Oblivion

[Killerbunny001]

Cool review, one thing I like to say :

Please stop talking about Morrowind if you didn`t play the game !

No flame, no nothing, but please stop referring to Morrowind as the "extremely gray, drizzly and depressing" if you played the game for 5 minutes and then decided to quit forever. The specific game had depth and needed to be explored in order to see what was special about it. On top of that when it was released it had top notch graphics and unique quests...

 

[bluemistake2]

i played the game but when i was in the first dungeon i thought "what the hell am i in here for" then the emperor comes along tells me it doesn't matter (considering in those ages his/her feet have probaly been burned in oiled, and hes been whipped a few hundred times and been locked up there since he was a child it didn't seem to matter).
then later when i got my first sword and shield i thought at least the combat should be all right. LT was for blocks RT for attacks. so in my first fight all that there was was R,R,R,R,R etc. then later i got a shield now my combat involved a lot more action LT,RT,RT,RT,LT,RT,RT,RT.
at one point in that same dungeon assasins came to kill the emperor i managed to protect him without anyone coming near him he talks to met gives me something and an adress then dies for absolute no freaking reason, thats like waiting for the bus and then some idiot pushes you in front of it, it stops doesn't even hit you but you just fall dead for the heck of it.
after i got out of the dungeon it gave me the choice of still changing my character but i decided not to. then i got out went to a few other dungeons and then got so frustrated and bored i quit the next day i tried again same freaking result. well i didn't have fun with oblivion but soon people will just tell me i'm mentally retarded cause i think oblivion isn't that great

 

[MrShrike]

I still rate Oblivion as one of my fav games, it was massive, immersive (when i wasnt listening to citizens change tone of voice every second sentance), the quests drew me in like no other rpg (especially the dark brotherhood line) and the little things that you could do, such as become a vampire or win the finals of a gladitorial tournament without lifting a finger, that really solidified its charm to me. If i had any critisisms id call it out for the annoying pie-mini game, which i found poitless so long as i could pay them out, the repition of the environments which led me to abuse the quick-travel system and (for me at least) a few impossibly hard quests such as the one where your stuck in a painting with 5 blood thirsty trolls that wont die!
In the end though, Oblivion let me be a vampire, jump on roofs and irritate smarmy lizard people so its an automatic win for me

 

[Tjebbe]

Having recently restarted with the xbox version of oblivion, I must say i still like it very much. I finally 'get' the level-balancing, and must say, they didn't make it strong enough. Last time through i played as a ranger/thief, and was having a hard time all along. Now I'm a spellsword and by the time you reach the end of the mage guild quests (which are really the only ones i did so far) you are already so strong that you can slice your way through the last quest itself. The final boss enemy (of the mages guild quests) wasn't even able to damage me... So i shudder when i think how boring other guild quests would be now if there wouldn't be any balancing at all.

Still, lots of fun though, great game. Now if I could just remake the permanent ring of levitation i had in Morrowind...

 

[SimuLord]

i played the game but when i was in the first dungeon i thought "what the hell am i in here for" then the emperor comes along tells me it doesn't matter (considering in those ages his/her feet have probaly been burned in oiled, and hes been whipped a few hundred times and been locked up there since he was a child it didn't seem to matter).

Valen Dreth calling you a "new prisoner" and the Blades not expecting to find you there didn't clue you in to the fact that your character couldn't have been in jail longer than a day or two?

I think Oblivion's above your pay grade as far as thinking-man's games go.

 

[51gunner]

I think Oblivion was a pretty stand-up game in and of itself, but it comes under fire for a lot of little nitpicky things. The problem is that as a game's faults go down, the amount of criticism increases for little stuff. As the number and size of faults gets smaller, each one seems more glaring. Hello, uncanny valley effect.

Also, the radiant AI (where NPC's interact with each other) comes under fire for repeating n conversations x+1 times, where x is the number of times the player could tolerated hearing about how good (insert store here) is. Problem is that the number of conversations is always going to be finite, and as players play for longer (x increases), sooner or later you will hear it x+1 times.

Let Oblivion be viewed not in its own merit, but as a stepping stone to Elder Scrolls 5, where they redo Oblivion but:

1) Hire about four times the number of voice actors, ESPECIALLY for humans. Come on, anyone can voice a human.
2) Increase the number of conversation topics by ten times in the radiant AI, and disallow things like guards interrogating guards (remember THAT quest?)
3) Consider another out-of-Cyrodill setting. I really loved Solstheim, Mournhold, and Vvardenfell (all part of Morrowind), and I hear the Shivering Isles are great in Oblivion. Playing as a complete outsider in Morrowind made it feel a little more... justified that nobody knew you, or cared to get to know you.

