Tes Iv: Oblivion

[Stroggy]

The first screens have been released.
Some screens were already released as an exclusive for some magazine (which was not available for many people in Europe) but now a few screens have been released and can now be seen in all their glory on gamespy.com
so hop over to the Gamespy Preview (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion/558955p1.html)

I *think* they made some graphics progress since Morrowind :whistle:

[Iron_Scarecrow]

Looks like a very nice game indeed. Detail is fantastic. The picture of the hut with the grass and the leaves and even the clouds in the sky is brilliant. Probably wouldn't run on my computer though. :cry:

[Stroggy]

well the current releasedate is somewhere in 2006...
Its also being made for Xbox 2 and PS3... if you rather pay money for a new console than a new computer.
Personally, being an active member in the Morrowind mod Community, its better to buy the PC game so you can enjoy the modifications.

I have a feeling I will be getting a new computer for my birthday... since this computer is old and crashes very very often (even while running normal games)
When I gave my brother some money and asked him to buy me a new computercase he gave me some halfassed excuse.

So I think I will be able to run it properly :)

[Havell]

Yay! There's a picture featuring some far away mountains, that means the draw distance won't be so crap in this one!

[Iron_Scarecrow]

Well hopefully we will have upgraded our computer by 2006. It isnt that bad a computer really I don't know all the details about it, but I do know we have a GeForce 4 MX graphics card which is apparently worse than a GeForce 3, seems kind of stupid to me. Cause of this we can't run Sands of Time, I really want to play that, also some games don't run as smooth as they probably should.

[The Niles]

Hopefully I will have a new computer by 2006 (I think I will). Then I too will be playing this game as one of my regulars. Too bad there is no multiplayer. That is what will keep this game from becomming an instant classic.

[Stroggy]

The developers have always said that they are very much against the multiplayer concept

and the main site has been updated, as forseen.
Elderscrolls (http://www.elderscrolls.com/home/home.htm)

aaah... excellent

EDIT: and to everyone's great surprise (and relief) Oblivion will not be smaller.
There will, however, be less quests and less NPCs.
But in return they have said all quests will be dynamic and immersive.
They claim they are trying to set things right... since Morrowind had loads of quests but most (of not all) were fetch this/kill that quests.
and the NPCs will not be static anymore.
They will be living NPCs (more about this in the gamespy preview)

[The Niles]

I read that and I'm interrested in seeing what they do with that. It might just be more hype then reality as almost every claim of AI has been in the history of computing.

[Stroggy]

Knowing Bethesda they will implement it... but it'll have hillarious bugs.
Bethesda is known for trying to break boundries.
They usually succeed... but the sloppy coding usually mean 'back to the drawing board'
But who knows, they have grown since Daggerfall.

Plus its one of the top 5 complaints about Morrowind: no activity.
So perhaps they really decided to make NPC AI a cornerstone.

Oh and most fans of TES are rejoicing at the fact that it won't be a multiplayer game (on April 1st both Bethesda and serveral fansites released info saying the next game would be a multiplayer game. While this was a joke many hardcore-fans never really recovered from the shock)

To be honest I don't really care how they pull it off (real AI or scripted daily actions) I just want them to make the entire world more alive.

[The Niles]

I will never understand why people would not want to have a multiplayer option in a game. I can understand fans not wanting this to turn into a multiplayer only game but why limit yourself to singleplayer. It will limit the appeal this game will have on gamers and thus making sure the changes of yet another Elder Scrolls game after this one are smaller.

[Stroggy]

thats not true.
Morrowind appealed to many more players than daggerfall.
And even now I hear people saying "I didn't like Morrowind, but this game does intrigue me"
Frankly, I think people are fed up with multiplayer RPGs.
Real RPG players know that , in return for multiplayer, you get a flimsy game.
The multiplayer could be good, but singleplayer will be terrible (see neverwinter Nights)
There is a reason games like Baldurs Gate and Gothic are liked, dispite their average graphics: singleplayer gameplay.

