Ok, when Oblivion was announced, I had a bunch of worries, along with a bunch of other people. We put up quite a fight, but eventually we either lost interest or couldn't stand the ravenous [censored] telling us that Oblivion would be perfect. Turns out we were entirely right. Don't get me wrong, I've purchased Oblivion 3 times on XBox 360 (first one broke, third one I bought cause I'm in the Navy now and my brother has all my old XBox stuff) and once for PC. It's a fun game, definitely worth buying and playing. But there's a difference between a good game and a great game, or, in the case of Oblivion, a HUGE difference.
The game releases 11.11.11. Obviously it's too late to make a difference (don't disagree, you'll just be wrong. In this stage of development, the game is not going to go through any significant changes. But I still feel the need to point out the terrible shortcomings of Oblivion. If The Elder Scrolls makes it to TES VI, as we all hope it will, if the developers actually read feedback maybe they can gather up the effort to make another game as good as Daggerfall and Morrowind (Arena's good for it's time, but it didn't age well).
First, the NPCs. Ironic that the whenever the developers addressed things like no mounted combat and no crossbows or throwing weapons and no spears, their argument was that they didn't want to half ass anything; that if they were going to do it, they were going to do it right. Ironic then that NPCs were done SO horribly. They had the most ridiculous conversations with each other, their facial expressions were robotic and lifeless, the voice acting was ehhhhhhhhh, and they all said the same things. Radiant AI was also wasted. It was a quest gimmick that didn't have wings outside of that. All the things gamesas did to try and bring life to the NPCs had the opposite effect. The Morrowind NPCs were more convincing and far less ridiculous (as well as more useful).
Second, the stealth/guards. I was glad when I heard one of the developers from the acclaimed Thief series was on board and had plans for the stealth system. But when the game was released... I'm not seeing what he might have done, if anything. Killing people in their own homes was very poorly done. Crime reporting was very poorly done. The whole thing was horrendous. The only way stealth was playable was to learn all the flaws and work the system, but it was very poorly done and playing a stealth character was a chore and not at all natural feeling. Leading the guards on a high tension chase through the town was really fun... until you noticed that they'd chase you halfway across Cyrodil... even though you broke the line of sight 10 minutes ago. And, breaking the line of sight, they still ALWAYS knew where you were.
Magic was decent. It was kind of disappointing in a single player only game that the power of the spell system would be gimped so horribly. I could make some spells in Morrowind that, while they might not be the most practical, were badass as [censored]. I could jump across the entirety of Vvardenfall in a few jumps. In Oblivion you can do damage in a few different ways and hurl objects around harmlessly. The only cool spell was paralyze, but that was cool because of physics. Enchanting items was gimped, spells were gimped, so while the magic system wasn't bad, it wasn't good, and I still prefer the clunky Morrowind magic system, BY FAR. For magic, I'd like to see tiers. Tier 1 is magic with a weapon out. It's quick, it's convenient, it's easy to incorporate into combat. Tier 2 is magic without a weapon equipped. Two handed magic. It's quick, but you're vulnerable. It's a little more powerful than Tier 1. Tier 3 is the height. It's the equivalent of a charged attack with a sword. You hold the casting button down. You have no weapon equipped. It's two handed, full focused magic. This is where things should approach Morrowind territory where some truly powerful things are accomplished. It takes longer to perform, you're vulnerable for longer, but the effects are more powerful. I'd also like to see old magic brought back, levitate, lock, etc... It's kind of annoying to see a company like gamesas relying on modders to complete their game, especially when there are console versions of the game that don't benefit from those mods.
Combat was also decent, but it also had a touch of down syndrome. Weapons attack with pretty much the same speed and do different damage depending on what skill you're good with, and that's pretty much the depth of the weapon types. In Morrowind I could burden someone to the point that they couldn't move (or damage strength, which was more fun cause they were helpless), and then use a spear to attack them from a range they could do nothing about. But Oblivion didn't really make the different weapons feel any different. It was different based on where/when you found them, what you were good with, and what type of weapon artifacts were. If you did a horizontal power attack with a sword, you hada chance to disarm. If you did a horizontal power attack with a hammer, you had a chance to disarm. Christ, is there really such a lack of creativity at gamesas that axes and swords and hammers and daggers hadto be carbon copies of each other? I suppose with what a let down Oblivion was it isn't too surprising but damn. It's hard to imagine that Morrowind came from the same developers.
I dunno, there's so much wrong with Oblivion that it's hard for me to bring all of it up without getting disorganized and sporadic. From the ridiculousness of level-scaling to the retardation of quest-NPCs that were invincible (not everyone who plays TES on every playthrough wants to complete the main quest), there's so SO many things that take what could have been a GREAT game and instead keep it as a slightly above average game in a niche with little competition (which is why it did SO well). I'm really hoping Skyrim isn't more of the same, but at this point it's too late to make a difference. We can only wait until the middle of January and HOPE that they haven't made the same mistakes and have actually put TES back on the right track as the amazing series it should be and used to be. Maybe when I've had time to organize more of my thoughts on the shortcomings of Oblivion I'll post more.
I'm interested in all of your thoughts as well. Try to keep discussion civil, though (not that I set the best example). Discuss.
Radiant AI served the ONLY purpose of giving NPCs things to do, and not stand lifelessly like in Morrowind. All the other bells and whistles that people speculated about Radiant AI were ALL made up by people in the community. In th einterviews, Bethesda made it CLEAR Radiant AI was not implemented for the bunch of crap people were suddenly expecting it did.
While I agree with your criticisms, I disagree with your conclusions. You talk as if the game were broken. The game wasnt broken; it worked well with what it had. You are comparing it too much with Morrowind, on categories that dont even apply, which is why your arguments have a glimpse of truth. For example, you talk of slowing enemies down on Morrowind, then attacking them with spears. Well, thats all fine, but given the combat direction of Oblivion, its really hard to see just how it could have gone differently with what they wanted to achieve. Instead of criticizing and criticizing, you could maybe PROPOSE an alternate battle system that, while balanced and exciting, is still deep and doesnt allow for you to be overpowered (the Oblviion system with spears...now THAT would have been broken).
You talk of all that is wrong, but dont seem to be able to come up with a way they could have harmonized all the issues surrounding making a balanced combat system. Your idea for a magic system, it seems to me at first glance, is actually a good idea. But in terms of combat....I get tired of people complaining, as if developers were some sort of gods who are supposed to find every possible answer for every possible issue.
In the end, what made Oblivion feel weird in places, was just the direction in which they wanted to tackle the issues Morrowind had. Its obvious not all of us agree with their approach in tackling the issues, but should be able to come up with good feedback. I dont see too much good feedback on these forums, just people whining about what they want to see and what they dont, as if that mattered from a design standpoint.
However, most of these things were criticized already by the gaming press. So saying it'll be "more like Oblivion" is actually insulting their capacity as game developers, which I think is taking your "Oblivion grievances" to the extreme.