass of reflect 12%, etc etc etc. Sure, I'm level 19, but if you take too many magic skills that happens way too fast.

My helm does reflect magic 17%, so nyah. My glass shortsword is only awaiting my Armorer skill to increase to the point where I can repair magic items before it gets enchanted.

However, with a nice set of mods, I've been able to eliminate all the lame messages, the small map, the super-large text, and make the crosshair a small red dot. Even the level messages and 'zomg u r teh poisoned' messages are suppressed.

Nice... so if you catch a disease, you won't know!

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2006-03-26 04:20pm

Whee, back from Spring Break and no 'net connection (which equats to even more time devoted to Oblivion anyway, so eh). I see a mildly attractive char or two so Internet Dollars™ forthcoming in awhile, as well as screens of my efforts. The infuriating thing is there are the occasional NPCs who are very attractive, but recreating them is nigh impossible.

Beat the main quest. Eh. Morrowind's mops the floor with it, frankly. Bought that Skingrad estate, are there roomier ones around? For 25k it's awfully cramped. I want a damn castle.

Having given it more play time, I can now say I'm rather miffed with a lot of the skill rebalancing. Morrowind was far from perfect in that regard, but overall superior, IMO. As it stands there's very little advantage to being unarmored.

Chainmail is light armor. Fuck that. I can understand the need... or rather, the concession to consolism stupidity to consolidate the skillset, but chainmail? Lame as fuck.

The combination of ultra-retarded level scaling shit and utterly linear equipment progression just adds to the console crap. hay lol i haev steel armr now. oh lol now i haev orc. ops lol lvld now i haev daedric.

But most of all... I want my TESIII-style Legion uniforms!!!

Oberleutnant · Post by **Oberleutnant** » 2006-03-26 04:45pm

I wasn't exposed to the hype about Oblivion until few months ago, so I really didn't have high expectations. Whatever issues are worthy of criticism are minor in comparison to the awesomeness of this game.

Much of what I've experienced over this weekend playing Oblivion will go down in my personal gaming history among the most memorable moments. When I set out for the Blades' fortress on horseback with two others, galloping across lush hills and forests, the tower of Imperial City rising far in the horizon under a twilight sky, I really felt like living another life in the fantasy world of Tamriel. The game makers managed to capture part of the same otherworldly essence what made Lord of the Rings come alive.

http://til.gamingsource.net/
Here's a good website with plenty of material about the Elder Scrolls game universe for those interested.

PS
Everyone visiting the Imperial City: take a night's rest in the Bloated Float in southern part of the city by the docks!

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2006-03-26 05:21pm

Ok. Aurelia (Magic; Blade / Block / Restoration / Alteration / Destruction / Speechcraft / Athletics ):

A nice profile (hooray for visible amulets and rings, at least with some clothing).

Ceremonial battle garb and 'Consultum Ultimum.'

]

All-purpose 'meddling' robe, leather sandals, and a pair of wrist shackles... again with 'Consultum Ultimum.'

And finally, formal garb with the more manageable 'Lex Non Scripta.'

Also, my personal rabid fanwhoring vendetta:

Versus:

No contest, man.