Why does everyone but me seem to love Oblivion? aka Oh look it's this thread again mk 39578

[Michael Hirst]

First I'll give a tiny bit of background on myself as a gamer, I love RPG's both western and Japanese, they're my favourite genre of all and I far rate a game that sucks me into its world more than one with just some nifty shooting.

Okay so here we go, I got on the hype train several years ago when Oblivion was being released, showered with the promises of being let loose ina massive world and having the freedom to do what I want and create any kind of fantasy character imaginable, all very romantic ideas popped up in my head and while I wasn't lied to about any of these traits Oblivion had they just didn't seem half as good as they were said to be.

I suppose my biggest problem was how dull things seemed, I liked the size of the world and how there were all these races inhabiting it but they just didn't seem to be getting used for anything, I was left with a map that was mainly empty and filled with easy to kill boring creatures (yes I know how the level scaling works and I did get several level ups) also there seemed to be very little intrigue to the races, only getting slight nods towards Dark elves being less trusted but that didn't stop them being in every guild, castle and pub in the land.

The dialogue system, this was a huge immersion killer for me, how am I supposed to feel like a character when all I can say to someone is "Directions" and they give me what they know, it felt like the developers were sitting there and hadn't written the main characters dialogue yet and just used the subject as a dummy option until they could get around to it.

Combat now, I tried 2 character types, a typical Nord close combat type and a Breton Mage, the mage is what I mained the game with after growing to hate the stick waving limp wristed sword combat. The Magic was more effective, but perhaps too effective even after sliding the meter to max enemeis died in 2 or 3 shots, hard to feel in danger when you get attacked two enemies at a time (3 if we're going really crazy) and you can just blast them all in so few shots.

Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to hate the game but it just seems rather mediocre to me and is riddled with so many bad design choices and bland art direction that I can't seem to get into it like I have done with other RPG's, be they Deus Ex, Fallout, Planescape Torment, Baldurs Gate etc.

P.S Skyrim seems to fix a lot of the problems I've spoken of by having better combat, a more harsh landscape with more unfriendly people, bigger and stronger enemies (Giants and Dragons) and an art direction that looks more akin to Conan than a 6 year olds ideal image of medieval fantasy land. I want to have hands on experience with it first and if it delivers I'll buy it but if it has the same problems as Oblivion I'll give it a pass.

 

[Kekkles]

I hated it too, don't worry. Everything about that game made me want to forget about Bethesda. But then I played Skyrim and now I'm happy.

 

[Michael Hirst]

Opinions

Yep, hard to believe but it's true

Babby's first troll

I'm not saying people aren't allowed to like the game but I just don't see what other people saw in Oblivion, I'd like explanation/clarification on what makes it so great when to me it seems so underwhelming.

 

[Mike Richards]

To me, it's a weird instance of the whole experience being greater then any one of its parts. Look too closely at any of it's mechanics or components and things start to fall apart a bit, but step out of that sewer for the first time...

It was just plain fun, and had some good quests thrown in from time to time too, plus a fantastic modding community that fixed a lot of the issues the game launched with. It may not score Bethesda any points by you, but I'd suggest checking that out if you've got the PC version, you'd probably end up having much more fun with it.

 

[lobster1077]

It's fun eh? I make a cat man and he runs about on the surface of water, see he does so as he dislikes water given that he is a cat-man. Eh?

 

[ChupathingyX]

I'm not saying people aren't allowed to like the game but I just don't see what other people saw in Oblivion, I'd like explanation/clarification on what makes it so great when to me it seems so underwhelming.

Don't worry there are many people who didn't like Oblivion.

It's just that Bethesda have such a massive fanboy following that defend their games to the death, they seem more vocal than those who did not enjoy the game.

There's also the whole issue of what makes an RPG, I've seen plenty of people call Oblivion one of the greatest RPGs of all time and that it's a great RPG in general. Personally I think the RPG aspects of the game were just bad and it felt more like an action/adventure with RPG elements. If there's one thing I feel is important to an RPG it's allowing the player to have some kind of major choice in the main story and various storylines and the ability to define their personality. Oblivion didn't do a great job at either of those.

