Knowing the quality that Bethesda puts into Elder Scrolls games, and the technology they’ve got to work with these days to realize their goal, this could possibly be the best game ever made. Yes, better than frogger, even.
Just look over those videos. Those forests are amazing. The lighting and texturing on metal objects is incredible. While I’m generally not a big fan of melee-FPS type combat, they look like they did a solid job.
The AI system, from what I’ve read, sounds especially promising - that alone will make the game a huge upgrade from Morrowind for creating an immersive world. The character spontaneously praciticing archery is kind of off the wall, in that video - but it’s interesting that how she goes about commenting on her lack of skill, drinking the potion, etc. And casting paralyze on a pesky dog… I suspect the AI system is going to produce lots of random, interesting experiences.
So my social life will completely die in two weeks? Thanks for the heads up, I hadn’t realized it was that close.
I’ve got high hopes tinged with reservations. I loved Morrowind completely, but I loaded it up for fun a few months ago and found it hadn’t aged very well. The graphics have long since dropped below what you see in the average MMOG, and one of these days I’ll understand what prevents Bethesda from running down to the local college and hiring a couple of hack writers to do their dialogues.
Still, I don’t think sucking is likely with this game, I think I’ll go get a new video card this week.
I’m very much looking forward to this game. Thankfully the specs of my computer seem to just barely surpass what they recommend (though looking at the preview videos, I have to wonder if perhaps the game will still be a bit choppy).
I played through Morrowind, Tribunal, and Bloodmoon 2 weeks ago (second time playing, but the first time that I actually pushed forward and completed the game) and from the sounds of it I believe they’ve at least made progress on most of my least favorite parts. They’ve improved hand-to-hand to something beyond “click at it until it dies.” Travelling across the map sounds like it will be much less of a chore.
I even have a little faith in regards to my largest complaint regarding Morrowind: the very broad, but very shallow nature of your characters interactivity with the game world. By this I mean a failure on the part of the world (specifically the NPCs) around you to react to things you’ve done. This became especially bad in the expansions, in which certain characters absolutely should react differently to you if you’ve completed the main quest. The video sounds like it should be better, given that your actions spark conversations and the like, though the fact that the game seems to use speech for all conversations likely cuts down on alternate conversations.
I guess the only other thing I’m hoping for is for it to be harder for a single character to do almost everything in the game. No doubt I’m probably in the minority as far as that goes, but I’m less inclined to replay a game multiple times if I don’t think that I’ll be able to try new things Fallout 2 was great in that respect. Come to think about it, it was great in regards to multiple conversation paths. I guess I really want Oblivion to be like Fallout 3
Now I just have to decide whether to order it via Amazon or try to brave my local game store.
You know, despite everything I’ve read Oblivion has yet to pique my interest. The new AI scheme only sounds intersting insofar as people actually go to bed at night (one of the things that bugged me about Morrowind). But as far as I’m concerned, graphics and physics don’t make an RPG: dialogue and realistic choices affecting the game world do.
It doesn’t look like they’ve managed to one up Fallout 2 or Planescape: Torment, still the leaders in the RPG field as far as I’m concerned.
The major problem with Elder Scrolls games is the dialogue/story, which is where Torment excelled. If Bethesda ever got around and made a perfect story like Torment’s with the open-endedness of the Elder Scrolls game they’d easily (unless they screwed up horribly in some other area) have one of the best RPGs ever made.
From what I’ve read, Oblivion changed a lot with the character interaction and dialogue. Which has my hopes up that it’ll be up there with Planescape.
[sub]/Looks at min requirements for Oblivion.
/Prices computer hardware upgrades.
/Counts money.
/Sighs. :([/sub]
The Elder Scrolls games are some of my favorites ever, all the way back to Arena. Okay, Daggerfall was kind of a stinker, but Morrowind made up for it.
(Grossbottom, if you have not tried the Better Bodies and Faces of Morrowind mods, do so – they greatly improve the look of the game from the original.)
