Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[Roland]

I was an active Morrowind Player when it was released on the X-Box, and recently became enamored with it all over again when I picked up the GoTY edition.  I have a few questions for Oblivion players, in reference to the changes made between the two:

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• I recall reading an article claiming that the combat system - a sore spot for a lot of gamers - would be completely revamped for Oblivion.&nbsp; Has the combat system been revamped?&nbsp; And if so, is there much of a difference - are there still three randomly chosen slash/jab/etc actions?&nbsp; Does it still feel 'rough' and more mathematical than other RPG combat?

It was never random. It was based on the direction you were "moving"while swining. I.e. pushing forward while attacking would result in a "jab" of sorts. Sideways led to a sideways slash / bash, IIRC, and not doing anything resulted in a general slash / overhead bash, IIRC. I could be slightly off on the latter two, but you get the idea. It was never random.

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The potion drinking limit been commented on in this thread, but what about potion creation?&nbsp; In Morrowind one of the 'cheapest' tricks to the game was buying massive quantities of herbs, making potions, and then selling them to the Creeper in Caldera.&nbsp; I'm guessing the references to being a flower picker means ingredients must be found more than bought, is that correct?

Ingredients can be found or bought, same as always. And that bit about a potion's weight being the sum of its reagents' weight is wrong. I regularly drop my weight level down by turning heaving reagents into potions (which average between .2 and .5 lbs. apiece). One thing you won't find, at least early on, is the ability to generate massive wealth off of Alchemy. I'm only a Journeyman (3 effects unlocked), and my supplies are limited, but from what I've seen it's no longer possible to make a killing on Alchemy. Plus, reagents bought from merchants are generally much more scarce, so no buying 50 of two items for 10 gold, making 50 potions, and selling them back for 1000 gold. You make a meager profit, but it's a profit. With enough hunting and creative potion use, I was able to scrounge up a couple hundred gold in about two hours, keeping my most useful potions and selling the rest.

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Are any of the classes or skills radically different than they were in Morrowind?

Magicka regens, albeit slowly. Health does not. There is no Unarmored skill, as mentioned before, and now there are only two weapon classes: Blade (all swords and daggers), and Blunt (Maces and Axes of all types). Hand-to-Hand is still around. Running no longer drains fatigue, but jumping does, as does swinging a sword, so Mages will have to be very conservative about how much they swing (although with Magicka regen, and potions abounding to restore Magicka, they won't be nearly as dependent on weapons as before). Other than that, the combat changes make the biggest effects, although wearing all Light Armor (unsure of Heavy Armor) while being of Journeyman or Expert and better (forget which) will grant you a 50% armor bonus, which I don't recall from Morrowind.

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And finally - How are the load times?

No better, no worse than Morrowind. Actually, maybe I can't say that. Oblivion actually loads just about as fast as Morrowind does on this comp, which is to say very fast. Sometimes it's longer, but the "loading area" screen every few feet barely even makes a jitter on my FPS, and is almost too short to notice. Think Diablo II's loading screens, and you'll have a very solid grasp. My rig is very good, but not legendary, and I can run it at 1024 with mostly all high settings (defaults to "High Quality", with some of the highest options toned down or shut off, on my hardware) with nary a stutter. Draw rate is good so long as you're not gazing a half a mile away, and even then it's not noticable unless you go looking for it.
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I know its a rather long list, but if anyone wouldn't mind posting an answer here or there, it would be immensely appreciated :)

Cheers,

Munk
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Pssssh... You call that long? :)

What irks me is how utterly useless the strategy guide is compared to the one for Morrowind. But I digress. Combat is improved, IMHO. Magicka regen is awesome - Mages now have unlimited staying power without the need to rest (more on this in a moment), but still have to be very tactful while casting spells, and make sure their spells HIT. Even cheap spells will drain you dry if you're constantly missing, and Magicka doesn't regen all that fast (maybe a bit faster than in D2), so you can't nuke everything and expect to live without some serious tactics.

One major change: You can ONLY rest in beds. Not anywhere else. Not even in towns. This is made up for by most dungeons having bedrolls somewhere in them, and the fact that Magicka now regens. You also start off with a very minor Healing spell (Heal Minor Wounds), which can eventually heal you back to full, even if it takes you an hour. :P So you'll never truly be stuck simply because you can't "rest". You can, however, "Wait" if you want to pass time quickly.

Facial animations range from god-awful to fairly good, with the worst making Morrowind look good. :P The camera breakaway during speech becomes unnoticable if you let it, otherwise I suppose it will always bother you if you can't ignore it.

Interface, as has been said, is clunky for mouse & keyboard, until you get used to it. I HATED it, and many other things about Oblivion, at first, but after playing for only about 4 hours total, 90% of my problems have just melted away since I got used to playing the game, and actually gave it a chance. Game effects are astounding, including weather, spell effects, etc. VERY visually impressive, and way more immersive than Morrowind (I never thought that was possible).

Enough babbling for now, though. I'm jumping back in, this time to maybe set up a more Mageish Thief class (think Nightblade, only tweaked; not sure just how yet though). I love Thieves. Can't play without them. :D