Is it possible to do EVERYTHING with just one character?

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 1:51 pm

I realize Oblivion is a RPG, and that your character decisions effect the outcome and plot in a certain way.

WITHOUT SPOILERS, can someone tell me if its possible to solve every quest in the game and see every single plotline and storyline and basically do everything with just one character?

I can't even imagine how long it might take to solve this game multiple times, there are so many quests and areas... I'm hoping to explore everything with just the Battlemage I created.

If you can't answer this question without giving spoilers, I'd rather you just answer YES or NO.. :smile:

Thanks,
Wahooka
User avatar
victoria johnstone
 
Posts: 3424
Joined: Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:56 am

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 5:25 pm

Yes.
User avatar
asako
 
Posts: 3296
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 7:16 am

Post » Fri May 04, 2012 12:39 am

In short, yes. But it′s really immersion-breaking to be the head of everything at the same time.

User avatar
Alexandra Louise Taylor
 
Posts: 3449
Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 1:48 pm

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 10:42 pm

As others have said, yes you can but I can not understand why anybody would want to, but maybe that's just me.
User avatar
Nymph
 
Posts: 3487
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 1:17 pm

Post » Fri May 04, 2012 12:46 am

As others have said, yes you can but I can not understand why anybody would want to, but maybe that's just me.

No, it's not just you. There's no "wrong" way to play a single-player game, but it's almost impossible to role-play a character who isn't consistent. There are some quest lines, like the Dark Brotherhood and Shivering Isles, which make no sense if done by a lawful good character, and an evil character isn't allowed to do the KOTN quest line.
User avatar
Laura Mclean
 
Posts: 3471
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:15 pm

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 10:42 pm

It depends how you define everything... as in do you mean just the quests and places, then yes by reloading your past save.

But if you want 100% completion, including every single rare item then no. It's impossible. Your choice can affect the reward you get from a quest, and a lot of quests reward you with enchanted items. You cannot get keep every single enchanted item from a quest if there are multiple because your choice allows you one. Not to mention there's possibly 100 oblivion gates, of which only 50 will randomly spawn across the map per new game, and if you've closed more than 20 when you give Martin the Amulet, no more will open.

Some quests are also continuous with no ending (e.g. Grand Champion Arena fights, giving madness ore/amber material to the blacksmith for armors)

I can't even imagine how long it might take to solve this game multiple times, there are so many quests and areas...

Not even half as close to the time it'll take you to do everything on one character. I don't mean this rudely, but you clearly have no idea just how much is in this game if you think it's faster on one character than multiple.
  • Some quests have multiple outcomes, and outcomes at several stages of the quest. I don't just mean the main quest line of Cyrodiil and Shivering Isles.
  • Having to constantly save during these quests which can be long themselves will eventually become tedious, and if you forget you may end up redoing a hell of a lot more than just your choice. Considering the amount of quests, do you really want to do that?
  • The choices you make during a quest can affect the dialog in the entire game. Another quest can also alter this dialog further (e.g. if you were lawful when you did KOTN quest line the dialog will change but gaining infamy points will change it further), If you want to hear all the dialog, then it'll be hell to finish on one character.
  • There are a total of 60 oblivion gates to shut - 50 randomly generate, 9 standard ones, and one great gate.
  • The guilds that can take ages to complete as they have their own outcomes too
  • There is an extraordinary number of Ayleid Ruins, caves and forts on top of all this
  • The Shivering Isles is only linked to Cyrodiil by a mysterious door. It is a whole new area with its own main quest line, forts/caves/ruins etc, artefact and rare items.
If you are really that concerned with a time efficient way to complete this game, then don't do it all on one character. You have no idea just how long it'll take you to do everything on one character. At least with multiple if you actually role play with this game you can do all the good stuff on one character, all the evil stuff on another (examples if you want simple rp) and you've technically done all, not to mention you can have a chance at getting each quest reward.

