Oblivion gone gold

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Originally Posted by Lemur

It's worth noting that mods are popping up that address the inventory control problem. And therein lies the real reason to get Oblivion for the PC -- mods. Lots and lots of tweaks and fixes that the poor Xbox360 users shall never see.

I'm looking forward to trying out some of the UI modifications tonight ...

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As a perfectly satisfied 360 Oblivion user I'll say this.
1.I like the new inventory menu system.
2.85% of te user mods for Morrowind sucked, plain and simple.

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Originally Posted by Sjakihata

Oh no, don't you dare to be sorry, that'll teach them those consolers, hah!

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Teach us that we were wise to invest in a platform where Oblivion will always work and almost never crashes (I've had one issue of it crashing when I f\go into one specific smith) and has very few frame rate drops. Yeah I'm real sorry for you PC users who have to sort through shovel ware mods and an unstable game. :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by lars573

Teach us that we were wise to invest in a platform where Oblivion will always work and almost never crashes (I've had one issue of it crashing when I f\go into one specific smith) and has very few frame rate drops. Yeah I'm real sorry for you PC users who have to sort through shovel ware mods and an unstable game. :laugh4:

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I dont really want to start an argument about what is better xbox or pc, all I will do is defend these points you made.

1. invest in a platform, well, I saved those money playing it on my PC, so I dont have an investment to make in the first place.

2. so far I have had no crashes, I had some when I alt tabbed to windows, but then again, you cant play oblivion and checking your email on an xbox. solution: DONT GO TO WINDOWS.

3. My fps are stable, I have no drops - why? Because I can tweak both my PC vid driver AND the oblivion ini file. Enhances the graphic enourmeously.

4. oh no, it isnt wading, it's a simple search and you can find what you are looking for (at least it was for morrowind), or look in the pinned topic #20 best mods. Speaking of mods, not even 15% of them were good, more like 2% but that was still something like 300+ mods that REALLY increased the gameplay of morrowind (live npcs, realism mod, no CLIFF RAZOR MOD!!!!! and tonnes of things that both increased the RPG atmosphere and took away the bad elements that the xbox users just have to accept, mods = freedom! and they are easy to make yourself.

all in all I would never ever dream of playing other games on a xbox than fighting games or racing games.

as I said I dont want an argument, just want to point out that on a pc you have your freedom, while an xbox is suitable for young kids, I dont want that restricted freedom - cant wait for a mod to come that deals that whole scaling issue.

morrowind was made by the mods. the un-modded game was basically an empty shell compared to what the modders did with it, it was really amazing.

this is why i'm in no hurry to get oblivion. at some point i'll upgrade my system and by then, hopefully, the modding community will have made oblivion into a great game, just like they did with morrowind.

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Originally Posted by Sjakihata

I dont really want to start an argument about what is better xbox or pc, all I will do is defend these points you made.

1. invest in a platform, well, I saved those money playing it on my PC, so I dont have an investment to make in the first place.

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I refuse to limit my gamming experience to one platfrom.

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Originally Posted by Sjakihata

2. so far I have had no crashes, I had some when I alt tabbed to windows, but then again, you cant play oblivion and checking your email on an xbox. solution: DONT GO TO WINDOWS.

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You can to the 360 version of windows (a better description would be tabs) by prssing the connect button on the fly with no lock-ups while playing. I usually do this by accident while saving.

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Originally Posted by Sjakihata

3. My fps are stable, I have no drops - why? Because I can tweak both my PC vid driver AND the oblivion ini file. Enhances the graphic enourmeously.

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I always expect FPS drops. They don't not happen, I accpeted that and moved on.

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Originally Posted by Sjakihata

4. oh no, it isnt wading, it's a simple search and you can find what you are looking for (at least it was for morrowind), or look in the pinned topic #20 best mods. Speaking of mods, not even 15% of them were good, more like 2% but that was still something like 300+ mods that REALLY increased the gameplay of morrowind (live npcs, realism mod, no CLIFF RAZOR MOD!!!!! and tonnes of things that both increased the RPG atmosphere and took away the bad elements that the xbox users just have to accept, mods = freedom! and they are easy to make yourself.

all in all I would never ever dream of playing other games on a xbox than fighting games or racing games.

