Oblivion confirmed for PS3

[Wrestlevania]

It'll be a launch title and - unsurprisingly - feature some exclusive content. 1UP has the details (found via Slashdot Games).

I agree with one of the comments on SlashDot; Bethesda have all the assets already so, what with the pretty miserable PS3 launch line up as it stands, converting Oblivion is a no-brainer and stands to make them a truck load of extra cash. Good for Bethesda, sez I.

Perhaps then they'll get started on Terminator: Future Shock DS...

[General Fuzzy McBitty]

I upgraded my PC to play Oblivion... it was entertaining for a while, until I'd completed almost all of the side quests, but barely any of the main mission.

[Wrestlevania]

I'll be honest and say that I put about 12 hours worth of play into the game, then had a catastrophic "...but why?" moment and never went back. I found Morrowind to be an absolute chore to play and couldn't see this being any better.

Evidently we're in the minority here though, or so the wankosphere would have you believe at least. I mean come on -- how many people can honestly say they've ploughed through all supposed 80 hours worth of gameplay here? The mind boggles.

[David]

I got a lot more play out of Morrowind. For some reason, I was more compelled to do the main quest in Oblivion, and not much else. After beating that, I really didn't feel like taking orders from these characters. Perhaps Bethesda was able to convey more with text than they were with high-tech AI and voice-acted shenanegans.

[Roderick]

I got at least 150 hours of play out of Morrowind and I can see myself returning there any day for more.

I got a rough 15 hours of play out of Oblivion after finishing the main quest, then never looked at it again.

[General Fuzzy McBitty]

I'll be honest and say that I put about 12 hours worth of play into the game, then had a catastrophic "...but why?" moment and never went back. I found Morrowind to be an absolute chore to play and couldn't see this being any better.

Evidently we're in the minority here though, or so the wankosphere would have you believe at least. I mean come on -- how many people can honestly say they've ploughed through all supposed 80 hours worth of gameplay here? The mind boggles.

I did it over the course of several months. The problem with the game is that it lets you do too much with one character, killing the replay value, while doing nothing to your characters choice to join groups that do "evil" things.

[elmuerte]

the oblivion gates are a bitch, the forced me to complete the main quest, after that I wasn't very interested in completing other side quests.

[loonyboi]

I did it over the course of several months. The problem with the game is that it lets you do too much with one character, killing the replay value, while doing nothing to your characters choice to join groups that do "evil" things.

It depends on how evil you get.

I have two characters, one I used to do the thieves guild/dark brotherhood, and one I used for everything else.

The DB character has a super-high infamous rating.

I got about 120 hours out of Oblivion across both characters.

I've gotten about three or four times that out of Morrowind. But then that includes both expansion packs and playing it on both PC and Xbox (to completion!). Also Morrowind was a slower game in general.

Morrowind is probably my favorite RPG of all-time, so yeah, I don't think Oblivion is as good. But it is awesome. I couldn't have asked for a better next-gen sequel to Morrowind.

[General Fuzzy McBitty]

I did Fighter's Guild, Wizards Guild, Dark Brotherhood, thieves guild, vampireism... all sorts of stuff... but I still have positive modifiers most of the time.

Every now and then someone will yell MURDERER!... but usually they'll follow it with, "hello!"

Also, is everyone aware that once you find the cure for vampireism for the Count of Skingrad, he gives you the reward whenever you ask for it? I got several million gold this way.

[SpiderMonkey]

I mean come on -- how many people can honestly say they've ploughed through all supposed 80 hours worth of gameplay here? The mind boggles.

We could also have a poll of how many people got their 150 hours out of GTA:SA? It's not really that relevant, is it? If you had fun for 10 hours, you've matched what most games offer. Anything else is a bonus, in a sense, right?

[General Fuzzy McBitty]

I got to the part in GTA SA where

your brother is dangling from the fire truck

Then it got old and I stopped.

I think I'm going to play it again though.

[miffy495]

So you got to the very last part of the very last mission and stopped? Way to go, man.

I played Oblivion for about 4 hours before I decided that there wasn't nearly enough narrative to keep me interested. I playd most games for their story. When I want to roleplay, I play D&D with my friends. It has the benefit of roleplaying with, y'know, friends.

[elmuerte]

the last part of GTA:SA is rediculous and not very interesting...

Didn't play as much oblivion as I did with morrowind, and not even close to the time I spend on daggerfall.

At least morrowind allowed me to get side tracked from the main story. Oblivion becomes quite annoying after you closed the first oblivion gate. After closing about 20 of them I decided to complete the main quest so that I could go on with the rest. So I rushed through the main quest in a couple of hours.

