Finally playing Oblivion (SPOILERS)

[Random]

It'll be a while before I can afford Skyrim and all the trimmings for my Xbox, so I've decided to finally dip into a game that I've been avoiding for a long time: Elder Scrolls 5, Oblivion.

And I'm now rather sorry that I've been such a snob about it. From reading reviews and discussions on it I've always thought it would be a real frustrating mess. But I'm having a great time because the Elder Scrolls is, no matter how bad ... still the Elder Scrolls. It's like pizza.

Maybe it's because I'm coming to the game with such low expectations that I'm relishing it?

Anyway - my plan is to mod the game to take away the main source of the pain: the levelling problem. And to simply avoid starting the other source of possible grief, the main quest.

Thanks to help from Epona I've already installed Realistic Levelling, although I'm not 100% sure how it works. I'm also considering installing a mod that stops the NPCs and mobs levelling.

So far I'm level 10, and am roleplaying a bitter escaped criminal, out to enrich himself at the expense of the Empire that mistreated him, although with a certain basic sense of fair play. I'm enjoying the Thieves' Guild quest, I've done the Arena to the rank of Gladiator and am thinking of pausing any long quest chains there in order to first fast travel to all the towns in order to pick up all the simple little quests that you get by asking about rumours, etc.

I've got a house - the lich's mansion - and also a chestnut horse. Very pleased with it all so far! One thing that has struck me surprisingly hard is how much Fallout 3 must have inherited from this game.

And I've also slid into doing quite a lot of alchemy. I like the system more than the one in Morrowind.

 

[tommers]

I much prefer Oblivion to Skyrim. Not sure whether that's because I played it first or not but... there you go. The Dark Brotherhood questline is great.

 

[Random]

I much prefer Oblivion to Skyrim. Not sure whether that's because I played it first or not but... there you go. The Dark Brotherhood questline is great.

I'm saving that one for my more evil playthrough. Perhaps some murderous magical elf, rather than my basically decent Redguard bloke.

I did dip into Skyrim, until my PC kept crashing, and it seems to me that both Morrowind and Skyrim are better and more well rounded "other worlds". Oblivion is back in the comfort zone of cod-western European chivalric high fantasy and it does feel a bit flat and unsatisfying. Like being in WoW's Elwynn Forest.

I thought the painting portal quest seemed to be an excellent piss take of just that visual style, though. Anyone else?

 

[tommers]

Yeah the painting quest is good.

Morrowind you have a point. Skyrim is just "oooh, vikings." You have identified the main problems with Oblivion though - the setting, the levelling and the main quest. I think I just prefer the more "traditional" feel of it.. I can kind of see why bits of it don't work but I still enjoyed playing it.

 

[Random]

Yeah the painting quest is good.

Morrowind you have a point. Skyrim is just "oooh, vikings." You have identified the main problems with Oblivion though - the setting, the levelling and the main quest. I think I just prefer the more "traditional" feel of it.. I can kind of see why bits of it don't work but I still enjoyed playing it.

I'm planning to have lots of fun with it, and keeping my expectations low. At times the relentless nature of the Morrowind landscape, and the harshness of the people, plus the alien culture, made the game tough going - but it created real moments of spookiness, unease and then contributed to feelings of real victory when I overcame challenges. Likewise Skyrim feels like it's harsh and a world you have to take on in a struggle, feels like I've been places, rather than went for a stroll in the park.

 

[Vintage Paw]

I tried Oblivion back on the xbox a few years ago and didn't get on with it at all. As well you know, I'm a complete Skyrim junky now though. I've often wondered about picking up Oblivion for PC and modding the bejesus out of it and having another go, but at the moment I reckon I've still got another couple of years worth of play in Skyrim left yet

 

[Gromit]

After playing Skyrim i played Oblivion and realised that Skyrim was Oblivion minus any of the game mechanics that were annoying and better graphics.

Skyrim is the daddy. Shame I only have it on the xBox and not PC though. I'd love to play the modded up versions.

 

[Citizen66]

Try to avoid being turned into a vampire. Unless you want to be a vampire. It's a pain trying to get cured iirc.

 

[Random]

Try to avoid being turned into a vampire. Unless you want to be a vampire. It's a pain trying to get cured iirc.

