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[Pimpbaa]

Why do you assume that the PC will have better controls?

I'm going by my experience with Morrowind on the xbox. The controls in the pc version were vastly superior. Besides the usual problems with first person games (less accuracy, not an issue most of the time, but it was for archery), inventory management and equiping armor and weapons was more cumbersome. It's just more efficent to play rpgs with a mouse usually.

 

[Pimpbaa]

Whatever it is, make sure it doesn't say "ATI" on the box.

Idiot. ATI has made some friggin great cards (even tho I own a GeForce 6600GT).

 

[El_Victor]

Whatever it is, make sure it doesn't say "ATI" on the box.

Now that wasn't very funny was it? At least, it didn't make my smile wider - which renders it unfunny I believe.

 

[TemplaerDude]

Now that wasn't very funny was it? At least, it didn't make my smile wider - which renders it unfunny I believe.

I'm glad because it wasn't supposed to be funny.

 

[EviLore]

From reports I've seen, ATI cards are supposed to run oblivion better (not all that surprising considering the 360 gpu). How much better I don't know.


disregarding sli/crossfire configurations:

At the very top end an ati x1900xtx is the performance leader. It's supposedly dropping $100 in msrp, with nvidia's refresh, to $549 MSRP from $649. Street prices are around $500-$600 right now. And nvidia will be releasing the 7900GTX (200mhz faster than the GT) for $549 msrp.

For a mid-high end card (this is my preference), the new nvidia 7900GT will be ~$300. Or just get a 7800GT which should drop in price (currently occupying that $300ish spot).

 

[Vennt]

Whatever it is, make sure it doesn't say "ATI" on the box.

Come back in a week, when you can at least substantiate your troublesome opinions and post without trying to cause a flamewar.

Idiot. ATI has made some friggin great cards (even tho I own a GeForce 6600GT).

And you can come back at the same time, when you've learned to respond without calling someone an idiot.

 

[Ark-AMN]

Both my computers ran fine on different cards. Older one is a 9800XT, and my newer one is a 7800GTX, both haven't let me down. Though I do hope that my 256MB card will be enough to run Oblivion, even though SteveMeister does assure me of that

 

[Sp3eD]

So I guess I am still a little confused at how the radiant AI will handle you commiting crimes. Lets say I killed somebody inside their house without it being a stealth kill (ie not giving them a chance to cry out). Are they going to attract anybody to the house after you?

If so, how exactly is that handled? Does the scream take into account outside guard / NPC positions to gauge whether or not somebody "hears" you?

I have heard other questions that have kind of semi-answered this, but not fully.

 

[Burger]

So I guess I am still a little confused at how the radiant AI will handle you commiting crimes. Lets say I killed somebody inside their house without it being a stealth kill (ie not giving them a chance to cry out). Are they going to attract anybody to the house after you?

If so, how exactly is that handled? Does the scream take into account outside guard / NPC positions to gauge whether or not somebody "hears" you?

I have heard other questions that have kind of semi-answered this, but not fully.

Surely it's more fun to find the answer to that out yourself ?

 

[flarkminator]

So I guess I am still a little confused at how the radiant AI will handle you commiting crimes. Lets say I killed somebody inside their house without it being a stealth kill (ie not giving them a chance to cry out). Are they going to attract anybody to the house after you?

If so, how exactly is that handled? Does the scream take into account outside guard / NPC positions to gauge whether or not somebody "hears" you?

I have heard other questions that have kind of semi-answered this, but not fully.

Thats a good question, In morrowind if you killed someone it flagged you as having commited a cime, once you exited the house (assuming there were no gaurds in the house to begin with) they would hunt you down and charge you a fee. I would assume this'll work the same way.

 

[PhoenixDark]

I have a GeForce FX 5200...-_-

Will I be able to run the game at any decent level? I doubt I'd get it for PC, but I'm just curious. Whenever I get the 360 I'll get Oblivion with it.

 

[UltraMagnanimous]

I have a GeForce FX 5200...-_-

Will I be able to run the game at any decent level? I doubt I'd get it for PC, but I'm just curious. Whenever I get the 360 I'll get Oblivion with it.

Frankly, I doubt it... although my old 5200 allowed me to play HL2/DoD:S/CS:S to an acceptable level. Invest in a cheap 6600gt/6800 if you can.

