March 15, 2006 - 4:00pm
Alright, so I've been reading quite a lot about the new Elder Scrolls game for XBox 360, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This is pretty much the reason that I pre-ordered an XBox 360 back in September. I pre-ordered the game at the time too, and after a slight delay, it's set to be released Monday, March 20. The wait has been intense, but hopefully the extra time will have allowed the developers to perfect it.
Anywho, many journalists from the gaming press got an invite from Bethesda to try out Oblivion, and they've been writing about the time they spent with it. I found these stories intriguing, so I've read most of them. While I was reading them, I thought to myself that I should keep a diary of what I do in the game when I get it next week. That way, poor, unfortunate souls that have not yet bought or received a 360 can share in my joy. Also, I like to look back at things I've written and see how far I've come. This is a good way to do it. Plus, everyone's story is different with a game like Oblivion, so any folks that want a different take on it can come over and take a gander. (Like anyone but me's going to read this... ha.)
March 16, 2006 - 12:00pm
Well, I've been considering how I want to play for my first time through. At the moment I'm thinking about playing as a rogue/assassin/archer-type character. That way I can steal stuff, and join the Dark Brotherhood which sounds pretty good. My second time through I'll probably go through as a good-aligned character, maybe a battlemage or something. That way I can combine magic and swordplay, and it's probably more difficult to play as a good character.
So as far as race, I'm going to avoid Orcs, Bretons, Nords, and Khajiit for various reasons. I want a race that is particularly well-suited for what I have planned; so that leaves out Imperials, Reguards, High Elves, and Dark Elves. That leaves Wood Elves and Argonians. They each have their own distinct advantages:
Wood Elves- quick in body and wit, natural agility, and well-known for skills with a bow.
Argonians- immune to some poisons, rely on stealth, natural agility.
So I'll probably go with the Wood Elf, they seem like they're more of what I'm looking for. Next would be birthsign. I'm considering either The Shadow (60 seconds of invisibility once per day), or The Thief (10 points to Agility, Speed, and Luck).
The last thing is class; I can choose one of the existing classes or make up my own. I'm not sure what the classes are in Oblivion yet, so I'll just look at the skills I want. For definites, I'd need Security, Sneak, and Marksman. Those are probably the most important. I'd like to have some of these as well though: Mercantile, Speechcraft, Alteration, Illusion, Restoration, Alchemy, Block, Blade, and Hand to Hand. So we'll see if there are any classes that offer all of my needs and some of my wants. If not, I'll make my own using Security, Sneak, Marksman, Speechcraft, Illusion, Block, and Blade. Or something like that.
March 17, 2006 - 11:30am
Alright. I've put more thought into it since yesterday, and I'm not sure if I want to go the thief route the first time through. It's sort of my M.O. to use Kosk Belloc as an ultra-good character first, then Kiran Soltar as an evil one later (don't read too much into the fact that my evil character is a woman). That's how I did things in both Knights of the Old Republic games: Kosk was light-side, and Kiran was dark-side. In Final Fantasy XI (which I haven't played much) Kosk was a Hume White Mage.
So I'm thinking maybe I'll start out with the battlemage idea. I'll use Kosk to work my way through first the Fighter's Guild, then the Mages Guild. Later, with Kiran, I'll go through the Thieves Guild then the Dark Brotherhood. That sounds like a plan. Okay, so now I've got to rethink my character creation strategy.
So let's go back to race. Since I want a fighter/magic-user, I'm going to eliminate Orcs, Bretons (too fruity), Nords, Wood Elves, and Khajiit. I'm probably going to stay away from Argonians and Redguards too. So we're down to Imperials, High Elves, and Dark Elves. Since I'm thinking of going with an elf for Kiran, I'll probably end up as an Imperial. They have bonuses (or "boni," pronounced bone-eye, if you're in my PnP D&D group) for speechcraft, which I'm really into (in KOTOR I was all about "Affect Mind").
Alright, down to birthsign. I want to focus on melee combat at first, but later I want to be a powerful spellcaster. So in the beginning I'll work on building my combat skills. But as far as innate talent, I'd rather have something helpful for my magic use to come in handy later. So I'm considering The Apprentice (increase to Magicka, but more suceptible to magic as well), or The Mage (smaller bonus to Magicka, but no weakness). I'll probably end up going with The Mage, play it safe.
So now on to class. Again, I don't know what the primary skills for each class are, so I'll list my priorities. If there's nothing that syncs up, I'll create my own class. I'm looking for Speechcraft, Destruction, Mysticism, Restoration, Block, Heavy Armor, and Blade. We'll see. Next Tuesday can't come soon enough!
