[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

It's good. I was just used to being overpowered in Morrowind, and just wading in an swinging until everyone is dead. I actually need to use strategy and whatnot now. Which, in a way, is an improvement?

[Silencer]

I'm still of the camp that Oblivion is easy. Unless you're playing with OOO or something...even on max difficulty I don't have much trouble.

And the level scaling means that if you're good, you're good. If your character is weak, it's weak unless you do some serious training. This is for warrior's mind - mages and assassin's take a lot more planning in an assault.

But a lot of people forget that in Oblivion, your magicka restores rapidly. Morrowind, not only did you have to ready magic, you couldn't regen magic without sleeping, or otherwise over a long period of time (/with potions). It made playing as a mage, when on a lower level, nigh impossible. There is a reason those first few guild quests were "collect this" and "collect that" - any actual combat and you would have been dead. XD

Anyway. The difference being that in Morrowind, once you got relatively strong, there was nothing you couldn't handle. Oblivion ensures that you can keep finding something of a challenge up until about level 25. *grumble*stupidmountainlionssurvivingtenspells*/grumble*

What's your character's stats like, RLY?

[Morgoth]

pah, in Oblivion a mage was invincible from the moment you got to make your own spells. Touch -150 shock resistance and -100 magika resistance for 3s, Touch -100 magika resistance 3 s, touch the highest shock damage pr sec for 5 sec you can get. Use in sequence. All dies.

Or at least that's how I remember the combo. Seeing how heavy armour hardly had any effect on spell casting you could use heavy armour and shield with it. Nothing could harm you at all

[Silencer]

Costs money, Morgy.

You can technically make one spell with:
100% weakness to fire, frost, shock and magicka.
100 fire, frost, shock, and damage damage.

All up? That's about 800 damage points. Instant death on just about anything.

But you also need the destruction skill, and the magicka to cast that. And I mean...it's a bit like getting Umbra or Shadowrend only *20 damage - not a lot of fun after the first 20 uses of awesome killingness.

And you just reminded of another strange change from Morrowind - no spell failure. EVER. Even wearing max heavy armour on novice heavy armour, it's like 30% effectiveness reduction. Compared with your spell failing to work 50% of the time...gah. XD

*tries vainly to avoid negativity*

[Gothos]

I must say I liked the assassin style with blades for a while, and on lower difficulty levels. why? well, along this progression line you'd come to a point where even sneak attacks became too weak. meaning, I couldn't kill people with 1 blow without armor in their sleep...

[Silencer]

Exactly my main issue with playing an assassin in this game. I blame that on the combination of short blade and long blade more than anything else. Though admittedly Morrowind had the ridiculous effect that you could actually completely miss someone standing two feet from you when you're sneaking behind them. XD

Still, I don't think they intended to completely screw over assassin characters...which is what happens at higher levels. And really...why do you do more damage with a longsword than with a dagger? Because the system is set up so that one handed weapons get the *6 bonus, which includes short swords and long swords.

Rawr.

[Jusentantaka]

to play a high level assassin in oblivion you absolutely have to use top of the line poisons on your weapons (like the ones you can get with 75+ alchemy and master gear)

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

@Silencer: Not sure exactly what my stats are, not by my xbox right now. It's going much easier now though. I slight modification in tactics, and getting some decent gear made all the difference. Although I did just sumble on a new hardcore type of zombie, and here I left my magical sword at home.

Right now I'm cruising around getting the recommendations for the mage's guild, when that gets old I work on fighters guild and do random dungeon crawling. I suppose I should get going with the thieves guild, but I'm not sure where to initiate that. I think I'll do dark brotherhood after I finish those three. Oh, I suppose the main quest could use some attention. Screw it, those people in Kvatch can stay trapped.

[Morgoth]

yeah, the poisoner assassin was quite brilliant, until you met undead.

[Jusentantaka]

Use elemental damage ones then, they're stupid and nonsensical, but they're still 'poisons'. A nice firefrostshock one will do like 30 each/sec for 15 secs. '

This post has been edited by Jusentantaka: 30 October 2009 - 05:43 PM

[Morgoth]

Jusentantaka, on 30 October 2009 - 05:43 PM, said:

Use elemental damage ones then, they're stupid and nonsensical, but they're still 'poisons'. A nice firefrostshock one will do like 30 each/sec for 15 secs. '

It still counts as a poison for resistance purposes

[Jusentantaka]

Morgoth, on 30 October 2009 - 06:07 PM, said:

Jusentantaka, on 30 October 2009 - 05:43 PM, said:

Use elemental damage ones then, they're stupid and nonsensical, but they're still 'poisons'. A nice firefrostshock one will do like 30 each/sec for 15 secs. '

It still counts as a poison for resistance purposes

I have not played that game, modded or otherwise for a couple years now. But I could have sworn it worked. Maybe its only elemental enchanted weapons that I 'remembered' cutting through zomfies and ghosts.

