The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Official XBOX 360 Topic

privateer · 18 Μαρτίου 2006

Oblivion is a single-player game that takes place in Tamriel's capital province, Cyrodiil. You are given the task of finding the hidden heir to a throne that sits empty, the previous emperor having been killed by an unknown assassin. With no true Emperor, the gates to Oblivion (the equivalent of hell in the world of Tamriel) open, and demons begin to invade Cyrodiil and attack its people and towns. It's up to you to find the lost heir to the throne and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel.

Oblivion- Plain ol Plane

While Oblivion is most often described as "a version of Hell," the metaphor expressed in the game actually implies a more relativist ethical cosmology than is usual in most video games and Western fantastic literature, in which morality and the gods are often portrayed as simplistically dualist.

Oblivion is the void surrounding the mortal plane of existence in the world of The Elder Scrolls. The stars in the sky are the mortals' view of the spheres of the Aedra and Daedra floating in that void.

The spheres (or pockets) that make up Oblivion are each ruled by a different Daedric Prince, with each sphere manifesting the attributes of the ruling Princeʼs personality. The 17 Princes are: Azura, Boethiah, Clavicus Vile, Hircine, Hoermius Mora, Jyggalag, Malacath, Mehrunes Dagon, Mephala, Meridia, Molag Bal, Namira, Nocturnal, Peryite, Sanguine, Sheogorath, and Vaernima.

To categorize these beings as good or evil would be inappropriate. Daedra act according to their natures. Mortals perceive Daedra as good or evil depending on their view of this behavior.

It should also be noted that within TES lore, mortals do not die and go to Oblivion. Souls are reborn back into their own realm. In much the same fashion, a Daedra will not die, but is banished back to its own sphere in Oblivion - the difference being that a Daedra's identity and form are retained.

The gates connecting the mortal realm to Oblivion have been protected in the past, and prevented from opening so long as the emperor's bloodline controls the amulet which binds the pact between gods and men. The main plot of the game involves the death of the Emperor and the subsequent opening of the gates.

With the gates of Oblivion open, the most aggressive of Daedra will invade the mortal plane. So while there are many realms in the vastness of Oblivion, the part that will be shown in The Elder Scrolls IV is the most "hellish" of all; that is, the most reminiscent of hell and its contents as some real-world religions conceive of it.

What is the size of Oblivion?

It has been confirmed by producer Todd Howard that the world will be larger than the previous installment in the series: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

For comparison the total above-ground area of Morrowind's game world was roughly 10 square miles, but the actual landmass was only around 6 square miles and then surrounded by water; not including either of the expansions.

With Oblivion the above-ground areas are approximately 16 square miles, considerably less water coverage; plus more than 200 underground dungeon areas and the realm of Oblivion.

"The realm of Oblivion" in lore is described as infinite; in game terms youll be exploring large randomly generated (similar to random dungeon generation of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall) sections of extra-dimensional terrain every time you enter a portal and leave the normal world behind you. There have been no official size estimates for the playable sections of "the realm of oblivion".

Voice acting!

The game, featuring the voices of Patrick Stewart, Lynda Carter, Sean Bean, and Terence Stamp. Top notch, really. You can also eavesdrop on characters to gain new information which ultimately leads to a quest.

Radiant AI!

Oblivion boasts a new artificial intelligence system, fully developed in house by Bethesda, codenamed 'Radiant AI'. It is a major source of excitement for many of the fans of the series as it aims to counter what was believed to be one of the major flaws of the previous installment (The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind): the lack of 'life' of the NPCs in the game. Radiant AI gives every NPC a set of 'needs' (such as hunger) that they will need to fulfill, thus creating a more lifelike world.

Radiant AI works by giving NPCs a list of goals. Nothing else is scripted. They must decide how to achieve these goals by themselves based on their individual statistics. A hungry NPC might compare his current gold against his moral values to decide whether he will walk to a store and purchase food, or just steal it; a skilled archer can choose to hunt his own deer.

This has required massive testing, but has even greater long-term flexibility for future NPC AI as well as testing with PAC AI for further developments.

The following are examples of unexpected behavior discovered during early testing:

1. One character was given a rake and the goal "rake leaves"; another was given a broom and the goal "sweep paths," and this worked smoothly. Then they swapped the items, so that the raker was given a broom and the sweeper was given the rake. In the end, one of them killed the other so he could get the proper item.

2. Another test had an on-duty NPC guard become hungry. The guard went into the forest to hunt for food. The other guards also left to arrest the truant guard, leaving the town unprotected. The villager NPCs then looted all of the shops, due to the lack of law enforcement.

