Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[Leetonidas]

Okay, be honest, which of you guys play the best game ever made?

[z0sa]

It's definitely up there

[AussieFanKurt]

I've played it. It was alright

[balli]

I haven't played since September or whereabouts. I pretty much did everything and put so much time into it that I doubt I'll ever play another character again. It was cool for the first 100+ hours though.

[Cry Havoc]

I could never get into it. I thought Fallout 3 was clearly superior.

[kbrury]

I could never get into it. I thought Fallout 3 was clearly superior.

+10000000000000

I enjoy Dragon Age a lot more then Oblivion also, though it was still good.

[balli]

I dunno. Besides the combat, Fallout and Oblivion were completely similar to me. Oblivion was maybe a bit more compelling because there was more to do and more to own. Fallout was a bit more immersive because the scenery/art-style was so suited to the single player RPG experience.

But still, they were awfully similar. So yeah, I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of liking one, but not the other. Why?

[Cry Havoc]

I dunno. Besides the combat, Fallout and Oblivion were completely similar to me. Oblivion was maybe a bit more compelling because there was more to do and more to own. Fallout was a bit more immersive because the scenery/art-style was so suited to the single player RPG experience.

But still, they were awfully similar. So yeah, I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of liking one, but not the other. Why?

I dunno. I felt like Oblivion was more sandbox, and I had no idea really where to go or what to do from the start. Fallout 3 had a lot more direction.

I really do need to play Oblivion more though.

[balli]

My guess is that you'd probably like it given true devotion. It was a bit more non-linear, for sure. But whatever, there are a lot of good games out there.

[IronMexican]

It's the shit. My favorite next gen game.

[IronMexican]

And I can't wait for the next TES.

[phyzik]

Both games where great in their own way....

I love sandbox games...

Oblivion was superior in that regard, much more places to explore.

Fallout 3 has the better combat system.

For sure though, Bethesda is WAAAAYYY underrated compared to Blizzard and Bioware in regards to RPG's. Not saying they are better but they dont get as much recognition as they should.

I still have Daggerfall setup to play on my system, and I played that back in the DOS days... That should say something about Bethesda's quality of work.


again, WAAAAYYY Underrated.

[MiamiHeat]

funny you bring this up

I just traded my copy of Oblivion Game of the year edition on the xbox 360 last night to buy left 4 dead 2

it's a great game, but the Oblivion gates are shitty. the same exact thing over and over, i hated them.

aside from that though, the game is absolutely amazing. so much to do, quests, side-quests, cool items, guilds, spells, CUSTOM SPELL MAKING!, all sorts of stuff.

damnit... now that i remember... i never finished beating the dark brotherhood assassin quests.... i really loved those. damnit. i need to buy the game again when i am bored of left 4 dead 2 and mw2

[z0sa]

This game is one of the all-time best, ever. Not just RPGs, any game.

1) the amount of "useless" items (you can steal the truly useless ones and sell them under a a few different circumstances, even while still being "good") added a ton of depth to the game, more than any other in the current universe including Fallout by a longshot IMO. Going through several different cities and just scavenging your way through sewers and cellars, farmhouses along the roads, etc .. there's just so much to the game in terms of what you can actually use.

2) The Oblivion gates are kinda shitty, but they are still pretty entertaining even after your millionth one (i forget how many, with multiple characters, I've gone through but too many). I thought it was an interesting way to extend the game, as well as allow you to level up without going through all the sidequests in the process. Additionally, if you really want a challenge, crank up the difficulty and every battle is like a fucking boss battle .. which leads to the next #

3) Probably the biggest problem I found with it was its difficulty system. It just proportionately alters how much damage you do as opposed to how much they do. Basically, you're hitting for 20% of normal on the hardest and they're hitting 200% of normal dmg (numbers estimates, and there are a couple other minor tweeks but unnoticeable) . It essentially makes the game impossible, and not the good kind. You can't even do sidequests in that shit because a couple enemies is the most you can handle and that might take you 5-10 tries.

I tried, I really did, to keep the difficulty up as far as I could. But it just sapped the fun out of the game. One enemy along the road would take me a long ass time to kill (hack and slash and hack and spell and hack over and over and ..) even with a variety of different spells/effects being used on him. I'd make one mistake and get killed after 5+ minutes of fighting. You'd think if they were going to make it so difficult, they'd reduce the amount of both random and set enemies so as to make it manageable.

