Oblivion

[plonq]

I finally got around to installing Oblivion over the weekend (I created a Khajiit, naturally).  The interface is different from the one in Morrowind - not bad, per se, but something that will take some adjustment.  They've improved a few things, and (IMHO) nerfed a couple of others.  The graphics are gorgeous, and the game-play is very smooth.  I haven't played very far into it yet, but so far it's chock full of the same humour that made Morrowind so much fun to play.

So far the only part of the game I don't really like are the bodies and body animation in the game.  The Argonians and Khajiit were digitigrade in Morrowind, but now they are essentially humans with awkwardly-placed tails and animal heads.  On the plus side they can now wear boots, but on the down side they still walk like they have sticks shoved up their nether regions.  For all the graphical improvements they put in, why couldn't they make the walking and running look a bit more natural?  I spotted more than one moon-walking NPC, for instance.

I ran into a bit of a technical glitch when I was installing the game.  Apparently it doesn't like my older DVD reader (part of the copy-protection maybe?) and it consistently died somewhere past the 3/4ish mark on all five attempts.  Finally, in desperation, I plugged the DVD into atara's machine and installed it across the network.  It worked, but I'm curious about what the game will do if she doesn't have the game disk in her computer when I try to run it.  The next time I fire up the game I'll have her check to see if it spins up the DVD on her machine.

Comments

[unciaa.livejournal.com]

The Khajiit are different from region to region, depending on how much they'd mixed with the locals. The ones in Daggerfall were almost completely human, for example. Not that that makes having them more human-esque any better, but at least there's a reason for it.

Also, no more full helms. THANK GOD.
"Why, hello to our house, Khajiit. For your first mission take this helm you cannot wear and wear it to decieve someone."
"..."
" :D "

[farlo.livejournal.com]

I'm boycotting that game. Moonwalking NPCs? Geez.

[nrasser.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying that game a lot more than Morrowind. :)

[plonq.livejournal.com]

So far I don't like it quite as much as I did Morrowind, but I think mostly that's because the novelty of it has worn off a bit. I played through Morrowind and all three expansions, then switched over to World of Warcraft. At some point the "go here and retrieve this thing for me" questline has begun to take on an air of sameness - though Oblivion has (so far) been good at tossing in some fun twists.

That's not to say that I dislike Oblivion - quite the opposite. I plan to while away many many long hours playing this game. =)

[plonq.livejournal.com]

By "moonwalking" I mean feet that are out of sync with the movement. Either the walk/run doesn't look convincing, or the NPC is hooked on a piece of scenery, but their feet are still pumping away trying to get to point B on the other side.

[plonq.livejournal.com]

I finally created an Imperial in Morrowind just so I could wear some of the boots and helms that I found in the game.

[farlo.livejournal.com]

WoW has spoiled me. It will run well even on my laptop, and the figures are too cute.

[nrasser.livejournal.com]

I think I just like the tone of the game a lot more. It doesn't seem as depressing overall. The Khajiit do still look funny and walk like they've had something rectally inserted, but I've managed to craft a character that I enjoy playing. :)

[plonq.livejournal.com]

So far I'm very pleased with the character that I have in the game.

When I was playing Morrowind, I designed a custom "thief/mage" character who specialized in stealth, speech craft, archery and illusion. What I was after (and managed to create) was a silver-tongued cad who could talk his way out of anything, but if it came to a fight, he could dispatch them from a distance without getting his hands dirty.

I liked the class so much I was going to re-create it in Oblivion, but I discovered that the class already exists (called an "Agent"). Cool.