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I do better with console FPS games. And RPG games are impossible to control with a keyboard/mouse.

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Originally Posted by Sjakihata

as I said I dont want an argument, just want to point out that on a pc you have your freedom, while an xbox is suitable for young kids, I dont want that restricted freedom - cant wait for a mod to come that deals that whole scaling issue.

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1.Xbox is NOT! for little kids alone. It's for at 20-30 yearolds who want PC graphics but are technophobes. Always has been. Gamecube is a little kids system.
2.Mods are not freedom.

I had to go buy it yesterday, and I must say it looks very good so far and I've only just left Jauffre. Performance is fine on my

2.5Gb
1Gb RAM
Radeon 9800 Pro

but I did have to adjust down the distance and turn AA off, but hey I knew that before I bought the game and hopefully I will be getting a new system this year.

I like the new inventory system, I wasn't too sure of it when I first started but I quickly became used to it and now I like it.

Combat, like has been said, is not as good as M&B but is still an improvement on TES 3. Archery is good, but I'll need to find a way to make the crosshairs more opaque, so that I can still see my target if it's quite far away

Other things I'd like to see is a hotbar, or better yet 2 or 3, as I can never remember what I assigned to what button but I'm sure this will appear as a mod, if it hasn't already.

I would also like a better way to equip items, something ala EQ? so that you can see more easily what you're wearing.

I'm thinking that I'll need to reroll my character though as I foolishly didn't assign any of my major skill as a strength skill so I quickly become encumbered.

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Originally Posted by Ja'chyra

I'm thinking that I'll need to reroll my character though as I foolishly didn't assign any of my major skill as a strength skill so I quickly become encumbered.

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I feel your pain - in Morrowind, I created a pretty female Bretonnian and found I could barely wear heavy armour, let along carry any loot. I had to restart as a gruff, ugly male Dark Elf just so I could carry anything. And no matter how much I prioritised strength, inventory limits were always binding (I wish inferior loot could just be automatically converted into money or we at least had a Dungeon Siege style donkey to carry stuff).

[Warning: power-gaming talk ahead.]

But if you are going to restart, assigning a strength skill as a major skill won't really help with encumberance. Encumberance depends on your initial strength, which in turn depends on other aspects of character creation (race/sex/star sign/favoured attribute) and on how much you raise your strength during level ups.

If you can raise strength related skills (major or minor) by 10 points between levels, then you can raise strength by 5 points at each level up. Major skills do rise a bit faster, it is true. However, it is actually easier to get the 5 point boost if your strength skills are minor, as raising them won't level you up before you have got the 10 point total increase in strength related skills. Once you have raised major skills by 10 points, then any further skill increases don't count towards the attribute boost. So, for example, if all your strength skills were major, you would have to not raise any other major skills between levels to get the full 5 point boost.

In my case with Oblivion, I got a decent starting strength (50) from my female nord. I did not want to use the sign (Warrior) to further raise it - I went for the Thief (in future, I might prefer the Mage). For my two favored attributes, instead of strength, I chose luck (as it is harder to increase in game) and endurance (because it pays off more if you raise it early). I did make blade a major skill, but not because it was strength related. Instead, I wanted to be rewarded for fighting. However, I have blunt and hand-to-hand as minor skills, so I can easily raise them (by training or by fighting without my sword) between levels to make sure I get the full +5 attribute rise on level up. I also try to get the full +5 endurance and raise luck by 1 per level. When I max out strength and endurance, I may switch to intelligence and personality as my mana is very limited. Speed and agility seem to matter less than in Morrowind (where slow characters crawled), while personality seems the least important (unless you like illusion).

Bottomline: if you are going to restart, make sure you fully understand the way stats and levelling work. Depending on your initial build, you may not need to restart after all. (In Oblivion, regardless of your initial build, you should be able to get most stats to near 100 if you play long enough.)

Bethesda added pack rats with Tribunal. You could buy rats that carried stuff in Mournhold. The district with the theatre I think.

Or just make your own mod, a ring that gives 1000000 points featherweight constant effect and dump it in the first village

Coming from a Wiz8, Gothic 2 style RPG fan, oblivion just is not much fun.