 

[EviLore]

I have a GeForce FX 5200...-_-

Will I be able to run the game at any decent level?

No.



Actually I've responded to this exact scenario before, heh, so I have an image handy (image from tomshardware 2004 vga charts):

 

[Karg]

Just part of it.

Oblivion = Cyrodiil if I'm not mistaken.

I know they said they increased the total square mileage compared to Morrowind, but is the above map scaled right? Like is Morrowind in Obvilion the same size as it was in the Morrowind?

 

[EviLore]

Bear in mind that Morrowind takes place on vvardenfell (and the expansions add some more), not the whole morrowind province.

 

[flarkminator]

I know they said they increased the total square mileage compared to Morrowind, but is the above map scaled right? Like is Morrowind in Obvilion the same size as it was in the Morrowind?

Well, Morrowind in Morrowind was actually Vvardenfell , the island.

 

[PhoenixDark]

No.



Actually I've responded to this exact scenario before, heh, so I have an image handy (image from tomshardware 2004 vga charts):

Thank you for the information man. I feel special now.

I'm going to save up for a 6800 if I can.

 

[Karg]

Ahhh, thanks for the info. Do either of you have the numbers of the square mileage from the last game to this one? Was it like 3x or 4x as big? I just want to know so I can explain to my other games how long they have to stay on the shelf.

 

[jet1911]

I know Oblivion is 16 sq miles. I think Morrowind was 10.

 

[EviLore]

I know Oblivion is 16 sq miles. I think Morrowind was 10.

"While the total area of Morrowind's game world was roughly 10 square miles, with a land area of around 4.5 square miles (not including either of the expansions), the province of Cyrodiil alone is approximately 16 square miles. (This size estimate does not include the 200+ underground dungeon areas or the realm of Oblivion.)"

 

[GreekWolf]

"While the total area of Morrowind's game world was roughly 10 square miles, with a land area of around 4.5 square miles (not including either of the expansions), the province of Cyrodiil alone is approximately 16 square miles. (This size estimate does not include the 200+ underground dungeon areas or the realm of Oblivion.)"

So, we're basically looking at a game that you can play every day until the next elder scrolls game hits store shelves, without seeing every little nook and cranny.

Works for me.

And for the record, I've logged roughly 300 hours into Morrowind and still haven't completed every quest or explored every dungeon.

 

[Pellham]

Thank you for the information man. I feel special now.

I'm going to save up for a 6800 if I can.

a 6800 is all you're getting? you should get at least a 7800, or one of the new ATI cards.

 

[GotchaForce]

Maybe I'm nuts, but I could've swore the Game Informer article long ago that introduced the game had quotes from the developer saying the game area and length would be shorter than Morrowind.

 

[Pellham]

Maybe I'm nuts, but I could've swore the Game Informer article long ago that introduced the game had quotes from the developer saying the game area and length would be shorter than Morrowind.

I think they were refering to the # of NPCs (Morrowind had 2500+, Oblivion has 1500). Oblivion is definately much larger than Morrowind, both in terms of area to explore and things to do.

 

[Crow]

Maybe I'm nuts, but I could've swore the Game Informer article long ago that introduced the game had quotes from the developer saying the game area and length would be shorter than Morrowind.

Not nuts. I read that too, but dismissed it when everyone started to give info to the contrary.

I think they were refering to the # of NPCs (Morrowind had 2500+, Oblivion has 1500). Oblivion is definately much larger than Morrowind, both in terms of area to explore and things to do.

no, it was definetly about explorable land size, not the number of NPC's. But anway. The information has been corrected.

 

[CoolTrick]

I didn't spend any time looking for this, but I went to read one of GameSpot's previews for the game and randomly clicked the one that had the comment the poster was talking about.

GS: We learned that the gameworld is approximately 16 square miles in size. How large is that in comparison to Morrowind's world, roughly? Will we see the same kind of variety in terrain and locales like we saw in Morrowind, which had deserts and mountains and lush forests? Tell us about how this world is being generated, and what the new terrain generation system adds to the game?

TH: The outside world, in terms of square miles, is a bit larger than Morrowind's, but it doesn't feel that way with the fast travel. So each of our games has had a different scale, and we mess with that early on and change it depending on how the game is flowing. So if you had to walk everywhere, I'd make it much, much smaller. In terms of terrain, there are several varieties, from beaches, to mountains, to open planes, to forests, snow, etc.

