For anyone interested in Oblivion

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 12:18 pm

Aligor Peretti, Dark Elf Battlemage.

I'm pretty sure you can buy houses in this game. I am in a town now and I saw on the map "House for Sale". I haven't made my around to it yet but I assume you can buy it. I saw another house in the same town that said "Abandoned House" so I checked it out. Sure enough, the doors were boarded over but I was able to break in since the lock was easy. I thought I had found my new home but when I got inside it was very dark and dirty. There were cobwebs everywhere. Maybe if I decide to become a vampire I'll live there.

It seems to me that the towns in Oblivion are bigger then they were in Morrowind. Everything about this game screams bigger and better. I'm glad to see a lot of fellow DSPers are enjoying this game. It didn't seem like too many played the Xbox version around here so I didn't think too many would pick up this game.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 12:18 pm

Gurantsu wrote:
Speaking of houses, I assume you can eventually get one in this game also, but has anyone heard confirmation of that?

Anyway, what race and class are we? My guy is named Gurantsu (surprise there!), and is a Redguard Archer.

You can definitely buy houses, but I have no idea how to yet. I did find one for sale in one town, Skingrad maybe? You can also invest in stores, apparently. At least there is such a column in the stats page.

My first guy is Radagast, a Breton Witchhunter, born under the sign of The Ritual.

I never used to do multiple characters in these games until EQOA, where of course I made a ton, leveling up further with about 3 alts. With KOTOR, and more KOTOR2, I did end up making lots of guys. Usually I find about a third of the way through, it is good for me to go back and start a new guy or two, and then bounce around the characters. The second or thrid time through is often better than the first in some areas. It was fun to have a good guy and a bad guy in KOTOR2. With this game, with so many races and classes and so on (and very meaningful differences among them all), not to mention the wide range of behavior possible, I think I will try a few guys. Many may not make it far past the sewers, but we'll see. I just can't ever be as mean as I need to in these games to really go bad and kill little old ladies for their knitting, but there is still plenty of gray area in this game.

I don't normally go for the 'collectors edition' versions, but since I was using the 2 for 1 deal, there was no reason not to. It's not bad; comes with a fold-out map, kind of handy, and a little book some 100 or so pages long, called "A Pocket Guide to the Empire, and its Environs, Being a Descrition of the Lands and the Chief Features of their Histories." So, a lot of backstory, some nuggets that could be helpful, but overall a nice addition to the 'lore' side of things. I also got a cheap looking coin. And a DVD of bonus material, problably just a bunch of 'making of' videos, we'll see.

HipE · Post by **HipE** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:06 pm

So you can get the $70 collector's edition in the 2 for 1 deal? I was going to buy the game from compusa online, but it is sold out already. However, if I could trade in Madden and NBA 2K6 for the collector's edition, that would be a pretty good deal too.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:16 pm

HipE wrote:So you can get the $70 collector's edition in the 2 for 1 deal? I was going to buy the game from compusa online, but it is sold out already. However, if I could trade in Madden and NBA 2K6 for the collector's edition, that would be a pretty good deal too.

Yep, at least my store didn't have an issue with it. They actually suggested it last week when I preordered. They told me the deal is 2 for 1 with no restrictions, so it was a no-brainer. Big box though, like an extended version LOTR instalment, that kind of fold out box in the sleeve.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:41 pm

HipE wrote:So you can get the $70 collector's edition in the 2 for 1 deal? I was going to buy the game from compusa online, but it is sold out already. However, if I could trade in Madden and NBA 2K6 for the collector's edition, that would be a pretty good deal too.

Thats what i did, no problems at my yocal EB

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:03 am

Perhaps some of you experienced RPG gamers can answer this question for me. Why is it that when I try and take out a civilian with a bow and arrow, I can't kill them? I put in a good ten arrows in this woman working the desk at an inn, and she was still able to run and get the guard. I'm assuming my combat is not up to par yet?

Also, if you go to jail how long do you have to wait to be released? I was sitting in the cell for a good 3-4 minutes until I decided to quit the session.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:54 am

sportdan30 wrote:Perhaps some of you experienced RPG gamers can answer this question for me. Why is it that when I try and take out a civilian with a bow and arrow, I can't kill them? I put in a good ten arrows in this woman working the desk at an inn, and she was still able to run and get the guard. I'm assuming my combat is not up to par yet?

Also, if you go to jail how long do you have to wait to be released? I was sitting in the cell for a good 3-4 minutes until I decided to quit the session.

I would assume that they make it hard for a low-level character to kill merchants or inn keepers because that would kind of ruin the experience if you could do that too early. I'm not entirely sure though.

As far as jail sentences are concerned, you have to go to sleep in the bed and when you wake up your sentence is up.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:39 am

Thanks Scoop. So, here's my problem. I have no gold to buy anything! Do I steal and most likely get caught or do I head back down to the dungeons and seek out gold there?

