Watched Greg Kasavin play Oblivion for 3 hours... sucked really

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MelchiorZ

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Well, I dunno if anyone else has been watching Greg from Gamespot play Oblivion (Hes still playing right now), but suffice to say I am not getting the game.

Even though he said it was a great time, I was bored to death watching him. All he did was hack and slash use his heal, and walk around. It wasn't cinematic, it felt like a dungeon crawl with a really crappy plot. Maybe its cause he chose to be an ugly ass Orc "thug" , but I had a feeling he'd be dying 40x as much if he had been a mage/thief class...

I play RPGs almost exclusively, and I guess I don't like this game for the same reasons I didn't like Morrowind (First person = dull, can't see yourself, action is slow, everything in the game was slow, lack of cinematics and excitement to the storyline, just... boring. Personally, I think first person only belongs on FPS...)

Alot of things touted in the game was totally absent. AI kinda sucked, lotta things don't make sense, though the dialog was great, some of it made no sense. (This one lady is like "OMG, I lost everything! Even though I didn't have much ... *click barter* Oh look I have everything you'll ever need on your adventurers in my mini-mart, please buy from me!)

I would really like to see what score Gamespot gives this game.. and even all of yalls opinions (based on Morrowind?). I mean what is it in this game that attracts you? I find the storyline bland (which totally kills a single player RPG IMO), the openendedness great but with the lack of focus and incentives pretty pointless. The graphics are very nice indeed, but it just doesn't save teh game.

I guess to me, it feels like your thrust into a world that might be very interesting, with very realistic graphics, nice sound and everything... total immersion into a potentially fantastic world, but what you end up finding is that all you really do is whistle and stare into the pretty grass, kill a few goblins and follow the bland storyline as it progresses to an inevitably predictable ending.

I think we all know how Oblivion will end... though it would be interesting if the endgame involved utter oblivion... now that would be a kick in the face!

*Oh and please flame away, but keep it constructive. Yes constructive, not destructive flame please :)
 
The thing about the game is, you can play it however you want. If what he was doing didn't interest you at all, you can do something else. You could spent months on the game and never even touch the storyline. Whatever you want to do, you can do. That's what makes it so great.
 
My main issue with the Elder Scroll series has always been the extremely loose story. They create an awsome sandbox to play in but you loose interest in the over all plot of the game due to the freedom, that in my opinion makes the series a very bad RPG.

But then again, some people love that type of freedom, I for one am more of a linear strong story kind of guy. Some freedom is great but when you can spend days off the path then its too much for me.

Radiata Stories and the .hack games had a great balance between freedom and linearity.
 
I guess it depends if Greg is playing the main quest or just goofing off doing other crap. It would be difficult to tell how engaging the game actually is if the person playing isn't engaged.
 
Seriously though, just how many avenues can be taken with this game? I'm mean I'm all about non-linear play, but if it takes me months and months of playing to figure out a path that can take me to the final objective, I'm not going to be a happy gamer.

I personally don't have any experience with the Elder Scroll series and am unaware of its gameplay, but from what I've seen I'm pretty intrigued.

I really wish it had a multiplayer mode.
 
I can't remember (because of the late hour) if the main quest starts off fairly quickly or not. I'll be finding out tomorrow when I get the game.
 
Personally, I don't get why anyone would watch the feed. It isn't like watching speedruns where the person is actually good at the game or does interesting things. Yeah, it's boring.
 
pr0pensity said:
And why the hell would you sit there watching for three hours if it bored you?
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Agreed. I doubt I could sit and watch for three hours even if I was entertained.
 
The biggest appeal to the game is the openess of it, the main story line is just a fraction of the game. TES has never really been known for it's great stories, its all the other things you can do that really make the game. If going around and killing goblins dosen't appeal to you don't, I know in Morrowind I never spent a minute walking around killing random things and it's kept me entertained for a very long time.