 

[bry-bry]

Well, Oblivion does have fewer guilds and, most likely, total quests than Morrowind. Based on previews, though, Oblivion's quests sound more interesting than Morrowind's, closer to the expansions (which surpassed the original game's quests IMO).

I'm very curious to see how the player can interact with the different Daedric Princes, Sheogorath in particular.

 

[op_ivy]

"While the total area of Morrowind's game world was roughly 10 square miles, with a land area of around 4.5 square miles (not including either of the expansions), the province of Cyrodiil alone is approximately 16 square miles. (This size estimate does not include the 200+ underground dungeon areas or the realm of Oblivion.)"

jesus, for some reason, i just assumed it would be roughly the same size as morrowind, which was huge. damn, i cant wait to just explore the hell out of this game. any chance oblivion will have a photomode?

 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Well, Oblivion does have fewer guilds and, most likely, total quests than Morrowind. Based on previews, though, Oblivion's quests sound more interesting than Morrowind's, closer to the expansions (which surpassed the original game's quests IMO).

Saw this over at Gaming Trend. This quest sounds completely awesome and certainly goes beyond the standard Morrowind stuff:

Spoiler

There is a side quest to look for Rythe Lyhandas, a painter. I came across it, while going through random open houses. Inside this one house was his wife. She told me he had gone missing while locked in his studio. She knew he hadn’t gone out, but when she checked the room, he was gone. She gave me the key (Guess I looked trustworthy?) and I checked the room. Inside was a special painting. When I clicked on it, it transported me into the painting. The first thing I noticed was that all the graphics had changed to look like an oil painting! VERY cool effect! As soon as I got in, I found the painter who told me that he used a magic brush for his paintings. This brush allowed him to paint from inside the painting and whatever he thought of, painted itself (there is a whole back-story he told, but we won’t get into it now). It seems that a thief got into his studio, stole the brush, locked the painter into the painting, went in himself, and then painted “Paint Trolls” to protect himself. Unfortunately for the thief, he couldn’t control them and he was killed. The brush is on the thief’s body, but the painter isn’t a warrior, so he needs you to retrieve it. He gives you six bottles of turpentine (to be used as “poison” for the trolls) and off you go. You have to kill all the trolls and get the brush from the body. The whole area has the oil painting effect and when you get near the body, you get a washed out effect that makes it look like the painting isn’t done. This added a real nice effect to the whole thing. It made it seem more “real” surprisingly. Anyway you retrieve the brush, get out and get a reward. If this is the type of creativity seen on other missions, I will be truly amazed. This mission was one of the most memorable moments for me.

 

[GotchaForce]

That sounds amazing.


Question:

telekenesis? Someone posted something about picking up pumpkins and throwing them...with their mind.

Can you turn into a warewolf?


Will you be able to keep playing the same game after you've defeated the last boss?

 

[flarkminator]

That sounds amazing.


Question:

telekenesis? Someone posted something about picking up pumpkins and throwing them...with their mind.

Can you turn into a warewolf?


Will you be able to keep playing the same game after you've defeated the last boss?

Yes. No. Yes

 

[Panajev2001a]

GS: We learned that the gameworld is approximately 16 square miles in size. How large is that in comparison to Morrowind's world, roughly? Will we see the same kind of variety in terrain and locales like we saw in Morrowind, which had deserts and mountains and lush forests? Tell us about how this world is being generated, and what the new terrain generation system adds to the game?

TH: The outside world, in terms of square miles, is a bit larger than Morrowind's, but it doesn't feel that way with the fast travel. So each of our games has had a different scale, and we mess with that early on and change it depending on how the game is flowing. So if you had to walk everywhere, I'd make it much, much smaller. In terms of terrain, there are several varieties, from beaches, to mountains, to open planes, to forests, snow, etc.

I didn't spend any time looking for this, but I went to read one of GameSpot's previews for the game and randomly clicked the one that had the comment the poster was talking about.

The beautiful thing is that you do not have to fast travel, you can walk it all the way (at least IIRC the comments from Bethesda's guys that appeared on the 'net a while ago) .

 

[op_ivy]

The beautiful thing is that you do not have to fast travel, you can walk it all the way )at least IIRC the comments from Bethesda's guys that appeared on the 'net a while ago) .

yeah, of course you can. i cant imagine i'll ever use fast travel.

