Oblivion first time modded or vanilla

[DraQ]

I recommend Maskar's Oblivion Overhaul. Makes a lot of good/interesting changes to the base game. However, it's still Oblivion at the end of the day - an irreparable dumpster fire that no amount of quality mods can salvage.

It's an unholy offspring of a dumpster fire and Mt. Doom.

If you intend to level highly (>30), vanilla Oblivion offers much more challenge than both vanilla Morrowind and vanilla Skyrim.

Granted, much of this challenge is remaining sane and non-suicidal.

 

[CappenVarra]

i must sympathize with whatever horrendous life situation made you consider doing that to yourself

however, let's look on the bright side: there's a chance the horror of the game will make you realize how the horrors of your real life are pale, petty, puny, and positively manageable in comparison

so, if you decided to play oblibion with or without guns (to shoot or magick your miserable life away) stick a giant barbed dildo up your arse - who among us can throw the first stone shitcock to stop you?

oh wait, i would if you were within shitcock-throwing distance

godspeed judgement-impaired emperor's friend

 

[SwordCoast]

More i read this thread more i am getting inclined to play vanilla that most hated game. I need to see it. To tame the beast or to be tamed by it. Maybe i will also make a LP of it all.

 

[Jasede]

People are promising that you are going to have a terrible time because this game became so disliked it is legendary and has now become a meme.

It is amusing however how back then, most people who are not Codexers had an amazing time with it by their account.

Make of that what you will.

Complete bullshit. No game has ever been made fun of more on the Codex when it came out. You're mistaken.

 

[taxalot]

People are promising that you are going to have a terrible time because this game became so disliked it is legendary and has now become a meme.

It is amusing however how back then, most people who are not Codexers had an amazing time with it by their account.

Make of that what you will.

Complete bullshit. No game has ever been made fun of more on the Codex when it came out. You're mistaken.

Learn to read. Reply next.

 

[Jasede]

Well, you got me.

 

[Max Damage]

>People are promising that you are going to have a terrible time because this game became so disliked it is legendary and has now become a meme.
This implies it was liked here in first place. Codex aside, it wasn't universally loved everywhere else, level scaling alone displaced even FF8. Even big journos in Russia gave it tame reviews, I don't remember controversy around Morrowind ever being this big.

 

[grimace]

Play Oblivion on Xbox 360 like it was designed to be played.

Spoiler

2K Games had aimed for a late 2005 publication so that the game could be an Xbox 360 launch title.

 

[Zibniyat]

More i read this thread more i am getting inclined to play vanilla that most hated game. I need to see it. To tame the beast or to be tamed by it. Maybe i will also make a LP of it all.

You may decide to do so.

However, if nothing else, then at the very least I advise you to install a single mod (might require another mod or two, nothing major): Darnified UI. You can install it any time, so feel free to check out the original UI, and if you dislike it then try this one.

See, the problem is that when it came out Oblivion was meant for consoles and TVs primarily, hence the huge and ugly font used. Darnified UI fixes that a lot, although some complain about certain too small icons and hence a partial "loss of charm"... Be that as it may, the advantages and usefulness of this single mod far outweigh whatever aesthetics may have been "damaged", not to mention that aside from "charming" huge icons everything else is ugly due to being over-sized, and also the usefulness is decreased especially when you get many items/spells/etc. in your inventory/menus.

Also, I don't think you should rush to install any other mods; most such mentioned here are obsolete. The game is easy enough in the start, try getting some 5-6 levels by doing quests, it's easy to join guilds etc. Then, and only then, will you see what needs to change.

 

[The Bishop]

People are promising that you are going to have a terrible time because this game became so disliked it is legendary and has now become a meme.

It is amusing however how back then, most people who are not Codexers had an amazing time with it by their account.

Make of that what you will.

I don't know if I'm a rare exception, but I played Oblivion long before I knew anything about Codex, and I found it awful. I had no motivation to dislike it on principle, or for perceived street cred, since I wasn't reading or posting on any gaming forums back then. My expectations were pretty high too, because the game was hyped in the paper gaming magazine I was reading, which was more or less my only source of information on gaming back then.

