The Oblivion Thread

[Solver]

Yeah, just Oblivion does this more. In Morrowind, there were still areas where there'd be creatures far more powerful than you, in Oblivion there seem not to be.

I can't see this as a problem, since after level 10 in Morrowind any creature, whatever level, became easy.

[Asher]

Originally posted by BustaMike
For those of you that like the level scaling, try playing a bard or thief. Level up sneak, security, speechcraft, mercantile, illusion, etc first (non combat stuff). Get to level 10. Congrats, you can no longer kill a monster and the game is unplayable, period.

I'm a L12 thief/assassin and I have no problems...

[BustaMike]

I can't see this as a problem...

Really?

First of all, it makes leveling pointless. You can beat the game at level 1 or level 100 and regardless of what level you are the difficulty will be the same... in theory.

IMO, that's horrible by itself but it actually causes more problems. The game doesn't stay the same when you level, it becomes harder. This would be fine if you were progressing and going on to new things that are supposed to be harder, but that's not how the system works. The same things become harder. Closing the Kvatch gate at level 2 is much easier than closing it at level 30. That's just wrong.

The reason this happens is because when the enemies go up in levels or get replaced by harder enemies, it's always a combat increase. When you level, you don't necessarily get a combat increase. If you level your speechcraft and mercantile you aren't any tougher, but the monsters are. Even if you level combat skills but don't get a new weapon, spell, or armor the monsters do. Every level you get makes the game harder. It's completely counterintuitive to how leveling is supposed to work.

When I gain a level I should be stronger. The point of getting stronger is so that I can take on an enemy that I couldn't before. In Oblivion, this enemy doesn't exist because the enemy is always my level. There is no boss that I need to level up for. That boss is always my level. It's ridiculous.

[BustaMike]

Originally posted by Asher

I'm a L12 thief/assassin and I have no problems...

I assume you're also leveling your blade skills first. If you are diligent about leveling combat skills the game will never give you problems.

[yin26]

Quick question for the vets: I didn't read the manual (yeah!) and only now realize (at level 7) that I can only train 5 points per level. Am I screwed? I'm about 20 hours in, but a lot of that time was just learning the game. Should I start over?

I'm a thief, basically, with decent attention to blade and block, but if missing all those training points is going to stall me, I'll start over. Thanks.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by BustaMike


Really?

First of all, it makes leveling pointless. You can beat the game at level 1 or level 100 and regardless of what level you are the difficulty will be the same... in theory.

IMO, that's horrible by itself but it actually causes more problems. The game doesn't stay the same when you level, it becomes harder. This would be fine if you were progressing and going on to new things that are supposed to be harder, but that's not how the system works. The same things become harder. Closing the Kvatch gate at level 2 is much easier than closing it at level 30. That's just wrong.

The reason this happens is because when the enemies go up in levels or get replaced by harder enemies, it's always a combat increase. When you level, you don't necessarily get a combat increase. If you level your speechcraft and mercantile you aren't any tougher, but the monsters are. Even if you level combat skills but don't get a new weapon, spell, or armor the monsters do. Every level you get makes the game harder. It's completely counterintuitive to how leveling is supposed to work.

When I gain a level I should be stronger. The point of getting stronger is so that I can take on an enemy that I couldn't before. In Oblivion, this enemy doesn't exist because the enemy is always my level. There is no boss that I need to level up for. That boss is always my level. It's ridiculous.

Glad I decided to give it a miss.

[yin26]

Naw, I disagree. That's why I'm likely going back to make sure I get training in other areas each level. That's what it's there for. Consider the other alternative, the one that I find a lot more boring: You ramp up your levels and powers against static and scripted monsters/events so that most of the game (once you get rolling) is just a mindless killing fest that leads up to one rather mindless enounter with a boss. Been there, done that.

Now, I understand why some gamers prefer that method (it's the norm, after all), but I'm enjoying a challenge that keeps pace with my character's growth (or surpasses, if I don't pay attention to training), even if it seems counter-intuitive. For me, it's just more interesting over 150+ hours.

[Kassiopeia]

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree that the difficulty is broken. Have you tried adjusting the difficulty slider? I think it's perfectly justified if the game is becoming by design impossible. There should be balance.

