Oblivion RPG

[Seeker]

I've seen some previews of this new rpg and I know I'm probably going to get it....

My question is, is this going to end up being a kind of 'trophy game' or a playing game?

A trophy game is one that has lots of cool stuff and is really big but you don't actually play it hardly at all because it's too big a complicated...examples Daggerfall, Morrowind, MOO3, Victoria, Operational Art of War...

While a 'player' is one that may have primitive graphics and limited features but you just keep coming back because it contains 'beautiful simplicity', i.e. civ 2, MOO2, EU2, certain half-life mods, panzer general...

will oblivion be a Player or a Trophy to hang on my wall?

[loinburger]

IMO, the playability of Bethesda games has steadily gone up. I made it maybe 1/3 of the way through Arena, 2/3 of the way through Daggerfall, and actually managed to finish Morrowind. I maintain high hopes for Oblivion based on this trend.

[Spiffor]

Cue the obligatory "Post in the Other Games forum so that we can get +1s"

[LDiCesare]

I think it's very likely to be Trophy because it's a sequel to Morrowind, which was a Trophy game. I finished Morrowind but never went through all the side quests or places because they were so damn repeatedly boring (almost no dialogue, and lots of time going from a to b). Bethesda said they wanted more interesting NPCs though, so there is still hope.

[Spiffor]

What Loinburger said

The Bethesdians are making smaller and smaller worlds at each impediment, but these worlds are more tight-knit. In Oblivion, they are trying to make any of the three big paths (magic, combat, stealth) enjoyable at every moment of the game. They are also trying to make interaction with the NPCs much more varied, as regular RPG dialogs should be the standard.

[loinburger]

I was glad that they finally got rid of the stupid random dungeon generator for Morrowind. In Arena the random dungeons weren't so bad, but in Daggerfall the auto-map was so worthless that I wound up turning down almost every quest that would have involved trudging through a random dungeon. My advancement in the Mage's Guild was done almost entirely through "protect this guy while he casts a spell" quests.

[LDiCesare]

In Oblivion, they are trying to make any of the three big paths (magic, combat, stealth) enjoyable at every moment of the game.

But the problem is that these are NOT three different paths. The 3 paths are fight/stealth/talk. You can fight with arms or magic, close combat or at a distance. You can use magic for stealth and talk or use magic for persuasion. There's hardly a game that manages to knit all these together correctly, particularly the enchantment magic (could beef up your appearance, charm person could actually make a guard let you go past him without saying anything, etc.).
In Morrowind, magic was just a variant of combat or the easiest way of doing stealth. It's not inherently different from stealth or combat.

[Verto]

First, I disagree with your statement that Morrowind is a "trophy" game. The main quest is very beatable, and the side quests can be easily ignored. It is a large game, but not too complicated, unless you want it to be.

On to Oblivion: I think the game will follow the precedent of allowing the player to play the game for a month w/o ever having to play the main quest. However, the side quests will be much more varied and interesting.

In short, I think Oblivion will be very playable, very enjoyable, and very immersive.

Oh, and this should be in OG for +!

[Barinthus]

Personally I want a huge omigod it's huge! game as long it's well done of course

I don't mind if I don't get to explore every single aspect - I like the idea of a game world so huge that it's so easy to get lost in.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I actually just finished Morrowind, and didn't find size to be the problem. The problems were:

1) every freakin' quest was a varient on either "go here, get this thing" or "go here, kill this guy." That got very old, very quick.

2) You did not have to use your brain at all to play the game. Part of what makes a game like Planescape: Torment a masterpiece is that you actually have to figure stuff out. In Morrowind, you could follow the game's explicit instructions, or you could ignore them, but you were never challenged to actually think about what you were doing.

3) A boring world. I don't care how huge Morrowind was; but I do care that every NPC seemed exactly the same as every other NPC, and that too few were in any way memorable (Fargoth, Creeper, that batsh*t Telvanni councilor and, of course, Uncle Crassius were some exceptions). In fairness, they went a long way toward correcting this in the Tribunal expansion.

If they don't fix those things, I can't imagine that the game will be worthwhile.

[LDiCesare]

I agree with all that Rufus said. A huge world with always the same unimaginative quests and stereotyped NPCs is not good.

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
I actually just finished Morrowind, and didn't find size to be the problem. The problems were:

1) every freakin' quest was a varient on either "go here, get this thing" or "go here, kill this guy." That got very old, very quick.

2) You did not have to use your brain at all to play the game. Part of what makes a game like Planescape: Torment a masterpiece is that you actually have to figure stuff out. In Morrowind, you could follow the game's explicit instructions, or you could ignore them, but you were never challenged to actually think about what you were doing.

3) A boring world. I don't care how huge Morrowind was; but I do care that every NPC seemed exactly the same as every other NPC, and that too few were in any way memorable (Fargoth, Creeper, that batsh*t Telvanni councilor and, of course, Uncle Crassius were some exceptions). In fairness, they went a long way toward correcting this in the Tribunal expansion.

If they don't fix those things, I can't imagine that the game will be worthwhile.

I liked the theiving cat girl..

JM

[Addled Platypus]

great image Barinthus ROTF LOL



resist the urge to purchase

[Skanky Burns]

Each city in Morrowind had its own personality and style, even if the NPCs that inhabited it were clones. Tribunal (which obviously came after Morrowind) addressed several major problems with the game, so apparently Bethesada are learning.

[Skanky Burns]