Gaming Thread

[daft alchemist]

Oblivion Gates are so lame and anti-climatic. You brace yourself to jump through the burning hell-portal in Kvatch...and you step right through the damn thing and find that you're still in Kvatch. So lame. So terribly dissapointing. The gates look so gnarly and wicked, but you have to "use" them, and that just killed the intense mood of the first one you encounter.

Meanwhile, all the time I've spent away from WoW has given my troll mage quite a long time of rested status. I hope to achieve lvl 50 with it, though I don't know if it'll hold out that long. Then again, I'm lvl 47 already so who knows.

[Tassatul]

Yes, playing through a second time is a lot less exciting. I would, however, suggest Morrowind to anyone who liked Oblivion. It's older graphics and less complex combat system, but the storyline is twice what oblivion's is, and there are some other things done better (IMO) in Morrowind than Oblivion. But the main point is, Morrowind has a freaking amazing story.

Gates were easysauce on my mage character. Cast invisibility, run to the end and grab the sigil stone, repeat. Sneaking was pretty easy, but slower.

[Cobra5]

I hear a lot of people saying they used invisibility to beat the game and make it easy. Someone I was talking to about the game said they used enchanting altars to make five pieces of equipment each with 20% Chameleon, which stacked and made the person permanently invisible, even when attacking etc. She could chop at a guard, for example, and they'd just go "Who was that!?" until they died.

Neither of my characters know any sneaking or invisibility abilities. Unlike most RPGs that give you the choice, when I play oblivion, I play it "Kick down the door" style (In BGII I was a theif, for example).

[daft alchemist]

All I have is that Embrace Shadows crazy thing when I've gone a few days without feeding. Pretty nice though. Hunter's Sight is the most awesome thing ever for riding along roads (so you see the wolf before it sees/attacks your horse) and in dungeons where everything is dark anyway. That Night's Eye thing really lights the dark corners up and makes it a whole lot easier to find your way around, not to mention the loots.

[Tassatul]

I did that on my Redguard warrior-type in Morrowind: enchanted enough of my equipment to be 100% chameleon. I didnt do that until after I had beaten most of the game, so it didnt hurt my experience.

In Oblivion, invisibility was clutch for my mage. Things would get hairy and I'd pop it and rest a bit to recover.

[Jalathas]

Really? Morrowind had a good story? Because I never even found the story in that game.

[Fargo Squire]

Morrowind was fantastic. I still go play it sometimes. It was much more pleasantly humongous than Oblivion is.

Oblivion, however, is also quite enjoyable.

And Twilight Princess was a great game too. Not long enough for my tastes, but then, it may have only seemed that way because I did it all in a few big chunks of time.

[BugHunter]

I just beat Psychonauts last Sunday. It was a truely, truely fantastic adventure. A real mind trip and I loved every minute of it! The design so unique, the character buildup so fascinating, especially discovering these character's hidden secrets deep within their psyche. Freaky and fascinating! I love this game!

[daft alchemist]

I have too many damn games I have to finish! Black & White 2, Trauma Center, Psychonauts, Lego Star Wars, FF9, Kingdom Hearts, Oblivion (although this is only possible at Will's house), Beyond Good and Evil, Minish Cap (eventually), Baldur's Gate, WoW (or something resembling finishing anyhow). It's making me crazy!

[Tassatul]

jalathas said:

Really? Morrowind had a good story? Because I never even found the story in that game.

Do you mean, you couldn't find the main quest line, or more along the lines of, it could hardly be considered a story? If it's the latter I can do nothing but disagree, but the former is one thing I loved about it. You could go ahead and do the main objectives. . . or you could go explore and see what you find in the world.

Also, the map markers in Oblivion make the game stupid. Fast travel was also a disappointment. I like the silt strider system better. Only major cities, and only some of them.

Good luck "finishing" WoW Sarah It's the game's best feature and most annoying quality.

[Jalathas]

Oh, I definitely just meant I couldn't find the main quest line. I think I wound up on it once by accident, then lost it again an hour or so later. I just really have trouble playing a game where the story's so hard to follow.

[Tassatul]

Oh, well thats good. Trust me though, it's a great story. Very epic.

[daft alchemist]

Hey man, it's like that Maik(SP?) cat says, if Maik wants to walk, he walks. I use fast traveling most times because I don't own the game myself, and I figure that since I can only play it at Will's house, there's no harm in getting myself around faster. Plus it was really, really nice and handy when I was getting into the Arcane University. And anyhow, smaller map markers can't be fast traveled to until after you drag your ass out and find it on your own first.

[Cobra5]

I thought Fast travel was dumb, too, and I never even played morrowind. I never used it. This caused two problems...

1)The pathfinding on your allies can be really bad over very long distances, especially on foot. If I had to escort someone between towns or something, I just fast travelled.

2)The quests assume you fast travel. So, some dinky side quest that pays 50 gold can become an epic journey across Cyrodil. The only thing is, after all this fighting and stuff and exploring and stuff, I still get a dinky little reward. On top of that, the fighters and mages guild were really annoying... "Go to this town." Do one little quest. "Now go to this town, all the way on the other side of the world". Do one little quest. "Ok, go back to where you started..."


So I spent more time exploring then doing quests. Quite rewarding as well, and I'm having plenty of fun. I made a second character, for doing quests, and I fast travel when using him. Oblivion is the first game so far where being a big dumb meat shield is actually fun... just chopping and taking blows isn't boring, in like say, WoW or Dungeon Siege, since I actually get to do the fighting.

[daft alchemist]

Oblivion is the first time where being a mage has literally scared the living shit out of me. I'll be casting my spells, which are a bit lower level than I should be using, and shouting in my mind (sometimes out loud) "Stay back! Go away! Stay there! Don't touch me!" and the like.