[Silencer]

Yes, enchanted weapons work, poisoned ones usually don't so well.

@Rly -

Spoiler

go and ask the beggars in the Waterfront about the Thieves Guild

^ if you want a helping hand to get to the Thieves Guild.

[Gothos]

Morgoth, on 30 October 2009 - 04:00 PM, said:

yeah, the poisoner assassin was quite brilliant, until you met undead.

hah don't get me started on those fucking nightmare

[Stalker]

Quote

According to a report from Eurogamer Denmark, Bethesda Game Studios is already into production on Elder Scrolls V and it's a direct sequel of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, continuing the story from the previous game that was set in the verdant realm of Cyrodiil.

The translation of the report, which was derived from an unspecified source, published on Eurogamer's English site reads as follows: "This source not only confirmed that the game is in current production, but also spoke briefly about the content - with fantasy-sounding phrases like Dragon Lord, something with The Blades - and that voice acting for the characters in the game is currently happening in the weeks to follow.

"The same source confirmed, with official game documents in hand, that this will be the chronological sequel to what happened in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which is the latest game in the now 16-years-old Elder Scrolls saga and by itself one of the better RPGs for PC and consoles."

So, there it is then. Elder Scrolls V is coming and as soon as Bethesda officially reveal it, chances are the game's release might be just around the corner if comments from Executive Producer Todd Howard prove to be true: "One thing I can say is that from when you first hear about it to when it's out will be the shortest it's been for us. It's pretty far along. When we show it, we want to show a lot, because there's a lot of game there to play right now."

Howard went on to reveal that the game is running on a heavily modified version of the Fallout 3 engine, stating that, "Fallout 3 technically does a lot more than Oblivion. The new stuff is an even bigger jump from that. I can say it is on the existing platforms, which we're really happy with. You almost feel like you have a new console when you see the game."

Wow. Bold words indeed. Naturally, we'll be keeping our eye peeled for further Elder Scrolls V news in the hopefully near future, so stay tuned.

from http://www.xbox360ac...f-Oblivion.html

No big surprise here, everyone knew a V was coming, but this is some interesting stuff. New engine to make the game look incredible is awesome. Plus if Howard's comment is true, once we get an actual reveal the release shouldn't be too long of a wait.

[Silencer]

Stalker, on 23 November 2010 - 08:58 PM, said:

Quote

According to a report from Eurogamer Denmark, Bethesda Game Studios is already into production on Elder Scrolls V and it's a direct sequel of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, continuing the story from the previous game that was set in the verdant realm of Cyrodiil.

The translation of the report, which was derived from an unspecified source, published on Eurogamer's English site reads as follows: "This source not only confirmed that the game is in current production, but also spoke briefly about the content - with fantasy-sounding phrases like Dragon Lord, something with The Blades - and that voice acting for the characters in the game is currently happening in the weeks to follow.

"The same source confirmed, with official game documents in hand, that this will be the chronological sequel to what happened in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which is the latest game in the now 16-years-old Elder Scrolls saga and by itself one of the better RPGs for PC and consoles."

So, there it is then. Elder Scrolls V is coming and as soon as Bethesda officially reveal it, chances are the game's release might be just around the corner if comments from Executive Producer Todd Howard prove to be true: "One thing I can say is that from when you first hear about it to when it's out will be the shortest it's been for us. It's pretty far along. When we show it, we want to show a lot, because there's a lot of game there to play right now."

Howard went on to reveal that the game is running on a heavily modified version of the Fallout 3 engine, stating that, "Fallout 3 technically does a lot more than Oblivion. The new stuff is an even bigger jump from that. I can say it is on the existing platforms, which we're really happy with. You almost feel like you have a new console when you see the game."

Wow. Bold words indeed. Naturally, we'll be keeping our eye peeled for further Elder Scrolls V news in the hopefully near future, so stay tuned.

from http://www.xbox360ac...f-Oblivion.html

No big surprise here, everyone knew a V was coming, but this is some interesting stuff. New engine to make the game look incredible is awesome. Plus if Howard's comment is true, once we get an actual reveal the release shouldn't be too long of a wait.

