Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[Drasca]

I appreciate the way that pacifists go run and get a guard to come kill me.  Or, even when some NPC picks a fight with me
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If that's a criticism, I've seen the opposite spectrum as well.

When I go trigger happy, I see cowards run. I've seen non-pacificists mainly fellow fighters and mages guild people come to my aid even when there's a bounty on my head, and guards attack me.

, and when they start losing, then run and stand by a guard who does nothing since I'm not the initiator of the conflict.

Would you expect real cops to leave their post when they haven't seen crime occur to attack someone who's running? If they don't know a crime has happened, they won't do anything about it.

Personally, I've never seen NPCs that attacked within guard awareness range that didn't get slaughtered. I've also heard tales of pickpockets taken down.



Foolhardy pirates. I wish I had a picture of Galrethir in Skingrad with his battle axe that didn't help him at all. I've seen guards discover and attack ghosts and goblins within Bruma limits as well. Also this one was a surprise:



Jakben Imbel's basement. The guards followed me, probably because they heard me lockpicking the place, but they discovered other creatures and attacked them as well.



And a headshot of my currentcharacter. Trying to take this thread back to OB positive...

Where are the screenshots of your characters?

[Rhydderch Hael]

...Where are the screenshots of your characters?
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The only way I can accomplish that is by tying my XBox through a DVD recorder, then running screen captures from the movie on my computer.

Not like I haven't thought about it, though...



Yes, I saw a town guard chase down and kill a citizen of Skingrad, and when I looted the body I discovered the cause of this poor man's downfall— he stole a pear. No, I didn't leave off an "l" at the end of that sentence. A pear.

Then again, gate guards have taken on bears and bandits who've chased me in from the forest, and one time I popped out of the Market District sewer with a Khajiit bandit at my heels who promptly went after an Imperial guard and got rightly pwned.

The first time I attacked an Oblivion gate, a Dremora summoned an Scamp to attack me, and the critter opened up with a fireball attack. The Dremora who summoned it, however, was caught between me and the scamp and took the shot in his own back, at which point the summoner and the summonee began fighting each other in classic "Three Stooges" fashion.

[Rhydderch Hael]

I just took a page out of the Blizzard game-book. Re-started Oblivion with a Breton focused on blade, block, heavy armor, mysticism and restoration. In other words, someone aspiring to be proficient in sword, shield, shiny armor and beneficial spells. It's a custom class, and I named it "Paladin".

[pakman]

Here's me sneaking up on a dude in the Arcane University:



And here is one with my stats screen:

[Drasca]

The only way I can accomplish that is by tying my XBox through a DVD recorder, then running screen captures from the movie on my computer.

Not like I haven't thought about it, though...[right][snapback]108483[/snapback][/right]

hehe I'm almost surprised you don't have a TV-input capable card. I like mine with a built-in mpeg 2 encoder (seperate from GPU admittedly...).

You could do what some people do, take a digitical camera picture of your TV screen.

Yes, I saw a town guard chase down and kill a citizen of Skingrad, and when I looted the body I discovered the cause of this poor man's downfall— he stole a pear. No, I didn't leave off an "l" at the end of that sentence. A pear.

I heard the master of sneak and pickpocket got caught and slain...

Here's me sneaking up on a dude in the Arcane University:

Gotta love the free :ph34r: ninja armor! :shuriken:

[roguebanshee]

And here is one with my stats screen:
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Someone has been to prison a lot, eh :P

And a small hint, skills above 100 only matter if your Luck goes below 50. Not that it's too bad for you, just something you should consider when chosing equipment.

[pakman]

Actually, I've only been to prison 5 times. Six if you count the time I voluntarily went back for a mission. The armor that character wears I only use when sneaking around cause it gets my skill to 100, and it gives me some other properties as well. I'm not a clumsy assassin ;)

[roguebanshee]

Actually, I've only been to prison 5 times. Six if you count the time I voluntarily went back for a mission. The armor that character wears I only use when sneaking around cause it gets my skill to 100, and it gives me some other properties as well. I'm not a clumsy assassin ;)
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Just remember that you won't get the Master level bonus from that. Fortify Skill only grants efficiency bonus and only up to an effective 100, how much actual skill you need to reach that depends on your Luck.

