Support NeoGAF

[FlyinJ]

I just restarted with my level 29 spellsword. The game is about ten times harder. Much much more fun.

Also, the first time I tried to enter The Crucible it crashed again. Hard lock crash. Had to reboot my 360 and enter again. Second time it didn't crash, exactly what happened to me with my first character.

So, it's definitely a bug in the expansion and not your 360s if this is happening to you.

 

[FlyinJ]

Where's a good, reliable place to buy big soul stones? Pretty much every monster needs a magical weapon to fight against it in the expansion, and I'm running low.

Also, how do apply potions to weapons? And when you do, does it only effect the first hit, or does it have a timer?

 

[MirageDwarf]

Where's a good, reliable place to buy big soul stones? Pretty much every monster needs a magical weapon to fight against it in the expansion, and I'm running low.

Also, how do apply potions to weapons? And when you do, does it only effect the first hit, or does it have a timer?

I've bought stones from magic guild members in past. Try them.

Go to your inventory, select poison, you will see which button to press to apply it to the weapon. It's either 'X' or 'A'. I don't remember. So far I've seen it one time use only.

 

[raYne]

Where's a good, reliable place to buy big soul stones? Pretty much every monster needs a magical weapon to fight against it in the expansion, and I'm running low.

You should've just gotten the Azura Star. It's a soul gem than can constantly be reused. The Quest of which you start at the shrine north of Cheydinhal's West Gate.

The regular gems can be purchased at various Mages Guilds, but you shouldn't really have to do that either, since they're all over the place in vanilla Oblivion.

Also, how do apply potions to weapons? And when you do, does it only effect the first hit, or does it have a timer?

Highlight the potion, then there should be something like "apply to weapon" option. They only last for the one hit, whether that be arrows or melee weapons.

If you really want useful weapon effects, you should just make your own enchanted weapons/items (Arcane University).

 

[GhaleonEB]

Is there a place to buy spells in the Shivering Isles, or do I need to head back to the main game? Also, where is this place that wants me to collect the Matrices? I've found two now.

I just scoured the main town but didn't spot it.

 

[raYne]

Is there a place to buy spells in the Shivering Isles, or do I need to head back to the main game? Also, where is this place that wants me to collect the Matrices? I've found two now.

I just scoured the main town but didn't spot it.

I haven't even made it to the main cities yet! Still busy exploring the outskirts. :lol

So no clue about buying spells or the exact location of the guy who can actually use the Matrices. I do know that you need to take them to a metalsmith though... Along with other ingredients (Amber + Madnes Ore etc) to create new weapons. So maybe you should search for one of those.

 

[Tabris]

So I know this question has been answered a million times, but...

I've never played Oblivion before, which version should I get? 360 or PS3? Remember I wouldn't want to play into the expansion pack until playing the core game for a while.

Also, if PS3 is recommended, do you think 360 version will drop in price soon? Cause I rather get the cheaper one if PS3 is only slightly better graphically.

 

[p3tran]

From IGNs review:

IGN: Shivering Isles Online Only
Sadly, you can't play the Elder Scrolls expansion unless connected to Xbox Live.

this article title is so wrong!!!!
the only way your downloaded content does not work when offline, is if you originally downloaded on this hard disk but mounted on another 360.

for example, I downloaded Isles just before live went out.
Isles was available for me to play without xbox live, but my dlc castle, Frostcrag Spire, which I downloaded some months ago on the same HD, but mounted on my other 360, refused to be recognised. %$^@&*&^$%@!!!!!


the truth is that this is very inconvenient especially for people that have bought 2 360's or even had their original 360 replaced.

microsoft should fix this asap!!!


it is very uncomfortable and also happens with ALL downloads, for example the arcade games you buy from live arcade:
if the combination 360 - hard disk is not the same as when first downloaded, when offline, the games will only play as demo versions. this sucks and completely deprives any feeling of ownership you may have for the games you buy! it sucks! change it!!




regarding Isles gameplay now, I LOLed with the black afro guy, right after I killed the gatekeeper!
he came straight up to my face, and said something like:
" I see you followed my advice and killed the gatekeeper! what would people do without me?!"
these words in combination with the character's slightly crazy look was so funny yet so reminding of some real-life fruitcakes I know, that I lolololololed, and then some more.
great character, this one! :lol

 

[MirageDwarf]

So I know this question has been answered a million times, but...

I've never played Oblivion before, which version should I get? 360 or PS3? Remember I wouldn't want to play into the expansion pack until playing the core game for a while.

