Happy Easter a.k.a jumping on Oblivion Bandwagon

[Shieldwolf]

Since everyone else has an Oblivion thread....

Well as an Easter gift my father (who is a rpg nut) got me Oblivion. Judging by the threads , It must be digital crack. which frightens me.
It looks like Jesus died for my sins, chocalte bunnies, peeps and so I could shut the gates of Oblivion

[Jeremy Johnsen]

Eat lots of bunnies, and don't bother shutting the gates.

[rjcc]

Seriosuly, don't.

steal, murder and generally cause havoc. much more fun than closing the gates hell.

[RichVR]

My dad got me a hooker. But then he's not real religious.

Her name was Mary though...

Hmmm...

Maybe dad is more religious than I thought.

[Aszurom]

The best part is in the beginning when the demons are beating down the castle walls and Uriel Septim yells "ATOMICS!!"

[scharmers]

The best part is in the beginning when the demons are beating down the castle walls and Uriel Septim yells "ATOMICS!!"

I want to to SQUEEEEEEEEEZE Cyrodiil, [name of character here], SQUEEEEZE!

[RichVR]

And the rats all yell, "I WILL kill you!"

[ElGuapo]

Just had a bit of fun with eXtreeeme! archery.

Stand about 20 feet (not sure how to tell you, you may have to experiment) from a fixed location. This can be a sign, a barrel, etc but it's more fun and rewarding with an NPC. Guards standing by say, a gate are the best, as they don't move. Or, you know, one of those poor umemployed beggars. Now here's the eXtreeeme! part. Shoot an arrow directly into the air. As in, look at your target, then aim staight back as far as you can go without turning. Let 'er rip. The arrow will fly high, high, high up in the air. At first I thought they were getting caught in the ceiling seam of the cell, but that's not it. They actually do go that high. Eventually they will come HURLING back toward earth and lodge themselves in your target. Move up or back a tiny bit to adjust.

Fun for a few minutes, but just another fun thing you can do in this game.

For extra point, try to catch one as it's coming down. I've done it a few times, but it's hella hard. I don't go for no "A" button, either, I grab ahold of the sucker like a Penn and Teller show.

[Papageno]

Hehe, I just had to try that after reading about it, and finally managed to do it. Needless to say, the guard I punctured was not amused. Of course, how he managed to attempt to arrest me with an arrowhead in his skull I'll never know. Click on thumbnails below:

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/5369/ouch1jb.th.jpg (http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ouch1jb.jpg)

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/3122/podguard8pu.th.jpg (http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image=podguard8pu.jpg)

[balut]

The best part is in the beginning when the demons are beating down the castle walls and Uriel Septim yells "ATOMICS!!"

And when you rejoin his group during the escape and he hugs you and yells, "You young pup! You young pup!"

[Jason McMaster]

Jesus, I didn't expect any Dune references in here

[DeepT]

I am trying to farm the gates for sigil stones first. I do not know if the gates keep respawning or not, but I am going to try and get all the stones I think Ill need before closing them.

A lot of them spawn though, I was at one spot and there were 3 gates all within visible site of each other.

So far the modifies are prettly lame for the stones. I think I like the 20% shield ones the best. The weapon ones are crap though. The use so many damm charges that even though they have like 5200 charges, they get sucked trying in just a few swings.

[instant0]

Jesus, I didn't expect any Dune references in here

But now that they are here, I am Glad.... Glad.

[Gordon Cameron]

I am trying to farm the gates for sigil stones first. I do not know if the gates keep respawning or not, but I am going to try and get all the stones I think Ill need before closing them.

A lot of them spawn though, I was at one spot and there were 3 gates all within visible site of each other.

So far the modifies are prettly lame for the stones. I think I like the 20% shield ones the best. The weapon ones are crap though. The use so many damm charges that even though they have like 5200 charges, they get sucked trying in just a few swings.

Are you quicksaving before grabbing the sigil stone, so you can keep reloading until you get one you like?