[AussieFanKurt]

Yes Fallout 3 is much much better

[baseline bum]

it's a great game, but the Oblivion gates are shitty. the same exact thing over and over, i hated them.

Yeah, I loved every part of the game but the gates. They were really cool the first couple of times, but got so repetitive later. Overall, the game is just stunning graphically, has amazing sound, and has tons of fun missions, sidequests, and things to explore. It was incredibly buggy when released, but sometimes that's the price you gotta pay for a developer going balls out and releasing something as ambitious and ground-breaking as Oblivion. I loved the combat too... the shields, the use of spells, swords and axes, the hand to hand, the bow and arrow... I mean, there are so many choices the player can make that are pretty well balanced too.

[balli]

Once I got bored with the Oblivion gates I just started casting invisibility spells and I'd run right past everyone to the top of the tower. Maybe kill a mofo here and there to take his shit, but in general, you can run through 'em in a matter of minutes.

[Ballcox]

I love this game and have poured so many hours into it over the past few years.

One question I have, is there a way to avoid getting the vampire 'infection'? My character is at a level 20 and I can't advance him any further due to every time I try to sleep he has some vampire dream and the next day I can't even go out into the light. Is there a way to avoid the vampire infection completely?

I've looked up the side quest you have to do to cure the infection, it's a pain in the ass. Since I plan on playing through this game again with a different character, I would just like to know how you can completely avoid getting infected.

[baseline bum]

I love this game and have poured so many hours into it over the past few years.

One question I have, is there a way to avoid getting the vampire 'infection'? My character is at a level 20 and I can't advance him any further due to every time I try to sleep he has some vampire dream and the next day I can't even go out into the light. Is there a way to avoid the vampire infection completely?

I've looked up the side quest you have to do to cure the infection, it's a pain in the ass. Since I plan on playing through this game again with a different character, I would just like to know how you can completely avoid getting infected.

You can use a cure disease potion or get healed at a church, but I think only before 3 days have passed after you were infected.

[balli]

You contract it from rat bites I believe.

edit: nevermind

[Höfner]

I love this game and have poured so many hours into it over the past few years.

One question I have, is there a way to avoid getting the vampire 'infection'? My character is at a level 20 and I can't advance him any further due to every time I try to sleep he has some vampire dream and the next day I can't even go out into the light. Is there a way to avoid the vampire infection completely?

I've looked up the side quest you have to do to cure the infection, it's a pain in the ass. Since I plan on playing through this game again with a different character, I would just like to know how you can completely avoid getting infected.

You just have to heal yourself within 24 or 48 hours of the initial infection like you would any other disease. OR, you can just buy a certain add-on that is actually really cool, gives you a crypt in the far south with a certain feature that heals you of vampirism and any other disease I think. There's alot of other cool shit in that crypt too but I can't remember what, too much DAO/FO3 in the brain.

[ElNono]

I played it when it came out, and it was great. I thought Fallout 3 improved over it.
Can't wait to play Dragon Age.

[symple19]

I really don't think Fallout 3 and Oblivion should be compared. Sure, they're both great Bethesda RPGs (best dev on the planet, IMO) but one is Fantasy and one is essentially sci-fi. Oblivion is a top 3 game all time. Fallout is maybe top 25 of all time. Just my opinion.

One thing I hated about Fallout 3 was that they used a bunch of the same voice talent as they used for Oblivion.

[balli]

I tried, I really did, to keep the difficulty up as far as I could. But it just sapped the fun out of the game.
Agreed. There's no shame in it. The game really is near impossible at the higher difficulty levels. I slogged through that shit for awhile, but man, I too caved and turned the difficulty WAY down. Which I don't think really matters in a game like this. I had a far more enjoyable time taking her easy, I think. The combat was cool, but secondary to the story... and not really refined enough for the harder difficulty settings.

I know I'm good at video games. I don't need to absolutely ravage myself in Oblivion to prove it.

[ElNono]

Well, the thing is that Oblivion used 'new technology' at the time, like HDR lightning, which made it look amazing for it's time. Fallout didn't really have that, but still stood out.

[balli]

The core gameplay was the same.

