I’ve played EQ, EQII, WOW for years, but I always end up soloing, I’ll never be uber, I spend way too much time getting distracted by side projects, my inventories are jammed up with bits and pieces of tradeskill and quest items. I gave up on them finally, found myself bored while playing. But then after a few months I am sooo bored without something to play, and I miss the worlds and stuff, so I started reading about TES and it looks like fun. I picked it up yesterday and so far so good. I am having to get used to saving games. I got through the tutorial, only had to log out once to go look it up. Now I’m in the middle of some city kinda spinning my wheels, not sure what I should do next.
So my big question is, any good fan sites or walkthroughs? I’ve found some, but nothing exceptional. Also, what’s all this about mods? I’ve used add-ons with wow so I get the concept sort of, but are they worth the effort to search out and learn to use? How do they improve the game?
I’m liking how fast it loads, there’s no being locked out like the on-line games. I’m impressed with the graphics and it runs really well on my machine. I’m having fun so far, definitely worth the 20 bucks I spent. (it’s the goty version)
Oh, and if you have any suggestions for any other good rpg subs for eq/wow please tell me about them
This list is a good place to start. I found unmodded Oblivion to be unenjoyable. I’d definitely look at gameplay and balance mods first, such as ones that don’t punish you by training the wrong skills early, and by leveling monsters everywhere you go (the latter really killed the enjoyment of the game, since you have to level efficiently or the game outpaces you).
Congratulations, I think you’ll enjoy the game. I know I did, for quite a few hours.
Yes, modding is a good thing. The leveling system in Oblivion is quite weird, and unless you learn to play it properly, it may even be game destroying. You need to pick primary skills that allow you to control leveling for maximum rewards, and not the skills you’re most likely to use, or you’ll find yourself overwhelmed very early.
The fan site I used is the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Page. Quite comprehensive, and very useful. They also list recommended mods.
I’m confused about so much right now. I end up destroying a bunch of loot because I’m overburdened. I want to find a site that explains how to make good choices for equipment. I found a merchant in a city finally after I’d had to drop a bunch of heavy stuff.
I’ve been to the wiki site, and to the Bethesda site, and a couple message boards.
Just fyi, I made a khajiit adventurer. I’d read that the khajitt can see in the dark so that’s my main reason for that choice.
This game mostly reminds me of EQ, in look and other ways.
There are a number of good mods for Oblivion depending on your tastes and preference: cheats abound, of course, as well as modified character models and clothing which improve upon the somewhat vanilla look of Oblivion’s art. (Read: fans need more naked bouncy.) Some mods increase the variety of hairstyles, hair colors, eye colors, and other custom features (so you can make a red-eyed Imperial, f’rinstance).
Advice #1. Go through the tutorial as a Nord with the birthsign Warrior for maximum Strength. Pick up everything you can with a high value:weight ratio (preferably selling for more than it weighs; it’s more profitable to carry a 1-pound Fur Legging that sells for 4 coins than a 20-pound War Hammer that sells for 10 coins). Before you get out of the tutorial save the game. Save save save. Why? Before you exit the tutorial you can revise your entire character: race, class, gender, looks, birthsign, class. Having the game saved here means you need never do the tutorial again.
Advice #2. At every levelup you get to bump your stats by +1 through +5, depending on how much you use certain skills. If you skill up your Intelligence-related skills (Alchemy, Conjuration, Mysticism) by a total of 10 points, you can bump your Intelligence by +5. Keep this in mind if you want to have a character with good all-around stats.
Advice #3. It doesn’t really matter which order you do the quests in, since it adjusts to your level automatically. Items, loot, enemies and whatnot scale to you. This can be good — it means you’ll never get in over your head — or bad — you’ll never be able to take great risks and acquire great rewards. If you think the auto-scaling is bad, there are mods that you can apply that adjust this.
Advice #4. Get the printed Oblivion guide. Oblivion doesn’t like being Alt-Tabbed out of, so online walkthroughs may not be very useful (unless you have a second computer as I do). The printed guide has a few errors but is generally pretty thorough on quest how-to.