 

[SimuLord]

Let Oblivion be viewed not in its own merit, but as a stepping stone to Elder Scrolls 5, where they redo Oblivion but:

1) Hire about four times the number of voice actors, ESPECIALLY for humans. Come on, anyone can voice a human.
2) Increase the number of conversation topics by ten times in the radiant AI, and disallow things like guards interrogating guards (remember THAT quest?)
3) Consider another out-of-Cyrodill setting. I really loved Solstheim, Mournhold, and Vvardenfell (all part of Morrowind), and I hear the Shivering Isles are great in Oblivion. Playing as a complete outsider in Morrowind made it feel a little more... justified that nobody knew you, or cared to get to know you.

1. There should be at least three voice actors for every race and gender. Still a little too "same old same old", but they aren't expected to spend 90% of the budget on the voice acting...are they? Said Ken Rolston: "I wanted to limit voice acting to where it would have an impact, but kids these days don't want to read."

2. As long as this doesn't steal development resources from other parts of the game, I'm all in favor. Finding a game full of bugs or lousy AI because they spent too much time and money on voice acting would be symptomatic of everything that's wrong with games these days.

3. Skyrim, please. Make it about the Nords. Besides the fact that Nords are awesome, Bethesda's graphics are always prettiest when there's snow on the ground (q.v. the Jerall Mountains and Bruma from Oblivion and Solstheim from Bloodmoon.) The fact that the Nords give a very real chance to explore a Viking-like setting (and Vikings are way awesome) is a bonus.

 

[51gunner]

3. Skyrim, please. Make it about the Nords. Besides the fact that Nords are awesome, Bethesda's graphics are always prettiest when there's snow on the ground (q.v. the Jerall Mountains and Bruma from Oblivion and Solstheim from Bloodmoon.) The fact that the Nords give a very real chance to explore a Viking-like setting (and Vikings are way awesome) is a bonus.

The only problem I'd see with placing it in Skyrim would be that Solstheim was already a snowy, Nord-filled land. It'd still be a good setting, but I'd like to see somewhere completely new. Say... Elsewyr, or Black Marsh. (I confess, I like the Khajiit, especially Ma'iq.

 

[SimuLord]

3. Skyrim, please. Make it about the Nords. Besides the fact that Nords are awesome, Bethesda's graphics are always prettiest when there's snow on the ground (q.v. the Jerall Mountains and Bruma from Oblivion and Solstheim from Bloodmoon.) The fact that the Nords give a very real chance to explore a Viking-like setting (and Vikings are way awesome) is a bonus.

The only problem I'd see with placing it in Skyrim would be that Solstheim was already a snowy, Nord-filled land. It'd still be a good setting, but I'd like to see somewhere completely new. Say... Elsewyr, or Black Marsh. (I confess, I like the Khajiit, especially Ma'iq.

I'm not a big fan of the beast races. The most interaction I ever wanted to get out of Khajiit or Argonians was setting them loose (or, in that one quest in Morrowind, delivering the slave as advertised.)

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

ES 5 should take place in Hammerfell, It would be civilized, yet dangerous due to the abundance of Redguards, who are known for being warriors. Black Marsh sounds like a lawless place and would likely be dreary and brown like Morrowind. Not that Morrowind was bad.

 

[SimuLord]

ES 5 should take place in Hammerfell, It would be civilized, yet dangerous due to the abundance of Redguards, who are known for being warriors. Black Marsh sounds like a lawless place and would likely be dreary and brown like Morrowind. Not that Morrowind was bad.

Consider that the Elder Scrolls series has already covered in depth (as in, not counting Arena, which didn't have all its ducks in a row as far as the lore went):

- High Rock (Daggerfall)
- Morrowind (duh)
- Cyrodiil (Oblivion).

Given that there's a lot more to Tamriel than just those three provinces, TES5 could be set just about anywhere and it'd be breaking new ground. Granted Skyrim would look a bit too much like Solstheim and Bruma, Black Marsh would be a dull and dreary place (consider how dull and dreary Blackwood/the Leyawiin area is in Cyrodiil), and Elsweyr would probably create too many problems (ever seen the lore about the Khajiit? There are as many variations on that race itself as there are in the rest of the races of Tamriel combined)...that leaves:

Hammerfell. Apart from The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, there hasn't been a lot of exploration done into Redguard culture and lore. It might be interesting to delve into some ancient evil the Redguards brought with them from Yokuda which has chosen the current time to awaken (much like Dagoth Ur awakened in Morrowind).

Valenwood. I have no idea what they'd do with a Bosmer forest. The Bosmer have always seemed to me to be the most underdeveloped cultural race on Tamriel, which either means there's a lot of unmined and untapped potential or every NPC is going to be like Fargoth and Thoronir. Scenery-wise, you wouldn't be able to see the forest for the trees, and as a practical matter the system requirements would probably be jacked up by all that foliage to render (the Great Forest in Cyrodiil's bad enough in this regard as far as framerates go.)

