3/22/06 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC, X360)

[Riggswolfe]

Be careful.  Because the SK puts your security up, some are finding that skill increases are now really, really slow for security.

Well my security is a 10 or 15. Anytime I've needed a lock in the past I've just used alteration. Knowing about the SK now I've already decided security will not be a major skill on my soon to come stealth/assassin character.

[MrHat]

About 8 hours in and I'm having an identity crisis.  I want to reroll, but I love my stealthy character, but I'd love to try a shadow knight or paladin or something.

[Murgos]

About 8 hours in and I'm having an identity crisis.  I want to reroll, but I love my stealthy character, but I'd love to try a shadow knight or paladin or something.

Start wearing heavy armor and casting spells.  You'll get the tar beat out of you for a while as your skills catch up but it will go faster than you think.

[Yegolev]

Remind me what "SK" is?

I have not tried enchantment yet, I am concentrating on potions.  I concur about agility, my guy has ~81 natural and as a result Fatigue is pretty healthy.  Not consuming Fatigue while holding a bow ready helps a lot there.

I don't know that I want to start a separate thread for this, so ***spoiler warning***.






I was working on Paranoia! last night.  Guy in Skingrad named Glathir starts it, you can't miss him.  I decided to do the obvious thing, which seems counter to the official forum's brain trust's obvious thing: I pumped Glathir full of lies and got him all worked up and was given a list of people to kill.  The quest-related question is: is anyone else doing it this way?  The general question is: what is up with these psychic guards?  I kill someone outside town and no one else sees me (as far as I am aware), yet when I head back to Skingrad the 5-O are all over me.  The first fine was 40, no big deal.  Seems light for a cold-blooded murder, but whatevs, as Voodoolily says.  The second fine was 1040, so I am looking at some jail time.  Anyway, what do we know about murder detection?  Are the guards psychic or is there someone I don't notice that sees me lob a poison arrow into my victim?

[Signe]

You should really make a spoiler thread or sommat.

Here, read THIS ... it's interesting.

[NiX]

Go to my link for mods. There's one that lowers the guards range for hearing crimes. Especially murders. It seems bethsoft made the shout radius a tad too big.

[Yegolev]

If a mod wants to split this into a spoiler thread, fine with me.  As if you need my permission.

I'd rather not mod like that (on the first run; this game is much more solid than TESIII), I'll just do my time in jail.  How bad could the skill loss be?  These people are, after all, working in the vineyards right outside Skingrad's west gate; to not have the crime reported would seem ludicruous.  The first guy, I murdered in his bedroom so I figured the noise reached the street and so I was conveniently pinched right after he sloughed his mortal coil.  Fine, at least I didn't have to resist arrest.  However, it would be nice if I could convince them to take a nice long walk.  Or set a trap for them.  Or maybe getting 100% camo.  Hmm....

I don't think people notice dead bodies.  If they do, they do a great job pretending they don't see them.

[Tebonas]

Its almost eery how much that leveling mod improved my fun in Oblivion. I will some day spare some Nix hounds from certain death in your honor.

[Rasix]

If a mod wants to split this into a spoiler thread, fine with me.  As if you need my permission.

I think once a thread hits page 10 about a game you're assured that it may contain some minor spoilers.  Nothing in here so far that I've seen has been that bad. 

You know, you can always make another thread if you specifically want to talk about major plot points. 

Someone could even make a thread in the Game Related Downloads subforum for listing good Morrowind mods and where to obtain them.  Or you could make it somewhere else and I could sticky it.  Or whatever.

 

[Sky]

I wanted to turn in Glathir for being a wonky paranoid, but he never did anything I could report before I he attacked me and died on the end of my katana. Sorry, Glathir.

[Signe]

I think once a thread hits page 10 about a game you're assured that it may contain some minor spoilers.  Nothing in here so far that I've seen has been that bad. 

You know, you can always make another thread if you specifically want to talk about major plot points. 

Someone could even make a thread in the Game Related Downloads subforum for listing good Morrowind mods and where to obtain them.  Or you could make it somewhere else and I could sticky it.  Or whatever.

 

You're drunk already, aren't you? 

[Rasix]

I wanted to turn in Glathir for being a wonky paranoid, but he never did anything I could report before I he attacked me and died on the end of my katana. Sorry, Glathir.

I left that quest thinking I could have done something different or maybe there was really a plot but I just wasn't observant enough.  Crazy bastard attacked me and was hitting like a girl so I decided to throw on some heavy armor and work up my block.  Fucking guards killed him.

[Rasix]

You're drunk already, aren't you? 

Being too lazy to quote comes off as drunk, eh?  Hmmm.

