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Why do people hate Oblivion so much?

mfkndggrfll

mfkndggrfll

Learned
Shitposter Bethestard
Joined
Mar 21, 2018
Messages
546
It seems like part of the Codex culture to hate on Oblivion. I dont get it, why are people bashing this game so hard?

Main arguments I keep seeing are about the 'generic fantasy setting'. So what? Wasnt Lord of the Rings generic fantasy as well? Wasnt Baldur's gate generic fantasy too? As far as Im concerned the majority of old school cRPGs that stood out were generic fantasy. Arena and Daggerfall were 'generic fantasy'. Morrowind took a different twist and somehow everyone feels like the series was meant to be that way...

There is the complain about quest markers apparently ruining the game too. As far as Im concerned the absence of markers didnt add any value to Morrowind, navigating to your destination was just busywork. The game featured plenty of quests that didnt rely on those markers.

People complain about the bad level scaling and leveling mechanics because at level 20+ game balance goes downhill. To me it sounds like those negative Steam reviews saying ''Gaem is gud for teh first 60 hours and then it sux, dont recommend''. By the time you reach level 20 you should have seen A LOT of the game to the point where you should be ready for a re-roll.

Theres also the potato face/potato voice 'argument'. Considering that older cRPGs feel way clunkier on different aspects I dont know why people even bring that up.

In the end Oblivion is one of the better crafted TES games to me, since it features the best side quests of the series, and arguably the whole (A)RPG genre.

Honestly which other RPG delivered side quests with a design on par with Oblivion? What are the competitors?

For some reason I feel like people who hate it the most are the Morrowind fans. Those who grew up on Morrowind and were impressed by its novelty. By the time Oblivion got released they grew up too old to enjoy the type of game that it is (FPS-open world - interactive walking simulator) and are blaming it on the devs. I have never seen Arena/DF fans hate on Oblivion, for some reason...
 
moleman

moleman

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Mar 8, 2018
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I wasn't a big fan of Morrowind back when it came out. The world felt dull and lifeless for me.
Even more so because I played it after Gothic 2.
But I can see why it is a favourite of many people. The story is very interesting and deep. And it gets deeper the more you follow hints and lore in the game. It rewards investment from the player. The enchantment and magic system is very sophisticated and rewards experimentation.

Concerning Oblivion:

This game is a generic, soulless piece of shit.
The only good thing about it is that you need it to play Nehrim.
 
Self-Ejected

unfairlight

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Joined
Aug 20, 2017
Messages
4,092
It wasn't bad. There's worse RPGs out there, Oblivion had fun quests and a pretty world, there's worse games out there. It was a fun game and that's what matters to me. It was miles ahead of Skyrim and Fallout 4 because those games just didn't have quests anywhere near as fun. Sure, the game was easily powergamed and abused and the level scaling was flaming garbage, but if you installed a mod to remove or balance level scaling of your liking I think it's a totally competent game.
This also gives me the excuse to post this video here again.
 

PorkBarrellGuy

Guest
Chad J. Thundercock said:
Ayelid ruins were surprisingly complex. Skyrim dungeons were a literal straight line.
Click to expand...

I'm still trying to figure out how they did such a surprisingly decent job with the Ayleid ruins and yet such a miserable job with the Oblivion Gate dungeons. It's like 2 different groups of people worked on each.
 
Jacob

Jacob

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Grab the Codex by the pussy
Hi, OP, I think you're a shitposter with dumb opinions and you should
Eat well, sleep well, exercise regularly, and manage your stress so you don't have to relieve it by making stupid threads here. You're welcome back anytime after you've gotten better.
 

PorkBarrellGuy

Guest
Sigh, ok, let's do this for real I guess.
1. Retconned a lush jungle setting into generic high-forest-here-swamp-there stuff for no fucking good reason I can think of
2. Melee combat is dull, awkward, and braindead easy. Lots of death by a thousand cuts shit later on when enemies go full damage sponge on you.
3. They managed to make alchemy more braindead and more broken than it was in Morrowind
4. Spells are pretty fucking uninteresting for the most part, dumbed down from Morrowind, no Spellmaker anymore IIRC
5. Far too fucking easy to enchant yourself to the nines with BSGs
6. Character models are horrorshow rejects, Khajiit are hideous in particular
7. Shop owners are all omniscient in regards to stolen goods which is fucking retarded
8. Level scaling, bandits wearing fucking Daedric and Glass
9. Spears omitted for no fucking good reason
10. Hircine's in but no werecreatures for you for REASONS
11. Adoring Fan (who the fuck thought this was a good idea)
12. "Radiant AI" is hideously retarded to the point of tragic comedy
13. Uninspired quest design, uninspired dungeon design for the most part, craptastic dialogue
14. Fast travel is fucking dumb in a hiking sim
 