What I found Fallout had going for it was the art-style. Oblivion to me was great, but it sort of felt like this big, huge, vibrant, organic world- that was completely dead and devoid of real life. Like it was beautiful, but it just didn't feel right having an imperial city with it's 20 or so drone like residents.

Fallout didn't have that problem because the world you were in was supposed to be dead... and it was supposed to be empty. The story arc matching the content of the art style made it a more immersive experience IMO.

But regardless, I still liked Oblivion a bit more.

[phyzik]

I love this game and have poured so many hours into it over the past few years.

One question I have, is there a way to avoid getting the vampire 'infection'? My character is at a level 20 and I can't advance him any further due to every time I try to sleep he has some vampire dream and the next day I can't even go out into the light. Is there a way to avoid the vampire infection completely?

I've looked up the side quest you have to do to cure the infection, it's a pain in the ass. Since I plan on playing through this game again with a different character, I would just like to know how you can completely avoid getting infected.

If your at the point where you are already a vampire and the church cant heal you, there is a quest that can cure you. I'm pretty sure it starts in the arcane university.

It's a long quest and you have to collect certain ingredients, the toughest one for me was Garlic for some reason. :lol

[nkdlunch]

just beat it 3 days ago.

great, great game. best ps game I ever played. But it still behind pc classics like Ultima, Eye of the Beholder, Planescape Torment, Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, etc, etc

the really great thing about it is that I had stopped playing it for about 1 year, last month I just restarted playing and everything came back automatically. I did not have to relearn it.

it's definitely a classic.

is Fallout 3 as open ended as Oblivion?? if yes, I must get it

[IronMexican]

I am with everyone on the Gates. It took me a while to learn about this game. I bought it around February 08, and played it non stop till about the start of the Finals. I then bought it again on the 360 in December and played it non stop till about Feburary.

My two gripes were the Oblivion gates and difficulty(It made no sense to me). This is one game franchise I will definitely support, no matter what.

[IronMexican]

just beat it 3 days ago.

great, great game. best ps game I ever played. But it still behind pc classics like Ultima, Eye of the Beholder, Planescape Torment, Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, etc, etc

the really great thing about it is that I had stopped playing it for about 1 year, last month I just restarted playing and everything came back automatically. I did not have to relearn it.

it's definitely a classic.

is Fallout 3 as open ended as Oblivion?? if yes, I must get it

You wont get as much playing time out of Fallout. It has about 1/10th the quests of Oblivion.

[jman3000]

That was a major dissapointment for me in regards to FO3. It wasn't nearly as expansive as Oblivion was. It was more fine tuned than Oblivion but it was also a bit too linear for my liking. I also wished that Bethesda had added more elements of FO2 to FO3... different ammunition for the guns would have been major bonus points.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

3) Probably the biggest problem I found with it was its difficulty system. It just proportionately alters how much damage you do as opposed to how much they do. Basically, you're hitting for 20% of normal on the hardest and they're hitting 200% of normal dmg (numbers estimates, and there are a couple other minor tweeks but unnoticeable) . It essentially makes the game impossible, and not the good kind. You can't even do sidequests in that shit because a couple enemies is the most you can handle and that might take you 5-10 tries. .

Morrowind did this same thing. Haven't played Oblivion (yet...) but I always got to the point where my character either dominated with ease or had mad trouble with every little fight I had, depending on where the difficulty set.

[sabar]

Both games are way too easy to have much fun skill-wise. FO3 VATS is overpowered and I stopped using it since I was immortal. Then Oblivion had one of the worst leveling systems I've ever experienced. Either crippling yourself or putting the difficulty at insane levels were the only choices in those games. Mods can make everything perfect, but that's because of the community, not the devs and I'm looking at the base game here.

They are still good games, but no where near the top IMO. I found the predecessors to be better (Fallout 1 and Morrowind). Someone seriously needs to innovate in the RPG genre and bring something new to the table. I mean, in a 10-20 years, will anyone remember the games? All they did was innovate in graphics or added voice acting. The basic formula of a open-world sandbox RPG was created decades earlier. I found neither main plot to be compelling or memorable. They had a very good chance to revolutionize with their dynamic AI, but they gutted it late in development.

I dunno. I've played games for a long time and stuff just seems to be repeating these days within genres. Games that seemed "awesome 10/10 stars must-haves" several years back are now forgettable.