Watching someone else play would be like following someone around in real life, theres an infinite amount of choices you can make in the game and his probably aren't going to reflect yours.
 
all this stuff you can do in the game and you don't wanna play? well how about this. you can chase deer through the woods and kill them. thats what sold me!

lol just kidding.
 
Z(+)DIAC said:
Seriously though, just how many avenues can be taken with this game? I'm mean I'm all about non-linear play, but if it takes me months and months of playing to figure out a path that can take me to the final objective, I'm not going to be a happy gamer.
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The thing about the Elder Scrolls games is that you have the option of ignoring the main story pretty much as long as you like, but it's almost always clear what you have to do do advance the main story. At least, I feel that way when playing them.

RagManX
 
Greg is the one who wrote the awesome review of World of Warcraft the same week that people could not log in. WoW had a very rough launch the first two weeks and Greg completely glossed over it. He has 0 credibility with me.
 
|MaguS| said:
My main issue with the Elder Scroll series has always been the extremely loose story. They create an awsome sandbox to play in but you loose interest in the over all plot of the game due to the freedom, that in my opinion makes the series a very bad RPG.

But then again, some people love that type of freedom, I for one am more of a linear strong story kind of guy. Some freedom is great but when you can spend days off the path then its too much for me.
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IMO this is THE difference between people that like RPGs but do or do not like Morrowind/Oblivion. There aren't too many games that provide this amount of freedom.

I never did finish the main quest in Morrowind...
 
I'd be bored too watching someone else play any game.

The freedom to wander in the game has been a complaint among some with the Elder Scrolls games since they've been out. I played Morrowind for a couple months and realized I was becoming bored because there was no direction. That's when I did a little homework and learned who I need to talk to in order to pursue the main quest. It won't be long I'm sure before a walkthrough will be out and let us all know how to pursue the main quest.

The key to RPG's though is character building. I don't understand people that complain about a game that you could play for months and months without ever "finishing" when there are so many games that people complain about being too short. Here is a game you will certainly get your money's worth if you want.

Something else I discovered when I played Morrowind. If I get in a hurry I would become annoyed or bored. This isn't a game you try to hurry through. You wander and enjoy everything about the game and take your time. If you go with that philosophy you'll likely enjoy the game.

That said Oblivion isn't for everyone, but I'm sure it'll be great in my book. I played Morrowind for 6 months straight when it came out and really enjoyed it.
 
Watching someone play a game is WAY different than actually playing it yourself.

I don't think a single person (outside of Greg) would find this entertaining.
 
Well watching someone play is really better than most reviews you can ever read, that should be pretty obvious... I watched it for 3 hours because I thought something interesting enough would make me want the game eventually... but nope.

Whoever says watching games are not interesting has not watched *good games like Warcraft 3, or even demo like games like the Final Fantasy series.
 
I don't think a single person (outside of Greg) would find this entertaining.
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I disagree, I found it very interesting, though I didnt watch it for a long amount of time. Ive been looking foward to Oblivion for a while now, and it was cool to see some gameplay footage longer than 12 seconds.
 
But come on. Is there one game more then racing and flight sims that is fun to watch as a spectator. In those you know what it´s all about and can follow it like sport games.

But seriously watching others play is booring I want to play myself :). Also who would want 24 hours of spoilers like Gamespot gives you...

But if you don´t like Morrowind I don´t think you will like Oblivion. It´s the same type of game after all.

I absolutely love Morrowind. I also loved KOTOR but for totally different reasons. Morrowind you get part of the world. In Kotor you merely look at it. Morrowind it happens more here and now... In kotor you can paus and you see the dices and rolls that dictates how your attacks unfold.

Story in Kotor is bloody awesome yes but it´s to confined. It makes you feel like you watch a movie or something. Nothing bad with that though... Morrowinds story its more built around you. No cinematics that takes away from your first perspective. You see it as you would if it was real.

So total different approaches. Morrowind wouldn´t have been so great if it wasn´t for it´s awesome first person perspective. I want to feel it´s me that plays Oblivion not some puppet under my control.

