elderscrolls - Page 4

o_ivaqual · 03-22-2006, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Circuitous

It's bigger than Morrowind. By 2 square miles.

Let me swallow back my words entirely. At first I was really under the impression that there was much less surface to explore but I just finished wandering around on a horse for a while and it took MUCH more time than expected.

o_georgie · 03-23-2006, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Puppychow's Link

On a respectable 3.0 Ghz machine with a gig of RAM and a GeForce 6800 GT, Oblivion had trouble hitting a decent frame rate at 1024x768 - at its own recommended settings.

Doh.

Jiggles · 03-23-2006, 02:52 AM

I don't know about that. I have an Athlon64 3500+ with a x800XL, and running at 1280x1024 I get decent fps (to quite good, depending on the scene)

The x800XL is equal to or less than the Geforce 6800GT, at least generally, right?

They are right however, in that, if you don't have a beefy system, you'd probably be better off with the 360 version. Then again, if you don't have a 360, the cost of upgrading your system may very well be similar to buying one...

I also really like the load times on the PC version; they're quite short. A good chunk of the "overworld" is streamed in also.

o_frenchtoast · 03-23-2006, 03:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jiggles

I certainly won't use it in the begining, but when I have to do some serious backtracking? Hell yes, that feature will rock

Pretty much my opinion.

Circuitous · 03-23-2006, 02:44 PM

I could easily teleport over to the town I'm about to walk to for my quest, but I said to myself "I really wanna see what's going on in these hills!" In doing so I've stumbled across six caves, four forts, two Daedra shrines, two farm communities, one church, one cool shrine that gave me a bound cuirass and bound sword spell effect for about 5 minutes, and countless wilderness enemies. I've had a lot of fun manually trekking across the world, but it took A LONG DAMN TIME. I'm grateful I can easily fast travel back.

Looking back at my first post, I've learned I need to work on my transitional statements.

As for framerate issues... I've got the x800XL, Bethsoft's "recommended" card, and the same one they used primarily in development. So I don't really have framerate issues (playing at 1024x768, fade distances maxed, bloom but no HDR, anti-aliasing off due to some choppiness). The grass "popping" still occurs very noticeable and I wish they'd add a slider for grass fade distance. Maybe they can patch it in. I dunno.

I have more to say on the game, though, so here comes another big post.

Firstly, I love the new combat system. Yes, it's still "click to attack," like Morrowind, and this time strafing/moving forward won't make you do other attacks. Bit of a downer. On the plus side, though, blocking is under your control, and you can easily cast spells while fighting, without readying magic, then casting, then switching back to your weapon. In place of chop/slash/thrust, you now have four power attacks, triggered by holding the attack button and pushing a direction. Forward is a lunge attack that can help you clear gaps to your opponent easily and catch them off guard. Left and right are sweeping parry-like attacks that, at higher weapon skills, can disarm opponents. Back will have you step back and perform an angled slash, usually upwards, that can help you back off an opponent.

The biggest plus in combat now is that enemies DO THINGS. They no longer slowly toddle into position, cast a spell, then toddle towards you and do the same attack over and over while making lame "Ugh" noises. They're smart! They try things! They gang up on you, they vary their attacks, they block. They catch you off your guard and then attack you while you're stunned. Now, if you get surrounded by Goblins, you're fucked! I can say this from experience. They flank you and attack you while you're not looking. Archers fire arrows from afar, waiting for a gap in the melee ranks to hit you without hurting one of their own. Spellcasters summon creatures to help fight while they back off and buff themselves. They use potions and only when they're shielded up and buffed to crap do they rush in and try and put a hurting on you. When things get rough, they back off, sometimes even hide. They summon more creatures and wait for a better time. The combat is fun! It's challenging. Even at level 5 I can still get surrounded by goblins and have my ass handed to me. It makes me think about what I'm getting myself into if I rush headlong into a room without checking out. I'm a lot more cautious now - no longer can I just awkwardly trade blows with whatever comes my way, usually getting in two hits before their AI triggers an attack routine. More often than not they're right on me before I notice them. It's fantastic.

