Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion

[Ruslan74]

A more recent preview of this game taken from CES 2006 here. (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion/679360p1.html)

Seems like March 21st is going to be the day its out unless delayed again.

[Darnit696]

Now imagine playing BF3 Medieval Warfare. Swish Swish Swish ... Yup RB would be laughing his nut off.

[stoke]

Yea - pirate style !

[Ruslan74]

i suppose the equivalent of C4 in medieval times would be baked beans? :D

[doobiwan]

Well I just hope they have better hardware support than they did with Morrowind.

Hmm, they should put the baked beans in BF2 - requires gas mask . . .

[Ruslan74]

talking about Oblivion hardware, here's a Q&A on the technology (http://www.beyond3d.com/interviews/oblivion/) they use in the game.

as for baked beans in BF2... when would chemical weapons be included in the BF2 arsenal? it would be nice to NUKE somebody just to be sure with some Saron gas... :p

[Darnit696]

Well there's gas in BF2SF. The support guy has the gas grenade launcher.

[Ruslan74]

i dont have SF... yet... maybe i will end up having it... :rolleyes:

[Ruslan74]

a couple of previews available from Hexus (http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4788) and Gamehelper. (http://consoles.gamehelper.com/articles/901.htm)

Snippet from the Hexus preview :

"The four hours I spent playing the PC version of Oblivion only scratches the surface of the vast Empire of Tamriel. According to Take Two's Adrian Lawton, the game takes around 20-30 hours to complete, if you ignore all the side quests and concentrate on the main mission, or around 200 hours if you were to complete every quest. This doesn’t include the time spent trotting around on a horse exploring the environment, bartering with the locals for the best deals, mixing new spells with your pestle and mortar, slaying wolves and bear cubs deep in the forest, or standing on a hill-top gawping, as I did, at the spectacular views across the city – the possibilities are vast and time won't even exist once you become immersed in this epic journey."

"Unarmed combat is simple, press the left and right mouse buttons, or triggers on the 360 version, to unleash your fists into the oncoming creatures. The damp chambers are full of rats that are relentless in their pursuit, but easy to dispose of, three or four well aimed shots should do the trick. They’re more of a nuisance than a challenge, but this is the tutorial after all. You’ll find numerous chests and objects scattered around, containing armoury, weapons, potions and a wide variety of objects to aid your adventure. Your inventory holds 175 items, so instead of picking up 12 lock picks, or armour that is inferior to your existing armour, you’ll need to keep an eye out for the essentials."

"Graphically there are some minor flaws, ground scenery such as rocks and bushes often build in front of you, even at short distances of the equivalent of 10 metres or so. This isn't really a major issue due to the fact that the scenery and animations are so realistic and often breath-taking. Whilst walking across the countryside, third person perspective is not particularly effective, you'll often not be able to see in front of you due grasses and bushes obscuring your vision - first person mode is far more effective. But how can I complain about the graphics in a game that is full of vibrant colours, stunning character animations and lip synchronisation, and beautifully crafted buildings and scenery?

In summary Oblivion is a game full of wonder and awe. It grabs you by the throat and creates a World that you won't want to leave behind. Four hours isn't enough to explore all the options available, I explored the wilderness on horseback, completed three quests, attempted some potion making, haggled with the villagers, slayed numerous creatures but didn't even have time to join a guild! At times I felt a warm tingly feeling running up and down my back, thus was the warmth that Oblivion radiates."

The draw distance seems like quite a schlep on both versions, wonder if only high-end PC systems will handle a FAR draw distance... eish.

[TG]

Hmm... although I'm not one for RPG's, this one sounds tempting.
I played a bit of Morrowind, and it was quite cool - tho I think since I'm a complete noob at RPG's, it might be fun to play it with someone to help me along. :p
Would be nice if there was some sort of co-op.

[Ruslan74]

sadly there aint no LAN or online elements in Oblivion.... thus my reluctance in getting the game until later on...

[FeralBanana]

Yaay for Oblivion!

Me ::heart:: RPG's ... almost as much as bf! :shock:!

[Ruslan74]

Elder Scrolls : Oblivion has gone gold! (http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/693/693106p1.html)

"Bethesda Softworks and 2K Games Announce The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion to Ship March 20
Rockville, MD - March 2, 2006 - Bethesda Softworks® and 2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. today announced that the highly-anticipated role-playing game, The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion&153;, has gone to gold master and will be available in stores in North America and Europe during the week of March 20. Oblivion will be available for Xbox 360&153; video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC in both regular and collector's editions.