Yes, I've already done the quest that gets you into the vampire hunting brotherhood, and managed to avoid being bitten so far. Any good spells that help? Resist Disease?

 

[Citizen66]

Yes, I've already done the quest that gets you into the vampire hunting brotherhood, and managed to avoid being bitten so far. Any good spells that help? Resist Disease?

Cure disease and praying at a shrine (perhaps you need to be of good alignment for that?).

You'll need to google exactly what the name is but basically you get infected with something and you have, iirc, before 3 days or going to sleep to rid yourself of it, whichever happens first. After that it's too late so you can either go to an earlier save point or do the quest which involves not going out in daylight if you don't want to die and acquiring really obscure stuff to make a potion to cure it. I actually stopped playing my first ever playthrough because of it; it's a proper chore.

 

[Citizen66]

A good way of making money is to join the mages' and fighters' guilds and then you're able to nick all their stuff and sell it back to them. Although that becomes a bit laborious after a while. Making and selling potions is a more interesting way of getting some cash together.

Although I guess you know all that if you've already got a house.

 

[Random]

I've decided my character is a bit of a hedge alchemist, but one who despises the stuck up mages. I've been boldly sneaking around their guilds stealing equipment in broad daylight and then fencing it.

Any tips for alchemy?

 

[Citizen66]

I've decided my character is a bit of a hedge alchemist, but one who despises the stuck up mages. I've been boldly sneaking around their guilds stealing equipment in broad daylight and then fencing it.

Any tips for alchemy?

Did you get Oblivion with all DLC? If so head to frostspire mountain where a building has been left to you in a will or somesuch that has got pretty much every herb found in the game in it and an alchemy table which will give you a boost. You'll only get one nirnroot mind but the rest of the stuff regenerates periodically.

 

[Random]

Did you get Oblivion with all DLC? If so head to frostspire mountain where a building has been left to you in a will or somesuch that has got pretty much every herb found in the game in it and an alchemy table which will give you a boost. You'll only get one nirnroot mind but the rest of the stuff regenerates periodically.

Cheers, that sounds good. I have SI and N9 but no one's prompted me to go there.

 

[Dandred]

I think I enjoyed Oblivion more than Morrowind and Skyrim, just because so many of the quests were funny or very dark.

I will go back to Skyrim but I don't remember getting the feeling I'd really done something like I did after the quests in Oblivion.

You might want to try this TCM for Oblivion, I really enjoyed it http://www.moddb.com/mods/nehrim-at-fates-edge

 

[Citizen66]

Cheers, that sounds good. I have SI and N9 but no one's prompted me to go there.

Frostcrag spire, sorry. If you haven't been prompted then you probably haven't got it.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Frostcrag_Spire_(place)

 

[Citizen66]

Which is the best site to go for mods btw, any suggestions for good mods?

 

[Vintage Paw]

http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/

Nexus is where it's at. Skyrim nexus is their busiest site, I think. You should be able to find everything you need there at the Oblivion version ^

Have a look at the Top Mods section, filtering for most endorsed, most downloaded, most commented and so on. That will give you an idea of what's available, and you can spend some time hopping around the categories sections (filtering in the same way). Modding can take up more time than playing the actual game, it becomes something of a pastime in itself, but I'm okay with that

 

[Epona]

I've always enjoyed Oblivion. The gameplay/mechanics flaws can be modded out if you're on PC, which just leaves the setting as a bit of a let-down - bland and generic western-Europe style medieval, which is always going to be a disappointment and un-wondrous after the completely alien setting of Morrowind, (in which game, Cyrodil, the setting of Oblivion, is described as jungle!) - and the fact that they only had 1 person working on dungeon design, meaning that you get a bit of 'seen one, seen them all' reaction to dungeons after a while.

Apart from the Main Quest, which gets tedious after a while due largely due to re-use of a small number of Oblivion maps/towers and repetitiveness, the faction quests are far better than those in Skyrim by miles - the DB and TG questlines especially are great and I'll happily replay those quests over and over even though I know them now like the back of my hand!

If you want a good quest mod, try The Lost Spires, it's fully voice-acted (I know that's important to some folks) and adds a new faction and interesting dungeons.

 

[Cid]

They patched out some of the really annoying bits anyway didn't they? e.g the ridiculous number of gates.

