Elder Scrolls V: Oblivion Part 2?

[PeteAtoms]

This pisses me off. It's an open-world game. Should it matter if you want to run from encounters?

Recall and levitate were pretty big game breakers though IMO. They would have to be gimped somehow, but even I agree that I would prefer that than their exclusion all together.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

Recall and levitate were pretty big game breakers though IMO. They would have to be gimped somehow, but even I agree that I would prefer that than their exclusion all together.

I call bull, it's a single player game. This isn't an MMO where everything has to be as close to balanced as you can tweak it, you can have some things that are maybe too strong and it's OKAY because it's single player, you can always choose not to use them. That interview did nothing to assuage my fears about this game. I did not enjoy Oblivion at all compared to Morrowind and Skyrim is looking to be more of the same, every time a new interview comes out it just solidifies my feelings in that regard. Definitely not a day 1 purchase for me, it's a "wait and see what non-fanboys think of it."

 

[PeteAtoms]

I call bull, it's a single player game. This isn't an MMO where everything has to be as close to balanced as you can tweak it, you can have some things that are maybe too strong and it's OKAY because it's single player, you can always choose not to use them. That interview did nothing to assuage my fears about this game. I did not enjoy Oblivion at all compared to Morrowind and Skyrim is looking to be more of the same, every time a new interview comes out it just solidifies my feelings in that regard. Definitely not a day 1 purchase for me, it's a "wait and see what non-fanboys think of it."

You're totally right though. I agree with you, levitate and recall weren't things the developers twisted consumers' arms into using. I have the same feeling toward the way people whine about fast travel. If you prefer game breaking features, that's fine. There are always compromises that can be made though, but whining about it now is too little too late.

I didn't think Morrowind was all that great as far as gameplay mechanics go. Where Morrowind soared above and beyond Oblivion was atmosphere and story. There is no way that Oblivion's main quest and setting can compare.

Because I'm not a fanboy, the gameplay mechanics aren't going to be the deciding factor for me. The graphics aren't going make or break it for me either. Fanboys can whine about the loss of skills/attributes and graphics, but I'm going to wait and take it for what it is, judging it on its own merits and not the expectation of emulating prior games.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

The problem with fast travel isn't so much that it exists, it's that it's existence changes the way the game is designed. Because fast travel exists, developers are not inclined to put in alternatives that are more immersive, your choice becomes "Spend ages walking everywhere" or "magical teleportation". It does seem like this is addressed in Skyrim with the carriages, but how much that will do we don't know yet. This is my same argument for the stupid compass that's in all of these games now. People say "Just don't use it", but the game developers expect you to use it, so they don't make NPC's give adequate directions to find things without it. Your choice becomes "use it or search randomly for hours with no clue where to even start".

I agree with you about Morrowind by the way, gameplay-wise Oblivion had a lot of improvements to the way the combat worked and so forth. But I'm a story guy, the fact that Morrowind's atmorsphere and story were miles ahead made it by far the better game for me. Coupled with the additional character choices that are being slowly phased out. Make no mistake, Skyrim has less skills than Oblivion, which had less skills than Morrowind, which had less skills than Daggerfall. To some people this is not a big deal, and if TES games were linear stories like The Witcher I wouldn't care, but TES are sandbox RPG's and in that type of game we should be striving for MORE character choice, not less. Removal of spell effects, combining of armor pieces, removal of skills and weapon types, all of these result in less character choice. I can only see this as a negative. I know some will disagree with me and that's fine, I'm happy for them if they like the game. One of the things I loved about Morrowind was how many different types of characters I could dream up and play with. That feeling is getting less and less as the series goes on and I don't like it.

 

[carmen510]

Have you guys seen this amazing mod for Oblivion yet?


Link to video.

 

[civ_king]

Have you guys seen this amazing mod for Oblivion yet?


Link to video.

looks more like TES 4.5

 

[Double A]

That mod's sexyness is only matched by the Russian's voice.

 

[Mustakrakish]

I believe it's not done yet... Will they make an English version I wonder... Will be interesting to try it before Skyrim either way.

 

[Double A]

Yeah there's gonna be an English version. I checked their site.

Both are coming out second half this year.

 

[Maniacal]

It IS the 2nd half of 2011

 

[Double A]

Blarg. Not MY fault they aren't more specific!

 

[Azale]

I hope some of the hand-wringing in this thread has subsided. Skyrim looks pretty good, definitely an improvement over Oblivion. I don't really see a "dumbing down", just a streamlining of superfluous features. But this is starting to sound like ME v. ME2 all over again...

 

[civ_king]

I hope some of the hand-wringing in this thread has subsided. Skyrim looks pretty good, definitely an improvement over Oblivion. I don't really see a "dumbing down", just a streamlining of superfluous features. But this is starting to sound like ME v. ME2 all over again...

It's kind of like D&D 3.5E vs. 4E, they cut out many options, but they cut out mostly choices that would gimp your character and also some gamebreaking builds.

 

[Double A]

Yeah, but it is a sandbox game. Gamebreaking builds are fine.

Although getting rid of crap is fine. New players don't know what skills to choose, and veterans know not to choose them in the first place, so that's a step in the right direction (the direction in question is a game as good as or better than Morrowind).

 

[Azale]

Players are always going to find the next gamebreaking build, why would Bethesda want to ruin the fun by leaving the same ones in there?

 

[Double A]

True enough

 

[Maniacal]

Screw game breaking builds, I like the TES games because I can build my character however I want (mods included, like fixing Oblivion's level scaling).

 

[Double A]

That too.

If I want to wear an Elven cuirass and steel greaves, you better let me, dammit.

 

[Azale]

That too.

If I want to wear an Elven cuirass and steel greaves, you better let me, dammit.

From what I read, they're only putting the cuirass and greaves together to better compliment the atmosphere of the setting. Nord cuirass' cover the legs I guess?

If that's the case, it helps with immersion...though I would prefer an option to let me use a full body Nord-type cuirass (like, say, the Arena Raiment in Oblivion) or mix and match with other cuirass and greave types.

Still, it's a minor thing. I don't see it as a dumbdown, just design decision.

 

[Mustakrakish]

It is definitely not a dumbdown. Especially when they say that they have more armors than ever before to choose from, and it allows for better rendering that allows them to have more NPC on the screen ("it renders a lot faster too, so we can put more people on screen, so that was an easy tradeoff for us").
If they... for example said something like "We have less armors to choose from and you can't mix and match them, but they're really really pretty. We decided it was better this way"... Now that would count as dumbing down in my book.