[Asher]

Why shouldn't the game get harder the longer you play it?

Too many gamers play games to be competitive and to complete the game, rather than enjoying it.

[Silver14]

You can't just sit in your hotel room, (or stay in town) and level up your skills and expect to come out ahead. You need to get out and follow the story to some extend and play the game. I messed around with a new character and got him up to level 12 before actually doing anything. And yeah with no gold, no decent armor, weapons, or spells the monsters were too tough. You can't treat this game like Morrowind.

[yin26]

Started over, using a Khajiit so I don't have to carry around those blasted torches anymore. I'm also going to take full advantage of training, which will put a LOT more pressure on getting gold as I level up, which means taking a lot more time maximizing dungeon hauls, mixing and selling potions (after finding ingredients around), working on merchant skills, etc. Thus, by definition, the game will go at a slower pace on activities that many hack and slash gamers might find very dull (I would, too, if the game weren't worth the effort).

But if you want to run through the game quickly, I'd steer clear of thief-type characters who require all this extra coddling early on. But something tells me when I sneak up on a character in darkness, pickpocket him and then get a critical hit for the surprise attack, that I'll enjoy it a lot more than simply chopping away with a sword and shield...as I have a million games before.

[Kassiopeia]

Originally posted by Asher
Why shouldn't the game get harder the longer you play it?

Too many gamers play games to be competitive and to complete the game, rather than enjoying it.

It's not a matter of the game getting harder as such, it's a matter of the game becoming annoyingly difficult because your class happens to get the shaft when it comes to game balance. Like Yin said, thief types need a lot of help early on so that they can manage. But when you are creating a character, you can't really expect your rogue or mage to be helpless compared to a melee class, meaning the game won't really be enjoyable since it's so difficult. There's a fine line between battles being enjoyable - difficult so that they aren't a breeze, but still beatable.

My Morrowind veteran friend had powerleveled (spamming spells when in town etc) himself to level 30 by yesterday, I think I'll have to give him a ring and ask him how things are going.

[bonscott]

I don't understand the complaining about leveling (along with a lot of other complaints). I'm just having a blast and just playing the game. I think too many people like to pick apart things too much and then they don't have fun, which is the whole point of buying the game. But then I digress.

As for the interface. Took me about a half hour to get used to it as it is with any new game and I'm very used to it. Love being able to cast a spell without having to unequip a weapon.

Here are some screen shots. Here are my mid-low range PC specs:
P4 2.8 ghz
1 gig RAM
Radeon 9800 Pro 128 meg
onboard sound

Running the game at 800x600, large textures, no AA or Bloom but a lot of options cranked up.
Using the Complete INI tweak from the Elder Scrolls forum that I linked to earlier. Using his new "OblivionBloomLow.ini" file (without the bloom of course). Game looks fantastic. I really wish I could turn on 2x AA because the jags when talking with people up close kinda drive me nuts but it kills my PC. I'm not going down to 640x480 just to get AA!

My frames outside typically range 25-40. I get some drops down to 15-20 in spots in the great forest but no biggy. Interior I get about the same, depends how detailed the textures are.

So if you think your mid-range PC can't run this game and look great doing it, think again.

[Solver]

Hm. As far as balance goes, I'm now having a bit of trouble with my Atronach mage.

In Oblivion magicka regenerates automatically, but not for the Atronach, of course. Yet, I go into a dungeon and have enough magicka to kill maybe a third of the monsters inside, and after that I have potions for the second third, but for the third third, I'm pretty much stuck.

Maybe Atronach went from the best mage sign to the worst. Auto regenerating magicka sounds easy.

[Kassiopeia]

Oh, I'm thoroughly enjoying the game, but I doubt I would be if dungeon-crawling was made impossible because I can't down a hostile in time... really, instead of posting here, I should be playing!

Btw, I don't really like the outside appearance of Imperial City, it doesn't seem as organic or bustling as a city that size should. It also appears strangely small at a distance - somehow the sense of distance isn't there.

I think I'll want to tweak up my viewing distance but nothing else. With the little CoolBits tweak my fps has gone a bit up further and my 6600GT could probably handle it while maintaining 1240x1024 in res and decent image quality.