76 replies to this topic

[Slaiv]

"Budgets and schedules for games will not change much while the enhanced graphics will require more development time..... It’s a fact that, statistically, gamers prefer shorter games, and often do not finish more involved titles."

"The combat is a much bigger focus than in the earlier games."

"Combat is visceral and bloody”, and...it is designed to recall intense swordplay seen in movies like LoTR and Brave heart."

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is being designed around the Xbox 2 (and the PS3)...

According to Todd Howard they are trying to make the game as appealing to mainstream gamers as possible...

Oblivion also has 1/3 the amount of NPCs as Morrowind. Meaning, that if Oblicion has a larger land mass, cities, etc... will be even more unpopulated than before.

[Luxar]

Oblivion also has 1/3 the amount of NPCs as Morrowind.  Meaning, that if Oblicion has a larger land mass, cities, etc... will be even more unpopulated than before.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The fact that Oblivion only has (roughly) 1/3 the amount of NPC's as Morrowind will not necessarily mean it will be barren. At this point we have no idea how many cities there may be. For all we know, the only city in the game is the Imperial City, where all the NPC's may be(note that I realize this is very unlikely ). Another thing to note is that part(we don't know how much of it) of the game will be played in Oblivion, where we will most likely find 0 NPC's. So, while it may in fact be quite unpopulated, as you have observed, we may also just be seeing a trend of less cities and more wilderness/Hell.

[Slaiv]

Well, I'd much rather have more NPCs in the cities and next to none in the wilderness. I love the forests, etc... that seem to be part of Oblivion.

Also, I'd much rather have only one city if it actually felt like a city; the cities in MW were not believable at all.

Oh, and I expect it not to be as dark [not storyline-wise.] In MW, even when the sun was at it's highest, the game seemed to be gloomy, and have little lighting, etc...

[Luxar]

Yeah, I also hope that the mood will be a little bit lighter...or I guess more a little bit more wavering. I'd like to be scared in Oblivion, feel the trees pressing in on me in the forests, and feel happy and free and careless when breaking into a clearing. In MW, I'd get to the grasslands(the closest thing they had to a field), and it would still be dark and play ominous music in the background. It made no sense! lol

[E D]

less npcs and quests will be a little dissappointing. i've been playing a paladin-type character over the past couple days, and i was thinking - there should be more quests. more npcs that need help. more quests based in and around suran.

but having the npcs and quests a bit more engaging would be nice...
it would be nice if the cities were a little bigger, but not immensly huge. i don't mind feeling lost in a city the first time i'm there. but if i have to take a silt strider to get from the inn to the mages guild, then have the guild guide send me to the gate just to leave town, then something's wrong...

[Abramul]

Less NPCs...Will they actually be LESS, though? I mean, out of the NPCs in Morrowind, how many actually were UNIQUE? Walk up to someone in Seyda Neen, ask them about Dagoth Ur, and you get the same response as you would talking to Archmagister Gothren. I do hope there are plenty of bandit camps, though. (Not necessarily caves!)

[Slaiv]

I don't think BethSoft's going to make each NPC unique . As much as I'd like it, even I have to admit that would be too much work. But, they're working on overall scripts to create an illusion that each is uniqe, such as giving them required tasks, like eating, etc... And giving them random schedules - see them shopping, etc...

[Ember]

Well, the NPC`s will be unique in a way - the schedules are only random in the respect that each npc behaves "randomly" according to the predefined characteristics of his profession and personality. If he/she shops it it because they *need* to, not because of some arbitary variable. Or at least thats how I interpreted the radiant AI system. <_<

Edited by Ember, 20 November 2004 - 01:53 AM.

[mw_hornychucky]

i hope as they say with the horse riding, its also possible to fight on horse.
killer graphics as the pics i saw .
the good 'ole first person perspective be holded.
and, as most people expect, oblivion will be a wrold like a world, not just a world where only you can do actions and the rest just patrols a scripted path untill the end of time.
that also they are on a quest to become warriors or thieves themselves .

these are my expectations of oblivion so far

[Abramul]

Will actions have consequences? Could you go in the woods with a battleaxe, start hacking down trees, and come back after a while to find new saplings shooting up? If you insult someone, will they remember, and get friends to beat you up later? For that matter, will NPCs have dynamic relationships with each other?