The Oblivion Thread

[yin26]

or you just design the game so that you encounter harder monsters as you progress in quests. I know it's more challenging in such an open-ended game such as this. But the designers chose the easy way out and just did the level scaling.

I wouldn't call it the easy way out ... just the best way out. As it stands now, you could reach level 50 before ever starting the main quest. If all subsequent quests are hard-coded for difficulty, then the game is over. EDIT: This is very different from more scripted games, like Baldur's Gate, where you literally run out of experience opportunities before the next chapter forces the story on you.

In essence, then, Oblivion is designed for the player who WILL take time mixing potions, going hunting to sell pelts, looking for pearls to sell, etc., without telling them that by virtue of gaining all this experience critical parts of the game will now be too easy. Conversely, for the player seeking to rip through the quests and not pay attention to training before levelling (this is very expensive, after all), etc., the game might feel a bit out of whack. This is when the difficulty slider comes in.

I'm not saying either direction is "right," but I'm saying that I'm really happy to have a game that encourages me to slow down, enjoy the process, and not be in such a hurry to kill yet another boss monster before dinner. In any event, we all KNOW there will be mods to fix the game anyway people like. Solver's link goes to a guy who has already pulled the numbers on this stuff, so it's got to be a rather easy thing to manipulate.

[Solver]

I wouldn't call it the easy way out ... just the best way out. As it stands now, you could reach level 50 before ever starting the main quest. If all subsequent quests are hard-coded for difficulty, then the game is over.

Yeah he Morrowind Main Quest was like that, if you made too big abreak it became a cakewalk. I remmeber the disappointment my first time, when I was level 22 for the last part, and it seemed just incredibly esy.

[Nostromo]

I envy you guys. Would the game look good on the following system? Keep in mind that since I have a LCD panel, I have to run the game @ 1280x1024.

AMD 64 3000+
1 GB Ram
GeForce 6800 Ultra (They're fairly cheap. Is it me, or do the GeForce's drop in price a lot faster than Radeon's?)

[Dis]

the more I think about it, the more an argument can be made both ways. And the previous link does clear up some things.

As I do think "monsters" should remain static. A rat is a rat, and should never get any tougher. But I do agree humanoid NPC's should increase in power along with you. Assuming they are training and adventuring, then it's reasonable to think they would increase their skills as well. though a shopkeeper who does nothing but sit around his shop all day should not get any tougher.

[Solver]

Nostromo, it'll look just fine, the GF 6800 Ultra is a good card . At least it certainly will look better than what I have .

And Dis, again, a rat remains a rat and never gets any tougher. That's how it works. The difference is, at level 1 you'll find 10 rats in a dungeon. At level 6, you'll find 5 rats there and, say, 5 goblins.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Solver
Nostromo, it'll look just fine, the GF 6800 Ultra is a good card . At least it certainly will look better than what I have .

And Dis, again, a rat remains a rat and never gets any tougher. That's how it works. The difference is, at level 1 you'll find 10 rats in a dungeon. At level 6, you'll find 5 rats there and, say, 5 goblins.

. I'm okay with that. speaking of, why am I posting here. I need to shower and go out and get this game. I'm still debating whether to pick up some ram too.

[Solver]

The funny part is, people are complaining, but Morrowind did the same thing with levelled monsters. Which ones you'd encounter depended on your level. The only difference is, in Morrowind you could become very powerful very past, so you just ceased to particularly notice who's appearing as you could kill any monster with equal ease.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Solver
The funny part is, people are complaining, but Morrowind did the same thing with levelled monsters. Which ones you'd encounter depended on your level. The only difference is, in Morrowind you could become very powerful very past, so you just ceased to particularly notice who's appearing as you could kill any monster with equal ease.

Exactly. Which is why I think that all this talk that it isn't about the difficulty is hogwash. Morrowind was easy, so who cared? Oblivion is hard, so it becomes a massive problem.

Yeah, Morrowind had Umbra, but Oblivion has its few high fixed level characters (the aforementioned Grey Fox) as well.

Bethesda has unstood that in a non-linear game, where you are supposed to be able to go anywhere, it makes no sense to make some areas much harder than others. That forces you into linearity, which is opposite of the goal of the game.

As Yin said, you could reach level 50 before even thinking about starting the main quest. NO OTHER RPG has this! That is why comparing it to traditional RPGs is doomed to fail, because this is an entirely different type of RPG.

[Asher]

Originally posted by BustaMike
You guys are still ignoring a major point. Having everything levelled to you takes away any fear of running into something that you shouldn't be able to kill.

No, there are still challenging NPCs and there are still challenging zerging of NPCs that have killed me. C'est la vie.

[Asher]

Originally posted by BustaMike
Bingo!

Right now the only point is to get access to new skills, armor, spells, etc. It serves no purpose as far as game progression goes.

That's exactly the point, though -- the more experienced you are, the more skills, abilities, and items you can unlock.

It's refreshing from the typical RPG where new levels magically mean you're able to take out new creatures.

This kind of RPG is different, and the sooner you guys get off your fixation of traditional "you need to be THIS tall to enter this zone" mentality the sooner you'll enjoy the game.

[ZargonX]

No, the problem he is talking about seems to be limited to the 9800 series. I have the Mobility 9800, a friend has the 9800XT and I think vee has the 9800Pro (IIRC).

Yup, that's the one. Did some research and found 2 possible fixes. Will give them a try and let everyone know how they went! Beats walking backwards

[Asher]

I've got an "eVGA 7800GS OC Superclock" on my way to replace my 9800 Pro. Will let you know how it runs Oblivion.

[Spaced Cowboy]

I almost ordered one to replace my 9800 pro today, but read one comment from one customer that it did not like his mobo...my mobo

Also I don't have a problem with level loading. I mean how would one not induce linearity otherwise.

How would you propose to change and not make it more linear?

[asleepathewheel]

installing now...

[BustaMike]

Your skills can't go beyond your primary attribute, so you must be able to increase those before your skills can rise higher.

Just a minor point here, but this is not true anymore. It worked this way in Morrowind, but it doesn't in Oblivion. Either that or my game broke