Supposedly the strategy guide came out today. I'm going to call EB to see if they got it in. I'm usually not a big strategy guide person. In fact, I kind of despise them. Oblivion is no exception. However, I crave anything I can get my hands on that is related to the game, so I'm probably going to pick it up. I'll read through the general game info, and maybe I can use it if I'm really in a jam and it's driving me nuts. I have been known to get stuck on a particular part of a game and never play it again. Plus it'll be nice to have maps and whatnot. So if they get it in today or this weekend, I'll pick it up, otherwise I'll most likely just wait and see if I need it once the game comes out.
March 20, 2006 - 10:30am
We're now one day away from release, and of course I may have changed my mind again as far as my character creation. Now I'm thinking, why combine the mage/fighter roles? I think I'm going to go with a good mage, then an evil-ish rogue, then a neutral sort of fighter. So for the first one, the mage, I'll probably use a High Elf. For the rogue, either a Wood Elf (for focus on ranged combat), or a Khajiit (for focus on sneaking around). We'll see. I'll probably end up using the cat-like Khajiit, just for something different. And for my fighter, one of the more human-y races. Imperial, Nord, or Redguard.
I did end up buying the strategy guide last week. I read through the introduction, and the sections about skills, race, combat, magic, etc. Of course I didn't read any of the material about the quests, that would take all the fun out of it. So now I have it in case I ever get really stuck, but I don't plan on using it for that. It's also got maps which might come in handy.
On another note, I want to point out how incredibly long today has been, and how it will most likely be even worse tomorrow (while I'm at work). And the Oblivion countdown videos that Bethesda is doing aren't helping!
March 21, 2006 - 2:00pm
The day has finally arrived. My little brother was kind enough to pick up my Oblivion preorder at EB for me, so I played a little bit while I was on my lunch break. The packaging for the Collector's Edition is great, it has that old, worn book feel to it. The coin in nice-looking, and heavy- a good replica. It also comes with a map, a "pocket guide" and the manual. These I'll check out in more detail tonight.
The opening of the game is very impressive. Patrick Stewart does the narrative, while we fily over Tamriel. It's gorgeous. When he finishes his piece and we're flying over Imperial City, the music crescendos and "Bethesda Softworks presents" appears on the screen... it's incredible.
I started character creation, I chose the High Elf for Kosk. There aren't as many face-sculpting options as there are in Tiger Woods PGA Tour '06, but still enough to make a decent-looking character. Once I created Kosk, they dropped me in jail, in the now all-too-familiar cell that I've seen so much of in the last few months. I did the standard play with the chains, pick up the skull routine. The guy across the hall gave me a hard time, that was good. Then the Emperor and his Blades came in, opened the secret door, and I followed as far as I could.
The battle with the would-be assassins I just watched, as I didn't have any weapons. Once that was done, I picked up the fallen Blades captain's katana and whatnot and proceded on my own. So far I've killed four large rats (reminiscent of the R.O.U.S.s from The Princess Bride). They weren't very challenging, but gave me a good idea of how the combat system works.
That's about it so far, this was about 30 minutes or so worth of gameplay. I also ransacked a few barrels, crates, etc. in the dungeon. Everything looks amazing so far, I can't wait for my first look at the outdoors...
More to follow in the next few days...
March 30, 2006 - 3:30pm
Alright, so this "diary" business didn't pan out exactly the way I planned. It sounded like a good idea at the time. Turns out, I've done so much that I can't really even remember everything I've done, nevermind type it all out.
I've got close to 60 hours of playtime in so far, and there's much more to go. Kosk is a High Elf Mage. So far with him I got to the highest rank in the Arena, Grand Champion, and the highest rank in the Mages' Guild, Arch-Mage (check out my GamerCard on the main page).
I also started doing a few things in the Dark Brotherhood for a change of pace (invisibility rocks), but I drew the line at killing a retired guard captain.
I haven't gone too far in the main quest; I found Jauffre and delivered the amulet, I went to Kvatch and closed the Oblivion gate there, and I brought Martin to Weynon Priory and eventually to Cloud Ruler Temple. That's pretty much it. I just started doing the Daedric artifact quests, I've only got Azura's Star thus far.
I just created my second character the other day. Kiran Soltar is a Nord fighter-type. So far I like the magic-user type better. Not having to hold a torch (light using illusion spells) is worth the price of admission alone. So she just joined up with the Fighters' Guild. My next guy will probably be a Khajiit, and will do all of the Thieves' Guild/Dark Brotherhood stuff. That should be a good one. I may even create him today, if I'm not in the mood for finding Daedric artifacts...
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Last updated March 30, 2006 at 3:39pm