RarRar on 19/3/2006 at 18:09
I thought stealth was thoroughly unsatisfying and artificial in Morrowind. There wasn't any great reason to play a Thief. Plus, it was so hard to sell your stolen loot anyway. I just didn't see anything but frustration in trying to play a pure Thief in Morrowind. I can't recall ever pickpocketing anything of real value from an unsuspecting victim. I don't know though. I never developed my sneaking skill past 60 or so, but I did partake in sneak enhancing charms and potions. Maybe it's a different experience once you get up to 100 sneak.
Stealth was so artificial. You pressed a button to "Sneak" and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. I wish stealth were more organic: move slowly and crouch, stick to the shadows, don't make noise, move when they're not looking at you, and you'll get by them. I'm not asking for pure Thief style stealth, i.e., disappearing completely in shadows. I just wish there were rules to the game that let you know coming in to a situation whether you were likely to be detected or not. By rules I mean, like: if you're quiet and they're not looking at you you won't get caught. Very simple. Even if I had 0 sneak I should be able to slip past an unaware enemy if they're not looking at me and if I'm not running or wearing heavy clanky armor and making a lot of noise. I just don't like that sneaking was entirely dependent on whether the little sneak icon popped up when I pressed a button. I should be able to hear how loud I am for myself.
But maybe I'm wrong. Who here really enjoyed playing a thief in Morrowind and wouldn't dream of playing anything else in Oblivion?
NamelessPlayer on 19/3/2006 at 18:23
While my character generally does good deeds, you can bet that he'll be quite the taffer. Money and good equipment aren't exactly easy to come by, unless you "borrow" them from someone...
I also want to know if you can slip things in people's inventories ala Fallout. It was so awesome in that game to slip timed explosives into random people's possessions and watch them walk around clueless a few seconds before exploding...hell, there's Dwemer Satchel Charges and the like in Morrowind, and I'm sure someone can make a potion that explodes!
...Great, now I'm starting to think of Fallout 3 as much as Oblivion, but the latter is coming tomorrow. I don't know if I can wait...
Speesh on 19/3/2006 at 18:26
The stealth system in Oblivion was completely redone by Emilpags, who I believe also did the stealth system in Thief: DS. There are two dev quotes of his to be found (
http://waiting4oblivion.com/developer_quotes.html#emilpags01) here.
Personally, I'm still having trouble deciding what I want to be. I'm a bit more intrigued by the new combat system than the stealth. Maybe I can make a class that uses both.
RarRar on 19/3/2006 at 18:59
Those are interesting quotes. I guess we'll have to wait and see how satisfying it turns out to be. Of interest:
give more appropriate audio feedback.
I hadn't heard about this one and I didn't see anything like that in the few Oblivion videos that featured stealth. Course sound quality in those wasn't the best ...
Building spaces that are more fun to break into
Yes! This is a good one.
Like designing quests that better take a stealth skillset into account
Yeah, that's a great one too. Obviously missing in Morrowind.
I hope thieving is more organic and natural than pressing a button and watching an icon. And I hope there's more rewards for choosing the far more difficult life of a pure Thief. His quotes address both of my concerns to one degree or another.
Tuco on 19/3/2006 at 20:09
Thief? Hell no. There's no need to prance about in tights when you can charge in and kill the very people you would sneak by. Not only that, but it's faster and more rewarding as well.
Renzatic on 19/3/2006 at 20:15
BLOOD KILLIN IS RAWK! RAAAHHHHH _|m|
I'm probably gonna end up playing another variation of my Operative/Survivalist/Treasure Hunter character. He can sneak around and pick locks with the best of em, but he's also good at getting his stab on with long swords and can wear both light and medium armor.
SD on 19/3/2006 at 20:22
I just hope they fix it so that if you steal, say, a spoon early in the game, and three months later try and sell another spoon, traders don't automatically magically treat every spoon as a stolen item. That aspect of Morrowind was truly laughable.
RyushiBlade on 19/3/2006 at 20:44
My first character will be a barbarian, mostly because a brawler is generally easier. Once I've got a good feel of the game, I'll start another character (a thief). Ever since playing Thief: DS, I've been intrigued by the thief lifestyle. I'd love to give it a go.
GRRRR on 19/3/2006 at 20:57
I think "What sort of thief are you gonna be?" would be a more accurate question :cheeky:
I think im gonna be the run-of-the-mill "Eager to help but not too coy to boost his rewards made from good deeds with things lying around in the open or perhaps in heavy chests behind locked doors" type with some skill at security (since bashing things aint a possibility). Also NPCs will have strange visions of me slaughtering them after they saw me doin said "Reward improvement", but those will pass as swiftly as pressing a quickload button :o
Z on 19/3/2006 at 21:03
I reckon I'll go with a mage character first time around, with some light combat skills. A spellsword, I believe is the term. The improvements they've made to the magic system sound too good to pass up. After that I'll probably play a thief/assassin character. I'm a little tired of sword-bashing fighter characters at the moment.
Z
