Bugs on 21/6/2006 at 09:15
After clearing out the ruins, my next day saw me take stock of my surroundings. I decided I still had enough wits about me to explore some more, before heading to a settlement, so headed into the nearby sideways cave (or whatever it's called). [SPOILER]Imps galore! Lots of spells getting chucked at me, which was quite fun, being an Atronarch[/SPOILER].
I also decided (being 2nd level at this point), to change my emphasis on spell casting. Now, I don't want to power game too much, but I do understand the importance of having a balanced character, so I've decided at each level to focus on spells belonging to schools which complement each other, i.e. Alchemy and Conjuration, which are both Intelligence based. I feel this is still reasonably in roleplaying fashion, and brings a bit more variety, so I'm not just casting destructive spells and such like.
Anyway, back to the caves, they were alright, but a little bland, [SPOILER]I didn't really see anything of huge interest in there, although there was a lone dead scholar, with some books and tablets with almost indecipherable scrawls on them, nothing which seemes to make an awful lot of sense though[/SPOILER].
After I had cleared out the caves, I went back to the 1st ruins to make camp, recharge my magic and read all the books I had gathered by this point. Ready to set out on a new adventure. I've spotted what looks like a ruined castle a little further on, past the cave, which I think will be my last adventure before hitting town, as I really need to sell on some of the loot I've been gathering.
My first contact with real civilisation since being inprisoned for crimes I know nothing of is something I look forward to with no small amount of trepidation...
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Heh, I can imagine Tuco getting banned for a wee bit. He is a jerk, but a magnificently funny jerk at times. My favourite comment was in the original Morrowind when he claimed to play it with the monitor switched off 'cos it was too easy. Genius!
Anyway, I don't believe individually naming bandits in a cave is particularly worth while, but they could easilt have created a random name generator, but why? Why would you know their names? In classic P&P RPG's you very likely wouldn't bother either...
Well, I worked out what the crystal was anyway, after playing about in my inventory, but thanks.
All in all, it's still shaping up nicely, and at least as fun as my first adventures in Morrowind.
RarRar on 21/6/2006 at 17:22
Quote Posted by Bugs
Anyway, I don't believe individually naming bandits in a cave is particularly worth while
I'll back up Korgano here and say individual names would have been a nice touch. Though I never particularly thought about it for bandits, I always wished other NPCs had names, the Imperial Legoin Patrols on their horses in particular. Just cause I like those guys and always feel a little bit of gladness when I come across one in my travels. They are always selfless in defending me and I try somehow to thank them for it but the game never lets me. At least if I knew their names and could recognize them if I met them more than once. It would be fun to come across a few "regulars," ones you see often on the same roads and routes. Knowing their names would also make it sadder when they die.
There's this one pathetic fellow standing next to his dead horse in the road whom I see every time I ride to Anvil. He rages about "getting the bastards" and I feel so sorry for him, his trusty faithful companion, "Horse," lying there dead, probably fighting for his beloved master. Now he's just kind of bloated and rotting. Peeuuw. Anyway, I wish I knew that guy's name. I'm also fascinated by the Imperial Forresters. Nutcases really, if you watch them long enough. I wish they had names too.
Now that I think about it, bandit names would have been a nice touch too. Especially some of those roadside highwaymen (what is it about that profession that seems to attract only Khajit?). They have more character than their stupider, randomly generated bandit counterparts. I think they deserve cool Khajit names.
Korgano on 21/6/2006 at 18:01
Quote Posted by Raven
But with Morrowind's personal touch it felt kinda bad slaughtering your way through the generic dungeons....
Due to Oblivion's higher detail I honestly feel that its dungeons are nothing but generic. Perhaps even more generic. In each cavern you come across you find the same detailed pieces that you found in the previous cavern. The same rooms are just copied and stuck together in a different way. It is also quite silly that light still streams down through holes in ceiling even at night (this also happens in houses).
*Bugs dont look here.*
When I realized the below I was not pleased:
[SPOILER]Additionally, the random loot is quite frustrating. Finding high level loot, such as the ring of perfection, in a random cave/keep with random bandits/monsters is to much like Diablo 2 for my taste. At least the good loot in morrowind had either a set location, a story or a purpose in the game.[/SPOILER]
Shadowlord on 30/6/2006 at 18:30
Guys, guys! Generic Dungeons or not, it's a great game to play. I find that this game will set up new boundries like GTA3 did when it first came out. The creators of Oblivion wanted a living breathing world, and they paid atteniton to the little details that other game designers usually just pass by. My only regret is that there is a marker to your quest location, instead of trying to find the place like you would do in morrwind. In my opinion they should make an option to pick it yourself.
Matthew on 2/7/2006 at 11:45
The mod thread contains several mods that will remove the arrow.
PeeperStorm on 2/7/2006 at 16:05
Unfortunatly, Bugs was immediately devoured by rats upon setting foot in the Imperial City. I can't think of any other explanation for the complete lack of further updates.:D
Matthew on 2/7/2006 at 16:20
I knew there was something wrong when the guide said 'more docile than rats in other parts of the Empire'. Vicious, they are!
Shadowlord on 3/7/2006 at 06:19
the guide said that?
Matthew on 3/7/2006 at 09:24
There's a Fighter's Guild quest item (a journal of zoological observations) that says that.
Bugs on 6/7/2006 at 08:33
Quote Posted by PeeperStorm
Unfortunatly, Bugs was immediately devoured by rats upon setting foot in the Imperial City. I can't think of any other explanation for the complete lack of further updates.:D
Yeah, my bad, been busy at work and too busy playing when at home. I've put in over 50 hours in the last 2 weeks, but have had to give it back to my friend I borrowed it from. I've since ordered it and should hopefully get it for the weekend.
Man, played 50 hours and not visited all the big towns or visited the Imperial city yet! Been walking or riding from place to place until I've discovered them and then allowing myself to use fast travel (between towns only) afterwards, as I don't really feel that breaks the feeling. After all I can justify it as Morrowind had Mages Guild teleporters all over the place, Stilt Riders and Boats, plus with Mark and Recall plus the other teleport spells, I forget now, but they allowed you to go to temples and stuff, you could get pretty much anywhere in seconds. I just need to fill the gaps in from using fast travel in my head!
So yeah, 50 hours and achieved not very much, got a couple of daedric shrines done, cleared out a bunch of Ayleid ruins and done pretty much all the little town quests there are (not been to the very southern town at the moment, or the far eastern one).
My mage has toughened up a bit, found it hard going just doing magic all the time, and missing out on those stat bonuses. Have decided to use light armour and blades, was loving the mithril, what with being an elf, felt all very LOTR!
Seems very like my experience of Morrowind, where you character tends to degenerate into a bit of an all-rounder (obviosuly being Altmer/Atronarch does have an influence, never be the toughest/shed load of magika). Last time I had a very similar character, refused to wear armour or use weapons until the mid-teen levels but couldn't resist the temptation of daedric armour etc!