There is one massive problem with it: level scaling. Every item, enemy, npc, quest reward, dungeon, dungeon boss, etc will scale to your level. When you walk across the world map at level 1, you face all level 1 enemies. When you walk across the world map at level 10, all level 10. Nothing particularly strong. Nothing particularly weak. Smooth and consistent like a rocking chair.

This makes for an incredibly dull world. You rarely feel any fear or anticipation, and every location feels like a carbon copy of the last one. If you attack a powerful vampire lord at level 1, he will be as weak as the rat you beat up outside of his castle. WHen you hit level 20 or so, the ordinary bandits who carried rusty knifes and fur armor will suddenly have elite glass armor and enchanted blades. It really destroys any sesnse of immersion or adventure, and defeats the point of character development.

There were a flood of complaints about this on the official boards until the moderators locked all threads invovling scaling. They also have been locking all threads questioning why scaling threads (and scaling threads alone) should be locked.

In any event, people should be aware of this before you buy the game. If you're the adventure rpg type, then oblivion might be a fun game. The sidequests are reasonably interesting (the main quest is a dud, in my opinion), and the graphics are simply amazing.

But if you're a role-player, or a stat hound, or a strategy/tactical gamer, the game, I think, is extremely vanilla and disappointing. I've never seen a world so big that had so few interesting things to do.

Yes, I saw the many and massive threads on scaling on the official forums (including one from you, Dorkus, if I am not mistaken). I can understand the moderators trying to channel the discussion into one official thread, if that is what they are doing, as it was getting incredibly fragmented and repetitious.

I'm still very early in the game (about 16 hours of play, still at level 3) but I think I rather like the scaling so far. There are fewer insta-death reloads of the kind I encountered in Morrowind from stumbling into situations where I was wildly outmatched. I understand the arguments of the anti-scalers, but reloading kills immersion for me even more than killing a vampire lord at level 1. Oblivion so far reminds me a little of KOTOR [1] in how they have dealt with the difficulty and challenge levels.

I was rather shocked to enter Oblivion at level 1 - I assumed that there would be an army of rats and goblins I had to kill first. But it was an amazing experience - made more vivid by the fragility and inexperience of my level 1 character. Contrary to what some folk have experienced, for my character, the first Oblivion gate and Kvatch were hard at level 1 & 2. Many reloads and some cunning were necessary. But it felt well-earned. It was tough enough that I am reluctant to enter the other gates that are spawning.

Where large RPGs have stories that lead to a clear area progression (directing you to easier areas first, like the Fallouts and BGs), I can see that Oblivion type scaling is unnecessary and might be a bad thing. But in very free form games like MW and Oblivion, I rather like the results so far. They've probably taken it too far (becoming Arena champion at low level is silly). But I don't yet see it as a fatal negative with the game.

Some people say the scaling issues arise more at higher level, so I probably should suspend judgement. But with Morrowind, I got bored and gave up around level 9. I suspect with Oblivion, I see it through the main quest at least. It's much more involving and I doubt scaling will be enough to negate that.

[1]: EDIT - just noticed you mention Wiz8 as a model of your kind of RPG, Dorkus. I think we probably are just talking apples and oranges - the Wiz8 paradigm vs the KOTOR one. Personality, I found Wiz8 as immersive as an episode of Power Rangers while the levelling/combat was both tedious and annoyingly hard. For me, the KOTORs were more satisfying cinematic experiences than any of the Star Wars films and had enjoyable levelling/combat. But I recognise people's mileage will differ.

Well I re-rolled, but after some thought I didn't concentrate on the build of my new toon, A Dark Elf called Aeil, instead I just added major skills and a birthsign that I thought would help, for instance I took The Warrior for the +10 Strength and Endurance, I have went for the gameplay rather than the ultimate build after all it's supposed to be fun :laugh4:

As for scaling, like Simon, I haven't encountered it yet as I have just levelled to level 3 and am just about to enter Kvatch after doing the Oblivion Gate outside and killing a couple of bandits. I really have no problem with the principle though although I think the main problem is with the weapons and armour scaling along with the NPC's, I really don't want everyone wearing uber gear and neither do I want to be finding Glass armour almost everytime I kill a bandit. I mean let's face it, if a bandit had a glass longsword he would sell it and spend the next 3 months in taverns and brothels :idea2: . But, then again, I do want there to be a tiny chance that I can find some good stuff right off the bat, so to speak.

