Go Back   Forums > Community Chatterbox > Your Reviews
Memberlist Forum Rules Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Search Forums:
Click here to use Advanced Search

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 06-11-2013, 05:00 PM   #1
Japo
Autonomous human
 
Japo's Avatar


 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: ,
Posts: 4,613
Default Oblivion by Japo

So I'm _finally_ playing this game. My opinions... (I was going to post this on the Gaming Zone, but it became long enough to be moved here... Still it's an informal review/rant.)

The graphic superiority over Morrowind... Technically it may be there, but first I care next to nothing about this, graphics in Morrowind are better than good enough for me. And second, the only ugly graphics in Morrowind are the faces or heads, and also it has few choices (all ugly) for character creation--all of this can be fixed by mods, of course. But although Oblivion could have improved this dramatically because of the technical improvements, everything went wrong when they decided to make these synthetic faces instead of having artists draw them. The result is that any possible face is not only ugly but also stupid-looking, only with much higher detail and hardware requirements.

One thing Oblivion copied from Morrowind is leveling, and in my opinion this is wrong. I have preference for skill-based RPGs and it's OK when you put levelling on top of them, and in Daggerfall it was well done (only too easy to become too powerful). In Morrowind they decided to make attribute improvements at each level dependent on what skills you have trained, and you can have a variation of 1 to 5. It may make sense from a skill-based point of view, but levels are a concept outside of that model, and in practice it meant that your character could become severely underpowered or overpowered depending on whether you level "wrong" or "right", in a powergaming sense. In Morrowind it wasn't a real problem, only a bad idea, because Morrowind is still too easy even for an underpowered character, and difficulty doesn't depend on your level. But in Oblivion they copied this bad idea and introduced "levelled lists", which means that the same parts of the game get harder the higher your level is. The result is that if you don't "level efficiently" (i.e. power game) the game can become tougher as you level up, instead of easier or the same. A bad idea on top of a bad idea gives a terrible result. Some power gamers actually choose to abort levelling up artificially.

The other change in gameplay I detect is melee combat. Now it's not only click-click hack 'n slash, but you can do better if you block and counterattack. This is a welcome change by me. It also ends up more realistic, specially when fighting more than one enemy, the difficulty goes up exponentially. The Elder Scrolls games were revolutionary in making 1st person, one-person RPGs, but before Oblivion they didn't come up with a way to make this consequential; Arena, Daggerfall and Morrowind were still all about the old D&D hit/AC model alone.

The other difference is the story or plot. This was a very strong point in Morrowind (and Daggerfall). Dagoth Ur, the Dunmer and Dwemer... The story and lore were amazing. Oblivion takes place in the same amazing world created by Daggerfall, but its story is cliched, unimaginative and over the top, sinking to the depth of the one in Arena.

In conclusion I can understand the average opinion that Morrowind was amazing and Oblivion not so good, but still nice. Morrowind was a great game in its own, and it appeared so many years after Daggerfall, and it was so successful that it resurrected the Elder Scrolls franchise beyond, in which nobody would have betted a rat's ass before. Of course it wasn't perfect and it could have been better, but of course this is subjective for different people. So it paved the way for Oblivion (and Skyrim and as many as will come). But I think it's a fact that Oblivion could have used this legacy much better and easily be a better game, even if it's a good one on its own.
__________________
Life starts every day anew. Prospects not so good...
Japo is offline                         Send a private message to Japo
Reply With Quote
Old 08-11-2013, 05:30 PM   #2
Japo
Autonomous human
 
Japo's Avatar


 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: ,
Posts: 4,613
Default

No response?

Another thing, what I hate about the interface is that there are almost no hotkeys or keyboard shortcuts for anything. You have to do everything by mouse. Even the stupid lock-picking mini-game is controlled by mouse, and there's no keyboard alternative!

So here you have a PC game whose controls are actually poorer than the console ports, instead of the other way around as usual--nice!

Plus the lock picking mini-game is stupid, and at the same time unrealistic, while actually trying to be realistic, and failing at it, and being frustrating and time-wasting.
__________________
Life starts every day anew. Prospects not so good...
Japo is offline                         Send a private message to Japo
Reply With Quote
Old 08-11-2013, 06:42 PM   #3
jonh_sabugs
Abandonia nerd

 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Brazil
Posts: 91
Default

Hello, Japo, nice review.

