Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[John Beaulieu]

completed a few quests today, got invited to join the theives guild, and ransacked a few dungeons. Did one dungeon in which it had a couple of necromancers, they threw some serious ghostage at me, but once i whupped their asses i gained myself a pair of sneak boots ... helping me out no end

still no closer to completing the corruption quest - considered just killing the culprit but I am at zero bounty at the mo and don't want to mess that up. Also, I haven't joined the dark brotherhood as of yet (pretty ****ty for an assassin) since I don't want to kill any innocents.

Tried robbing the bank in some town - went through about 50 lock picks with no joy. It is going to get robbed at some point though

[Concept]

I didn't even know there was one.

In reading this thread, there's loads of stuff (some I've skipped on reading so I don't spoil it) that I've not picked up on. I swear I've been exploring heavily though. I suppose it just shows the attention to detail in the game and how easily things can be missed as a result to the sheer amount of things in there.

The only faction I've joined so far (in terms of being signed up) is the Vampire Hunting collective (forget the proper name). I really do need a cure for my character now though - not only do I look 60 years old, I've also started to burn in the sun (finally). I liked the way the

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game describes your dreams as a way of indicating you're slowly turning after becoming diseased

.

[John Beaulieu]

can't wait till i grab the unbreakable lockpick - the game is going to get hit by such a crime spree that they will probably try dropping an ASBO on my arse in real life

[Synthesthesia]

Anyone done the Broken Vows Quest for the Dark Brotherhood?

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Can't find who i'm supposed to kill in his house...there's 3 markers for doors inside his house, but there's no doors. They say "Secret training room" I've looked all over the house, but can't see anything. Anyone help?

[Mephistopheles]

Did the first Oblivion gate after about 25 hours. Wow. It was easily the most impressive section of the game so far for me. The graphics in the Oblivion plane are really outstanding, without any of the level of detail or pop-up problems that plague much of the outside world. Puts the Doom 3 Hell levels to absolute shame. Massive as well, with lots of great loot to pick up if you go looking for it. Not to mention some very sinister looking enemies (bar the imps), whereas in the dungeons the enemy design can be hit or miss. Needless to say, very much enjoyed this section. It's reassuring to know that the game isn't just one big sandbox gimmick but in fact has an excellent main quest to go along with it.

[Briareos]

Did the first Oblivion gate after about 25 hours. Wow. It was easily the most impressive section of the game so far for me. The graphics in the Oblivion plane are really outstanding, without any of the level of detail or pop-up problems that plague much of the outside world. Puts the Doom 3 Hell levels to absolute shame. Massive as well, with lots of great loot to pick up if you go looking for it. Not to mention some very sinister looking enemies (bar the imps), whereas in the dungeons the enemy design can be hit or miss. Needless to say, very much enjoyed this section. It's reassuring to know that the game isn't just one big sandbox gimmick but in fact has an excellent main quest to go along with it.

I know it's a bit of a hot topic at the moment, but one of the toughest things i found about that was I couldn't see diddly, some of the corridors in that tower were so tough to see in! The problem is made worse by my lack of surround, or even stereo sound! Ouch! I'm being hit! Where the hell from? Etc etc.

Still love the game though. I keep passing more

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obliivion gates

in the countryside now, but I'm too much of a coward to go in them as of yet!

[Concept]

Did the first Oblivion gate after about 25 hours. Wow. It was easily the most impressive section of the game so far for me. The graphics in the Oblivion plane are really outstanding, without any of the level of detail or pop-up problems that plague much of the outside world. Puts the Doom 3 Hell levels to absolute shame. Massive as well, with lots of great loot to pick up if you go looking for it. Not to mention some very sinister looking enemies (bar the imps), whereas in the dungeons the enemy design can be hit or miss. Needless to say, very much enjoyed this section. It's reassuring to know that the game isn't just one big sandbox gimmick but in fact has an excellent main quest to go along with it.

It does, though I'm still in its infancy some 40 hours in. I'm trying to pace it along with the sandbox food and drink the game is made out of. Unlike San Andreas, where the narrative (and the characters you met along the way) were the main driving force compelling you forward, I'd say in Oblivion its the other way around. I feel just as compelled by doing the sub-quests and simply existing as I am with the main quest. After all the missions finished in San Andreas it was very easy to feel isolated and somewhat detached from its world (despite the superb variety in gameplay).

The thing which strikes me about Oblivion is how alive the world feels on a Shenmue-like level. It combines that chereographed staging with the randomness and lack of predictability in GTA on a more socially immediate level. I feel much more integrated and able to lose myself than either of those two series simply because the main quest (narrative) and all the surrounding sandbox choices are handled in exactly the same way (same mission types, conversing, no deviations on out of place gameplay set-pieces). There isn't any major distinction between them and that brings them closer together, and essentially enhances the lifespan of the game because you're not faced with it being 'over'.

In a sense, it's a very Half-Life like approach to the social sandbox design Shenmue only hinted at, and the mechanical open sandbox design Rockstar mastered in San Andreas.

[Synthesthesia]

How do you get past Kvatch's castle gates when you've got to accompany savlian matius?

[Flompy]

HARIBOKART'S MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE FEAT. CRAP PHONE QUALITY PICS!



Ahh look at that nice mountain. I shall get to the top of it!



*15mins later* Still going



*15 more mins* FFS it's almost dark



After a nights rest at the mountain top the view as the sunrise was amazing



I'm bloody loving it!

THE END



+ Random pic just to serve as a reminder of how great this game is

[Briareos]

HariboKart Wins!

Now I want to scale a mountain too, but I have to wait till tomorrow!

[Akira]

Haribo,i have the same tv as you.Could you please tell me what the your tv setting's are as i've only had the tv for a couple of weeks and i'm still trying to find the right setting's.