I also like the idea that there are area's that you just can't do until you are a well trained, well equipped killer of big beasties, an idea may be leaving certain NPC's or dungeons/areas off of the scaling list or having certain groups of fighters in the arena start at different levels. It seems that I'm not the only one to be having these thoughts as Plasticfoamman (or something like that) is trying to put together a mod that covers some of these issues for weapons and armour and someone else is doing the same for NPC's.

Until then though Aeil will be sneaking up on things and shooting them in the head with his bow then running in and chopping them to bits, with maybe just a touch of magic thrown in, and who said video games make you more violent? :laugh4: :laugh4:

Other than the lack of unique weapons, armor, etc. scattered around, I like the scaling system. I loved Morrowind, but it was way too easy. There was pretty much no challenge at all after level 15 or so. Certainly Oblivion's system is not perfect, but at least it's a constant challenge. I far prefer that. I didn't go to Kvatch until level 17 and it was ridiculously hard, but I had fun. I didn't do the Arena until about 15 and it felt right as well. Why do I want to have to fight the lowest rank of goblin all the time when those fights are pointless and boring? I agree that some 'off limits except to high levels' areas would be nice, but I simply don't understand the people who actively want lots of creatures weaker than them.

On the whole, I agree, or anyway it seems a small price to pay for having a much more free form game.

Unloading a massive fireball that toasts half a dozen hapless goblins on the spot does have a certain short term appeal though. If the whole game became like that it would be boring, sure enough, but you do want to feel that level progression means something other than all the numbers scaling up together.

Otherwise, controversial thought, why not do away with leveling altogether.

My copy is on order though so I can't comment from experience yet.

Any word on an official mod that will bring back the excluded weapons?

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Originally Posted by English assassin

Otherwise, controversial thought, why not do away with leveling altogether.

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I'd like that. The whole concept of levels has bugged me ever since the days of D&D. It makes absolutely no sense. Take a highly-trained Navy Seal and compare him to an office worker. The Seal is in better shape, yes. He is more skilled at physical tasks, yes. But he doesn't have more freakin' HIT POINTS. There's no such thing. Either the Seal or the office worker will die if you stick a knife in his head. They don't have a magical system that allows them to accept blades in their guts without difficulty.

Levels. I never liked 'em. Characters should develop skills, gain better gear, spread their fame or infamy, etc. They shouldn't gain levels, and they certainly shouldn't gain magical hit points.

And the SEAL doesn't get ten times as tough as he was to start with in the course of a week long mission. That really annoys me. I played AD+D a bit as a kid in the steam ages, and we must have gone up about four levels a year (me and my mates probably managed about that many campaigns a year because we did actually have lives as well). I don't think we ever got any character beyond about 8th level. I still think of getting to fifth level (fireball for my MU, woot), as being pretty powerful. Well, when I think about it at all that is. All this leveling up is just porn for people with short attention spans.

To be fair I guess HP are pretty abstract, if you thought they were something like, I don't know, a measure of how tired you had to get before you would no longer block/dodge the knife they sort of, but only sort of, make sense. Or a level of pain that would cause the office worker to give up might not bother the SEAL so much. I seem to remember that was EGG's (remember him) excuse anyway.

But basically, yeah, I'd be willing to give a non-leveling world a go.

I largely agree with the spirit of the comments in this thread. It's important that players who take different routes feel challenged in the main quest, for example. And constant death of course can be an extreme immersion breaker (though I ahve to admit, for me, immersion was never an issue... in all of these games, I always head straight for the msot dangerous dungeon, die 1000 times trying to kill the first enemy, then move on to the next most dangerous dungeon, and die 1000 times... :o).