"Our most ambitious project ever is finally done," said Todd Howard, executive producer of Oblivion. "We're excited to get the game into everyone's hands and let them experience it for themselves. We hope they enjoy it. I think it's our best game yet."

Oblivion is an epic, open-ended single-player RPG for the next generation providing gamers with one of the most life-like gaming experiences to date. The powerful combination of unprecedented graphics and freeform gameplay allows gamers to unravel the main quest or explore the vast world at their own pace. Oblivion is the fourth chapter in the award-winning Elder Scrolls series that includes Morrowind® (2002 RPG of the year - Computer Gaming World), Daggerfall&153; (1996 RPG of the year -- PC Gamer), and Arena (1994 RPG of the year - Computer Player).

"Oblivion will set the new standard for next generation gaming and change the way role-playing games are viewed forever," said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. "We set very high goals and ensure they are reached because that is what our fans deserve and have come to expect from Bethesda Softworks. We are very proud of our team's accomplishments with respect to Oblivion."

Oblivion has already garnered numerous awards and an impressive collection of accolades, including being voted "RPG of Show" in 2005 by the Best of E3 Game Critics Awards. Oblivion ranks as one of the "Most Anticipated Games of 2006" according to PC Gamer, GameSpy, IGN, and Yahoo Games among many others, and has been featured on nearly thirty magazine covers worldwide.

"Oblivion is one of the most anticipated video games of 2006 and its release will be a milestone for the Xbox 360 and PC," said Christoph Hartmann, Managing Director, 2K Games. "A shining example of next-generation role-playing, Oblivion breaks new ground in the genre with unparalleled graphics, revolutionary gameplay and an expansive RPG world."

Oblivion for Xbox 360 and PC, co-published by 2K Games and Bethesda Softworks, has been rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB. For more information on the title visit the official web site at www.elderscrolls.com."

YAY! :happy:

[FeralBanana]

Lol... yeah! I can play it! :p

[Ruslan74]

an Oblivion site update (http://www.elderscrolls.com/home/home.htm) is available with some new wallpapers and a screenshot of the soon-to-be released RPG. You can find links to some of the latest previews and interviews as well.

[Ruslan74]

more updates available from the Oblivion home page (http://www.elderscrolls.com/home/home.htm) which consist of 3 new screenshots.

looking sweet for the awaited release...

[rainy]

BTGames newsletter says that they are getting the game on the 5th of April.

I'd love to get the Collector's edition, since I already have the Collector's edition of Morrowind. But it'll have to wait. Firstly my PC will hardly be able to play that game, and secndly I am way to tied-up in GW. But if they improve on the problems that Morrowind had gameplaywise, it'll be a good one. Although I personally think Gothic 3 will be better ;)

[rainy]

Well, I contradict myself. When I read that the supply of Collector's editions is limited because they have probs printing that Septim Coin, I went and preordered it from BTGames. And they reserved a copy for me. If I'm lucky I will have it on the 5th already, otherwise on the 6th. :p

[FeralBanana]

OBLIVIONAWAITS

OBLIVIONOBLIVIONOBLIVIONOBLIVIONOBLIVIONOBLIVIONOBLIVIONOBLIVIONOBLIVIONOBLIVION!!!



Yeah!

[doobiwan]

I can barely squeeze in an hour to play BF2, there's no way I could work up 200 hours !!!!

But good luck top those whe can!

[Ruslan74]

For the fearing mid-range PC owners fear no more.

See screenies of the game running here. (http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/697/697732p1.html)

Snippet :

"Worried your aging hardware might not be able to handle Oblivion? Sure, it's a state of the art game, but it does scale down well. Here are some shots snapped off with an x800 ATI card (el cheapo $150/- card these days). Basically, if you can run Half-Life 2 well, Oblivion should be okay:

Obviously, the big change vs high-end PC or 360 is that there's no HDR lighting and the outdoors stuff isn't as spiffy. Other than that, the characters look the same, as do the weapons and spell effects. Frame rates are pretty good too, especially inside dungeons, although its a little framey outside."

So looks good to go! :D

[fivel]

Yay, I have on of them el cheapo X800 cards ;)

[rainy]

I suppose that the 6600GT is reasonably up to par with the X800?