The game did do some things right; some quests were unique and interesting. The graphics were pretty but that was let down by the fact that the game world was just plain dull and the character faces (the human ones at least) looked like off potatoes with eyes and mouths.

 

[Cat of Doom]

I have a love-hate relationship with the game, as do most who played Morrowind and miss its depth and complexity.

 

[Michael Hirst]

To me, it's a weird instance of the whole experience being greater then any one of its parts. Look too closely at any of it's mechanics or components and things start to fall apart a bit, but step out of that sewer for the first time...

It was just plain fun, and had some good quests thrown in from time to time too, plus a fantastic modding community that fixed a lot of the issues the game launched with. It may not score Bethesda any points by you, but I'd suggest checking that out if you've got the PC version, you'd probably end up having much more fun with it.

I never got around to trying any mods for it, going on /v/ put me off that a long time ago since the majority of what they reccomended seemed to about enlarging breasts or loli really dumb stuff like that when what I really want are mods to make the game more interesting, tougher enemies, better animations, larger dungeons.

I definitely agree that coming out that sewer was grea the first time, real treat to be shown such a large and pretty world to play in, quite the flip side to Fallout 3 where your first view of the outside world looks like a complete dump.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

I too found it rather dull overall. Of course, I play pencil and paper D&D regularly, and so far no video game has ever come close to approximating the experience of unfettered character creation and cooperative storytelling that I'm used to. I personally think video game RPGs should focus more on creating compelling narratives, or making unique worlds. Oblivion was kind of boring and generic on both counts.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Yes the game had its problems, but it was still playable and enjoyable. I dont get what you expect from this thread at all? You hated it. I loved it. If you didnt like it then thats just because you didnt like playing it. So this thread is pretty worthless.

 

[Jamous]

...Because they enjoyed it and you didn't? Surely it's not that hard an issue to get. I understand that it's difficult to get -why- other people might like a game you don't. God knows I find it difficult enough with CoD atm.
Anyway; it's a pretty fun game to play. The world is interesting to play around with, the modding community is EXCELLENT and as a game it's pretty cool. I've enjoyed it a lot. I can understand that it's not up everyone's street though; the faces would kill some people. They get to me now. A lot. But most of the other issues (the same voices for almost everyone, etc.etc.) I just gloss over.

 

[Mike Richards]

I never got around to trying any mods for it, going on /v/ put me off that a long time ago since the majority of what they reccomended seemed to about enlarging breasts or loli really dumb stuff like that when what I really want are mods to make the game more interesting, tougher enemies, better animations, larger dungeons.

I definitely agree that coming out that sewer was grea the first time, real treat to be shown such a large and pretty world to play in, quite the flip side to Fallout 3 where your first view of the outside world looks like a complete dump.

First thing you should try is Deadly Reflex. Totally overhauls the combat, adding things like unique skill based instant-kills for pretty much every weapon(decapitations for swords, frozen solid then shatter for ice spells, that kind of stuff), shield bashing, kicking, even combat on horseback.

I'd also look into Unique Landscapes, which adds a whole bunch of really cool looking natural environments to the map, and Better Cities, which makes all the cities much grander and more lived-in feeling. Some versions even open them up so you can just walk right in like Morrowind, instead of loading a new area.

There are more great ones like Quarl's Texture Pack 3 or Beautiful People, but at least those should be good for a start.

 

[Dandark]

For it's time it was a brilliant game. There was a lot you could do and not much to rival in at the time(I think).

Personally I didn't get onto the hype train because there was too much choice for me. I could never finish the game. I have like 10 playthroughs I didn't finish. Plus I hated having to explore to find everything, there would be all kinds of cool things but they were hard as hell to find. I pretty much had to randomly stumble across them or look them up on the internet.

 

[Epona]

It's fun eh? I make a cat man and he runs about on the surface of water, see he does so as he dislikes water given that he is a cat-man. Eh?