But I think there are better ways to solve this problem than pure scaling. For example, I (and I think most others) would have no issue if SOME areas of the game were "scaled" with min/max levels. (Though I don't think this is really scaling, since there will be a large range of low levels where the dungeons will not scale) And if death is an immersion breaker, it's not clear the the scaling system helps -- players who spend a lot of time on non-combat major skills will see the enemies get more and more powerful as they mix potions, or chat with npcs. And they will have no good way of training to get more powerful because any training they do will simply cause the game to spawn even higher-level creatures.

Fixed levels with an explicit (suggested levels in quest text) or implicit (npcs who refuse to give you quests until you reach a certain level of fame and power) challenge rating system, or a min/max system hinted at earlier, are both far superior options. They make the world seem less contrived (why would all the wolves disapper to be replaced by lions, the moment your level changes? Why would bandits suddenly all be stronger, with more powerful items?), and it would give players the FREEDOM to take on harder challenges, or easier challenges, depending on play-style.

Forcing EVERYONE to take on the same level challenge, by removing weak and powerful monsters entirely, is a short-cut for world-balancing and play-testing, in my opinion.

As to moderation, if the problem were that people were asking the same question over and over again, I can see why a consolidated thread (which, incidentally, does not even DESCRIBE the problem in the title or first few posts; rather, it assumes someone already knows waht the problem is) makes sense. THat is exactly not what was happening, however. Many many people were posting to describe their personal experiences and frustration with the scaling system. And these many people made new threads exactly because one long thread would leave their complaints completely ignored. No one wades through a 500+ post.

Indeed, until the subject of slcaing came up, the mods had an explicit policy to LOCK all threads that hit 200 posts because, quoting from the board rules, the discussion "meanders", becomes unfocused, and will be ignored by individuals who are not already part of the discussion. When it comes to scaling (and other criticism of the game that even briefly touches on scaling), they suddenly reversed positions and decided that 1 thread would be optimal (recognizing, of course, that that one thread would quickly get pushed back 5 pages).

It smacks of trying to distort public reaction to the game. I recall a massive number of old-school TW players angry about RTW. And while I (and, I am sure, many moderators on the tw forums, and this one, for that matter) did not agree with them. I did not mind one bit seeing their posts. And the moderators CERTAINLy did not lock them.

Because even if the factors *I* thought were important to a TW game were not the same as theirs, it was important for the critics to get the opportunity to explain their problems and frustration. That is the point of a forum, after all.

Well I'm definitely not a coward but on many occasions I have died 1,000 deaths (to paraphrase and combine your comment and Shakespeare’s). Scaling, when used selectively and not universally, is a good idea. When used wholesale, scaling = vanilla. I enjoy the 1,000 deaths because I like to exhaust every possible opportunity to take down the baddie (sort of like a science experiment). I find that challenge more interesting than what was implemented.

I enjoy the scaling. I can get straight into the game rather than avoid 2/3 of the map until I have played for a 100+ hours. It's great. Be better if the equipment didn't scale in the same way, but it's still a huge improvement over Morrowind.

Talking of realism, I'm not going to double my sword skills in 2 days even with lots of practice am I? :p

It depends, are you talking ingame days or real days? Ingames, no, not double, real days oh yes

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Originally Posted by Dorkus

(why would all the wolves disapper to be replaced by lions, the moment your level changes? Why would bandits suddenly all be stronger, with more powerful items?)

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I'm level 25 at the moment. I still have wolves as well as lions. I have easy to hit skeletons, goblins etc as well as the tougher ones. Personally I think the scaling works really good. Don't think the lowlevel level creatures are completely erased from the face of Cyrodiil though.

It would be nice however if there were some creatures or persons that are always the same level and really strong no matter what yours is. The only gripe I have now is the bandits and other npc's with very excotic loot due to scaling. Now I don't mind if certain npc's gain excotic weaponry, armour etc, as long as they are tough! Bandits and such should become stronger, but due to more hitpoints, damage bonus etc instead of all the excotic items. One good thing however. Unlike Morrowind loot isn't so profitable and that slightly makes up for it.

I've finished the mainquest and it is a very enjoyable game and I think Bethesda did a really great job (including so many very fun to do quests. really fun!). Sooo many things that are really good about this game, it definitely was worth the money! Morrowind is bland in comparison for the most part, Oblivion is largely a step up.