But that said Kotor matches Morrowind quite well but the open gameplay and more living world just makes Morrowind unreachable for that kind of rpgs Kotor stand for :)
 
JustinSane said:
all this stuff you can do in the game and you don't wanna play? well how about this. you can chase deer through the woods and kill them. thats what sold me!

lol just kidding.
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yeah, but can you build a fire and roast it?
how about just eat it raw?
 
oqvist, you're on to something. Lucasarts has always designed their Star Wars games with having a cinema feel to them. It's an interactive movie that is deliberately crafted with story arcs and a three act structure.

Oblivion is designed as an interactive world. Designed from the beginning to be freeform rather than structured. Some people enjoy structure over freeform. I'd say that is based mostly on your personality and preferences.

Too early to say without playing it if the main story arc follows some sort of standard structure, but I'm going to assume that it is.
 
When I got morrowind I became very bored with it. I would play and not know what to do. It took me a year after restarting my game many times to finally get into it. This type of game you have to be proactive, no hand guiding, you have to go and follow the story or wonder off if thats is what you want to do. I finally got the strategy guide for help, and right now I'm goin through morrowind for the third time. I love it, this third time I have a bunch of mods that make it awesome. I hear Oblivion will be better in the sence there will be more direction, a little more hand guiding, don't know where to go? your compass will put you in the right direction for you main quest. no more not knowing what to do, though once I got the hang of morrowind I was never lost, always knew what I had to do next.
 
I am also not buying all of the Oblivion hype. I played Morrowind for under an hour before I was bored to tears with it and just put it away. Having freedom in games is good, but not good for RPGs. RPGs should be story driven, not freedom to wander around driven. Paper and Pen based RPGs are good for freedom, because you have a live person running the game who can interact back with you and shape the story as you progress, but a computer can't do that, so you are limited to a less involving and driving story with games like Oblivion.

The great RPGs I have played, like FFVII, FFIX, Lunar 1 and 2, Xenosaga, etc, got me very involved and interested in the story of the game within the first five or ten minutes of play. The best RPGs should make you not want to put the controller down because you have to find that next bit of story, unravel a little bit more of the mystery, etc. You can still have some openness in games like this FFVII has a tremendous amount, and the mini-games and side quests really added a lot to the depth of the game, but the main game itself was still about the story.

So, I might pull Morrowind back out and try to get into it a little bit again, maybe see if I can at least get to the story ans use that as a guage if Oblivion will be worth checking out.

For me though, this release is nowhere near as exciting as FF XII will be, now that is a game worth getting hyped about.
 
Heh, yeah I get bored watching anybody play any game. I watched a friend play pirates once and thought he was an idiot for buying it -- then my wife bought it and I played it for about 3hrs straight. I'd suggest playing it before you figure out whether it is fun or not.

As far as the hack n' slash/heal play style, yeah I could see how that is boring, but I played an acrobat for a few hours last night and had a blast...didn't die once. It's all about timing with your shield and using your stealth/bow attacks. You can one-shot guys with a bow in stealth. Thieves don't die if you play them right. And I used my fireball spell a bit too when I couldn't get an open shot in close range combat (stupid axe wielders are tough).

If you really wanted, you could just walk around the game and kill everything. You could walk around the game and pick herbs and make potions for 30hrs and find every potion/herb combo there is. You could just raid bandit caves (which are sooo much better in this game then marrowind -- although I haven't been in as many).

As far as the freedom complaints -- you get into the main story as soon as you pop in the game. You can choose to follow just the story. You are given freedom, but you don't have to exercise it -- that's the beauty of freedom. I don't see how you can complain about this. If you want a traditional rpg, play it as such; if you don't want a traditional rpg, don't play it as such. It's that simple.

