I've finally finished The Eldar Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

I've finally finished The Eldar Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

shiny, randomly generated, lifeless world

I adore Oblivion, but the main quest glitched on me about 2 years ago and I haven't returned to it since, apart from to play Shivering Isles.

It's a shame, but well done for doing it! I wish I had the patience to start over.

"

shiny, randomly generated, lifeless world

This is how I feel about every WRPG and "free world" game in general. Lots of variables and generators don't make your game good. It takes away every opportunity for life, storytelling and pacing. "

You might try Baldur's Gate, Deus Ex or Vampire Bloodlines.

I hate Oblivion as well. I think Morrowind was a lot better than that piece of crap. And to anyone that thinks Oblivion is "massive", check out Morrowind's map please. Oblivion's whole map is like one little corner in Morowind.

The more and more I play Oblivion, the more I see how much room for improvement there is. When I first played it, it blew my mind and I thought I was playing a masterpiece of RPG gaming. Now I still enjoy it every now and again, but my main issue with it is the combat and the animations. Also, I HATE how everything levels up with you. Fallout 3 was a huge improvement to Bethesda's formula and I definitely can't wait for the next Elder Scrolls game. 

I enjoyed the hell out of Elder Scrolls III and IV (still need to try to play the original two), but I wasn't really as impressed with the story in the fourth as I was with the third.  Neither are Shakespeare, mind you, but the third was definitely passable for a video game.  I'd like to see the fifth blend politics and personal tales, with more unique characteristics to more major NPC's.

Then again, that's something I really want to see developed in all games, so take it with a grain of salt.

Oblivion is in my pile of games that I've played for an hour or so then cast aside. I'm sure I'll get back to it someday. Needless to say, your (well written) rant has not caused any burning desire to flare up.

I really need to go back and finish this game.  I think I was only 30 or so hours into before I stopped to play another game.

Whoever told you the main storyline is a good aspect of the game is out of his mind. It's one of the most horrible. Oblivion's only good if you can get down with the open world aspect, but in my opinion several gameplay design choices completely destroy that as well (level-decided loot and enemies make exploration a boring and pointless  retread in every location). I still had many hours of decent enjoyment wandering about and exploring or doing side quests, but it soon grew tedious. I see why people like it, but I can't see how anyone can recommend the main story.

And yes, Fallout 3 managed to make the world much more interesting and fun to explore, with actual unique locations and what not, instead of repeated dungeons over and over, though the main storyline was pretty badly presented there too. At least it gives me hope for Elder Scrolls V since Bethesda shows they can still improve in some ways, even if Oblivion was a downgrade from Morrowind.

Sounds like me and Mass Effect. I fucking cant stand it, it's so inane.

I played Oblivion on my PC. I think I spent as much time playing the game as I did modding it. I then learned to use the construction set, thanks wiki, and made my very own hole in the ground to store stuff in the main city. I liked Oblivion, but it was more about how I played it than how it played me.

I'm playing Morrowind right now, still modding. I have some more work to do. Too many hi-rez textures brought my PC to it's knees, so some more work needs to be done.

" I played Oblivion on my PC. I think I spent as much time playing the game as I did modding it. I then learned to use the construction set, thanks wiki, and made my very own hole in the ground to store stuff in the main city. I liked Oblivion, but it was more about how I played it than how it played me.I'm playing Morrowind right now, still modding. I have some more work to do. Too many hi-rez textures brought my PC to it's knees, so some more work needs to be done. "

Congrats...I think...

" @Claude said:

" I played Oblivion on my PC. I think I spent as much time playing the game as I did modding it. I then learned to use the construction set, thanks wiki, and made my very own hole in the ground to store stuff in the main city. I liked Oblivion, but it was more about how I played it than how it played me.I'm playing Morrowind right now, still modding. I have some more work to do. Too many hi-rez textures brought my PC to it's knees, so some more work needs to be done. "

Morrowind...I may try that, to be honest I've never fully beaten it. The graphics kinda throw me off though. Do the high rez textures look good? "

" @CL60 said:

" @Claude said:

" I played Oblivion on my PC. I think I spent as much time playing the game as I did modding it. I then learned to use the construction set, thanks wiki, and made my very own hole in the ground to store stuff in the main city. I liked Oblivion, but it was more about how I played it than how it played me.I'm playing Morrowind right now, still modding. I have some more work to do. Too many hi-rez textures brought my PC to it's knees, so some more work needs to be done. "

Morrowind...I may try that, to be honest I've never fully beaten it. The graphics kinda throw me off though. Do the high rez textures look good? "

Yeah, they look good, but you'll need an 8800gt or higher to run everything. Check this blog out if you want to try it on your PC. Some of the links are gone for filefront, but if you look around you can find what you need.

Read this Morrowind Expanded.

Another good source for modding. http://www.mwmythicmods.com/telesphoros.htm "

" @CL60 said:

" @Claude said:

" I played Oblivion on my PC. I think I spent as much time playing the game as I did modding it. I then learned to use the construction set, thanks wiki, and made my very own hole in the ground to store stuff in the main city. I liked Oblivion, but it was more about how I played it than how it played me.I'm playing Morrowind right now, still modding. I have some more work to do. Too many hi-rez textures brought my PC to it's knees, so some more work needs to be done. "

Morrowind...I may try that, to be honest I've never fully beaten it. The graphics kinda throw me off though. Do the high rez textures look good? "

Yeah, they look good, but you'll need an 8800gt or higher to run everything. Check this blog out if you want to try it on your PC. Some of the links are gone for filefront, but if you look around you can find what you need.

