The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

brentdapmp · 03-23-2006, 09:51 AM

Let's face it a game like this needs it's own thread. So I finally got a chance to play the game last night(about 3 hours). I am not sure how to put this but my initial impressions of the game can be summed up in one word.....amazing. I created my character (which took about an hour

) and the options were a little overwhelming at first but I just took my time and of course he looks nothing like me even though that is what I was going for.

I have never played a RPG before so for anyone who is on the fence about buying this game because they don't like RPG's or have never played one before let me just say this game is not hype it delivers in every way possible and you need to go TODAY and pick this game up. You start out in jail and are approached by the Emperor then you head out into some tunnels that lead out of the prision. After you make your way through the tunnels you get outside and just let me say after you make it outside the visuals of the landscape are stunning. This is the most life like world ever created. The combat system makes you think you are playing an action game not a RPG which is a big thing with me.

I spent most of the time just wondering around and picking up different plants and flowers to mix into different potions. I have also tried to become better at my bow and arrow, but to no avail. Do you just have to use it a lot to make your hits with it stronger? Marksman is not one of my major 7 skills so I think that may be why I am not very good with it. I try to shoot an enemy with it just to have them attack me. I usually have to hit them 6-8 times to kill them and by that time they have kicked my ass. Anyone know a good way to make the arrows more effective? To say that I have not even scratched the surface of this game is an understatement. The 3 hours I spent with the game seemed like 30 min. I mean when playing this game time literally flies by. I am really looking forward to what else this game has in store for me. This game is a MUST BUY. And if anyone else wants to give their impressions that would be great.

I have one more question for those with the game. I don't see how to get in any guild. I want to be in the fighters guild but can't find it. Everyone I talk to say they are looking for new members and I can earn money there but I just can't find it. So if anyone knows where I can get in at I would greatly appreciate it.

I also wanted to know what type of character everyone is playing with. Here is mine:

Race: Nord
Birthsign: Warrior
Class: Killer (custom)
Specialty: Combat
Major skills: block, armorer, heavy armor, blunt, blade, atheletics, speechcraft

I am almost wondering if I made my character too much of a combat warrior. Also has anyone made the mistake of trying to kill someone in town? I went to town and into a house that had lots of stuff that I wanted so I just figured I would kill the owner of the house and take his stuff and make the home mine. Well I got a couple of shots off before this guy runs off and I go after him. Well I am met downstairs by a guard who then proceeds to kick my ass with help from the homeowner. Killing innocent people has proven to be a difficult task so far.

lost_elephant · 03-23-2006, 09:56 AM

I haven't played this game yet, but if its like the other ES games, bow and arrow will suck. First off, try to travel to some of the big cities and then just steal some better equiptment. Then when you are fighting, be sure to be in an open area and just keep running backwards all the while shooting your foe. Not having marksmanship as one of the your main skills is going to hurt because it won't level up as quickly.

Also, a quick way to level up your athletics and acrobatics is to always jump when you're walking. It may seem dumb, but you'll get a 100 in acrobatics before you reach level 12.

lost_elephant · 03-23-2006, 09:58 AM

Also, I don't know if they exist in this game, but if you can, join the legion.

**Castor27** · 03-23-2006, 10:36 AM

Is anyone playing this for PC? I am considering getting this is I can find time to pull myself away from WoW. I've never played any of the other ES games (not sure why becasue they seem like my bag) but this one has really intrigued me with its hype.

Svpernaut · 03-23-2006, 10:39 AM

I'll be picking this game up in the next day or so with the game stop "trade 2 get 1" promotion. My co-worker has it and I've been by his place to check it out and it is freaking amazing. If you haven't headed over to gamespot.com and are thinking about this game they have 12 hours of gameplay video that is simply amazing.

Raven Lunatic · 03-23-2006, 10:46 AM

Which system(s) will this game be for?

Oski2005 · 03-23-2006, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Castor27

Is anyone playing this for PC? I am considering getting this is I can find time to pull myself away from WoW. I've never played any of the other ES games (not sure why becasue they seem like my bag) but this one has really intrigued me with its hype.

