I've had this day for roughly 50 days now and have already grown absolutely tired of this game. Whereas I played Morrowind actively for 6 months.

Main reason for me getting bored so quickly is the lack of variety in dungeons and the lack of factions to join.

In Morrowind it seemed that most dungeons where unique, you never really knew what to expect.
But in Oblivion there are only like four kinds of diffrent dungeons, Ayleid, Fort, Cave and Mine, and they all were pretty much the same; filled with monsters.

Sure, the dungeons in Morrowind also had monster but they also could have mages doing secret experiments, slave traders, strange cult worshippers and monsters that likes to dress Bretons in funny hats.

Ok, in Morrowind we had 11 (iirc) different factions you could join. Oblivion only have 6 as far as I know and one of them you can only become an honory member (can't do quest for them).

So in my opinion this game wasn't nearly as entertaining as Morrowind was.

While I do wish there were more dungeon tilesets, the game is all about the story, for me. I've found a lot of the quests to be quite interesting, with various twists and turns.

what did i said?
pc games = a lot of content, mod friendly, update friendly
console games = graphic intensive for now only, only

oblivion is not a pure pc games, it is also xbox 360 too. The developer and publisher opened up another market for their game but at the same time water downed their content. It's the console's fault, all of it.

Main reason for me getting bored so quickly is the lack of variety in dungeons and the lack of factions to join.
I agree.

I've found a lot of the quests to be quite interesting, with various twists and turns. Also, I agree. On balance, it's a pretty good game.

I found having Oblivion Gates everywhere quite annoying after closing only 8 of the things....so I just blitzed the main quest to get rid of them, now its much nicer because I can walk places without having to worry about the Gates.

I really enjoy this game and I found its slightly more direct storyline alot more engaging, something which Morrowind lacked for me. I admit the dungeons get pretty repetitive in their looks, but meh, I still find it engaging...

I personally am really enjoying this game.

I agree, Morrowind had a much better storyline in every way.

I suffered from the lack of focus in Morrowind which I to some extent did/do in Oblivon as well but nearly as bad. I did the mistake with my first character that I levelled to such a high level that the main quest got trivial and I just blitzed through it not spending much time on it at all.

I suffer from a severe problem in RPG games in general. I am a powergamer, I want to be as powerful as possible and just kill everything. This is partly due to the fact that I hate losing (ie dying), partly due to I **** my pants if I run into something bigger and meaner than me and lastly due to good old fashioned megalomania. The problem is that while I do enjoy running around as a demi-god I enjoy it more if there is just enough challenge in the game to put an edge to it. Oblivion is perfect between lvl10 and 25ish, every fight is a strain but there is always (almost) a way. Then you hit the roof of the scaling and much of the challenge goes away. On my first character I now run around in black hand robes even though light armour is a major skill for pure style reasons and that I dont really need any armour. In general I found it too easy to level non-combat magic skills and thus gain lots of levels quickly. I am not playing two characters where I wont do any "conscious" levelling but only level by what I actually use and I will also try to explore more and not fast travel everywhere. Am also going to give the main quest more attention.

Joacquin, maybe you should stick to Diablo ? That sounds more like your type of game.

With Morrowind you were given a world and told to explore - go to town with the game, so to speak. Roleplay any kind of character you want and the game let you.

With Oblivion you're given a world and told how and where to explore, with someone carrying you around on a leash saying "Ho now, you're not ready to see a minotaur or anything that can kill you yet. Nor will you find any sparkly treasure, because you haven't earned it."

The game's scaling ruins it by taking away any sense of achievement whatsoever.

^^ Sounds like another example of dumbing down gameplay. :(

Pac Man, I cant stand Diablo like games. I like to roleplay and the characters I usually end up roleplaying is powerhungry greedy bastards with a god complex. I honestly found that comment highly insulting.

Diablo style games are so not RPG. I like to walk around and explore every bit of the map. I like to not have a mouse arm, or cramp in my clicking fingers.

I know that over a given period of time mods will be made by people that will bring the game to a higher level. The level we wanted it to be in the first place and expected to get at purchase.

Are we spoiled by games like bg2 and Morrowind?

I a part, yes, we expect it to be as they were then. We will get bored by Oblivion sooner than we did with Morrowind because Morrowind was new. Oblivion is more Morrowind 2 than elders scrolls 4.

The first rpg I ever played was bg2, purely by accident. I stumbled over the demo in a computergame magazine. The next day I did not even look at the price. years after I played the two icewinds and found them to be nice but not as good as bg2. After many yeard I got a copy of bg1. It has bored the crap out of me. I got Planescape Torment. it also bored after a while. ToEE I did not get past the second level of the temple due to boredom.

How will I look at bg3 or icewind 3? The same way I look at Oblivion?

I agree with Joacqin...and since my Altmer Shadow Blade hit lvl 26 a couple of days ago...I know what you mean.

HOWEVER...Elvenblade, mate, what are you TALKING about?