Read this Morrowind Expanded.

Another good source for modding. http://www.mwmythicmods.com/telesphoros.htm "

I've got an 8800GTS640 "

I'm sorry, but I actually do like Oblivion more than Fallout 3. Sure, it's a lifeless world filled with generic civilians who all say the same thing as you murder them with your sword, but I can stand RPGs with half-assed Role-Playing elements as long as they have good gameplay (thus my love of the Might and Magic series). It is a "more than the sum of it's parts" game for me and also was the reason I bought a Xbox 360.

But hey, whatever floats your boat. I can understand why people might hate Oblivion, and they are entitled to do so.

Oh, and for the record, I despise Morrowind. The combat is ass (even for a Bethesda game), the World is just as lifeless as every other Elder Scrolls game, but there is no fast traveling so you have to walk everywhere at a snails pace.

" @CL60 said:

I've got an 8800GTS640 "

You should be good. I have a Single core P4 3.2ghz and a 7900 GTO, so all that stuff killed my rig. You should be good, probably with all those mods mentioned above, you'll get about 30 fps outside and inside should be well above that.When you mod something, it's all trial and error and what your rig can handle. Try it "Morrowind", you might like it with a new coat of paint.Yeah I couldn't find it either. I might try a different grass mod. "

" @CL60: You can find his stuff on Planet Elder Scrolls or TES Nexus I believe.

And yeah, I agree with you 100% OP. Oblivion was broken for far too many reasons.

"

I think my biggest problem with Elder Scrolls in general was the combat. beyond that i could have enjoyed it, but that's a pretty important part. That may also be why I loved Fallout 3 so much, and why I want to go back and explore more even when I have other games I want and need to play. 

I can't find it either. Weird. In any case, Morrowind is a joy to play with or without the new graphics mods.

What version is the grass mod? Because I found it but it says BETA.

Not sure, but you can always give it a go and get rid of it later if its too buggy or w/e.

" @CL60 said:

I've got an 8800GTS640 "

You should be good. I have a Single core P4 3.2ghz and a 7900 GTO, so all that stuff killed my rig. You should be good, probably with all those mods mentioned above, you'll get about 30 fps outside and inside should be well above that.When you mod something, it's all trial and error and what your rig can handle. Try it "Morrowind", you might like it with a new coat of paint.Yeah I couldn't find it either. I might try a different grass mod. "

Wow lotsa comments overnight haha.

I liked parts of Oblivion more than others; I really enjoyed the Thieves Guild, but loathed the main questline (which I had to rush through because my friend wanted his game back) and the arena, and I didn't even attempt the Mage's Guild, it sounded awful. Most of the time I spent in that game was random sidequests, which I found more entertaining than anything else in the game, which is kind of sad.

On the other hand, Fallout 3 was probably my game of the year last year. I've played 60+ hours of that game with only Operation: Anchorage, and it still hasn't gotten boring. Maybe it's just because I like the setting better, but it just seems like a better game to me, even with the bugs and glitches. I'm borrowing my friends copy for now, but I'm planning on buying GotY edition when it comes out.

EDIT: My friend who let me borrow the games thinks I'm a psycho, by the way, He loves Oblivion, but thinks Fallout 3 is mediocre and bland.

I've never felt any Bethesda game has had a particularly strong narrative. At least the main narratives in both Oblivion and Fallout were drivel.

That said, I haven't sincerely disliked a Bethesda game. I think the point about the combat is solid--Bethesda has never really been able to make combat a selling point in any of their games, though Fallout probably gets the closest.

It's something about the immersion/atmosphere factor. I love the feeling of just galavanting around the worldspace they've set out for me.

Over the holidays i'm back into playing Oblivion too and am slowly doing the main quest which i never did beat in the 100+ hours i played the game.

The best part of the story is Patrick Stewart, and he dies in the tutorial level.

I still haven't bothered to finish the main quest line of Oblivion. I played enough of the sidequests and random dungeons to get my fill of it and never really came back.

i completely agree with everything you said about oblivion. i actually havn't beaten the main story yet, for the same reason you hadn't for so long. i epecially hate the way the whole world seems lifeless, just like you said. from the horrible AI, to the pathetic movement animations, to the 6-person voice-cast of npc's that spoke with zero body emotion. i'm glad i read this, because i thought i was alone in this thinking.

I loved Oblivion, great game, but you do make some fair points.

Try the witcher.. it's an awesome experience

Nevere expected to agree with The A Drain on anything but I do. Oblivion is just horrible. How did this game get so popular?

yeah i found it lifeless and robot-ic and stopped playing after a few hours, then again i did the same with every RPG i played

Yeah now that I'm looking back on it, I never did care about the characters either.

I guess that's why I turned evil, so I could kill everyone and no one really cared.

I remember the first time I played it, I felt pretty much like you and quit after four or five hours. I picked it up again some months later, though, ready to give it another try, and I enjoyed it much more.

 
Do you hate the game because you didn't enjoy it? Or did you not enjoy it because you hate it?

"

 
Do you hate the game because you didn't enjoy it? Or did you not enjoy it because you hate it?

"

Dude what class was your character?  What did you play as?