I was quite disappointed in Oblivion, they dumbed down even more. Morrowind was hardly dumbed down, it was just missing a shit load of things you could do in Daggerfall.

I'm pretty sure I missed out on some great quests (never completed the magic guild stuff) but I got bored along the way.

In a way I enjoyed Fable more than Oblivion.

[Duncan]

Oblivion becomes quite annoying after you closed the first oblivion gate. After closing about 20 of them I decided to complete the main quest

WHY DID YOU CLOSE TWENTY OF THEM??!??!

...you only have to close two, ever...

Ohh I was trying to ride this thread out but I just lost it right there. Oblivion is great! Morrowind is interminable! How can you prefer the tedious, lifeless, dreary, jerk off fantasy faux-epic monotonous, irrelevant history lesson that IS Morrowind?!

Perhaps Bethesda was able to convey more with text than they were with high-tech AI and voice-acted shenanegans.

Oblivion:

"Yes, I can tell you about the Imperial City! I've lived here all my life, I love it! Hit up Madame de Elf if you're interested in heavy weapons. Beware the Grey Fox!"

Morrowind:

"Aye, so ye be interested in Morrowind, Outlander? Morrowind is a troubled land; the culture and customs of its indigenous peoples and tribes have been cast asunder by a variety of social, religious and political conflicts with other outsiders such as yourself. That will be the last time I make reference to you as I do not wish to personalise this dialogue in any way. Three houses rule over the swamplands of Morrowind, House Telvanni, an eccentric wizard house, House Redeagrag, a noble warrior house, and House Hlllalallau, corrupt, thieving politicians and mobsters! Forgive me for using an exclamation mark, I don't wish to taint this conversation with emotion. Did I just use a contraction? Fuck me. Though the Imperials of House Hallllllau effectively rule this land, I have more respect for the code-abiding warriors of House Redorreamgo, as does everyone else in our fair hamlet. Some say--and by some, I mean 'everyone'--the ancient Dwemer were involved in ancient Morrowind lore through some tediousness or another. There were some Dwarves, too, I almost forgot to mention the Dwarves. I'm not sure about the Dwarves. They disappeared at some point. Perhaps a noble adventurer could investigate such a disappearance. The noble adventurer would find plenty of gainful employment in the local guilds. The Guild of Mages, the Guild of Fighters, the Guild of Thieves, a secret guild, there is a guild of assassins, I think--I am trying to avoid contractions by not using the possessive. That makes what I have to say a little longer, but you don't mind, do you, sire? That is folly on my part, you cannot actually answer my question. That is an example of the kind of laughs we have in Morrowind. Again, my words are slathered in facetiousness. None of us ever laugh, ever. Nor do we sleep, nor move, nor emote. Did I mention the Gods? Gods are very important to us here in Morrowind, as they are very real and kill us fairly often. Not that we care, really, we take it easy here in fairweather Morrowind. Here is a list of the Gods. Azura, Dagon nhioa, Dagon Sidious, there are some others I believe. You can ask at the local temple. There is a temple in every city. Those new entrants to the temple must make a pilgrimage, including, as I remember, to a big fence in the middle of Morrowind, I almost neglected to speak of the ghostfence or whatever it is. There is a crisis of some sort ongoing but I, like everyone else in the entire land, remain unfazed. We take it easy in Morrowind. I mentioned that before but I repeat myself quite often, it is just something I do. If you have more questions you could ask my fellow Morrowindians, though they will provide the exact same answer I just gave you. Even if they're like an illiterate, grunting zombie who wants to murder you or some shit. Oh, my language doth become colloquial! I must stop before I becometh excited."

Yeah I guess they were able to convey more with text! How did they pull that off! Score one for text over voice-acting shenanigans! What is this, 1992?

I mean come on -- how many people can honestly say they've ploughed through all supposed 80 hours worth of gameplay here? The mind boggles.

ME! I CAN! I CAN SAY IT! I DID IT! AND IT WAS GREAT!

:tdown::tdown::tdown:

[elmuerte]

you have to close more than just 2, I think it's about 4 in total you need to close for the main quest.

the reason I closed 20 was because the whole "world" would get ugly if you come too close to the gates. Besides, it takes only a few minutes to close them (I just run past all foes).

and in the beginning I didn't know they would randomly pop up all over the place.

[DanJW]

"Aye, so ye be interested in Morrowind, Outlander? Morrowind is a troubled land...(etc)

That made me laugh.

