Elderscrolls IV:O-bleh-vion

[Uncle Yuan]

I picked this game up a few weeks ago, largely on the strength of it's reviews.  Which were almost universally phenominal.  And despite loving FPS games like Bioshock, Half Life 2 and Fallout 3, I just can NOT get into this game.  Combat is a bore and seems very difficult to master (the targeting system is crap).  The level progression seems confusing and ineffectual.  And random bandits on the roads . . . AUGH.  Pointless, frustrating,  impossible to anticipate joy killers.  When outside there is so much visual noise with all the tall grass and flowers I can't even see my opponents, much less target them . . .

Sigh.

Am I missing something?  Bad character design?  Playing the game wrong?

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Well, first of all, it's not a FPS game, even if the POV reminds one of one, it's an RPG.  The ability to hit or miss comes directly from you skills in the given weapon, not on how well you can target the monsters in the game, and, while I haven't play this particular one, I imagine that means you'd miss quite often with a new character even if using a weapon he already has some skill in.

That being said, a lot of people absolutely hate this game, so you're hardly alone.  One of the main reasons for that hatred is it falling more into a FPS look and less into in depth role playing.  I remember the second one, where you could spent days in real time just wandering outside, peaking into random dungeons and stuff with you completely custom built character.  Still, never appealed to me that much.

[lugaru]

I was very impressed but I never finished it... the poor balance threw me off a lot. Still every time I look back I'm like "wow, that game had a lot of cool stuff" but it just cant hold my attention. Love fallout 3 though.

[Mr. Hamrick]

I'm at the other end of the spectrum.  I love the game.  It is one of the few games I miss on the Xbox 360. 

As was already said here, it's a RPG not a FPS.  With that in mind, the amount of quests in the game and the variety in which you can complete many of them based on the manner you play the game and weapons you use primarily use make for a lot of different experiences. 

There are some issues with the game for sure but the overall experience of the game is one that I loved.  I thought it was a definite improve in a lot of ways over it's predecessor Morrowwind. 

I just wish for an Elder Scrolls V

[BWPS]

So incredibly boring to me. The funnest part was the arena. I admit shielding and sword fighting was decent but there was no incentive for me to play through the story or level up and I got bored. I need a good plot and story or at least promise of great power to keep me going. I guess I'm more of a Final Fantasy type.

[tommyboy]

I always play as a guy-with-sword melee type character, in 3rd person view, so I can't speak of the accuracy or lack thereof of ranged stuff.
Your best bet is to stick somewhere "safe" like the imperial city and build up your character a bit fighting weak enemies and doing minor quests. Buy half decent armour and weapons, do a lot of runnning, jumping and swimmimg to build your skills up.
Be cautious and aware of what's ahead, don't go charging into unknown situations, try to see how many enemies there are, and if you can, start picking them off one at a time. In fact, when new to the game try to never fight more than one foe at a time.
Stock up on health potions and/or regen spells.
Most of all, if in doubt about whether you can win a fight, run away! Come back leveled up a few times and get sweet revenge if you must.

If you are still not liking it, start again with a different "build". Go different places. Don't worry about the main quest, use the random stuff to build your character up a bit.

Lastly, not everyone loves every game. Nothing wrong with that. If it isn't fun for you, play something which is.

[Reepicheep]

I think the mods made it what it is for me. I fell in love with it after I played one called Malevolent - a mini-campaign that takes place after the main one. Really worth doing! Look out for deadly reflexes too... I couldn't play the game without it!

But I got very, very bored of it. I'm looking forward to TES:V very muchly.

[Uncle Yuan]

I always play as a guy-with-sword melee type character, in 3rd person view, so I can't speak of the accuracy or lack thereof of ranged stuff.
Your best bet is to stick somewhere "safe" like the imperial city and build up your character a bit fighting weak enemies and doing minor quests. Buy half decent armour and weapons, do a lot of runnning, jumping and swimmimg to build your skills up.
Be cautious and aware of what's ahead, don't go charging into unknown situations, try to see how many enemies there are, and if you can, start picking them off one at a time. In fact, when new to the game try to never fight more than one foe at a time.
Stock up on health potions and/or regen spells.
Most of all, if in doubt about whether you can win a fight, run away! Come back leveled up a few times and get sweet revenge if you must.

