Oblivion still worth getting in 2014?

[Andre S. Veteran]

Hi Everyone,

 

Amazing feedback, perhaps I will buy Fall Out: Las Vegas instead - as it sounds like the safer bet.

I concur that Fallout: New Vegas (not Las Vegas, that doesn't exist) is a good choice. It's designed by Obsidian so it's a much deeper more role-playing-y experience than what Bethesda usually does.

[dragontology]

I disagree with many here; being new I will attempt to explain myself.

 

Generally, Bethesda RPGs are easily accessible, as far as roleplaying games go. They are more fun, in my opinion, but also more casual. Most damning, to fans of the genre, is the near inability to fail. In Skyrim, you can start as a warrior, but then pick up magic down the road and master that. Also jarring, your same warrior can end up guild master at both the warrior and the wizard guilds. Not to mention thieves and assassins. So you really get around, live a hypocritical life that flat out makes no sense. Sure, you're a one in a million, mythical hero of legend, and some gamers can't accept that. I think it's fine.

 

In my opinion, Oblivion is the best of the three. The Elder Scrolls series includes Arena, the first game, but it's very rare and buggy. Daggerfall was the second one, and it's procedurally generated. Not the same kind of game at all. The biggest, land mass wise, but again, randomly generated. Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim are the three that are most often counted. Morrowind was the closest to a true RPG, and from that point forward, the games got more casual. Oblivion was so easy to play, hardened RPG fans who gave Morrowind a pass, fell off at this point. Skyrim is flat out casual, it only has RPG elements. Still a great game in its own right, but you have to know what to expect.

 

On PC, note that with Oblivion, you cannot use a controller. Bethesda took that out and, while you can use something like joy2key or xpadder, the support isn't native, so your mileage may vary. I have Oblivion on the Xbox, and prefer to play it there in spite of no mods. Mods are fun, but the lack thereof does not, in my opinion, take away from a game. I consider them a bonus, but I would happily trade mods for controller support. I like to lean back and enjoy the game, not huddle over a keyboard and hold W and tap A sometimes. No offense to kb/m guys. Credit where it's due, you get 2 more hot keys, six more in practice (I don't use the diagonals). I hot key my bow, my arrows of choice, my sword, and my repair hammers.

If you're a kb/m guy, Oblivion is a great game in 2014. It plays well in Windows 7. I haven't tried it in 10 yet. Looks amazing and that's before I looked into graphical mods. And you can get the GOTY edition, which comes with the two biggest quest expansions, for $5 on sale pretty regularly. The base game is not on Steam. GOTY Deluxe includes the other quest, four player homes, spell tomes (a feature in Skyrim), and the dreaded, oft-joked about horse armor. I paid $6.79 for that.

 

As far as Oblivion and Skyrim. For those who said Skyrim was better, if you played both, do you not remember how long the Fighter's Guild quest line was? Getting kicked out? Having to work for the good of the guild, off the books, with your Orc friend, and having to restore your standing? The Fighter's Guild quest line is longer than any quest line in Skyrim, and more rewarding, too. Aside from the Arena, it's the shortest. The Mages Guild, Thieves Guild, and Dark Brotherhood were all super long. I just replayed all of them. Oh, and completing quests for the Thieves Guild could get you kicked out of the Mages Guild. Not stealing the staff, that's easy. The Mages Guild member who spawns in front of you... not a problem if you're exploiting the Chameleon glitch. But if not... have fun collecting Daedra hearts and vampire dust ? 20 of each! Though, for your first expulsion, you really only need 20 of one, and 1 of the other. So get to duping. Oh, and merchants with unlimited gold, but a transaction limit. Making the guy on the Anvil docks your friend by doing an early Fighters Guild quest, so he's your go-to until you get a better merchant, but that might never happen. So many ways I love this game. I'll stop there. Skyrim is beautiful, I loved the archery more, but all the quests just felt rushed to me. You do like 2 things and you're guild master. Wait, what? You guys trust me that quick? Okay now.

 

As far as Fallout goes.... Bethesda only made Fallout 3. New Vegas was made by the people who made the first two. As such, it's a better RPG, but harder, and it lacks much of the charm from 3. It's not a bad game, far from it. But it lacks the heart and soul of Fallout 3.

 

To be honest, I recommend all four of them. Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas. They're four of my favorite games. They're all a little tough at first. Then they get fun. After that, easy. Before long, you know all the exploits, and they become... for me it's like vacation spots, in a sense. I have so much fun visiting them. I can't really take them seriously as games, but I don't want to. I enjoy spending time in those digital worlds. For me, that's what it's about. I don't want to get tarred and feathered, exercising futility trying the same thing over and over and failing. I game for fun.

