[Polpolion]

Okay, so I just beat the main quest of Morrowind. I really liked it, so I am thinking of getting Oblivion. Is there anything that I should know about this game before I get it (ie it sucks, needs a really powerful computer, or anything like that)? I don't really just want to blow $50 based on just what the review sites say, so I'm asking for you guys' consent.

Thanks in advance!

[Fineus]

It *does* need a really powerful computer if you want it looking at its best. It can look quite fantastic but obviously quickly looks a bit ****e if you have to start turning settings down.

[diceman111]

Its a great game no doubt about it just make sure resonably fast computer then it should run fine (if I remeber correctly the big bottlenecks are graphics memory and system-RAM)



/Dice

[Herra Tohtori]

Well I... aquired a copy from friends for testing purposes a month or so ago... it looked reasonably good with a 7600GT (with 256MB memory), AMD64 3200+ Venice and 3 GB of DDR-SDRAM memory. It only went to frameshow mode when I enabled 4xAA and bloom at the same time. With bloom+2xAA it was perfectly playable and without AA it still looked cool.

HDR mode didn't even allow to use anti-aliasing for whatever reason, and it run at good FPS. I preferred the bloom+2xAA combination however.


I just couldn't bother actually playing the game... The story didn't quite capture my best interest. Rome Total War had more interesting story, and it doesn't even actually have one (aside from the basic historic setting obviously). Characters were rather ugly, even though graphics in general were pretty. For example KotOR had better-looking character models IIRC. At least comparing to the beginning of the game.

That's really all I can say about the game, since I didn't finish it. I sent it to the heaven of bytes.

[Cobra]

Dammit, I knew I should have bought that copy of Morrowind Gold.

[Prophet]

Put it this way... If you like Morrowind, you'll like Oblivion. I've never played the Oblivion main story trough. I allways find a new plug in that prompts a restart. But I find it to be a fun game. Sneaking around stealing and killing is entertaining. Or just rampaging around and killing...

If you want a more in depth analysis, then do a search. It was discussed before on this board.

[phreak]

i'd get it for pc, even if you have the x360.  The thing is the console is taken away in the x360 version and you are also unable to use player created mods on the x360 as well.

[Flipside]

Been playing it again myself lately, nice game, though some of the storylines are a bit weak, but the output from the modding community more than makes up for most shortcomings.

[Tyrian]

I've played the whole main quest, all the faction quests, and most extra side quests.  The main quest is your fairly standard save the world from an evil, rampaging demon type, but the ability to go off at any time and do whatever you want really makes up for it.  There is so much to do and so much stuff to find that you can completely ignore the main quest, and still have a great time playing.

I would definitely get it.

[Mr. Vega]

A good game, but extremely overrated. Morrowind is on the whole a vastly superior effort.

[NGTM-1R]

A good game, but extremely overrated. Morrowind is on the whole a vastly superior effort.

I hate to say it, but I agree with Vega here. Morrowind was simply much more creatively involved (Dwemer > Ayelid for example) , and I noticed right away that a lot of aspects of Oblivion were dumbed-down from Morrowind (the sole exception being the block system).

[Prophet]

But they added ragdolls and made the fighting in to more than just clickfest. Morrowind with the right plug ins was good, but so is Oblivion. Generally I have enjoyed Oblivion much more than Morrowind.

What I miss from Morrowind is text only dialogue. Morrowind had lots of talking. But audio always limits the conversations. In Oblivion it's just "It's an interesting story, but I won't tell you. Instead, here's a note/book with he story on it since by the looks of your pockets, you don't have a problem carrying those around" (what? You think I throw stuff away? If I can't get money from it, I'll keep it). And blight/dust/snow storms were quite cool. Harmless, but still made you seek cover because they looked and sounded nasty. I miss them. And I think Oblivion also has less literature. A bookcase always needs a closer inspection.

I think that's all I have to complain about Oblivion. Quite frankly, one dead ancient civilization is a s good as the other. I admit that Dwemer ruins were marginally more interesting. Possibly because there were less of them. Ayelid ruins on the other hand are in abundance, and look alike (from the inside, outside appearance is often quite inspiring).

