Poll: Oblivion is 11 Years Old

[BFG10K]

Re: Leveling.

Most RPGs I’ve played either tend to stay at relative constant difficulty, or get harder as the player progresses. The difference between Oblivion and them is that you can go back to previous areas (‘grind”) to get stronger, then the new areas get easier.

Oblivion was an attempt to prevent grinding in that manner, but in practice it just caused grinding elsewhere, namely using useless skills over and over again to get 5/5/5 : 5/5/1 bonuses. I can’t fault Bethesda for trying something to innovate, but in practice they just moved the problem elsewhere, so it wasn’t really a solution.

Skyrim walked it back where each area had a level range and would lock to your character level when you first entered. So if it was too hard for you, you could level up elsewhere and then come back. Random outdoor encounters (e.g. Wolves) were still leveled, but that’s ok.

 

[BFG10K]

After more “play-testing” in both games I’ve decided the best Elder Scrolls gameplay is encapsulated within dungeon clearing. Specifically, non-trivial dungeons full of enemies where you crack open lots of heads, and you’re going down there for a good reason. Not for some randomized “find X item”, but rather as part of a major quest arc, or a significant side-quest (e.g. Gauldur amulet).

I’m not interested in murder/crime/stealing, sneaking around, stalking individual targets (unless they’re in a dungeon guarded by plenty of enemies), or fast-traveling all over the map to talk to people and pass speech checks. These kinds of quests burn up a lot of real-world time, don’t level your character much, and make the game more like a walking simulator.

 

[Red Storm]

I'm actually not a fan of dungeons, what drew me to the Elder Scrolls' series was the vast open world landscape. I remember there was a dragon mount mod for Oblivion that you could fly around on, that was the most fun I ever had in any ES game (ironic that Oblivion had the best Dragon mod when Skyrim was all about dragons).

I personally don't care about leveling or XP or loot. Those are things I can always fix in ES games with mods.

 

[BFG10K]

Elder Scrolls on sale @ GOG: https://www.gog.com/promo/20171017_special_promo_bethesda_rpgs

Includes Oblivion, Morrowind, and a few earlier titles. Also some Fallout games.

I hope they eventually add Oblivion to GOG Connect so I can bring my Steam copy across.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Elder Scrolls on sale @ GOG: https://www.gog.com/promo/20171017_special_promo_bethesda_rpgs

Includes Oblivion, Morrowind, and a few earlier titles. Also some Fallout games.

I hope they eventually add Oblivion to GOG Connect so I can bring my Steam copy across.

Maybe I'm jaded but those are not fantastically good prices.

 

[Stg-Flame]

40% off isn't bad and since I apparently misplaced my Morrowind GoTY copy, this is helpful. Thanks for the link.

 

[Achilles97]

I was most impressed by Daggerfall in its time. I felt so immersed in that world due to most of it being left to my imagination. It was such a new gaming experience for me.

I had the most fun with Morrowind. I loved just exploring and collecting unique items.

Oblivion was disappointing imo . I never felt that my character gained strength in the world.

Skyrim was pretty good but in my experience the caves became repetitive and it just got boring :-(

 

[BFG10K]

OK, I've definitely finished up Oblivion now. This is my preferred gameplay order:

1. Arena (Imperial City)
2. Fighters Guild
3. Knights of the Nine
4. Mehrunes Razor
5. Shivering Isles
6. Main Quest

This combo gives really solid dungeon combat with minimal filler and fluff. Next time I'll take acrobatics and restoration as main skills, replacing sneaking and archery. That'll let me finish at an even higher level.

Now I'm finishing up the things I wanted to finish Skyrim. The lighting is incredible in this game, this one looks like an oil painting:

Spoiler

Here are my awesome archery skills:

Spoiler

 

[Sonikku]

I played Morrowind on the Xbox and god did those loading times wear on me after a while.

 

[BFG10K]

I finished up Skyrim and I've settled on this order:

1. Companions.
2. College of Winterhold.
3. Assorted Side/Daedric Quests.
4. Dawnguard.
5. Main Quest.

I didn't really like Dragonborn. The first dungeon was great, the second was ok but didn't meet its full potential. Then the main quest devolved into "Xen: Elder Scrolls Edition". I also don't see why they needed a whole new island for such a short main quest. Dawnguard was far longer and it easily fitted on the main map.