[Ruslan74]

yip... just keep the texture settings discreet in Oblivion and it will play smoothly.. ;)

[FeralBanana]

um... that suxxors... i have an x600.. /:(

Oh well... mebbe on my home cpu..

[fivel]

For a good technical discussion on Oblivion check out www.tweakguides.com .

[rainy]

I had a good laugh at this:

http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20060327

Let's hope it's not that bad ;)

[stoke]

Franks RN :).

[FeralBanana]

YAAAY FOR CAD!!! OMW!!

I actually can't believe I know someone else that reads it.. It is one of the funniest comics I've EVER read

[FeralBanana]

Okay. Let me clam and calm down before starting..


OMGAZ)RS!!! OVBLIVS ETC IS TEH COOOOOOOLLLL!!!SFK NSLDF!!!L LOLLLAWELAWE!!!

Sorry about that.

Okay: Here goes...

I have Oblivion.

It = THE sickest single player game ever played ever. EVER. You get that?

EVER.

I love. LOVE LOVE LOVE it...

GET IT, even if you dont have thaat much time and only sortof like SP RPGs...

Wow.

Gotta go play more now!

Zoinks!

My Forumpostcraft Skill just increased!

[w1z4rd]

I have the game, but im to lazy to install, my time is either been used up by Lord of the Rings, Battle for middle earth II or BF2. Anyone installed this game? Is it interesting enough?

[Ruslan74]

yip... Oblivion is the craze nowadays... great RPG and game of the year in everybody's lips thus far...

[Vexx007]

Man, I wish I had this game! I simply cant wait to get my hands on it. w1z4rd, what is BFME2 like? I have it but Im to lazy to install it :) Currently playing Guild Wars, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and the one that has taken up a lot of my time recently, Rugby 2006 :D

[rainy]

I preordered, should have it by the middle of next week.

[Ruslan74]

i am still in a limbo... have to see it to believe it... :p

[rainy]

Well, I took the leap. Wanted to get the collector's edition, since I already have Morrowind Collector's.And I read that those are in short supply (actually they are sold out at BTGames). If I don't like it, I can always sell it with minimal loss, the CE is gonna be sought after quite soon.

[StaticS]

BFME 2 rocks!

Damit how do u guys get your games so quickly?:confused:

[Ruslan74]

i will be getting the X360 version, hopefully it will all arrive this weekend.... sigh...

[fivel]

Tweak Guide for Oblivion here: http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html

[FeralBanana]

yipee!

shot 5l

[Scooby_Doo16]

When could i pick this up in stores? or should we get the next GW?

[rainy]

Official street date for ZA is tomorrow. However, the next GW is also an option ;)

[SaintMg]

FYI : NAG this month have Elder Scrolls Poster

[SaintMg]

p.s that was my first post in this thread

no points for guessing why

and no i'm not just jealous

p.s.s this is the second in case you wanted to know

[Ruslan74]

here is a tweakguide for Oblivion. (http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html)

it will help for all the people playing it soon! :D

[rainy]

I played a bit of Oblivion last night. Here's what I think so far:

Graphics: very nice, but it's a hardware hog. I started playing in 640x480 with scaled down distance details, and it already gives me rather low fps (my crappy CPU). Went up to 1024x768 and set all distances to highest, just for the fun of it - amazingly enough it didn't get worse. In tight battles FPS frop to 5 and less, but only for a short time. Usually I get between 15 and 20. CPU upgrade should help that one.
Animations are nice, better than in Morrowind. Also the characters look nice. It is however a freaking mission to give your character a decent face. They give you a full-blown face generator, and you can adjust a freakload of parameters. Have fun with that one. My char right now looks like a chubby 19y/o - I didn't have the patience to play with all the sliders long enough...
I love the detail level of the outdoor areas. The occasional deer running around, NPC traders hiding in certain corners...

Sound: nice Music, but what I like even more compared to Morrowind is that the NPCs now have voices. That's right, no more reading through pages of text of what that bloke has to tell you - just listen. Voice overs are nicely done, with the help of some prominent actors like Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean.