Luck acts as a +/-0.4 to all skills for each point of Luck above/below 50. Maximum effective skill is 100, so Luck 50/Skill 100 acts the same way as Luck 100/Skill 80 and Luck 0/Skill 120 except for the Master bonus.

Unless your Luck is at 50 or lower I think you'll benefit more from a 5% Chameleon item than the DB suit. Or if you mainly wear it for style reasons :P

[Zippyy]

Although... It is extremely extensible.  Have you found the quest "A Brush with Death"?  I was blown away by that one and it's implications for possible mods.
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That quest was fantastic. There is also a similar quest for the Mage's Guild, but I've forgotten the name. But no, I was extremely impressed with the quality of the quests. Especially the Dark Brotherhood storyline, which got me going like no videogame has in recent memory.

My gripe is that there just aren't enough quests. That is the symptom, and voice acting is the illness. As impressive as it is, it also limits modders who don't have access to good voice actors. A open group calling themselves the Oblivion Voice Actors Guild that offers its services to any mod project that needs them. I've only gotten one mod that had original voice work by them, and it was middling.

Anyway, before I start to ramble too much, I'm also excited about seeing what the mod community will come up with.

[[wcip]Angel]

Are you talking about the mage quest where you enter someone's dream world? That too was great IMO :)

Edit: Zippyy, please disregard the last paragraph of my PM. Apparently I had forgot your comment. :)

[ima_nerd]

Yeah! I just did that quest the other day, that was awesome.

So far I've been impressed with the quests in OB. They're more involved than the Morrowind quests. There's always a different way to accomplish them as well. You don't have to charge in and kill everything, like in Morrowind, which is nice.

[pakman]

(reference spoiler, sort of)

I just finished the Dark Brotherhood stoyline, or most of it I think. WOW, that was kinda cool. Haven't seen a plot like that since Deus Ex, too bad there's not much more to it.

[Zippyy]

(reference spoiler, sort of)

I just finished the Dark Brotherhood stoyline, or most of it I think. WOW, that was kinda cool. Haven't seen a plot like that since Deus Ex, too bad there's not much more to it.
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That storyline had some of the finest gaming moments I've ever experienced. I've pounded my fist on my desk because of games before, but always in frusteration. Lag, etc. This was the first time I was so immersed in the story that I slammed my fist down onto my desk. Not the best idea, since my desk is made of glass, but it survived.

I know I've been hard on Oblivion in this thread, but it's because I like it so much. I hit it because I love it.

Minor problems are exacerbated when the rest of the game is so good. I forgive it though. I would have payed $50 just for the Dark Brotherhood storyline.

[kandrathe]

"I hit it because I love it."

You sadist! Don't stop.

Regarding your implied criticisms of Oblivion; I can be more specific. I miss the quest lines and factions related to the religious orders and I found the Fighters Guild quests to be too sparse, disconnected and trivial.

[Munkay]

Linky. Oblivion's rating was boosted from "Teen" to "Mature". From the articles I've read it feels like the ESRB rating was boosted on both XBox360 and PC after concerns that there were "topless skins" included in the game material that can be unlocked on PC. Also, very "bloody battles" were hidden from the ESRB rating panel when it submitted the video for rating.

Something about the latter feels fishy, like it's becoming a scapegoat for the real issue people have, the topless skins.

How does everyone feel about this? Am I correct in minimizing the gore-content, or does it truly exceed the typicall Teen rated game?
Cheers,

Munk

[NuurAbSaal]

I meant to post that people who think other people have to be protected from nudity (nothing more, nothing less, just people with no clothes on) have some serious deficiancy.

But since that's only gonna start a flamewar, I'll not do that.

hey, wait a sec...

:ph34r:

take care
Nuurabsaal/Tarabulus

[Drasca]

How does everyone feel about this?  Am I correct in minimizing the gore-content, or does it truly exceed the typicall Teen rated game?
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It doesn't likely affect anyone here. Maybe some parents that don't game themselves, but given the average age of gamers being something like 35 now, and if they don't game themselves they won't likely have a rig capable of playing Oblivion, a few million units already sold, the change is really a moot point. Many non US societies (European, South American, Japanese for a few) are also generally more accepting of nudity anyways. So nipples, even though its on the disc but not but not unlockable in-game (requires a mod/hack), doesn't even affect their social norms.