3. In another test a minotaur was given a task of protecting a unicorn (there is only one unicorn in the game). However, the minotaur repeatedly tried to kill the unicorn because he was set to be an aggressive creature.

4. In one Dark Brotherhood quest, the player can meet up with a shady merchant who sells skooma, an in-game drug. During testing, the NPC would be dead when the player got to him. The reason was that NPCs from the local skooma den were trying to get their fix, didn't have any money, and so were killing the merchant to get it.

5. While testing to confirm that the physics models for a magical item known as the "Skull of Corruption," which creates an evil copy of the character/monster it is used on, were working properly, a tester dropped the item on the ground. An NPC immediately picked it up and used it on the player character, creating a copy of him that proceeded to kill every NPC in sight.

Bethesda has been hard at work to fix these issues, balancing an NPC's needs against his penchant for destruction so that the game world still functions in a usable fashion.

Example? http://bethsoft.com/redirects/video5.htm

Engine

The Gamebryo engine is both powerful and flexible enough to suit the needs of any type of game, demonstrated by the range of major games that use it: Sid Meier's Pirates!, Civilization IV, Dark Age of Camelot, and Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, to name a few. Gamebryo runs on every major platform, is already in use for Xbox 360, and will be optimized for use in PlayStation 3. It boasts outstanding, reliable performance, and includes the rendering, animation, and special effects features needed to create any game.

The Gamebryo run-time engine is a C++ API that features a hierarchical scene graph structure. Multiple culling and sorting techniques are available to reduce CPU usage by drawing only visible objects. The engine's flexibility allows simultaneous use of different sorting techniques in different parts of the scene graph.

Mounts

A mount is a horse that a character can ride upon. They can be used for travelling quickly across the land, however, a character must dismount and leave his or her horse at the city stable before entering a city. A character can be attacked while on a horse (and the horse itself can be attacked as well), but must dismount in order to actually fight an opponent. Horse armor may be purchased from vendors.

Construction Set

TES Construction Set: The CS has been improved to be simpler for the developers and modders. Dialogue, landscaping, quests, scripting and more have all been made easier to use. Modders will still need a separate program to create objects, and another for skinning (just like for Morrowind). Here is a quick rundown of some improvements to the scripting:

▫ Ability to call functions on any reference anywhere

▫ If statements can use the full range of logical operators: &&, 7C7C, >, !=, etc., as well as nested parents

▫ Integration of script functions with "conditions" in the editor -- basically, any function that returns a value will be available to conditionalize dialogue, etc.

▫ Variables can be used as parameters for most function calls

Races

Four of the races are classical human archetypes:

Breton (Descendants of humans and elves, predisposed toward healing and other magical arts)

Imperial (The reigning race of Tamriel; similar to classic Romans)

Nord (Fair-haired survivors)

Redguard (Dark-Skinned, Skilled fighters)

Three types of Aldmeri (Elves):

* Altmer (High Elf)

* Bosmer (Wood Elf)

* Dunmer (Dark Elf)

And two beast races:

* Khajiit (A Feline biped race)

* Argonian (A reptilian humanoid race)

And also:

* Orsimer (Orcs, were once elves but Boethiah, a Daedric Prince, ate their leader Trinimac and turned him into Malacath.)

Travel

New fast travel system allows you to instantly travel to all major cities from start of game. Minor cities/towns will be available for fast travel through discovery.

You can also acquire a horse mount. Armor will be available for the horse

Arena

There is also an Arena which you may join as a combatant. Though it's not called the "gladiator's guild," in practice that's what it is. So when you "join the Arena," you are joining an elite group of warriors who fight in matches in the Arena. Winning matches in the Arena can earn you gold or new equipment. You work your way up a circuit (with ranks), all the way to the top. Your arena faction standing is your rank within the competitions.

Vampirism

You can Catch the disease by fighting with vampires or as part of a quest

Once you have the disease you have 3 days to heal yourself after that you will be a vampire

Advantages:

+5 in Strengh Willpower Speed Acrobatics Athletics Destruction hand to hand Illusion Mysticism and sneak. You will also be more resistant against paralisis and sicknesses and also a bit better with melee weapons. With each day in which you don't feed on blood these attributes will rise 5 points as well as your resistance to melee weapons

The bad news:

With every day without blood your apparence will change you into a horrible monster.