[Sky]

The first time he attacked me, I just threw up my shield, too. I thought maybe he would stop or something, finally I just punched him and he died. I reloaded the game to try and report him to the guard captain, but no dice. Nice quest, but I think there should have been more there (for do-gooders, sounds like there is meat for the nastier folks).

Same thing happened up in...Brava? I forget the name of the town, just below the mountain where the Blades HQ is. Woman wants to entice me into some nefarious plot with some bloke she got locked up, but as a do-gooder, it puts the quest on hold. Maybe some resolution down the line, but it was a bit unsatisfying to not have some option to report her...maybe if I find where the bloke is locked up....got distracted :)

[Murgos]

...maybe if I find where the bloke is locked up....got distracted :)

Yeah, I'm constantly loosing track of what I was doing, "Hey lets pop into that dungeon real quick and see if there is any phat lewts." or "Well, sir I am in the middle of something, whats that you say?  Thieves?  Well I guess I can spare a minute to check into it for you."

[Yegolev]

The first time he attacked me, I just threw up my shield, too. I thought maybe he would stop or something, finally I just punched him and he died. I reloaded the game to try and report him to the guard captain, but no dice. Nice quest, but I think there should have been more there (for do-gooders, sounds like there is meat for the nastier folks).

If I might offer my take on Paranoia! with the spoiler warning ... it seems to me much more fleshed out for bad guys.





I never told Glathir the truth, I just told him what he wanted to hear so he would give me some money.  Hiring me as a hitman was bonus, really.  After my first sekrit meeting with him, I got a "Glathir" dialog option with everyone in town.  I didn't pick it, thinking I'd rather avoid drawing attention to myself; turns out that instinct was right.  Well after I tailed the three people (actually I didn't look for the third, I just waited 24 hours and lied to Glathir again) and got the hit list, I clicked on "Glathir" and was basically just told that he was a nutcase.  Some unknown time later I was about to take a nap in Two Sisters when the Dion, the guard captain I think, barges into my room and tells me he has heard that I was asking about Glathir, and if I knew what was good for me I'd not only stay away from him but I'd also report anything he asked me to do.  Dion then left the way he came.  First off, that was awesome.  Second, I played dumb; I am playing an assassin, not a merc.  Anyway, the Glathir option is still in dialogs, and during a stay in the Skingrad jail I decided to chat up the guard.  I mentioned Glathir and he was very interested in anything I had to say about that kook.  I just said "nevermind", but I assume I could have reported him at that time, perhaps because I had the hitlist in his handwriting.

I am not going to rat-out the fruitloop, I am going to milk him for all of his cash even if I have to do jail time.  Daddy needs a house.  Maybe then I can rat him out and loot him after the guards kill him.

[Furiously]

I did the bloated float last night... I loved being able to say, "I'm just a cook."

[Sauced]

Fun experience last night - I was doing the Mage quest in Leyawiin, that leads you to Fort Brotherhood.  At level 11 now, and I'm getting to see my first "NPC Gear Upgrade" first hand, and at first it is a little odd to see Brigands and Marauders running around in Drawven plate. 

Of course, at 50 STR, there's no way I can carry all that loot out of there, so I finish the quest, head back to town and unload.  I rest up to level, then head back to the Fort to finish cleaning up.  Of course, by now a new band of thieves have moved in.  I figure I'll just sneak past them and get the original loot, but there's one problem.  All of the dead bandits are now naked, and the new group are wearing the dwarven armor.

[WayAbvPar]

I did the bloated float last night... I loved being able to say, "I'm just a cook."

[Yegolev]

All of the dead bandits are now naked, and the new group are wearing the dwarven armor.

I was attacked by a bandit on a highway.  An imperial guard was right behind me so I let him take care of things, intending to clean up after him... but after the bandit was dead, the imperial knelt down and looted him.

[Miasma]

I told Galthir that the third suspects were spying on him just to see what would happen, then I turned the kill list over to a guard who proceeded to confront and kill him.  Then I looted his house key and found all those post-it notes on his desk containing his mad thoughts, including ones referring to me.

I love the quests, you never quite know how they will turn out.  Galthir really was just a nut, there was no elaborate scheme, not every quest winds up with you saving the day.

I was practising my lockpicking in the city and some woman came up and asked me to meet her husband.  I do so and now I'm in with these very unsuccessful vampire hunters.  Of course the leader doesn't go out during the day and only wants to meet at night...  Is he the real vampire, are they just bungling posers, or is the guy he wants me to kill the real vampire?  Who knows (and no please don't tell me!).

[Yoru]

I did what Miasma did with Glarthir; fed him a bunch of lies to part a fool from his money, then turned around once he'd dried up and gave the hit-list to the guard captain. I got the guard captain chasing after me since, after I got tired of spending hours watching farmers hoe the fields, I went around and asked each of the targets what they thought of nut-boy.