By the way, I'm in some market place where a couple of the merchants have asked that I spy on another merchant who seems to be undercutting everyone on price. I think the establishment is "Thorian" or something like that. Has anyone done that quest? I suppose I'll try it as there is gold to be had if I succeed.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:52 am

sportdan30 wrote:Thanks Scoop. So, here's my problem. I have no gold to buy anything! Do I steal and most likely get caught or do I head back down to the dungeons and seek out gold there?

I found some gold exploring an underground area at one of the forts. I did some graverobbing and dug up something I wasn't expecting

It was really f'n cool! Just have your magic ready because those arrows aren't going to do much good

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:57 am

sportdan30 wrote:Thanks Scoop. So, here's my problem. I have no gold to buy anything! Do I steal and most likely get caught or do I head back down to the dungeons and seek out gold there?

By the way, I'm in some market place where a couple of the merchants have asked that I spy on another merchant who seems to be undercutting everyone on price. I think the establishment is "Thorian" or something like that. Has anyone done that quest? I suppose I'll try it as there is gold to be had if I succeed.

Gold can be obtained in many, many ways. One is by completing quests. Often, though not always, you will be rewarded with some cash when you complete quests.

Another way is loot. When you kill baddies or animals, loot the body. Weapons, armor, etc. can be sold for gold to merchants, if they're not better than what you're using in which case you can use the new stuff and sell off your old, worse stuf. Sometimes bodies will have gold on them. Animals will have pelts that can be sold.

Then, there are chests and things along the way on quests and in dungeons, etc. They will have useful stuff in them, stuff you can sell maybe, perhaps even gold.

If you are sneaky, you can pick peoples' pockets for gold. In sneak mode, you should get that icon to pop up when you are close to someone with pockets to be picked.

I wouldn't know what to do in jail, but this game has a 'wait' function. If you hit the back button, you will get a pop-up window for 'wait time' and you can set it by the hour. Or you can also sleep for a set number of hours. This is likely the way to pass the time in jail - just zip ahead with 'wait' or sleeping!

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:00 pm

Leebo33 wrote:
sportdan30 wrote:Thanks Scoop. So, here's my problem. I have no gold to buy anything! Do I steal and most likely get caught or do I head back down to the dungeons and seek out gold there?
I found some gold exploring an underground area at one of the forts. I did some graverobbing and dug up something I wasn't expecting It was really f'n cool! Just have your magic ready because those arrows aren't going to do much good

At this point, the bow and arrow are my least effective form of combat.

When bartering, is it better to start off with the power of persausion first or byass persuasion altogether? I really wonder to what effect persuasion has in this game. It seems kind of worthless at least so far.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:03 pm

Also, as to your not being able to kill the civilian (

), it's all about hit-points and damage. I don't know how well versed you are in RPGs in general, but going back to the pencil and paper days, every character has a certain number of hit points (you do to, likely 60 or 80 at level 1 depending). I'd bet most of those civilians are level 1 or 2, but I don't know. Now, you're weapons and spells will do a certain amount of damage, depending on the weapon itself (you can see the damage rating of the weapon) and your attributes (strength for melee weapons, agility for range weapons, surely some other attributes are mixed in as well). It's likely that at level 1 you can only do some 4 or 5 hit points worth of damage with one arrow. If you were a level 10 or something, maybe you could to 50 (just guessing, for argument's sake), so you could kill the person with one arrow. Also, I don't know if head shots matter in this game (they may).

Anyway, that's why she was able to get away. You were more the bothersome schoolkid shooting spitballs than the deadly psychopath sniper that you seem to want to be (again,

).

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:05 pm

Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't have a whole lot of time to play last night, and grew frusturated because I had no gold and also my skills are still rather weak in terms of combat.

Here's a question I've been curious about. This goes back to the second meeting you have with the Emperor. As you're following him and the guards, you get a chance to pick their pockets. Was anyone bold enough to try and pick the Emperor's pockets? I thought about it, but figured the consequences would be too great.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:07 pm

sportdan30 wrote: When bartering, is it better to start off with the power of persausion first or byass persuasion altogether? I really wonder to what effect persuasion has in this game. It seems kind of worthless at least so far.

Persuasion can affect what someone tells you, a high number may open up more dialog options or entirely new subjects of conversation with certain NPCs. Also, I'm willing to bet there is later on a need to get folks to journey and fight with you.

But, the first area I've found where persuasion is useful, is indeed bartering. You'll notice in the haggle pop up screen, that the persuasion number is shown (or whatever they call it). This will directly affect how high you can crank that haggle meter, as can your mercantile ratings etc. as well. But, I've found if you can do some persuasion work on a shop keeper, and get that number up from, say the 30s into the 50s, it can make a difference on haggling.

Sometimes I like to do persuasion on random people for no reason, just to practice, and also because it will boost that rating if you do it more often.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:27 pm

So much to learn and remember, but this is a great start. Thanks Zeppo! I never thought to take in to consideration that the normal every day civilians have different skill levels. I suppose I can plead a bit of ignorance as this is really my first real experience with RPGs.

