Elder Scrolls IV

fade · Jun 6, 2012

I am still playing through older PS3 games. I've done something odd here. I bought ES4 back in October and returned it in less than 24 hours. It was boring. But, I saw it was dirt cheap, and I thought I'd try it again. I love the Fallout series, and this game shares a lot with Fallout, but I can't seem to click with it. Fallout 3 felt like a real inhabited world, and you connected with the other characters.

I'm trying a few different character rolls, hoping to find one that clicks. I want a stealthy sniper with some magic skills. So far the bow has been a bit weak. Hopefully restoration and spells that modify status (mine or enemy's) more than destructive spells.

I'm not sure what's not clicking about it. I want to like it. Anybody have any tips or general advice?

Dave · Jun 6, 2012

Oblivion is cool. Just remember to only put skills you never use as your class skills. Otherwise you'll level too fast and the monsters will be a bitch.

ScytheRexx · Jun 6, 2012

To be honest, Oblivion was the one Elder Scrolls game I just couldn't get excited about. Maybe the landscape just felt a lot blander then I thought it would, maybe it was the extremely ugly character models and skin shaders (LOL at tone slider beards), maybe it was the fact that I didn't have some legendary prophecy driving me like the Nerevarine or Dovahkiin. I ended up playing till I got Martin to Skycloud Temple, put the game down, and went to other games. I attempted to go back once some of the DLC came out and the expansion, but once again I just couldn't get excited about the world space, and the DLC didn't help by pissing me off how it activated ("Just got out of prison? Here is a magical letter that your uncle is giving you a tower, WOOP WOOP").

AshburnerX · Jun 6, 2012

Oblivion isn't a bad game. It has a lot of cool things going for it. It just doesn't have that epic destiny feel to it that most games in the series have had of late.

Bubble181 · Jun 6, 2012

I have just the opposite. I love the Elder Scrolls series but just can't get into Fallout. I guess it's just a matter of tone and what clicks and what doesn't.
To be fair, I think Oblivion IS less immersive than the older ones. I blame it on trying to do too much and such. Also, too much and too easy fast travel, but that can't be why you don't like it

FnordBear · Jun 6, 2012

This one character is the sum total of everything wrong with Oblivion.

bhamv3 · Jun 6, 2012

The first time I tried Oblivion, I couldn't get through the tutorial dungeon without giving up out of boredom.

The second time I tried Oblivion, I managed to finish the tutorial, then started exploring the world at large. I haven't stopped yet.

Right now I've started modding my game, with major mods like OOO and the Unofficial Patch. It's like a whole new game experience. Seriously, I'm addicted to Oblivion now.

Jay · Jun 6, 2012

fade said:
Anybody have any tips or general advice?

Don't be Fade.

fade · Jun 7, 2012

gee thanks, i really needed that on a crappy day like today

Cajungal · Jun 7, 2012

I wasn't always into it either, but I had a lot of fun with the Dark Brotherhood quests. Did you ever do those?

Jay · Jun 7, 2012

Just try to have fun. Fad-eh.

bhamv3 · Jun 7, 2012

Oh, incidentally, I found a stealthy archer to be a very satisfying playstyle. It's not the most effective playstyle, and you probably won't be able to rely only on your bow and arrows for the whole game, but still... there's something very visceral about positioning yourself in a hidden spot, nocking an arrow, zooming in, accounting perfectly for the arrow's travel speed and drop due to gravity, and one-shotting a Dremora from two hundred paces away.

And if you're willing to abuse 100% chameleon, you've won the game.

AshburnerX · Jun 7, 2012

No, you can basically rely on your bow and arrows the entire game. The 100 skill perk is the ability to knock guys down with your arrows and it happens A LOT. It's kinda OP actually.

bhamv3 · Jun 7, 2012

Yeah, but getting to 100 marksman either takes a good chunk of the game, or a lot of farming/abuse. So before you get to that point, you'll probably still need a backup plan for when your bow and arrows aren't getting the job done.

AshburnerX · Jun 7, 2012

I wouldn't know. I basically used Bows+Poison the entire game. It works pretty well.

fade · Jun 7, 2012

Yeah, I'm still level 1, and I've been one-shotting the churls in Oblivion. Not scamps though. Those guys seem to take a lickin' and keep on tickin'.

bhamv3 · Jun 7, 2012

AshburnerX said:
I wouldn't know. I basically used Bows+Poison the entire game. It works pretty well.

Huh, maybe that's the difference then, I don't use alchemy much. So if my first arrow fails to kill my target, and he/she/it is now charging at me swinging a warhammer, I usually pull out a melee weapon instead of waiting to draw and fire another arrow.

AshburnerX · Jun 7, 2012

Alchemy is OP in just about every Elder Scrolls game. It's always worth taking.

- It's the single best way to make money in the early game (you steal reagents and make potions, which launders them for sale).
- The potions you make are always useful, even if only to sell for gold.
- Few creatures resist poison and you can stack it to quickly kill enemies.

If your going Archery, it's a good idea to take it.

Hailey Knight · Jun 7, 2012

Oblivion bored me too. Traded it for Dragon Age: Origins. Made the right choice.

I will have to try it again sometime since my wife bought the GOTY edition. She seems to enjoy it a lot.

Necronic · Jun 13, 2012

Thing about Oblivion is that you want to play it with one of the mods. Unmodded it's ok, not bad, but not great. With a mod like Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul it's fantastic. But, you can't do that on a console.

fade · Jun 14, 2012

Level 14. It's okay. Seems to breeze by a little to fast and easy, though. The arena was stupid easy. I ended up jacking up the difficulty, because I was one-shotting everyone from the dark inside my team's alcove. I don't even know what most of those guys even looked like because they were so far away.