Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[Rhydderch Hael]

Taking another page from Diablo II, I'm collecting complete sets of mundane armor and blades for the purpose of enchanting them, organizing the enchantments to complement each other within each set and then naming the items together as a set.

My Breton paladin is heartbroken now. Sure, he's acquired a bunch of weapons and armor for his collections and has the housing to keep them in, but his lady love has vanished on him.

My character fell for the cute little Breton tart who hung around inside the Brina Cross Inn (on the Gold Road near the city of Anvil). But as soon as he finished the initial quest given by the Anvil chapter of the Mages' Guild, she went off and vanished on him in the aftermath. She's no longer at Brina Cross, she didn't travel to the Guild Hall, and she's not at the University.

So now, my paladin is now pining for the one that got away. When I start enchanting all his gear, I may very well name a silver longsword (his favorite weapon, for ghost-busting purposes) "Airelle" in memory of her.

I could give the name to an Ebony or Daedric longsword, but you don't name ugly swords after beautiful girls.

[Rhydderch Hael]

I killed the people practicing in the arena area. The boxing ones. I think it was a Kajhit and a human, but I'm not too sure. I totally made pincushions out of them from a safe distance away from the guards, and didn't get caught. ...
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That would be Branwen and her boxing partner. I only remember her name (or take notice of the two) because of a certain note you'll find that Oreyn (the Arena Blademaster who is, by all grace, the closest thing to a Drill Sergeant you'll meet in all Cyrodiil) crumpled and tossed away by the cabinet where you get the Arena raiments from.

[Dako-ta]

Hi,

Thanks, RogueBanshee & Drasca.

Interesting, sounds like I may have to watch prices & give it a try if I see it cheap enough. After I get a new computer put together, at least.

Thanks for the link to Oldblivion, RogueBanshee. Interesting idea, but my current 4-yr computer is still too limited even for Oldblivion.

However, I do have most of the parts on hand to put together a new computer, albeit still limited by current standards. The processor I picked (Athlon 64 3000) probably would handle the game, but to start I will only have 1 512 MB memory module, and the video card is limited (though listed on Oldblivion's list of supported cards), so if I can get that up and running, Oldblivion might be a possibility.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Dako-ta

[Dako-ta]

Hi,

Thanks, RogueBanshee & Drasca.

Interesting, sounds like I may have to watch prices & give it a try if I see it cheap enough. After I get a new computer put together, at least.

Thanks for the link to Oldblivion, RogueBanshee. Interesting idea, but my current 4-yr computer is still too limited even for Oldblivion.

However, I do have most of the parts on hand to put together a new computer, albeit still limited by current standards. The processor I picked (Athlon 64 3000) probably would handle the game, but to start I will only have 1 512 MB memory module, and the video card is limited (though listed on Oldblivion's list of supported cards), so if I can get that up and running, Oldblivion might be a possibility.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Dako-ta

[Dako-ta]

Hi,

Thanks, RogueBanshee & Drasca.

Interesting, sounds like I may have to watch prices & give it a try if I see it cheap enough. After I get a new computer put together, at least.

Thanks for the link to Oldblivion, RogueBanshee. Interesting idea, but my current 4-yr computer is still too limited even for Oldblivion.

However, I do have most of the parts on hand to put together a new computer, albeit still limited by current standards. The processor I picked (Athlon 64 3000) probably would handle the game, but to start I will only have 1 512 MB memory module, and the video card is limited (though listed on Oldblivion's list of supported cards), so if I can get that up and running, Oldblivion might be a possibility.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Dako-ta

[Drasca]

My character fell for the cute little Breton tart who hung around inside the Brina Cross Inn (on the Gold Road near the city of Anvil). But as soon as he finished the initial quest given by the Anvil chapter of the Mages' Guild, she went off and vanished on him in the aftermath. She's no longer at Brina Cross, she didn't travel to the Guild Hall, and she's not at the University.[right][snapback]109232[/snapback][/right]

I've got good news and bad news. Good news first.

Do you remember her name? Take heart! NPC movement schedules aren't just daily. They can cover seperate days even weeks of the month. She might actually be in Bruma for a week, then return to the inn. Check back in a week. Your girl might return (or might be killed on the way...)

Also, I hate to break it to you, but if you're playing on an older card, and then upgrade that girl might really be a lot older than she looks, because all the 'age lines' are drawn by features of newer cards. Your character might be lusting over a breton seniour citizen, and he doesn't know it yet.