Oh man, this game is definately for you.

I joined the fighters guild, it's nearby in the city of Chorrol, which is next to the first place you are supposed to go after escaping the dungeon. Just use your fast travel and look around the city I think on the northern side of town.

Oski2005 · 03-23-2006, 10:58 AM

I think I'm gonna start over. I just realized how small my character's head is for his body and his skin is blue.

SamFisher · 03-23-2006, 11:02 AM

Does it require endless reading of text in order to understand the storyline? Not being a big RPG fan, I tried it the xbox morrowind, and combining that with the clunky combat it just bored me to tears to the point where I lost interest after about a week.

Anybody know what Bioware is doing for 360? The only RPG's I really liked were the KOTOR games.

Ottomaton · 03-23-2006, 11:14 AM

The game looks better than [insert favorite young sex symbol]'s @ss and is more addictive than heroin.

I am playing as a Redguard battlemage born under the sign of the thief.

That's all the time I have for BBS. Must return to nonstop Oblivion.

TheTruth · 03-23-2006, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamFisher

Does it require endless reading of text in order to understand the storyline? Not being a big RPG fan, I tried it the xbox morrowind, and combining that with the clunky combat it just bored me to tears to the point where I lost interest after about a week.

Anybody know what Bioware is doing for 360? The only RPG's I really liked were the KOTOR games.

Theres hardly any required reading, all the NPC's speak all of their words kind of like in KOTOR, theres supposedly around 50 hours of recording dialogue in the game.

Anyways I've also been playing this game and been somewhat waiting for it to release for the past 2 years, its crazy seeing the hype as I've been following it since hardly anyone had heard about it. Ive also had to upgrade my video card to play it on max settings. Im only about an hour and a half into the game...

SamFisher · 03-23-2006, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ottomaton

The game looks better than [insert favorite young sex symbol]'s @ss and is more addictive than heroin.

I am playing as a Redguard battlemage born under the sign of the thief.

That's all the time I have for BBS. Must return to nonstop Oblivion.

Yeah, there hasn't been all that much Morrowind buzz out there simply because I figured most of the Morrowind-heads were so deeply immersed in the game that nobody woudl come up for air....which is a good thing except for the discarding your real life part.....

tinman · 03-23-2006, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamFisher

Does it require endless reading of text in order to understand the storyline? Not being a big RPG fan, I tried it the xbox morrowind, and combining that with the clunky combat it just bored me to tears to the point where I lost interest after about a week.

Anybody know what Bioware is doing for 360? The only RPG's I really liked were the KOTOR games.

im so tempted in picking up this game and burnout.

the only rpgs i like are like XMEN Legends.

Svpernaut · 03-23-2006, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raven Lunatic

Which system(s) will this game be for?

Currently on the XBox 360 and PC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Castor27

Is anyone playing this for PC? I am considering getting this is I can find time to pull myself away from WoW. I've never played any of the other ES games (not sure why becasue they seem like my bag) but this one has really intrigued me with its hype.

I hear ya... I have Fight Night and Burnout sitting on my desk at home from GameFly that I haven't touched in over a week... freaking World of Warcraft.

brentdapmp · 03-23-2006, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinman

im so tempted in picking up this game and burnout.

the only rpgs i like are like XMEN Legends.

Well tinman I never played XMEN legends but I always hated RPG's. But this game is different it seems like an action-RPG. It is simply amazing do not think about getting this game go out now and do it!!

noize · 03-23-2006, 11:40 AM

The game is great so far and its only going to get better as I get more familiar with it. I do have some minor complaints as far as the 360 version is concern.

1. Loading time between towns and such is horrendous, almost up to a minute to load the larger towns/dungoen.

2. Too much data streamming while exploring the world. Like every 3-5 seconds a message pops up letting you know the "data is loading" and gives you a slight stutter/hiccup each time. It can get on your nerves if you're traveling/exploring for a long period of time.

