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Ah, Patrick Stewart. A beautiful bit of voice acting there, but possibly also the reason every elderly beggar you talk to becomes a generic townsperson when you ask for rumors. And it does look pretty for the time it came out in, if you don't look too closely. And clearly the suddenly-appearing notes and deeds are the work of a stealthy courier dedicated to his work. Neither rain nor snow nor goblin and assassin-filled sewer dungeon...
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Apr 18, 2013 06:15
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I'm surprised that there is no mention of the fact that the player is paralyzed while Emperor Picard gets knifed. For all the good things Oblivion does (and all the bad) it starts off at the very beginning with one of the worst sins in gaming design: taking away control from the player. Even worse, it's completely unexplained. It's just "Suddenly you have no control over your character just so there can be a story". I mean, it would have made perfect sense if a) the random cultist used a paralysis/binding spell on the player character (like Daud's men do in the intro to Dishonored) or b) there was something blocking your path to rescue the emperor (like a door) or c) your character was not literally looking and staring at very wall segment that is revealed to be a secret door as the cultist slowly walks out of it.
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Apr 18, 2013 06:50
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radintorov posted:It's a case of forgetting how to properly implement this stuff and re-learning it over time: in Morrowind you learn of the new content either by being attacked by the DB or by asking for rumors and being directed to this guy in Ald'ruhn or to a khajiit captain; in Oblivion you get bombarded by pop-ups; in Fallout 3 it's similar, but at least it happens after the tutorial; and finally in Skyrim you learn of the new content by listening to rumors, being attacked by cultists or being contacted by a courier. Knights of the Nine actually follows the "rumours" route. Shivering Isles seems like it was meant to but they decided not to bother. No excuse for the poor implementation on all the others, though.
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Apr 18, 2013 08:26
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Alkydere posted:I'm surprised that there is no mention of the fact that the player is paralyzed while Emperor Picard gets knifed. For all the good things Oblivion does (and all the bad) it starts off at the very beginning with one of the worst sins in gaming design: taking away control from the player. Even worse, it's completely unexplained. It's just "Suddenly you have no control over your character just so there can be a story". I had forgotten about that, it was quite a while since I played this, but I do remember that I was so annoyed at the paralysation
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Apr 18, 2013 08:35
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Alkydere posted:I mean, it would have made perfect sense if a) the random cultist used a paralysis/binding spell on the player character (like Daud's men do in the intro to Dishonored) or b) there was something blocking your path to rescue the emperor (like a door) or c) your character was not literally looking and staring at very wall segment that is revealed to be a secret door as the cultist slowly walks out of it. In my first play-through, he missed with the dagger the first time, causing the Emperor to go into fisticuffs with the guy. 
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Apr 18, 2013 09:36
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Alkydere posted:I mean, it would have made perfect sense if a) the random cultist used a paralysis/binding spell on the player character (like Daud's men do in the intro to Dishonored) or b) there was something blocking your path to rescue the emperor (like a door) or c) your character was not literally looking and staring at very wall segment that is revealed to be a secret door as the cultist slowly walks out of it. That'd be a great nonstandard game-over though -- you kill the assassins and the Emperor escapes unscathed. Roll credits!
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Apr 18, 2013 10:42
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crowfeathers posted:That'd be a great nonstandard game-over though -- you kill the assassins and the Emperor escapes unscathed. Roll credits! That's a thing though, I think the game could still have worked even if the Emperor escaped. They could still force in a crisis plot-wise and have you perform the same actions, just in favor of a different person and one you'd have to protect from constant assassination attempts. Frankly, it might have made for a better game.
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Apr 18, 2013 11:00
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Mordaedil posted:That's a thing though, I think the game could still have worked even if the Emperor escaped. They could still force in a crisis plot-wise and have you perform the same actions, just in favor of a different person and one you'd have to protect from constant assassination attempts. Yes, but then they would have had to pay Patrick Stewart more, and paying money for good voice acting is frankly not in the Oblivion spirit. Speaking to the homeless NPCs in the capital should demonstrate that easily.
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Apr 18, 2013 11:44
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Wolfsheim posted:Though most dungeons in Oblivion aren't worth exploring (especially the Ayleid ruins), Vilverin is. Plumb those depths, LW! Almost all the dungeons have zero effort into them. Vilverin is different because it is the first thing players see so they expect people to head straight for it. Except when I first played Oblivion I didn't go there right away because it was across the water and I like to pretend that the character I'm playing is like me, in that I hate the water. In fact I didn't notice it until well past finishing the main quest, Shivering Isles, every guild questline, and practically every add-on was fully explored. Whoops  Don't make my mistake LW.