The only chargeable weapon I am comfortable with is one that has a small soultrap in addition to whatever other enchant (I usually go with fire damage). This way the weapon (used in tandem with Azura's Star) effectively keeps charging itself, though there are some mobs whose soul Azura's Star is too small to contain. I have found it to work pretty well most of the time, though. Of course, my chameleon suit now makes it all irrelevant anyway, since I can just hurl fireballs, wait for the mana to recharge, and they just stand there oblivious.

[DeepT]

I do save and reload to get good stones. However, I still want a few of them for various sets.

I am going for +20% shield for a set, and a bunch of camelion for another set (although I think if I get 100% magic immunity and maybe 80% or 100% shield, hiding ill be irrelevent). Then Ill get one for the 180 foot sense life.

Other then that I have not seen any good ones. The same few come up over and over. I was hoping to see +Magic resistance, but it seems like Ill have to make these myself. Also there are no +skill ones or +stat ones.

On the weapons, I might try a fire one or something. The one I had that sucked was absorbe 25 stamia for 30 seconds. It has like 40 uses with like 5200 charges. Its a shame you can't add an additoinal enchant like soul capture.

Overall it seems the weapon part of the sigil stones are fairly lame. I feel enchanting in Oblivion, while much simpler, is gimped compared to morrow wind. Its dumb you can't make multi enchants on armor (like npcs seem to have). The 1600 charge limit on weapons is a bit weak too, although I can deal with that.

[John Sansker]

Ehh, best Sigil stone I've gotten so far has problably been the 30% Chameleon effect when used on a piece of armor.
Though, the +9 to strength I found was nice too.
Hafta try the save and snatch routine next time I play.

[Gordon Cameron]

I feel enchanting in Oblivion, while much simpler, is gimped compared to morrow wind.

Casting constant effect enchants in Oblivion is quite doable; in Morrowind it was extremely expensive. I went through tens of thousands of gold just making simple constant effect enchants in Morrowind. In Oblivion, if you get access to the altar and Azura's star, the sky is basically the limit.

Any system that easily allows me to make a "game breaker" suit, as I have done in Oblivion, hardly seems gimped to me.

[extarbags]

Casting constant effect enchants in Oblivion is quite doable; in Morrowind it was extremely expensive. I went through tens of thousands of gold just making simple constant effect enchants in Morrowind. In Oblivion, if you get access to the altar and Azura's star, the sky is basically the limit.

If you get Azura's Star and either the spell or an item enchanted with the spell Summon Golden Saint, you can have loads of constant effects too. And the constant effect items you can make are much better, because you can use any spell effect. Bound equipment? Recover Health? Summon? All doable.

It occured to me the other day that it might be fun to play Morrowind with a build geared towards commanding an army of (well ok, like four or five) summons at all times, via constant effect items.

[Gordon Cameron]

Sure, but as I recall it was extremely expensive to enchant constant effect on items in Morrowind -- well into the tens of thousands of gold -- if you got someone to do it for you. There was some barrier preventing me from doing the best constant effect enchants by myself, though I don't remember whether I maxed my Enchant skill. Maybe it had to do with a low percent success rate the more difficult an enchant you attempted.

Oblivion does have the barrier to entry of the Mage's Guild quests, which is a drag; but if you get past that enchanting becomes a very powerful and affordable tool.

And again, even if you can stack more effects in MW's enchants, that doesn't make Oblivion's "gimped." You can make +willpower suits, +strength suits, +shield suits, and the "I win!" suit (aka +chameleon). It's extremely powerful stuff, and in at least once case can render almost all game content utterly trivial in terms of difficulty.

edit: Ok, DeepT said "gimped compared to Morrowind", not in general. I still hold however that Oblivion's enchanting can be extremely powerful, to the point of game-breaking with at least one enchant. And I found the cost issue in MW's enchants to be prohibitive, even for someone with lots of daedra loot to sell. I wish I could find the saves for my old toon in Morrowind; I know for sure there was something (success %, or some other limitation) that prevented me from making the best constant enchants without paying NPC's to do it. I don't remember whether I maxed my Enchant but it must have been pretty high.

edit edit: according to this "morrowind enchanting guide" I googled http://www.uesp.net/morrow/hints/mwenchant.shtml it does seem to be difficult or impossible to do the best constant effect enchants even with a maxed Enchanting skill, unless you pay an NPC (which is exorbitant). Maybe this is inaccurate but it jibes with my memory of the game. I guess it is possible to enchant lower level constant effects by yourself. I don't remember how the success/failure % rate scales up or down, though I suppose you can game that by just save/reloading until the enchant works.