My experience was:
Nice graphics. Got out of dungeon and mixed a whole lot of potions with common ingredients. Whoa, I gained so many levels, cool! Wait, suddenly everything is unkillable now, stuck in a story dungeon and cannot progress. Restart. I guess you need to go with some artificial leveling scheme or you're fucked. Anyway let's recruit a companion. That whiny priest guy will do for now. Hey, the guy's immortal and murders everything! He keeps asking to go somewhere, but I can just agree and never do that. That's pretty funny. But also kinda retarded. Thinking about it, why do I even level? What if I don't ever press the level up button. Everything is at first level but I can still find powerful gear and murder everything! Except... I have no motivation to do anything any longer. Should I progress with the story? Well, this stuff is pretty boring since I'm kinda already geared up and all the enemies are pushovers, I'll play it some other time.

And then I never did...

To this day I can't understand how anybody can play Oblivion and not be completely put off by how dysfunctional the game is on the most basic level.

 

[taxalot]

People are promising that you are going to have a terrible time because this game became so disliked it is legendary and has now become a meme.

It is amusing however how back then, most people who are not Codexers had an amazing time with it by their account.

Make of that what you will.

I don't know if I'm a rare exception, but I played Oblivion long before I knew anything about Codex, and I found it awful.

(...)

To this day I can't understand how anybody can play Oblivion and not be completely put off by how dysfunctional the game is on the most basic level.

Didn't most of Codex like Grimoire while the entire, actual world thought it absolutely horrible ?

Your own personal experience is nothing. This guy who says some russian websites hated it is nothing.

Oblivion received universal acclaim from critics, and became a commercial success.[116][134] The game had shipped 1.7 million copies by April 10, 2006,[135] sold over 3 million copies by January 2007,[136] and over 3.5 million by November 2011.[137] Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, a market research firm, estimates that the game has sold 9.5 million copies worldwide.[138] Reviewers praised the game for its impressive graphics, expansive game world, and schedule-driven NPCs. Eurogamer editor Kristan Reed stated that the game "successfully unites some of the best elements of RPG, adventure and action games and fuses them into a relentlessly immersive and intoxicating whole".[139] GameSpot's Greg Kasavin wrote that compared to Morrowind, which was one of the best role-playing games he has seen in years, "Oblivion is hands-down better, so much so that even those who'd normally have no interest in a role-playing game should find it hard to resist getting swept up in this big, beautiful, meticulously crafted world".[124] X-Play's Jason D'Aprile stated, "All the games in this series have been known for their sheer vastness and freedom of choice, but the Elder Scrolls IV takes that concept and runs with it".[140]

GamesTM editors noted that the game is "heavily steeped in RPG tradition, however, its appeal stretches far beyond the hardcore RPG demographic thanks to its ease of play, boundless ambition and focused attention to detail".[141] Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club wrote that the game is "worth playing for the sense of discovery—each environment looks different from the last and requires a nuanced reaction—makes the action addictive".[142] GameZone staff commented on how one can spend a lot of the gameplay time by leveling up his or her character, doing various quests, and customizing the character before even starting the main quest.[143]

Game Revolution's Duke Ferris noted that "the voices occasionally repeat" but was impressed that the developers managed to fit a lot of voiced dialog into the game, where most is "high-quality work".[144] IGN editor Charles Onyett praised the game's storytelling and "easy to navigate menus".[129]

Despite the praise, Patrick Joynt of 1UP.com criticized the conversations between in-game NPCs and the player: "When an NPC greets you with a custom piece of dialogue (such as a guard's warning) and then reverts to the standard options (like a guard's cheerful directions just after that warning) it's more jarring than the canned dialogue by itself".[120] GameSpy's Justin Speer criticized the "disruptive loading stutters while moving across the game world" and long loading times. Speer noted several miscellaneous bugs, such as unintended floating objects and unsynchronized lip-synching and speech.[145] Onyett of IGN criticized the disjunction between enemies that scaled up according to the player's level and not their combat abilities or NPC allies, the loading times and the imprecision in the combat system, but stated that "none of those minor criticisms hold back Oblivion from being a thoroughly enjoyable, user-friendly, gorgeous experience with enough content to keep you returning time and time again".[129]