Now, the AI isn't always superb. If an enemy can't reach you, they don't, say, hide. In one instance I managed to peg a goblin war chief from across a gap with about 25 arrows before he finally fell (I don't do much damage with my bow), and not once did he consider using the makeshift bridge to get to me (was that because it was physics-based, and one of the planks fell to the ground after I walked over it? Maybe).

Sneaking is more fun now, because of audio clues. "What was that?" "Did you hear something?" You can use it to judge where people are and how well you're doing, and it evens the playing field a bit. The eye icon over your crosshair, while oversized and cumbersome, is a great indicator of how well you're sneaking. If only it were a bit smaller.

Someone mentioned the red hand icon... that's handy, but people are really crazy about their goods. I jumped over a table to get to an area of an inn a bit faster and knocked some stuff over, so I thought I'd be nice and put it back. I use my grab button to pick it up and set it on the table, but as soon as I do everyone goes apeshit and stands up, and the owner runs out to get a guard. Cost me a hefty bit of gold. So play it safe, don't even touch anything with a red hand icon unless you're actually a thief.

I like the new magic system, too. Not just the casting, but how spells are done. No longer is there a percentage chance of succeeding at casting a spell, there's just a minimum skill level you can have for a particular spell. If you've got the skill and the magicka you can cast it every time. Also, if you're gonna be buying a lot of spells and want an idea of which spells go to which school - look at their border. The different borders dictate different schools. You'll be able to recognize them pretty quickly after a while. Also, spell effects on you appear in the top right, along with a bar over them that shows how long it will last. The bar slowly ticks down until it fades away. Meanwhile, you have a really neat glow effect on you that shows it's active. Magic weapons have an awesome glow to them as well. It's really neat to see.

There's so much more but I think I've said enough for now. I've convinced everyone I need to convince, I think. And if not just ask me whatever you want and I'll answer as best I can.

Jiggles · 03-23-2006, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Circuitous

anti-aliasing off due to some choppiness

Yeah, I have it off too, but, to be honest, this game does not suffer from huge aliasing problems, like say, BF2.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Circuitous

The grass "popping" still occurs very noticeable and I wish they'd add a slider for grass fade distance. Maybe they can patch it in. I dunno.

There is a grass distance slider in the options, right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Circuitous

Even at level 5 I can still get surrounded by goblins and have my ass handed to me.

I read somewhere that the enemies are scaled with your level. Which is a good thing, I guess, since I'm still level 1, despite having just dropped Martin off at the Blades' Temple. From what I can tell, your level goes up by using your primary skills, right? Well, I picked the "spellsword" class, and have used my sword a crapload (broke it twice, actually, since I wasn't paying much attention to it's durability) in addition to tons of healing and destruction (mostly the fireball) spells. Man that healing spell sucks. Still, much better than having to rely on potions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Circuitous

In one instance I managed to peg a goblin war chief from across a gap with about 25 arrows before he finally fell (I don't do much damage with my bow)

Yeah, my character is a Dark Elf, and the game said they are good with swords and bows. Man, bow suck! (so far) I used a steel bow (with steel arrows) on the fireball imp-things in Oblivion, and they took tons of arrows to kill. It was decent to weaken them up, but at some point they just charge you, and the sword deals so much more damage. Though that dash move of theirs just rapes you if you let it hit.

o_lithium · 03-23-2006, 03:50 PM

i'm gonna give it a go wth my AMD 2800+ and my ol' N6600GT , i don't really care about bloom and all the spiffyness, i just want to play with a decent framerate

Circuitous · 03-23-2006, 06:42 PM

The slider options are:

Landscape
Trees
People
Objects

I had them all maxed when I wrote that. I've turned them down a bit now since occasionally the outdoors can be a bit much for me. Not much, just enough to keep from chugging.

