The good parts about Oblivion, let's discuss...

[Fer'or]

This thread is about the bad things in Oblivion, but there are some good parts in the game as well.

Discuss.




When I left the boat in Morrowind and saw Seyda Neen (and the outside world of Morrowind) for the first time, my jaw smashed onto the keyboard. It looked great!
IMO, Oblivion has the same moment when you leave the sewers for the first time. It looks jawdropping great!
When I am in the mountains outside Bruma and I can see the little town surrounded by mountains and forests... It just looks fantastic!
Also the level of detail of clothing is very nice.

[Gobatcha]

I've read complaints about the 'sameness' of the interiors of dungeons and such, but I think they're great. Maybe other games (ES or otherwise) did it better, but as my introduction to this style of play was Dungeon Lords, I must say this is a VAST improvement.

[Pillage]

I like the refrences to books and movies and such with some of the quests. I won't mention them here, due to spoilers, but my favorite was a reference to a popular book-made-movie. It was more of an easter egg, though. I guess you can PM me if you want to know what I'm talking about.

Just like all games, this one has it's pros and cons.

[Niteowl3915]

I'm a frequent poster over on that other thread, and my guess is that this one was created to remind every one that Oblivion is a good game.
It's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture when nitpicking at all the flaws.
So my vote for the positives begins with the combat system. It's tough to do hand to hand combat from a first person perspective, as evidenced by the fact that no one has yet to do it right. Oblivion comes the closest though, the only real problem being the lack of depth perception. Other than that, the system of blocking and parrying makings the melee fighting more than just "press the button as fast as you can" which is a real boon to me.

[fable]

Post removed. This thread isn't for saying, "Yeah, Oblivion really is good!" It's for saying how Oblivion is good.

[XxBlitzkriegxX]

I have plenty of great things to say about Oblivion.

For one thing, the new physics engine is a riot. Few things are as satisfying as killing an enemy and watching their corpse roll downhill, and I never cease to be amazed when one of my particularly powerful spells sends an enemy flying through the air.


Also, no one can deny Oblivion's ambition. The stealth elements are as good as Thief: Dark Shadows, the melee combat is fun and intuitive, and I've never seen a wider range of spells in a single game.

There's tons to go on about, from the awe-inspiring graphics to the unique creatures (Have YOU ever seen a Storm Atronach or Dremora outside of Elder scrolls?), and those people who are trying to nitpick every bad thing about it should either appreciate the many bonuses of the game, or stop playing it.

[Ashen]

[QUOTE=XxBlitzkriegxX]
There's tons to go on about, from the awe-inspiring graphics to the unique creatures (Have YOU ever seen a Storm Atronach or Dremora outside of Elder scrolls?), and those people who are trying to nitpick every bad thing about it should either appreciate the many bonuses of the game, or stop playing it.[/QUOTE]

We do have a right to our opinion you know and the right to express it.

Anyways, it does indeed have great graphics, especially if you have a high end system. I've seen it on the latest Radeon and AMD with 2Megs of RAM ... gah. But it looks fine on my old machine as well so that is good.

[Abuse]

Wow, 2Megs?? I'm still on 640kb

[Ashen]

[QUOTE=Abuse]Wow, 2Megs?? I'm still on 640kb [/QUOTE]

Yeah, you should see that baby go. The guy payed something like 7000 Euroes for the whole system (he does have need for it actually) and then we tried it there. It's magnificent really, when you can let the game really utilize it all. I don't think I dreamed it would be that good actually with that rig but wow. I was in shock when I got to reaturn to my own game. It was worth bugging him for 3 hours and a dinner to let me install it

[jdougan1]

(there may be some spoilers below)

It is indeed hard to remember how good the game is. I think many of the complaints are related to disapointed expectations - and fail to note how many expectations have been met or exceeded. A lot of my complaints are related to comparisons with Morrowind - a game Oblivion should surpass but in many cases does not.

Still, here are some of the strengths I find (many related to improvements relative to Morrowind):

1) The alchemy system is much improved. In Morrowind, it was a real pain to match ingreedients. It is simple in Oblivion - though perhaps even too simple?

2) I really like some of the quests lines in Oblivion - they have some surprising twists. The Mage's Guild quest line was interesting and quite engaging up until the last encounter - and the sacrificial event near the end was a very interesting surprise. The MQ also had something of a surprise ending - something other than the traditional boss battle.

3) I like the fact that all parts are voice acted - voice acting goes a long way to make the game real. My only qualm here is that there are too few voices - virtually every Redguard male (and there are a LOT of em) sounds like Barras. This could me much improved by hiring a few differenty actors.

4) There is some really funny stuff hidden here and there. Talk to the alchemist in Skingrad if you haven't already. The Blademaster in the Arena is a hoot. Or, the opening fighter's guild quest in Anvil - it looks like a cliche' at the start, but is turns out to be a really funny tongue-in-cheek joke on RPG cliche.

5) The AI is much better. It still has a long way to go - but it is a tremendous improvement over Morrowind, where NPCs stood in the same spot all day long.

6) I thought I would hate combat in Oblivion because I hate "clickfest" games - but you know, now that I have the hang of it, I like it quite a bit. Certainly an improvement over Morrowind.

