GameBanshee Forums

I almost didn't read the review for fear that it would be like every other review i've read about oblivion so far. Most of them stating how great everything is, and not pointing out a single thing the reviewer disliked besides maybe the system requirements. Your review was a breath of fresh air for me. I think many reviewers simply jumped the gun on this to get their review up faster, before they really got into the game and had a chance to experience everything.

For me, the biggest disappointment with oblivion is the fact that items level with you, and there are far fewer unique items than there was in morrowind. Most of which you get through shrine quests. I hate the fact that rare suits of armor like ebony and daedric just start showing up eventually. That really brought down the whole experience for me. One of the best parts of morrowind was hearing about a daedric cuirass or something like that, that was at the bottom of a waterfall in some remote cave. Then thinking to yourself, "wow, i've got to check that out!" The you'd hear about a powerful sword or shield or something, and go check that out. You'd then be able to walk around the world with extremely rare equipment while most everyone else had chainmail or leather or something. Now once you start finding the cool stuff, everyone seems to have it. All the unique items found in RPGs is one of the main reasons I got into the genre in the first place.

When I first started playing the game I would explore caves and ruins with the hope that there may be a chance of running across a unique sword or something. Given that happened a few times, I quickly learned that most of the items I thought were unique at the time ended up showing up again in another cave. I agree with you that there is really no point in exploring other caves and ruins once you've found a decent one. Just go back in a few days and find some more leveled loot, raise a level, then repeat the process in hope at finding better stuff.

Given all that, I still don't regret buying the game. It's given me hours upon hours of enjoyment. Even given it shortcomings it's still an amazing game. I had a good time playing it, but now that i've beaten most of the quests, I really don't have a huge urge to keep playing. This is the complete opposite of what happened after I beat most of the quests in morrowind. Oh, well... Maybe next time they'll rethink that kind of stuff to make the game more enjoyable for us veteran RPG gamers, and not just throw in a bunch of stuff that appeals more to kids...

You're judging the entire game of oblivion on a basis of the items you get? It makes sense that you cant get a Dragon bane sword of uber slaying fire death infinite charges at first bloody level, which I think is a decent idea that Bethesda had.

There are plenty of Unique Items too, there are Shrines you can visit and do quests for, Sigil stones make your own items pretty unique, and besides, many people can live without unique items in this game. For some people, a single unique item in a game might become there ultimate goal in the game instead of what Oblivion was actually built for, which is Doing Stuff in the Game.

Oblivion is not about fighting the most powerful monsters, or finding the most powerful item, or doing the hardest quest, it's about doing things. There are so many things you can do each and every time you start oblivion, and then there are mods which create more and more things to do in oblivion, such as unique items.

Just because bethesda didn't include uber items in the game of oblivion and instead made the items level with you doesn't make this a bad game or them at fault. I do find the monsters leveling with you a bad idea, but the items leveling with you, again, uber items at level 1 do not make sense to the game, it's called being cheap.

Ok, maybe you misunderstood what I said here. I wasn't judging the game based on the fact that items are leveled, I just said it was a major disappointment to me. It didn't ruin the game for me, but made it less enjoyable than morrowind. If you've played morrowind you'll remember that most of the really good loot was well guarded, making it impossible for a low level character to get without cheating. Thus it didn't unbalance the game.

As for the items you get from shrines, that's all well and good, but i'm talking about loot you get in caves and ruins and whatnot. Rare loot that you run across in some random cave somewhere. Not setup stuff like getting a rare item from a shrine quest.

Again, i'm not judging the game based on that fact alone. Look at the last paragraph I wrote. I really enjoyed the game. I just think the new leveling system isn't that great, nothing more nothing less. If you don't agree with that it's ok, it's my opinion, nothing more.

True, maybe I did misunderstand, but then again, the point was made. Oblivion is not about unique items but more about what you do in the game.

[QUOTE=merc11]I wasn't judging the game based on the fact that items are leveled, I just said it was a major disappointment to me.[/QUOTE]
I'd agree...it makes little sense to me that once you reach a certain level that a mere goblin has a super-weapon, just because you've reached Level X. There are areas with tougher enemies who you'd then expect to be equipped with the better items. This would mean they would be available to a Level 1 character, but you'd have have to be either incredibly lucky or resourceful to get them.
Just like you'd expect a dragon to have a big hoard of treasure.... If you managed to defeat that dragon at Level 1, would you expect it to have 5 gold pieces or a large treasure room?

[QUOTE=Siberys]True, maybe I did misunderstand, but then again, the point was made. Oblivion is not about unique items but more about what you do in the game.[/QUOTE]

I think what he's maybe saying is that it's really annoying how there are no surprises connected with exploration in Oblivion. True, you may discover an Ayelid ruin for the first time, but if you go inside you'll find the same leveled creatures, and if you beat them and search for loot, you find the same leveled goods. There is 0% of anything else. The whole "I'll search all over, who knows what will be behind the next door in the wilderness I spot" feeling of Morrowind is gone.

It doesn't break the game, but it does cause me to question the game design document. If it's all going to be leveled, who cares that the developers have put in so-many dungeons throughout the place? Especially when you combine it with the fact that cave contents respawn in 3 days. It's anti-exploration. There are other examples, but that's one of the best.

Yes, that's exactly what I was trying to say fable. It's disappointing that there are so many caves and ruins to explore, but really no reason to do so after you learn that they are all going to bring about basically the same results. It seems the only reason to look for other caves is the chance that they might contain better leveled loot.

I found a cave called crawlfish cave (I think that's what it was called) which had some good leveled loot. So i'd go there and clear it out, then come back in three days and do it again. Once I found that cave, there was need to explore other caves at all.