Hey guys. Before I get too carried away with the usual scope of my blogging, I'd like to throw something out there. On Friday I had to find accommodation for my next year at University. Initially I was going to be living with five friends in a house, but that plan kind of went out the window when my girlfriend and I were betrayed by our group of friends at the last minute and basically told to find a place for ourselves. So we did. It's not amazing; it's very small and quite expensive for what it is. But it's very well looked after, ideal for our needs and the landlord seems like a stand-up guy. Perhaps most importantly, though, it's less than five minutes away from my favourite pub. Want to know something even better? The guys who kicked us out of the group still have yet to find somewhere to live. Yeah, karma's a wonderful thing. Here are some pictures of the place, for those of you who like that sort of thing.

Gallery

Now, on to the meat of the blog!

Hey guys. Before I get too carried away with the usual scope of my blogging, I'd like to throw something out there. On Friday I had to find accommodation for my next year at University. Initially I was going to be living with five friends in a house, but that plan kind of went out the window when my girlfriend and I were betrayed by our group of friends at the last minute and basically told to find a place for ourselves. So we did. It's not amazing; it's very small and quite expensive for what it is. But it's very well looked after, ideal for our needs and the landlord seems like a stand-up guy. Perhaps most importantly, though, it's less than five minutes away from my favourite pub. Want to know something even better? The guys who kicked us out of the group still have yet to find somewhere to live. Yeah, karma's a wonderful thing. Here are some pictures of the place, for those of you who like that sort of thing.

Gallery

Now, on to the meat of the blog!

oblivion sucked. Once you saw through the veils it was so very shoddy

"oblivion sucked. Once you saw through the veils it was so very shoddy"

Does that screenshot from Oblivion have some sort of visual mod involved? The grass looks different and the colors are a little more vibrant, it seems.

"oblivion sucked. Once you saw through the veils it was so very shoddy"

"Does that screenshot from Oblivion have some sort of visual mod involved? The grass looks different and the colors are a little more vibrant, it seems."

Oh man, you're making me want to get into Oblivion again. Good blog post, and I hope you enjoy Morrowind as much as you do Oblivion, because it is a fantastic game.

I couldn't get into Oblivion. I liked Fallout 3 quite a bit though. I think Bethesda is a pretty talented bunch, but lost sight of the prize with Oblivion.

Bethesda does have a special some somethin' going on.  Thinking back, it was an X-play (or whatever it was known as at the time) review of Morrowind that convinced me to buy my first Bethesda game.  I've been hooked ever since.

They have a good core vision, but they need better writers, more playtesters, and a better lead animator(THIS, ESPECIALLY).
Overall, they make great games with a lack of polish.

Fallout 3 was a great game with a horrid ending. I played Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on my PC and put in over 300 hours. I consider it one of my favorites of all time. I thought about picking it up for my Xbox 360 to get a different perspective on how the game plays, but I don't know if I want to go back again.

I agree entirely, danK. Anyone who as ever heard my ramblings knows that I'm one of Bethesda's biggest fans, and I'm glad to see that others appreciate their work as well. I have to start gaming again, and I'm wondering what to get into. Maybe it's that time to jump into Morrowind, Oblivion, or Fallout 3.

Damn good read, danK. If you keep that up, and allow yourself to be inspired by the passions of others, you may very well end up where it is you want to be in life. Have fun, duder!

Update: Dan, I'm going to start up Oblivion GOTY right now! :D

For a flat, there are a lot of corners and edges.  =  P

I loved Oblivion, not so much Fallout 3, maybe it` s because I bought the PS3 version which they obviously didn`t give two shits about.

Meh, I wouldn't say they care, their games feel like they were factory produced to me. As if they have an army of content creators slaving away with no connection to one another, just trying to meet their specific requirements. This resolution for the texture, this polycount for the house, etc, etc, which is probably why world building is so unoptimised, like they create every aspect with the maximum resources and then mix and match them at will with little consideration. Oblivion was a bitch to run at the time of release, heck even Morrowind was the same and some of its environments are almost Oblivion quality, though they had even worse character modellers and animators for that (they don't seem to have improved too much either, heh).