 

[Sp3eD]

yeah, of course you can. i cant imagine i'll ever use fast travel.

I'm not sure of that

After the whole "wow it is an awesome looking forest" effect wears off I think I will live and die by that feature

btw, this fast travel is only for landmarks right? You can't just teleport yourself into an area you have already traveled through right?

 

[op_ivy]

I'm not sure of that

After the whole "wow it is an awesome looking forest" effect wears off I think I will live and die by that feature

btw, this fast travel is only for landmarks right? You can't just teleport yourself into an area you have already traveled through right?

i never even used the stilt rider (or whatever) in morrowind. i'm not sure i'll ever play through the actual quest of oblivion. i imiagine much like my morrowind sessions, i'll just take up whatever missions are to my fancy, and completely enjoy the scenery and whatever i stumble upon in between my travels.

 

[Captain N]

I'm not sure if this was posted or if it's a spoiler, but I'll mark this question as a spoiler.

Spoiler

Can you become a vampire in this game like you could in morrowind?

 

[GreekWolf]

I'm not sure if this was posted or if it's a spoiler, but I'll mark this question as a spoiler.

Spoiler

Can you become a vampire in this game like you could in morrowind?

It's not a spoiler. Yes, you can become a vampire. No, you cannot become a werewolf. At least, not until the expansions.

 

[Captain N]

It's not a spoiler. Yes, you can become a vampire. No, you cannot become a werewolf. At least, not until the expansions.

Can you do anything special as a vampire? Like do you need to stay in doors during the day or anything crazy like that? Can you run faster or anything? Can all the different characters/races become a vampire?

 

[Yusaku]

Saw this over at Gaming Trend. This quest sounds completely awesome and certainly goes beyond the standard Morrowind stuff:

Uh, the only my problem with that is

Spoiler

wouldn't you be stuck in the painting with the painter? If you're not strong enough to retreive the brush the game would be broken.

 

[DopeyFish]

Saw this over at Gaming Trend. This quest sounds completely awesome and certainly goes beyond the standard Morrowind stuff:

Spoiler

There is a side quest to look for Rythe Lyhandas, a painter. I came across it, while going through random open houses. Inside this one house was his wife. She told me he had gone missing while locked in his studio. She knew he hadn’t gone out, but when she checked the room, he was gone. She gave me the key (Guess I looked trustworthy?) and I checked the room. Inside was a special painting. When I clicked on it, it transported me into the painting. The first thing I noticed was that all the graphics had changed to look like an oil painting! VERY cool effect! As soon as I got in, I found the painter who told me that he used a magic brush for his paintings. This brush allowed him to paint from inside the painting and whatever he thought of, painted itself (there is a whole back-story he told, but we won’t get into it now). It seems that a thief got into his studio, stole the brush, locked the painter into the painting, went in himself, and then painted “Paint Trolls” to protect himself. Unfortunately for the thief, he couldn’t control them and he was killed. The brush is on the thief’s body, but the painter isn’t a warrior, so he needs you to retrieve it. He gives you six bottles of turpentine (to be used as “poison” for the trolls) and off you go. You have to kill all the trolls and get the brush from the body. The whole area has the oil painting effect and when you get near the body, you get a washed out effect that makes it look like the painting isn’t done. This added a real nice effect to the whole thing. It made it seem more “real” surprisingly. Anyway you retrieve the brush, get out and get a reward. If this is the type of creativity seen on other missions, I will be truly amazed. This mission was one of the most memorable moments for me.

holy shit O.O

 

[Ghost]

^^^Holy shit indeed.



My wallet am cry.

 

[Deg]

Whatever it is, make sure it doesn't say "ATI" on the box.

Unless you get a good deal on their top high end cards. But yeah avoid all the others as there are better priced equivalent Nvidia cards(with better features).

 

[Panajev2001a]

I'm not sure of that

It depends, I like walking long distances, if I am alone, listening to my music and going at my own pace. Last summer in Kyoto I did lots of miles like that .

 

[EviLore]

I didn't use the silt striders in morrowind... I preferred the jump ring + slowfall ring combination. Much cooler and more dangerous than high end levitation ;b

 

[syllogism]

Too bad they patched jump rings out. I wonder if you can mod them into oblivion; screw fast travel.