At the beginning of the sickness you only have a slight weakness to fire, however every day without feeding will raise this weakness and bring other disadvantages. If you feed on blood you will be safe from sunlight for the next 24 hours, if not you will catch fire in the sunlight (it also says that Rain and Clouds will help a bit) The worst disadvantage comes after 4 days without feeding. Your face will become hollow and pale, you will grow long sharp teeth and your eyes will become red, as a sonsequence most people will have nothing to do with you and you won't be able to do (most) quests. Another power you will get however is to raise disposition towards you to 100 for 20 seconds.

What are the stats? Racial bonuses? Skills?

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/8473/stats3mf9ue.jpg

Class list

You can either choose basic, or create a custom class.

Basic class list:

Acrobat

Agent

Archer

Assassin

Barbarian

Bard

Battlemage

Crusader

Healer

Knight

Mage

Monk

Nightblade

Pilgrim

Rogue

Scout

Sorcerer

Spellsword

Thief

Warrior

Witchunter

Birthsigns

* The Apprentice

* The Atronach

* The Lady

* The Lord

* The Lover

* The Mage

* The Ritual

* The Serpent

* The Shadow

* The Steed

* The Thief

* The Tower

* The Warrior

Guild List

* Fighters' Guild (Mercenaries and paramilitaries; Imperially chartered)

* Thieves' Guild (Criminal monopoly, drugs, smuggling, burglary, extortion; illegal organization)

* Mages' Guild (Academy for the preservation and study of the esoteric arts, magic, alchemy, chemistry, humanities, sciences; Imperially chartered)

* The Dark Brotherhood (The evil counterpart of the honorable Morag Tong Assassins Guild)

* The Arena (Gladiatorial combat, has religious significance; Imperially chartered)

* The Blades (Spy network; Imperially chartered)

Stealth

Think Thief/Hitman.

Jail

Interactive Jail (Escaping): Picking the lock, stealing the key from the guard when he walks by, starting a fight with the other prisoner so the guard investigates, bribe the guard (possibly), wait until another prisoner is to be released and then run out of the cell, etc.

Changes from other TES games. (jesus! thanks wiki!)

Changes from Previous Elder Scrolls Games

* Bethesda has plans for downloadable content via both XBOX Live and a standard internet connection for PC users. The only concrete downloadable content at this point is Horse Armor. Plans for Holidays were cancelled by the Bethesda team.

* Horse riding has returned, but not carriages. You can purchase different breeds of horses in the game

* You may once again travel via the map; though in a more limited form than was present in Daggerfall. A compass is also avaliable.

* You now play as the Cathay-Raht breed of Khajiit, who are nearly elven in appearence, and can wear boots, rather than the Suthay-Raht who were the playable breed in Morrowind.

* Bethesda had plans for a downloadable holiday patch via Xbox Live/internet connection, but they have expressed some ambiguity over the current state of this additional content.

* Dual-wielding is not included in Oblivion, and has yet to return from Daggerfall.

* Nudity from both the player portrait and creatures has been removed.

* There are no children present in the game world.

* Levitation, Mark, and Recall spells have been removed.

* Enchanting items/weapons is now a perk of membership in the mages guild, and not a player skill.

* Every NPC will include full voice acting (With Patrick Stewart playing the voice of Emperor Uriel Septim, and Sean Bean playing the voice of the Emperor's illegitimate heir).

* The Dark Brotherhood is the predominant local assassins guild, rather than the Morag Tong, which was native only to Morrowind.

* You can now purchase homes in each major city, as well as decorations.

* Crossbows, throwing weapons, spears, and their respective skills have been removed.

* Bows have been improved in many aspects, including the use of physics on arrow flight. You can also zoom at higher levels and set off traps with arrows.

* Were-wolves/creatures have not returned (though even for Morrowind, these were included later in an expansion).

* Magicka (mana) now regenerates over time.

* Stamina does not drain from running, but plays a more vital role in combat tactics.

* The skills list has been condensed into 21 skills.

* The Medium armor skill has been removed; the actual armors which were previously considered medium-class have been moved to the heavy or light armor skills.

* The Unarmored skill has been removed since you can now dodge with the Acrobatics skill, which allows rolling moves.

* The combat system has changed. No longer the player has access to the previous "Chop/Pierce/Slash" combat system. It has been replaced by a newer combat system similar to action RPGs such as Fable: The Lost Chapters, with one button for attack and another for block. Blocking is no longer automatic, but player controlled.

* The player can now use weapons and cast spells at the same time.

* Now all hits connected to an enemy will do damage, the amount depending on the player's skill with the weapon. The previous dice based system has been removed.

