Oblivion gone gold

[lars573]

Im definitely enjoying the game, but my nit-picks do still stand. The persuasion mini-game is fantastically stupid. It's ok as a puzzle, but as far as trying to make me believe my character is winning someone over based on his personality? No. It makes no sense that every attempt to persuade requires you to brag, admire, joke with and threaten them- it's just dumb. Further, the mini-game is very easy to master regardless of your speechcraft skills.

So I take it that you aren't paying attention to the guy's face when you joke/admire/threaten/brag? They all have one they hate a lot, one they don't like, one they love, and one that is meh to them. The trick is too always get the big pie piece on the one they love. Not that it's that hard to master if it was persuading would get old quick.

I need to restart my character, Three Hours into playing...I was wondering around outside Cyrodiil City at night, next thing I know my character becomes a vampire, now I can only use my character at night, which gives me a whole 7 hours of time per day to get my activities done, if I go outside when it is light, I die.

So you didn't notice when you got infected with something or other anemia? That's what causes you to turn into a vampire.

[TB666]

How do you become a vampire ??

[Sjakihata]

The game is just morrowind with bad menus

[lars573]

How do you become a vampire ??

Since it appears that being a Vampire in Oblivion is the same as being a Vampire in Morrowind you have to contract a disease called Porphyric Hemophilia. The best way is a hand to hand attack from a Vampire. If you don't get it cured after 3 days you turn into a vampire. Before you actually turn curing Porphyric Hemophilia is as easy as a cure disease potion or spell. Or going to a temple and praying at the shrine (which removes any debuffs or disease you might have). But after the 3 days you need to go on the de-vamping quest. I've no idea about the Oblivion version but the Morrowind version is very long. Plus all normal people flee in terror at the sight of you and guards/legionaries attack on site. In all likely hood only the Mages guild and the dark brotherhood will have anything to do with you. As in Morrowind only the Mages guild and great house Telvanni would have anything to do with a Vampire character.

In morrowind a Vampire character gets these buffs and de-buffs
2.1.+20 to Strength, Willpower, and Speed
3.+30 to Sneak, Athletics, Acrobatics, Hand-to-Hand, Unarmored, Mysticism, 3.Illusion, and Destruction
4.Immune to Paralysis and Common Disease
5.+50% Resistance to Normal Weapons
6.Vampire Touch spell, absorb health
7.Damage to sunlight
8.Levitate spell, long lasting, low cost

You'd probably get similar powers in Oblivion. Also I did the mission where Wakizashi probably caught Porphyric Hemophilia. So if you play the main quest you have the option of being a vampire for a bit.

[Xiahou]

So I take it that you aren't paying attention to the guy's face when you joke/admire/threaten/brag? They all have one they hate a lot, one they don't like, one they love, and one that is meh to them. The trick is too always get the big pie piece on the one they love. Not that it's that hard to master if it was persuading would get old quick.

I know, the mini-game is cakey. I was griping about how it's stupid for role-play purposes... You have to amdire, boast, joke and coerce the person once in every round of persuasion- it just seems silly.

Lockpicking is at least a little more challenging, but with a keen ear and quick mouse button you can still pick any lock, regardless of you characters security skill.

[sapi]

I know, the mini-game is cakey. I was griping about how it's stupid for role-play purposes... You have to amdire, boast, joke and coerce the person once in every round of persuasion- it just seems silly.

Lockpicking is at least a little more challenging, but with a keen ear and quick mouse button you can still pick any lock, regardless of you characters security skill.

Agreed - i really don't like the persuasion minigame - i find having the skill gives no benifit :(

[doc_bean]

Well, this thread has made lose my interest in oblivion for a while (at least buying a new PC doesn't seem so urgent anymore).

But this is still pretty funny:

Ctr+alt+del

[BDC]

Works fine on my x700 with a 2ghz P4 and 1gb ram. Works better outside than in. Jumping about beats walking too, less emmersion but not everyone has 6 hours to spend walking across a mountain.

[Xiahou]

Jumping about beats walking too, less emmersion but not everyone has 6 hours to spend walking across a mountain.

I've adopted the self-imposed restriction of walking to a new location for at least the first time. Then, for subsequent trips to the same locale, I'll use the map travel if I want to.

This way, I still get to do a good bit of exploring and find lots of ruins, ect and (for RP purposes) I also get the feeling of forging a new path to a location- after which, retracing it should be relatively uneventful. But, to each their own.