On a sidenote, I just got the official strategy guide and it is the best guide I've bought in some time. The advice on strategy is not so hot (the character creation tips seem garbage, although those on wikipedia are not much better). But as a compilation of all the quests, plus maps and lists etc, it is very nice. The Morrowind Prophecies strategy guide was also good as a reference too, but this one is much better laid out, more attractive and more digestible.

Normally most RPG strategy guides are not worth it - the internet is better - but Morrowind was so vast, I valued the maps and annotations. Oblivion seems significantly smaller and this, plus the compass to the active quest, makes a strategy guide less essential. But still, it's nicely done. By contrast, getting information from the official forums is daunting, as the turnover in posts is so rapid.

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Originally Posted by [DnC]

I'm level 25 at the moment. I still have wolves as well as lions. I have easy to hit skeletons, goblins etc as well as the tougher ones. Personally I think the scaling works really good. Don't think the lowlevel level creatures are completely erased from the face of Cyrodiil though.

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My understanding is that the system works like this. The game spawns creatures at your level, or slightly lower. If a creature spawns when you are at a low level (e.g. you pass a loading zone in the world map), it will stay in the game. So if you are level 20, there are no new wolves (who are level 1 or level 6 creatures), or at least there will be an extremely low probability of spawning, but existing wolves will not be "removed."

What is absolutely true, however, is that you will never see a mountain lion or bear at level 5, but suddenly at around levels 15 and 20, you will see them constantly. Why? Because they are "too dangerous" for the character until he reaches that level. That, in my mind, is completely ridiculous. The entire point of an rpg is to: 1) be a model of a real world, which will include some things that are stronger than you, when you are an inexperienced adventurer; 2) create interest and excitment, as well as challenging goals to achieve (all of which will be precluded when you know everything you fight will be exactly manageable).

Different people have different views, however. Obviously, if you are not the type that likes dying and reloading, you will not care at all if there are powerful creatures in the world for the simple reason that you will never seek them out or engage them. But for a large contingent of players, I think, an "on-level" world is just extremely dull. It does not seem "realistic" for the entire world to adapt to your level.

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Originally Posted by Dorkus

My understanding is that the system works like this. The game spawns creatures at your level, or slightly lower. If a creature spawns when you are at a low level (e.g. you pass a loading zone in the world map), it will stay in the game. So if you are level 20, there are no new wolves (who are level 1 or level 6 creatures), or at least there will be an extremely low probability of spawning, but existing wolves will not be "removed."

What is absolutely true, however, is that you will never see a mountain lion or bear at level 5, but suddenly at around levels 15 and 20, you will see them constantly. Why? Because they are "too dangerous" for the character until he reaches that level. That, in my mind, is completely ridiculous. The entire point of an rpg is to: 1) be a model of a real world, which will include some things that are stronger than you, when you are an inexperienced adventurer; 2) create interest and excitment, as well as challenging goals to achieve (all of which will be precluded when you know everything you fight will be exactly manageable).

Different people have different views, however. Obviously, if you are not the type that likes dying and reloading, you will not care at all if there are powerful creatures in the world for the simple reason that you will never seek them out or engage them. But for a large contingent of players, I think, an "on-level" world is just extremely dull. It does not seem "realistic" for the entire world to adapt to your level.

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That could indeed also explain it.

That does indeed give more of a real adventurer feel to it. However there should always be a challenge and not occasionally, but quite frequently. Morrowind was far to easy after a while and eventually became boring because of it. Sure there are enhancement mods, but it usually takes quite a while for such a mod to come out and to make one yourself seems a daunting task, especially if you are quite new to the TES editor as I am. Haven't really tried much of it in Morrowind. If Bethesda (and other gamedeveloper companies as well) were to give the option to create your own custom difficulty settings it would really add a whole new flavour to the game. One of the limitations games shouldn't have in my opinion. If having to change something in order to make a game harder while breaking something else, than that isn't exactly my idea of a good way to enhance a game.

I'm kinda stuck in the middle. Just as long as it isn't like Morrowind, but more in between and challenging throughout the game, but slowly it becomes easier and easier, than that might be something.

