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[Nerevar]

On the negative side, it locked up hard on me while I was trying to punch a bandit to death. It's never locked up totally like that when not in a loading screen (lots of lock-ups there).

Yeah, now that you mention it, I never had it lock up outside of a loading screen before the patch, but afterwards I've had it do that to me once. I was talking to the countess of Anvil for the "allies for bruma" quest, and after I left conversation I heard my DVD drive doing some funky things, then spinning down, and finally stopping. It didn't lock-up, but crashed out to the dashboard. Very odd.

 

[teiresias]

Have any PC users noticed any performance increases from the patch without changing any settings? Just wondering. I'm picking up the PC version this afternoon, which is why I ask!!! Yayyyy!!!! Can't play until Saturday though . . . boooooooo!!!!

 

[raYne]

As was suggested, for those who are having long loading issues, you should clear the cache. It apparently fixes that.

On another note, I've never found any of those artifact statues that you can sell to initiate the collectors quest. Does the quest start if I sell a Oblivion sigil stone too?

I found four of them before I even started the quest. Fastest collector's quest (start to finish) in history! :lol

 

[Jonnyram]

Wow, even us minority Asia users got the patch. Great job guys, and thanks a lot for supporting the game after release
I've just entered the Mystic Temple and am having a blast - went in with guns-a-blazin', of course!

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

On another note, I've never found any of those artifact statues that you can sell to initiate the collectors quest. Does the quest start if I sell a Oblivion sigil stone too?

Easiest one to find is in the first dungeon that you see, across the water, as you exit the sewers when you get out of the prison. There is an Alyied ruin there, can't recall the name, that has one of the statues in it. I found it and sold it at level 2 or 3, and kicked off the Collector's Quest, but didn't really start that quest until I was in the teens, levelwise.

 

[SnakeXs]

Guys, I'm trying to create a final, Jack of All Trades character, while focusing on maxing stats, and pumping Int and End. early on for huge stats later on, and it's a bitch. :lol

Creating a character this way is so counter-intuitive, and keeping track of skills you leveled and when to use your otherwise useless Majors to gain skill levels...

But, hopefully after a few levels it all starts to flow and sort itself out. Plus once I get Int. and End. out of the way it's a bit more free.

 

[Core407]

Easiest one to find is in the first dungeon that you see, across the water, as you exit the sewers when you get out of the prison. There is an Alyied ruin there, can't recall the name, that has one of the statues in it. I found it and sold it at level 2 or 3, and kicked off the Collector's Quest, but didn't really start that quest until I was in the teens, levelwise.

So you sell those things? I just ended up keeping 'em in one of my houses for decoration.

 

[raYne]

So you sell those things? I just ended up keeping 'em in one of my houses for decoration.

You have to sell them to a specific character.. quest related.

 

[Nerevar]

So you sell those things? I just ended up keeping 'em in one of my houses for decoration.

If you sell one of them to any shopkeeper, it eventually makes its way back to the collector, who will then give you the quest.

 

[GhaleonEB]

If you sell one of them to any shopkeeper, it eventually makes its way back to the collector, who will then give you the quest.

Yup. I originally thought my quest was bugged, because I sold it and it was not until a day or two later when I was approached. Sell one, and be patient. It's a REALLY fun questline.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

And, personally, I think the Collector Quest is one of the best in the game. Lots of fun.

 

[GhaleonEB]

And, personally, I think the Collector Quest is one of the best in the game. Lots of fun.

It seems like it's morphing. I thought it was going to be a

Spoiler

simple "collect the 10 artifacts". But as I've gone, there has been a side-quest with a competing treasure hunter (no, I won't hand it over, thank you very much!) and now something about a crown.

Fun stuff. I'm getting a bit of an Indiana Jones vibe from the first side-quest. That's a good thing.

 

[firex]

All right! Just completed the dark brotherhood last night, and wow that was insane. I liked the plot twists. Now, I have a couple mod recommendations for the PC version:
Hilarity
Adds a book to the Discount Spells Shop in the Imperial City that can teach you a bunch of crazy spells used for fun. It's seriously some of the funniest stuff in the game. If any of the random stuff does too much damage you can either reload an earlier save, or use one of the spells to revive NPCs. My personal favorite is to hit someone with gnomize or gigantism, or to cast "Free Pony" on somebody and watch what happens. You can also undo pretty much all of the effects of each spell so it's really just there for playing around with. But who doesn't like a spell that gives someone the uncontrollable urge to hunt for calipers?

Kumiko Manor
This is a huge mod and it's worth it. It adds a whole new landmass out in the Topal Bay which features a mansion, a wizard's tower, a garden full of alchemy ingredients and I think some other stuff. It costs 75000 gold to buy but it's really cool. Definitely the ultimate house, and you can even hire servants and so on to take care of it.