Enemies are scaled with your level, yes, but the scales are usually like yourlevel+1, yourlevel+3, yourlevel-1. Things like that. At level 1, yourlevel+3 can be a real doozy.

As for levelling: yes, it's based on the skills for your chosen class. You need to increase a skill 10 times to qualify for a level up. Each skill you raise for a particular attribute assigns a multiplier to that attribute: when you level up, you raise three attributes by their respective multipliers (up to +5). I, too, am playing a Dark Elf, but I tweaked the spellsword class a bit to match my play style better. Basically, though, we're doing the same thing: magic, bow, and sword.

Bows get better with higher Agility and higher-quality arrows. Even early in the game you can find some steel/silver arrows if you don't mind a bit of hunting. But you'll mostly be using your sword. I was foolish during my first few dungeon explorations - I snagged every arrow I could find. Before I knew it I had about 375 arrows. But I didn't actually drop them until a Goblin Shaman's summoned Zombie gave me Cobbywobbles (funniest disease ever) and drained my Strength. Now I've got like 12. Life is hard.

Anyways. One thing I don't like about levelling - and, indeed, the whole game - is your inability to camp out. You have to find a bed and use it in order to actually sleep, and you can only level up if you actually sleep. Pain in the ass, but I guess fast travel makes up for that, since you can just fast travel to the nearest ex-bandit hideout ('cuz you killed them all, yeah?) and use one of their beds, or head to a town.

o_frenchtoast · 03-23-2006, 08:03 PM

Argh, can't get the game 'til tommorrow night...

I'm dying here...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Circuitous

Anyways. One thing I don't like about levelling - and, indeed, the whole game - is your inability to camp out. You have to find a bed and use it in order to actually sleep, and you can only level up if you actually sleep.

Really? You could camp out in Morrowind...

o_yomamashouse · 03-23-2006, 08:04 PM

You should be able to bring a sleeping bag, maybe have it less effective than a bed but still something.

Circuitous · 03-23-2006, 08:05 PM

Indeed you could, which is why I'm upset that you can't do it in Oblivion. I'd appreciate having a sleeping bag/bedroll you can buy, but that's not in the game at present. A modder will probably do it if BethSoft doesn't - it'd be fairly easy, I imagine.

o_frenchtoast · 03-23-2006, 08:05 PM

Huh... didn't think they'd take something like that out...

o_ivaqual · 03-23-2006, 08:07 PM

I noticed too you can only level up if you sleep in proper beds now. I'm sure someone will come up with a mini-mod that lets you camp outside in no time.

Circuitous · 03-23-2006, 08:07 PM

On the plus side, bandits like to leave camps up, so at least there are some places in the wilderness where you can take a nap.

o_frenchtoast · 03-23-2006, 08:08 PM

Oooh, I hope I can download mods on Xbox...

THat would suck if I couldn't.

Circuitous · 03-23-2006, 08:10 PM

BethSoft has plans to release mods for download over XBox Live, but they'll be charging a small fee for each (no idea how much, exactly). Apparently the first one will be special armor for your horse.

o_anshinritsumai · 03-23-2006, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Circuitous

It's bigger than Morrowind. By 2 square miles.

Morrowind was 11 square miles (turn that into a fraction or decimal if needed; according to Bethesda) and Oblivion is 16 square miles, that seems like 4 square miles larger rather than 2.

Quote:

Originally Posted by georgie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Puppychow's Link

On a respectable 3.0 Ghz machine with a gig of RAM and a GeForce 6800 GT, Oblivion had trouble hitting a decent frame rate at 1024x768 - at its own recommended settings.

Doh.

That, is true for the most part...

I've got a 2.8Ghz P4 w/ HT, 1.5GB o' RAM, and an ASUS NVidia GeForce 6800GT 128 AGP; and with pre-defined settings configured by the game itself, it ran like shat.

