Concerning Basic Items In Oblivion

[bryman1970]

After robbing a few Imperial City homes of their gems/bars/silver dinnerware, etc., I noticed they appeared as stolen in my inventory, and I couldn't sell them unless I found a fence. It made me think: In all actuality, how would a merchant know i've stolen them? I don't know if anyone else has thought of this, although i'm sure many have. Does this make sense for me to think this? Perhaps there's a mod which modifies those items to not show up as stolen. Anyone have any thoughts?

[Remcoz]

how would a merchant know i've stolen them?

 

Because of the red hand on each item :D ..... K , sorry , silly answer ;)

[majikmonkee]

There is no good reason for this other than to give greater purpose to the thieves guild. Notice that you don't have the option of even offering stolen goods to merchants, I prefer to think that this is the choice of the player trying to be cautious about selling something someone might recognize as stolen. Otherise, it makes as much sense as psychic guards or the existence of trolls and minotaurs. I'm still wracking my brain trying to figure out why Oblivion contains so many "zero value" junk items like calipers and the other crap you can take but can't sell...or even use for that matter. Edited December 17, 2010 by majikmonkee

[bryman1970]

That makes sense. It would have been nice if they could allow the player to sell stolen goods at the risk of the merchant realizing they were stolen (as in a % chance or something similar). Then again, it would probably be a bit too sophisticated for the game engine to keep track of what area the goods were stolen in, and the merchants in that same area having a chance to know they were stolen from their home turf, so to speak. I guess it does add a lot to the importance of the Thieves Guild as well as the various fences. I also agree with the wide variety of useless items scattered around the world. Perhaps there's a way to either create a mod which deletes those from the world altogether or creates some sort of use for them. I'm not sure if the game engine is capable of doing the latter, but I guess only time will tell.

[majikmonkee]

That makes sense. It would have been nice if they could allow the player to sell stolen goods at the risk of the merchant realizing they were stolen (as in a % chance or something similar). Then again, it would probably be a bit too sophisticated for the game engine to keep track of what area the goods were stolen in, and the merchants in that same area having a chance to know they were stolen from their home turf, so to speak. I guess it does add a lot to the importance of the Thieves Guild as well as the various fences. I also agree with the wide variety of useless items scattered around the world. Perhaps there's a way to either create a mod which deletes those from the world altogether or creates some sort of use for them. I'm not sure if the game engine is capable of doing the latter, but I guess only time will tell.

That would be interesting to have a percentage risk of being caught selling stolen goods...very interesting idea indeed. And I think it might give more value to the work the modders put into making those "junk" items if they were worth something rather than just not there. I always assumed early on that the different materials were for a crafting system till I discovered there was none.

[bryman1970]

I thought there was some reason for them also, but now im realizing they're useless. I'm still modding for Morrowind and haven't even got into the Oblivion Construction Set yet. Maybe i'll throw the idea out there and see if anyone grabs onto it, or eventually try doing something myself. Could take a while though, i've got my hands full with a few of my own MW mods at the moment. Very slow going.

[Kyuukei]

Personally, I use this mod here: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=31820

 

It doesn't make fences useless, since you obviously have to pass a disposition check for everyone who isn't one. Stolen goods do still count towards your fencing total, however. I don't really mind that, since they'd probably end up being passed along to the Thieves Guild anyway. Merchant's gotta keep a fairly low profile about that sorta stuff, after all.

[SandsOfTime404]

Eh, the items aren't useless. It's ambience. :D

 

Though I had always hoped that certain instruments could be used in conjunction with others to improve effectiveness of your skills, much like adding equipment on top of the mortar and pestle for Alchemy. Suppose it'd just make too much sense to have crystal balls boost the strength of your enchantments, or something to that effect. Something more useful than just fencing it. I also liked the point about selling stolen goods to regular merchants. In the interests of realism I think it's a good concept, but I suppose it's never bothered me that I can only sell to fences. It's not like anything I find in the houses is worth something, lol.

[majikmonkee]

That's what I'm saying...calipers could have improved your armorer skill and worn out over time like hammers, or collecting folded cloth could have resulted in creation of clothes. Something.

[SandsOfTime404]

Yeah, it just seems a shame ya know? So much potential. Of course I'm not Bethesda, nor could I design my way out of a paper bag, so I don't understand what limitations, if any, the vanilla game had that it was included.