The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

I hope it's more populated. I didn't like how empty and isolated Morrowind made me feel especially since I played it while I played World of Warcraft. I know it's unfair to compare an offline RPG with an MMORPG in terms of population, but even if I hadn't experienced World of Warcraft, I think I'd still find Morrowind empty. The "main" cities in Morrowind only had a handful of NPCs walking the streets and for such "big" cities that were centers for trade, I didn't get a sense of even being in a city. They felt more like ghost towns. I hope Oblivion is different.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Grawl

It's not very realistic when you find NPCs wandering around in dungeons, is it?

Also, a "handful" of NPCs? The cities were pretty crowded.

http://media.pc.ign.com/media/702/70...g_3442822.html <- <3

Uh... who said anything about NPCs in dungeons? I'm talking about out in the world where people are supposed to be. That's why I said CITIES. And no, 10 NPCs in a MAJOR CITY doesn't count as a lot. People get so damn defensive if anyone criticizes a game they like...

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Tequila

Morrowind had that Poser-Animation feeling to it, which was kinda awkward, to say the least...

Yeah, it got to the point where it was pretty ridiculous. The jumping animation was horrible. It didn't really detract too much from the gameplay though, but it did take away some of the realism and in turn affected the immersion the player had with the game.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Forsety

Well, it was meant to be played in first person... I've heard that the third person hasn't really improved much in Oblivion and is just for novelty, same as in Morrowind, too.

Yeah, I understand that since it was pretty hard to play Morrowind in third person view, it's just weird having everything be so realistic and having it be the most impressive graphical achievement (possibly) and then zooming out to third person and seeing animations on par with a title like Goldeneye 64. It feels incomplete.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

What was wrong with the grass? I didn't notice anything since the video was so small. I don't know what grass drawing is. It sounds like a technical term regarding graphics. Could someone explain?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Ah, awesome. Thanks BZ.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Gechmir

I have 1 gig of RAM, 6800 GeForce OC, & Athlon 64 as my main highlights of my system.;

You meet the recommended system requirements and you're way past the minimum requirements. I wouldn't be too worried about it.

FELIPE NO

If it's clear, it'd be worth watching (but not worth paying for a Complete membership just to watch). If you're already a Complete member, why not? I have a feeling it's going to be low res and choppy though. =\

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I have a question about my setup. I'm wondering if I can play Oblivion with CLOSE to maximum settings or not with this rig:

I have a Sager 9860 Desktop Replacement custom laptop and the specs are:
Desktop Pentium IV 3.0 GHz with HT
1GB of DDR3 Ram
Mobility Radeon X800 256MB

It's the same laptop as the Alienware m770, but made by Sager. They both get their laptops from the same manufacturer and add in their custom stuff (like Alienware adds custom software and the custom cover), but other than that they're identical. I want to know if I can run Oblivion at close to max settings or if I'll only be able to run it on medium settings.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Elmoogle

In one of the interviews it was hinted at that Oblivion was designed to scale upwards with technology, meaning that even top of the line systems currently wouldn't be able to run it at complete max settings (view distance being the biggest factor in question). However, there is no doubt that the game will look absolutely beautiful on that setup.

Oh okay. I'm just not much of a technical guy and I wasn't sure how outdated my video card was. And hooray for 2 days video. Didn't realize it was out. =) It really sucks that Oblivion will get here during test week though. Either I'll have to wait til this weekend to play it or I'll have to sacrifice some studying time to play it a few days early. =P

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Bahamut Zero

It is pointless anyway to really think anyone can give you an answer on spec issues. No one knows. All you do is look at the minumum and recommended specs and decide for yourself. Nothing else can help.

Luckily, I don't need to worry about that.

Funny, someone was able to give me an answer. And there are people out there who may have connections and have seen footage of the game being run on different hardware configurations and can give insight to those that have less knowledge with Oblivion and computers in general.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Empire at War has been released on a lot of torrent sites. All you need is CureROM Lite.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Grawl

Did you even read what I just said?

You still don't understand. It's okay.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Reloaded one is for real, but the leech to seed ratio is crazy. It doesn't matter if you have the fastest connection in the world, you won't finish it anytime soon. I'm thinking about downloading since my game won't get here til Friday, but I bet the download wouldn't even finish before then so I'm just going to wait for the real deal to arrive.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by JUST DECLARED WAR

For store investments I think you need to be journeyman in mercantile.

