Dragon Age vs. Oblivion

[Data Sage]

I don't know if this has been asked before but i just would like to know everyone's opinion. Dragon age origins vs. The Elder Scrolls IV: oblivion. I think they are two very fun games but personally i perfer oblivion. It was this game that made me start to like RPG's at all(along with fable). I used to be extremly addicted to this game until i finally just got bored of it. I played it for like a year until finally i just knew everything about it that it got boring. Dragon age origins is fun and i like the party fighting. But my vote goes to Oblivion!

[Da_venom]

dragon age for sure

oblivion was boring as hell

[Xandax]

They are different games and outside being fantasy RPGs there's not much to compare, so a 1:1 comparison is impossible and pointless in my opinion.

But in my book, Oblivion is the most dumped down piece of fluff I've ever had the displeasure to play. I still dislike Bethesda for what they've done to the Elder Scroll series after such a promising start, but well ......
All, except the "free form" roaming is done better in DA:O - but in Oblivion the free form roaming is completely pointless due to the heavy level and treasure scaling, making it completely irrelevant to explore that distant dangerous dungeon when it contains the same dangers as the one just next to the main hub. Thus removing what Bethesda had going for them in their genre.
But DA:O is not even made for the free form playing style as Oblivion is, so again - the games are different types.

But for story and gameplay value - DAO far surpasses Oblivion in my opinion.

[dragon wench]

Well, as Xandax says, it's comparing apples and oranges.

However, that being said, in my view Dragon Age beats Oblivion hands down on every possible level. After playing DA:O I'm pretty sure I won't be able to even stomach Oblivion, even with all of the mods in the world.
Speaking of which, it's nice to play a game that doesn't actually require hours of mod installation to be even remotely playable. I'm using three mods that enhance DA:O, but they aren't critical to my enjoyment of the game.

[phxhawk]

I thoroughly enjoyed Oblivion. IMHO it was by far the best RPG I'd played in years. The graffix, the story line, and the mods! everything in that game was what I'd been looking for since the first Elder Scrolls came out on the market.

That being said, Dragon Age is an incredible game. Trying to compare it to Oblivion is like comparing apples to bananas. DA has many things that Oblivion didn't have and vice versa. I'll be playing and replaying both for a long time. Just depends on what head space I'm in at the moment.

[fable]

I'm of two minds about DA:O, but Oblivion without hundreds of mods is basically a kiddie shooter in faux-medieval clothing. Infinite quest hand-holding, endless enemy and treasure scaling, reappearing enemies, puzzles worthy of a ten-year-old: it's an utter bore.

[Curry]

I don't like either of them

[RPGguy]

I'm of two minds about DA:O, but Oblivion without hundreds of mods is basically a kiddie shooter in faux-medieval clothing. Infinite quest hand-holding, endless enemy and treasure scaling, reappearing enemies, puzzles worthy of a ten-year-old: it's an utter bore.

I really couldn't agree more with this assessment.

In addition, the map is overly-saturated with heavily recycled cave systems containing hundreds, (probably more than a thousand) enemies who all have the best possible armor sets in the game...making it trivial and highly perplexing (obviously because they are all scaling with your character).

The economic system is ridiculous.

I hate myself for playing that game to the credits. Oblivion represents everything that I despise about the way games are trending and how they are compromised to accommodate tweens.

We probably sound like a bunch of old farts to the OP, but one day he will understand.

[kozeph]

agreed with the apples and oranges.

i liked both games both had things i liked and things i didnt like. i had a lot of fun with oblivion but never once saw it like an rpg more like a adventure game with really nice soundtrack (I fell in love with it and the music jeremy soule compositions) especially walking in the forest without being interrupted by a pesky wolf or the annoying imp but i still like the game even if i got bored out of it after some 150+ hours of playing it

and well dragons age could have been better, luckily i didnt had high expectetions about it. but overall its a good rpg but not the top of the cream

[GoldDragon]

Actually, Oblivion's nearly unlimitted levelling (It's really 255) has it much better than DAO, which is currently capped at 25. But it is difficult to get to 25 without grinding in Dragon Age, and pointless to even try in Oblivion.

However, Oblivion is more : Choose/Make your Own Adventure. You make the story, and tell it as YOU want.

Dragon Age:Origins is a story that is told TO you, but a few choices can alter endings, so that MY story might be different than yours.

This kind of comparison is totally unfair.

Now, you want to compare Neverwinter Nights 2 and DAO, that's different.

[Crenshinibon]

The ammount of levels doesn't mean anything.

Also, you can't really grind in Dragon Age as there are a limited number of spawns. As such, usually, you'd be level twenty three by the end of the game. You may be able to get to 24 if you donate a whole lot of stuff to your supporters, but I doubt it.

Honestly, I can't see how Oblivion is a "make your own adventure" game since almost every quest has some pretty one sided choices, which makes it seem like some of those "interactive storybooks".

[GoldDragon]

Honestly, I can't see how Oblivion is a "make your own adventure" game since almost every quest has some pretty one sided choices, which makes it seem like some of those "interactive storybooks".