Your picture looks sublime,i must have your settings

[Myth]

Bad quality pic but here's how my guy looks after changing to a Vampire.

[dataDave]

He looks pretty fake as a vampire.

[Synthesthesia]

Has anyone got a clue about how do do the Dark Brotherhood Quest to kill Khajiit J'Ghasta? 'cause i can't find him anywhere.

[Rossco]

Today's been a very good day in comparison to the others. I'm quite surprised.

Working my way towards being able to enchant my own weapon, almost finished the mages guild quest (First one). Managed to find that absolutely fantastic piece of enchanted equipment Rossco spoke about last night, so all's good.

Yeah, its most excellent isnt it. Been using that the whole time today.

Just read what Soi said a few pages back.

It certainly isn't made obvious - I've spent hours exploring the Imperial City doing different things and I haven't come across anyone. Perhaps it's because I haven't started the thieve's guild yet.

Even so, the criticism remains. Lockpicks could quite easily have been placed in barrels or containers or the like when you're on the move - maybe not as much as more mundane items such as apples or meat, but at the same amount you get hold of torches. Up to now it's been one of the clearest unbalanced aspects in the game - though as I said, hardly a killer.

I have to diagree with you there Concept, I think lockpicks are plentily available if your a proper theif type character. Theifs join the theifs guild, and in doing that, you get loads of lock picks easily. Dont join the theives guild and you cant be into stealing that much, so lockpicks aren't needed, hence being very randomly place. Wouldn't you say so?

can't wait till i grab the unbreakable lockpick - the game is going to get hit by such a crime spree that they will probably try dropping an ASBO on my arse in real life

Are you kidding?

Unbreakable lockpick!! That will rock!!





Anyway, I'm loving this more and more, 8 hours play today, up to over 36 overall!!!

Today, I was approached by the guy for the paranoid mission!! Was really fun, I didnt do what he told me though, just waited 24 hours and told him he was being watched and he paid me! Then killed them all at the end when he told me to!! Hehehe! Had a massive bounty though, twice, that took ages to get rid of, like 10 gaurds chasing me down mountains and stuff! :lol;

One point, a guard on horseback was chasing me, I was galloping down the mountain side and I stopped hearing his sound behind me, so I took a rest, turned round at the bottom of a steep cliff I just came from and seen the guards horse just flying down the side of the cliff, dead! It was amazing to see, looked so perfect! Me and my mate just looked at each other, and went "wooooooooowwww! " Ace.

Then after that was done, I went about doing all the Mage's Guild recommendations. Which was immense fun, all the normal easy ones were fine, done them all quickly and stole from almost every guild, totally gutted them, even got this Green Glass Shortsword from one of the head mages. Its soooo cool, looks like a lightsaber, and does 8 damage!! Used that for ages, and with my black theif type robes and hood on, I looked like a proper Jedi!!!

But then the final recommendation for Bravil I think it was, had me going into a dungeon to get some necklace thing. Was ace, it was my first real venture into a proper dungeon so it was real exciting.

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First tries were us just running in and going crazy in hand to hand combat which just didnt work, despire my guy being a Warrior! Everyone else was just too suited up to kill like that, so next we tried to sneak by everyone but that proved impossible because this game isn't MGS or Splinter Cell, so that was too difficult to try so the final option, which was the most obvious for my guy really was to use some sneaky bow n arrow skills to kill people! What i didnt realise was that when you shoor someone with a bow, and they still dont see you, they usually stay in the same spot and you keep getting the sneak bonus for it!! So I eventually managed to clear the dungeon out, got to the end, grabbed the necklace I needed and bolted out, dodging by the Minotaur and weird ghost like magic creature which was impossible to kill!! They both followed me out for like ages, so I had to run all the way back to the guild to return the necklace.

Then once that was done, I decided to go back to the dungeon and clear it out of everything valuable! This was the really fun part, I went through the place, room by room, stripping everyone of there possesions and taking them back to the exit and dropping them there, this took a good half hour at least, and I found some amazing stuff, Orcish helmets, gloves, boots, body armour, sheilds everything, amazing longswords that do 10 damage and a hell of a lot of money too! So I got all this back to the exit door and I really wish I took a picture of this now as it just looked soooo cool seeing all that clumped together, must have been at least 50 items!!!

Anyway, I picked them up, and took them outside and fast travelled to Burma where I could sell the stuff to either the fence there, or the actual weapons shop dude which gave me a fair bit of money for most of it! SO after about 4-5 trips back and forward, I had got my money to about 8,000 gold overall and then proceeded to break into the guys shop and steal loads of stuff back and sell it onto my fence for another thousand or so.

So after sorting through everything now, I've got just under 9,000 gold, loooooooads of potions and all the bestest of Ocrish gear which gives me 20 armour when all equipped and also an Elvish bow I think it is, which give me 9 damage, which about 20 glass arrows, loads of silver, and plenty of elvish and other arrows which I cant remember what they're called!

I'm loving this, I really haven't done much today when you think about it but it was the coolest 8 hours ever! The amount of great stuff that happened was just too good. The game just feels perfect, you can do what you want, when you wants, and it all fits nicely together. Tomorrow, I'll be doing the first Arcane University quest and moving onto some theifs guild missions too I think. Maybe do a bit of the Dark Brotherhood, been meaning to start that for ages after the guy came and spoke to me in my sleep.

Oh and I'm a level 15 now. Anyone higher?



Oh, I've also got a house in Bruma where I killed a woman, where I keep all my stuff I'm not using at the moment, I cant wait til I can buy a house and move it all in properly, you can do that can't you? Like put stuff on shelves etc? Display it properly?

I'm thinking of getting the 10,000k house in Bruma, looks pretty. Or should I go for the 5,000 haunted one in Anvil is it?