Summerset Isle. All that NPC chatter in the Imperial City had me thinking "Y'know, that would actually make a hell of a game." Lots of sorcery, an evil magic cabal fighting the Empire, a ready-made flashpoint in that an Altmer wizard could take advantage of the chaos in the wake of Martin's battle with Mehrunes Dagon and the leaderless state of the Empire to launch a coup and proclaim himself king of the isle. The Empire, in no position to launch an amphibious assault, sends a spy (or a prisoner---we all know how much the Elder Scrolls series loves using petty criminals to do great things) to discreetly worm into Altmer society and end the wizard king's reign. If some Daedric prince is involved and behind the plot, so much the better---who doesn't love a climactic battle on a plane of Oblivion?

I gotta say, though---I still think Nords are awesome.

 

[Jamanticus]

I gotta say, though---I still think Nords are awesome.

Yes, I wouldn't mind the next game being set in Skyrim one bit... I'd enjoy it a lot, actually....

Especially all of that nice Nord architecture.

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

I love how you just casually drop Terry Pratchett's name like he's a normal guy that you chill with and not a fucking God.

Nice review and everything, but after the very first line I could care less about your opinion on Oblivion-- I want to know how you are on a first-name basis with Terry Pratchett.

 

[51gunner]

I could certainly dig a game set in Hammerfell. Don't get me wrong, I'd still like a game in Skyrim, but I just think that seeing as there's already been one game in a mostly Nord area (Solstheim) that Hammerfell would be something newer and more interesting.

 

[Leodiensian]

I love how you just casually drop Terry Pratchett's name like he's a normal guy that you chill with and not a fucking God.

Nice review and everything, but after the very first line I could care less about your opinion on Oblivion-- I want to know how you are on a first-name basis with Terry Pratchett.

Mostly, it's through my dad. He got to know Terry about fifteen years ago, through the web. They had fairly similar interests and since Dad is a former doctor and now lectures in pathology, Terry figured he'd be useful to mine for information and the like.

Case in point: Terry had his PA phone up and ask my dad for some arsenical minerals, because he was interested in how ink was originally made and figured that Dad would at least know someone who could get their hands on it. So, he managed to get about three of four different kinds of arsencical minerals, all a sort of silver colour, and then sent them off in the post. When he next met Terry was greeted with "Where's my green arsenic, you bastard?" since Terry, like most people, had this "arsenic=green" thing going on in his head. It turned out that, of the many different kinds of arsenic out there, very few are actually the sort of colour we imagine when we think of arsenic, but nevertheless, my Dad went away and laid hands on them, to give to Terry at the German convention. Which, of course, was interesting when customs asked him to open his bag...

 

[curlycrouton]

Oblivon is a good game. There is no question about it. Those who say it isnt shoul be killed with my level 29 absorb 20 health sword

Those who say it isn't should maybe take English lessons.

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

I love how you just casually drop Terry Pratchett's name like he's a normal guy that you chill with and not a fucking God.

Nice review and everything, but after the very first line I could care less about your opinion on Oblivion-- I want to know how you are on a first-name basis with Terry Pratchett.

Mostly, it's through my dad. He got to know Terry about fifteen years ago, through the web. They had fairly similar interests and since Dad is a former doctor and now lectures in pathology, Terry figured he'd be useful to mine for information and the like.

Case in point: Terry had his PA phone up and ask my dad for some arsenical minerals, because he was interested in how ink was originally made and figured that Dad would at least know someone who could get their hands on it. So, he managed to get about three of four different kinds of arsencical minerals, all a sort of silver colour, and then sent them off in the post. When he next met Terry was greeted with "Where's my green arsenic, you bastard?" since Terry, like most people, had this "arsenic=green" thing going on in his head. It turned out that, of the many different kinds of arsenic out there, very few are actually the sort of colour we imagine when we think of arsenic, but nevertheless, my Dad went away and laid hands on them, to give to Terry at the German convention. Which, of course, was interesting when customs asked him to open his bag...

That's awesome-- if you only knew how jealous I was! *giddy like a school girl*

 

[Angrywyvern]

I hope the next game is in Blackmarsh. Argonians are CRAZY AWESOME, and it seems like a very interesting province. Though the scenery might be a little too much like morrowind.

 

[latenightapplepie]

in the long grass this may in fact be the only clue you have that there are any enemies in the area, up until a mountain lion starts eating your face.

So true. The music is the only way I know I haven't cleared out a dungeon.

I think the saddest part about the game is that despite Bethesda implementing the levelling system to increase play-time, people end up just as mind-numbingly bored after a while AND also ***** about the flaws of the system. Pretty big design failure in my book. And yet I don't know how one could avoid boredom after the amounts of time some people (myself included) have spent playing.

hmmm

In any case, good review.

 

[crazy-j]

the reason i did not like oblivion was (drum roll please) dudududuududududududuudaaaaa the combat

the combat sucked balls, so now i cant play that game, i just cant handle it