Sue

Who's been playing this awesome game? I totally love it. My boyfriend made me make a character out of his likeness, and I liked it so much *I'm* using it now. The graphic details are absolutely amazing, and I love how you can explore around or go on quests and such. I'm even surprised my integrated ati radeon xpress 200 can handle such a game! I'm sure I could do better and find a graphics gard for my pci express slot though. Maybe I'll get myself one for Christmas.

Anyways, for you Oblivion players, how far have you gotten? I'm on a quest called the Hunter's Run right now.

And just for fun, here's a pic of the boyfriend and the character I made. not EXACTLY alike obviously, and the game has more medieval hairstyles than military ones

__________________
Teg yw edrych tuag adref.

Deltona Couple

My mom just bought the game and had me build her a new gaming system so she can play it. I am waiting for X-mas because my mom said she bought me a copy, so I have to wait another MONTH! AHHHHHHHG!...lol. I can't wait!

__________________
"It is not that I have failed, but that I have found 10,000 ways that it DOESN'T work!" --Thomas Edison

hulk

I have it on the 360. I miss out on the cooler community mods, but at least it runs decent! *grin* Firing through my second play-through after many months of hiatus. The official mods are great (for the most part) and there's still far too much to do as it is

__________________
"'There's a tendency among the press to attribute the creation of a game to a single person,' says Warren Spector, creator of Thief and Deus Ex."
-- From an IGN game review.

guthmund

I have it on the 360 as well and I just can't stop playing it.

This weekend I plan on digging into the new Knights of the Nine thing. Yes, I've actually blocked time....for a video game. How exciting is my life, eh? eh?

__________________
No signature. None. Seriously.

bookerV

I haven't played in a while, but it's an awesome game. I have been stuck on GoW for the last couple of weeks. Is KotN out yet?? I plan on picking Oblivion back up when that hits the marketplace.

__________________
"That's why you're the judge and I'm the law-talking guy."

Lionel Hutz

Redjake

I got a good 20 hours or so into my game, when I realized level-scaling was implemented. I hate level-scaling. I don't want to be able to beat the entire game at level 2. Haven't played it since.

__________________
Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

Esoteric

Yeah it's out on the marketplace now, for 800 M$ points I believe. I DL'd it the other day but haven't even played it. I'm stuck playing Gears MP or F.E.A.R campaign, haha.

__________________
From a head full of pressure rests the senses that I clutch
Made a date with Divinity, but she wouldn't let me fuck
I got touched by a hazy shaded, God help me change
Caught a rush on the floor from the life in my veins

hulk

What was the spin Bethesda put on it - It's your game, you should be able to play it however you want. Not having a set structure is what makes the game so appealing to replay - you're not stuck doing shitty quests at the low levels.

__________________
"'There's a tendency among the press to attribute the creation of a game to a single person,' says Warren Spector, creator of Thief and Deus Ex."
-- From an IGN game review.

Lasereth

Yeah but one of the most appealing aspects of Morrowind was getting your ass handed to you in a dungeon or something and then going back a few levels later and barely managing to take down the boss by yourself. In Oblivion, there will never be a "hard part" because the difficulty is set regardless of how long you play. Some people might not be bothered by it, but it really grated my nerves, enough to make me not play it.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

hulk

You can alter the game difficulty at any time you like. You want your arse handed to you, set it up a few notches. Plenty of 'hard parts' at the default setting, too. Besides, if you enjoy the grind, there's plenty of other (read; every other) RPG to play

__________________
"'There's a tendency among the press to attribute the creation of a game to a single person,' says Warren Spector, creator of Thief and Deus Ex."
-- From an IGN game review.

bookerV

Ah nice. If I can tear myself away from GoW then I will give it a run. I've already beaten FEAR campaign, but I want to do the instant action stuff too. Too many good games all at once!!

I really do need to get back to Oblivion though, I haven't even beaten the MQ yet...

__________________
"That's why you're the judge and I'm the law-talking guy."

Lionel Hutz

Esoteric

Same, but Gears/F.E.A.R keep taunting me to play them instead.

__________________
From a head full of pressure rests the senses that I clutch
Made a date with Divinity, but she wouldn't let me fuck
I got touched by a hazy shaded, God help me change
Caught a rush on the floor from the life in my veins

Redjake

Not to take this off topic, but didn't there used to be a MASSIVE Oblivion thread on TFP? It was called "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion DETAILS INSIDE" or "PICS INSIDE" or something wasn't it? I can't find it on the search function, but I'm relatively certain there used to be one.

__________________
Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

Plaid13

There are tons of mods you can get to stop the scaled levels. can find lots of info about them on the oblivion forums. My only problem with the game is they didnt deliver the fancy AI they promised and advertised.

Stompy

This game has officially pissed me off.

It's way too impossible. I can't even bother with the main quest because apparently mobs level up as you do, and they never get any easier. 5 or 6 hits and I'm pretty much dead. I selected a dark elf thief.