 

[Stigmata]

Be sure to get Shivering Isles if you don't have a copy, it's the best thing about Oblivion

 

[Random]

Be sure to get Shivering Isles if you don't have a copy, it's the best thing about Oblivion

Yes, I'm looking forward to that. Can I take it all the way to the end without doing the other Main Quest?

 

[Stigmata]

Yes, I'm looking forward to that. Can I take it all the way to the end without doing the other Main Quest?

Yeah it's a completely independent story

 

[Vintage Paw]

*sigh* I think I'm going to have to get hold of a PC version of this. Y'all do too good a job of bigging it up.

 

[Epona]

*sigh* I think I'm going to have to get hold of a PC version of this. Y'all do too good a job of bigging it up.

I think it's worth it - in some ways I prefer Skyrim, mostly because the design and art style is better, you won't be seeing any breathtaking scenery or dungeon design that make you go 'wow!' and the characters are fugly (but mods can help with that!) - it's not just due to graphics technology at the time either, because Morrowind does a better job of it in terms of art style and that's now over 10 years old - use some graphical enhancements to bring it up to date and MW can provide those wow! moments, in visual/concept/imagination terms, in a way that I suspect OB will never manage.

BUT OB had some of the best faction quests/stories of any TES game so far, IMO.

If you're not sure about it, wait 'til the next Steam sale and get it cheap.

Also, if you fancy trying Morrowind and don't have a copy, I have a spare GOTY disk version that I would be more than happy to pop in the post to you.

 

[ChrisFilter]

http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/

Nexus is where it's at. Skyrim nexus is their busiest site, I think. You should be able to find everything you need there at the Oblivion version ^

Have a look at the Top Mods section, filtering for most endorsed, most downloaded, most commented and so on. That will give you an idea of what's available, and you can spend some time hopping around the categories sections (filtering in the same way). Modding can take up more time than playing the actual game, it becomes something of a pastime in itself, but I'm okay with that

You can get loads of mods off steam now. Including bundles of the better ones. I dl'd a 90-mod strong 'better graphics' pack last night. No mucking about with Nexus Mod Manager either.

 

[Citizen66]

You can get loads of mods off steam now. Including bundles of the better ones. I dl'd a 90-mod strong 'better graphics' pack last night. No mucking about with Nexus Mod Manager either.

Heh; I did wonder why an advert for Day-Z mod came up on Steam yesterday.

 

[Random]

I've installed a mod that caps the monsters leveling. Otherwise the game feels pointless: You're not really becoming more powerful as your skills go up, you're just transforming the world around you into a place where the bandits are elite snipers with legendary weapons... who sleep on blankets on the ground.

Plus I've installed Vilja, and it's quite fun so far. Always liked having companions in Fallout.

 

[Citizen66]

I've installed a mod that caps the monsters leveling. Otherwise the game feels pointless: You're not really becoming more powerful as your skills go up, you're just transforming the world around you into a place where the bandits are elite snipers with legendary weapons... who sleep on blankets on the ground.

Yes but IIRC they then stay at that level. So if they're super tough you can return in a bit after you level again or have a better sword and have another go. Levelling caps ends up a bit like taking on Pakistani kids with spy drones...

 

[Vintage Paw]

I used Steam Workshop for mods for a while, but ultimately you have absolutely no control over them. If the mod author updates their mod, you get the update whether it's buggy, shit, not to your liking, whether you like it or not. I far prefer the control from doing things myself. That way I can also only install the parts of mods I want, basically mixing and matching. For example, there are 4 file layers that make up the face of your characters, the diffuse map, the normal map, the specular map, and the sk map. The files I'm using in my game all come from different mods (and in fact I've hand-edited the diffuse and normal in gimp myself so they are more to my taste). Can't do that with Steam Workshop mods. I install quite few things manually because they are provided as fixes for things like the ENB I'm using (which has a whole bunch of meshes that have been fixed so that they don't glow or act weirdly when you have an ENB running). If I had mods from the Workshop that controlled those meshes, my manually installed ones would be overwritten every time that mod was updated.

The Workshop is great for things that are incidental, and if you don't really care about getting Skyrim 'just so' - but I'm a bit of a texture whore and I like it to look like I like it to look.