At which point the good Cap'n waxed the elf something fierce.

I've been trying to do the daedric shrine quests (did Malaclath and Nocturnal yesterday), but I'm stumped on one, sort of. I forget the exact name; it's nearby Bruma, to the southeast. I have to basically turn myself ugly (or 'make myself less attractive' than I already am at 30 personality).. I was going to go hit up mages until I found a drain-personality spell and then use the mages' guild spellmaker to make an uglify-self spell. Is there an easier way to do that?

Also, I've realized that NPCs actually have breath timers. I was in a system of caves with a bunch of really hard bandits (spellcasters, lots of 'em) and a long underwater tunnel off at the side of the cave. I chucked on all the protection I could, slipped on my waterbreathing ring (Jewel of the Rumare or summat) and swam down the tunnel. The NPCs proceeded to follow me. And one by one, they drowned. Easy lewts. :)

[Yegolev]

I have to basically turn myself ugly (or 'make myself less attractive' than I already am at 30 personality).. I was going to go hit up mages until I found a drain-personality spell and then use the mages' guild spellmaker to make an uglify-self spell. Is there an easier way to do that?

I don't know if it is easier for you, but you can make potions to do this and stack four of them on yourself.
Edit: If you make a potion with all negative effects, it is a poison and I don't know that you can actually apply it to yourself; the default click is to apply to a weapon.  You will have to make it with at least one positive effect to drink it, I believe.

Also, I've realized that NPCs actually have breath timers.

Watch out for argonians. ;-)

[Toast]

I'm also a huge fan of the books scattered throughout the game. Some of them are pretty dry historical stuff, but others are incredible additions to the lore.

I love the "adventure journal" type stories.

I've never read the quest text in other games, but I found myself checking bookshelves for new titles. The skillups are a nice bonus.

[Yegolev]

The thing I think is neat is that the books cross games.  I thought they might un-censor The Real Barenziah, but they seem comfortable with their T rating.  The Daggerfall version

[Riggswolfe]

I've been trying to do the daedric shrine quests (did Malaclath and Nocturnal yesterday), but I'm stumped on one, sort of. I forget the exact name; it's nearby Bruma, to the southeast. I have to basically turn myself ugly (or 'make myself less attractive' than I already am at 30 personality).. I was going to go hit up mages until I found a drain-personality spell and then use the mages' guild spellmaker to make an uglify-self spell. Is there an easier way to do that?

Drink cheap wine. It drains I think 10 personality each time you drink one. You only have to get under 20 for it to work.

[Lantyssa]

Riggs beat me to it.  Drunks are not attractive.

[Yegolev]

http://www.deadbrain.co.uk/news/article_2004_12_18_2337.php

[Yoru]

I've been trying to do the daedric shrine quests (did Malaclath and Nocturnal yesterday), but I'm stumped on one, sort of. I forget the exact name; it's nearby Bruma, to the southeast. I have to basically turn myself ugly (or 'make myself less attractive' than I already am at 30 personality).. I was going to go hit up mages until I found a drain-personality spell and then use the mages' guild spellmaker to make an uglify-self spell. Is there an easier way to do that?

Drink cheap wine. It drains I think 10 personality each time you drink one. You only have to get under 20 for it to work.

Awesome. Time to pop open a bottle of digital Wild Turkey. I wonder if I can find a paper bag object to drink it out of.

[Ironwood]

This game would appear to grow on you.

Hmmm.

I am in a similar 'do I reroll' dilemma.  I really want to, since most of my majors are already taken (with the Skeleton Key, security is totally, totally, totally pointless) and dealt with and I'm finding it REAL hard to level the magery the way I'd like.

Ah well.

[Tebonas]

It seems getting the skeleton key breaks the Balor Leveling mod. After that (at least on my system) you level after each skill increase. The workaround that worked for me was to disable the mod before getting the key and reenabling it afterwards.

[Reg]

Hmm, I'm guessing that Security is one of your major skills because I haven't had that problem.

[Tebonas]

No, its a minor skill. I even recreated that bug after realizing I have an Int score of 149 and am 12 levels higher than an hour ago.  Because doubling your magicka might be fun but breaks the game for me I had to go back to an old game.  Maybe that bug was introduced in 1.1b? Don't really know, first time I got the key.

[Ironwood]

Getting Skeleton Key breaks the game, modded or not.

:(

[Lemming]

I'd rather not mod like that (on the first run; this game is much more solid than TESIII), I'll just do my time in jail.

After the first time a guard teleported on me while I was stealing stuff from the basement of an empty house, I grabbed the no more psychic guards mod.  It is much more realistic, IMO.  Guards can still hear people shout for help if they are close enough to the house, they just don't realize that you're stealing an apple from a barrel 20 miles outside of town.