You could check out the (now very rarely updated) Living In Oblivion blog; it’s the diary of a guy trying to play the game as an NPC, i.e. getting into no actual adventure whatsoever. It’s pretty funny. Start here, I think.
Some of the mods sound pretty cool, like the Bag of Holding with infinite capacity/zero weight if I understood the description.
I do have a second computer available to look up stuff on the fly. I’d like to get the Prima guide if it’s any good. I’ve used them for other games and they help a lot.
Thankfully I’d read the tip to save game at the end of the tutorial so I’ve done that, although I’m still pretty awkward so a few times through the tutorial actually wouldn’t hurt. I keep trying to use the arrow keys to walk
Dead Badger I’m definitely going to check out that blog, sounds llike a hoot.
I’m a big time sandbox style player, not very goal oriented.
One of the challenges I’ve encountered in researching is the age of the game, I’m never sure if the info is the most recent, since most of it is aged due to the length of time the game’s been around.
Alternatively, once you’ve done the tutorial, try Alternative Start which starts the player in a cabin on a ship and allows for some low-key customisation (cash, gear, social status). This also makes it easier to skip the main quest if you’re playing a socially conscious character who wouldn’t otherwise ignore the directives of the Emperor.
The suggestion on value:weight is always a good one to keep in mind. Arrows and potions will frequently be the best loot due to this ratio at lower levels. You’ll generally want to discard heavy armour or weapons unless you plan to use them, because they’ll rarely be worth the encumbrance. Bag mods are helpful, but the Bag of Holding mod seems a bit too easy to me; I’m more inclined to something like Carry Sacks which still maintains some encumbrance on stored items.
Also note that unlike in Morrowind, skill bonuses are applied to a specific level whether you take that level or not. For example: in Morrowind, if you are level 33 and have enough skillups to sleep 4 times and be level 37, all your attribute bonus skillups will apply only to the level you currently are - you can stay at level 33 and visit a trainer to ensure maximum stat bonuses for level 33. In Oblivion, if you’re level 33, once you have enough skillups to be level 34, all attribute bonuses from skillups will now apply to level 34 even if you stay at level 33. So you if you’re going to min-max, you must ensure you get your minor abilities skilled up first for stat bonuses, before you use major abilities and risk levelling.
A mod like Realistic Levelling removes much of the need to metagame or micro-manage stats. I haven’t had much opportunity to play with this one enabled yet, but it’s looking really good so far. It helps remove the need to (for example) make Sneak a minor skill and sneak around behind a stationary NPC for 10 skillups every level to ensure a high Agility and reduce knockbacks in combat for a Warrior-type character. The Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) requirement is just a small program that replaces the Oblivion launcher and allows mods to use enhanced scripts (it’s a “legal” mod, well known on the official forums and developed for all three of Bethesda’s currently moddable games).
In terms of scaling, Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul (OOO) is widely considered the ultimate Oblivion mod for levelling due to the realism changes, removal of level-based scaling, and other additions to quests. It’s a bit intimidating to wade through the 58-page Read Me, but apparently well worth it. Again, I can’t comment much personally - I’m just picking the game back up after a long hiatus and trying out a lot of mods for the first time.
ETA: “Just fyi, I made a khajiit adventurer. I’d read that the khajitt can see in the dark so that’s my main reason for that choice.”
Check out Khajiit Night Eye Toggle, which makes the ability a bit more useful & realistic (imo). Also keep in mind any other race can cast Night Eye as a spell; if you want to try out other races, don’t let the lack of racial Night Eye turn you off.
I’ve used Oscuro’s, and it’s indeed fabulous. The same for Martigen’s Monster Mod, which adds hundreds of new monsters. TESNexus is the best place to get mods, and Bethsoft’s own forum is the best place to read up and ask questions about them.
My only issue with Martigen’s is it adds monsters that aren’t native to the Elder Scrolls world… Balrogs and Uberhulks just don’t work for me, whereas there’s precedent for the creatures Oscuro adds (for example, there were golems in Arena/Daggerfall). Obviously, though, that’s a personal choice.