So, what I did was I installed the new beta forceware drivers; installed the CoolBits registry hack. The hack allowed me to alter a setting that is "hidden" by default. Also, when the game loaded backup it wanted to readjust to default graphics, so it did. I clicked play and before I started a "New" game I went into the graphics options. Put all the "fade" settings in the middle with View Distance at max, all shadows off, specular distance at medium, texture size at large, resolution at 800x600, HDR off, Bloom off, Water settings normal, reflections on, ripples on, window reflections on.

Turning off HDR, Bloom, Shadows, 800x600 resolution, and lowering fade distances to medium = good steady FPS (20-50 pending location &/or combat).

Circuitous · 03-23-2006, 08:33 PM

It might have been 4 square miles bigger. I remember reading Morrowind was 14. The point is, Cyrodiil is bigger, and we're not even counting Oblivion itself.

o_frenchtoast · 03-23-2006, 09:39 PM

I am.

o_general levy · 03-24-2006, 01:45 PM

To all the peeps who are having to turn down graphical options on their PCs and who won't be getting a new PC for a couple of years (like me), why do it to yourselves? Just get the 360 version - all the graphics options are on high, it wont crash, with the HDD version and the amazing Xbox Live you will get all the patches you need...experiencing this game in all of its lovely prettiness is necessary!!

Anyone else playing as an Assassin?

03-23-2006, 02:44 PM	#65
Circuitous Useless Retired FF Staff Join Date: Jun 2005 Class/Position: D Soldier, O Scout Gametype: AvD Posts Rated Helpful 9 Times	I could easily teleport over to the town I'm about to walk to for my quest, but I said to myself "I really wanna see what's going on in these hills!" In doing so I've stumbled across six caves, four forts, two Daedra shrines, two farm communities, one church, one cool shrine that gave me a bound cuirass and bound sword spell effect for about 5 minutes, and countless wilderness enemies. I've had a lot of fun manually trekking across the world, but it took A LONG DAMN TIME. I'm grateful I can easily fast travel back. Looking back at my first post, I've learned I need to work on my transitional statements. As for framerate issues... I've got the x800XL, Bethsoft's "recommended" card, and the same one they used primarily in development. So I don't really have framerate issues (playing at 1024x768, fade distances maxed, bloom but no HDR, anti-aliasing off due to some choppiness). The grass "popping" still occurs very noticeable and I wish they'd add a slider for grass fade distance. Maybe they can patch it in. I dunno. I have more to say on the game, though, so here comes another big post. Firstly, I love the new combat system. Yes, it's still "click to attack," like Morrowind, and this time strafing/moving forward won't make you do other attacks. Bit of a downer. On the plus side, though, blocking is under your control, and you can easily cast spells while fighting, without readying magic, then casting, then switching back to your weapon. In place of chop/slash/thrust, you now have four power attacks, triggered by holding the attack button and pushing a direction. Forward is a lunge attack that can help you clear gaps to your opponent easily and catch them off guard. Left and right are sweeping parry-like attacks that, at higher weapon skills, can disarm opponents. Back will have you step back and perform an angled slash, usually upwards, that can help you back off an opponent. The biggest plus in combat now is that enemies DO THINGS. They no longer slowly toddle into position, cast a spell, then toddle towards you and do the same attack over and over while making lame "Ugh" noises. They're smart! They try things! They gang up on you, they vary their attacks, they block. They catch you off your guard and then attack you while you're stunned. Now, if you get surrounded by Goblins, you're fucked! I can say this from experience. They flank you and attack you while you're not looking. Archers fire arrows from afar, waiting for a gap in the melee ranks to hit you without hurting one of their own. Spellcasters summon creatures to help fight while they back off and buff themselves. They use potions and only when they're shielded up and buffed to crap do they rush in and try and put a hurting on you. When things get rough, they back off, sometimes even hide. They summon more creatures and wait for a better time. The combat is fun! It's challenging. Even at level 5 I can still get surrounded by goblins and have my ass handed to me. It makes me think about what I'm getting myself into if I rush headlong into a room without checking out. I'm a lot more cautious now - no longer can I just awkwardly trade blows with whatever comes my way, usually getting in two hits before their AI triggers an attack routine. More often than not they're right on me before I notice them. It's fantastic. Now, the AI isn't always superb. If an enemy can't reach you, they don't, say, hide. In one instance I managed to peg a goblin war chief from across a gap with about 25 arrows before he finally fell (I don't do much damage with my bow), and not once did he consider using the makeshift bridge to get to me (was that because it was physics-based, and one of the planks fell to the ground after I walked over it? Maybe). Sneaking is more fun now, because of audio clues. "What was that?" "Did you hear something?" You can use it to judge where people are and how well you're doing, and it evens the playing field a bit. The eye icon over your crosshair, while oversized and cumbersome, is a great indicator of how well you're sneaking. If only it were a bit smaller. Someone mentioned the red hand icon... that's handy, but people are really crazy about their goods. I jumped over a table to get to an area of an inn a bit faster and knocked some stuff over, so I thought I'd be nice and put it back. I use my grab button to pick it up and set it on the table, but as soon as I do everyone goes apeshit and stands up, and the owner runs out to get a guard. Cost me a hefty bit of gold. So play it safe, don't even touch anything with a red hand icon unless you're actually a thief. I like the new magic system, too. Not just the casting, but how spells are done. No longer is there a percentage chance of succeeding at casting a spell, there's just a minimum skill level you can have for a particular spell. If you've got the skill and the magicka you can cast it every time. Also, if you're gonna be buying a lot of spells and want an idea of which spells go to which school - look at their border. The different borders dictate different schools. You'll be able to recognize them pretty quickly after a while. Also, spell effects on you appear in the top right, along with a bar over them that shows how long it will last. The bar slowly ticks down until it fades away. Meanwhile, you have a really neat glow effect on you that shows it's active. Magic weapons have an awesome glow to them as well. It's really neat to see. There's so much more but I think I've said enough for now. I've convinced everyone I need to convince, I think. And if not just ask me whatever you want and I'll answer as best I can. __________________ Look at all those dead links.