However IMO, in terms of blood and gore, I've honestly not seen much of it. Definitely not Bloodrayne or Horror splat splat spurt spurt console game level. Actually, the only body parts that fall apart are the stone elementals, the rest of the bodies fall down whole and uncut.

Did Bethesda got away with selling more with the teen rating, it may be possible, but given average game age factor and social norms of non US buyers, it doesn't seem likely. A great number of Oblivion buyers were carry-over from other TES games too.

The mature rating change is fun to chat about, but doesn't honestly affect most buyers and players of Oblivion.

[Dako-ta]

Hi,

It's academic at the moment, since I don't have a rig that can run this, but I would appreciate some comments on the level of dexterity and reflexes on the part of the player that the new combat & lockpick systems require. From what I've read about them, I have some doubts about whether this game is for me.

I don't play arcade games or first-person shooters anymore. I can handle most situations in D1 & D2, but much faster-paced games than those usually leave me in the dust, plus they are too stressful on my worn-out hands.

I tried Freelancer a couple of months ago. From reviews I had read, some aspects of it sounded quite intriguing, but I had qualms about the pace of the game, so I waited until I found it real cheap on e-Bay. Good thing. That was a waste of money. The first mission alone, meant mostly as a training mission (I don't think the enemy was even firing at my ship), was too fast-paced for my taste. I played through it once, then twice in a row a couple of days later, and my hands were aching from the abuse trying to keep up with those enemy fighters. I doubt I will ever install that game again.

When I started playing Morrowind, I immediately changed the setting to 'Best weapon damage always' or whatever it was. Having to actually block & do different sword attacks is not what I'm looking for in a CRPG. Ditto, for trying to match minutely timed actions in a lockpick mini-puzzle.

So, how about some feedback, please, on these aspects of the game, which was little mentioned from the POV I'm interested in?


Regards,

Dako-ta


"Don't let schooling interfere with your education."

Mark Twain

[roguebanshee]

If you want to open a Hard or Very Hard lock with 2-3 lockpicks and below 50 Security skill then you'll need good reflexes. But if you try to open locks more fitting to your skill and amount of lockpicks then you can just use the Auto Attempt button instead. The minigame does get easier with higher skill.

Or you could use one of the two ways of bypassing that minigame, The Skeleton Key (a quest reward) + Auto Attempt or Open Lock (Alteration magic).

As for melee combat, if you could handle it in Morrowind then you can handle it in Oblivion, the pace is the same or very close. A few additions, such as Power Attacks, but nothing that requires split-second reactions.

For a rig that can handle Oblivion, or rather making Oblivion capable of running on your rig, check http://www.oldblivion.com/ you may be able to do more than you know.

[Drasca]

Or you could use one of the two ways of bypassing that minigame, The Skeleton Key (a quest reward) + Auto Attempt or Open Lock (Alteration magic).[right][snapback]109159[/snapback][/right]

The lockpicking minigame actually punishes overly eager trigger fingers. The best way to play is to actually look away from the screen while you attempt to lockpick, and go by sound alone. Once you hear the right clicks, you lock a tumbler and pick the locks.

Additionally, you could use the simplest solution: Buy more lockpicks. It may take 50-100 lockpicks via auto-attempt, but you'll pick the lock.

As for melee combat, if you could handle it in Morrowind then you can handle it in Oblivion, the pace is the same or very close. A few additions, such as Power Attacks, but nothing that requires split-second reactions.

Much agreed, Oblivion's combat pacing is far from a frenetic FPS (even though I now find Halo's SP legendary mode tame and predictable, having seen through the limitations of AI). Most of the time, you'll be facing 1-2 enemies at a time who do not kill you within seconds (especially if you hold down block).

Its the kind of pacing you'd expect out of swinging giant swords, staggering and being stunned, and men with shields ready to block. Heck, you're penalized for swinging wildly by feeling recoil off enemy shields (and enemies off of yours), so its better to make your attacks count rather than swing at every opportunity.

Fewer better timed attacks with blocking and recoil in mind rather than a wild clickfest.

Of course, you could hold down the cast button, but you'd better make sure those spells were aimed right so they'll actually hit.