If you are still not liking it, start again with a different "build". Go different places. Don't worry about the main quest, use the random stuff to build your character up a bit.

Lastly, not everyone loves every game. Nothing wrong with that. If it isn't fun for you, play something which is.

See, that just seems "grindy" to me - BS encounters just to level up so you can play the game effectively.  And that's an essential frustration.  My level 3 Agent is not competent enough to handle the creatures he's facing effectively.  I generally like sneaky-shoot-them-in-the-head characters, and this one blows.

Although I'm getting enough of an idea of what I need in order to do better with this character type.  I really ought to add Alchemy to my core skills, and maybe swap Illusion for another school.  Right now I have only two illusion spells - a light spell and a weak charm spell.  The light spell is useless as I have that cat creature who can see in the dark, and the charm spell is awefully weak.  My I should take a detour to the Illusion centered guild and expand my spells.

[steamteck]

I'm in the love it camp. I find  3rd person melee quite tactical and fun. I love at the higer levels when you can send your for flying back. The quests are nice and fun  with interesting characters. I've payed wizards, ninjas and swordsman.
By far the best thing about the game is the fan made mods. You can add new quests, change almost every aspect of gameplay including the idle and attack animations, damage , hit points you name it. The game can really be customized very personally. The game I play is very different than the one my wife plays or my son etc.

Its a great sandbox world to explore also. I've played with dozens of characters but only done the main quest once. In fact I'm playing now with a mod that removes the main quest. The other quests and exploring are what I like.

[Uncle Yuan]

I'm in the love it camp. I find  3rd person melee quite tactical and fun. I love at the higer levels when you can send your for flying back. The quests are nice and fun  with interesting characters. I've payed wizards, ninjas and swordsman.
By far the best thing about the game is the fan made mods. You can add new quests, change almost every aspect of gameplay including the idle and attack animations, damage , hit points you name it. The game can really be customized very personally. The game I play is very different than the one my wife plays or my son etc.

Its a great sandbox world to explore also. I've played with dozens of characters but only done the main quest once. In fact I'm playing now with a mod that removes the main quest. The other quests and exploring are what I like.

I'm generally an explorer and side quester too.  It why I love Fallout 3 so much.  And why I hoped to enjoy this game more.  Like I said, now that I have a few levels under my belt, it may be time to go back and restart.

[lugaru]

My problem with oblivion is that it encouraged you to cheat, it was full of mostly impossible encounters that you could only beat by abusing the bad A.I. or by creating unfair spell and weapon combinations, such as a spell that strips a foes poison immunity and then shooting them with poison arrows. If the combat was more balanced (a la fallout 3) I would have played the game to death. You see I love making non combat characters (detectives... people who solve mysteries and complete quests but dont kill that much) and oblivion had a lot of great quests for a character like that but that character needed to become a major damage dealer if he was to progress in the story at all.

[TheMarvell]

I've been debating trying this game out for a while now. From what I've heard from both camps, it sounds like what an MMO would be without the actual multiplayer online aspect. Now, I have fun playing World of Warcraft, but when I'm playing by myself it gets boring pretty quickly. Also, when I'm playing a single player game, I like to have an engrossing story. It doesn't have to be great, or even movie quality, but just enough presentation to keep me interested. And from what I've heard, that's not Oblivion. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I have yet to play Fallout 3, but between the two, Fallout's definitely the one that looks way more fun. I really want to play it, but I'm going to wait for the Game of the Year edition in October (it comes with all the updates and expansions).

[Uncle Yuan]

I've been debating trying this game out for a while now. From what I've heard from both camps, it sounds like what an MMO would be without the actual multiplayer online aspect. Now, I have fun playing World of Warcraft, but when I'm playing by myself it gets boring pretty quickly. Also, when I'm playing a single player game, I like to have an engrossing story. It doesn't have to be great, or even movie quality, but just enough presentation to keep me interested. And from what I've heard, that's not Oblivion. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I have yet to play Fallout 3, but between the two, Fallout's definitely the one that looks way more fun. I really want to play it, but I'm going to wait for the Game of the Year edition in October (it comes with all the updates and expansions).

