"We're getting ready to do something else with Oblivion this year"

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: QueBert
Hopefully this time they can afford to hire more than 2 fucking people to do the voice work for like a thousand characters. I don't expect every single NPC to have their own unique voice. But Oblivion with 2 voices for the entire cast of characters killed it for me. I don't see how anyone got past that. Also didn't like the fact there was no sense of urgency, even though these so called oblivion Gates were going to be the end of the world if not dealt with ASAP. You didn't have to even bother with them until you wanted to, that's not how saving the world would go. I understand side quests add to the length of a game. But I found it impossible to care about the gates when I could stroll around at my own pace, helping old ladies find out what was killing her pet rats, and other totally unimportant "quests" If the world is coming to an end, I would think dealing with that would be priority #1. Without worrying about the world ending, it seemed more like a "do whatever the shit you want game" And saving the world was just an after thought.

The voice acting is what totally ruined it for me though.

Thing is, the lack of a time limit on the main quest is sort of a staple of open-world RPGs, because the game developers don't want you to rush through their big world they spent so much time on. But I'd prefer if they'd just come right out and tell you that there's no urgent time limit instead of talking it up like you only have a limited time even when you don't.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca

Originally posted by: QueBert
Hopefully this time they can afford to hire more than 2 fucking people to do the voice work for like a thousand characters. I don't expect every single NPC to have their own unique voice. But Oblivion with 2 voices for the entire cast of characters killed it for me. I don't see how anyone got past that. Also didn't like the fact there was no sense of urgency, even though these so called oblivion Gates were going to be the end of the world if not dealt with ASAP. You didn't have to even bother with them until you wanted to, that's not how saving the world would go. I understand side quests add to the length of a game. But I found it impossible to care about the gates when I could stroll around at my own pace, helping old ladies find out what was killing her pet rats, and other totally unimportant "quests" If the world is coming to an end, I would think dealing with that would be priority #1. Without worrying about the world ending, it seemed more like a "do whatever the shit you want game" And saving the world was just an after thought.

The voice acting is what totally ruined it for me though.

Thing is, the lack of a time limit on the main quest is sort of a staple of open-world RPGs, because the game developers don't want you to rush through their big world they spent so much time on. But I'd prefer if they'd just come right out and tell you that there's no urgent time limit instead of talking it up like you only have a limited time even when you don't.

The expansion Shivering Isle address most of the issues in the Vanilla Oblivion - including the voice acting. it appears they blew their first budget on Captain Piccard


. . . and it is ON PURPOSE that you spend a LOT of time in Side Quests; you want to be god in this world - that IS the point of RPG -the mob of 2 wolves that you ran from in the beginning you can dispatch and send flying with a single blow at level 80 - THEN you get a spectacular ending and final battle

or you can be a wimp and run through tjhe Main Quest on level 2-3 and miss the whole point battling mudcrabs and weaker Daedra
:roll:

 

[coloumb]

Originally posted by: QueBert
Hopefully this time they can afford to hire more than 2 fucking people to do the voice work for like a thousand characters. I don't expect every single NPC to have their own unique voice. But Oblivion with 2 voices for the entire cast of characters killed it for me. I don't see how anyone got past that. Also didn't like the fact there was no sense of urgency, even though these so called oblivion Gates were going to be the end of the world if not dealt with ASAP. You didn't have to even bother with them until you wanted to, that's not how saving the world would go. I understand side quests add to the length of a game. But I found it impossible to care about the gates when I could stroll around at my own pace, helping old ladies find out what was killing her pet rats, and other totally unimportant "quests" If the world is coming to an end, I would think dealing with that would be priority #1. Without worrying about the world ending, it seemed more like a "do whatever the shit you want game" And saving the world was just an after thought.

The voice acting is what totally ruined it for me though.

Yeah - you could pretty much just sleep for a year and the gates/towns would still be "static". They should have implemented some form of reasonable time limit - maybe an NPC would run up to you every now and then and say "Hey - aren't you going to help us in [insert town here]?? Our town is being overrun with monsters!!". Once you arrive in the town - it changes according to how long the town has been under attack. If you fail to save the town, then it's permanently in ruins. Depending upon how many towns you actually save would affect how people treat you [villagers from a destroyed town would attack you on site. If you saved only a few towns, then people would still be grateful, but they'd spit on you or just not talk to you].