Honestly though, I don't think the op is being a "hater" on the game and truely think this is an honest observation of the game; however, it is only because the op is reviewing it from a very limited and skewed perspective. Play the game, man, then review it.
 
jubei said:
As far as the freedom complaints -- you get into the main story as soon as you pop in the game. You can choose to follow just the story. You are given freedom, but you don't have to exercise it -- that's the beauty of freedom. I don't see how you can complain about this. If you want a traditional rpg, play it as such; if you don't want a traditional rpg, don't play it as such. It's that simple.
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Some people want a movie, a la Final Fantasy, or some mindless "do this, go there" fun. Nothing wrong with that if that's what you're looking for, I guess.
 
eggrock said:
Some people want a movie, a la Final Fantasy, or some mindless "do this, go there" fun. Nothing wrong with that if that's what you're looking for, I guess.
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The thing is that you COULD play it in the FF manner if you wanted too. The main story line is 20 to 30 hours long and doesn't require deviation at all. Also in FF games there are so many side-quests you can do (like chocobo racing, or gathering special equipment or skills) that I think it's really inaccurate to say FF is a particularly linear game series.

Anyway, anyone complaining about the game being too "Open" can fix that issue by focusing on the main quests and ignoring the rest of the world.... As a matter of fact, I would suggest to almost everyone that for the first play through of the game you do no more than 3 side quests in each town you visit, and only visit towns you have to for the main quest. That will probably only extend the game by 10 to 15 hours and keep it moving along the storyline reasonably quickly as well. Playing that way should keep you interested enough to finish the game, and whether you play again at a slower pace or not you will have gotten your monies worth.


I think the issue for a lot of people with Arena, Daggerfall, and Morrowind was that they feel the NEED to do EVERYTHING and find EVERYTHING. You have to force yourself not to worry about such things and just focus on doing what you enjoy and keeping the game moving.
 
arentol said:
The thing is that you COULD play it in the FF manner if you wanted too. The main story line is 20 to 30 hours long and doesn't require deviation at all. Also in FF games there are so many side-quests you can do (like chocobo racing, or gathering special equipment or skills) that I think it's really inaccurate to say FF is a particularly linear game series.

Anyway, anyone complaining about the game being too "Open" can fix that issue by focusing on the main quests and ignoring the rest of the world.... As a matter of fact, I would suggest to almost everyone that for the first play through of the game you do no more than 3 side quests in each town you visit, and only visit towns you have to for the main quest. That will probably only extend the game by 10 to 15 hours and keep it moving along the storyline reasonably quickly as well. Playing that way should keep you interested enough to finish the game, and whether you play again at a slower pace or not you will have gotten your monies worth.


I think the issue for a lot of people with Arena, Daggerfall, and Morrowind was that they feel the NEED to do EVERYTHING and find EVERYTHING. You have to force yourself not to worry about such things and just focus on doing what you enjoy and keeping the game moving.
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Well, I have a question. Was there any point to doing any of the "freedom" stuff? Like chasing a deer, or making potions, or killing bandits. Does the game give you incentive (aka, special cinematics, powerups, new spells and items WORTH getting, new looks)? If there is no point in doing those things, then there is no point! That is exactly what I find to be wrong about this series of games, you can do anything, but it simply doesn't reward you for doing it.

Its like in real life, I am free to do alot of different things in my time, but is there a point? What do I get out of it?

In other games like Final Fantasy, side quests actually REWARD you, exploring things and doing all the strange stuff give you an incentive by giving you uber items or skills or new powers whatever. I have just never heard anyone refer to the Elder Scrolls series like this. It seems to me like they're satisfied to do random stuff that doesn't reward you at all.

In a way, it feels like Grand Theft Auto, but totally lacking any of the morbid satisfaction you get out of jacking cars and beating on the popo or w/e...
 
I am one of those "must complete everything" kind of gamer.
That's why a game like final fantasy tactics completely devoured my time in hs.

I try to stay away from games like that.. but oblivion looks like a must play.




Why do I feel like I am opening pandora's box.
 