I would have liked to be able to enchant "restore magicka" on gear in Oblivion, as it would make a pure caster more viable. But if you make a +willpower suit it has a marked effect on mana regen. Anyway, there are lots of enchants you can do in Oblivion that range from "very useful" to "game breaking."

[DeepT]

In morrowind, without cheating, you could get uber enchants with no chance of failure. Basically though alchemy and buff spells you could get like 10,000 int (tempoarily). With this amount of INT, even the most ludicrous enchants became trivial. The way you got the int was to make a potion and buff to Int. Then because your int was so much higher, you could make a new potion that was much more powerful to boost int (same with buffs). Then with that, you could make an even more powerful one, and the cycle continues.

In Oblivion, as far as I can tell, +100 int does ZERO for potion strength. Infact, +100 Alchemy does zero for potion strength. I made spells to buff both, and at least for the healing potions, with any buffs or no buffs they turn out the same. Real skill gains affect it though. I am not sure if this is a bug or not.

The things that annoy me with Oblivion's enchanting are:

1. 1600 charge limits. Found items and NPC items can have far more. Why can't you make an item with 3200 or 6400 charges?

2. Why can't you make more then ONE modifier on armor? If a Common soul can give you perminit night vision, why can't a grand soul give you night vision + something else?

3. Why are some spells not available on items? No paralyize on sword hits for example. No AoE spells on swords. No health regen (ring of rengeration anyone?), etc.. I think the idea of perminit pets would be awsome. No golden saints in oblivion so far, though.

[foogla]

Umm can't you enchant a weapon with a fire effect and increase the range? I always thought it would create an AoE ... effect.

[Timemaster Tim]

I know the game observes your behaviour during the opening to determinea guess for your class, but what are the actions that determine this? I'm still playing my first character and was labelled as an assassin. So why?

[Gordon Cameron]

Okay, when playing Morrowind I missed the "+10000 Int" trick to make it easy to enchant constant effect without paying tens of thousands of gold.

However, I maintain that enchanting in Oblivion -- looked at by itself and not in comparison with the Uberfest that was Morrowind -- can be very potent. +Strength suits, +Willpower suits, and +shield suits, for instance, all have a marked effect on one's effectiveness in combat. (In addition to +strength's obvious loot-hauling benefit.) +Light, +waterwalk, +water-breathing, +nighteye, all have their standard utility as well. +Chameleon suit may as well be labeled an "I win" suit. All of these things can be made relatively cheaply once you can trap grand souls, and with 2 rings, an amulet, and six units of armor to enchant, you can stack a number of effects if you so desire, by choice of wardrobe.

1600 charge limit on weapons is a drag, I grant, though if you put Soultrap on your weapon you can usually charge-as-you-go without too much difficulty. (It's relatively rare you will find yourself in a situation where all the enemies are humanoids or Dremora whose souls can't be taken, and even then a couple backup gems will tide you over.)

[nKoan]

I know the game observes your behaviour during the opening to determinea guess for your class, but what are the actions that determine this? I'm still playing my first character and was labelled as an assassin. So why?

Its what skills you use most, and what that matches up with most. The main skills for an assassin (I think) are Blade, Alchemy, Security, Sneek, Acrobatics, Marksman and Light Armor

[Raife]

I know the game observes your behaviour during the opening to determinea guess for your class, but what are the actions that determine this? I'm still playing my first character and was labelled as an assassin. So why?

It classified me as an Archer and I hadn't fired an arrow; every fight was melee. He guessed that I was an Archer, and I guessed that he was a moron.

Is there any way to change the custom class portrait, by the way?