Both Oblivion and Fallout 3, considering they're RPGs, lack a good storyline (seriously the main plot in both is wtf horrible), with only a few quest lines redeeming the rest of the package. For example, the dark brotherhood quests in Oblivion or smaller creative (if ultimately still shallow) quests like the missing painter or some Vampire related plot lines (both in Oblivion and Fallout 3 this). The rest feels so cookie cutter and not creative in the least. They also manage to screw up character progression or other core gameplay aspects like they were put together with little thought.

Oblivion in particular had major flaws with the levelling, looting, and pretty much everything related to character progress, as well as the feeling that the world had a handful of different landmarks remixed to infinity. Dungeons, oblivion gates, caves, etc, most with the same level dependant loot making it a BAD thing to do quests early on, and having so few unique items whatsoever.

Fallout 3 fixed some of that by having the random loot useful for the repairs of the gear you use, as well as more unique locations that made it more fun to explore, just to see what the next vault, or whatever, is going to be like. Not hugely different, but some had clever twists. I had the most fun in Fallout 3 away from stupid NPCs just exploring remote desolate areas for their secrets and the odd decent quest (ie violin lady).

It seems both of the games would be far better if they had one decent writer for every 10 modellers and texture artists. That said, the sheer size alone made me play Oblivion quite a bit, in fact I've just gone back to it trying out a few different mods and what not (though I never bought the expansion, and don't intend to). But I still consider it more like  a shallow medieval fantasy GTA than a deep RPG others seem to love it for. It's just fun to level up a little, get some of the good gear, stalk people and try to steal their gear when they go to sleep or other things like this, that army of content creators certainly has its benefits considering almost every NPC has day and night schedules and something of interest in their house, at least until you get tired of doing the same things over and over and looting the same things over and over and then having nothing to buy with all your accumulated wealth.

PS: That screenshot ppl wondered about might be using Natural Environments mod which makes the 4 seasons more distinct and adds more weather types, as well as changes the look of the vegetation. That looks like Summer with its more vibrant colors. The mod also adds things like insects and birds that add atmosphere, and are even season dependant (no bugs in winter etc) themselves, and rainbows after rain. It also changed the water. Anyway, I'm not sure as I just read of it while looking for more meaningful mods that wouldn't cause conflicts (unofficial patches etc), I didn't actually use it.

Update2!: Ehhh, not getting into Oblivion. I ran into an....extenuating circumstance. I can't play a game like Oblivion, what with my w0rkz and so on.  Maybe another day...


P.S.

Al3xand3r, go play with kirby or enter a Ray Liotta look-alike contest. Video game commentary/criticism isn't working out for you.

The screenshot in question has nothing to do with a mod, its when the season turns to fall, all the trees and grass change colors just like they do in real life. Bigger bomb you have my sympathy for not being able to play it more but I understand, once this game gets its hooks in yah its hard to put down, and you may begin to neglect other things in your life....  Oblivion should be nominated for best game of all time in my book. I've played it for a total of almost 300+ hours, and evertime I play I find something new be it a side quest or dungeon, and being able to create your own class only adds to the possibilities. Out of all my playthroughs I have no complete map of cyrodil. They are all only partial, to find let alone explore every dungeon in this game I believe would take someone most of their adult lives. Soon i intend on getting the oblivion symbol tatooed on my left leg. Fanatic, maybe, but as i said, apart from The Legend of Zelda OoT, this to me is the best game ever made, and I would like to personally shake the hands of the creators and give them a tip of the hat for all their hard work.

P.S I've heard that a new elder scrolls may be on its way in 2010, and it is to include a random dungeon generator. HOORAY! I cant wait, and if anyone has any further news please let me know asap. thanks, and game on.