Also, if PS3 is recommended, do you think 360 version will drop in price soon? Cause I rather get the cheaper one if PS3 is only slightly better graphically.

Ideally, there is no real answer for that. Some people prefer brightness of PS3 version, some prefer characters on Xbox 360. People who have played original game for a long time, and looking for something new, will prefer either 360 or PC version. It's hard to answer which one you might like. If you can't decide, flip a coin.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I haven't even made it to the main cities yet! Still busy exploring the outskirts. :lol

So no clue about buying spells or the exact location of the guy who can actually use the Matrices. I do know that you need to take them to a metalsmith though... Along with other ingredients (Amber + Madnes Ore etc) to create new weapons. So maybe you should search for one of those.

I found the spell shop in the main city - I just missed it the first three times I walked past it. :lol

You gotta explore Fain, on the high ridge to the east of the main city. Start to the south to get on the ridge. Smallish dungeon, great loot, bizzare twist.

All hail Gyub, Lord of the Pit! :lol

Spoiler

I just about had a ****ing heart attack, Bethesda!

 

[GreekWolf]

Crucible is a strange town. I'm using my Holy Paladin character, and was expecting to receive a heroes welcome from the luscious Golden Saints when I walked through the door. Not so! They are snobby, cynical and downright rude. They get annoyed whenever I try to strike up a friendly conversation, as if I'm the high school nerd and they are the captain of the cheerleading squad. So full of themselves, it's almost comical. I was pretty disappointed, because my image of them from Morrowind was completely different.

Ironically, the Dark Seducers have been all over me. Slutty is the word that comes to mind. They follow me all around town, and I swear that one of them actually tried to grab my ass. I always knew that I was playing for the wrong team.

 

[Kintaro]

I wish this was sticked again. I'm playing again for the night. Fun times. If you were completely super nerdy, you could make a RP blog thing writing as your character and have enough material just on what you do in this game to last for a LONG time. Crazy.

I'm in Bruma right now, doing some random quests and guild quests. Pretty town.

 

[GhaleonEB]

In case anyone is on the fence, Shivering Isles is pretty damn packed with content. I've got eight side quests on my que, one notch in the main quest (which requires I head to a dungeon and find three scattered objects), I've found seven or eight new dungeons (all optional), a couple of settlements and a half-dozen new creatures. Oh, and about ten new books I bought but haven't read yet. I'm about six or seven hours in, and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. It's like the early parts of the main game, where there is so much to do it's actually overwhelming.

And I've only explored a fraction of Dementia. Insane. This place is huge.

 

[GreekWolf]

And I've only explored a fraction of Dementia. Insane. This place is huge.

You too, eh? I actually used the Mania key to enter the realm, but then promptly climbed over the rocks and went through Dementia.

 

[Kabouter]

So does anyone have suggestions for a good budget graphics card to improve my Oblivion performance? I've got a Radeon x800 GT currently.

AGP or PCI-Express?
And what's the rest of your system?

A few more Shivering Isles pics, but I haven't come across anything as interesting as the stuff yesterday:

Man, looks great!
I think I'll go into town to try and find if anyone is selling the add-on early.
Now I'll have to try to wait the hour until the stores open

 

[raYne]

OMG @ resolving the Quest in Crucible with the guy who's tired of living.

Spoiler

"Today's your lucky day!"... *push*

:lol!

I found the spell shop in the main city - I just missed it the first three times I walked past it. :lol

You gotta explore Fain, on the high ridge to the east of the main city. Start to the south to get on the ridge. Smallish dungeon, great loot, bizzare twist.

All hail Gyub, Lord of the Pit! :lol

Spoiler

I just about had a ****ing heart attack, Bethesda!

Will do!

By the way, Crucible's weapons smith (Cutter) is the one that wants the Matrix stuff. And of course, there's a Quest related.

 

[GhaleonEB]

By the way, Crucible's weapons smith (Cutter) is the one that wants the Matrix stuff. And of course, there's a Quest related.

Gah, I've even talked to him to sell stuff and get a list of stuff to make with Amber. But I didn't look at all the dialogue options, such was my hurry to unload that round of loot and head back to some dungeons. :lol

Oh, and the suicidal guy?

Spoiler

I just beat him to death on the spot, grabbed his key, and turned myself in. He was soooo pissed I was killing him right there. :lol

I'd read the way prison is handled here was pretty unique and it is. Not sure if this is a spoiler or not.