mfkndggrfll

mfkndggrfll

Learned
Shitposter Bethestard
Joined
Mar 21, 2018
Messages
546
That Damn Dog said:
Sigh, ok, let's do this for real I guess.
1. Retconned a lush jungle setting into generic high-forest-here-swamp-there stuff for no fucking good reason I can think of
2. Melee combat is dull, awkward, and braindead easy. Lots of death by a thousand cuts shit later on when enemies go full damage sponge on you.
3. They managed to make alchemy more braindead and more broken than it was in Morrowind
4. Spells are pretty fucking uninteresting for the most part, dumbed down from Morrowind, no Spellmaker anymore IIRC
5. Far too fucking easy to enchant yourself to the nines with BSGs
6. Character models are horrorshow rejects, Khajiit are hideous in particular
7. Shop owners are all omniscient in regards to stolen goods which is fucking retarded
8. Level scaling, bandits wearing fucking Daedric and Glass
9. Spears omitted for no fucking good reason
10. Hircine's in but no werecreatures for you for REASONS
11. Adoring Fan (who the fuck thought this was a good idea)
12. "Radiant AI" is hideously retarded to the point of tragic comedy
13. Uninspired quest design, uninspired dungeon design for the most part, craptastic dialogue
14. Fast travel is fucking dumb in a hiking sim
Click to expand...

Looks like you're pointing to a lot of flaws but none of them is a legit reason to hate Oblivion.

1. Sounds like a reason to hate Bethesda, not the game. Its a case of 'could have/should have been'. Maybe the current tech didnt support lush jungles for the scale of the game, isnt that a good reason? Why would they not create a lush jungle besides that? They could have copy pasted a lot of lush jungle trees but the game would have been released on 10 CDs... Its only an issue if you care about TES lore too, for someone who doesnt know that the game is meant to be a jungle it doesnt really matter.

2. Sounds like a reason to hate TES games in general... Cant really say that Oblivion is worst than the others in that regard.

3. It was a fun mini-game to me and overall felt pretty well implemented. Maybe you managed to get crazy potions by reading guides or w/e but alchemy isnt an issue in this game. Its not like the game forces you to use the alchemy system anyway.

4. I found them to be okay. Not as deep as DF but the game had a decent magic system compared to the average RPG. There IS a spellmaker, it required a certain rank in the mages guild.

5. Too easy to min max and ruin your own fun by using OP enchants? Just dont use them. Like alchemy you arent forced to use enchants.

6. Considering that most good RPGs have much worse graphics my reaction to the potato faces has always been ''Why the fuck does it matter?'' They did what they could with the tech. That tech also allows you to create YOUR OWN horrorshow rejects which is one of the best part of the game. Seriously there is one thing that the technical improvement ruined in video games and its the ability to model your characters like in Oblivion.

7. What about Daggerfall where you can resell them their own gear? Or Morrowind where shops are open 24/7 and owners never sleep? Seems like Oblivion isnt the worst here...

8. Level scaling is both a flaw and a blessing. It also allows you to try most of the game's content (if not all) at level 1. Its one of the main reasons why Oblivion is aging well, unlike Morrowind you can pick it up and do anything, no need to grind. Bandits in glass armor is the downside to that system, and it happens pretty late.

9. Technical limitation maybe? To avoid potential abuse and having to implement anti abuse mechanics. I prefer no spear to some OP weapon. You're already whining about OP enchants and alchemy....

10. Okay.

11. The Adoring Fan is a highlight of Oblivion. Killing him is one of the most satisfying moments of the game. Theres a ton of youtube vids of people killing the fan in every way possibly.

12. Bad AI is better than no AI I guess? Its a massive improvement over Daggerfall as far as Im concerned.

13. Now you're just talking shit. Quest design in Oblivion is the best of the series by a long shot. Its the reason why the game is still worth playing today. Dungeon design was cool. Not as huge as DF but the physics based traps were neat, and the overall design was decent.

14. Fast travel is mandatory in a game of such a scale. Then again you arent even forced to use it, so why complain?
 
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