Having multiple classes means you can pick a race and class that gives you the ideal boosts and resistances to make your specific role play storyline go much smoothly than having one class do something it may not be ideal for.

P.s. if you want absolutely everything, get the 9 official plug-ins as well. 5 of these grant you new places which become safehouses once you complete the quest they each provide, KOTN is one of the expansion plug-ins, 1 adds brand new powerful spells to the game, 1 grants armor for your horse to aid it's survivability, and 1 puts in the largest dungeon in the game, with quests and it's own item.


As others have said, yes you can but I can not understand why anybody would want to, but maybe that's just me.

You aren't. LIke Glargg said there is no wrong way to play a game like this, but personally...I find it weird that someone would a role play game that gives you as much freedom for your character as this series and not role play with it.
User avatar
Patrick Gordon
 
Posts: 3366
Joined: Thu May 31, 2007 5:38 am

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 5:25 pm

Technically, yes, as charleycakes pointed out, by reloading your save. However, you will miss out on a very rich and rewarding experience with many different styles of play and characters.... by limiting yourself. My two septims. :shrug:
User avatar
Cat
 
Posts: 3451
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2006 5:10 am

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 4:24 pm

Well lets just say that it takes 150-200 hours to solve all the main quests and sidequests.. I'm not into re-loading past saves really,...

How many times are you guys re-playing this game, with different characters and strategies?

I can see myself playing through the entire game twice... maybe once as a good knight character and once as a thief/rogue character...

Besides that, I think it would take 3 years or more to do everything the game has, if you wanted to be a lot of different races/classes/alignments...

I would love to, but what about Skyrim? :smile:
User avatar
Joe Alvarado
 
Posts: 3467
Joined: Sat Nov 24, 2007 11:13 pm

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 4:47 pm

Well lets just say that it takes 150-200 hours to solve all the main quests and sidequests.. I'm not into re-loading past saves really,...

How many times are you guys re-playing this game, with different characters and strategies?

I can see myself playing through the entire game twice... maybe once as a good knight character and once as a thief/rogue character...

Besides that, I think it would take 3 years or more to do everything the game has, if you wanted to be a lot of different races/classes/alignments...

I would love to, but what about Skyrim? :smile:

To do everything with the exception of exploring every dungeon and including the DLC Expansion Shivering Isles will probably take you +200 hours. You certainly could join all the guilds, I don't see that as a problem unlike Skyrim where joining all the guilds really hurts the game.

Skyrim is also +200 hours to do everything but unlike Oblivion, you'll get bored with Skyrim a lot quicker at least that's what happened to me.
User avatar
Tai Scott
 
Posts: 3446
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 6:58 pm

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 11:32 pm

Well lets just say that it takes 150-200 hours to solve all the main quests and sidequests..

How many times are you guys re-playing this game, with different characters and strategies?

I can see myself playing through the entire game twice... maybe once as a good knight character and once as a thief/rogue character...

Besides that, I think it would take 3 years or more to do everything the game has, if you wanted to be a lot of different races/classes/alignments...

I would love to, but what about Skyrim? :smile:
We hear this a lot around here. :wink:

The thing that is hard for some people to understand is that many of us do not treat this as a game, in the conventional sense. For some of us, it is a kind of small, alternative universe we inhabit, via our characters, for a few hours at a time. The notion of "solving all the main quests and side quests" is alien to those of us who think this way. As I've said before, you don't "beat" an Elder Scrolls game, you live it.

Me, I tend to make up my own quests. I treat an Elder Scrolls game as a kind of blank canvas upon which I paint my own pictures, a blank book in which I write my own stories. Many of my characters do not do a single official, developer-written quest. I make my own quests, imagine my own dialog. That is where the real fun in Elder Scrolls games is for me. I have a vivid imagination and the stories, quests and dialog I write for my own characters is far more interesting to me than anything Bethesda writes.

