The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[theim]

w00t, finally got my 360 today! First game: Oblivion, because I'm an RPG nerd. My first impressions after about 8 hours play time, with some comparisons to Morrowind. Note this is not an exaustive list, just the first things I noticed:

Better than Morrowind:

Most noticable off the bat is the graphics. Morrowind looked well enough in it's day (four years ago) but Oblivion just blows the crap out of it. Whereas in Morrowind you couldn't see very far into the distance, in Oblivion it seems you can see for miles. And it is without a doubt one of te best looking games I've ever played. Corpses roll down hills. Blood appears on your sword. If you're shot, arrows lodge in your sheild or body (just cosmetic damage). This is next-gen graphics technology at work.

NPCs!! Morrowind had the air of an MMORPG minus the MMO. The NPCs were lifeless drones who just stood around all day and who "talked" to you with a text interface. In Oblivion, every single line is delivered in full speech, some by A-list actors (Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean). The lips move. The faces look almost photo-realistic. The NPCs themselves move, eat, sleep and talk to each other. After a while it becomes possible to spot their patterns, and their diologue can get a little cheesy ("Say, have you ever stayed at the King and Queen Tavern?" "Yes, they really do treat you like royalty!"), but it is damn sure better than them standing in the same spot 24 hours a day until they glitch into a wall.

Combat. It looks way better. The combat animations have been tweaked and varied so the fights don't look like a round of Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots. And blocking has been moved to manual control instead of having it be automatic.

Cities. They're just better. They're probably the same size as the ones in Morrowind, but they feel like their bigger. And they're filled with guards patrolling, citizens out walking, and beggers panhandling.

HORSES!! I mean...c'mon! You can get a horse! I always wanted a pony!

You don't have to worry about getting arrested for sleeping in someone else's bed anymore. Now it if you try that it just doesn't let you. God that was annoying.

In combat with allies, if you're in the middle of a huge brawl and accidently whack your friend, they won't go apeshit and try to kill you as well as the enemies. You can whack em a few times, but if you do it too often they will try and kill you.

Worse than Morrowind:

Stealing. I do hope you don't plan on making your living as a theif. Remember in Morrowind how you thought it was a little off putting that the instant you commit a crime everyone on the whole island knows about it? Thought maybe that would go away? Well not only did it not go away, it got worse. Apparently the Imperial Commerce Department trains all merchants in the technique of mind-reading, because they instantly know if something in your inventory is a stolen item, and they will refuse to buy it. Supposedly some in the Theives Guild will buy stolen items (thats what the rumors say), but I'm not in the Theives Guild, so I don't know for sure.

No Imperial Legion. Boooo! I always liked joining the Legion, but it ain't happening in Oblivion. Oh well. Add to that the Legionaires look differently. The "Roman" look of the Tamrielic Empire has apparently been altered to favor more of a medieval/fantasy style, like Gondor or something.

Persuasion. Gamespot called the new persuasion system a "fun minigame". It is not fun. At all. I'd elaborate but I still can't figure out what the hell it is. Some crap with turns and faces and wedges. I'm sure it won't suck as much once I figure it out, but as of right now...yuck.

Now since you notice that most of my "worse" things are just minor quibbles (except that stealing one, that does piss me off) and the "betters" are frickn' huge, you can guess what I think of it overall. It is frickn' awesome. Only bad thing is it needs either an Xbox 360 or a monster PC rig to run. Get it if you can.

 

[Hobbit]

I've been playing this game a lot, and I think I can help with your problems.

Stealing - Yeah, it's annoying that ALL shopkeepers instantly recognize stolen items. It made a bit more sense in Morrowind, where they only recognized things you stole from them specifically. However, it does add the idea of fencing, and in the real world, there's a fair chance that an honest merchant can spot stolen merchendise, but they simplified. You can get access to a fence if you join the theives guild, and to do that, all you have to do is ask the beggars in the Imperial City about "Gray Fox" and "Theives Guild" (the beggars work for the guild). Bump up their disposition, and they'll give you a location to meet a contact for recruitment, but be sure you can sneak. You have to break into somebody's house and steal a book while they're sleeping.