I could give the name to an Ebony or Daedric longsword, but you don't name ugly swords after beautiful girls.

Beauty can be in the eye of the beholder. Funny, If ind the silver longsword ugly and ubiquitous (every legion trooper has one) and the ebony pretty nice looking.

[NuurAbSaal]

Beauty can be in the eye of the beholder. Funny, If ind the silver longsword ugly and ubiquitous (every legion trooper has one) and the ebony pretty nice looking.
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give pics please!

take care
Nuurabsaal/Tarabulus

[Rhydderch Hael]

Do you remember her name? Take heart! NPC movement schedules aren't just daily. They can cover seperate days even weeks of the month. She might actually be in Bruma for a week, then return to the inn. Check back in a week. Your girl might return (or might be killed on the way...)

Airelle Jurard, Mages Guild battlemage. Which means she could have a healing spell to patch herself up if she ever went on the road.

Considering that she's quest-specific, I have the sneaking feeling the game simply winked her out of existence when she was no longer needed.

Also, I hate to break it to you, but if you're playing on an older card, and then upgrade that girl might really be a lot older than she looks, because all the 'age lines' are drawn by features of newer cards. Your character might be lusting over a breton seniour citizen, and he doesn't know it yet.

Not everyone is playing the game on a computer. :wacko: Of course, one needs to learn certain arcane rituals in order to work an X360 controller properly. When it comes to graphics processing, however, I'm gold.

Arielle is a comely young lass. A little short in stature, though, but then again the Breton women are the shortest women in the game (the male Wood Elves are the shortest of the men).

In order to confirm her name, I started a new character, a High Elf (the tallest race in the game), and traveled to the Inn to see her. The Altmer towered over Airelle like a parent to a child.

Believe me, my character has seen his fair share of grandmas in the game and I cringe when one of them hits on my Breton (head to the Leyawiin Fighters' Guild Hall). What's even scarier is when men ask my Breton if he works out, or that they "like what they see..." <_< Rhydderch don't do that, mister.

Makes me wonder, though: the only characters I've played are male. I wonder what happens in the "Siren's Deception" quest if you play a female character.

Beauty can be in the eye of the beholder. Funny, If ind the silver longsword ugly and ubiquitous (every legion trooper has one) and the ebony pretty nice looking.
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Honestly, the Fine Steel grade of sword is my favorite in terms of appearance. When I regard the Ebony swords as ugly, I refer not so much as to blade detail, but rather the hilt's fit and form.

And now, not every Imperial Legionnaire has a silver longsword that glows white when drawn, a fully charged Grand soulstone tied to it to provide power for 45 points of elemental damage a strike (20 Shock*2 seconds + 5 Fire * 1 second). I was originally going to go with tripartite elemental damage (12 Fire, 12 Shock, 12 Frost) but ghosts and the like tend to shrug off the cold damage.

Given that I have a set of Imperial Legion armor, the commonality of the silver longsword becomes an asset. I look ever more like one of those boys now.

[roguebanshee]

Makes me wonder, though: the only characters I've played are male. I wonder what happens in the "Siren's Deception" quest if you play a female character.
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You're still given an invitation to join them at the farm later in the evening, it does have a small twist to it.

[[wcip]Angel]

Yes, but it's not like you can join them and rise in the ranks of sirens :)

[Drasca]

Yes, but it's not like you can join them and rise in the ranks of sirens :)
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Oblivion mod people are working on that ;)

[kandrathe]

Oblivion mod people are working on that ;)
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I wonder what the levels would be like?

Coquette
Enchantress
Temptress
Seductress
Siren

I could see high personality, speechcraft and then special song spells for charm and domination? They should have special outfits as they raise up in level as well, but then again, I am so definately male on this issue. :)

[Drasca]

I could see high personality, speechcraft and then special song spells for charm and domination?&nbsp; They should have special outfits as they raise up in level as well, but then again, I am so definately male on this issue.&nbsp; :)
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I actually had and modified various mods doing just that and more for Morrowind, but as this fora is around pg-13, I cannot mention them directly ;)

[Artega]

Given that I have a set of Imperial Legion armor, the commonality of the silver longsword becomes an asset. I look ever more like one of those boys now.[right][snapback]109333[/snapback][/right]

Gotta admit, the Legion armor is probably the best-looking armor in the game, if you ask me. Or it's at least tied with Steel and Daedric. Don't get to have a sword, though, since I prefer breaking heads rather than severing them :)

Got Oblivion a couple of weeks ago, and have sunk about thirty hours into it, and could quite easily sink a hundred more if I went around and did every quest and explored every area I've uncovered; I've discovered probably twenty or more Oblivion Gates so far, and I've only closed five, not counting ones that had to be closed for quests.

Quests have been somewhat boring, and some are stupidly hard; I cannot find the third (and final?) physical clue for the Chorrol quest that makes the Countess trust me enough so that I can buy a house there (not that I really want one; my house in Anvil is great, since there's a merchant there that I can sell my stuff to for 63% of its normal value, which is good considering my abysmal Mercantile score.) Quest text and information points to the castle courtyard as the location of the third clue (the first two being found in the West Tower and Great Hall, as you'd expect from the quest text), but I can't find anything there, and I don't find pixel hunts to be particularly immersive. Additionally, talking to a purported expert on wines doesn't bring up any dialogue options for the Shadowbanish Wine I've found, which really doesn't seem to make much sense.

Combat also tends to be a drag, being largely block-attack-block (I prefer to use a flurry of normal attacks rather than a single power attack, given that my mace hits harder and slower than a sword) affairs. I turned the difficulty down a notch or two to make combat a little less boring; some may find monsters with absurd HP values to be entertaining, but I'm not one of them. Definitely a point that makes me think the game wasn't worth the $50 pricetag, since the combat was the entire reason I bought it (I found Morrowind to be interesting, but combat was so incredibly boring I couldn't force myself to continue playing it.)

Currently a Level 27 Nord warrior/healer hybrid. Mostly use Absorb: Health spell variants and buff spells from Restoration, and otherwise just beat things into submisson with my mace. Would definitely drop Alchemy in favor of something else (Alteration sounds fun) if given the option; it's amusing, but largely pointless. Would probably change races to Argonian for kicks, too; being ten feet tall is fun, and the 50-damage Frost touch attack racial ability was great early on, but... humans are boring.

Armorer, while a pain in the ass to skill up is definitely worth it at Expert; having armor and weapons at 125 health is great. My mace (Daedric that happened to be enchanted for 25 Fire on strike when I took it from some idiot bandit's corpse) hits for 24 with 125 health on it, and my Blunt is only 77 right now.

As far as accomplishments go, I'm Grand Champion of the Arena (which apparently impresses the guards in most places), Master of the Fighters Guild, a member of the Order of Virtuous Blood, a member of the Blades, and an Associate of the Mages Guild (apparently casting a Restoration spell once in a blue moon qualifies me as a mage.)

I've two murders to my name (one was the Gray Prince, who was apparently considered innocent even though I killed him in an Arena match; the other was an idiotic NPC that got in front of my target while doing a quest), a maximum Bounty of 1000, 109 stolen items, and no other illegal things (that have been witnessed.) I've collected 7 Nirnroots without trying to find them, closed five Oblivion gates, and have killed a total of over a thousand enemies (combining monster and people.) I wear a full set of Daedric armor (all pieces enchanted either when found or via Sigil Stones), wield the previously mentioned Daedric mace along with the Tower of the Nine shield (bought from Stonewall Shields in the Imperial City), and have over 90,000 gold and very little to spend it on (usually training in my minor skills that I'm trying to raise.)

A little ways into the main questline (mostly because the game gets very boring very quickly doing nothing but wandering through caves and hellgates), and I've found it pretty interesting so far, though it seems to believe I'm a gofer most of the time.

Game hasn't felt like a $50 thus far, but I haven't tried any of the mods out yet, so maybe my opinion will improve after I check them out.

[kandrathe]

Imagine if you were really wearing the 200 pounds of heavy armor your toon is wearing. Would you really be able to do more than swing, block with shield, swing, repeat, rinse, repeat? You built a slow, lumbering, tank and you find combat boring. Hmmm.

I have a blast with my archer in light armor. With agility now at 100+, I can open attack with a few bow shots, until they close, then switch to fast short sword, or katana. I can block, side step swing, or time their attack and backstep swing. Big slow armored opponents are just an attrition battle since I can dart out of their weapon range by the time they get thier two-hander wound up. Ranged spell casters I can usually use misdirection, then dodge their spells and still deliver ranged arrows on target. Multiple opponents and conjurors and the most challenging.