 

[Sp3eD]

Have any of the preview people mentioned any other animal wandering the forest to hunt?

I think it would complete the "forest" atmosphere with rabbits, birds, and butterflies.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Have any of the preview people mentioned any other animal wandering the forest to hunt?

I think it would complete the "forest" atmosphere with rabbits, birds, and butterflies.

Deer are definitely in. I'm guessing you'll see some birds and butterfiles as well.

 

[Robobandit]

I'd like to know more about the supposedly omniscient guards..

not that I mind guards knowing when I've swiped something.. but more clarification would be nice..

Stealing, Murder and Prison

Interestingly in order to become a member of the Dark Brotherhood; the assassin faction in Oblivion, rumours abound from the general populace that you need to murder someone at which point an agent from the Dark Brotherhood will come to you. I thought that sounded pretty cool so I set out to murder a poor innocent towns’ person.

Obviously I wanted to do this without getting caught since running around with a bounty on your head at level three is not the greatest fun. Remembering the movements of people in towns I rested until 2am and made by way to a quiet area of the city to find a person to kill. I entered a house, put my stealth mode on, climbed the stairs and sure enough a Dark Elf female (perfect) was lying down in her bed oblivious to my intrusion. Out comes the bow and I ping off a great 3x hit. She wakes up with an arrow in her belly (I hate it when that happens) and starts screaming. Before I know it a guard has run in the house and confronted me offering me three options: to pay my dues and be on my merry way, to go to prison and serve a sentence or to try and resist arrest. Obviously I resist arrest since I’ve just hit a Dark Elf and that’s no crime in my books. Smack, smack, smack and I’m down. Ouch. Guards hit hard and now I have to load from my latest save game. I repeat the process again finding a different house each time and the same thing happens each time. I felt as though I was playing The Elder Scrolls: Minority Report. It’s like the guards knew I was on a killing rampage and got there before I could kill the innocents every time.

On one attempt on an innocent’s life the person turned invisible, ran out the house and went and got a guard instead, leaving me in the house wondering what the hell just happened! It was only after I left the house scratching my head and saw the woman next to a guard that I had realised what she’d done. Women.

This newly increased guard system is highly irritating for someone attempting to join the Dark Brotherhood, but great for people who found it far too easy to kill an innocent in Morrowind, take all their possessions and live the high-life straight from the offset.

For humours sake I decided on my final murder attempt to go to prison. I’m instantly teleported to the local bang up which doesn’t look all too pretty. You have two options now; the first is to try and pick the lock of the cell door. It seems the guards didn’t thoroughly check you and missed a lock pick. Unfortunately my lock picking skills were about as good as my nose picking skills and I couldn’t escape. Therefore my alternative was to sleep off my troubles, giving me a -1 to one of my attributes and placing me back in the centre of Cyrodiil.

To add to my list of felonies I then decided to steal from the local church. With stealth mode on I entered an empty room and moved to the nearest object of visible value. Items that don’t belong to you and will be considered “stolen” show as a red icon. I swag a nice looking gem and do a runner. Just when I think I’m Scott-free and leaving the city the Minority Police catch up with me and confront me about my stolen goods. I knew I shouldn’t have worn that gem on my forehead where everyone could see it (Note: I wasn’t actually wearing it on my forehead, the guards just have x-ray vision). Ignore my sarcasm though I love this heightened security in Oblivion and it really makes for a much more realistic experience. No longer can you just rob the local aristocracy, run to the scamp merchant, flog off all your goods and then be the richest man in all of Morrowind.

That first part made sense, since the victim screamed, but the second part seems like they just "knew" that he had robbed the church.


I appreciate that it makes thieving harder than it was in Morrowind and it seems like a real challenge, but do guards really know if you've stolen something even if no one saw you do it? That part seems a little unfair. Any clarification on this point would be most welcomed.

 

[syllogism]

I was under impression you'll only lose stolen items if you are wanted and get arrested , just like in Morrowind.

 

[Robobandit]

I was under impression you'll only lose stolen items if are wanted and get arrested you , just like in Morrowind.

yeah, or if you choose to pay a fine. However, what I was asking is that will the guards automatically know that you've stolen something. I don't mind if they catch you for some other reason and nab your stolen shit too. I was talking about if you hadn't done anything else and they just "knew" that you had stolen something when there weren't any witnesses to the crime.