The only time I felt any kind of urgency was with the last gate - you had to destroy the gate within a certain amount of time else all hell would break loose.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: coloumb

Originally posted by: QueBert
Hopefully this time they can afford to hire more than 2 fucking people to do the voice work for like a thousand characters. I don't expect every single NPC to have their own unique voice. But Oblivion with 2 voices for the entire cast of characters killed it for me. I don't see how anyone got past that. Also didn't like the fact there was no sense of urgency, even though these so called oblivion Gates were going to be the end of the world if not dealt with ASAP. You didn't have to even bother with them until you wanted to, that's not how saving the world would go. I understand side quests add to the length of a game. But I found it impossible to care about the gates when I could stroll around at my own pace, helping old ladies find out what was killing her pet rats, and other totally unimportant "quests" If the world is coming to an end, I would think dealing with that would be priority #1. Without worrying about the world ending, it seemed more like a "do whatever the shit you want game" And saving the world was just an after thought.

The voice acting is what totally ruined it for me though.

Yeah - you could pretty much just sleep for a year and the gates/towns would still be "static". They should have implemented some form of reasonable time limit - maybe an NPC would run up to you every now and then and say "Hey - aren't you going to help us in [insert town here]?? Our town is being overrun with monsters!!". Once you arrive in the town - it changes according to how long the town has been under attack. If you fail to save the town, then it's permanently in ruins. Depending upon how many towns you actually save would affect how people treat you [villagers from a destroyed town would attack you on site. If you saved only a few towns, then people would still be grateful, but they'd spit on you or just not talk to you].

The only time I felt any kind of urgency was with the last gate - you had to destroy the gate within a certain amount of time else all hell would break loose.

Also I didn't like how at the start once I exited the sewers. I went right away to the closest town, and when I got there the 2nd person I encountered brought up how the king, or emperor had died. Dunno how they could have possibly known that as it happened minutes before. The game has a lot of small things like this which were very annoying and took away from me being able to immerse myself in the game. It was like there was the Internet in the and a Paparazzi saw him get killed.

 

[Kromis]

Updated the first post

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: Kromis
Updated the first post

I'd probably check those out. I read Keyes "Changeling" and "Thorn and Bone" series. Loved the former, and all but the last volume of the latter.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: raystorm
I want a brand new Elder Scrolls please.

Yep - and no more of this monster scaling please. What's the challenge?

 

[coloumb]

Originally posted by: Kromis
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/...nes_on_.php?page=2.com



UPDATE: http://kotaku.com/5227416/beth...or-elder-scroll-novels

Damn, this was not what I wanted but good enough I guess! Framework for the next Elder Scrolls, perhaps?

WTF..I don't want to READ... I want to PLAY!!

 

[imported_Hamlet2000]

I'd much rather play a new Elder Scrolls, but being that I love them so much I'll probably read the books. Although the plot sounds LAME with a capital L:

"Floating high above the land is a strange and mysterious city that is casting a horrifying shadow ? wherever it falls, people die and rise again as undead. It is up to an unlikely duo ? a seventeen-year-old girl named Annaig and the Emperor's young son, Prince Attrebus ? to rescue the kingdom from doom."

Groan.

I wish Bethesda would develop a single player RPG with the depth of Oblivion (or actually more) for an established fantasy book, like George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones or the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series. That would rock.

BTW - I had some stability issues with Oblivion and I hated the wonky way in which you bought and downloaded the DLC, but Oblivion is still my favorite game by far. Tons of hours spent on that one.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Uwe Boll will make a great movie with a plot that deep. Quick, call Jason Statham!

Oblivion was a lot of fun, but not for the plot or endless chatter about mudcrabs.

 

[wanderer27]

"Floating high above the land is a strange and mysterious city that is casting a horrifying shadow ? wherever it falls, people die and rise again as undead. It is up to an unlikely duo ? a seventeen-year-old girl named Annaig and the Emperor's young son, Prince Attrebus ? to rescue the kingdom from doom."

Well, this one could never be in the current Oblivion, seeing as how they nuked Levitation . . . .

 

[Kromis]

Capital! Absolutely capital...

I probably won't read these until they announce an Elder Scrolls V that ties back to the books.

 

[Bateluer]

Fail. There haven't been any novels written based off a game that have been good. This is money grubbing, plain and simple. You pay some fresh out of college aspiring author to pen some crap and than change 8.99 for it. Complete waste of time that could be better used fixing the long list of problems with Oblivion or working on ES5.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Fail. There haven't been any novels written based off a game that have been good. This is money grubbing, plain and simple. You pay some fresh out of college aspiring author to pen some crap and than change 8.99 for it. Complete waste of time that could be better used fixing the long list of problems with Oblivion or working on ES5.

Greg Keyes is an established, and imo very talented, author.

I don't see how having an author who has nothing to do with the game coding somehow affects the amount of time the programmers could spend either fixing Oblivion or working on ES5, so I don't think it's a "waste of time."

 

[Kalmah]

Level-scaled encounters and equipment = gay.