KotOR and Jade Empire are both pretty linear, so I'm guessing the fact that there's a plot that draws you along and forces you to do things in a discrete order is what drew you in initially. Oblivion is a game for Role Playing, capital letters--it's most fun, to me, to build a character from the ground up and simply have him live his life in the world that Oblivion's set in, and keep things self-consistent. It's a good time.
And I agree that a game SHOULDN'T need mods to make it good, but does that mean that the game, when modded, isn't good?
What did you guys think of Oblivion?
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fastbilly1
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I believe that games like this should be judged both pre and post mod. If a game is bad premod, or vanilla, everyonce and awhile it is better with the mods. If a game is good premod, rarely is it bad post (we are talking well built mods, not just some guy who wants ultimate weapons). When comparing I find it is best to compare on the same level - premod or postmod. It is unfair to compare cross.
So when comparing Oblivion post mod it will be a better game, but far from the best in the series. Morrowind's Octopus mod and beta multiplayer, and Daggerfalls long forgotten multiplayer mod, are very serious contenders to contemplate.
I will give it that second chance in a few months when I have the time to spare, do you have any must have mods?
So when comparing Oblivion post mod it will be a better game, but far from the best in the series. Morrowind's Octopus mod and beta multiplayer, and Daggerfalls long forgotten multiplayer mod, are very serious contenders to contemplate.
I will give it that second chance in a few months when I have the time to spare, do you have any must have mods?
Does OOO have some form of a user-interface mod? The vanilla, console-oriented one is atrocious. I got that modded immediately.
I actually played through Oblivion for the first time last month with a slew of quality mods and enjoyed it. I generally like more of a story-driven RPG (like, for example, The Witcher), but every now and then I love just getting lost into an open-ended Elder Scrolls or a Fallout or some such. I could discuss all the things about Oblivion that I didn't like or things or despairingly compare it to Morrowind and so on, but the bottom line was I got a ton of hours of entertainment out of the (modded) game and grew to like it after I got used to it.
Just a few screens I snapped during my playthroughs:
As for what mods I used... I used Francesco's Level Creatures-Items mod instead of OOO because I liked the customizability. I also used Qarl's Texture Pack and settled on Phinix Immersive UI for the interface. Some others I picked up just on their recommendations: Natural Environments, Unofficial Oblivion Patch, Elven Map (enhances the world map). I don't think I could play Oblivion without most or all of those anymore. I also had some misc mods like Illuminated Within Revived Optimized (which I don't think I'd like playing without, either), and retextured Orcs (no more clean green for me), a keychain, improved facial textures and signs, book jackets, etc. I meant to try out Deadly Reflex (adds decapitations, dismemberments, horse combat) on my next character but I decided I wanted to be a mage instead so I didn't have much use for it.
For a good list of mods and also with recommendations you might try taking a good look here.
I actually played through Oblivion for the first time last month with a slew of quality mods and enjoyed it. I generally like more of a story-driven RPG (like, for example, The Witcher), but every now and then I love just getting lost into an open-ended Elder Scrolls or a Fallout or some such. I could discuss all the things about Oblivion that I didn't like or things or despairingly compare it to Morrowind and so on, but the bottom line was I got a ton of hours of entertainment out of the (modded) game and grew to like it after I got used to it.
Just a few screens I snapped during my playthroughs:
As for what mods I used... I used Francesco's Level Creatures-Items mod instead of OOO because I liked the customizability. I also used Qarl's Texture Pack and settled on Phinix Immersive UI for the interface. Some others I picked up just on their recommendations: Natural Environments, Unofficial Oblivion Patch, Elven Map (enhances the world map). I don't think I could play Oblivion without most or all of those anymore. I also had some misc mods like Illuminated Within Revived Optimized (which I don't think I'd like playing without, either), and retextured Orcs (no more clean green for me), a keychain, improved facial textures and signs, book jackets, etc. I meant to try out Deadly Reflex (adds decapitations, dismemberments, horse combat) on my next character but I decided I wanted to be a mage instead so I didn't have much use for it.
For a good list of mods and also with recommendations you might try taking a good look here.
Last edited by Intangir on Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Intangir wrote:Does OOO have some form of a user-interface mod? The vanilla, console-oriented one is atrocious. I got that modded immediately.
I actually played through Oblivion for the first time last month with a slew of quality mods and enjoyed it. I generally like more of a story-driven RPG (like, for example, The Withcer), but every now and then I love just getting lost into an open-ended Elder Scrolls or a Fallout or some such. I could discuss all the things about Oblivion that I didn't like or things or despairingly compare it to Morrowind and so on, but the bottom line was I got a ton of hours of entertainment out of the (modded) game and grew to like it after I got used to it.
As for what mods I used... I used Francesco's Level Creatures-Items mod instead of OOO because I liked the customizability. I also used Qarl's Texture Pack and settled on Phinix Immersive UI for the interface. Some others I picked up just on their recommendations: Natural Environments, Unofficial Oblivion Patch, Elven Map (enhances the world map). I don't think I could play Oblivion without most or all of those anymore. I also had some misc mods like Illuminated Within Revived Optimized (which I don't think I'd like playing without, either), and retextured Orcs (no more clean green for me), a keychain, improved facial textures and signs, book jackets, etc. I meant to try out Deadly Reflex (adds decapitations, dismemberments, horse combat) on my next character but I decided I wanted to be a mage instead so I didn't have much use for it.
For a good list of mods and also with recommendations you might try taking a good look here.
I eventually gave up on the mods for Oblivion. The more mods you add, the more broken the game becomes. It was so frustrating. I hope someday someone eventually builds an all-in-one mod collection, which contains nothing but a set of the most unanimously agreed improvement mods, and not just mods that change things based on preference.
I felt the same way when I was trying to sort through all the results from googling "Best Oblivion Mods" or browsing through that mighty mod list I linked to above. I wished there was one simple installer or OMOD that contained a sort of all-in-one package of the upper echelon mods. The first time I played through I just went with those generally widely recommended Hall of Fame mods--and then only a chosen few of them so I didn't get lost in the mix. But on a subsequent play-through I ended up adding 2-3 times more mods to iron out the little irks I had with the game or to enhance my experience.
So I guess I've been on both sides of the fence. I did enjoy my second play-through more, though, but it certainly demands much more dedication and time to research and browse through mod lists, download them, install and configure them, conflict test them, and ensure the game's balance isn't severely thrown off or if its stability is compromised in the process.
So I guess I've been on both sides of the fence. I did enjoy my second play-through more, though, but it certainly demands much more dedication and time to research and browse through mod lists, download them, install and configure them, conflict test them, and ensure the game's balance isn't severely thrown off or if its stability is compromised in the process.