You need Expert, not Journeyman.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

Yes. Each skill upgrade gives you a .5 addition to the modifier for the stat that governs that trait. e.g. increase Heavy Armor skill by one level = x.5 modifier to endurance - so you need to raise 10 skill levels per stat to get the maximum modifier. You can raise any combination of skills with the same governing trait - their .5 addition is cumulative.

THANK YOU. People wrote long and confusing paragraphs about how the stat upgrade works and all they needed to say was that. Thanks for finally getting me to understand how that works!! You're the best!

:biggrin:

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Murdercrow

it taught me how to pick a lock EFFECTIVELY.

Picking locks isn't that difficult. You just need to know what to look for or even what to listen to. Once you know the different ways the tumblers go up (and the distinct sound each one makes), you'll rarely break a lockpick. =P

Anyway, how's the rest of the guide?

How ya doing, buddy?

Same here... Whenever I do touch the main quest, it's not really because I want to, it's just because I feel like I need to. Then after a little bit, I go back to other quests. To me, the main quest is the most boring quest chain I've encountered.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Has anyone seen/heard about any modders working on a zoomable map mod?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Why are people calling Oblivion the best game ever? I don't even think it qualifies as the best RPG ever. The best PC RPG ever? No.. not that either.

Don't get me wrong. I like the game and have enjoyed playing it so far, but aside from its graphics, it's nothing revolutionary. Once the novelty wears off, I think people will realize this as well.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I don't think that I am really. =\ It's just that there's nothing revolutionary about it. I agree that the mods will add a lot of life to the game, but those are user-created so they don't add to the merit of the actual game. The ability to mod through the TESCS IS to the game's credit though so I'll give Bethesda that.

Maybe I just had too high of expectations and maybe the fact that I didn't like Morrowind factors into it, but I'm not saying it's a bad game. I enjoy playing Oblivion, but what I'm saying is that it's not THE best game out there.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Hey Mcknuggle, which mod are you talking about? I really dislike this leveling system too. For something they claim to be a "natural way" of leveling up by using skills, it ends up being very contrived where people will jump endlessly or autorun into a wall just to level up acrobatics and athletics. I'd like to check out these mods if you have links to them.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Forsety

I'm pretty sure he is just talking about the slower leveling mod. 'Sides that, it's totally up to you rather you abuse the leveling or not. Pretty much every RPG has some glitch or easy money/level exploit so that whole point is moot.

Nah, I wasn't talking about abusing it. I was talking about the poor leveling system and how it is impractical and is far from the "natural" progression the developers were aiming for. For example: If you want to get the most of your character, you need to focus on 3 attributes per level to get the +5 multipliers when you level up. That means that if you skill up an attribute you don't want JUST ONCE, you will not get your +5 multiplier when you level up. That's what I'm complaining about. If you want to level up strength and accidentally jump while going somewhere and you level up Acrobatics when that's not the attribute you wish to level up, you can kiss your +5 goodbye when you level up.

Again, I think Oblivion is a good game. I was simply stating the reasons for why I don't think it's the best game ever. =P


edited to add the example.

FELIPE NO

So now you're saying that people shouldn't play to maximize their character stats? It's actually not advantageous to ignore the +5 multipliers especially in key attributes such as Endurance (which directly influence your health gain at level up). If your endurance is only being leveled up +1 or +2 each level, your Health will not increase by that much and when you're capped, then you have no way of increasing your Health. A lot of players in the official forums are complaining about this because the level system is producing a lot of crippled players because they weren't aware of how leveling up works.

Yes of course you don't need to get +5 every level, but a lot of people want to optimize their character and a lot of people play this way. Are you saying that they shouldn't play that way? I'm pointing out a flaw in the leveling system of the game and you refute it by saying, "well, don't play that way and it won't be a problem." The thing is, a lot of people play that way so IT IS a problem.

And who said anything about guilds? I didn't say anything about doing all the guild questlines in the same playthrough.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Forsety

There is just no logical reason other than because you want to, to maximize your stats. It is not something that has to be done to enjoy the game.

You don't understand. Enjoyment is subjective. People will enjoy different things. Now I'm not saying I'm a power gamer (I'm very very far from it), but power gamers will want to optimize their character and that's what has brought the slew of complaints in the official forums. You'll find one such thread on every page of the forums.

All I did was give a reason for why I am not enjoying the game as much as I could be. It is a subjective reason. You're telling me that I'm wrong for disliking a part of the game that affects my enjoyment because it doesn't affect yours. The world doesn't think exactly like you do and doesn't have the exact views you have.

Jam it back in, in the dark.