Spoiler

You get put in a dungeon with just a sword and a few ingredients lying about, and have to fight your way out. Lots of good loot along the way, and a hell of a tough guard at the end. If you get out, there's a chest with all of the stuff you were carrying, and your crimes are forgiven.

I'm going to spend a lot of time in that place.

 

[purg3]

Just finished the quest in Xelidin and

Spoiler

chosing the fate of the adventurer's was awesome. I made the first two go insane, and had the final guy killed by the zombies. Such an awesome quest.

Also picked up a bunch of quests in the main city, but haven't started any of them yet. I think I'm just going to explore the world and work on side quests for a while now before I continue the main quest.

 

[Kintaro]

Haha, awesome. Did a couple of quests in Bruma.

Spoiler

A woman wants me to find where he exlover hid some gold they stole together. So I had to get jailed before he would talk to me. He told me to off her and bring back her amulet at proof. I resign myself to the deed, but she says she'll give you the amulet to make him talk. I go back, then go to where he says the gold is, and some punk ass Guard is there before me. So I **** him up pretty quick and BAM. I have myself a shiny new set of Chainmail.

Same town, some Vampire Hunter offed some guy. So I investigate and turns out, he offed some other dude in another town. I find some journal of his and it's all some plan to get some treasure they all took together. So I track him down in this cave (SNOW! Woo!) and he challenges me. Sadly, he does not realize the full power of Darsh, the Redguard. So, I splatter his entails across the cave walls, and loot his set of Chainmail, and this HAWT Dwarven Claymore! Woo!

<3 this game.

 

[raYne]

Oh, and the suicidal guy?

Spoiler

I just beat him to death on the spot, grabbed his key, and turned myself in. He was soooo pissed I was killing him right there. :lol

I'd read the way prison is handled here was pretty unique and it is. Not sure if this is a spoiler or not.

Spoiler

You get put in a dungeon with just a sword and a few ingredients lying about, and have to fight your way out. Lots of good loot along the way, and a hell of a tough guard at the end. If you get out, there's a chest with all of the stuff you were carrying, and your crimes are forgiven.

I'm going to spend a lot of time in that place.

I was going to do the same at first, but I wanted to see what the options were for making it seem accidental. Kinda like in the main game where you drop the bust on that guy's head, killing him without arrousing suspicion.

Oh snaps@ the jail! Ill definitely have to break some laws to get in there.

Just finished the quest in Xelidin and

Spoiler

chosing the fate of the adventurer's was awesome. I made the first two go insane, and had the final guy killed by the zombies. Such an awesome quest.

Also picked up a bunch of quests in the main city, but haven't started any of them yet. I think I'm just going to explore the world and work on side quests for a while now before I continue the main quest.

I'm going to do the same. As soon as I got to the Palace, I turned right back around and went back outside. Afterall, there's much adventuring to be done.

Xelidin? Do you mean Xedilian (east of Knotty Bramble) or somewhere else? If it is the latter, I didn't finish it. I recall getting stop somewhere, so I figured it was Quest related and I didn't have the needed items.

Haha, awesome. Did a couple of quests in Bruma.

Spoiler

A woman wants me to find where he exlover hid some gold they stole together. So I had to get jailed before he would talk to me. He told me to off her and bring back her amulet at proof. I resign myself to the deed, but she says she'll give you the amulet to make him talk. I go back, then go to where he says the gold is, and some punk ass Guard is there before me. So I **** him up pretty quick and BAM. I have myself a shiny new set of Chainmail.

Same town, some Vampire Hunter offed some guy. So I investigate and turns out, he offed some other dude in another town. I find some journal of his and it's all some plan to get some treasure they all took together. So I track him down in this cave (SNOW! Woo!) and he challenges me. Sadly, he does not realize the full power of Darsh, the Redguard. So, I splatter his entails across the cave walls, and loot his set of Chainmail, and this HAWT Dwarven Claymore! Woo!

<3 this game.

:lol

 

[MirageDwarf]

I haven't started any quest yet. Just exploring areas. It is awesome.

Few screenshots...

 

[raYne]

You can't even kill a Golden Saint and take her armor? Booo.. Hissss... Took her sword though. :lol

-pics-

Needs more night sky. The sky looks amazing at night. 7:30-ish, when you catch the Moon coming up from the coastline right before the rain. 9pm-ish on a clear night when the sky's red with all those.. whatevers.. and you can see distant galaxies.

It's just, damn.

 

[Kabouter]

You can't even kill a Golden Saint and take her armor? Booo.. Hissss...