03-23-2006, 06:42 PM	#68
Circuitous Useless Retired FF Staff Join Date: Jun 2005 Class/Position: D Soldier, O Scout Gametype: AvD Posts Rated Helpful 9 Times	The slider options are: Landscape Trees People Objects I had them all maxed when I wrote that. I've turned them down a bit now since occasionally the outdoors can be a bit much for me. Not much, just enough to keep from chugging. Enemies are scaled with your level, yes, but the scales are usually like yourlevel+1, yourlevel+3, yourlevel-1. Things like that. At level 1, yourlevel+3 can be a real doozy. As for levelling: yes, it's based on the skills for your chosen class. You need to increase a skill 10 times to qualify for a level up. Each skill you raise for a particular attribute assigns a multiplier to that attribute: when you level up, you raise three attributes by their respective multipliers (up to +5). I, too, am playing a Dark Elf, but I tweaked the spellsword class a bit to match my play style better. Basically, though, we're doing the same thing: magic, bow, and sword. Bows get better with higher Agility and higher-quality arrows. Even early in the game you can find some steel/silver arrows if you don't mind a bit of hunting. But you'll mostly be using your sword. I was foolish during my first few dungeon explorations - I snagged every arrow I could find. Before I knew it I had about 375 arrows. But I didn't actually drop them until a Goblin Shaman's summoned Zombie gave me Cobbywobbles (funniest disease ever) and drained my Strength. Now I've got like 12. Life is hard. Anyways. One thing I don't like about levelling - and, indeed, the whole game - is your inability to camp out. You have to find a bed and use it in order to actually sleep, and you can only level up if you actually sleep. Pain in the ass, but I guess fast travel makes up for that, since you can just fast travel to the nearest ex-bandit hideout ('cuz you killed them all, yeah?) and use one of their beds, or head to a town. __________________ Look at all those dead links.