I’ve been looking forward to Oblivion for a while now. From the initial gameplayreports, it looks like it’s improved in pretty much every area. It certainly looks better, the dialogue is now spoken (although not your dialogue, obviously), and the use of skills overall is more realistic (speechcraft, sneaking, even fighting).
I’ver pretty much decided to let my City of Heroes subscription lapse for a bit in order to play Oblivion. Man, that’s a hard decision.
I want this game… but I’m not getting it when it comes out. It’s not because I’m worried about bug (the delay was apparently all bug fixing start to finish, and three months of extra spit and polish is pretty good). I just need a new video card and more memeory. No job == no money == no goodies.
So, my processor is a bit on the slow side (only a 2.2 Ghz), but it isn’t so important these days. Once I’ve got a gig of Ram and a new viddy, I’ll be good to go.
I’m extremely eager for this game. Morrowind was the only XBox game I’ve ever played over-and-over (I don’t usually play the quests-- I just have lots of fun exploring and stealing.)
I was a bit bummed when I read in the review that stealing is more difficult in this game-- it sounds almost impossible to get away with it, actually, since it sounds like the guards have ESP and know as soon as they see you that you’re carrying stolen goods.
See, I really enjoyed the story of Morrowind, it was the actual telling of it that was weak. The lame dialogues just didn’t throw into contrast the underlying struggle between the elven god-kings of Morrowind and the dying human Emperor who can see the future. There was alot of meat on that bone, and most of it just sat there.
I pre-ordered this one after reading the two big IGN previews last week, but I may go to Best Buy on release day and pick it up instead. I picked up Fable: The Lost Chapters on XBox last week, and it’s been holding my interest extremely well, so I hope I can hold out until the 20th. I still have to finish up Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (1 or 2 missions to complete), and I also want to get the new Sims 2 xpack. I’m not sure if I should wait on that until I’m over Oblivion or get it to hold me over. I’m afraid my Tycoon City: New York love is well and truly over, at least until the developers patch it so it actually becomes a game.
I’m so so excited and have pre-ordered it for PC. Although my graphics card is acceptable according to the specs, it’s low-end for the game. I’ll hopefully be able to upgrade RAM and graphics card so I can enjoy more bells and whistles. I’m trying to put off buying a new PC for a year or more.
My wife asked me, yesterday, what I’d like for my birthday (in two weeks). I said, “Oblivion, and a video card that can handle it.”
I’m so freakin’ excited. I’ve been collecting all of the Elder Scrolls games, even though it’s really unlikely I’ll ever be able to play, say, Arena, again. I just like having them on my shelf.
I’ve never really cared for the world, itself- I guess when it comes to fantasy, I kinda like mine more traditional than the Elder Scrolls world. They did a few things which irritate me a little- Ebony is a good material to build weapons out of? But the open-endedness fascinates me, and I love being able to build my own spells and magic items.
It’s also a blast to be able to create my own custom events and items, using the editor. In Morrowind, after I finished the first expansion pack, Tribunal, I modified the dead clockwork god’s domain into an extradimensional home for myself.
My PC is up to the task, although I should upgrade my video cooling… My problem will be finding time to play, yet still get enough sleep so that I can function at work the next day. I ain’t as young as I once was, and my current project is kicking my ass as it is.
I have a question for you Morrowind pros. I have Morrowind but haven’t played it yet, so I don’t have a “feel” for how best to approach or play successfully in an Elder Scrolls game. For awhile Oblivion won’t have mods, walkthroughs, or bug patches and I’ll be fumbling around quite a bit. If you were me, somewhat intimidated by the new game, would you start out by playing Morrowind for a few months while the pros trailblaze the Oblivion game, then play Oblivion when mods and hints appear and bugs are sorted out? I sort of dread all the long reading and traveling in Morrowind, when I could be playing Oblivion. But still…
My girlfriend recently bought an Xbox 360, so I’ve preordered a copy of Oblivion for it. Which is good, because if my computer was going to try to run it I’d probably have to get out and push.
Fallout 2 was great in that respect. Come to think about it, it was great in regards to multiple conversation paths. I guess I really want Oblivion to be like Fallout 3 