[baseline bum]

Both games are way too easy to have much fun skill-wise. FO3 VATS is overpowered and I stopped using it since I was immortal. Then Oblivion had one of the worst leveling systems I've ever experienced. Either crippling yourself or putting the difficulty at insane levels were the only choices in those games. Mods can make everything perfect, but that's because of the community, not the devs and I'm looking at the base game here.

They are still good games, but no where near the top IMO. I found the predecessors to be better (Fallout 1 and Morrowind). Someone seriously needs to innovate in the RPG genre and bring something new to the table. I mean, in a 10-20 years, will anyone remember the games? All they did was innovate in graphics or added voice acting. The basic formula of a open-world sandbox RPG was created decades earlier. I found neither main plot to be compelling or memorable. They had a very good chance to revolutionize with their dynamic AI, but they gutted it late in development.

I dunno. I've played games for a long time and stuff just seems to be repeating these days within genres. Games that seemed "awesome 10/10 stars must-haves" several years back are now forgettable.

You cripple yourself by leveling up only if you're not paying attention to what you're leveling. If you wait until you have +3 or more on the skills you upgrade when you level then your character can easily keep up with the increased difficulty.

[Leetonidas]

I didn't really think much of Fallout 3, I couldn't get into it. The intro was way too boring.

Oblivion is awesome because of its sheer magnitude. There is just so much to do, it's insane. I haven't played that Dragon Age came but that shit looks pretty sick.

[phyzik]

I didn't really think much of Fallout 3, I couldn't get into it. The intro was way too boring.

Oblivion is awesome because of its sheer magnitude. There is just so much to do, it's insane. I haven't played that Dragon Age came but that shit looks pretty sick.

You will be disapointed if you are expecting Oblivion magnitude from Dragon age.

dont get wrong though, Dragon age will be awesome once some people make some mods for it. It will NEVER reach Oblivion status as far as scope though.

[Leetonidas]

Damn, but at least I'm not missing too much because the way it's been portrayed it's like the most epic RPG ever.

How can you guys not like Oblivion gates? I love going into Oblivion and shitting on those bitch ass Clannfear and Dremora Lords. Fuck man Oblivion is the best game ever for a stoner.

[kbrury]

Damn, but at least I'm not missing too much because the way it's been portrayed it's like the most epic RPG ever.

How can you guys not like Oblivion gates? I love going into Oblivion and shitting on those bitch ass Clannfear and Dremora Lords. Fuck man Oblivion is the best game ever for a stoner.

It is a great RPG but Bioware and Bethesda make very different styles of games. Bioware can't be beat when it comes to the actual "RP" and Bethesda can't be beat when it comes to the world of the game.

[IronMexican]

Oblivion > Dragon Age


Even 3 years later.

[MiamiHeat]

Dragon Age >>> Oblivion

oblivion's story sucked hardcore compared to dragon age.

oblivion's world is better, yeah. but bioware has amazing dialogue, player choices, side-quests, story etc

[IronMexican]

The world, the weapons, armor, all better. If you aren't a mage on Dragon Age, the combat is better. Not to mention, Oblivion is amuch longer game. Side quests better? Dark Brotherhood was great. I give Oblivion the edge on that.

[MiamiHeat]

yeah, Dark Brotherhood was fun, it has it's moments

but the Oblivion gates SUCK ASS.

compare that to Dragon Age, from beginning to end is an epic story. Siding with werewolves or elves, dwarfs, humans being attacked, etc...

the whole storyline is epic. teammate dialogue development, you control what you say to people....


and the side-quests are a lot more fun. Dragon Age ALSO has a "Dark Brotherhood" assassin type side-quest. you talk to a guy in Denerim to get it. he gives you assassin missions

also, Dragon Age has much more lolz. it's fun to be in the world, with your companions and all that.

Oblivion has the world on it though.

[KidCongo]

Had this game on xbox baxk in 07 and closed the gates did all guilds etc. Bought game of the year edition for PS3 and have done some guilds, Knights of the Nine and am a fair way into the Shivering Isles. Haven't done any of the main quest in this game yet and I'm not sure I'll ever close them on this game. At least I've done it before but and saw the end.

[jman3000]

I'm finally trying to beat the Shivering Isles... too many "fetch this" type of missions tbh. Still a great game.