Now we descend into Oblivion ... (pt 3)

[snoopy369]

Continued from this thread ...

This thread is for discussing The Elder Scrolls Vol IV: Oblivion.

Please use spoiler tags when discussing quests or hints ([ spoiler ] and [ /spoiler ] without spaces)

Thanks!

[bonscott]

Well I gotta reply to this thread so I get the little dot on the thread icon so I can find it.

Anyway, I'm about level 13 now. I read a thread on the Elder Scrolls forum about how boring and repetative and annoying the various Oblivion gates are and I have to agree. I'm not proceding on with the main quest at this point but the stupid gates pop up in the most annoying areas sometimes.

And it's too hard to complete. I get mauled by half a dozen big bads all at once and die. So I've taken to using a hint found in that thread - the difficulty slider. I never realized you can actually change the difficulty in game, I thought it was just set per game. So when I go into an Oblivion gate I jack the slider down to 20% or so. This allows me to just get through the dang thing in about a half hour vs 3 hours +. Then up the difficulty back to normal after it's done. Some may consider it "cheating" but I find it just getting over one of the few things that is just not fun about the game. I won't do this for any main quest Oblivion stuff, just the annoying "random" gates outside your house type things.

Oh and a tip for those that have trouble with leveling of baddies. Turn the difficulty slider down just a tad. It's normally at 50% (normal difficulty). If you tone it down to 40-45% it makes a decent difference. You still get tested and can be taken down (especially by a boss or a mob) but it's easier by just enough to make it not frustrating to die 10 times to complete a dungeon. Now I might die twice at most. So give that a try vs. various leveling mods which may have other effects you don't want.

[snoopy369]

I think there were some real balance issues in this game. Not necessarily "too hard" overall, but due to the variety of ways you can play the game, they decided to make it hard for everyone (and thus too hard for some), rather than not hard enough for some.

As a conjurer, I can beat basically anything... just conjure up a daedroth or Xivilai, and I'm fine. It might take a while, but I'm never going to die if I keep an eye on my stats, and take the occasional potion (though really not that many potions)...

I think that's why the difficulty slider is a great idea. You'll know after a few levels whether your build is a "hard" or "easy" build, and then adjust your slider appropriately

[Quillan]

Bon, it depends heavily on two things: the type of character you're playing and just how you play in combat. Stealthy characters are very hard to play in this game, because stealth doesn't help when it comes to combat. If you can kill something completely by surprise it's useful, but if you fail or there are others, you're probably going to wind up in combat.

Another important thing is you cannot neglect your combat skills, whatever they may be for that character. If you made your major skills a bunch of non-combat things and leveled up using those, you can wind up crippled in combat as a result. Fighter types concentrate on combat, so they don't have that problem. Mages can usually use magic skills to substitute for combat skills. Stealth though doesn't help a whole lot. If you kill things in one hit, your weapon skills go up very slowly and your armor skills don't go up at all if you don't get hit. It can hurt you in a pinch. I've played three characters now, and the non stealthy ones do much better than the stealthy one did.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'm not proceding on with the main quest at this point but the stupid gates pop up in the most annoying areas sometimes.

Well you don't have to close the gates . I haven't done one for a while now (I did 5 early on). There are something like 60+ gates at least, so I'd counsel to just let some go and write down where you left a gate without closing it.

[snoopy369]

A note on gates...

Spoiler:

You don't have to close them all, ever. When you eventually decide to finish the main quest, any you didn't close will shut on their own. There are about 10 that you have to close, mostly ones near each city that you must close prior to getting the cooperation of the city's guard.

Pretty much any gate not near a city doesn't have to be closed. Though it's useful to get the gems ...

[Harovan]

Originally posted by Quillan
Bon, it depends heavily on two things: the type of character you're playing and just how you play in combat. Stealthy characters are very hard to play in this game, because stealth doesn't help when it comes to combat. If you can kill something completely by surprise it's useful, but if you fail or there are others, you're probably going to wind up in combat.