I've had this game for a month, and I've put 220 hours into it...(yes, I know...I need to get a life) but I'm still yet to get tired of it! And yes...its all on that one character of mine. I've been playing really slowly, savoring all the quests, the oblivion gates and what not. I've finished all the guilds except the fighter's guild, I've finished a LARGE portion of the games quests IIRC, and I've explored half the dungeons on the map.

True...I've never played Morrowind so I am not qualified to comment...but I honestly find that Oblivion is a darn good game. Heck, its a GREAT game...with a few glaring faults.

Then again, whats not? Neverwinter Nights anyone? :)

If only Oblivion had some cool sword (or have a weapon that was a scripted reward based on your characters skills) mid-late main storyline like how Morrowind had trueflame, Hopesfire, Sunder & Keening. I apologize that you may have no idea what I'm talking about for those who haven't beaten morrowind.

There are nice quest reward swords in Oblivion, only problme is that they too scale to your level so it is awesome if you get it at highish level and sucks if you get it at lvl8.

@Joacqin: Simple fix...get a Level Scaling mod. It takes away your low level item and gives you an appropriate leveled up item based on your character level.

This takes away some of the drudgery associated with quest leveled items, for example I never used to finish the Mage Guild quests till I hit lvl 15 for the Mage's Staff and lvl 30 IIRC for the Spell Drinker Amulet...but by getting this mod, I can just get on with it and play my game the way I want to...

First thing I'm upset with is not being able to join the imperial legion. I loved that faction and the quests for it in Morrowind. I just love playing 'big brother' and just being a grunt in the imperial army opens up a whole new level of roleplaying.

The scaling is also something I hate about games in general. You should be REWARDED for doing secondary-quests, not punished. When your character levels up you should be that much stronger than before. The enemies shouldn't level to meet your skills. That just sucks all the realisim out of the game. I'm also annoyed to see brigands wearing GLASS armor. I mean, they're just robbers right? How the hell can they afford such expensive armor?

@Abomination: I know what you mean...today, I was accosted by a Redguard highwayman who fought me to the death (his... :p ) for 100 gold. After I killed him, I got a Glass Cuirass, Glass Greaves, Glass Boots, Daedric Battle-axe and 3 lock-picks off him. Sold the lot for about 3000 gold... :D

Oblivion is a pretty game, but realistic it ain't!

I'm wondering why he's a bandit and not part of a mercenary organization. I also wonder what the point of having imperial troops is when they're less armored than regular robbers.

Does the game not adapt to your level with the random encounters?

It does adapt to your level in EVERY encounter it seems. Which in my opinion is stupid. There should simply be areas in the game that are more dangerous than others, not have the world revovle around the player because that sucks the realisim out of the game.

Bandits should be just that, bandits. Guys in leather, possibly chain armor accosting merchants on the road for small sums of gold and maybe a big payoff once in awhile. Not these glass covered killing machines that can take an imperial trooper to town!

I am pretty sure the imperial soldiers and guards scale as well :p

I have mixed feelings about the scaling, on the positive side it allows a limitless freedom to go anywhere anytime and do everything whenever you feel like while constantly giving you an appropriate challenge (even though after lvl30ish or so there doesnt seem to be any more scaling and everything is a walk in the park).

The bad side is all that you have said and more but when all things are said and done the developers made a choice and I cant really say that it is the wrong one. Everything has it's bad and good sides.

I am now level 25 nightblade but no fight is a walkover like in Morrowind. It is an inprovement.

Now that I have played Oblivion quite intensively for the past week, I have to say that the charm does wear off rather quickly. Repetitive dungeons, like mentioned, and the general lack of "kicking satisfaction" are probably the causes.

I mean: unlike in Diablo and BG2, every dungeon has something new to offer and treasures to loot, but in Oblivion this is simply impossible because the dungeons are so similar and level-scaling. Not that many drops either. Even if you have the money (been having some 20k gold for quite some time) you have nothing to spend it on. Kind kills the meaning of "non-linearity" when there is nothing new to experience.

The annoying thing is that with the scaling, there are no sure-death hot-spots and controlled areas. It's all the same. In fact, since scaling brings up more difficult enemies, it would be better NOT to rest and gain those levels. Counter-productive, isn't it? Not to forget that some things are just infuriating... Imagine: a high and mighty nord with a big sword and big armor striking a puny mageling with a dagger. What happens? She blocks and the nord is shaking like a silly can of sardines. Same thing with hits too, even though they make no damage. Even more annoying is that they do not play by the same rules as the player (infinite magicka and fatigue, for example).

On the other hand, the graphics are quite pretty and even though the speech-lines are repetitive, it's always a bonus to have real voices. The basic concept behind the world is also pretty rich, so there was/is potential for more diverse encounters. Oh, and having just found out; there is a whole load of mods out there. At least a few of them is bound to be good (even though one rather popular "overhaul" mod already introduced some uber-shizz-monsters). :cool:

[ May 23, 2006, 22:36: Message edited by: Wordplay ]