03-23-2006, 08:05 PM	#71
Circuitous Useless Retired FF Staff Join Date: Jun 2005 Class/Position: D Soldier, O Scout Gametype: AvD Posts Rated Helpful 9 Times	Indeed you could, which is why I'm upset that you can't do it in Oblivion. I'd appreciate having a sleeping bag/bedroll you can buy, but that's not in the game at present. A modder will probably do it if BethSoft doesn't - it'd be fairly easy, I imagine. __________________ Look at all those dead links.

03-23-2006, 08:07 PM	#74
Circuitous Useless Retired FF Staff Join Date: Jun 2005 Class/Position: D Soldier, O Scout Gametype: AvD Posts Rated Helpful 9 Times	On the plus side, bandits like to leave camps up, so at least there are some places in the wilderness where you can take a nap. __________________ Look at all those dead links.

03-23-2006, 08:10 PM	#76
Circuitous Useless Retired FF Staff Join Date: Jun 2005 Class/Position: D Soldier, O Scout Gametype: AvD Posts Rated Helpful 9 Times	BethSoft has plans to release mods for download over XBox Live, but they'll be charging a small fee for each (no idea how much, exactly). Apparently the first one will be special armor for your horse. __________________ Look at all those dead links.

03-23-2006, 02:52 AM	#63
Jiggles Retired FF Staff Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: CowTown Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	I don't know about that. I have an Athlon64 3500+ with a x800XL, and running at 1280x1024 I get decent fps (to quite good, depending on the scene) The x800XL is equal to or less than the Geforce 6800GT, at least generally, right? They are right however, in that, if you don't have a beefy system, you'd probably be better off with the 360 version. Then again, if you don't have a 360, the cost of upgrading your system may very well be similar to buying one... I also really like the load times on the PC version; they're quite short. A good chunk of the "overworld" is streamed in also.

03-23-2006, 03:50 PM	#67
o_lithium Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	i'm gonna give it a go wth my AMD 2800+ and my ol' N6600GT , i don't really care about bloom and all the spiffyness, i just want to play with a decent framerate

03-23-2006, 08:04 PM	#70
o_yomamashouse Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Your Mamas House Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	You should be able to bring a sleeping bag, maybe have it less effective than a bed but still something.

03-23-2006, 08:05 PM	#72
o_frenchtoast Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Markham, Ontario, Canada! Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	Huh... didn't think they'd take something like that out...

03-23-2006, 08:07 PM	#73
o_ivaqual Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Europe, Front Yard Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	I noticed too you can only level up if you sleep in proper beds now. I'm sure someone will come up with a mini-mod that lets you camp outside in no time.

03-23-2006, 08:08 PM	#75
o_frenchtoast Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Markham, Ontario, Canada! Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	Oooh, I hope I can download mods on Xbox... THat would suck if I couldn't.

03-23-2006, 08:33 PM	#78
Circuitous Useless Retired FF Staff Join Date: Jun 2005 Class/Position: D Soldier, O Scout Gametype: AvD Posts Rated Helpful 9 Times	It might have been 4 square miles bigger. I remember reading Morrowind was 14. The point is, Cyrodiil is bigger, and we're not even counting Oblivion itself. __________________ Look at all those dead links.

03-23-2006, 09:39 PM	#79
o_frenchtoast Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Markham, Ontario, Canada! Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	I am.

03-24-2006, 01:45 PM	#80
o_general levy Join Date: May 2005 Location: UK Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	To all the peeps who are having to turn down graphical options on their PCs and who won't be getting a new PC for a couple of years (like me), why do it to yourselves? Just get the 360 version - all the graphics options are on high, it wont crash, with the HDD version and the amazing Xbox Live you will get all the patches you need...experiencing this game in all of its lovely prettiness is necessary!! Anyone else playing as an Assassin?

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