Needs more night sky. The sky looks amazing at night.

Meh, I still have the boring night sky
Couldn't find Shivering Isles in stores, so for now this is what I'm looking at:

 

[65536]

Ideally, there is no real answer for that. Some people prefer brightness of PS3 version, some prefer characters on Xbox 360. People who have played original game for a long time, and looking for something new, will prefer either 360 or PC version. It's hard to answer which one you might like. If you can't decide, flip a coin.

The brightness is easy to fix though; I did some testing when the patch was released, and Max -2 on the ingame brightness slider should have the game looking as it's supposed to. (assuming your TV is set right)

It's really a choice between 4x Anti-Aliasing (virtually no 'jaggies') on the 360, or Anisotropic Filtering (textures stay sharp for a longer distance) but a ton of aliasing on the PS3.

That, and all the add-ons are available for the 360, whereas Shivering Isles isn't expected until the end of the year on PS3 - though there is a ton of content already in the game anyway.

Oh, and I hear the controls aren't quite as good on the PS3. I certainly wouldn't want to be using the Sixaxis for it, as I hated trying to aim in Resistance with it.

You can't even kill a Golden Saint and take her armor? Booo.. Hissss... Took her sword though. :lol

Spoiler

Apparently if you're a high enough level, the armour does stay on them, though I haven't tried attacking one yet.

 

[thundersabre]

Anyone try to kill Sheogorath?

Spoiler

"Enjoy the view!":lol

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I'm having a blast so far with Shivering Isles. So well done on every level, and I've barely scratched the surface. Of all the weeks for it to be released, this is about the worst possible, but at least I get to play and explore some.

I have to say that the game offers a very nice challenge to upper level characters. I was afraid I might walk through most things the same way I was in Oblivion proper, but the fights are tense and brutal and if I don't watch my health, I can get caught off guard for sure. Great level of difficulty.

Some of the graphical effects are very nice, the voice acting is great, and the writing has been spot on so far. A great expansion, and the fact that I didn't have to leave my easy chair to go buy it is just icing on the cake. Digital distribution ftw!

 

[Kabouter]

Some of the graphical effects are very nice, the voice acting is great, and the writing has been spot on so far. A great expansion, and the fact that I didn't have to leave my easy chair to go buy it is just icing on the cake. Digital distribution ftw!

**** retail.

I want my shivering isles NOW.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

**** retail.

I want my shivering isles NOW.

Remember the old days? When we had to wait for UPS to deliver the games to GameStop so we could wait for them to unpack them, and prep them for sale? Damn, that was so archaic!

 

[Kabouter]

Remember the old days? When we had to wait for UPS to deliver the games to GameStop so we could wait for them to unpack them, and prep them for sale? Damn, that was so archaic!

#$@#%@#%@#%@#%@#
You know what's worse? Stores that won't break embargo.
I have to wait until friday, and I won't be here on friday or this weekend. So it'll be monday at the earliest .

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

#$@#%@#%@#%@#%@#
You know what's worse? Stores that won't break embargo.
I have to wait until friday, and I won't be here on friday or this weekend. So it'll be monday at the earliest .

That does suck. I'm on the other end of the stick though. I've got it. Have very limited playing time with it this week, and then zero playing time for two weeks starting on Saturday. What I have played has been excellent, just with I had more time to devote to it right now.

 

[Confidence Man]

Ugh. Looks like the Construction Set doesn't work if SI is installed. Guess I'm going to be waiting until I finish my mod or they update the CS.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Ugh. Looks like the Construction Set doesn't work if SI is installed. Guess I'm going to be waiting until I finish my mod or they update the CS.

Wow! That kind of sucks! Wonder why it doesn't work. I'm sure they'll fix it in a patch, but who knows how long that'll be. Strange.

 

[thundersabre]

So I got

Spoiler

Ushnar's Skinned Hound

for helping him. Pretty cool.

The only thing is I dont want it. I think I spoke to someone who was looking for one but I can't seem to find them. Am I imagining this or is there someone who I can give it to?

 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Shivering Isles has locked up on me at least 5 or 6 times now and I've barely scratched the surface of the game. So not only does this Shivering Isles resemble Morrowind in design it's also copying the tech problems as well. Freakin' Bethesda.

 

[Great Rumbler]

I've been playing Shivering Isles for almost five hours and I haven't had any problems at all.

Anyway, does anyone know where I can get some felldew?

