The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[Anthony]

I want multiplayer in my morrowind. And no, thats not an mmorpg, the difference between real time combat systems and attack queues is immense.

[Joust Williams]

I'm actually glad that it's not on the Nintendo system. That way, when I go to the store, there will be one less piece of crap that attempts to catch my eye.

But anyway, back to ES4. Is it that hard to put in a combat system that's good? Bethesda still hasn't done that.

[raystorm]

I hope they include some character heads that aren't a 900 on the suck-scale. And, y'know, a soundtrack with at least 6 tunes this time. And non-lame melee fighting. And less glitches. Even if they don't though, I have no doubt this will be awesome. The environments alone should be worth the price of admission.

Ah.. so you played the xbox version. I own the pc version and use a mod that improves the heads big time over the ugly ones.

better heads

Also you could put a whole pile of mp3's so you can avoid that "6 tunes" problem. You cant do anything like that on the xbox version??

As for MK... eh.. maybe I'll buy Deception for 10 bucks and see what the fuss is about. Maybe it'll "own my soul".

[PepsimanVsJoe]

ELDER SCROLLS IV: OH SHIT SHE'S PREGNANT!

Hell I only had the xbox version of Morrowind and I still slapped some 200+ hours into it.
Wow...I'm already giving up on the "No Next Gen Games" pledge. Thanks Bethesda. Well..I'll be getting a new PC in two to four years so uh..oh well.

I won't bother with getting into an argument over this so uh I'll make it easy.
Mortal Kombat & Morrowind > The Haters

Yay for Progress.

[epmode]

continuing my quest to rip off every interesting thread on gaming age, here's a summary of the game informer article:

Part I of Oblivion Game informer article summarization :

Quote:
-- There is an in-game pic that shows a knight on his steed staring in the distance with one of the most breath-taking sights I have ever seen, to detail it would be that it has the most incredibly expanse draw distance I have ever seen in a game (better than FarCry) and there are massive scale mountains that it says you can ride your horse to the very top (wonder if the horse riding is going to be 1st person or 3rd like halo, or both… either way

-- There are no specific consoles that it will be on as of right now (meaning it might change) Bethesda might have gotten the Xenon Dev kits but GI doesn’t know for sure because they were not allowed in that certain area (meaning basically they do have it) and Bethesda commented on the fact that they don’t have a dev kit for PS3 or Nintendo Revolution so they will judge the other systems based on how they play and there specs to see how they are

-- QUOTE: “If and when Oblivion comes to PS3, there is no telling how it will look” (good or bad thing)

-- Current release date is Winter 2005

- You will be able to train with your weapons on combat dummies that physically take damage with any of the weapons in the game

-- A small bit of the weapon selection as of now is Swords, Axes, Maces, Daggers, and Bows (which implies there is more than that)

-- According to Todd Howard they are trying to make the game as appealing to mainstream gamers as possible without alienating the hardcore players that prefer more complex RPG's (maybe good or bad)

-- They say the game is very very large, but (sadly) it will be smaller than Morrowind for two reasons \/

(Stated by Todd Howard)

A. "Budgets and schedules for games will not change much while the enhanced graphics will require more development time

B. "It’s a fact that, statistically, gamers prefer shorter games, and often do not finish more involved titles

-- They go on to say that this will still be the most Expansive game on the next-gen market

-- Will be unlike the conventional RPG in which the combat outcome does not depend on the luck of “dice rolls”

-- The damage that you dole out will be determined by your strength, your opponent’s armor, and the attack you unleash

-- Your opponents will block and dodge, so taking down an enemy is entirely on the player’s shoulders

-- To make this more mainstream appealing(?) they have made most of the tedious aspects of Morrowind fun (Lock picking, mixing potions, and forging armor for example are going to be done through a mini game of sorts and)