3. Maybe its just me, but everytime I go near a chess/drawer to open for items...sometimes I can't open them b/c I'm not standing in the correct position. Cheez, sometimes I would waste 3-5 seconds trying to stand in the right way to get the message "open chess" to pop up. Is there a more convieneint ways to retrieve items from the environment?

4. Laws are too strict. I was put in jail so many times that I decided not to steal(play as Warrior) anymore unless I could fight them guards off where my character is weak at the moment. Usually I would try to steal stuff at night when no one is around and when I tried to flee from town, boom...a guard is right on my grill or is chasing after me from behind. Oh c'mon...I've never seen these guards within 100ft from me and all of a sudden they're right there.

Now onto the good stuff. This game is probally the most beautifull graphically on the 360, especially if you love the fantasy/dark setting. The world you explore is soo freakin huge that it will take you months to see and explore everything and I love just wondering around doing stuff like hunting and checking out different dungeon for rare items.

This game is also the deepest action RPG that I've played so far. If you love stats and customization then you will love this game. You have total control to build your character exactly the way you want and have a wide variety of class to choos from.

All in all its an awesome game that will take you 200+ hours to complete everything, which means you will always have this game to play even if you finish all of your other games. I can't think of any other game that has as much replay values as Oblvion. Even after you beat it, you still have the option to start a new one with a diffrent class which plays diffently and will changes your overall stratagy. The best thing about this game for me, is that I don't have to advance the main objective right away, and that I'm free to do what ever I want at anytime including trying out the different side quest in which there're a ton of them and learning new things and there're a lot to learn. This is a good way to level up and gain new abilities before I decide to journy onto the main quest.

Svpernaut · 03-23-2006, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noize

The game is great so far and its only going to get better as I get more familiar with it. I do have some minor complaints as far as the 360 version is concern.

1. Loading time between towns and such is horrendous, almost up to a minute to load the larger towns/dungoen.

2. Too much data streamming while exploring the world. Like every 3-5 seconds a message pops up letting you know the "data is loading" and gives you a slight stutter/hiccup each time. It can get on your nerves if you're traveling/exploring for a long period of time.

These are problems that Bethesda are aware of, and is apparently a bug in the code where it doesnt' clear the Cache. Check out their official forums for work-arounds until they can get a patch pushed down.

Quote:

Oblivion uses the Xbox 360 hard drive extensively to cache (copy and reuse) game data. This is done to optimize all loading the game does. It has been found in rare cases on some Xbox 360s that the cached data can get overly fragmented. This exhibits itself by the game taking a long time to load anything from menus, dialogue, sounds, objects, levels, and more.

To solve this problem, reset your Xbox, and hold down the A button as the game is booting up. If any button is held while Oblivion is loading, it will clear its hard drive cache, and create a new one. Once you see the “Bethesda Softworks” logo video, the game is already loaded, and the cache should have been cleared.

Note, this does not effect your game in any way other than loading. You will not lose any saved data.

http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/i...owtopic=273721

Svpernaut · 03-23-2006, 11:58 AM

Also, I forgot to mention that clearing the cache works for around 5-6 hours of gameplay depending on how fast you move along, so it really isn't that big of a deal.

noize · 03-23-2006, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Svpernaut

Also, I forgot to mention that clearing the cache works for around 5-6 hours of gameplay depending on how fast you move along, so it really isn't that big of a deal.

Yea, I've tried that and unfortunately there's very little difference...but thanx anyway.

brentdapmp · 03-23-2006, 12:09 PM

Quote:

4. Laws are too strict. I was put in jail so many times that I decided not to steal(play as Warrior) anymore unless I could fight them guards off where my character is weak at the moment. Usually I would try to steal stuff at night when no one is around and when I tried to flee from town, boom...a guard is right on my grill or is chasing after me from behind. Oh c'mon...I've never seen these guards within 100ft from me and all of a sudden they're right there.

The only time I tried to take someone out him and the guard just kicked my ass. That has made me not want to try and steal from anyone as well because the guards are very strong. I do believe I will sneak up on someone in their sleep tonight and take them out though. I would like some tips on how to get away with crimes too.