 

[MirageDwarf]

Meh, I still have the boring night sky
Couldn't find Shivering Isles in stores, so for now this is what I'm looking at: *pic*

Don't you have Better Night Sky mod?

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

No problems with Shivering Isles locking up on me yet either. *knocks wood*

 

[GhaleonEB]

No problems with Shivering Isles locking up on me yet either. *knocks wood*

Ditto. Overall performance is better than the main game as well.

 

[Kabouter]

Don't you have Better Night Sky mod?

I have the natural environments mod, better night sky comes with it I think.

Took another few screenshots of that boring 'ol regular Oblivion:

 

[XSamu]

So I'm playing for a while now. Those new armors look awesome. Also, I already got myself some new summon spells <3

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

So I'm playing for a while now. Those new armors look awesome. Also, I already got myself some new summon spells <3

You really do love your summon spells don't you. Hopefully you're happy now. :lol

 

[raYne]

Spoiler

Apparently if you're a high enough level, the armour does stay on them, though I haven't tried attacking one yet.

That's pretty stupid (if true). In any case, I didn't want to wear it... I have my own hand buillt enchanted clothing/armor that's better than anything normally available. I just wanted to take it back home and place it in my armor collection.

..and on that note, anyone found a home in SI that you can use to store stuff? My total carrying weight is around 675 and I'm getting a bit too close to that for my liking.

Shivering Isles has locked up on me at least 5 or 6 times now and I've barely scratched the surface of the game. So not only does this Shivering Isles resemble Morrowind in design it's also copying the tech problems as well. Freakin' Bethesda.

*shrugs* I haven't had any lockups.

Ditto. Overall performance is better than the main game as well.

Well it does run off the HDD, so that's to be expected. Plus the new tricks are applied to the expansion.

Oh well, time to go find me some Sa-weet Rolls... :lol

 

[GreekWolf]

Shivering Isles has locked up on me at least 5 or 6 times now and I've barely scratched the surface of the game. So not only does this Shivering Isles resemble Morrowind in design it's also copying the tech problems as well. Freakin' Bethesda.

I think your 360 be dying =/

Since I downloaded the patch and expansion, everything runs smooth as butter and loading times are noticeably improved. You might try clearing your cache two or three times in a row before loading up a game. That's worked for me before.

 

[FlyinJ]

I noticed that the expansion areas were running much faster than the core game. Unfortunately, it seems that they're now exhibiting the same problems that other zones had. Specifically, where you'll get to the loading screen and the bar will just sit at the 0% mark for about 5-10 seconds before moving. Then it will slooooowly go right. Whereas the exact same zone load would take 5 seconds several times before, it now takes 30 seconds.

 

[Kintaro]

Well, time to return my Oblivion rental. Man, it was fun. I'm definitely going to buy this game in the future, but Hokuto no Ken is due in and I want to play that till my hands bleed. Between MLB 2k7 and Oblivion, I would never leave my chair, which is kind of scary. So I'll take a break from it before purchasing it. =)

 

[FlyinJ]

I think your 360 be dying =/

Since I downloaded the patch and expansion, everything runs smooth as butter and loading times are noticeably improved. You might try clearing your cache two or three times in a row before loading up a game. That's worked for me before.

It's definitely not the 360 dying. Several of my friends have been having hard-crash problems in the expansion, and no crashes in any other games.

Like I posted previously, I got a hard-lock crash the first time I entered the main city in the expansion. I loaded a previous game after rebooting my 360, and I could enter fine. Two days later, I restarted the expansion with my main character, and got a hard-lock crash in the exact same spot. It's definitely the game code.

 

[Ravenn17]

How are the quests? Are they as enchanting as anything from the Dark Brotherhood?

 

[Cedeo]

HELP!

Just downloaded SI off Xbox Live, and I start up my usual gamesave and I don't know how to start SI, I have not got a note or something display on my screen reporting something, do I have to do something to start this questline?

advice please

EDIT: False alarm I just slept for an hour and then it came up I'm such a doosh

 

[FlyinJ]

HELP!

Just downloaded SI off Xbox Live, and I start up my usual gamesave and I don't know how to start SI, I have not got a note or something display on my screen reporting something, do I have to do something to start this questline?

advice please

Rest for 24 hours.

 

[raYne]

HELP!

Just downloaded SI off Xbox Live, and I start up my usual gamesave and I don't know how to start SI, I have not got a note or something display on my screen reporting something, do I have to do something to start this questline?

advice please

It starts automatically after a few days. Or you can just "wait" for 24 hrs.