It's ridiculous. Right now, I'm on some quest where this guy is stealing bodies and you follow him into the family morgue. Just two enemies, and they utterly thrash me. I have absolutely zero chance, what, with a thief wearing light armor and equipped with nothing but a bow.

I haven't even closed the first Oblivion gate because... enemies thrash me.

I read up on this because I thought I was missing something or doing something wrong, and I am: I'm not rigging the leveling system. Apparently the only way to win in this game is to either create a custom class so you maximize the +5 attributes to your desired stats on leveling, or just flat out don't level at all. That's no fun. Just kinda defeats the entire purpose of the game.

I just wanted to play the game normally without doing some stupid mumbo jumbo, and I guess that's not possible. Way too frustrated at this point.

I just don't see how this is playable, and it's a shame because even though I'm really loving this game, I won't be able to beat it unless I follow someone else's pre-defined "power leveling" or "non-leveling" method of tricking the system, which isn't natural or intended.

For example, all the stuff explained here. I mean really, that's absurd. All that stuff is too complicated. Like I said, I just wanna play the game, not have to worry about "overleveling" (which defeats the purpose of leveling if I'm not getting stronger)

BTW, playing it on the 360 so mods are moot.

__________________
I love lamp.

Lokus

You can go into the options and lower the difficulty setting. It sounds like your character isn't the best for fighting, without mods sneak attack doesn't get very impressive. Anyway, lowering the difficulty will let you kill guys without having to min/max your character.

__________________
The black wind howls...

Stompy

Yeah, that I knew, but to me seems very cheap. I mean, if you can't even beat it on normal, something is wrong. Could it be the way I'm playing? Perhaps, but then again, their motto is, "Play how you want, form whatever character you want." Guess not.

I dunno, when I play a game or build stats, I wanna feel like I'm progressing, not stagnating. The way they have it all set up is totally counter productive for a game in general, especially in an RPG! It just took me aback because all I did was a start a new game and pick a thief because it sounded fun. I mean, they built that class in as a default selection and it doesn't work right!

Games of these nature ("build your char however you want") generally have a somewhat advanced rock-paper-scissors base to them to balance things out so there is no wrong choice. For example, World of Warcraft or Diablo 2 where I don't think it's really possible to screw up character development to where you reach a point that you can't progress. No matter how you build your character, it always turns out okay. Are there better, more "uber" builds? Sure, but it should be set up that no matter what you pick, you can still at least play through the base game. If I pick sneaking and marksmanship, I won't be built for close combat, but I should sure as hell be able to take you down with a nice precise hit.

I counted, and it takes exactly 45 arrows to kill a zombie that can take me down in about 6 or 7 hits (at my current spot with Marksmanship of 50, lv 10). That's crazy! There's a difference between challenging, and, "Okay, this is ridiculous." I did end up turning the difficulty down, but now the game just feels too different. Almost ruined in a way.

Initially when I played, I just played to have fun. Built my guy up based on what I felt was fun (sneaking, stealing crap, shooting things with bows). Now it just turns out I did it all wrong and probably have to start a new game, but instead of focusing on the game itself, I gotta deal with micromanaging my stats. Ick.

"Hey, you're leveling wrong. Your character is now weaker because you leveled, but didn't actually boost the "Right" skills in order. Have fun!"

"Gee, thanks."

I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade or anything by sounding all negative, but I spent all weekend playing this game thinking, "Holy shit this is amazing! Best RPG ever!" and within an hour of me realizing exactly what was going on, I was kinda crushed and that all did a near 180

__________________
I love lamp.

hulk

Seriously, what bow are you using? And get the hell into the options and lower the difficulty You're not cheating. It's not cheating. If you're getting frustrated, there's no reason except for stubborness not to - and then you can hardly blame the game for that.

You level up your skills as you use them. There's no dead ends - if you need something higher, just use it! There isn't a cap or limit on the amount of skills you can raise. With every build I've made I've been able to play without much difficulty - and only one of them was a pure fighter. Now, the other RPGs you mentioned, you don't build your character how you want. You follow set paths, where you choice is between two or three skills at most.

My first character was a thief. With a decent longsword, he was doing quadruple damage and could sneak in plain sight. I've always felt the scaling to be 'right' - there's enemies that have minimum levels, and maximum levels. Rats don't get to level 20. You end up fighting against different forms of enemies, not just harder ones that are the same.

My best guess is your equipment is crap

__________________
"'There's a tendency among the press to attribute the creation of a game to a single person,' says Warren Spector, creator of Thief and Deus Ex."
-- From an IGN game review.

bookerV

This sounds like a gear problem to me. I have never needed to do stat maxing or change the difficulty slider. Right now I'm level 22 (I think, it's been a while since I've played) and I have been tearing through opponents. You just need to find gear (or make it) to help you survive. It pays to enchant your own gear. I'm on the 360 so I haven't had any mods besides some DL'ed content from the marketplace. So my best piece of advice would be to practice skills that will help you survive, and get some better gear.

