So I brought Oblivion and The Shivering Isles. I play through Oblivion finding it mediocre at best and install The Shivering Isles to my 360 later because it sounded like I should have started with The Shivering Isles first because it sounded like what Oblivion should have been. I find that after installing the content from The Shivering Isles disc, nothing activates. Not The Knights of Nine or The Shivering Isles. I receive no messages in the game even after waiting 24 hours and even try reinstalling the content but to no fruitful conclusion. Annoyed with this. I search online for a solution and help, only to uncover a revelation that The Shivering Isles disc version requires an Xbox Live connection which at the time, I didn't have in my house. Now, the box for The Shivering Isles clearly didn't say that an online connection was needed so people like me who didn't have Xbox Live brought it.

Like these reviewers say: http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B000XZAQUG/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar

It's basically a con. Releasing a boxed edition which doesn't work without being connected to Xbox Live, despite developers claiming that it came with the latest patch. Obviously they didn't test it. By the time that I did have connection to Xbox Live in my house which was months and months later I had sold Oblivion along with The Shivering Isles and I last saw them in the bargain bin in the HMV shop that I traded them into. Since then, I have avoided buying Bethesda products for two reasons:

1.) Fallout 3 makes this same mistake as Oblivion and even has the cheek to release three DLC discs (probably which don't work without Xbox Live connection) in one year and then release a package the same year later which contains all DLC + the full game. Other games like Dragon Age have released their DLC in one package along with the game + expansion and don't create ￡10 disc versions for every DLC they released. So put simply, every Bethesda game always ends up with various other editions and you have to wait for the right edition to come along.

2.) Even with Xbox Live. I still avoid downloading DLC. Call me sentimental but I value holding something in my hands. Say if I was to buy Skyrim near release date hearing that it improves on Oblivion's failures and then hear one year later about DLC on a disc that continues the story or what not, am I to buy it knowing about Bethesda's previous endeavors?

Since 2010, Bethesda have ignored the complaints on their own blog:

http://bethblog.com/index.php/2008/01/09/draft-how-to-start-shivering-isles-and-other-assorted-troubleshooting-tips/

I've been simply avoiding their bug filled games such as New Vegas and have even convinced others to avoid them. This sort of service from a company is just unacceptable. To release a game that doesn't even work and then offer hardly no support for it, that should be illegal.

Bethesda didn't make New Vegas.

No but it is their franchise now that they purchased and they did publish the game. Fallout 3 wasn't perfect either when it came to bugs. I stopped playing half way through.

If your gaff is with DLC, get out of gaming altogether. Devs are relying on it more and more every year because DLC spins a lot of sales and (to some) allows them to charge more for less. I think if you get over your prejudice, Bethesda's DLC is actually quite good value for money compared to the other stunts some people are pulling with it (well, except Oblivion's Horse Armor, but everything else was fine). None of the Fallout 3 DLC was simply paying two dollars for a couple armor reskins (like Fable 3 did, for instance, and just so you know, these are the DLCs I do avoid buying). Every DLC Fallout 3 had was fleshed out and meant something (even if a couple were a bit boring).

Get out of gaming altogether? Since when was gaming about DLC? What happened to games where you paid and could play everything and then if the game was successful, there would be an expansion pack which I have no problems with. Divinity II didn't release small DLC packs like all Bethesda games seem to be doing and just so you know, the Fable series went downhill with the buggy Fable 2. Other game companies still avoid creating and releasing DLC and concentrate on creating the main full game and if they do release DLC, it actually works and is significant.

My "gaff" is that the Shivering Isles didn't even work and Bethesda have just ignored this issue just as they ignored the vampire bug for the PS3 version that they got called out for. I've played open world games which don't even suffer from the amount of bugs that the TES series suffers from, so Bethesda can offer no excuses. I've been on plenty of forums where developers actually reply to people and it seems that it's not true here where the developers cowardly hide and ignore any criticism of their games.

Ever consider that maybe it is an issue the Beth has no control over?

Since when was gaming about DLC? Seriously? Gaming has EVERYTHING to do with DLC now, and has for years. Heck, there are games that are designed with DLC in mind right from the get-go. I, too, remember that time, but it is long gone now. Welcome to the modern trends of gaming.