Speechcraft - It's an easy system once you figure it out. Notice that each of the four sections of the wheel are labelled. You have admire, coerce, boast, and joke. You'll also notice how those rotating red and yellow wedges have different sizes. The larger the wedge you click on, the more that particular click will affect the person's disposition. Now, two of the types of persuasion increase the person's disposition, two decrease (and all four with different intensities). The best way to do it is, during the first round, click on the small wedge for all four to find out what they like (you don't even have to look at the number. Their responses are quite telling), then maximize your success by trying to click the large wedge on things they like and the small one on things they don't like. At 25 speechcraft, you get a free rotation, too.

The thing I really miss is flying. I loved flying and the horrible exploits you could use it with, but I guess it's just too hard to make interesting quests knowing that you *might* be able to fly.

 

[theim]

OK, I think I got the persuasion thing down. I made it to Apprentice. That extra spin comes in handy =)

On a "funny" note: So there I am riding up to Bruma on my trusty steed, when I find an Oblivion Gate right next to the frickn' road. Along that road is also walking a Kahjiit, who I find out later is from Bravil. This "damsel" is promptly set upon by a bunch of fire-shooting scamps. I, being the hero and all, kill the scamps and save her. We have a little chat, and go on our way. No sooner do I get back on my horse than a grizzly bear comes out of the woods and mauls her to death. I'm not usually one to laugh out loud at video games, but you had to be there, it was funny as hell. (Does that make me a bad person?) I found out she was from Bravil because she had two keys to Bravil Castle on her corpse. Wonder what she was doing all the way up there.

 

[UnAmericanYOU]

I have Oblivion. I think it's overall better than Morrowind, even though there;s less skills.

I've encountered some strange bugs, speechcraft got stuck at level 28 and wouldn't budge, the counter kept reading 0/100 no matter what I did. Finally, I had to use a console command to change it, then it just leveled like it was supposed to.

And everytime I start a new game, at least twice, it'll crash and reboot my computer automatically.

Speechcraft is overall better, IMO, you can tell which game came first.

 

[CSM]

This is probably a stupid question but I have never played either Morrowind or Oblivion. My question is: are both single player games?

 

[nosarcasm]

yes both single player games.

The level scaling of enemies is annoying and makes leveling up kinda lame.

Later all your bandit enemies run around with Daedric weapons and glass armor.
I played through it. Its too dumbed down for console play for my taste.

Still a very good game worth the money.

 

[Hobbit]

yes both single player games.

The level scaling of enemies is annoying and makes leveling up kinda lame.

Later all your bandit enemies run around with Daedric weapons and glass armor.
I played through it. Its too dumbed down for console play for my taste.

Still a very good game worth the money.

Still, at least you can actually find daedric and glass armor in this game. I remember how, in Morrowind, glass armor was pretty hard to come by, but daedric armor...to get a full set you either had to kill an important plot NPC or have both expansions and know exactly where to look.

I am annoyed, though, that the only way you can get the armor the imperial guards wear is by killing them. I miss being able to buy and quest for it.

 

[theim]

God that last mission in the main quest is a BITCH. I concede defeat, I had to turn down the difficulty. Just a warning for you all, pack lots of health potions!

 

[theim]

Also, I long for the return of the Morag Tong. There you could be a sly assassin without having to work next to people who brag about murduring 5 year-olds. Working for the lowlifes in the Dark Brotherhood instead of the honorable Morag Tong is degrading.

 

[T-Bor]

Best game I have ever played..Hands down...over 100 hours played and I havent even touched the main quest. And ive only found about 1/4 of the dungeons, forts , caves, etc. Crazy Crazy addictive game.