[SwissMercenary]

Imagine if you were really wearing the 200 pounds of heavy armor your toon is wearing.&nbsp; Would you really be able to do more than swing, block with shield, swing, repeat, rinse, repeat?&nbsp; You built a slow, lumbering, tank and you find combat boring.&nbsp; Hmmm.

Even if he takes off his armour, the combat will still be no more then click to swing, right click to block. That's his problem with it.

I, for one thing, am really dissapointed that in 8 years of 'progress,' I haven't seen a game handle swordfighting better then Thief.

[NiteFox]

Even if he takes off his armour, the combat will still be no more then click to swing, right click to block. That's his problem with it.
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Well, I probably did the smart thing in setting up my RMB to interact (a la System Shock 2, Deus Ex) and using the thumb mouse button for block. A nice and natural setup.

Ever played Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy? Those games actually made swordplay more than a case of point and click, with movement, viewing angle, relative positioning with your opponent.

It's just that first person swordplay hasn't progressed beyond point and click.

[Drasca]

Even if he takes off his armour, the combat will still be no more then click to swing, right click to block. That's his problem with it.

I, for one thing, am really dissapointed that in 8 years of 'progress,' I haven't seen a game handle swordfighting better then Thief.
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8 Years? More like 3. Or are you referencing some game 8 years ago? What do you want to see in Swordfighting simulations? For weapons to tangle? Bounce off the other guy? Get caught in bones? What are your expectations?

Get Expert Acrobatics for dodge manuevers. They're pretty neat. There's also *some* physics in this game, stuff gets knocked back (though the frequency of which is disappointing). Personally, I use Alchemical Poisons, Enchants. Stuns/recoil make feints worth it. Frontal only blocks makes trying to outcircle the opponent worth trying when they're overextending themselves (frontal lunge). I think one of the problems is this:

Combat also tends to be a drag, being largely block-attack-block

I turned the difficulty down a notch or two to make combat a little less boring; some may find monsters with absurd HP values to be entertaining

How much down? If it only takes a few hits to kill, then it is probably too easy. If you're also always fighting one on one, then you've got it doubly easy. Personally, I find base (unchanged) difficulty slider health too low, and usually have 15% increased difficulty slider... which usually means 3-6x more health on their side. +100% difficult is absurdly high but.. if something is dying without threatening me at all, that's no challenge, nor requires me to use more advanced combat actions. Fight , stun, paralyze, recoil, burdern, distintegrate/armor weapons, run, heal, shoot, run, jump over terrain, heal, block attack, jump over more, dodge... etc.

See this realms beyond thread for a few tales from those that took a moment to write (Beware spoilers in that thread):
http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?t=843

As much as I defend Oblivion,I've got criticisms of the game that extend deeper than the stuff presented here, one involving FormIDs, another involving the direction Bethesda heading with its beta patch. Yes, I wish there were more quests--who wouldn't? For any game? But the ones I've been through were gold.

I've found it pretty interesting so far, though it seems to believe I'm a gofer most of the time.

Resistence is futile, join the dark brotherhood! Thieves guild and Mages guild quests are pretty fun and interesting too. There's one in particular I repeated over and over involving a house in Skingrad (my Dark Brothers should recognize this) based on an agatha christi novel I think. Coolest single quest ever ;) (ok, maybe not ever, but of that calibur and I have a hard time thinking of better right now).

Oh, and make sure to check out all the daedra shrines with worshippers. They're almost all worth doing.

[roguebanshee]

(ok, maybe not ever, but of that calibur and I have a hard time thinking of better right now).

Oh, and make sure to check out all the daedra shrines with worshippers. They're almost all worth doing.
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Plague of Fear > The DB Manor.

And Meridia's quest is worth picking up just to hear the voice...

[kandrathe]

Even if he takes off his armour, the combat will still be no more then click to swing, right click to block. That's his problem with it.

I, for one thing, am really dissapointed that in 8 years of 'progress,' I haven't seen a game handle swordfighting better then Thief.
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You can do it that way. If you hold down the left mouse button while attacking you get a power move. You can also be moving left/right/forwards/backwards for different power moves. There is also dodging, rather than blocking the blow with a shield you side step and swing. Almost like real sword fighting huh?

So yes, you can just left click, right click, left click, yawn. Or, you can move around, use the other 8 attack variations and make it more interesting.