Perhaps, but you also don't need to do the Main Quest (Daedric Invasion), beyond getting thru the Tutorial in Oblivion. You really can't do that in DAO, you know.

[dragon wench]

Actually, Oblivion's nearly unlimitted levelling (It's really 255) has it much better than DAO, which is currently capped at 25.

So? Great... the boredom practically extends into infinity.. hardly something to commend a game by.
Honestly, the huge level cap in Oblivion is just like everything else about it.. it's entirely meaningless and superficial. In a simple phrase: vast on the surface with about as much depth as a rain puddle.

Perhaps, but you also don't need to do the Main Quest (Daedric Invasion), beyond getting thru the Tutorial in Oblivion. You really can't do that in DAO, you know.

Indeed. That's because DA:O is a story-driven game. By contrast Oblivion is designed for 10-yr-olds, and it is a first person shooter masquerading as an RPG; your point highlights the fact.

[flix]

it is a first person shooter masquerading as an RPG

There we go. This is the reason, after installing many, many mods and struggling through tech issues, I finally just gave up on Oblivion. I don't have a "back in the day" attitude (me and CRPG's only go back about 8 years), but Oblivion did not fit in at all with the games I enjoyed.

[dragon wench]

There we go. This is the reason, after installing many, many mods and struggling through tech issues, I finally just gave up on Oblivion. I don't have a "back in the day" attitude (me and CRPG's only go back about 8 years), but Oblivion did not fit in at all with the games I enjoyed.

Pretty much the same for me, around nine years I guess. My gaming days essentially started with the Baldur's Gate series and Planescape Torment, though sadly.. they both spoiled me quite sorely..
So I guess I do have some 'back in the day' attitude.

Yep... I modded Oblivion to death. All of those mods did vastly improve the game.. it went from entirely horrid to OK. However, navigating through the various resulting conflicts became too much of a chore, and I went back to Morrowind (suffers from many of the same issues as its successor but it's actually much better), or I replayed BG2 for the umpteenth time.

[GoldDragon]

I said it before, I'll say it again: Elder Scrolls' Greatest Strength is also it's greatest weakness. I enjoyed both Morrowind and Oblivion, but, in Morrowind, I remember just wandering around looking at things (when not busy fighting off bandits & the like), and I couldn't stay away from Bloodmoon expansion (which was even better than the original game, IMO, as I defeated Bloodmoon 28 hours later, nearly non-stop), neither of which really happened in Oblivion.

I think Morrowind's hand-placed stuff was quite a bit better than the generated-ness of Oblivion.

And DAO is nearly as well-told a story as BG. Which I enjoyed, and even still have installed.

[fable]

Yep... I modded Oblivion to death. All of those mods did vastly improve the game.. it went from entirely horrid to OK. However, navigating through the various resulting conflicts became too much of a chore, and I went back to Morrowind (suffers from many of the same issues as its successor but it's actually much better), or I replayed BG2 for the umpteenth time.

My Oblivion mod list (about 220) is pretty stable, but I admit, there's much less challenge in the game even with Martigen's and Francesco's running. I'm slowly being drawn back into Morrowind, though DA:O is currently consuming what little gaming time I have available.

[Wildeyn]

Oblivion brings out the worst in my personality. I realize how terrible this sounds, but I find it hard to come to any conclusion other than that you have to basically be completely stupid in order to enjoy Oblivion.

Its like, if you don't realize that virtually nothing matters in Oblivion, then maybe you can enjoy it. If you don't realize that leveling doesn't matter, or that quests don't matter, and exploring doesn't matter, etc.

I've played so many role playing games, and not one of them that I can think of has the kind of obscene glitch that Oblivion has, where you can enchant your own gear with 100% chameleon.

When Oblivion came out, I had hoped that they wouldn't screw it up as terribly as Morrowind, a game where you had to twist yourself in knots to level up just right... got forbid you jumped up and down and ran in circles for 4 hours instead of 2 hours, because then when you leveled, your stats might not come out right. Nothing like a whole game based around gold (where you can literally pay gold, and nothing else, to level up and increase your skills)... where gold is free when your haggle and personality are moderately high. How dumb is that? How can people design a game THAT popular, and THAT big, that is the THIRD in a series, and have it based around gold, except that gold is free as you buy things for less than you sell them?

And yet Oblivion then came out and the game was... worse. Amazing.

Comparing Dragon Age to Oblivion? Do you also think that Gigli and Ishtar were about as good as the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies or the Die Hards?

I'd bet $10,000 that anybody who likes Oblivion better than Dragon Age also voted for, or would have voted for, Obama.

[GoldDragon]

I find that it is even MORE rediculous to limit shielding to 85 (Oblivion), but then, there does need to be some form of balance. 95 I thought to be better.


I didn't vote for Obama, and I never said that Oblivion was better than DA:O. They aren't even the same type of game, really. Sure both are RPGs, but one is a sandbox, and the other isn't.


And there isn't any reason that someone can't enjoy both.

[flix]

Nice political reference.