OBLIVION: Elder Scrolls IV for PS3...

[seawasp]

First, a surprised but gratified thank you to my Loyal Lieutenant slrose for sending this to me after she heard of my SECOND nasty infection of the week (now that the week is OVER I can at least be sure there won't be a third one for that week!), and more so for sending it super-duper special delivery so that it was delivered TODAY. Yes, on the Fourth of July, SUNDAY. I wonder if she paid more for the game, or more for the delivery...

In any case, I did get in some play time on this while otherwise doing very little except for spending a few hours doing very little but talking at my friend Eric's traditional July 4 picnic (at which I did NOT do my usual grilling services).

So far it seems very good indeed; hearing Patrick Stewart's voice as the first thing in an opening narration certainly is a good omen.

I'm not used to the first-person approach yet; the problem with it is that one then has to coordinate turning and moving and listening for things like combat, or you'll have some giant rat kill you from behind.

The only problems I've encountered have been either failures on the part of the tutorial -- which seems to be willing to assume a bit more knowledge or experience with these sorts of games than I have -- or on the part of my brain which isn't grasping the instructions properly. It appears I'm SUPPOSED to be able to just choose my destination on the map and go there without walking or renting a horse or whatever, but I can't even really figure out how to scroll the map or what it represents. I'm not sure how I'll handle a real fight with, well, multiple people or creatures -- they move faster than my sluggish reflexes and perceptions really can manage in the game context (in real life, I wouldn't have to think about how to aim, how to move, how NOT to get turned around and staring in the wrong direction as something gnawed on my leg, etc.)

I'm puzzled by some of the other techniques -- making potions and such; they list ingredients with effects but don't seem to actually produce the effects the ingredients say, and seem to REQUIRE the potions be made with four ingredients, rather than just using one ingredient for that ingredient's effect.

I'm also unclear on how I'll "level up". I've created a character class that's basically an Adventurer -- somewhat more magical than fighter (light armor and blade skill, but several magical skills plus whatever the talking skill is) and I've done a lot of magic stuff. Do I have to use each and every skill that was key for the character in order to level up? How can I tell?

Anyway, it seems fun, the imagery is rich, the controls are actually very well done, and hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon. Unfortunately, they don't have "Intelligent Toad" as a character race.

Comments

[marydell.livejournal.com]

You can only choose destinations on the map after you've discovered them. So the first time you go from one place to another, you have to walk or buy (or steal) a horse; then you can just go to the world map and click to return to the first place.

Also you can use a 3rd person camera--I found it much easier to do everything with the 3rd person camera instead of the 1st person.

Making potions is a matter of collecting the necessary stuff and then concatenating them through the potion-making thingy. The bare ingredients work a little bit on their own--like, eating stuff gives you a bit of health back.

The real key to the game is to wander around doing a lot of piddly stuff for a long time before taking on the main quest--you get XP and level up as you go around fighting in the wilderness, and also you collect a lot of side quests that way. I forget the exact details because I just finished a different RPG (Dragon Age) with different rules, so it took over the buffer space I had reserved for Oblivion previously.

Anyway Oblivion is a ton of fun and has some humorous bits in it, and you can really do a lot of entertaining stuff in it. Oh, fighting in the arena is a good way to collect XP and as soon as you sign up they give you some very nice armor for free--I didn't bother to use any non-arena armor until I was way far into the game.

[alex swavely (from livejournal.com)]

Also, you can 'discover' places by asking about them if they come up in conversation with an NPC.

[shana.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. And it was more for the game than the shipping.

I suggest playing on the easiest level until you've got the control thing figured out.

{{{hugs}}}

[alex swavely (from livejournal.com)]

Personally, i have a horrible time with FPS games using the standard console controllers. I recently discovered the EdgeFX series controllers from Split Fish and haven't looked back.

[amberdine.livejournal.com]

Yay!