7) The graphics of course are beautiful. Sometimes I wish they were a little less beautiful because we might have had other things (like better AI) instead - but no denying they are gorgeous. Cuiriously, the great graphics also make the world seem smaller because you can see so far in the distance - hence things seem much closer.

8) As someone mentiond, the physics engine is fun. Try playing golf with dead bodies (hitting them with a fireball and attempting to move them to a specific location. Bears seem to work best as golf balls.

[Mccool]

No more cliff racers.
And it seems you no longer need any magical ability to join the mages guild.

[mordib]

[QUOTE=fable]Post removed. This thread isn't for saying, "Yeah, Oblivion really is good!" It's for saying how Oblivion is good. [/QUOTE]

go on then, why do you think oblivion is really good


for me the good things make a long list but the primary ones are as follows -

-the whole alchemy thing, i like flower picking now, i love making a living early on in the game selling of random potions that ive made, i love the way your alchemy sklill advances and some of the combinations you can make.

- the size. i know people have said it felt cluttered and felt smaller as a result than morrowind and the like but the fact is my first game reached nearly 300 hours, 1 week after finishing all the main quests and most of the minor ones im back at it again with a new character and its already proving a very different game (breton atronarch this time compared to a dark elf fighter last time). its going a lot quicker this time but still very fun and still 10s if not 100s of hours of fun left not even counting future mods..

- bear physics. yes i know, sounds insane to suggest this could be one of my favourite parts of the game but seriously, kill a bear on a steep slope and you'll see what i mean of course it isnt just for bears, atronarchs die in a lovely manner as do many of the other creatures

[Niteowl3915]

I gotta say, killing an enemy with an enchanted weapon and watching them fly 10 feet away from the impact in awesome...

[Fljotsdale]

I think the thing that amazed me most about Oblivion is the horribly realistic way animals/creatures/people fall and move when they are killed, especially the rats. It looks as though the artists threw newly-dead rats (etc) around (while videoing the results) to see EXACTLY the way bodies behave.

I think the malleable faces in character creation are fantastic. I currently have a char that I deliberately made very similar to someone I know.

Some of the scenic views are stunning; I love the waterfalls particularly.

Character movement is pretty good, too. Not perfect - not fully humanly flexible: there are some stiff leg positions - but pretty good in comparison to a lot of games I've played where the figures look like badly made dolls.

The moving vegetation makes me feel a bit sea-sick sometimes... and you can lose lootable bodies in it... but it's well-done.

And yes - the melee combat, which I initially found awkward, is very good when you get the hang of it.

[XxBlitzkriegxX]

Ah, you have to love the effect of an enchanted arrow on an enemy, sending them skyrocketing STRAIGHT up as if a geyser had opened under them.

While other people complain, I like some of the occasional bugs in Oblivion. I once got killed by an invisible bear. That was good stuff.

Character creation, melee combat, and the new way they made the area effects of spells look (watching lightning bounce from opponent to opponent is particularly satisfying) all contribute to making this, so far, my game of the year.

[nightinferno]

Hey, an invisible bear isn't a glitch or a bug either, thats actually in part of a quest. Spoiler: The invisible bears are actually invisible due to a lone mage's attempts at creating new spells, potions, etc. In the mission, you have to go to the fort where the mage is, talk to him and tell him about the predicament of a certain town, he'll give you an antidote spell to use to bring them all visible again, but it only works in the town. There will still be invisible bears at that part of the map where you met with the invisible mage. Now that that's over with, heres a few of my pros about the game.

The game's graphics are, I have to say it, awesome as far as rpg graphics usually go and the first person view has a lot to offer. In first person view, it's more like you are the character than it would be in third-person view where you can see your character, in first person view, you see through the characters eyes. The battle scenes are great, where you don't push random buttons to kill but you have a specific button to attack with or defend with. The area of the Cyrodiil is huge, it's a country all it's own with a lot of caves, dungeons, forts, towns, building, to explore. You can go into pretty much any building as long as there is a door, although it would have been cool to see your character go through an unlocked window in order to rob a house. There is also a wide variety of different enemies to face ranging from everyday rats, to ferocious mountain lions, to powerful atronochs, and the brute strength of bears and minotaurs. There are also what seems to be an endless number of quests, and you have to go find the quests too, they're not just handed over to you on a silver platter. Although dungeons and caves might get a little repetive after a while, the main designs of them are always different, no two caves are shaped the same way, no two caves are the same length.

Sure the game may have a few bugs, like sometimes mine will freeze up during mid-play, but that doesn't stop me from liking it. In my oppinion, the pros outweigh the cons.

[fable]

go on then, why do you think oblivion is really good

I've actually stated several reasons in my review, which should be up shortly, but in brief:

Combat AI. Finally, we have enemies that use spells, movement, attacking and blocking sensibly. This also applies to companions in combat.

The ability to apply detrimental potions to your weapons.

Dungeon traps. I think my favorite is the swinging blades, kind of an Ayelid signature.

The inventory screen. I know this has been derided by quite a few people, but I loathe Morrowind's inventory screen with its scruffy icons and lack of well-ordered, text-based information.

Those are probably the biggest points for me.