Well I'm still on the fence about Oblivion, although I do tend to agree with Lugaru.  My sneaky sniper (fav character type) just doesn't seem to be cutting it and it does all seem to come back to the damnage. 

I will heartily endorse Fallout3, though!

[Marmeille]

I really like Oblivion now, a few months ago when I first tried it, I would have agreed with the bleh (hehe), the game seemed way too grindy and the melee fight way too hard to me, but the beauty of the landscapes and the vast open world to explore made me want to give it another try. Now that I understand more about all the different game mechanics, I have to say that I'm having a lot of fun.

I play a sneaky sniper/thief kahjiit (cat people) and it's quite effective with the right equipment, good alchemy skill and usefull spells of different magic schools. The trick I think in this game is to not stick to your major (class) skills and use whatever you want, like my thief has higher conjuration and illusion skill then most of the major thief skills.

[electro]

Another thing to take into account Uncle is this game came out around the time of the Xbox 360 launch meaning it's rounding about 4 years old now - Imagine breaking in your fresh Next Gen' console back then with this game - It was breath taking - I still fire it up every now & then to build up my treasure horde

[steamteck]

I've been debating trying this game out for a while now. From what I've heard from both camps, it sounds like what an MMO would be without the actual multiplayer online aspect. Now, I have fun playing World of Warcraft, but when I'm playing by myself it gets boring pretty quickly. Also, when I'm playing a single player game, I like to have an engrossing story. It doesn't have to be great, or even movie quality, but just enough presentation to keep me interested. And from what I've heard, that's not Oblivion. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I have yet to play Fallout 3, but between the two, Fallout's definitely the one that looks way more fun. I really want to play it, but I'm going to wait for the Game of the Year edition in October (it comes with all the updates and expansions).

Well I'm still on the fence about Oblivion, although I do tend to agree with Lugaru.  My sneaky sniper (fav character type) just doesn't seem to be cutting it and it does all seem to come back to the damnage. 

I will heartily endorse Fallout3, though!

If you're on PC download one of the bow damage improvement mods and "advanced sneaking " mods. Maybe try " attack and hide also" which lets you manage to flee out of their sight and thy have to search  for you again. I love my stealth characters in oblivion.

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

I got Oblivion a good while ago, and its a game I dip into every now and then, between games if you will.  I've created quite a few characters and can give the following advice:

- DON'T use one of the preset character classes, create your own
- If you want to be a sneaky character, the Detect Life spell is essential (Alteration school is it? I forget).  Its like having your own radar and gives you a great edge when getting the drop on enemies for that sneak attack damage boonus.
- Make sure that some of the skills you use regularly are minor rather than major ones (e.g. fitness and acrobatics).  They'll improve with use anyway and prevent you levelling up too quickly.
- Join a guild, and I ESPECIALLY recommend the Assassin's Guild.  The missions for this guild are some of the best fun I've had in the game.  They're well thought out and quite varied compared to the rest of the campaign.
- If you have the Game of the Year Edition, go to the Shimmering Isles.  This is lots and lots of fun!

I've not played in a while but I've not given up on this game either by any means; one day I'll finish it with one of my characters.

[Reepicheep]

- If you have the Game of the Year Edition, go to the Shimmering Isles.  This is lots and lots of fun!

"Cheese for everyone! Or maybe no cheese... no cheese can be a party if you don't like cheese!"

[Uncle Yuan]

Thanks for the advice, TPE.  You confirm a bit of what I've been contemplating.  Can you join more than one guild?

[electro]

Yep you can join them all

[Courtnall6]

I picked this game a up because of the insane amount of mods out there for it (found out about it through Fallout 3). I made a female Imperial Thief/Assassin. She's currently in 3 guilds at the moment (Thieves, Assassin, and Fighters).

I barely played any of the game for the first 2 weeks...I just kept downloading and intalling mods!

[detourne_me]

Is the game like Fallout 3 how you can switch between 1st and 3rd person on the fly?  If so I might check it out.

[Uncle Yuan]

Is the game like Fallout 3 how you can switch between 1st and 3rd person on the fly?  If so I might check it out.