[Mr. Vega]

Plus, Ayelid ruins are designed like dungeons meant to offer obstacles to exploring players - they don't seem to be designed for any functional purpose as living quarters, tombs (which would be a good explanation for all the traps present), storage depots, whatever. Dwemer ruins were fantastic because they felt nice and claustrophobic, and because they actually looked like they could be the workplaces for a civilization. The arcitechture in Oblivion is just head and shoulders below Morrowind. The only really standout place I've seen so far is Sancre Tor (which is a tomb).

[Raven2001]

Didnt play Morrowind, but about Oblivion... well could be better :\

Roaming and doing what you want at your leisure was quite cool. On the other hand, conversations were a bit tedious and repetitive, and the same held true for dungeons, which didnt have many interest in them.

Oh and did I mention "I saw a Mudcrab the other day"?

[Polpolion]

Okay, I guess I'll get it. As long as I can do my mostes favrotest thing that I coyuld do in Morrowind: Kill the only person in a building and then use that buidling to store all of your goods. (I swear, I have so much valuable stuff in that pawnbrokers house in Balmora).

[phatosealpha]

Eh, neither were first class games.  Morrowind kind of bored me in the world, since as much backstory as they made to it, it felt kind of lifeless - and the ludicrously broken underlying mechanics made exploration into tourism, since gaining power was more or less irrelevant - far too many far more effective ways to gain power the to look for it in old ruins.



Oblivion was great during the thieves guild quest line and especially the dark brotherhood.  The rest of it...very very meh.  Pretty I suppose, and combat was improved on morrowind, but that isn't exactly a challenge.  Would've been nice if the spell effects hadn't been so generic.

[Bolo]

 For me, Oblivion is very good on the PC if you use some of the Mods that are out there. I hated the levelling system in Oblivion  so that's one of the firt things I changed.
 Highly recomend using either Oscuro's  or Fransesco's Oblivion mods for starters. Changes and adds/improves  a ton of stuff.

 I really hate the character faces though, jesus it's really hard to make a character that doesn't look like he has Down's Syndrome. But there are also mods that help there,too.

 I liked Morrowind a bit more though. But I like both games for the same reason, the mod community really makes these games better.

 But for the best "home made" rpgs, I have to go with Neverwinter Nights.. The game and the 3 expansions weren't very good, but there are some incredibly good user made adventures for that, as well as tons of options for mutliplay. The editing toolset that it came with is simply kick-ass when compared to either Oblivion or Morrowind.

[Flipside]

Gothic 2 was also a lot better than it's better looking sequel to be honest, although Gothic 3 looked stunning, the game itself was 'dumbed down' in the same way as Oblivion, certainly, charging an Orc in Gothic 2 without a LOT of heavy armour, experience and a good sword, would get you very dead very quickly.

As for Oblivion, I've got The Knights of Nine and Shivering Isles expansion packs, Shivering Isles certainly adds a good amount of new content to the game, Knights of Nine is less inspiring but still an interesting storyline. My biggest complaint about Oblivion is levelling, choosing Alchemy as a main skill will mean that you will advance very very quickly in levels, however, choosing Destruction as a main skill means that you will advance a lot lot slower. You can basically choose a character with Mercantile, Armorer, Security, Blunt, Heavy Armor and a few magic disciplines, and it will take you absolutely forever to advance to any significant level.

[redsniper]

The game and the 3 expansions weren't very good...

Wait a second, what's the 3rd expansion? and how can you say Hordes of the Underdark wasn't good?

[Ace]

Hordes of the Underdark was the saving grace for NWN.

Just as the Dark Brotherhood questline was the saving grace for Oblivion.

Needless to say, the game is pretty save for the characters but lacks depth. If you've been a fan of the plots in Daggerfall and Morrowind, some parts of Oblivion just outright violate previously established plotlines. (i.e. the crap they did to Mannimarco, the entire thing of "if the Emperor dies the gates opens!!! Oh waits we forgets about giant periods of history before the Septims! Oh noes!)