It has been a number of years since I played Oblivion. I played it through, the main quest and some of the side quests, overall I put several hours in the game. Curiously, I played Morrowind for the first time only a few years after I played Oblivion (part of the reason being that Oblivion put me off the TES series for a while). I agree entirely that, compared to Morrowind, Oblivion felt very uninspired, and I believe that it is indeed the low point of the series.

I would like to add to the strong points of Morrowind the atmosphere. Walking around the sand storms in those cities made of bug shells sets a really nice mood for the game. Those mushrooms cities also provide some nice landscapes. Oblivion is rather bland in this sense.
jonh_sabugs is offline                         Send a private message to jonh_sabugs
Reply With Quote
Old 09-11-2013, 01:28 PM   #4
verek_22
Licenced misery wizard
 
verek_22's Avatar


 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Kelso, Scotland
Posts: 181
Default

Good review, Japo. Captures my own thoughts on Oblivion.

I thought Oblivion was okay. Some of the side quests and guild quests were pretty interesting. But the main quest was (in my opinion) really damned dull and unimaginative, the NPCs looked and spoke like animated mannequins, and the levelling was super broken.

Have you played Skyrim yet, Japo?
verek_22 is offline                         Send a private message to verek_22
Reply With Quote
Old 09-11-2013, 02:19 PM   #5
Japo
Autonomous human
 
Japo's Avatar


 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: ,
Posts: 4,613
Default

Nope I haven't played Skyrim. I hear it's better?
__________________
Life starts every day anew. Prospects not so good...
Japo is offline                         Send a private message to Japo
Reply With Quote
Old 09-11-2013, 03:42 PM   #6
Capo
Unconventional member
 
Capo's Avatar


 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Pescara, Italy
Posts: 989
Default

Imho Oblivion is almost unplayable without mods
__________________

Capo is offline                         Send a private message to Capo
Reply With Quote
Old 09-11-2013, 10:09 PM   #7
Japo
Autonomous human
 
Japo's Avatar


 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: ,
Posts: 4,613
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Capo View Post
Imho Oblivion is almost unplayable without mods
What mods do you recommend?
__________________
Life starts every day anew. Prospects not so good...
Japo is offline                         Send a private message to Japo
Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2013, 03:30 AM   #8
verek_22
Licenced misery wizard
 
verek_22's Avatar


 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Kelso, Scotland
Posts: 181
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Japo View Post
What mods do you recommend?
Allow me to butt in. I would recommend DarNified UI as a must-get mod. It tries to fix the horrible console interface Oblivion was plagued with. Beyond that, there are billions of mods I could suggest, but I'll stick with the Oblivion Character Overhaul, Open Cities Reborn and Unique Landscapes Compilation.

Some of those mods might need the Oblivion Mod Manager.

Also, just have a look through the Oblivion Nexus' Top Files list, and see if there are any mods you like the look of.
verek_22 is offline                         Send a private message to verek_22
Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2013, 03:54 PM   #9
Capo
Unconventional member
 
Capo's Avatar


 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Pescara, Italy
Posts: 989
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Japo View Post
What mods do you recommend?
Too many, but this is one is the fundamental one:

http://devnull.sweetdanger.net/OOO/OOO_Guide.html
__________________

Capo is offline                         Send a private message to Capo
Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2013, 09:01 PM   #10
Japo
Autonomous human
 
Japo's Avatar


 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: ,
Posts: 4,613
Default

Well the only thing I'd really like to beautify or fix from the vanilla game is the faces/heads/hair, so Oblivion Character Overhaul looks interesting. Other than that there's no special change which I can see that it could make the game better; like in Morrowind I really needed to increase merchants' money and I found a mod for that.
__________________
Life starts every day anew. Prospects not so good...
Japo is offline                         Send a private message to Japo
Reply With Quote
Reply


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Morrowind and Oblivion Fubb Gaming Zone 6 14-05-2010 12:03 PM
Oblivion Screenshots verek_22 Music, Art, Movies 1 20-10-2008 01:23 PM
Tes4: Oblivion Anyone? verek_22 Blah, blah, blah... 25 12-01-2007 07:45 AM
Tes Iv: Oblivion Tulac Gaming Zone 17 13-02-2005 10:39 PM
Tes Iv: Oblivion Stroggy Blah, blah, blah... 27 30-10-2004 03:31 PM

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump
 


The current time is 10:57 PM (GMT)

 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.