Do civilians carry a lot of gold or have much stored in their homes? The two homes I entered were fairly barren except for food, tools, etc. One guy was sleeping, and I was able to pick to my hearts content.

So, I guess I'll start out by trying to complete some side quests and maybe head down to the dungeons to seek out treasure and increase my combat skills.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:32 pm

Now I'm no expert Dan, but seems to me unless your a marksman and can place your shots well, I wouldn't expect someone to go down from a few arrows. (I wouldn't expect someone to run awau with 10 arrows sticking in them either lol). But you really have to hit a vital spot with an arrow to kill someone. Head, throat etc.

someone told me as a markmen you can zoom in with the bow, not having that skill i don't know if it is true.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:45 pm

Danimal wrote:Now I'm no expert Dan, but seems to me unless your a marksman and can place your shots well, I wouldn't expect someone to go down from a few arrows. (I wouldn't expect someone to run awau with 10 arrows sticking in them either lol). But you really have to hit a vital spot with an arrow to kill someone. Head, throat etc.

someone told me as a markmen you can zoom in with the bow, not having that skill i don't know if it is true.

Are you saying vital areas are important to hit. If so, this game just keeps getting better and better. Usually in games you can hit somebody twice in the big toe and they go down.

This game is truly impressive.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:49 pm

I ran into some imps in the mountains last night. I shot one with two arrows and he flew around for a while with two arrows sticking out of his little belly before I hurled some fire at him.

This game is utterly amazing.

peabody · Post by **peabody** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:22 pm

You guys should go into marketing for selling X-Box systems. I had been eye-balling this title for awhile now. But I keep holding off buying the 360 because I didn't see any games that I really wanted. But after reading all these glowing comments I don't think I can resist the urge any longer. I played morrowind on the X-Box and this sounds like it's far superior to it. I must have this game. Now I've got to go find a 360.

marino · Post by **marino** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:25 pm

Bestbuy.com has them in stock.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:57 pm

It's been difficult for me to get a handle on what this new generation of systems' trademark is going to be, but I it's clear to me that Immersion-with-a-capital-I is the sum all these different technical parts are amounting to. Like last night, when I spent the better part of an hour just walking up a mountain, watching the stars come out and noticing that this world had a milky way, spread out above in high definition. Or killing a wolf an watching it roll down a flower-covered hillside, limp. Marrying this kind of open gameplay with these kinds of visuals and a halfway decent physics system is... crack, plain and simple.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:01 pm

JRod wrote:
Danimal wrote:Now I'm no expert Dan, but seems to me unless your a marksman and can place your shots well, I wouldn't expect someone to go down from a few arrows. (I wouldn't expect someone to run awau with 10 arrows sticking in them either lol). But you really have to hit a vital spot with an arrow to kill someone. Head, throat etc.

someone told me as a markmen you can zoom in with the bow, not having that skill i don't know if it is true.
Are you saying vital areas are important to hit. If so, this game just keeps getting better and better. Usually in games you can hit somebody twice in the big toe and they go down.

This game is truly impressive.

Whoa slow down there ...

I'm saying that in Real Life if you got struck by an arrow in the arm you would probably live. I also heard, again i don't play a marksman, that if you play this class you can zoom in when you pull back the bow and aim your shots better. I've heard people say they shot someone in the head and he went down.

Someone playing a marksman can confirm all this, i am just passing on what I've heard.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:12 pm

Lets not forget that if you fire from sneak mode, you will get a huge bonus. I came upon a cave full of pickpockets last night, and was able to take down their orc guard with only one shot. Granted my class is archer, but stealth plays a big part in using a bow, and attacks in general. Also, head on out and hunt to get your skill up. There are also archery targets set up in some towns that you can use also.

Thats one of the things I like about this game; your character grows based on what skills he uses. If you want to get good at something, you need to practice it.

peabody · Post by **peabody** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:19 pm

marino wrote:Bestbuy.com has them in stock.

Purchased. Thank You. I had looked there the other day and thought they didn't have any. There is just no in store pick-up. Shipped deliveries are fine. I knew I was going to beak down sometime and buy it. This game just made it sooner than later.

I actually consulted with the wife before the purchase considering we have a new baby this year we won't have a lot of disposable income. She said it was cool as long as I don't neglect her and the baby.

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:33 pm

peabody wrote:
marino wrote:Bestbuy.com has them in stock.
Purchased. Thank You. I had looked there the other day and thought they didn't have any. There is just no in store pick-up. Shipped deliveries are fine. I knew I was going to beak down sometime and buy it. This game just made it sooner than later.

I actually consulted with the wife before the purchase considering we have a new baby this year we won't have a lot of disposable income. She said it was cool as long as I don't neglect her and the baby.

Saved, for my wife to read...LOL...thanks!