If you aren’t a lore nut and you’re really into adding new creatures and changing the game, you might want to check out FCOM which combines MMM, OOO, and a couple other mods.
If you’ve never modded before, I highly recommend *against *FCOM. You have to be extremely careful about load order (though that’s still a concern with OOO and MMM), IIRC it requires Wrye Bash, and no matter what you do it’s going to destabilize the game to some extent. Seriously, when they say it can chew your game up and spit it out, they aren’t joking. Takes freaking forever to get everything on and loaded properly.
Most important is a mod to fix the absolutely horrific level-up system that should get someone at Bethesda fired. And to think they used it again after Morrowind!
Morrowind wasn’t that bad: at least you could go off the beaten track and find creatures too powerful for your level. You could take extraordinary risks and get gear you shouldn’t be allowed to have. Oblivion, not so much.
I was mostly referring to the +5 system, though it is related to the monsters level with you problem. If you don’t game the system, and boy is it tedious doing so, then at higher levels you’ll get absolutely spanked. So they actually made it worse than Morrowind, amazingly.
Cannot fathom why they didn’t just link stats to skills, as the mods do.
For mods, you should go to the elder scrolls nexus, there are tons of them. And there’s also a good forum there.
You should download the “oblivion mod manager” for mods, if you download many of them. It helps.
I would also download the “CM partners” mod, and search for some interesting user-made NPC that require this mod. To my knowledge, there’s no companion with an interesting story or even significant interaction with your character, but, weirdly enough, I still feel alone if I don’t have any companion.
I can’t help with graphic mods, since my computer is significantly below the minimal requirements, and the game often slow down as it is, so I’m not going to add anything else.
There are at least two story-based companion mods that I know of. Knights of the White Stallion and Ruined Tail’s Tale (both linked in the page referenced below). The Lost Spire quest mod mentioned below is unbelievable. Seriously, it’s easily better than most of the core game’s quest lines.
I agree, for the opposite reason. I don’t like reloading games (and often forget to even save as a result) , and I’ve a tendency to be very cautious. So I generally try to explore not too dangerous areas until I’m confident my character is strong enough to handle whatever quest/dungeon I intend to undertake. Impossible in this game, apparently. So, I get killed, and killed again, and I hate that.
Note that having a NPC by your side helps with this issue.
Regarding this game, a general comment : it’s the first time I’m uncomfortable in a computer game when my character finds himself in unpleasant areas. Spoilers tag even though I’m not saying anything players will figure out in quick order :
I hated visiting the plane of Oblivion. I actively disliked the place. So much so that when I randomly found a second gate to Oblivion, I thought “Oh nooo!” even though I expected most of the game would be spent searching for and entering such gates. I created a second character, then a third, etc… and I’m yet to enter Oblivion a second time. I guess I’ll have a problem finishing this game
I assume that actually disliking unlikeable areas of the game is a compliment to the designers, sort of.
Regarding the main quest, in response to clairobscur (oblivion gates spoilers):
[spoiler]In the course of the main quest, you only technically need to enter, I believe, three oblivion gates. There is the first one in Kvatch, one at Bruma, and then one at the very end of the quest (which you really will want to just run through without fighting anything due to a time limit). There are other “optional” gates during the main quest, but you don’t actually have to do them (most of them being part of the optional Allies for Bruma quests).
The random oblivion gates you find in the wilderness are completely optional; they open with increasing frequency as you progress through the main quest, and then will close when you finish the main quest.[/spoiler]
One essential mod is DarkUI: Oblivion Mod Wiki. Reskins the UI to be dark instead of light (so you don’t burn out your corneas when checking inventory or skills in a dungeon) and resizes it to work on PC instead of Xbox.
Thanks again to everyone for your thoughts. I don’t have anything constructive to add at this point, but I’m definitely enjoying reading your posts.
I loaded the game last night for a few minutes just to familiarise myself with the ui. It is starting to make sense a bit. All the icons were basically meaningless the first time I played. Fun fun fun
I haven’t died in-game yet, but it finally occurred to me what would happen when I do I’ve been playing on-line games so long, and I hadn’t seen any mention of it anywhere in the faq’s der :smack:
