Elder Scrolls Oblivion Gold 179
Gamespot has word that Bethesda's upcoming release Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has gone gold. It is due out on the 20th. They also have a rundown on some gameplay. From the article: "In true Elder Scrolls fashion, you start Oblivion rotting in a jail cell. Don't worry--Oblivion plunges you into the action and story faster than any Elder Scrolls game to date. We'll get into some minor spoilers here, though many of the following facts have already been revealed publicly. Once again you'll play as a character burdened by destiny to save the world, this time from a demonic invasion from the hellish plane known as Oblivion. Before you know it, you'll go from the dungeon cell to exploring a dank underground, killing rats and assassins while also getting some welcome introductory exposition from Emperor Uriel Septim VII, voiced by Patrick Stewart himself." I know I don't normally mention gold releases, but I'm really looking forward to this one. You know a guy is committed when he buys new RAM for a game.
RAM = commitment? (Score:3, Insightful)
Heh - I'm saving up and planning my entire next computer for when Spore comes out later this year. A few dozen dollars worth of RAM aint a commitment
Re:RAM = commitment? (Score:2)
A few dozen dollars worth of RAM aint a commitment ;)
Yep. As we've been conditioned to believe, commitment costs at least 2 months' salary.
Re:RAM = commitment? (Score:2)
Not that there's anything wrong with that. Right, honey?
Re:RAM = commitment? (Score:2)
But what if my only commitment is my computer? I'm a CS major Slashdotter, after all
Re:RAM = commitment? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:RAM = commitment? (Score:2)
You have to scroll down a bit. Just do a search on 'Wright' (bugmenot has the registration email)
Re:RAM = commitment? (Score:3, Funny)
(uhm)
Re:RAM = commitment? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:RAM = commitment? (Score:4, Informative)
Imagine making a texture (not a picture) of something like wood or rusty metal in photoshop. You start with a base color, add some repetetive but randomized detail, apply a bunch of filters, and youve got something very nice. Now you save a picture of it. That is old school. The procedural way is to store a list of the things you did, and save that, then feed it to a copy of photoshop again later. This has two advantages. One, it saves a shitload of space, since the list is tiny and the resulting bitmap is huge. Two, it allows for really 'smooth' changes. You can change one step in the middle of the list and get a similar-but-significantly-different texture.
The same goes for music, 3d models, animations, etc.
Re:RAM = commitment? (Score:2)
Re:RAM = commitment? (Score:2)
The idea is not very new. What Spore is doing is taking it to new heights. EVERYTHING will be generated procedurally. The game might realistically only be a few dozen megabytes.
Re:RAM = commitment? (Score:2)
It means he's building synergy by changing the paradigm to gain market traction.
In other words, it means he's BULLSHITTING.
-Eric
Just New Ram? (Score:1)
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
* Bugfixes. By then, they should have finally gotten most of the bugs out of the game.
* Modding. Based on my experiance with Morrowind, the modding community should have quite a variety of mods out for the game, everything from user-interface essentials that the developers forgot (readable road signs, labeled potion bottles) to things that make the world really seem alive (non-hostile wildl
I wouldn't do that (Score:2)
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
You're better off on the PC. Not much more money, and you can use it for other stuff too. Plus there's the downloadable mods, the higher resolution, the faster CPU (which increases AI distance, etc...)...
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
At least we all know that you are the reason Oblivion was delayed...thanks alot. Bastard.
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
Conversely, if you buy the hardware at the same time as the game is released, the hardware will take longer than normal to get working. Such was the case with my upgrade for Half-Life 2, bought the upgrade the day of release, and didn't get to play the game for a week and a half
And, as I have no dignity, I call this maxim Default Luser's Law (C) (R) (TM), and expect bountiful royalties every time it is invoked.
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:5, Informative)
Not that much more money?!? A PC with the recommended specs will easily cost you twice as much as a 360. I hate it when people talk about PC gaming like it's cheaper than console, because it it quite clearly is not. And yes, while you can use the PC for other stuff, you could also use a much cheaper PC that you don't have to upgrade every year for all that other stuff. Sure, gaming PCs do have benefits over consoles, but don't try to pretend they aren't a lot more money.
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:3, Insightful)
Good for you.
you could also use a much cheaper PC
My video card cost less than a 360, and is faster than the 360's video. It's the only difference between my machine and a machine I would use for work. Again, not saying it's cheaper...Just smarter unless you play a lot of games and don't do much work. (Personally, I buy the consoles too)
that you don't have to upgrade every year
I hate when console gamers talk about how PC games have to u
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
I'd like to know what this magical video card is. The ATI card in the 360 is on par with the X1900s that just came out. That's a $600-700 card, twice as much as the core 360.
A crap $250 card won't cut it for much longer anyway. I love when these people buy nVidia 6800s and last year's ATIs and think they're on top of the world. They're not.
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
Why, because somebody said that Oblivion looks the same on an X1900 as on a 360?
It doesn't matter what's in it. Within a year it'll be slower than a bargain PC card. If the console succeeds, 99% of them will be sold after that anyway. That means most people who buy them will be buying overpriced video hardware.
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
Uh, no, unlike you I don't go by "what I hear". I read about both architectures and Ars.Technica took a very good looks at the diffferences. The Xbox 360 card is essentially the same.
"It doesn't matter what's in it. Within a year it'll be slower than a bargain PC card."
Unlikely. Consoles have a long shelf-life. Look at Halo 2 on the original Xbox: most people can't get even those kinds of graphics with today's bargain card
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
It would be stupid to buy an X1900 when you can get 98% of the performance for less than half the price.
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
Here's a more valid comparison: find me either a dual 6800 or X1900 system, a complete system, for $300. Take your time.
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
NewEgg has the X1900 All-in-wonder version for $419 right now.
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
It's like finding a price for a 7800 and telling me it's as fast as a regular 7800 GTX. No contest.
I think you need to tak
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
*ducks*
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2, Insightful)
So, the coincidental benefit of having a powerful PC to play games on is definitely there.
Also, were I to want the same picture experience on
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh and for all you "Xbox is cheeper" it aint, to get the HD resolution that you'll be getting on a computer, you need to buy the X360 and an HD tv.
Re:Just New Ram? (Score:2)
Actually, I got lucky. The X800XL I had bought just died, and NewEgg gave me a full retail price credit because they don't make it anymore. So I got a 7800GT plus $20 back. I'm not happy with the heat and the fan noise compared to the ATI card, but it makes up for it in framerate.
and the sad thing is.... (Score:2, Funny)
I didn't really want to graduate anyways, I guess.
(You have created a Potion)
(You have created a Potion)
(You have created a Potion)
(You have created a Potion)
(Your Alchemy has increased to 90)
(You should rest and meditate on what you've learned.)
Re:and the sad thing is.... (Score:2)
Will Oblivion fix Morrowind's bland NPCs? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Will Oblivion fix Morrowind's bland NPCs? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Will Oblivion fix Morrowind's bland NPCs? (Score:2)
Funny to see (modern) games incorporate features from 10+ old games.
Still no rock-climbing skill, ability to make a raft, or a weatherballon, etc. in modern RPGs...
Re:Will Oblivion fix Morrowind's bland NPCs? (Score:5, Interesting)
It sounds promising. In the official Oblivion forums I read one of the anecdotes shared by the developers while testing/tinkering with NPCs. They created some NPC that had it as part of his daily schedule to sweep his porch (or something like that), the problem is they didn't give him a broom. So what does this enterprising NPC do? He goes inside his house, gets his trusty axe, and murders a fellow townsperson who happens to have a broom, takes the broom and proceeds to sweep his front porch.
Obviously at that point the AI required a bit of tweaking, but even in this "blooper" it demonstrates some of the game's promise in the area of NPC intelligence and behaviors.
I don't think there's much doubt that this is going to be a good game that many people will become obsessed with. The question is, will it live up to the hype? Arguably, Morrowind did not, due to a laundry list of deep flaws, not the least or greatest of which (in my opinion) were the bland NPCs. They have to figure out a way to make the game fun as opposed to just plopping the player down in a vast world and expecting him to be happy to wander around awestruck by the environments they're surrounded by.
The main issue I had with Morrowind is that it was too easy, and seemed almost designed to be exploited. I suppose this is a difficult problem to avoid in an open ended game where the player is supposed to be empowered to do any number of things any number of different ways, but it really weaken the entire game experience. I really hope they fix this in Oblivion.
This always has me worried (Score:3)
I don't know but so far AI seems to be 'okay' at dodging in a well designed enviroment but coming close to intelligence?
Silent Storm has the AI picking up dropped weapons. Great, so your civilian decides to be a hero, runs out to some dropped weapo
Relax, usually it IS a lie (Score:2)
In fact, the first time I've heard that kind of a claims was in the early 80's, about some program in a book where a dot would randomly bounce around a box or maze until it found the way out. I d
Re:This always has me worried (Score:2)
They pretty much couldn't do ANYTHING on their own. That's what made the game so damned annoying.
-Eric
Re:Actually.... (Score:2)
You're right, it all depends on what you're looking forward in a game. I found the exploration aspect of Morrowind to be mildly enjoyable, but fell far short of what I think of as a great gaming experience. That's why I
Re:Will Oblivion fix Morrowind's bland NPCs? (Score:2)
-Eric
memory/proc constraints? (Score:2)
Even with Quake 2 style graphics, I can imagine processing a lot of NPC's would bog down the cpu.
Re:memory/proc constraints? (Score:2)
Possibly, but I don't think this is it. Just like for graphics, there will be a "level of detail" for NPC AI so that distant NPCs participate in less complex behaviors and are checked for these behaviors much less frequently.
I forget the exact numbers, but I don't think there are going to be that many fewer NPCs/quests in Oblivion compared to Morrowind. Fewer, yes, but I'm not
What about quests? (Score:2)
Re:What about quests? (Score:3, Informative)
I've read in an interview or something somewhere that had a dev quoted as saying it's still a game that's measured in the hundreds of hours rather than the tens of hours (with 200 hours being the most often quoted figure, and about 20 hours for the main quest I believe).
Re:Will Oblivion fix Morrowind's bland NPCs? (Score:2)
Oblivion is substantially larger than Morrowind, both in scope and physical landmass. The island of Morrowind was the equivalent of 8 square miles; Oblivion's representation of Tamriel is 16. Additionally, there are over 1000 NPCs in Oblivion, as well as the inclusion of a more sophisticated AI, improved use of shadows and timing in the thievery game, more diverse spells and effects, and a larger main quest.
Whatever source you read that indicated that Oblivion would be smaller than Morrowind was
User mods for Xbox 360? (Score:2)
If not, I plan on advising my fellow TES fans to upgrade their PC for this.
Re:User mods for Xbox 360? (Score:2)
Re:User mods for Xbox 360? (Score:2)
This plan worked great for Morrowind, so I expect it to be just as good for Oblivion.
Of course if they crap up the PC version with StarForce or anything like that, I'll just skip it entirely an
Re:User mods for Xbox 360? (Score:2)
Not another underground labyrinth start! (Score:2)
For such a traditionally innovative game though, starting off in a dungeon and spending the first bit of the game underground is extremely unoriginal. Why is it that so many modern fantasy RPGs start the player in an underground dungeon where it is necessary to navigate numerous monster filled tunnels to get to the surface, can't anyone think of anything else?
One thing I always wonder is how on earth do the respective captors reach their dungeons without constantly
Re:Not another underground labyrinth start! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not another underground labyrinth start! (Score:2)
Re:Not another underground labyrinth start! (Score:2)
Elder Scrolls Oblivion Gold (Score:2)
Re:Elder Scrolls Oblivion Gold (Score:2)
An unheralded release (Score:2)
Why does the Elder Scrolls series get so little attention? Everytime I read or hear talk of an RPG, a big single player game, detailed games, whatever these games have, Morrowind NEVER gets mentioned. It's like outside of a select set of RPG enthusiasts, nobody has ever heard of Morrowind (or Oblivion for that matter).
What gives?
Re:An unheralded release (Score:2)
Re:An unheralded release (Score:2)
I'd never played until I picked up the platinum edition a week or so ago. I think it's pretty sweet, native Linux client and all.
Did it used to suck more but they fixed problems, am I missing something, or do I just have a real high threshold of "suck" compared to you?
Re:An unheralded release (Score:2)
2) if you have a good machine, it doesn't suck so much. It has ridiculously high system expectations in comparison to what it offers. If you can,
Re:An unheralded release (Score:2)
I was.
then "just exit the first city and it will be better" but it didn't.
I just finished Chapter 1
if you have a good machine, it doesn't suck so much.
Opteron 175, Geforce 6800GT, 2 GB
Being behind the game curve rules
If you can, get the "camera hack" to see why -
I'll try it. Thanks.
D20 systems are good for pen&paper RPG,...
A friend at work was talking about that when I told him I got it. He bought it when it
Re:An unheralded release (Score:2)
For you D20 with its c
Re:An unheralded release (Score:2)
Re:An unheralded release (Score:2)
That said... I hated Daggerfall, hated Morrowind, and am ant
Because bashing it gets old (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, we could mention it, in the form of "Well, and then there's Morrowind which sucks in every single aspect compared to these other games I've mentioned. In fact, it's the prime example of how _not_ to make a big game: having barely enough material for a small game, and dilluting it to cover a hundred square miles of computer-generated terrain and copy-and-pasted
Re:Because bashing it gets old (Score:2)
On the other hand, you're a STUPID HEAD!