Yep.  It has some very similar game elements, too.  For example, your gear degrades with use.

[Verfall]

Biggest problem with Oblivion, that Fallout 3 fixed to some extent, was the monster leveling. Everything leveled with you. So, as long as you never leveled up your character, you could effectively beat the game at level 1 if you used a strong melee class character. It was frustrating to have every bandit once you hit level 22 running around in glass and daedric armor.

At least Fallout 3 went with a system that each area basically kept the level range of mobs that were in that area when you first got there. Added a sense of immersion I guess you could say, though it never stopped the random deathclaw from popping up in those areas either.

The funny thing about Oblivion, I managed on Xbox 360 to become utterly unkillable to everything except life drain on attack spells, and arrows if they could shot me for a long time. Add to the fact whenever an enemy attacked me in melee he received over 100% of that damage in return and my Orc with his giant war hammer was a god. And that was without the ability to cheat or download mods.

[steamteck]

Biggest problem with Oblivion, that Fallout 3 fixed to some extent, was the monster leveling. Everything leveled with you. So, as long as you never leveled up your character, you could effectively beat the game at level 1 if you used a strong melee class character. It was frustrating to have every bandit once you hit level 22 running around in glass and daedric armor.

if you're on PC there are quite a few mods which create a world which doesn't level with you and the creatures/NPCs  have fixed levels and appear on a rarity schedule not related to your level.. There are also loot/equipment mods which set up rarity of different items ignoring your level. That's how I play.

[GhostMachine]

I thought about picking up the Game of the Year edition at Wal-Mart last week, but decided to get the Galactic Adventures expansion for Spore, instead. (Highly recommend it if you don't like the Space stage, as it makes it a LOT more enjoyable)

How customizable is the character in Oblivion? Do you play a pre-existing character, or get to make one like in the previous Elder Scrolls games? (And for the record, I loved Daggerfall but didn't care much for Morrowind, for some reason (never played Arena). I even downloaded several mods for Morrowind, and that still didn't help.)

[Uncle Yuan]

I thought about picking up the Game of the Year edition at Wal-Mart last week, but decided to get the Galactic Adventures expansion for Spore, instead. (Highly recommend it if you don't like the Space stage, as it makes it a LOT more enjoyable)

How customizable is the character in Oblivion? Do you play a pre-existing character, or get to make one like in the previous Elder Scrolls games? (And for the record, I loved Daggerfall but didn't care much for Morrowind, for some reason (never played Arena). I even downloaded several mods for Morrowind, and that still didn't help.)

It's completely customizable.  For all characters you choose your race, gender and star sign - all of which determine your basic attributes.  Then you choose your class, of which there are 21 or so.  Your class determines which skills you specialize in and thus improve more quickly.  But, you can create a custom class where you choose your core skills.  Then, game play plays a big part, too, as you can (somewhat) control which skills you use during the game, which in turn improves your skills which causes level advancement.

[Kholdstare89]

How customizable is the character in Oblivion? Do you play a pre-existing character, or get to make one like in the previous Elder Scrolls games? (And for the record, I loved Daggerfall but didn't care much for Morrowind, for some reason (never played Arena). I even downloaded several mods for Morrowind, and that still didn't help.)

You'll probably enjoy the fact that Bethesda is offering Daggerfall for free on their site now. 

As for Oblivion, I rented it for the 360 once a few summers ago.  I loved it so much that I purchased the GOTY version of Morrowind, as my computer could handle it much better than it could Oblivion.  I now love it far more than I did Oblivion.  The mod community for the game is still going strong after so many years, and those with powerful computers can make it look beautiful with the proper mods.

[GogglesPizanno]

The mod community for the game is still going strong after so many years, and those with powerful computers can make it look beautiful with the proper mods.

It seems interesting to me that lots of games that uses the Netimmerse engine (like FF) seems to have a huge long lasting mod community (FF, Morrowind, Civ 4...)

[daerdevil]

[
You'll probably enjoy the fact that Bethesda is offering Daggerfall for free on their site now. 

Sweet, Daggerfall!  I can't find my original game disc, and have been jonesin' to play it for awhile.  I'll have to D/L when I get a chance.