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Originally Posted by Dorkus

My understanding is that the system works like this. The game spawns creatures at your level, or slightly lower. If a creature spawns when you are at a low level (e.g. you pass a loading zone in the world map), it will stay in the game. So if you are level 20, there are no new wolves (who are level 1 or level 6 creatures), or at least there will be an extremely low probability of spawning, but existing wolves will not be "removed."

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Maybe partly, but not exclusively. I'm level 29 and I just intentionally ventured into an area I had never been before to search for daedra shrines. Along with the usual tough beasties, I found two regular wolves and a timber wolf. Again, I had never been there before... not even close to it.

I just found an in-depth Oblivion optimising guide. Lots of detail about which .ini files affect what, and what combinations you should modify.

Also, a Radeon 9700/Athlon owner posted his .ini file last night, so I was finally able to copy and paste the settings from someone with a rig close to mine. Thank goodness -- I don't have the time to sit and experiment for ten hours. I need someone else to do the hard work!

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Originally Posted by Lemur

Also, a Radeon 9700/Athlon owner posted his .ini file last night, so I was finally able to copy and paste the settings from someone with a rig close to mine. Thank goodness -- I don't have the time to sit and experiment for ten hours. I need someone else to do the hard work!

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So did it actually help noticeably?

I'll be able to answer after this weekend. I was only able to cram in an hour of play in the last two days. It sucks when a great CRPG comes out and you have a life.

One thing really breaks the game for me - the auto-levelling of NPCs and loot as your character levels up. This was introduced to stop the sense of invincibility which high level fighter felt in Morrowind. It does this well, but makes Oblivion extremely dull.

You see the same monsters and loot in each dungeon until you hit a level switch, then you see the same upgraded stuff for a while etc. You can't go slaughtering smugglers for kicks (beat me up when I was level 1 eh? eat daedric katana). You can't risk a daedra filled ruin in search of powerful magics because the reward just isn't there. You never feel like a hero because everyone else is roughly as tough as you at any one time, and even bandits are wandering around in "rare" glass armour etc. You can't wonder the wildness naked with just a dagger because the levelled NPC will own you, because you are never tough enough to risk it.

Essentially the leveling system removes the sense freedom you had in Morrowind - you can still go anywhere and do anything, its just that it is all the same and so feels artificially restricted. Not to mention that the levelling system is so narrowly applied. You get fed up being abushed by bandits using supposedly rare equipment merely because there is no level cap on them. Improving your character and gaining new equipment seems pointless when you never get any real advantage over the enemy.

The system also assumes a fighting character because the NPCs level according to your level, not your combat skills. So some sneaky characters like agents can be left at a disadvantage because they level up using non-combat skills. You can, of course, cheat this by never sleeping! Smooth!

Interesting fact - many quests and the realm of Oblivion are actually easier for non-combat classes at level one than at, say, level fifteen. Tell me that is right.

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Originally Posted by Slyspy

Interesting fact - many quests and the realm of Oblivion are actually easier for non-combat classes at level one than at, say, level fifteen. Tell me that is right.

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Well, if I were designing a game, I would make the level 1 gameplay easier than the level 15 gameplay. At level 1, the players in real life are learning the ropes. At level 15, they should have worked out lots of tactics and tricks that give them an edge over the AI. And the more casual gamers will probably have given up, leaving the hardcore.

And is it right to play a non-combat class in what is essentially a hack and slash game? You need to be good at fighting. The game is not designed for sweet talking your way out of trouble or for playing a "no-kill" Deus Ex style strategy. I guess by non-combat you mean stealth or magic-based? Those skills seem much more powerful in Oblivion than they were in Morrowind. Without regenerating mana, mages were very limited in Morrowind. The sneak attack bonuses in Oblivion give a big boost to stealth gameplay.

Last night, I did the first Vampire hunting quest (for Seridur in the Imperial City) at level 5. It was great fun. Scaling encounters meant that I was able to go in there and do it, whereas in Morrowind, I suspect it would have been frustrating insta-death/come back later experience (and in my case, meaning I'd never come back). I haven't used offensive magic much, but I tried stealth+marksmanship in that quest (I was terrified) and it was very effective.

I'm still liking this game a lot (24+ hours into it). The fact that the encounters seem at just about the right difficulty for my character is probably a big contributor to my enjoyment.