Read it twice. Disappointed. Heavily modified Fallout 3 engine? Oh, you mean the one with the crappy animations, the physics bugs, and all that which has plagued them since Oblivion? FUCKING HELL BETHESDA.

But yes, I'd heard similar news elsewhere. Looking forward to it, and hoping for the best, but it might be even more dumbed down than Oblivion, and if it's still using Gamebryo...I have low expectations for anything outside of graphical quality.

[Stalker]

I certainly hope it isn't dumbed down, but it seems like that is a trend games are following recently.

I don't actually have a problem with the Fallout engine, it worked fine in Fallout when I was playing. I'm sure from the modding side of this, you have a different perspective, but none of the things you listed really affected or bothered me. The only engine that Bethesda has used that I have a problem with is whatever the engine running Morrowind was. I could not play that game for more than 5 minutes without something being wrong. Which explains why I didn't play it long.

[Defiance]

Hopefully this one is more like Morrowind and less like Oblivion. Not that I didn't enjoy IV, I thought it was pretty good (fantastic with player-made mods), but after experiencing III, which is tied with the Metal Gear series for my favorite game ever, it was sort of a let-down.

[Silencer]

@Stalker - the engine for Morrowind? Same engine. Just a newer iteration with some refinements, is still being used by Bethsoft. The company changed it quite a bit, but still the same base. Hence the same issues. I'll elaborate later.

[Silencer]

Right, to elaborate:

Morrowind was created using the NetImmerse engine, just before the company who created it rebranded and merged with Emergent Game Technologies. Now, NetImmerse was by no means pushed to the limit with Morrowind, though it did push the limits of hardware at that time. Even so, animations have never been its, or Bethesda's, strong point, and this was to be seen in the very simple, and in some cases downright pathetic attack and block animations.

Following the transition to Gamebryo (the new engine), the same problems carried over. The graphics were once again cutting-edge, and it allowed for giant worlds, but the animations were extremely limited. Attacking consisted of a two-way slash for swords, and any stabs were incredibly simple, and required a 'charge-up'.

Now, move to Fallout 3. Why do you not notice these issues? Guns. Guns have a very simple implementation, and reloading pretty much consists of a hand moving something on the model. Even then, the odd left-hand bolt of the Hunting Rifle was kinda awkward. And melee weapons suffered the same simplicity, though a bit refined.

Then, New Vegas. Same problems. Again. Different developer (Obsidian), but same engine. Crappy animations. It was even more noticeable in third-person with the running - again, something Bethesda games have never been good at, but worse in this case. That's mostly to do with a disparity between animation (i.e. the running animation is the same if you're running with a speed attribute of 1 as that of 10) and actual speed. A hassle to resolve, but it definitely didn't need to be as crappy as it was.

Right, now the Gamebryo engine is 10 years old. Bethesda have been working with it pretty much for that entire time, and prior to that with NetImmerse. They're getting pretty good with it, you'd think, right? So therefore, the limitations are either voluntary (they don't care about animations), or they are engine-restricted (implied because of other games using Gamebryo), in which case they will never be any good. Bethesda have done wonders with the engine, graphically, and really make it work well for the open world stuff (though the shift to enclosed towns still bugs me...being able to walk into a city without a transition was awesome...ok, won't go down that route because otherwise I'll get started on fast travel and so forth, and that wouldn't be good...) but they have never had good animations.

Faces are pretty bad, too. It was acceptable in 2001 with Morrowind - it was cutting-edge then. NetImmerse was Godlike. Now, Gamebryo makes things look pwetty, when they're just a static texture, but it fails in most other aspects. They use Havok with it for physics, which tends to make things over-react to the lightest touch (and that's an unrelated problem, but still stands out).

I mean, I don't *care*, particularly, EXCEPT that they keep dumbing down the story, they remove RP-ability, skills, weapons, detail, character depth, screw over their own lore, make the magic system less diverse, remove the 'adult' themes like racism and slavery (or at least shunt them into a corner), make certain character builds impractical (stealth characters who can't slit someone's throat, because short blade was combined with long blade), make it easier to get from 'a' to 'b' by making it not cost, remove the range of factions (and don't make the ones they keep/add more detailed to compensate), allow you to be the Archmage with no magic skills, reduce the range of creatures and enemies you face, etc, etc.

So, my point being: if you are going to do all this. If you are going to make your game more 'mainstream', 'easier to get into', 'dumb it down', 'streamline' and whatnot, and sell your game more on the graphics than on the story/character building/gameplay, AT LEAST put some effort into the animations so that they don't detract from your graphics!

/rant