-- Still made for the 1st person player there are options for both 3rd person and 1st person (like Morrowind), while also saying that the "combat is visceral and bloody”, and that it is designed to recall intense swordplay seen in movies like LoTR and Brave heart. Not to mention the fact that they said, “The combat will be every bit exiting as a FPS"

-- More than 1000 NPC’s that are all unique and full dialogue for each due to the interaction and CS's amazing capabilities

-- There are expansive forest regions that are the most breath taking of them all, if only you could see the screen, but they are packed with almost photorealistic trees and at least a thousand slivers of grass

-- CS program is slated to be included with the PC version and maybe even the Consoles if they have that sort of capability

-- All NPC's have a basic day to day schedule so they go to sleep, shop, and even if a poor guy that can’t afford food wants food enough, he will steal from some one, maybe even you



Part II

Quote:
-- You can still kill anyone in sight, and Guards still come but since you are in the capital province of Tamriel (or whatever) there’s a strong difference in the way the guards react

-- The guards will pursue NPC's that have committed a crime an give them a royal ass kicking

-- Game focuses on growth of your character (you still make your own of course) and the missions can be tackled from many different ways

-- Here’s another quote "The elder scrolls games are about freedom, and oblivion takes that freedom to a whole new level ~~~ The combat is a much bigger focus than in the earlier games"

-- Characters will converse in free flowing non scripted discussions that are possible due to this new CS

-- Character animation will be among the best ever seen with facial expressions representing what they are talking about and if they hate you they will greet you with a dark scold, while if they like you you’ll get a great big smile

-- NPCS maybe even age (shows a pic of a woman, then another with a caption saying it’s the same woman but in the CS all they did is use a slider to change her age in which she looks very aged compared to the younger looking one

- This is the most capable CS so far and runs on the havok physics engine

-- GI claims it has the most realistic lighting possible

-- When you see the GI pics and can’t believe your eyes, don’t act like they are CGI or FMV, but all pics are in game

-- There is going to be a castle and from the pic it is the most astonishing screen I have ever seen

-- Takes place in Cyrodiil, here’s a quote from GI "the world of Tamriel is a beautiful place: these are, without a doubt, the most amazing graphics the console gaming world has ever seen (look better than doom from the pics I saw)

-- Oblivion will function as a "fantasy world simulator" and wants to recreate such beautiful vibrancy as LoTR, and with these graphics being the best I have ever seen I would guess they will do just that

-- Either on foot or on HORSE BACK, players can explore a huge exterior world that looks shockingly real

-- They mention the new Construction Set which has supposedly like best AI ever in which It has created and rendered most things in which after words they hand touch every thing else



Part III

Quote:
-- NOTE: as I said about the NPC's earlier and how they sleep, shop and so on, here is a couple of other things they mentioned that I didn’t.... Explore, Eat, Report for work, and none of this is scripted, this is supposedly the new development CS at work
-- Attacks will be mapped to right trigger block on left for Xenon (or whatever you want to call the damn thing) hitting trigger does basic swipes, while holding the trigger down and press a direction you perform a power swing, each different direction is a different attack for both basic and power swing. And there are special attack abilities

-- Magic features 6 schools (how many Morrowind had escapes me at the moment, seeing as I haven’t played the damn thing forever) but all the ones mentioned are all in Morrowind so no new schools of magic.... yet

-- Schools of magic are
- Destruction
- Mysticism
- Restoration
- Conjuration
- Alteration
- Illusion

-- You can combine said magic for different effects and can create custom spells

-- Can join any/all of the following guilds, each with unique quests
---- > Fighters Guild
---- > Mages Guild
---- > Thieves Guild
---- > The Dark Brotherhood Guild
---- > Arena Guild
---- > The Nine Divines Guild

-- Can become the leader of every faction during the course of one game all at the same time. Unlike factions in Morrowind where you could only get in all by cheating, while in Oblivion you will be able to do all without doing anything special to the game

-- Fighters/Mages Guild = Noble (Quests like Morrowind’s)

-- Thieves Guild = Sinister (Quests like Morrowind’s)

-- Arena Guild = Focus on Gladiatorial Combat (Quests ??)