Also, you are going to get nowhere by flat-out insulting the people who made this game. I suggest you re-think your approach before posting again. If you weren't willing to create an account for a FREE (as far as your scope would extend in this case) online service so you could install the expansion (which XBL Free WILL allow you to do), you have no one to blame here but yourself.

Using the DLC requires an internet connection? Since when? I remember installing the shivering isles and KOTN dlc off a disk I borrowed from my friend and it worked perfectly without any connection....

Hmm. Baldur's Gate never had any DLC. NWN never had any DLC. Divine Divinity never had any DLC. Divinity II never had any DLC (apart from one optional download for an armor set), Mount and Blade doesn't have any DLC and never will have any DLC. Mass Effect never had DLC apart from 2 content packs which aren't even required to experience the full game. The Two Worlds series has bits of DLCs such as avatars and a multiplayer adventure pack but again, none are needed to experience the full game. Finally; Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, only themes, avatars and custom ingame items for 400 gamer points which again, aren't continuing a story or adding something that should have been in the game upon full release.

I got Dante's Inferno last year and they already had the downloable content trailer up of St.Lucia on day one. Dante's Inferno was published by E.A - a company that people refer to as "the devil" and they are already doing the same with the Dragon Age and Mass Effect games but at least they have the courtesy to publish things that actually work! Now if Bethesda is creating 15 content packs for their games and releasing them on discs that don't work, that makes them even worst than E.A

I heard that The Shivering Isles was in development while Oblivion still wasn't released. Do you really think their DLC packs were made after Oblivion's release? Bethesda is concerned about one thing and that's money. Maybe they were great once with the community when they made Morrowind but obviously they have grown greedy over the years.

Gaming has nothing to do with DLC and I've played a great many games that haven't even included DLC apart from expansions pack which I have no problem with, provided that they actually work much unlike Bethesda's Shivering Isles.

I also suggest you reread this thread. At the time, I didn't have XBL and many other people can't get XBL for various reasons and thus fall for Bethesda's scam. If stating the truth is an insult, then surely you misunderstand. As I have proven, Bethesda have given up on the people on their own official blog who say that they can't get the disc or GOTY version of The Shivering Isles to work.

I have seen several game companies (yup, even Bioware) who actually post comments on their forums and try to help people and don't just tell them to phone customer service.

So no. Only for games like COD do I expect crappy DLC (and plenty of it) and poor customer service.

Bethesda can't even come and comment here about this problem as to why the disc version was released without a statement being on the box that said "XBL required". All they had to say on their blog was that they made a mistake but they can't even admit that and shamelessly tell people who can't get XBL - due to their area or another reason - to get XBL!

Please note MODERN gaming trends, as in the last two years. You may attack your straw man all you want, but it will ever remain a straw man.

Also, you don't need Shivering Isles to experience the full Oblivion. This one game alone is worth ten FPSes in the available content.



Ever hear of Project Ten Dollar? Go look it up, and you will see why we call them "The Devil" (although many agree that Activision has usurped EA now).



Umm... you know how many games are having DLC produced for them before they get released nowadays? Please go research your arguments before you try to pin this all on Bethesda.



America is completely dependent on the Internet now, and the gaming industry as a whole no longer caters to those who do not have a connection. Without a connection, you cannot play your game online, you cannot download updates, and for many titles, you cannot purchase DLC content. there are some games out there you cannot even play without an internet connection. Those without internet (and therefore, that is their only excuse not to have XBL, as I have proven), are so outnumbered by those who do that the industry does not need to care about them anymore. I don't like it, either, but that is the way the world works.

Also, Bethesda DOES listen to their community, but not in the way that you expect. You can see this when you compare their games, they take what the community like and expand on it, redo what was disliked, and incorporate some of the cool mods the PC users have developed. They may not reply, but THEY DO LISTEN. However, when you storm into the forums and throw a temper tantrum like you did in your OP, I'm surprised you are even expecting them to reply at all.

In the end, my point is, if you don't like it, tough. Bethesda is under no obligation to apologize to you, and throwing a hissy-fit on their forums is not going to help your case.

To my knowledge, Beth has NEVER replied to a thread of this nature. Ever.