Oblivion won a number of industry and publication awards. In 2006, the game was awarded the title "Game of the Year" at the G-Phoria Video Game Awards and at the Spike TV Video Game Awards.[146][147] At the 24th annual Golden Joystick Awards, Oblivion was awarded "PLAY.com Ultimate Game of the Year", "Xbox Game of the Year", and "ebuyer.com PC Game of the Year".[148] The game was titled the best role-playing game of 2006 by 1UP.com,[149] G4,[146] IGN,[150] GameSpy,[151] GameSpot,[152] Game Revolution,[153] PC Gamer US,[154] and the Interactive Achievement Awards.[155] The editors of Computer Games Magazine presented Oblivion with their 2006 "Best Technology" and "Best Role-Playing Game" awards, and named it the second-best computer game of the year. They summarized it as "an unforgettable masterpiece".[156] In 2007, PC Gamer magazine rated Oblivion number one on their list of the top 100 games of all time.[157] In addition to the awards won by the game itself, Patrick Stewart's voicework as Uriel Septim won a Spike TV award,[147] and the musical score by composer Jeremy Soule won the inaugural MTV Video Music Award for "Best Original Score" through an international popular vote.[158]

Game reviews are not everything. But the game was popular enough that it made the announcement of Skyrim and its release something that got gamers excited enough to make its sequel an absolute success, which is another evidence of how popular and well liked Oblivion was by the general public, despite its flaws.

It is not a matter of who is right or wrong here that we are talking about. It is a matter of rewriting history. Oblivion's reception WAS positive, both in the general public and from game reviewers. Over time, it became a black sheep and a vocal minority has rethought this opinion.
It doesn't change the fact that most people who bought and played the game thoroughly enjoyed the game

 

[markec]

Everyone should play both versions of the game.

I recommend watching and reading about all things Bethesda promised to implement in the game but didnt, just to see how much they lied.

Then you should play vanilla to find out what a broken mess of a game it really is.

After that play heavily modded game to see the dedication and hard work modders did over the years to make some really impressive content. Only to realize that all that was completely pointless since no amount of mods can turn that piece of shit game in something worth playing.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

I told you guys, Oblivion's considered an old-school classic now. You can't stop decline.

 

[thesecret1]

Oblivion is fine if you do not explore (since all the dungeons are shit and there's rarely anything worth discovering), mentally block out how awful the levelling and level scaling systems are, don't bother with Oblivion gates (since they are shit), forget you ever experienced Morrowind, and basically only stroll around doing quests. Yes, Oblivion has some entertaining questchains (about its only good part, tbh), so you might have fun doing those. Shivering Isles was overall better than base game, so if you aren't burned out on Oblivion by then, it might be worth checking out.

 

[The Bishop]

Game reviews are not everything. But the game was popular enough that it made the announcement of Skyrim and its release something that got gamers excited enough to make its sequel an absolute success, which is another evidence of how popular and well liked Oblivion was by the general public, despite its flaws.

So you're saying that an honest open minded opinion of an individual is nothing, but a praise from gaming media which has obvious and numerous reasons to be disingenuous about it somehow has a lot of weight? And the sales, which happen before the game is played and not after are somehow an indication of personal enjoyment now? I don't really care to argue this stuff very much, none of it is particularly important. But if this is the quality of argument that you're willing to bring, then yeah, nice talking to you I guess.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

He's a contrarian, or just trolling.

Oblivion's fine the first couple of hours, before one can realize how broken its mechanics are, how for every significant step forward it made two backward, how it never stops holding your hand and treating you like a moron, and how uninspired, repetitive and stupid it is overall, especially compared to Morrowind.

It's not that hard to get what the appeal is, it has some good enough quests (of the action-adventure kind though, as they're pretty linear and rarely offer multiple solutions or role-playing options), and some memorable moments (like escaping the sewers for the first time and finding yourself in the middle of the world map, which it's quite effective). But it's still just a dumb game for the worst kind of simpletons (which is why game journalist loved it), and a complete betrayal of what Morrowind represented.

