Comments on: Oblivion… and On, and On http://anothercastle.co.uk/oblivion-and-on-and-on/ The multi-format gaming magazine of Imperial College Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:43:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Tomo http://anothercastle.co.uk/oblivion-and-on-and-on/comment-page-1/#comment-2880 Tomo Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:22:43 +0000 http://anothercastle.co.uk/?p=446#comment-2880 Yeah, I'm with Sebastian. The leveling mechanic was terrible. This combined with the repetitive Oblivion gates, copy-paste scenery and mash the left mouse button combat meant it got very tedious very quickly. Yeah, I’m with Sebastian. The leveling mechanic was terrible. This combined with the repetitive Oblivion gates, copy-paste scenery and mash the left mouse button combat meant it got very tedious very quickly.

]]> By: Jen http://anothercastle.co.uk/oblivion-and-on-and-on/comment-page-1/#comment-2869 Jen Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:05:00 +0000 http://anothercastle.co.uk/?p=446#comment-2869 To be honest, I know several people who adore Oblivion, but hate, say, Fable. Or Baldur's Gate, Planescape, Neverwinter Nights, whatever. I like the fact that there is a range of gaming styles and systems to cover a wide variety of gamers. At the end of the day, all this stuff comes down to is personal preference, unless we're talking about something universally agreed to be bad (Samir would say that's every RPG, elegantly proving my point.) I like the way Oblivion's designed, the fact that I don't personally enjoy it is kind of not really their fault. Don't like, don't play. To be honest, I know several people who adore Oblivion, but hate, say, Fable. Or Baldur’s Gate, Planescape, Neverwinter Nights, whatever. I like the fact that there is a range of gaming styles and systems to cover a wide variety of gamers. At the end of the day, all this stuff comes down to is personal preference, unless we’re talking about something universally agreed to be bad (Samir would say that’s every RPG, elegantly proving my point.) I like the way Oblivion’s designed, the fact that I don’t personally enjoy it is kind of not really their fault. Don’t like, don’t play.

]]> By: Sebastian http://anothercastle.co.uk/oblivion-and-on-and-on/comment-page-1/#comment-2867 Sebastian Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:43:03 +0000 http://anothercastle.co.uk/?p=446#comment-2867 Honestly, I didn't mind that. I never approached Oblivion as an immersive role-playing game (because I generally don't get all that immersed by RPGs - I'd love to, but I don't). What I do think it has is some excellently designed side quests in the Thieves' Guild and Dark Brotherhood, and a bit of a piss-poor main quest. The Daedric shrines are also quite amusing, what with the one where you have to bring him a cabbage, a wooden spoon and a mushroom as your offering (made me laugh). What really frustrated me with Oblivion was the terrible character progression and scaling monsters. The stronger you get the less you notice that you've improved at all, because all of a sudden the world gets replaced by a tougher version of itself. The leveling system might work brilliantly in an MMO where repetitive things are what drive the gameplay, but as a single-player RPG, it's a bit too much effort to have to remember to jump a lot so your Acrobatics gets higher. Most of this can be fixed by little mods (on PC), mind, but it makes you wonder who designed the systems. Honestly, I didn’t mind that. I never approached Oblivion as an immersive role-playing game (because I generally don’t get all that immersed by RPGs – I’d love to, but I don’t). What I do think it has is some excellently designed side quests in the Thieves’ Guild and Dark Brotherhood, and a bit of a piss-poor main quest. The Daedric shrines are also quite amusing, what with the one where you have to bring him a cabbage, a wooden spoon and a mushroom as your offering (made me laugh).

What really frustrated me with Oblivion was the terrible character progression and scaling monsters. The stronger you get the less you notice that you’ve improved at all, because all of a sudden the world gets replaced by a tougher version of itself. The leveling system might work brilliantly in an MMO where repetitive things are what drive the gameplay, but as a single-player RPG, it’s a bit too much effort to have to remember to jump a lot so your Acrobatics gets higher.

Most of this can be fixed by little mods (on PC), mind, but it makes you wonder who designed the systems.

]]> By: Samir http://anothercastle.co.uk/oblivion-and-on-and-on/comment-page-1/#comment-2866 Samir Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:27:03 +0000 http://anothercastle.co.uk/?p=446#comment-2866 Methinks Oblivion ranks fairly high on the "Why RPGs suck so hard it hurts" list. That game just makes me want to shout "But why should I care?" a lot. Very loudly. Methinks Oblivion ranks fairly high on the “Why RPGs suck so hard it hurts” list. That game just makes me want to shout “But why should I care?” a lot.

Very loudly.

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