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Apr 18, 2013 14:53
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Watching you cast that healing spell on yourself made me hear the sound effect in my head, that soft 'bwow'. I played Oblivion a lot, and enjoyed it. Yes, there's a lot that could have been done better, but it was fun. I had forgotten the rush of DLC messages at the beginning, though. I recognize all of them except the Dunbarrow Cave one. Which DLC was that?
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Apr 18, 2013 15:24
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Geomancing posted:Watching you cast that healing spell on yourself made me hear the sound effect in my head, that soft 'bwow'. I played Oblivion a lot, and enjoyed it. Yes, there's a lot that could have been done better, but it was fun. Basically, enhanced thief's guild. Think of the end of Goonies, only the criminal gang works for you.
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Apr 18, 2013 17:05
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I don't remember Vilverin at all. What was in Vilverin?
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Apr 18, 2013 17:11
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death .cab for qt posted:I don't remember Vilverin at all. What was in Vilverin? Not a whole lot, just some minor worldbuilding - books explaining why the bandits were there, plus a small story sort of thing. Basically it had anything going on at all beyond just some enemies and maybe one of the Ayleid statues.
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Apr 18, 2013 17:26
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Wolfsheim posted:Though most dungeons in Oblivion aren't worth exploring (especially the Ayleid ruins), Vilverin is. Plumb those depths, LW! Well now I'm going to go out of my way to show off several dungeons.  But for now, have an update! Sterv: Cat in the City Moments prior to the end of the previous update...  What's this? A spell tome?  Let's have a look...  ...um. Anyway.  This just says "Absorb Health". How do I...?  ...?!    I forgot how easy it is.  Tomorrow, I'll go to the city. Try and get geared up, learn some spells before I try to mount this heroic journey of mine. But now, I rest.  Much better.  Let's see...I'll need better weapons and armor...  Maybe see if I can scrape up some practice spells from Edgar's...  ...and building up a stock gold would be nice, too.  Let's go shopping.  First, I'll go sell some of this junk I got off those bandits. Maybe see if I can't hawk these nutritional potions as well.  I've never really been in here, but it's a nice enough place.  Oblivion's Not That Bad Points: -2    Just here to sell. Can't help but feel like I'm getting a bit shafted, but ah well. You gain a little bit of Mercantile skill with each item bought or sold. You can press the Haggle button down in the lower-left corner to try and get better prices when buying and selling, but until you've got some skill you're really better off not messing with it since there's a good chance the merchant will decline your offer outright. Thankfully, haggling isn't outright necessary to raise your skill as it was in Morrowind. Here, I pretty much sell off all my Restore Fatigue potions, extra gear, and valuable clutter items like gems and such. Oblivion's Not That Bad Points: -1  ...hm. 220 Septims. It's a start. I appreciate your business. Next stop:  Edgar's.  I was actually hoping to ask you a few questions, first. You want to talk? Talk is cheap. And I got cheap. Yes, I know. I'd like to try and become a better spellcaster, but I've found my magicka reserves...lacking. How can I- Brain training. Brain training? You just cast yourself some conjuration or mysticism skills, and you think real hard about the powers you're tapping into. Given enough time, your understnading of the arcane will deepen along with your magicka pool. Huh. Alchemy works too, for some reason. I see. Can you recommend me a good beginner's Mysticism spell? Minor Life Detection. See your friends and your enemies, even if there's a wall between you and them! Sounds useful. You'll want an Alteration spell, too. Pardon? Yes, to hone your focus. You work real hard at Alteration, get your focus up, and your Magicka'll recover like THAT! Destruction and Alteration work fine, but Alteration's a real fast track. All right, then. What would you- Shield. Shield it is. And do you have anything for an aspiring illusionist? You probably want Starlight. Provides light, as you might expect. Splendid. Yes! Literally! Annnnnd whaddyagot as far as conjuration goes? Bound Dagger. You'll never be without a blade again! ...hm. Too rich for my blood. I understand. Ready to check out, then? Sure. Okay. Hold still.    Well, I'm out of money. Time to go crate-shopping.  I don't know where these came from. Someone just...didn't come back for their crates.  Eventually people started putting their unwanted junk in here.  And the poorer among us, well, we started to go crate-shopping.   