 

[d1nolore]

Guys I played Oblivion for 40 hours and it was terrible, I hated it. Only way to play it is modded, I played it for another 40 hours modded and it's barely tolerable! 80 hours in and total decline!

Can't believe I then went and bought Skyrim, after 80 hours, total decline!

Whens the next ES coming out?!

 

[hello friend]

How can you not want to play this game:

 

[Zibniyat]

OP, do not forget that most Codexers with a negative opinion of a particular game have either not played said game at all, or have played it for dozens and hundreds of hours. In both cases, obviously, they are being dishonest and incoherent (i.e. they lie).

For example Skyrim, an objectively far worse game than Oblivion in almost every way (except the graphical fidelity and occasionally art direction of towns/cities), is both declared as "shit" and played for hundreds of hours by the same people. Amazing, really.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

Skyrim is objectively better than Oblivion in every way except when talking about quests. Not that it's a huge accomplishment. And before you say some dumb shit like Skyrim stripping out attributes and what not means dumbing down, that's all Oblivion's fault by making them completely superfluous in the first place.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Skyrim is objectively better than Oblivion in every way except when talking about quests. Not that it's a huge accomplishment. And before you say some dumb shit like Skyrim stripping out attributes and what not means dumbing down, that's all Oblivion's fault by making them completely superfluous in the first place.

Disagree. Skyrim NPCs have very simplistic schedules compared to Oblivion, only a handful(? do any actually?) travel, there's no conversations between NPCs, etc.,
Skyrim feels very sterile, like nothing ever changes and the world only exists for your character.

Oh, and spellcrafting, plus magic in general — I hate Skyrim's "equip a spell" system that has me always digging through my spellbook in combat.

 

[Zibniyat]

Lilura

I never touched JA2 in my life, so... I cannot say whether I would find it "too complicated". I cannot say anything about that game, since I did not play it.

You are mostly correct that every gaming forum is like that, but the Codex seems extreme even in that case. There is a reason why we have a sort of an internal meme here:

"How much playtime is required to asses whether and how much a game is shit?"
"7 whole play-throughs, just to be sure!"

Really, it is comical in a way. I used to visit other forums, and nowhere were people this ridiculous.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

Keep fighting your own strawman, bro.

Skyrim is objectively better than Oblivion in every way except when talking about quests. Not that it's a huge accomplishment. And before you say some dumb shit like Skyrim stripping out attributes and what not means dumbing down, that's all Oblivion's fault by making them completely superfluous in the first place.

Disagree. Skyrim NPCs have very simplistic schedules compared to Oblivion, only a handful(? do any actually?) travel, there's no conversations between NPCs, etc.,
Skyrim feels very sterile, like nothing ever changes and the world only exists for your character.

Oh, and spellcrafting, plus magic in general — I hate Skyrim's "equip a spell" system that has me always digging through my spellbook in combat.

As I already said, Oblivion made many of its systems (including spellcrafting) superfluous in the first place, Skyrim just cut the fat. Removing the retarded and immersion-breaking conversations between NPCs was pure incline (and besides, it just fits the gloomy setting better).

I cannot comment on the NPC schedules, it has been a long while since I last played any of these games, and I can't remember the finer details.

 

[Zibniyat]

How was spellcrafting superfluous when one could use it to create new and better/stronger spells, or spells with a multitude of effects? So, for example, instead of casting 3 different spells - which takes time (and often juggling through the UI to get to the desired spell) - one could cast a single spell with 3 of those effects. One may argue that in this way the player character can become over-powered (OP), but then the same could be said in the case of Morrowind, and besides - any game that gives you this much creative freedom is bound to open the doors to the player character becoming OP. It is either that, or having artificial restrictions imposed upon the player, or - as a third and arguably the most idiotic option - not having it at all, like in Skyrim.

What you call "cutting the fat" I will call "dumbing down and removing creativity/freedoms", and my statement is far more accurate.

Spellcrafting this way was also quite fun. There, I disproved your claim of it being "superfluous".

 

[hello friend]

gloomy setting lmao

fus ro dah

skyrim is a grey cartoon

'you are the dragonman'

gay