I've got Morrowind reinstalled and reconfigured, and I'm going to have a another go at playing it.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I've got Morrowind reinstalled and reconfigured, and I'm going to have a another go at playing it.

Which mods are you using? I've been itching to fire up Morrowind again, but I didn't want to go in unmodded. Someone guided me to the STEP Project and it looks like exactly what I want, but it's fairly involved and I don't want to start a project like that just yet.

 

[BFG10K]

Which mods are you using?

No mods, just the FPS optimizer so I get proper widescreen support.

 

[Red Storm]

I finished up Skyrim and I've settled on this order:

1. Companions.
2. College of Winterhold.
3. Assorted Side/Daedric Quests.
4. Dawnguard.
5. Main Quest.

I didn't really like Dragonborn. The first dungeon was great, the second was ok but didn't meet its full potential. Then the main quest devolved into "Xen: Elder Scrolls Edition". I also don't see why they needed a whole new island for such a short main quest. Dawnguard was far longer and it easily fitted on the main map.

I've got Morrowind reinstalled and reconfigured, and I'm going to have a another go at playing it.

You don't do the Thieves' Guild or Dark Brotherhood? Those are great in both Oblivion and Skyrim!

 

[monkeydelmagico]

You don't do the Thieves' Guild or Dark Brotherhood? Those are great in both Oblivion and Skyrim!

+1 its always interesting to see how someone chooses to play. Both Skyrim and Oblivion have excellent repeat play that doesn't have to be stale if you choose a completely different path for your character.

 

[Red Storm]

+1 its always interesting to see how someone chooses to play. Both Skyrim and Oblivion have excellent repeat play that doesn't have to be stale if you choose a completely different path for your character.

For me it's like that meme that says you start out a new play through trying something new... and somehow always up as a stealth based archer.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

+1 its always interesting to see how someone chooses to play. Both Skyrim and Oblivion have excellent repeat play that doesn't have to be stale if you choose a completely different path for your character.

Best thing I did was resist the urge to not go through every. single. box. So much time spent stealing from boxes and people for gold pieces I never used and potions I couldn't sell.

For me it's like that meme that says you start out a new play through trying something new... and somehow always up as a stealth based archer.

Also this, what else am I supposed to do with thousands of arrows except shoot them stealthily!

 

[bystander36]

Also this, what else am I supposed to do with thousands of arrows except shoot them stealthily!

Sell them, or destroy them.

Anyway, I always come up with a concept of a new character. Whether I want to be an illusionist, assassin with blades, or arrows, or destruction, I always have an idea of what the character is going to become, and make my choices based on that.

I also like to pick which major quest lines to follow, as I don't like to play much past level 50-60. After which, it doesn't feel like there is anything more to improve on my character, other than adding unnecessary skills that doesn't mix with my character concept.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Sell them, or destroy them.

Anyway, I always come up with a concept of a new character. Whether I want to be an illusionist, assassin with blades, or arrows, or destruction, I always have an idea of what the character is going to become, and make my choices based on that.

I also like to pick which major quest lines to follow, as I don't like to play much past level 50-60. After which, it doesn't feel like there is anything more to improve on my character, other than adding unnecessary skills that doesn't mix with my character concept.

My first character, I actually ground out to max skills/skill points on all tree options. Didn't take nearly as long as I expected, but mostly pointless since any given (reasonable) combination of skills works fine, really.

For the record, it was unmodded, and I basically just exploited skilling up/resetting blocking/resto for point farming while fighting giants.

 

[Stg-Flame]

For me it's like that meme that says you start out a new play through trying something new... and somehow always up as a stealth based archer.

I forced myself to play a two-handed Daedric Warhammer Orc in Oblivion and it turned out to be incredibly fun. Not as fun as my stealthy archers though, but still tons of fun just running up to enemies and sending them flying across the screen.

 

[BFG10K]

So I played about 10 hours of Morrowind, making it as far as Vivec city and finishing several fighter/mage guild quests.

I had no issues with the graphics, combat, or even movement speed after I boosted my speed stat to “boots of speed levels” using a console command, so the game behaved more like Oblivion.

The problem is the game is basically a walking simulator. You constantly walk around and talk to people with little actual gameplay. Even the fighters guild quests had a lot of “go here and pass a speech check” quests, with very little dungeon crawling. What little dungeons I saw, they were really small with tiny quantities of combatants.