[Lemur]

It's sort-of-running with a 9700 pro, 800 x 600 with a fair number of effects turned on, 2x aa. It's not great, and I'm not as happy as I could be, but there it is. For some reason certain spell effects turn it into a slideshow.

Great game, though. Once I've upgraded my machine it should be mezzo-spiffy. I've been thumping around as a sort of stealth archer-mage dude. A Breton with a bow, and he's not afraid to use it. Slapping down the really long shots is way more fun than it should be.

Now I just have to find four more hours in the day so's I can play as much as I want ...

[Sjakihata]

I've adopted the self-imposed restriction of walking to a new location for at least the first time. Then, for subsequent trips to the same locale, I'll use the map travel if I want to.

Well, you can only travel to known locations (whenever you come to a new place, it says Blah blah found) then you can use the map travel.

[econ21]

Well, this thread has made lose my interest in oblivion for a while ...

Then we are obviously not doing our job properly.

I think it is a very good game. gamespot gave it 96%, which does not seem unreasonable. Oblivion is very like Morrowind. IMO, it stands in relation to Morrowind like Civ4 does to Civ2. Very similar concept and mechanics, but better done and crucially more fun.

Some initial impressions (based on only 10 hours of play, minus reloads):

What's similar:
- Character creation - the system seems almost identical (skills, races etc). But this is good, as the Morrowind system was very good for a single player game (I like the freedom to mix skills & stats).
- Levelling system is almost identical - less good, IMO. I hated trying to optimise my levelling in Morrowind. So far in Oblivion it is less of a pain - no standing forever being chewed on by Mudcrabs - but that's probably just me: the system and hence incentives to do that are still there. You still have to find a bed to level, totally breaking the immersion ("I'm in hell, but I've just gone up a level. Better get back home for bed").
- Graphics - very nice, as before. Actually, I find it lacks something of the "wow" factor Morrowind's graphics had on me. I think the time and graphical standards have moved on (Morrowind was in the era of MTW; Oblivion in the era of RTW). But it is still very nice.
- Open-ended questing system - mages guilds, fighters guilds, massive world, go anywhere etc. etc.
- Combat - still madly clicking and then dying quickly if outmatched. Nowhere near as good as Mount and Blade for some reason, despite being very similar on paper.
- Bestiary - many of the old monsters are recycled. But thankfully no kwama stuff, nixhounds or flying racer things so far.
- Even the music sounds like a Morrowind remix.

What's changed:
- There's a plot this time - well, one right that grabs you right from the start and which can maintain that tension if you choose to follow it. The premise - the gates of hell are opened - is an oldie but a goldie for a CRPG (echoes of Might and Magic VI): at least you have something to care about. Somehow I ended up trying to close the doors of hell at level 1 and its heart-stopping, gripping stuff. It reminded me a little of System Shock 2 and there is no higher praise for a first person action RPG.
- All NPC speech is voiced - some nice voice work (esp. Sean Bean), but more generally things feel a little more alive than the "dead" text spouting NPCs of Morrowind. For example, there's a drunken armourer in one town who has something approaching a personality. No NPC did in Morrowind, IMO.
- The map has a directional indicator based on the current quest.
- Travel is much easier, with automated moving to a desired location (no need to rely on mark and recall). Inventory management (getting full) is still a pain though.
- Dumb persuasion and lockpicking mini-games.
- Stealth and magic are more powerful this time round. Mana regenerates quickly. Stealth gives DnD backstab type multipliers to damage.
- Probably more autolevelling of encounters and opponents to match your level (even the treasure autolevels, so you don't get good drops until you are high level). This means you are less likely to be outmatched, but many people on the official site are criticising the system as it means you don't really feel more powerful as you level.

All in all, it's still probably not quite my cup of tea. I think KOTOR2 and Vampires are better CRPGs for my tilt. But, like Civ4, Oblivion is still good enough to suck up your weekends and give you a migraine from playing it too constantly.

...(at least buying a new PC doesn't seem so urgent anymore).

Fair enough. I agree with that. I bought a new graphics card for Morrowind and although I did not really like the game that much, I was satisfied just to experience the amazing world. It was a sort of "see Venice and die" kind of thing. While Oblivion is the better game, I don't think it is quite the gaming experience that Morrowind was for its time.

[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 ...

[lars573]

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 ...

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.

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

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.