Leaving stuff for the poor is, well, a tradition now.   I can't believe the poo poo people put in here, sometimes.   I mean, look at that. I could go to a banquet like this.   It's things like these that help me scrape by.  A little bit of luck doesn't hurt either.  ...hm. I was going to check out armor, wasn't I?  Nnnnnno, I don't think that's gonna be happening.   I'll take the ol' crate and barrel any day.  I even managed to make a good bit of gold thanks to my new mortar and pestle.  Get some fresh air, find some clothes, practice magic.  And if I'm lucky, I get to treat myself. See? My system works.  But now that I'm a hero, my needs are a bit...   ...greater.  I mean, I need money AND stuff if I'm gonna do great things.  By stealing, I accomplish this. It's a win-win.  I just wanted to point out a quirk of the engine. I've been using the free camera console command to grab some screenshots, and when I used it from first-person, I quickly realized that the game doesn't render your body unless you're in third-person mode. Interesting way of saving memory. It's actually a pretty common practice in game development, but I just wanted to share it with you. It tickles me.  So here I nicked a set of alchemy tools. Without going into too much detail, they make your potions more betterer.  Can't go forgetting the basements.  Hah! You see? Always be thorough.  Now let's see about some new headgear.  So WARM.  I shall have to visit again to try on these other helmets.  The basement delivers again!  Ooh, berries.  ...drat. Guess I'm picking up berries now.  Ooooh.  Yes.  Next stop, free weapons!  A bit cramped.  ...okay then.  Hmm.  Skewing a little too much towards "smash" for my liking.  THIS hammer I will take, though.  Oho. What have we here?   ...seriously?  Screw this. Time to loosen the strings of the Copious Coinpurse.   ...oh, um...are you not open yet? ...I should go. Perhaps I will seek...other avenues of monetary gain.  Yes. This will work perfectly.  I want to be a combatant. For money. You what? You want to be a combatant? Ha ha ha ha ha! Look at you! My granny could beat you, and she's dead!  Wait, you're serious, aren't you? What is with you people? You walk in, want to be combatants, and your entrails end up decorating my Red Room. I assure you this will not happen. All right. It's your funeral. Welcome to the Arena, you filthy Pit Dog. You're free to fight, so long as you know the rules of competition. Now, let me give you your Battle Raiment. It's the uniform of all Arena combatants. Do you want a Light Raiment or a Heavy Raiment? Light, please. A Light Raiment, huh? You sure? I figured you for the Heavy Raiment type. You know, hide behind a skin of steel? Hmph. Okay then, here. Put that on, see if it fits all right. When you're ready for a match, I'll be waiting. You want to fight, you talk to me. All right then. ...this outfit is degrading.  No matter. Now, to make some room...   Good morning, Thoronir. May I interest you in some fine weaponry? I suppose it's time for something of a vote. Should Sterv gladiate at the Arena and generally rub elbows with the people there, find something else to do in the city, or seek unknown riches in Vilverin? In any event, we'll have to stop by the Bloodworks to pick up our stuff. And yes, I'm well aware of a certain something in the Arena area, so keep your lips sealed. Scaly Haylie fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Apr 22, 2013 |
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Apr 18, 2013 18:11
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Degrading or not, the Arena Rainment is some nice early-game armor. It is chest/legs/boots/gloves though, so your options are limited while wearing it. I say gladiate for a couple rounds, then go visit Vilverin.
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Apr 18, 2013 18:20
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It's been a long time since I've played Oblivion, but I remember hating the dungeons intensely. If Vilverin is, as people have said, different, I'd like to see it.
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Apr 18, 2013 18:25
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Whatever he does, he should Keep his head warm. After all dungeons like Vilverin get cold!
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Apr 18, 2013 18:31
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I didn't think Oblivion was a bad game if it stood on its own, but compared to the masterpiece that was Morrowind before it and (later) the wonderful game that was Skyrim after it, it sort of gets dragged down by virtue of association. It's definitely my least favorite Elder Scrolls game. However, it did eventually bring us the greatest single thing Bethesda has ever crafted (Dragonborn comes very close, if not ties, but does not surpass), which is the one reason I go back to Oblivion once or so a year to do another playthrough. Can't wait until you get to that point. In the meantime, go check out Vilverin.