I never played Morrowind; something about it just didnt appeal. But I was determined to try and enjoy Oblivion. Alas, I drifted out of it fairly quickly. Like Miffy, i felt it lacked narative and characterization for me. OK so it did have those things, but they felt too 2D. My disbelief was at no point suspended. Now Neverwnter 2, out next month - THAT has me excited.

[brkl]

The one thing Oblivion lacks is a unique world. Oblivion's world is quite familiar, while Vvardenfell was wonderfully alien and unhospitable. I found the history with the demigods and such very interesting.

[loonyboi]

Evidently we're in the minority here though, or so the wankosphere would have you believe at least. I mean come on -- how many people can honestly say they've ploughed through all supposed 80 hours worth of gameplay here? The mind boggles.

80? Dude, I hadn't even finished the main quest at 80.

I accept that i'm in the minority, but don't claim there's somehow less than 80 hours of gameplay there. I had well over 100 without dipping into replayability (that is, doing the same quests again).

[Wrestlevania]

I accept that i'm in the minority, but don't claim there's somehow less than 80 hours of gameplay there.

I wasn't claiming otherwise -- and more power to you. What I failed to make clear in my second comment was that I found trying to complete Morrowind a chore. But I did enjoy exploring the world for the first few hours (about 25, all told).

It's the sheer scale of a game, with 80+ hours gameplay in it, that I find difficult to comprehend. I'm well aware that Morrowind was stuffed to bursting with backstory and legend - and I did read a hefty chunk of it on my travels - so I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that its sequel is even bigger.

I do still have the game and I did enjoy the first few hours that I played in this one, too. But considering my spare time is so short it probably wasn't such a wise purchase on my part. Still, Bethesda have added some good new features recently - such as dual analogue support - which makes me want to pick it up again. It's just finding the time to complete it that's the problem; it's a game that requires a massive commitment. I just don't think I have the time.

[manny_c44]

Oblivion's gameworld and its writing were flaccid, no doubt...but in a way it is peerless. The whole concept of the giant seemless RPG world went out the window with tile-sets, and Bethesda seems to be one of the few developers taking that genre into the "next-generation" (I hate using the term). They handled large-scaled voice work, character creation, and level design better than anything before. The combat and general feel of the game was far superior to morrowind.

If anyone at Bethesda has the time and desire to plan and write a game like this that isn't just trash-fantasy it could be amazing, because as much as the story left me cold (I just quit the game when I went to that guy's paradise or whatever) the general gameplay was good.

Fallout 1 & 2 are the only RPGs I've played to completion--maybe the upcoming one can capitalize on the universe's far superior setting and style.

[Duncan]

you have to close more than just 2, I think it's about 4 in total you need to close for the main quest.

the reason I closed 20 was because the whole "world" would get ugly if you come too close to the gates. Besides, it takes only a few minutes to close them (I just run past all foes).

It's two: the Kvatch gate and the great gate near the end. Everything else is optional. As for the world getting ugly, you can avoid getting close to those gates pretty easily. You can see them from a good distance and they show up on the radar. And If you're so appalled by the sky turning red, I don't know why just running past the gates isn't a better idea than spending twenty minutes inside of one. I guess I am at a loss as to why, after you closed the first gate and found you didn't like it--and you're absolutely right, of course, the Oblivion gates are not much fun at all--you proceed to close optional gates, repeatedly.

It's like, yeah, Psychonauts got really annoying for me when, after getting through the Meat Circus, I loaded a save game and played through it again twenty times. Such a fucking hassle.

Like Miffy, i felt it lacked narative and characterization for me. OK so it did have those things, but they felt too 2D. My disbelief was at no point suspended. Now Neverwnter 2, out next month - THAT has me excited.

Well, you're right, too. It is pretty much two-dimensional. Oblivion is not the go-to game for in-depth narrative or characters. I mean, I like what it has, and the narrative is much stronger on a smaller, rather than a grander scale. I don't get why you were looking for that kind of thing in Oblivion though. The Elder Scrolls series has never been acclaimed for its writing prowess. If you look at Morrowind, it was a flat, staid, ego-stroking biography of you, the player: the most powerful person who ever has been and ever will be. And while Oblivion, to its credit, doesn't do this, one of the reasons I maintain it is better than Morrowind... it is a little unrealistic to have expected that much narrative complexity in the sequel. Oblivion takes a step forward, but it's still ultimately the fantasy wish-fulfillment genre.

I am looking forward to Neverwinter 2 also! I never even played the first one though, I am showing up expressly for Obsidian (specifically, Chris Avellone).

Wow, did I melt down in this thread or what.