 

[jet1911]

I've just killed the Gray Prince! How do I finish this quest now? Because when I talk to Ysabel(?) or Owyb they don't seems to notice that I've just killed th Gray Prince (with just four arrows!). What am I doing wrong?

 

[LakeEarth]

Ooh wait, I thought you said Grey Fox but he can't be killed IIRC. Grey Prince, sounds familiar but I can't remember who that is.

 

[jet1911]

He's the Arena Grand Champion.

 

[LakeEarth]

Yeah now I remember. Huh, no one noticed? I have no idea what'll happen when you have to face him.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

It seems like it's morphing. I thought it was going to be a

Spoiler

simple "collect the 10 artifacts". But as I've gone, there has been a side-quest with a competing treasure hunter (no, I won't hand it over, thank you very much!) and now something about a crown.

Fun stuff. I'm getting a bit of an Indiana Jones vibe from the first side-quest. That's a good thing.

Let me know when you

Spoiler

finish the crown quest,

as I'd like to hear how you did it. I think my approach was unique to say the least.

 

[Vark]

Wow, even us minority Asia users got the patch. Great job guys, and thanks a lot for supporting the game after release
I've just entered the Mystic Temple and am having a blast - went in with guns-a-blazin', of course!

Thanks for playing

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I've just killed the Gray Prince! How do I finish this quest now? Because when I talk to Ysabel(?) or Owyb they don't seems to notice that I've just killed th Gray Prince (with just four arrows!). What am I doing wrong?

Did you beat him in the Arena, or did you attack him before that? For me, after I beat him in the arena, I just went back down into the pit, and they acknoledged me as the Champion.

It was actually hilarious the first time I went to meet the Grey Fox. I'd been hearing about him through out the Thieves Guild Quests, and before that all around the Imperial City, so I thought it was going to be cool when I finally saw him face to face. When he sees me for the first time, he says "It's the Grand Champion of the Arena! This is such an honor!" :lol

 

[GhaleonEB]

Did you beat him in the Arena, or did you attack him before that? For me, after I beat him in the arena, I just went back down into the pit, and they acknoledged me as the Champion.

It was actually hilarious the first time I went to meet the Grey Fox. I'd been hearing about him through out the Thieves Guild Quests, and before that all around the Imperial City, so I thought it was going to be cool when I finally saw him face to face. When he sees me for the first time, he says "It's the Grand Champion of the Arena! This is such an honor!" :lol

Yeah, and I thought he was going to be so hard to beat. I ran up to him

Spoiler

and killed him in a few blows, not realizing he wanted to talk to me first; I'd done the side-quest about his past. I noticed the "talk" option right as my last blow fell. Ooops.

 

[LakeEarth]

Is he tough if you don't do his side quest? Or do you have to do it?

 

[raYne]

Is he tough if you don't do his side quest? Or do you have to do it?

Depending on your level/skills yes... and no, it's not a requirement.

 

[Core407]

Did anyone else find the arena to be a bit underwhelming? I was expecting thousands of specators and all I got was just a handful. That was probably one of the bigger disappointments within the game for me.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Did anyone else find the arena to be a bit underwhelming? I was expecting thousands of specators and all I got was just a handful. That was probably one of the bigger disappointments within the game for me.

Nope. Knowing the technical difficulties of having an arean that large and the scope of the game, it was pretty much what I expected.

 

[Core407]

Nope. Knowing the technical difficulties of having an arean that large and the scope of the game, it was pretty much what I expected.

I think it was more of a reflection of the game engine than anything else.

 

[raYne]

Did anyone else find the arena to be a bit underwhelming? I was expecting thousands of specators and all I got was just a handful. That was probably one of the bigger disappointments within the game for me.

There's never a point in the game where you see more than 20 people at once. Thousands is beyond wishful thinking.

That said, I never even looked at the crowd the whole time I did the arena quest. It wasn't until afterwards when I when to bet on some fights (thanks for the wager cap Bethesda! ) and got access to the seating part of the stadium, that I even looked at them.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I think it was more of a reflection of the game engine than anything else.

Yep. That's why I knew going in it wouldn't be that large.

And I'm with raYne, I didn't even look at the crowd until I did some betting and sat in the audience myself.

 

[TheWolf]

weird, i've gotten a few loading area screens...

 

[raYne]

weird, i've gotten a few loading area screens...

They aren't eliminated completely, you'll just get far less than you used to.

 

[SteveMeister]

There's never a point in the game where you see more than 20 people at once.

I counted 38 in a Grand Champion vs Animals match. They're not "real" NPCs anyway, just simplified animated meshes.

 

[raYne]

I counted 38 in a Grand Champion vs Animals match. They're not "real" NPCs anyway, just simplified animated meshes.