-- The Nine Divines = Religious order for Monks (?? Quests)

-- Dark Brotherhood = Sinister (?? Quests)

- Judging from pics there are some sweet monsters in store, ranging from a Sweet dragon-esc type of monster to a Minotaur that was said to look so real that it could have come from the real world and many, many others

- Over 40 types of said monsters such as goblins, skeletons, real world animals (like deer and horses which you can ride) and a very wide selection of the demons from Oblivion

- Mentions that there will be massive conventional boss battles

- And to end it all, it says you will go through subterranean dungeons, ancient ruins, cities/towns that will have you teeming with people going about their daily lives, churches, and castles

- QUOTE: "You will experience a truly living; breathing world brought to life through cutting edge technology that will power the games of tomorrow."


-----
source XMX, Gamefaqs

STORY LINE: In XMX words.

You are in Cyrodiil

Quote:
You are in prison when the emperors guard says that an assassin has sneaked into town and plans to kill the emperor, so the guards proceed in trying to evacuate the emperor through a secret tunnel that leads through the prison you are currently in. In other words it goes straight through your cell. The guards end up coming through your cell and tell you to stay back in your cell and do not follow after they escape. But the assassin quickly kills one of the guards. In which now you can gank all the guards stuff and proceed in your escape. You end up running along the emperor, until the assassin kills all of the guards until you are the last one standing, in which you must help the emperor evacuate, but as you help him escape the prison, he is mortally wounded by the assassin. Before finally dying he ends up leaving the worlds fate to you by handing you an item called the "Amulet of the Kings" then in his dying breath proclaims "Find him and close shut the marble jaws of Oblivion." In which with the emperor dying, weakens the magic that prevented the portals from Oblivion from entering Tamriel. Now there are several portals to Oblivion and demons straight outta hell escape into the surrounding Cyrodiil province landscape leaving the innocent people waiting to be mercilessly slaughtered by these undaunted beasts. Finally it is your task to find the one person who can close the gates to Oblivion and save Tamriel form utter destruction. GI hints at this special someone (that is very important throughout the game, the one that can close the doors of Oblivion that is) being maybe a sort of love interest in the game.



This is everything known about OBLIVION as of this moment

quite a few hideously interesting features.. i just hope the game doesn't fall victim to a molyneux-style scaleback.

[Damian79]

I am just glad that the combat isn't taking a back seat this time. It was a little empty in Morrowind.

Also I hope they rework the level system. Things like alchemy really cheapened the level system.

[frostwolf ex]

you da man epmode, i havent checked the tes forums today, but i imagine that the references to "making the game more mainstream friendly" have cause the flames of hades to spread already, i expect crucifictions. Ok, i like how they addressed the age of npc's and lack of a schedual, as that was one of the criticisms of tes 3. Its interesting that the story builds off the "unrest in cyrodill, that was mentioned by most of the guards in tes 3. Finally, I am really happy about the presence of special moves, that was sorely missed in morrowind, combat moves mod helped, but box owners were fucked.

[MechDeus]

...

OH. MY. GOD.

Winter 2005... Winter 2005... Winter 2005... One year... c'mon, I can do this... only one year...

I don't care if they take out some listed features, if half of that gets in it'll still probably be one of the best RPGs ever constructed.

[frostwolf ex]

and mech, its with the cs shipped, BUY THE PC VERSION!!!!!! the modders are already ready. You know, i am much more ambivilant about fable now, im still getting it, but tes 4 has stolen a lot of the thunder.

[GameCynic]

Fucking sweet, I'm actually playing through Morrowind for the first time right now. I really hope they get the game to run properly this time. I bought Morrowind 2 years ago, and only now have a computer that can run the game at a satisfactory level.