Another important thing is you cannot neglect your combat skills, whatever they may be for that character. If you made your major skills a bunch of non-combat things and leveled up using those, you can wind up crippled in combat as a result. Fighter types concentrate on combat, so they don't have that problem. Mages can usually use magic skills to substitute for combat skills. Stealth though doesn't help a whole lot. If you kill things in one hit, your weapon skills go up very slowly and your armor skills don't go up at all if you don't get hit. It can hurt you in a pinch. I've played three characters now, and the non stealthy ones do much better than the stealthy one did.

I love to play stealthy characters, and I've got two friends with them: the arena and block. Use the arena to train. It's a safe place, fights are 1-on-1 guaranteed and armor is comparable. Fights against heavy armored adversaries are blade training. I try to get over them quick. With light armored adversaries things are different - you're on par with them at least, and superior if they're archers (wielding only daggers for melee). Put up your shield and let them hit you. Just block and heal, even if your restoration sucks. Don't hit them yourself. Let them beat on you. Your light armor and block skills will go up dramatically, both several points per fight if you do it well.

Another friend I got is conjuration: Even if it's only a measly skeleton or zombie you conjure, it may distract them from you so you get a couple of gratis hits without being hit back.

[Spaced Cowboy]

I find that potions are a godsend. Especially when I hit tab and just gulp the ones that give me 6hp per sec for 22 seconds. Three of those and I'm golden. I used to try to hot key them, but why when I can pause with the tab.

Summoning can take some heat off too. Especially if it is a group.

Last monster that killed me was a will o' wisp, just could figure out why it would not die.

Spoiler:

(It was draining my health is why).

[Imran Siddiqui]

Will o' Wisps are NASTY things. Real pain the asses. Though I'm glad I got their glow dust. Now I can do the Azura Shrine quest .

[Spaced Cowboy]

Actually they became quite easy when I

Spoiler:

bought a silver sword and enchanted it with 22 electric damage. Now I always carry that around just in case I need a silver/magic weapon for a critter.

[asleepathewheel]

Some parts of the game should be more difficult. I just finished the mage guild stuff, and man that was easy with my level 30 warrior agronian. mages and necromancers fall pretty quickly to the blade even when they're 2x1. and the last two bosses wer killed before using their magic on me.

Now that I've figured out how to level spells easily (created 1 magicka restore/feather/selfburn/light) , i fear the game is ruined for me. Too tempting to do that to max those stats

[Quillan]

I have started to hate the leveled scaling effects. Not as a general rule, I mean, but only in certain areas: random bandits and merchant inventory. There is no reason why an alchemy vendor would wait until you hit level 25+ to start carrying Master level alchemical gear. All the shops should have a standard inventory. While I do think the more powerful weapons/armor should be rarely if ever found on a vendor, silver/steel/fine steel and all the alchemy equipment should be fully available from the beginning. If you can amass the 10K gold to buy the Aegis of the Apocalypse, then you should be able to buy the steel cuirass when you amass 200-300 gold even if you are level 1. Also, the bandits out on the road should NEVER have mithril/elven/dwarven/ebony/glass/daedric stuff. If they had it, they wouldn't be working the roads!

[Imran Siddiqui]

It's kind of funny seeing the last two posts back to back (hopefully you can see it) .

[Brundlefly]

I just downloaded the Chuck Norris mod. It rocks! No spells, no lockpicks, no repair hammers, no speech game. They've all been removed. Anything you need to do in the game is done with a roundhouse kick. Every button on the 360 controller issues a roundhouse kick..

[Rasputin]

well i made it to level 11. yes i know i am slow compared to others, and i have to agree the oblivian gates are a bit monotonous for low reward.

so i am not going to shut anymore unless they in the way of a quest.

i spent some time last night just walking around to explore the map it was fun for awhile but also gave me time to pracice my sneak . best part was finding all the herds of dear, hadnt been using my bow much in most fights so this gave me some time to increase my marksmenship