There are so many aspects of Elder Scrolls games I love and hate at the same time. Their leveling system is both awesome/realistic and tedious. The huge open world is incredible/flexible and overwhelming. (How many times was I on my way to a city and I discover caves or castles or whatever that I spend all my time clearing out and get off track). Their first/third person spatial fighting (where you're position and reaction matter) is more realistic than round-by-round standing attacks but highly exploitable. The number of side quests from random people is incredible yet why am I expected to go into every Trailer in a city of 100s one by one and talk to them each?
I haven't gotten it yet and likely wont till i get bored next year (there's too many other games before it on my list, such as Batman AC, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Battlefield 3, Bioshock Infinite, Mass Effect 3, etc.) However the game does look pretty awesome but makes warcraft's time sink look like nothing...
Oblivion (ES 4) was on sale on Steam for $6.00 so I thought this was a good chance to experience this type of game and much cheaper than buying Skyrim at this time.
AFter a couple of hours of playing it is a lot like you described. I don't see the excitment getting to the level of dungeon running/ raiding in a good MMO. I did have fun playing it and the graphics are very nice with little to no lag but I am not so sure I will play this till the end.
I got so used to hitting the space bar last night it got me in trouble in the horse stables. I hit it around a horse and the stable boy yelled, "Stop Theif" which alerted the near by gaurds and ended up with a choice of going to jail, paying a huge fine or fight!" I returned to save point shortly after picking the fight option...lmao.
I bought ES4 for $6.00 too. I spent hundreds of hours on ES3 for the XBox and I expect this to be similarly self destructive.
I figure it will either get me amped for Skyrim (and give them time to get all of the bugs out), or kill off any desire I might have to play it entirely. Win-win.
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The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man toon who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. ~ Mark Twain
I bought ES4 for $6.00 too. I spent hundreds of hours on ES3 for the XBox and I expect this to be similarly self destructive.
I figure it will either get me amped for Skyrim (and give them time to get all of the bugs out), or kill off any desire I might have to play it entirely. Win-win.
I will have to check this out. Played the PC version of ES3, yet to try ES4.
I wish they would email you a pdf with some basic instructions with the download. I figured out the basic key strokes by looking in the options for key mapping but had to google why I was still at level 1 after 4+ hours of playing and running quests.
Based on your post i saw the mid-week deal on oblivion and got it for 6 bucks. I played many many hours on Morrowind but never got very far on the story -- and my ocd means i had to check every crate, go into every home, and steal every item when the shopkeep turns his back.... >.> OR i'd wander into a dwarven ruin with creatures I had no business being around and get pwnd.
So now i own and am fiddling around with oblivion (little dumbed down from morrowind but better graphics and playstyle) -- about to be on a train for 6 hours (twice) so now i have something to do!
For those just starting elder scroll games few tips:
- Leveling isn't done by experience, its done by skills. Whatever major skills you choose when you get 10 rank-ups you level. (after you sleep, CRINGE)
- Creatures level with you. That means you can take on anything in game and it will be appropriate level, just varied in creature power and loot found.
- Planning your character before you begin is quite important. If you choose 3 weapon types and crappy major skills like acrobatics then you wont level hardly at all. Choose ONE weapon, ONE armor, and at least ONE school of magic even if fighter/thief based. When you level choose stats with the highest multipliers (skills leveled) -- you get 3 "stat levelups" but can gain up to 15 stat points if planned well.
- Its easy to cheet and gain a level by doing anything repetively (like jumping or casting a piddly spell). However if you do you'll gain HP and a few stats but have virtually no appropriate gear and be very one-dimensional. See also: Dying.
I'm considering getting skyrim. Been playing BF3 lately and that game is very addicting (currently at 163 hours played). Holding off decision to buy skyrim till weekend so that it seems less of an impulse puchase.
Level 13 now and make sure I up all the necessary stats before sleeping. I take my time and kill everything in all the dungeons and do several arena matches per level.
To charge weapons you need to join the mage guild and talk to one of the NPCs inside (very expensive) or get a life stone and a weapon/spell that traps souls. After trapping the soul click on the stone and it works like smithing.
If in open spaces and faced with multiple mobs, kiting works very well. The AI of the NPCs is not very high.
Artist work on the armor and swords is outstanding. Oblivian is fun for a single player game.
I dinged 12 and am feeling pretty effective -- just wish my armorer skill was high enough to repair my magic items that keep breaking. Playing a plate mage, focusing on str/end/will/int with skills in blunt/block/heavy/conj/destro. Battlemage works out pretty well in the ES games. I'm playing off & on with other games and holiday travel, but its improved morrowind essentially.
I pretty much ignore the "efficient leveling" stuff... I'm sure I'll regret it. I went Battlemage too. My favorite "combat" technique is to summon a zombie and then run around in circles shielding and healing myself until the mob is dead.
Silly.
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The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man toon who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. ~ Mark Twain