[FreeFreddy]

And which one too...
But there're rumors they'll add a multiplayer option to Gothic 3. If that will slip by good... :rolleyes:

[Morrin]

Im great fan of morrowind (and community addict) and I almost puked on myself when I saw those screenshots! Doom 3 looks crappy compared to oblivion! Oh boy

[Maikel]

I was amazed at the distance you could see (the shot with the knight on a horse) , I hope the game will still be playable.

It would really enhance the feeling of ''hugeness'' :)

[Fenris]

Oblivion looks absolutly awsome. I hope this game will be worth an computer upgrade.
I am especially looking forward to have full view of Oblivions sky. Morrowind had the most beatuifull sky i have ever seen in a computer game. At night you could sit down and just gaze into the stars, it was brilliantly done.

[The Niles]

Morrowind appealed to more people then daggerfall because daggerfall was so crappy and Morrowind was a great game for it's time (it's still great). Multiplayer RPG are loved world wide, look at KotOR for instance. The trouble RPG had in multiplay was that they tried to copy a singleplayer game directly to a multiplayer environment. Morrowind and most like Oblivion as well is perfect for multiplayer as the game world is so huge. A group of friend can set out in morrowind on an adventure and find it all over the place it is not set to a single storyline. What can be considdered a weakness in Morrowind single player (the aimlesness of the story) is a plus for multiplayer.

[Stroggy]

KOTOR has multiplayer?

[Fenris]

The world may be big enough for multiplayer. But the whole balancing would be absolutley useless for more players. And the bigger the worlds is, the more work you will need to change it for a multiplayer mode.

[The Niles]

Originally posted by Stroggy@Oct 28 2004, 04:16 PM
KOTOR has multiplayer?
Galaxies

[The Niles]

Originally posted by Fenris@Oct 28 2004, 04:50 PM
The world may be big enough for multiplayer. But the whole balancing would be absolutley useless for more players. And the bigger the worlds is, the more work you will need to change it for a multiplayer mode.
Nope, since the world is free roaming it does not matter. You can always go somewhere that is a challange for a party of your size and skill level.

[Fenris]

But that way you will loose the whole storyline.

[Havell]

The thing I found about Morrowind was that although it was completly free-roaming I was never short of things to do, If you choose to follow the main quest then you are never left at a loose end at what to do but even if you just walk around then you can find people giving quests along the road, There is lots to do and You can always find something to do.

[Fenris]

I didn't say that you won't have to do anything. All I wanted to say is that a multiplayer mode must have some modifications. Of course you could just go one to some harder enemies, but that's not how a mulitplayer should be like.

[The Niles]

Even if you were going to stick to the main storyline you would not have a very severe balance problem. In a party each individual would gain experience slower then a single individual in single player would.

[Stroggy]

I think that if Oblivion would be a multiplayer game it wouldn't do too well.
With those graphics people would be afraid to play it online, with so many people in one place slowing down everything to a crawl.
And it would have to fight upcoming online RPG giants like Everquest II and Worlds of Warcraft. Both games already have the upper edge.

Plus, its like there's a new online RPG launched every week, and not nearly enough singleplayer RPG games.
Its as if every company says: "we can appeal to amuch larger audience by not thinking out an entertaining story and just putting them inside a big world and make them pay every month"

I was sick of online RPGs since the day Everquest reared its low-poly head

[The Niles]

Stroggy I think you missunderstand me. I do not mean that they should make Oblivion exclussively multiplayer. I am saying that it should be an option to be able to play it multiplayer.

[Fenris]

Well, I don't think, that it would be worth it. The work to implement a mediocre multiplayer mode would be much better used to make the singleplayer mode better. Even if you don't change the game'S balance, there would still be a huge effort behind a multiplayer mode.

[Stroggy]

Originally posted by The Picard@Oct 30 2004, 02:43 PM
Stroggy I think you missunderstand me. I do not mean that they should make Oblivion exclussively multiplayer. I am saying that it should be an option to be able to play it multiplayer.
Well you yourself said Bethesda's greatest flaw is trying to implement too many things at once.
I think the same would apply if they would try to implement multiplayer.
Both single player as well as multiplayer would be flawed.

Two new screens have been released.
Also it seems Emil Pagliarulo is part of the Oblivion Team.
He worked on all three thief games.
Hmmm, so stealth will finally play a bigger role... perhaps