Masume said:
I am one of those "must complete everything" kind of gamer.
That's why a game like final fantasy tactics completely devoured my time in hs.

I try to stay away from games like that.. but oblivion looks like a must play.




Why do I feel like I am opening pandora's box.
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I played FFT like a mofo too, and completing everything definately felt like an objective and was very rewarding. Granted, after I played through twice, I went on a powertrip and started soloing with just the main character pretty much...
 
MelchiorZ said:
Well, I have a question. Was there any point to doing any of the "freedom" stuff? Like chasing a deer, or making potions, or killing bandits. Does the game give you incentive (aka, special cinematics, powerups, new spells and items WORTH getting, new looks)? If there is no point in doing those things, then there is no point! That is exactly what I find to be wrong about this series of games, you can do anything, but it simply doesn't reward you for doing it.

Its like in real life, I am free to do alot of different things in my time, but is there a point? What do I get out of it?

In other games like Final Fantasy, side quests actually REWARD you, exploring things and doing all the strange stuff give you an incentive by giving you uber items or skills or new powers whatever. I have just never heard anyone refer to the Elder Scrolls series like this. It seems to me like they're satisfied to do random stuff that doesn't reward you at all.

In a way, it feels like Grand Theft Auto, but totally lacking any of the morbid satisfaction you get out of jacking cars and beating on the popo or w/e...
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Well, chasing deer for an hour doesn't have much of a payoff outside of the fun of doing so, but if it's like Morrowind then a lot of the side quests, especially the ones that form a series of quests, will probably have serious rewards.
 
I am one of those that has to do everything, that is why I bought the guide. That is why I bought the guide to morrowind. I am one of those that if I miss something cool, than I feel cheated. So I can't miss anything, though prolly won't matter much, I plan on beating this game more than once anyhow.

You are rewarded for doin side stuff besides the joy of it. In morrowind I wanted to collect every book I could get my hands on, than I set up a library, I wanted to compete with npc's librarys, lol I just thought that would be kewl. The reward besides just having a big library? I could read all of em and dive into the lore of the game.
 
i believe it averaged around 9.3-9.5 on most sites.why would you want to see what gamestop gave it?just wondering...
 
Watching someone else playing a game you want to play is like watching someone do a really hot chick. Its ok, but you would rather be there doing the work yourself. :D
 
I still want to know if you can build a fire and cook the deer & eat it!!!
That would be WAY cool...

and mice... and rabbits
and taurens
and orcsies

and ... dare I say NPCs??? cannibalism!
 
I just played it for an hour, and the AI is terrible. I chased a deer into a lake, townsfolk don't even blink when I draw my sword right in front of their face, and I was arrested after denying to gamble at the arena (a bug?).
 
I watched it for 2.5 hours. It seemed to be a huge improvement over Morrowind.
 
I increased my stats in bowing greatly by killing cliff racers. Killing dear will probably have the same effect :). You increase you stats in Oblivion by doing things. Or you can get practise or pay for books of course.
 
I am one of the naysayers. I tried Morrowind. I really expected to like it. At first I did too. Then the boring ass quests just continued to pile up, many of them giving pitifully meager rewards for the effort. Go to Vivec and talk to so and so, then talk to this other person as well, pick up a message from C and deliver it back to A then come back here for next to nothing as reward. (Sorry but I do not consider access to the next quest in the chain to be a true reward) Just sooooooo uninteresting and tedious to me. I find the "freedom" to be mostly illusory. You can do whatever you want but what are you really doing? Nothing I found particularly enthralling and around 17th to 18th level I wearied of it altogether. I haven't given up hope entirely on Oblivion, since I feel Morrowind was a considerable improvement over Daggerfall. (Though my exp. with DF was fairly limited, had only played it just a little, before my 3d accelerator upgrade caused non-function) And if they step up Oblivion to a similar extent then maybe this one can hold my attention. I know I will find out for sure since my fiancee adores MW so OB is definately in the very near future for this household.
 
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