[Guest]

But it lacks the heart and soul of Fallout 3.

 

That game had a heart and a soul?

 

It is right there competing with the new Medal of Honor for the most generic, bland, boring, uninspiring, waste of time first person games, imho.

[dragontology]

Well, I haven't played any of the Medal of Honor games, but yes. Bethesda puts a lot of heart into their games. Maybe not the gaming stuff you, or others, want, but the games feel very much alive. All the little stories that aren't connected to any quest, yet feel deep, and make you think long after you start playing. How about the would-be vaults? There are various radio stations that, if you turn them on, they direct you to hidden loot stores in sewers. Some of these have little stories attached. You kind of have to fill in some of the blanks, but it gets ya thinking. Or what about the Republic of Dave? What was that place about? Or Billy Creel? Genuinely nice guy, raising dead raider victims' child as his own, or sexual predator, grooming a little girl for a one-sided relationship? While we're walking a dark path, what in the blazes was Andale all about? Or the Dunwich building, also known as the nope building? Fallout 3 didn't have a lot going on as far as quests. There was the main quest, there was the Wasteland Survival Guide quest line, and then there were about a dozen or so side quests. The rest was just exploration and finding stuff, making your own story. There might even be stories in Fallout 3 I haven't found yet. Nobody likes the train stations. I know there was a failed Chinese mission you could discover in a sweets factory near the Arlington cemetery.

 

I'd ask what games have inspired you so as to label Fallout 3 as "generic, bland, boring, uninspiring, [and a] waste of time" but I think it might just be we play games for different reasons. I will say that New Vegas fits those qualifications more, though it had a few qualities that it did better than 3.

[Guest]

I'd ask what games have inspired you so as to label Fallout 3 as "generic, bland, boring, uninspiring, [and a] waste of time" but I think it might just be we play games for different reasons. I will say that New Vegas fits those qualifications more, though it had a few qualities that it did better than 3.

 

Apocalypse-wise, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Metro. RPG-wise, Planescape Torment and The Witcher. From Bethesda's games, heavily mod-ed Skyrim.

[dragontology]

I've got The Witcher 2. I've given it a few chances, and I've come to the realization that it isn't for me. Haven't ruled out the first one, but I don't own it. I remember thinking Planescape Torment looked cool when it was new. But that was about 15 years ago. How has it aged? (I love the first Deus Ex, and it's about as old, for what it's worth.)

I've got Metro 2033. That, or Last Light? First S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (Shadow of Chernobyl) was okay. Had it on disc. Never really got anywhere with it.

Would I be right in assuming the mods you like in Skyrim are SkyRe and Frostfall? SkyRe I've used. Probably will again. Frostfall I have no interest in. It sounds like you prefer more of a challenge, and that's cool. I like Zelda. Stick with it and you'll eventually win. The first Zelda, Link to the Past, Minish Cap, Phantom Hourglass, and A Link Between Worlds. Not PC games, but they have the level of challenge I prefer. Enough that you have to learn. A few cheap shots. But definitely fun over challenging.

 

Fortunately for you, not so much for me, I think the PC game market favors your preferences. Maybe I should get a Wii U or at least an Xbox One... but I still have some choices.

[what]

Hi Everyone,

 

Thanks for reading this post and throwing down some opinions.

 

I was suggested to get Fall Out 3 by a friend on my PS3, which I did and was one of my all time favorite games to date.  I enjoyed it so much I bought Skyrim to curb my love for this type of genre but my PS3 died and instead of getting a PS4 (awaiting launch at the time) I invested into a gaming machine (computer).  About a month ago I noticed a Skyrim GOTY sale and I purchased it and currently just finding the last few places on the map to complete the entire experience.

 

Steam is now suggesting Morrow Wind, which I assume will not run on a Windows 7 64-bit machine, and Oblivion GOTY edition.  Oddly enough the Oblivion GOTY will cost me more than the Skyrim GOTY edition but I have been told that Oblivion is far better than Skyrim in terms of storyline, which I thought was amazing in Skyrim.  

 

Do you think it is worth it at this stage to invest in Oblivion in 2014 or should I move onto another suggested title?

 

Give Oblivion a go. It's a very different game to Skyrim, some prefer it, some don't. I preferred Skyrim but still played through Oblivion a number of times. There's plenty to sink your teeth into with all the DLC included on top of the original game as well.