* Lockpicking is now a minigame similar to Splinter Cell

Skills

History

Redguard: In 2E 864, the Redguards of Hammerfell rose in rebellion against the Imperial administration of Provincial Governor Amiel Richton. The Restless League, led by Cyrus and Iszara -- brother-and-sister agents of the province's hereditary rulers -- destroyed the Imperial fleet in Stros M'Kai harbor and routed the Legion garrison. With Admiral Richton dead, and Stros M'Kai in rebel hands, Emperor Tiber Septim was forced to sue for peace on terms favorable to Hammerfell.

Battlespire: The Impostor Jagar Tharn betrayed the Battlespire, the war college of the Imperial Battlemages, to the legions of Daedra Lord Mehrunes Dagon. Two trainees trapped in the Battlespire escaped by fighting their way through daedric gates until they came to the citadel of Lord Dagon, where, by a subtle trick, they cast the Daedra Lord into Oblivion. Having lost Lord Dagon's support, Jagar Tharn's plot to supplant the true Emperor was doomed to fail.

Arena: After trapping Emperor Uriel Septim VII in an alternate plane, Imperial Battlemage Jagar Tharn assumes the Emperor's identity, and rules without care as the provinces wage war. The ghost of Ria Silmane frees a hero from the depths of the Empire's dungeons and guides his search for the Staff of Chaos, a potent artifact which Jagar Tharn has broken in eight parts and hidden. The hero journeys to eight well-defended citadels in eight different provinces, recovering the Staff's pieces. Then, armed with the reforged Staff, the hero confronts and defeats Jagar Tharn in the labyrinths beneath the Imperial Palace, and the Emperor is returned to the throne.

Daggerfall: From a complex weave of arcane plots, Imperial intrigues, and personal betrayals, an agent of Uriel Septim resolves two historic feats: the laying to rest of the ghost of treacherously slain King Lysandus of Daggerfall, and the reactivation of Numidium, the titanic iron golem once used by Tiber Septim to forge the Empire. The agent who won the Mantella from the plane of Aetherius and gifted his patron with the Totem artifact decided who should command Numidium, and who would shape the future of the Empire.

Morrowind: In 3E 427, with Imperial authority weakened by questions of succession, the already shaky Imperial administration of Morrowind was threatened by the re-awakening of an ancient curse beneath the giant volcano Red Mountain, also called "Dagoth-Ur." An Imperial courier marked by the stars, born on a certain date to uncertain parents, came to Morrowind a stranger and outlander, and lived to become one of that nation's most enduring legends.

Achievements List

Spoilers:

# Master, Fighters Guild: Completed the Fighters Guild Questline

# Champion, Fighters Guild: Reached Champion rank in the Fighters Guild

# Guardian, Fighters Guild: Reached Guardian rank in the Fighters Guild

# Warder, Fighters Guild: Reached Warder rank in the Fighters Guild

# Defender, Fighters Guild: Reached Defender rank in the Fighters Guild

# Protector, Fighters Guild: Reached Protector rank in the Fighters Guild

# Swordsman, Fighters Guild: Reached Swordsman rank in the Fighters Guild

# Journeyman, Fighters Guild: Reached Journeyman rank in the Fighters Guild

# Apprentice, Fighters Guild: Reached Apprentice rank in the Fighters Guild

# Champion of Cyrodiil: Completed the Main Questline

# Destroyed the Great Gate: Destroyed the Great Gate, Main Quest

# Delivered Daedric Artifact: Delivered Daedric Artifact, Main Quest

# Located the Shrine of Dagon: Located the Shrine of Dagon, Main Quest

# Guildmaster, Thieves Guild: Completed the Thieves Guild Questline

# Master Thief, Thieves Guild: Reached Master Thief rank in the Thieves Guild

# Shadowfoot, Thieves Guild: Reached Shadowfoot rank in the Thieves Guild

# Cat Burglar, Thieves Guild: Reached Cat Burglar rank in the Thieves Guild

# Prowler, Thieves Guild: Reached Prowler rank in the Thieves Guild

# Bandit, Thieves Guild: Reached Bandit rank in the Thieves Guild

# Footpad, Thieves Guild: Reached Footpad rank in the Thieves Guild

# Listener, Dark Brotherhood: Completed the Dark Brotherhood Questline

# Speaker, Dark Brotherhood: Reached Speaker rank in the Dark Brotherhood

# Pickpocket, Thieves Guild: Joined the Thieves Guild

# Arch-Mage, Mages Guild: Completed the Mages Guild Questline

# Master-Wizard, Mages Guild: Reached Master-Wizard rank in the Mages Guild

# Silencer, Dark Brotherhood: Reached Silencer rank in the Dark Brotherhood

# Assassin, Dark Brotherhood: Reached Assassin rank in the Dark Brotherhood

# Eliminator, Dark Brotherhood: Reached Eliminator rank in the Dark Brotherhood

# Wizard, Mages Guild: Reached Wizard rank in the Mages Guild

# Slayer, Dark Brotherhood: Reached Slayer rank in the Dark Brotherhood

# Warlock, Mages Guild: Reached Warlock rank in the Mages Guild

# Murderer, Dark Brotherhood: Join the Dark Brotherhood

# Closed an Oblivion Gate: Closed an Oblivion Gate, Main Quest

# Magician, Mages Guild: Reached Magician rank in the Mages Guild

# Conjurer, Mages Guild: Reached Conjurer rank in the Mages Guild

# Evoker, Mages Guild: Reached Evoker rank in the Mages Guild

# Journeyman, Mages Guild: Reached Journeyman rank in the Mages Guild

# Apprentice, Mages Guild: Reached Apprentice rank in the Mages Guild

# Associate, Fighters Guild: Joined the Fighters Guild

# Associate, Mages Guild: Joined the Mages Guild

# Grand Champion, Arena: Completed the Arena Questline

# Champion, Arena: Reached Champion rank in the Arena

# Hero, Arena: Reached Hero rank in the Arena

# Gladiator, Arena: Reached Gladiator rank in the Arena

# Warrior, Arena: Reached Warrior rank in the Arena

# Myrmidon, Arena: Reached Myrmidon rank in the Arena

# Bloodletter, Arena: Reached Bloodletter rank in the Arena

# Brawler, Arena: Reached Brawler rank in the Arena

# Pit Dog, Arena: Joined the Arena in the Imperial City

# Escaped the Imperial Sewers: Escaped the Imperial Sewers, Main Quest Beginning

Oblivion Stories

Gaming Steve's new podcast is pretty sweet. He describes a dungeon crawl early on in the game, where the water level slowly increases, until the lower portions of the cave are completely flooded. He's wading through waist-high stagnant water, slashing at these flying imps which are peppering him with fireballs from above. As he progresses further into the cave, he stands on the corner of a ledge, overlooking a large lake. All of a sudden, these giant crabs leap up from the water and begin to clip his ankles. He almost died from the encounter, because the attack caught him completely by surprise. After finishing them off, he continued his journey deeper into the dungeon, which branched off into several different sections. I don't think he explored every little nook and cranny since there was limited playtime. Eventually, he reached the very end of the cave and there stood a magnificent treasure chest. Now this is where is gets funny - as he cautiously approached the loot, he noticed that the rocks in the corner of the room began to move. To his horror, a "crab as big as a house" popped up out of the ground and began to lay the smack down on him.

He described the experience as terrifying, but also gives a great sense of accomplishment when you finally defeat the beast.

later on

Another funny situation occurred as he finally made his escape out of the cavern. As he walked out into the sunlight, he noticed a fight taking place right at the dungeon entrance. Apparently, an Imperial guard had been chasing a thief through the woods, and it had inevitably come to blows. Poor GamingSteve ( dense as he is ), didn't know who to help.. or even if he should interfere with "official empire business." After much deliberation, he pulled out his sword and attacked the guard, who looked at him like he was crazy and screamed, "NOT ME, YOU IDIOT! ATTACK HIM!!" So, they chased off after the thief, who raced to the top of a hill, throwing down insults at both the guard and GamingSteve. Eventually, they caught up to him and ran him through with their swords... and the Imperial guard was gracious enough to let Steve loot the bandit and keep all the goodies.

He emphasized that none of this was pre-scripted... it was all due to the incredible radiant AI.

Collector's Edition

The Collector's Edition comes with an outer slip pack that is specific to your platform. It's a variation on the regular edition with more of a leather book cover look to it. Plus it says Collector's Edition right there on the front, which is handy. The inside is a four-panel digi-pack that is actually non-platform specific (think Lord of the Rings movie collector's editions, we did). The right panel holds your manual, map, reg card, and inserts. The one next to that holds the disc for whichever version you purchased. The disc tray on the left side hold your bonus DVD, and the pocket on the far left holds your Pocket Guide and coin.

Screenshots

privateer · 18 Μαρτίου 2006