I didn't mean literally 20... it's not like I stood there and counted.

Spoiler

Fix my bugged quest! ..and yes, I know it's unrepairable. Fix it anyway!

 

[Core407]

Yep. That's why I knew going in it wouldn't be that large.

And I'm with raYne, I didn't even look at the crowd until I did some betting and sat in the audience myself.

I was hoping that I would walk into the arena and the sound of the crowd cheering or booing would just overwhelm me and drown out all the other sounds.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I counted 38 in a Grand Champion vs Animals match. They're not "real" NPCs anyway, just simplified animated meshes.

I'm assuming this means they don't have Radiant AI turned on, so they take up much less processing power. Just sit them in place and let them move around a bit.

 

[Vark]

I'm assuming this means they don't have Radiant AI turned on, so they take up much less processing power. Just sit them in place and let them move around a bit.

They're not anymore an NPC than an animating door. I don't even think they have legs.

 

[SnakeXs]

They're not anymore an NPC than an animating door. I don't even think they have legs.

:lol

Damnit Vark, you're ruining the mystique! :lol

And, copied from what I said in the secret agent cache clearing thread:

Also, not sure if this is related but it's pretty coincidental if not, but after doing it I went and started Oblivion and it had an update.

Hmm.

Edit: For the record and just in case, I got "the" update when it came out a few days ago, and played maybe an hour before doing this trick without getting any update, and put it back in right after doing the trick and voila, update.

 

[GhaleonEB]

They're not anymore an NPC than an animating door. I don't even think they have legs.

:lol

that's awesome.

I gathered up

Spoiler

aid for Bruma

from every town in the game, and had 14 support troops for the battle in front of the

Spoiler

Great Gate, two from each town

. Add in

Spoiler

Martin and a whole lotta Deadra

plus myself and I'm sure I hit 20+ characters all going at it at once. Or rather, 10 going at it, while the rest of the freaking soldiers stood there and watched. Grrrr.

The game held up better than I thought it would through all the carnage.

 

[raYne]

They're not anymore an NPC than an animating door. I don't even think they have legs.

:lol!

Watch the PS3 port have the missing arena limbs... Curse you DVD9!

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

They're not anymore an NPC than an animating door. I don't even think they have legs.

A look behind the curtain in Oz! Either that, or all the people in the Arena lost their legs in some ancient war. :lol

 

[SpokkX]

the framerate actually is quite a bit better on x360

nice work Bethesda!

 

[Diseased Yak]

Here's some interesting stats from my guy (136+ hours, level 44 orc, currently a vampire):

days passed - 255
active quests - 11
quests completed - 166
skill increases - 1022
fame - 138
infamy - 62
items stolen - 1793
assaults - 88
murders - 23
creatures killed - 2283
people killed - 782
places found - 299
potions made - 1384
Oblivion gates shut - 10
book read - 492
artifacts found - 12
days as vampire - 10
necks bitten - 1
nirnroots found - 58

One thing is funny, though, "horses owned - 0" even though i currently have Shadowmere and have bought at least 3 that I can remember. Does anyone know how many total quests are in the game, or how many places there are to "find"? I was lamenting earlier about not being able to find any more quests and the very next time I played I ran onto an Inn near that Panther River that I never been to, and inside was a guy who gave me the task of recovering his research notes from a nearby cave! Sweeeeet.

I also love being a vampire. Having to worry about what time it is all the time hasn't gotten annoying yet. It's pretty neat having to time your exits from dungeons, or to be crossing the countryside and realize you better hustle to the nearest cave/house. The perks are great, too. Love jumping super far and running super fast. I also love what people say to you, such gems as "Stay back, you'll not get my blood!!!" to "Are you feeling well? You don't look so good..."

Did I mention I love this game?

 

[Kai Dracon]

Did anyone else find the arena to be a bit underwhelming? I was expecting thousands of specators and all I got was just a handful. That was probably one of the bigger disappointments within the game for me.

The scale and atmosphere if the arena has seemingly been one of the greatest disappointments among everyone I know. Really, considering that the arena is a pretty small area to be loaded at one time, with no immediately active radiant NPCs besides the opponents, one would think they could rig up a grand stadium of people with more conventional graphical techniques.

 

[TheWolf]

i think i'm done with this game for awhile.

once an expansion comes out, i know i'll be all over it again though.

Spoiler

the land needs a new emperor, afterall...

 

[Jonnyram]

I've just killed the Gray Prince! How do I finish this quest now? Because when I talk to Ysabel(?) or Owyb they don't seems to notice that I've just killed th Gray Prince (with just four arrows!). What am I doing wrong?

You have to

Spoiler

loot his corpse, and take his armour to Ysabel.

