The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006)

I started this for the first time two nights ago and of course they shadow drop the remaster the day after, so I'll take credit for summoning that, lol.

Having only played Skyrim (and a teeny bit of Morrowind) beforehand, this is pretty refreshing! I had to install a different audio codec on my desktop to fix a stutter every time combat music started or ended but otherwise it's running well. I think I might prefer the creature designs in this game to Skyrim's, though it could just be that they feel different and fresh after dozens to hundreds of hours in the latter game.

Someone found some images from the upcoming Oblivion remake. It looks pretty good:

It will be interesting to see how they've dealt with the many, many issues it has. Also, what about mods? This is UE5, not even a newer version of the same engine. Mods have always been the strength of Bethesda RPGs. And i just realised this might mean new or even no console commands. Oof.

100 hours so far and I am not even 30% done with the game. The combat is divisive in players opinions: love it or hate it. But there is one consensus: it is hard, the hardest in any TES.

I noticed that, aside from me liking the combat, it is very repetitive and you get sick of it quickly. You can say that you need strategy, but I think it is pretty much smashing buttons and poisoning your weapon with damage health potions.

I noticed too that if you are using a close-combat weapon and after swinging it and trying to immediately block the enemy's attack, you can't, your char is to slow for that (even at a high level); but the opposite rarely happens, the foes are able to hit you and block instantly.

Noticed that the blades disarming attack rarely disarm the opponent, and when that happens, if you try to use a power attack, instead of regular hits, what takes several seconds, you will most likely miss it even if right in on your face and you see the blade swinging the foe. The knockdown attack almost never make the enemies to fall and even though it is almost impossible to use it because you need to walk backwards to unleash it, so you will hit nothing but the air.

One of the most frustrating things is not only that the adversaries are bullet sponges, but you can have a daedric 22 points sword, but if you go sneaking (3x damage) with bow and arrows (even the most basic ones), you are going to kill them easily, even if not sneaking actually! But if you use magic, you can use all the fire found in Hell or all the ice from the North and South pole but still they vile creatures will be standing glorious. Oh, and I think that the power, disarming and knockdown attacks are broken - they are supposed to damage 2.5x but some times they damage more, most time they damage 1x.

Something I don't really want to complain because I think it is regarding the technology limitation is the Wait feature, it allows you to fully recover waiting just 1-in-game hour; but the combat is so unfair and unbalanced that it end up not being a bad thing, but still, it is clearly bad idealization, but I suppose being able to pass the time was some sort of brand-new-pushing-forward-thing so I can accept the lack of realism in it.

The combat is far from perfection as many preach, and its flaws are starting to make me hate it. Not to mention level scaling. The lack of target lock just kills me...

I only really review a game once I have, in my mind at least, completed it. I have done two 100% playthroughs of oblivion and I loved them both. There is a certain feel in oblivion that is unlike any other game I have played. This feeling both makes the game isolating and more engaging than any other game. The radiant AI is to blame here. While it is true that the AI can sap the realism right out of the game with the awkward, stilted conversations you will be witness to over the course of your playthrough, it also makes the game completely unique each time you play through. The quests may be the same but the random shit you will witness will be different each time. The main quest can get a little tedious.... especially allies for Bruma; but I do not see it as a quest that one is meant to do in one sitting. Do allies for Bruma as you explore the world. While doing allies for Bruma one should do the other excellent quests the game has to offer such as the dark brotherhood line or the thieves guild line. I know many players have been let down with the fighter's and mage's guild lines but I enjoyed them each time I did them. Both somewhat remind me of the guilds in Morrowind, where you must do quests a different guild halls instead of everything at the same place.

I am also not the biggest fan of the knights of the nine. I was the first time I played through Oblivion but every subsequent playthrough it was more of a chore; The Shivering Isles, however, never get old. In my mind the Shivering Isles DLC is one of the greatest addons in video game history, it is on the same level as the Witcher 3's expansions.

I say give it a shot.

I actually managed to play this for about 60 hours without ever touching the main quest. It was quite a few years ago, but I kept the game installed out of fear of losing my mod configurations. That was until I got myself an SSD, which led to me deleting everything Oblivion-related.

So, I was feeling like going back to this in order to actually do the main quest and also play the Shivering Isles DLC. I spent last night trying to get my mods to work again, and failed miserably. I'm not even using that many of them, but the game does require some tweaking for me to bear it. I'm super in favour of mods existing and being supported, but I guess I don't have the patience to deal with it myself; there's just so many small variables and mod managers and compatibilities to consider. I'll give it another shot tonight, but if it doesn't work I think I'll give up.

The lesson, kids, is to never delete games.