The tricky thing with Oblivion is:

- You level up when your "major" skills improve
- Skills improve when you use them, and major skills improve quickly
- Enemies scale in difficulty based on your level

This means that it's fairly easy to advance levels super fast by using your major skills... and soon have a weak character which is easily overwhelmed. There are all kinds of strategies for dealing with this, but the general one is to chose the skills you're not actually planning on using much as your majors, and specifically training/advancing those skills to get the attributes you want when you feel it's time to level up.

But, don't worry about that now. Just play around and see what you like about it. You can read character development FAQs later (or alternately play on an easier setting and not worry about it.) Enjoy!

[caper-est.livejournal.com]

I tried Elder Scrolls III, and I just couldn't get used to the interface at all - the whole first person thing, I've come to conclude, is not my cup of tea. At least not in any present implementation. But it looked like there was a deal of interesting and original stuff behind it.

Hope you enjoy the game, and recover well and quickly. Look after yourself, now!

[nordhus.livejournal.com]

The Oblivion leveling system is a bit broken. The basics are fine. You improve your skills by using them and when you have gained ten skill points in your major skills (total not in each skill) you can go up a level. You need to find a bed or bedroll and go to sleep to actually level.

Here's where the fun starts. As you probably noticed during character creation skills in Oblivion are tied to attributes. When you level up you can choose three attributes to improve. How much the attributes you choose goes up depends on how many skill points you have gained in skills tied to those attribute.

0 skill points grants a +1
1-4 skill points grants a +2
5-7 skill points grants a +3
8-9 skill points grants a +4
10 or more skill points grants a +5

A level can thus gain you a minimum of three and a maximum of fifteen attribute points.

Oblivion also features a level scaling system. Instead of having low-level and high-level areas the toughness of all enemies scale with your level.

The problem lies in the combination of the two systems. If you choose too many +1 and +2 attributes when leveling, you will find your character gimped and unable too take on the level scaled enemies.

[ross-teneyck.livejournal.com]

I never liked Oblivion enough to get more than half an hour or so into it -- I kept finding myself flaying wildly with a sword in a direction slightly off from where a rat was chewing on my ankles.

But a friend of mine told me that he'd managed to find a way to exploit the "have to sleep to gain a level" and "enemies scale to your level" combination. Apparently there are ways you can effectively get stronger without actually leveling up, so he diligently employed all of those and never, ever took a nap. The result was he met the final encounter nominally at level one (or maybe two, I think there was one sleep he couldn't avoid for plot reasons) so the enemies were pitifully weak, but he was in fact strong enough to whale on them easily.

[seawasp]

Thanks very much for a clear exposition on these things. So the key is to either make sure that the skills you level up on are based on the attributes you want to improve, in essence -- or, find a way to improve yourself but NEVER sleep.

How do I get a disease cured? I got something called "helljoint", I think, from a wolf attack, and I can't seem to get rid of it, and it's knocked down two of my stats (agility and speed, I think). Is there someone somewhere in Imperial City who can/will cure it for me?

[nordhus.livejournal.com]

The usual: Cure Disease potion, Cure Disease spell, or divine intervention. The potion can be bought in the Merchant District, but I think the other options require you to leave Imperial City.

Praying at the main altar in a chapel will cure you, and the Cure Disease spell can be learned from a priest, but Imperial City does not have any chapels. The Temple of the One in the Temple District is important to the plot but does not have any of the usual services.

If you have reached the city one of the emperor's bodyguards should have given you directions to Weynon Priory. Make sure you are standing outdoors, open your world map, locate the priory and click on it to fast travel there. Right next to the priory is the town of Chorrol with a chapel that can heal you.

A Good Cheat

[tashady.livejournal.com]

Potions are your friends. My first time through the game, I gained mostly in sneaking around during the tutorial. There was a little spot where apparently the goblin thingie sees you, but doesn't really see you...

Anyways, I wound up around level 10 or so before I even properly started. Then I discovered potions. When you get a decent alchemy skill, you can make potions that last for 1-2 minutes. Which is really helpful when you need quick healing (or just quickness) for a few seconds to get out of a tight spot.