Here's the problem, his race is named Khajiit. If you don't even care about that then of course you won't get into the world. Both Morrowind and Oblivion tell you about their world in books that you can find throughout the world, it's optional if you read them. I think it's a fantastic way to give the player just as much background as they want.

Each race has it's own perks and I guess the Khajiit can walk on water, I see nothing strange about that. I have never played as a Khajiit but it sounds like fun.

Oblivion won't hold your hand but it does have a wonderful journal to help you when you want it. The complaint about asking for directions is just petty. You want to fill the screen with everything worded as a question? It would accomplish nothing. What next, you want a dialogue wheel with a voiced protagonist? This isn't Mass Effect (though ME is also a great game, different but great).

There is only one reason to hate Oblivion in my opinion and that's because it ruins other games for you. The complete freedom offered to you in Oblivion almost ruined Dragon Age for me as Oblivion proved that you didn't have to have invisible walls and that you could walk from place to place(none of this click on your destination stuff) and still fit the game on one DVD.

 

[Michael Hirst]

I'll be a bit more clear. I didn't HATE the game, I thought it was alright/okay but a huge mass of potential that was never used, I want to love it but there are too many factors which pull the game back that are hard to get over.

First thing you should try is Deadly Reflex. Totally overhauls the combat, adding things like unique skill based instant-kills for pretty much every weapon(decapitations for swords, frozen solid then shatter for ice spells, that kind of stuff), shield bashing, kicking, even combat on horseback.

I'd also look into Unique Landscapes, which adds a whole bunch of really cool looking natural environments to the map, and Better Cities, which makes all the cities much grander and more lived-in feeling. Some versions even open them up so you can just walk right in like Morrowind, instead of loading a new area.

There are more great ones like Quarl's Texture Pack 3 or Beautiful People, but at least those should be good for a start.

I'll look into some of these, Deadly Reflex sounds promising especially.

 

[ChupathingyX]

There is only one reason to hate Oblivion in my opinion and that's because it ruins other games for you. The complete freedom offered to you in Oblivion almost ruined Dragon Age for me as Oblivion proved that you didn't have to have invisible walls and that you could walk from place to place(none of this click on your destination stuff) and still fit the game on one DVD.

So you're saying I'm not allowed to hate the game because it had bland characters, dull RPG elements, a railroaded and uninteresting main quest, generic landscapes, copy-pasted dungeons, abysmal dialogue system and a broken leveling system?

 

[Michael Hirst]

It's fun eh? I make a cat man and he runs about on the surface of water, see he does so as he dislikes water given that he is a cat-man. Eh?

Here's the problem, his race is named Khajiit. If you don't even care about that then of course you won't get into the world. Both Morrowind and Oblivion tell you about their world in books that you can find throughout the world, it's optional if you read them. I think it's a fantastic way to give the player just as much background as they want.

Each race has it's own perks and I guess the Khajiit can walk on water, I see nothing strange about that. I have never played as a Khajiit but it sounds like fun.

Oblivion won't hold your hand but it does have a wonderful journal to help you when you want it. Your complaint about asking for directions is just petty. You want to fill the screen with everything worded as a question? It would accomplish nothing. What next, you want a dialogue wheel with a voiced protagonist? This isn't Mass Effect (though ME is also a great game, different but great).

There is only one reason to hate Oblivion in my opinion and that's because it ruins other games for you. The complete freedom offered to you in Oblivion almost ruined Dragon Age for me as Oblivion proved that you didn't have to have invisible walls and that you could walk from place to place(none of this click on your destination stuff) and still fit the game on one DVD.

My complaint wasn't about the use of "Directions" specifically but the fact that the entire dialogue system is cut down to such a basic level that it removes any personality from the interactions, look at other RPG's like Fallout, Vampire the Masquerade and Planescape Torment for how dialogue can enrich your roleplaying experience in way Oblivion really missed out on. Trying to counter my arguement with an example as poor as Mass Effect is very small minded.

I don't think Oblivions environment "ruins" other games but it definitely shows an alternative to the linear progression in many other RPG's and like I've said before Oblivions open world is one of the things I like, really beautiful envrionment, I just wish they had put more enemies/danger into it.