Oblivion turns 10 years old

[Makabb]

Despite all its obvious flaws, the radiant AI added to the simulationist aspect of the gameworld.

You could truly feel immersed.

You might be laughing but how often in game you do not see static AI? You can see they tried to make AI do independent stuff not centered around the player.
The end result is the Bethesda derpness but they've made something most of other RPGs do not have.

 

[Jarmaro]

You might be laughing but how often in game you do not see static AI? You can see they tried to make AI do independent stuff not centered around the player.

Oblivion - 2006
Gothic I - 2001
Gothic done it bettter. Bethesda was so incompetent they couldn't make the same with better technology after 5 years.

 

[Makabb]

You might be laughing but how often in game you do not see static AI? You can see they tried to make AI do independent stuff not centered around the player.

Oblivion - 2006
Gothic I - 2001
Gothic done it bettter. Bethesda was so incompetent they couldn't make the same with better technology after 5 years.

that's just 1 game out of hundred of other rpgs, like I said, most other games don't have it

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

man i love the smell of oblivion in the morning

 

[Jarmaro]

most other games don't have it

How many rpgs are designed to have living open world? Witcher 1 and 3? Kingdoms of Amalur? New generation Fallouts? Maybe Stalker? We haven't got many open world rpgs. Oblivion may be one of the worst.

 

[undecaf]

So Bloblivion reached 10, the age of a child...

This year Fallout (the original) turns 20 years, almost an age of a man.

Throw this thread in the river and start the festives.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Again, Oblivion doesn't have Radiant AI. Neither does Skyrim. Keep that in mind when you discuss those games.

I actually prefer Oblivion's random conversation system to Skyrim's, by a whole lot, actually. Even though it's often really silly/hilarious/mundane/whatever, the characters at least interact with each other in a basic way that isn't scripted.

If I were designing the next Elder Scrolls game, I would do this for NPCs. Take the greetings from Morrowind and expand them ("You flatter me with your attention, outlander" ). Add the random conversation system from Oblivion and greatly expand it (more topics, more interesting things, more possibilities, etc.). Then, add the guard dialogue system from Skyrim (commenting on what you've done in the game occasionally) and expand it. Expand these 3 by adding more content to all of them, more lines, varied voice actors, etc. The main ingredient is simply having more here, so you don't hear the same exact thing a million times over the course of your 300+ hour playthrough. Mix these ingredients together and bam - a great conversation AI system. IMO, of course.

As for the dialogue system when you talk to characters, that's a topic for another day.

 

[Makabb]

Do they have those random AI conversations in Skyrim ?

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Do they have those random AI conversations in Skyrim ?

Nope. Skyrim has a few scripted ones here and there (and they repeat endlessly, along with the greetings that also repeat endlessly). Morrowind seemed to have many different things an NPC could greet you with, based on how much they liked you, your race, etc. Oblivion may have had a scripted conversation or 2 (can't remember) but most if not all of it was randomly generated.

 

[Makabb]

Seems they wanted to make a more Daggerfall type game with Oblivion and with Skyrim they made Morrowind type game based on Oblivion.


I have to get into Oblivion again but install less mods because it was crashing on me crazy.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

And by repeat endlessly, I mean they trigger over and over again. Ulfrich Stormcloak gives the same exact speech to the same guy seemingly every time you enter his castle. It's a cool speech, but I don't know why it has to repeat 50+ times over the course of a playthrough. Same with NPC greetings and one-liners. "Do you get to the Cloud District often? Oh what am I saying, of course you don't" will be said at least 100 times in your playthrough, and every other time you pass the guy in the streets. Weird stuff.

Oblivion had a lot of repeating convo stuff too, but at least it was randomly put together for the most part. I think Bethesda needs to ditch the one-liners for most NPCs except the guards. They can have greetings/dialogue unique to NPCs, but you also need a pool of random/other quotes to use to mix things up more. Once a very specific quote gets said once or twice within earshot of the player, they need something else to say.

 

[Turjan]

You could truly feel immersed.

You might be laughing but how often in game you do not see static AI? You can see they tried to make AI do independent stuff not centered around the player.
The end result is the Bethesda derpness but they've made something most of other RPGs do not have.

I know they tried. However, they drove that cart deeply into the uncanny valley. They tried to emulate human interaction, but produced a freak show.

 

[octavius]

Again, Oblivion doesn't have Radiant AI.

So what do you call the differences in NPC behaviour between MW and Oblivion, then?

 

[Jarmaro]

So what do you call the differences in NPC behaviour between MW and Oblivion, then?

Scripts? Hard to count Morrowind's "Go here and go back" as real scripts.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

So what do you call the differences in NPC behaviour between MW and Oblivion, then?

It's a very stripped down version of Radiant AI. It is mostly just scripts. The "real" Radiant AI was supposed to be much more than what ended up making the game. They had to scrap it at the last minute because it was causing too many issues. It was really never seen again, so maybe they are still working on it for a future try.

 

[octavius]

Hmm...I'm pretty sure it's the same system, only they had to modify and reduce the amount of AI Packages NPCs use, 'cause it caused unwanted results, like killing other NPCs for food.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Hmm...I'm pretty sure it's the same system, only they had to modify and reduce the amount of AI Packages NPCs use, 'cause it caused unwanted results, like killing other NPCs for food.

What I heard over the years is that they stripped it so much that it's really not the Radiant AI that it was supposed to be. Google it. I did just now (quickly) and found others who said the same thing. I think that came from some obscure Todd Howard interview where he says they had to scrap most of the system right before the release of Oblivion because yes, NPCs were committing crimes for food, etc., and guards were slaughtering entire towns and so on.

Funny thing, the Radiant AI wiki page is a newer, revised thing. The Radiant Story/Quests was something they added in Skyrim.

 

[Makabb]

 

[Makabb]

Oblibion can be pretty even today..........see that mountain ?

 

[catfood]

 

[adddeed]

I see nothing pretty in that screen. Neither artistically impressive, nor technically. Just looks dull and outdated.

 

[Makabb]

What do you want from a 2006 game ?

 

[Epsilon]

It's plain that it's the same engine, but theres a bit more depth to the scenery. More details with varied vegetation along rivers and so forth.

 

[Miner Arobar]

There's nothing essentially wrong with the Oblivion graphics as such. The leaves look quite nice, as does the grass and the shadow playing on the rocks - it's just that the city you see is supposed to be the metropolis in control of pretty much the known world, and that mountain in the distance is where Cyrodiil ends. That's the basic problem.

 

[Repulsive]

Uldskul RPG