I'm assuming that's all you're missing.

 

[boredJonathan]

I picked up Oblivion a few weeks back and have been lost in it ever since. Really a fantastic game.

I unfortunately need a little help right now though, I have been getting back into the main quest (at level 19), and I just got to the Dagon Shrine quest.

Spoiler

The one guy takes all of your weapons and armor and sticks you in a room full of Mythic Dawn lackies. You are supposed to take the book on the pedastool but everytime I do I get ganked by the 8+ guys that all rush me with Daedric armor and summoned weapons.

I've read a few sites which offer somewhat cheaper ways to finish this task, but I was wondering if there was a more legitimate way of dealing with this section of the game?

 

[firex]

If you have a good destruction skill and some nice spells, you can take them out that way. Or if you have high conjuration, try summoning storm atronachs. Or... have good hand to hand skill.

Sorry, I can't offer real advice for that section, because I only did it once and it was with a wizard-ish guy so I had high destruction and conjuration skills.

 

[boredJonathan]

Yeah, I've been playing as a theif focused on marksman. Was working on getting my blade skill up since I just started the fighter's guild quests. All of my spells are pretty weak though especially up against that large a number of guys. If I had my scrolls I'd have some decent summons, but again, that was all taken.

Oh well, maybe I'll just be cheap about it. (I cheated on the Desolate Mine quest for the fighetrs guild because the idiots kepts rushing from one battle to the next and somehow managed to always get right in my way when swinging my sword. So I turned off clipping, passed through the locked door, and cleared out the mine in 5 min by myself only getting hit like twice.)

 

[GhaleonEB]

Let me know when you

Spoiler

finish the crown quest,

as I'd like to hear how you did it. I think my approach was unique to say the least.

Here's what I did.

Spoiler

I agreed to go after the other crown, and found it in the ruin. Then I went back to the lady and picked her pocket - took her house key. I then looted the hell out of her house, both taking the crown and advancing my total loot sold for the Theive's Guild. So now I have both crowns. :lol I've given both of them to the Collector and gotten the same result both times, a little dialogue tweaks aside. Is there benefit to handing one to him over the other? I've got a save game right before I talk with him, both crowns in hand.

My plan B was to Frenzy her, kill her, and then take the key but I decided to be nice.

 

[boredJonathan]

Ok, so I handled the Dagon Shrine quest in a semi cheap fashion, but man was that fun!

Spoiler

I followed a tip that the guy who takes all of your stuff will follow you before you do the sacrifice. So I lured him away from the crowd to a dark corner, since my sealth was high enough I was able to pickpocket him for my nice sword, then did a sneak attack on him which just sent him flying. None of the other cultists reacted so I looted the rest of my gear, re-equiped it all and found a nice high spot to pick off a few of the other cultists before they rushed me. From there I cleared out the back room from where you first come in, then since the freaking sacrifice kept getting killed rushing through the tunnels (Why the hell can't you tell him to wait?!?!), I clipped through the gate and cleared out the remaining part of the dungeon. I do try and play this game straight, but some decisions like not being able to tell your escort to freaking wait is a pain.

The tail end of that dungeon was awesome though, because three or four guys would gang up on me and for the first time all game I was able to handle it by playing well. My skills were leveling like crazy too! A few times I found a group of cultists who ran away when their health got low all grouped up, and I'd just pick them off bing, bang, boom all in a row from across the room. Seriously awesome stuff.

I went back and got the book and let the sacrifice go, but he out ran me to the exit and wasn't waiting for me when I got out, so I guess it was all for nothing, but man it was a hell of a lot of fun.

Now since I'm so far north, I figure I'll tackle that next quest in the Theives Guild which is for some Moth thing. Awesome awesome game.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Here's what I did.

Spoiler

I agreed to go after the other crown, and found it in the ruin. Then I went back to the lady and picked her pocket - took her house key. I then looted the hell out of her house, both taking the crown and advancing my total loot sold for the Theive's Guild. So now I have both crowns. :lol I've given both of them to the Collector and gotten the same result both times, a little dialogue tweaks aside. Is there benefit to handing one to him over the other? I've got a save game right before I talk with him, both crowns in hand.

My plan B was to Frenzy her, kill her, and then take the key but I decided to be nice.

Similar to what I did, but not quite.

Spoiler

I agreed to go after the second Crown as well, so I could get the location on the map. I then waited until dark to sneak in and steal the one from the woman's place, and then went to the dungeon to retrieve the second one. After weighing the value of both of them, I kept the second one for myself, and gave the one from the woman to the Collector. I ended up wearing that crown as my helmet for much of the game then. I don't want to give too much away, but eventually, I returned the crown to that woman by breaking back into her house, and putting it back where it belonged! :lol