__________________
"That's why you're the judge and I'm the law-talking guy."

Lionel Hutz

Moskie

I think the mission you're talking about is one of the last I played before I put the game down. (That's just coincidence, I didn't stop playing because of that quest.) And I have a dark elf theif as well.

So if I remember right, the enemies that come at you are zombies, right? They're the undead coming to life since you're defiling their grave, or something. They were tough, took me a couple times. I think I beat them with my bow and using a good amount of Turn Undead. Do you have that spell?

If I'm thinking of the wrong mission, then I can't help, but I'm sure there's a way to get passed it.

__________________
Greetings and salutations.

Stompy

It probably is crappy gear, but I can only use what it gives me.

I have a Steel Bow (4 Attack Power) and Steel Arrows (4 AP)

Just did a quest where it dropped a "magical" blade that only had 3 AP, so I'm assuming the scaling is matching just fine. The spot where the 2 guys thrashed me, I just so happened to have a magic staff with charges that I used to just whip them. Couldn't with my bow, however. I've never seen a weapon above 4 Attack, so I'm assuming either most weapons suck or I Just haven't hit the quests yet that give me the good stuff.

However, the catch is, I can't beat the quests to get the good stuff. Even at lv 3, the very beginning of the game as I was going through and trying to close the Oblivion gate, I was totally overwhelmed.

Aside from that whole bit where I got myself stuck in a rut and can't progress (and the level scaling which I was never a fan of even in FF8 or Ultima), the entire game itself is well made.

Moskie - it was the.. Skingrad (sp?) Mage guild recommendation.

And yeah, the difficulty thing is a bit of a stubborn thing. I'm not a fan of making things easier when faced with difficult situations, but at the same time I suppose it's excusable since I'm in a situation where I just can't progress.

__________________
I love lamp.

Lasereth

My GF had the same problem as you Stompy. She went into an underground cave and had these guys kick her ass into the ground. I made a character that was a barbarian fighter or something and completely wasted them. I believe my GF's character was a magic user or a thief. She said that she couldn't even kill 1 before they killed her, and my guy basically had a WWE match with his 2H mace on them. I think it has to do with your class...I don't get why the other classes would suck so bad though.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

skier

perhaps because a thief is not meant to brawl it out with a bunch of barbarians by him/herself and expect to win?

I haven't played oblivion yet but in morrowind i couldn't kick decent ass with my thief until i had gotten a fair amount of training into my light armour, sneak, and short sword attributes.

__________________
"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim

filtherton

My first character was a thief and most of the battles where it was me against a group of people consisted of me running backwards in a circle while firing arrows. Another thing that worked for me was sneaking close enough to an enemy so that i had line of sight and then(while still sneaking) shooting them with an arrow and getting the sneak multiplier; this can also be a way to draw enemies one-by-one away from a crowd so that you can deal with them individually.

I did die a lot, though.


edit: After putting 120 hours into that game last spring, lately, i am starting to feel like i might be able to play it again.

jamessh1

this thread may convince me to pop this game in after a few months of hiatus. i used the guide because the game is just too big and unlike anything i've ever played to be able to navigate the quests on my own. I went through the magic and thiefs guild and almost all of the fighters guild when i stopped playing. the main quest takes a back seat to the ridiculous amount of side quests available.

anyways, props to the threadstarter for bringing up a game i forgot all about.

shalafi

I may have to pick this game up again too. I never got very far in it because I kept making new characters to try out different things. With the theif I found myself always using the same tactic filtherton mentioned. You have to keep out of the enemies reach and just keep shooting them till they die. Your thief isn't supposed to be able to go toe to toe with things like a fighter.

Redjake

Back when I was playing, I did the "run backwards and fire magic at the opponent" deal, similar to filtherton. I couldn't take the beating of a blunt attack. The gladiator battles made me especially creative.




By the way, if any mods read this, where in the HECK did that old Oblivion thread go???? It was huge.

__________________
Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

shalafi

i think for the gladiator battles with a mage i used summoned creatures to distract them and blasted from a distance

Redjake

they always killed my summoned creatures in one hit.

__________________
Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

filtherton

I was a big fan of the, "jump up on the walls of the arena and fire arrows" strategy. I also favored the 5 x 20% chameleon enchantment.

shalafi

I should have known better than to start playing with this again. The hours disappear so fast.

Buk

They just announced a new full expansion called Shivering Isles, it will be on disc for PC and available as a complete download on Xbox Live this spring:
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.co....php?id=109732

Time to dust off my character.

bookerV

Well looks like I have to get my ass in gear and get back to this game. GoW has kept me thoroughly distracted for far too long. I haven't even played KotN for this yet. I haven't even beaten the MQ yet!!! I have finished a bunch of the sides though. My char is level 23 I think. I really need to get around to this...

__________________
"That's why you're the judge and I'm the law-talking guy."

Lionel Hutz

Nerojb

they did add some downloadable content including one called Knights of the Nine...if you want to they sell it at BB for like 20$ it adds some good content/quests/items etc. Good holdover til the actual expansion comes out.