So I’ll just say there’s a new Living In Oblivion blog update. Day Eight, Part Two. Part Three will show up on Friday.
By the way, I played the first eight days of Nondrick’s life last March, when I started the blog, so thus far, all I’ve been doing is going over my old notes and screenshots and writing up the entries. But I haven’t actually played Oblivion in a long time, until the other night, when I started playing day nine of Nondrick’s Non-Adventure.
And it call came flooding back. What a fantastic game Oblivion is. It’s just one of the best, ever.
I’ve heard from some people who are interested in buying and playing the game based on the Nondrick blog, which is cool. I don’t know why reading about me wandering around doing basically nothing would be enticing to anyone, but in case it’s not clear from Non’s adventure, there are a ridiculous — ridiculous – number of things to actually do in Oblivion. Places to go, quests to undertake, and people to meet, talk to, help, steal from, and kill (depending on how you personally choose to play).
Just look at this, but not too closely if you haven’t played yet. It’s an enormous map of the game with all the cities, settlements, dungeons, shrines, inns, doomstones, Oblivion gates, landmarks, camps, ruins, and forts. It’s 3256 by 2648 pixels and it’s still absolutely crammed, wall to wall, with stuff to do.
And, as my blog shows, and maybe this is the truly enticing part of it, there’s the freedom to do none of those things if you really don’t want to.
A lot of games are touted for having massive areas to explore, like Crysis and Just Cause. I’ve played both, and I like them both to some degree, but in the end it really doesn’t matter how big a landmass you’ve got in your game unless there rewards for exploring it. There are things to do in Crysis and Just Cause besides following the main storyline, but they all pretty much involve shooting enemies. Which is fine. Not knocking them at all.
But other than more combat, there’s no real reward for exploring those games, at least none that I found. Oblivion, on the other hand, will reward you almost without end for poking your nose in every last inch of their map. There are mysteries to be solved. Journals and diaries to pore over. Secrets to be discovered. There are even quests and adventures that don’t show up on your quest log — but they’re there. Oblivion has stories, and they’re not always fed to you. They wait, patiently, for you to uncover them.
I bought the Prima guide a while back and read it cover to cover, and I estimated that even after spending several hundred hours in Oblivion, I’d only completed about 75-80% of the game — and that’s with having completed the main quest and each of the four Guild storylines, not to mention a ton of side-quests. Despite criss-crossing the map umpteen times, there was a ton of stuff I just plain missed.
Then there are the mods. There are so many mods! England’s Tom Francis pointed me to this UI mod, which is great, and got me poking around the vast sea of exciting modifications. [Some of the best are in the Hall of Fame.] Some are big, like the Modular Oblivion Enhanced mod I’ve been using for Nondrick, some have leveling and game balance overhauls, some have new weapons and armor and creatures. Some are small but still effective, like one that reskinned the coins (and you rarely ever even see coins in the game), or the one that created beautiful new book jackets.
Of course, it can be tricky finding downloads for them if, like me, you don’t subscribe Fileplanet. (Seriously, Fileplanet, blow me.) But some poking around can usually find you an alternate (free) download.
EDIT: Sir Tom has provided, in the comments below, a nifty free download source for all your Oblivion mod needs.
12 responses so far ↓
1 Pentadact // Mar 19, 2008 at 9:40 am
Sorry, I thought I’d linked that mod’s page on The Good Oblivion Mods Site, not The Evil FilePlanet Infected one. The good one used to be called TES Source, but it looks like it goes by TES Nexus these days ( http://www.tesnexus.com ). Here’s the Immersive Interface there:
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4109
Downloading there is a one-click process, no waiting or registration. They’re really comprehensive, too. I’ve laughed out loud at how obtuse some of the mods you find there are.
2 Pentadact // Mar 19, 2008 at 9:43 am
Eg. Faster Turning Horses, and Christina Applegate.
3 Rodafowa // Mar 19, 2008 at 10:06 am
Yeah, the ability to just wander around, enjoy the scenery and dip into and out of quests was ace. You know what I spent most of my time in Oblivion doing? Picking sodding flowers. There was a bit of running backwards away from wildlife, obviously. But mostly picking flowers. It got to the stage where I’d be walking out into the garden, spotting a plant and thinking “Oh! A peony! Now, if I get some of the seeds from those waterlillies, I can knock together a quick Damage Health!”
The game had a metric arseload of problems, but I loved the way it could send you on a quick holiday at your desk.
4 Doran // Mar 19, 2008 at 10:47 am
Heh, I think it’s mildly ironic considering your views on sidequests in Concerned.
5 Lack_26 // Mar 19, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I’ve been replaying it using natural environments (makes it a lot prettier with no fps hit)
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2536
OOO which just overhauls just about everything.
http://jorgeoscuro.googlepages.com/
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15256
And on another computer with Better cities, fairly big fps hit but so much cooler.
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14219
Anyway I’ve been back at it for a while now in the brief moments of rest I get. I had forgotten how much fun it really was.
6 Derek // Mar 19, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Back when Oblivion came out, my rig couldn’t handle it even on low settings, so I got it for the 360. I need to scrounge up some money and buy it now that I’ve upgraded my PC, because it is my favorite game ever.
7 Kenny // Mar 19, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I have spent about 150 hours in the game, and thought I had done most of it…then I got the strategy guide and realised I had missed a hell of a lot…and now that map almost makes me cry :P
Going to need to reinstall it and try it out with all these mods - I am sure it’ll be a very different game!
8 Vince // Mar 19, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Living in Oblivion actually did inspire me in a different way.
I installed all the mods you use for Nonny last night, and now I’m playing a character like Nondrick is playing, except my guy isn’t quite as much of a goody-two-shoes as Nondrick is :P
9 Don // Mar 20, 2008 at 12:21 am
I read a review about oblivion a few weeks before I bought it, thinking to myself, “nah, this game woudln’t appeal to me at all”. Then I read your living in oblivion blog and felt compelled to buy it the next day. Damn you Chris, I had to admit to my girlfriend that I was wrong for not wanting to buy that game when she had first brought it up D:<! (although she suggested I get it on the PS3, which would have been totally lame)
10 CitrusFreak // Mar 20, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I hate to use this as Oblivion forums or anything, but has anyone experienced major lag when riding horses and/or being attacked by animals? Pretty much all animals cause my game to stutter, which is very odd.
11 Christopher // Mar 20, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Citrus, I found this: http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=1896
Supposed to help the stuttering/animal problem.
“The system Oblivion uses for creature footstep sound effects tends to stress older and onboard sound cards, causing heinous stuttering. Creatures with more feet, such as horses and wolves, will destroy such cards. The latest version of Quiet Feet solves this problem by replacing the sound files for all creature footsteps with dummy .wav files. “
12 CitrusFreak // Mar 21, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Thanks Chris, it works like a charm!
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