A shame, but I simply wasn’t having any fun, so I’ve uninstalled the game.

You don't do the Thieves' Guild or Dark Brotherhood?

No, in the time it takes me to assassinate a high profile target (or to sneak through a mission) I can clear out a dungeon with a dozen enemies. That's way more fun and levels my character much faster.

 

[zinfamous]

For me it's like that meme that says you start out a new play through trying something new... and somehow always up as a stealth based archer.

I'm always a stealth-based ganking thief, despite my best intentions to become magey. I never could get into archery with these games. ....but not doing dark brotherhood or thieve's guild in Skyrim? I wonder if this person is playing the correct game?

 

[zinfamous]

No, in the time it takes me to assassinate a high profile target (or to sneak through a mission) I can clear out a dungeon with a dozen enemies. That's way more fun and levels my character much faster.

huh? you could basically sneak past or up to everything thing and one shot in the same time...you get all the kills, but all ninja like. or you don't

but that's not the point. The other plotlines are just terrible. Skyrim is actually kinda bad (story-wise) without the Dark Brotherhood or Thieves Guild.

 

[BFG10K]

huh? you could basically sneak past or up to everything thing and one shot in the same time...you get all the kills, but all ninja like. or you don't

Many Thieves Guild quests have restrictions on killing and/or detection. Dark Brotherhood quests are one target with usually nothing else to kill around it, unless you decide to crazily start murdering the entire town or something.

but that's not the point. The other plotlines are just terrible. Skyrim is actually kinda bad (story-wise) without the Dark Brotherhood or Thieves Guild.

I play games for gameplay. A good story is nice but not necessary. OTOH terrible gameplay with a good story is still a terrible game.

 

[BFG10K]

I just finished Morrowind and I've added my thoughts to the opening post. Even with some gameplay design tedium I still enjoyed it overall, though Oblivion/Skyrim are quite a bit better.

I liked the nice retro graphics, especially the water:

Spoiler

I’ve also just started Tribunal and already like what I see. A city very similar to Oblivion’s Imperial City with the way they divide the sections (much better than Vivec’s implementation), and straight down into dungeon-sewers to crack open some heads, without the conversation quest-giving fluff. Also the merchants in the Bazaar have a lot of gold.

If you’re in my position of playing Oblivion/Skyrim first and want to try Morrowind, here are some tips that helped me reduce the frustration:

1. Get the Boots of Speed as early as possible. Create a spell from the mages guild “resist magicka 100% for 2 seconds on self”. Cast the spell before you put the boots on to block the blindness. Train restoration a bit or pick it as major skill, otherwise it’ll fail quite a lot when you try to cast it.
   
2. Buy the Mark/Recall/Intervention spells to add them to your spell book for fast travel. Also Stilt Striders (the giant brown flea-like insects found at town entrances), coastal boats, and mages guild teleportation can provide travel to major towns/cities for a small fee.
   
3. You can rest any time outside towns to fully heal. Occasionally you'll get interrupted with an attack but it's pretty rare.
   
4. Don’t do faction or side quests, just do the main quest. As you’re walking along the roads to your main objectives, duck into the random dungeons you see and clear them out. It’s a lot of fun and captures the dungeon crawling aspect of the game without the quest-giving tedium.
   
5. Click on every hyperlink in topic conversations from the main characters. Even if you don’t read it, it’ll often add critical journal entries. Use an online guide if you really get stuck as map quest markers are generally rare in the game.
   
6. Keep the difficulty slider all the way to the left to ease the burden of combat, especially outdoors when attacked by armies of wild animals.
   
7. Don't horde gold, spend it on skill training to level up faster and get a better character.
   
8. If your stats are damaged (shown in red), use a "Tribunal" Shrine (must be this specific shrine) in the temples, pick the "restoration" option. If it doesn't work, temporarily remove all gear that raises your stats, then try again.

 

[BFG10K]

I finished up Tribunal and generally liked it. Two expansive dungeons plus a Dwemer ruin with a new tile scheme. My main gripe is that the end clockwork area felt rushed and turned out to be a poor man’s “Dwemer” area. They could’ve done a lot more with it, like a massive cavern with a towering clockwork spire which you climbed to the top.

I read up about the main Bloodmoon quest and watched a few quest playthroughs, and have decided I have no interest in playing it. So that wraps up Morrowind for me.