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Apr 18, 2013 18:38
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I say go Vilverin because even if they can be generic, dungeon delving is still my favorite part of Oblivion (as well as Knights of the Nine quest, since it's an Ultima IV reference) Just a bit of a minor request here, I noticed you sometimes used a night-time image of your characters avatar, but I'd really prefer it if you stuck with an indoors one that was pretty visible and obvious who it is talking.
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Apr 18, 2013 18:56
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Peddler of Smiles posted:Whatever he does, he should Keep his head warm. After all dungeons like Vilverin get cold! Way ahead of you!
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Apr 18, 2013 18:56
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Obviously he needs to venture into Vilverin, seeing as he just acquired a number of good spelunking tools (and you never know what kind of things a dungeon has to
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Apr 18, 2013 19:08
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Break a leg!
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I don't remember Vilverin being all that different from the other dungeons around Oblivion. Please, show us oh great Sterv.
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Apr 18, 2013 19:26
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Let's go to Vilverin, and see what's so special about it.Lizard Wizard posted:
In Oblivion they are pretty much turned into a joke, which I think it's this fellow's fault, and are yet another issue with the art design of this game. Thankfully they were improved a lot in Skyrim.
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Apr 18, 2013 19:53
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Be a part-time Gladiator for a while, then off to Vilverin it is.
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Apr 18, 2013 19:53
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radintorov posted:And here we have another issue: Bosmer, in the TES lore, are a pretty bad-rear end race of agile, cannibalistic, survivor elf types. At least Fargoth finally ate something.
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Apr 18, 2013 19:57
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Seek riches!
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Apr 18, 2013 20:32
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Plunder Vilverin. Btw. if you finish Oblivion, maybe you could LP the wonderful Nehrim mod in similar fashion. Norsu fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Apr 18, 2013 |
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Apr 18, 2013 20:55
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Dungeon crawl in Vilverin, you jive-talking motherfucker.
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Apr 18, 2013 21:45
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I distinctly remember everyone gushing about how pretty and shiny the game looked when it came out back in 2006, it was certainly quite advanced for its time. I never got particularly far, but I remember having a grand old time beating the poo poo out of goblins and making them collapse and ragdoll against level geometry. Somehow, the game did such an excellent job at making the ugly, big-eared sonsofbitches look and act like they really deserved it. 
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Apr 18, 2013 22:02
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Bust some heads in the degrading Arena
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Apr 18, 2013 22:02
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Go liberate some artifacts from long dead elves in Vilverin.
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Apr 18, 2013 22:05
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Slash and dodge through the Arena for fun and profit!
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Apr 18, 2013 22:34
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Well, that was rather decisive. Seems we'll be dipping our toes into the Arena before diving headfirst into Vilverin.Mordaedil posted:Just a bit of a minor request here, I noticed you sometimes used a night-time image of your characters avatar, but I'd really prefer it if you stuck with an indoors one that was pretty visible and obvious who it is talking. I'll try to keep things better-lit, but I don't think anyone was really in danger of mistaking Sterv's floating head for Edgar Vautrine's floating head. 
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Apr 18, 2013 22:40
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Lizard Wizard posted:I'll try to keep things better-lit, but I don't think anyone was really in danger of mistaking Sterv's floating head for Edgar Vautrine's floating head.
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Apr 18, 2013 22:46
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Vilverin is a pretty cool place. And perhaps you could become a professional burglar.
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Apr 18, 2013 23:29
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I'd say Vilvern is the place to be before getting into some full time burglary.
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Apr 19, 2013 00:01
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People in this thread posted:votes even though voting is over. I don't remember Vilverin at all, or why it's so great. I do remember being unable to adventure after scaling enemies became too strong to defeat.  VVV I don't remember that being a thing I knew about, somehow. 
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Apr 19, 2013 00:52
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Shieldhill posted:I do remember being unable to adventure after scaling enemies became too strong to defeat. This is why there is a difficulty slider. I bumped it down when the enemies became impossibly unfun, rather than go crosseyed min-maxing at level up.
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Apr 19, 2013 01:02
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He has a face like a catcher's mitt.
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Apr 19, 2013 01:06
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Oh yeah, LizWiz, will we be seeing skill updates after significant milestones (like levelling up)? I'm always interested in that kind of progress.
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Apr 19, 2013 03:16
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