-Eric
Re:Because bashing it gets old (Score:2)
And talk about slow: I had a good system for the time and the stupid thing absolutely _crawled_.
RUN RUN RUN...rest WALK rest WALK rest..
360 (Score:2)
Too bad building a PC with 3 3.2ghz processors and an equivilent ATI video card would be pushing 2 grand.
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
You would kill the goddamn ghost in the hotel and it would be back there again, just the same.
With water-breathing potion you could play to be a submarine.
You could take up a job of a terrorist, just like being a member of Avalanche.
Well, House of Earthly Delights wasn't quite like Golden Saucer, but you could move in there to enjoy just after visiting nearby dark daedric ruins.
spellmaking: 100 fire damage in 1
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
Well, where was he going to go, Detroit?
-Eric
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
if you played the first expansion, tribunal, you get attacked while your sleeping by an assassin. the assassin was dressed sort of like a ninja, and being waked by a guy who wants to kill you is pretty darn rude... and when it happened to me, i was near a clump of trees, so...... yeah, I just refuted that one. oh well.
Lol FF7 (Score:3, Informative)
They are totally different beasts. If you like one then you will probably hate the other. To me for instance Final Fantasy isn't even an RPG. Its an adventure on rails with piss poor graphics and lousy combat and ZERO freedom.
On the other hand if you loved it then Morrowind will definitly not be your cup of tea. FF ver
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
I had a computer that slow too once.
What a maroon. (Score:2)
Type tcl.
Press enter.
Unstuck.
And that's assuming you didn't use any of the ubiquitous teleportation methods to get yourself out of there...
Re:What a maroon. (Score:2)
-Eric
Re:What a maroon. (Score:2)
Re:What a maroon. (Score:2)
I can't imagine trying to play this game on anything but a PC.
Re:Interesting (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Interesting (Score:3, Informative)
As far as ugly, I'd have to agree, the npc's were definately that. However the really good thing about Morrowind was the modding potential. I downloaded some mods that fixed that right up. Some of the modders out there (look for red's heads astar's replaces) made some really amazingly good looking npc meshes and textures, many with very compareable complexity so the
Re:Don't believe the hype (Score:2)
In the sense that Morrowind was? Sure, it'll probably have balance issues you can take advantage of to make it trivially easy. I'm sure you've seen the video of Morrowind's main quest being beaten in about 10 minutes. Games that give you any degree of freedom tend to be unbalanced, because it gets exponentially harder to balance things as the player is given more and more options. This is why most online games feature endless rounds of nerfing.
On the other hand, pla
Re:Don't believe the hype (Score:2)
-Eric
Re:Don't believe the hype (Score:2)
I got the game of the year edition (runs fine under Cedega) a while back never having played it at all before, installed it with all the expansions, got attacked by an assassin the first time I slept, somehow beat him and played the entire game using his armor since it was better than anything else I found
Re:Don't believe the hype (Score:2)
And here is the link... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Don't believe the hype (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:3rd person option (Score:2)
Re:3rd person option (Score:3, Informative)
It's a bit interesting, as in a lot of other RPGs if you can pick it up, it's either
Re:3rd person option (Score:2)
Re:i hope you enjoy.. (Score:2)
"mod me down if you want, but if i wanted to play a game like this i can go next door and play with their kids free of charge."
As opposed to paying to play with the neighbor's kids? I'd rather you didn't play with your neighbors' kids at all.
You are mistaken. (Score:2)
The devs have repeatedly stated that the armor you wear will negatively affect your ability to sneak.
Re:i hope you enjoy.. (Score:2)
Re:i hope you enjoy.. (Score:2)
In Morrowind magic-casting characters were vastly underpowered, primarily due to limited magicka. A custom fireball doing about 50 damage, for an average character mid-mainquest would eat up 70% magicka, fizzle some 30% of the time, get reflected/absorbed/resisted by 60% of harder enemies, wouldn't kill anything stronger than a guar, and you'd likely miss hitting the enemy altogether. Potions of regenerating magicka were weak, heavy, expensive and making them required exotic, rare componen
Re:i hope you enjoy.. (Score:2)
Re:What's Everyone Think: (Score:2)
Re:Balance? (Score:2)
Goddamn assassin boss was getting the dialogue stuck in an endless loop when killed in Tribunal, 5 mins of tweaking, mark new plugin as active, boom, dead, works, gaming on