Gameplay: has a strong consolish feel. The interface is a bit overdimensioned, you can clearly see the console target there (TV screen and stuff). Also some controls show that the game was developed apparently with primary console target and not much adapted to the PC's possibilities. That is so far the only quirk I have with the game. Other than that, the interface reminds me of Morrowind at times. OK but not great.
One of the biggest weaknesses of Morrowind was long travel times. Unless there was a Silt Strider or a Mages Guild house in the target location, you had to walk. And that could take hours. It's slightly different in Oblivion. You can travel directly to your destination through the world map, like in GW. You can also buy a horse, which not only takes you to your destination quicker, but also helps you in combat (apparently). Horses are expensive, but there are ways to get a horse for free (legally)...
The story is interesting. I hope that the things I thought predictable turn out different. I played a bit into the main quest and left the side quest aside for now.
Dungeons and buildings are a bit less confusing than in Morrowind, at least for now. Will see how it is later in the game. I already had one quest that involved running through a small maze of towers, and I managed rather easily to find my way in there.

Character: character generation is much easier than it was in Morrowind. The principle is the same, but you don't have that many different possibilities anymore. Also it seems that the chance you create a char which is actually useful in the game is higher than in Morrowind - proof pending. Right now I am playing as a Redguard Archer born under the Warrior Sign. I managed to get hands on some really good armor and a great sword (pure coincidence, no cheating), so the first quests have been a bit of a walk. Hope it gets a bit more challenging later. I play on lowest difficulty (as I always do when first plaing a game), but the manual says the game dynamically adjusts difficulty according to your level and capabilities, and the difficulty slider can only influence that minimally.
I have yet to understand the leveling system. It doesn't seem to be much different from Morrowind, but there are some changes in it. No more minor skills for example, you have a set of Major skills, but apparently you can develop every skill if you want to.

Well, that was my first impressions. Bottom line, it looks like a game that you can easily spend a lot of time with. Graphics are beautiful, the story is good and captivating. What I dislike most is the strong console feeling. I really don't want to use a gamepad for this game (although I have one :D ). Other than that, no real issues or problems yet.

[Ruslan74]

yip, the game is made with a display of 16:9 in mind so on a regular CRT/LCD with 4:3 ratio it looks weird.

i hope this weekend all gets sorted out and i get my X360 with Oblivion in it too. :D

[Ruslan74]

a new article which aids in the Oblivion Optimization tweaks here. (http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?CIID=36546)

[SaintMg]

So what are you guys paying for this i see Take 2 has it at R 310.00

Link Here (http://www.take2.co.za/product.php?id=551272)

[Ruslan74]

R299 for the basic edition at BT Games... CE has sold out in SA AFAIK.

[gus]

My copy arrived from BT games less than an hour ago. They still charged me R319 of Friday.

[Ruslan74]

the shipping cost was R25?

[fivel]

For those still desparate for the CE of Oblivion, Look and Listen in Hyde Park (JHB) still had 2 copies on the weekend.

[SaintMg]

:confused: what is a CE :confused:

:o Never mind i got it Collectors Edition :o

how much were they going for ? :)

[rainy]

I paid R359 for the Collector's Edition, but it is sold out at least at BTGames. The normal edition should be no more than R299.

[gus]

the shipping cost was R25?

The shipping was "free". :D I am just glad I have the game in my hands.

[FeralBanana]

Okie dokie... The game RAWKS...

Me :heart: :love: it...

I *may* write an in depth review (sorta like my application :p) sometime that my lappie's in for repairs (ie, I cant actually PLAY oblivs... :D)

[fivel]

:confused: what is a CE :confused:

Never mind i got it Collectors Edition

how much were they going for ? :)

I think around R450 saint...expensive :(

[Ruslan74]

pre-order was R359... Look & Listen make their own markup.... ;)

you wouldnt want to know how much the Xbox 360 CE costs in SA.... R660... :eek:

[Sminty]

I got this game on Saturday. I watched in awe as they panned over the countryside in the intro but the gameplay was a little disappointing at first....but now that I have got into the game....oh wow...what can I say, let me quote our very own banana...The game RAWKS...I'm having so much fun playing it and its my favourite way to waste time other than C4'ing your sorry asses ;)

[Ruslan74]

this game is also growing on me.... although i cant play it very often its distracting me from my PC quite seriously. :p

[FeralBanana]

:rofl:

I'm not distracted from the PC in any way whatsoever - mines the PC version ;)

But yes, generally lvl 1-10 is kinda VERY boring... until you start finding Magical items and cool looking armour etc...