Some of the prominent members of this forum have played their characters for hundreds, even thousands, of hours. I think they probably do something similar to what I do. They find their own fun. Some people like to be told a story. Other people like to tell their own stories. I think the people who are still with this game years later tend to be the kind of people who like to tell their own stories.
User avatar
Amy Masters
 
Posts: 3277
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 10:26 am

Post » Fri May 04, 2012 2:13 am

How many times are you guys re-playing this game, with different characters and strategies?

I won't speak for anybody else, but I've probably made more than 150 Oblivion characters, and a similar number in Morrowind. Some of those characters I only played for a few sessions, just to do a specific thing, or to try out an odd idea. Others have 100 hours and more on them. Obviously, I've been playing TES games for years, so it's not a matter of "trying to do everything."

The funny thing is that even after all this time, I still keep running into things I've never seen before, bits of dialog that I've never heard, etc.

I can see myself playing through the entire game twice... maybe once as a good knight character and once as a thief/rogue character...

I'd say that was probably the minimum necessary to get the flavor of the game. But my suggestion would be to try to get over the idea of "playing through." There's no ending to a TES game. The various major quest lines come to conclusions, but the world goes on. I've got one character with over 70 hours who just did her first "quest" the day before yesterday (it was only a minor one, too.)

I'd say play the game until it stops being fun, then go do something else. Later on, come back and play it some more, and you'll probably find something new in it.

Besides that, I think it would take 3 years or more to do everything the game has, if you wanted to be a lot of different races/classes/alignments...

I would love to, but what about Skyrim? :smile:

Is Skyrim going somewhere? :smile:
User avatar
Cartoon
 
Posts: 3350
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 4:31 pm

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 2:05 pm

I see no problem at all with what the OP is seeking to do and it is very possible to do all the quests/questlines with one character.


I thoroughly enjoyed pushing a couple 'crash dummies' through the game enjoying and absorbing everything there was. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. Then, about three years ago, I settled down to one long term roleplay character and have loved every minute of that. The synergy brought by my earlier play throughs is that if my current character wrinkles her nose at a quest - as she oft does - it doesn't bother me a bit, for I know what it is that she is missing and am happy to let her do so. With about 1200 hours of play time, my current character proudly holds the titles of Knight Errant in the Order of the White Stallion and Journeyman in the Guild of Mages. I don't expect her to rise much higher in her guild.
User avatar
Genocidal Cry
 
Posts: 3357
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 10:02 pm

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 4:58 pm

Yeah, but each time you create a new character, are you solving the entire game and EVERY quest all over again? Or just doing a few things you might have missed?
User avatar
Charlotte Henderson
 
Posts: 3337
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:37 pm

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 9:15 pm

Yeah, but each time you create a new character, are you solving the entire game and EVERY quest all over again? Or just doing a few things you might have missed?
Here's an example for you. My previous character was a marksman. He was also a part of the mages guild, but never advancing the quest line beyond receiving his first set of robes. He was a good guy, he did not join the Dark Brotherhood or the Thieves Guild because he could, he did not join these organizations because they were morally repulsive to him.
He became an apprentice to Daenlin down in Bravil, and that took up a lot of his time, so he took a leave from the Mages' Guild to work for Daenlin. Don't worry, he made it back to the guild studies. A lot of friggin hunting... he used to curse Daenlin's name behind his back.... until, not unlike the Karate Kid moment, he reallzed that he's leading on the fly, taking snap shots and felling deer with ease.
Which gradually led to hunting bigger game, and traveling the land, getting into scraqes here and there, getting drunk in taverns, living large ya know?
After some time, under Daenlin's further mentorship, he became a Master, and thus was authorized to offer his services. He taught lessons to the Fighters Guild members up in Chorrol. Once every two weeks or so he would travel to Chorrol for lessons.
One adventure led to another, a conversation, a quest and a friendship, and then a freelance gig as a vampire hunter. Which he became very good at. And known for. Unfortunately, he was a part of a DiD play, and died at the hands of three vampires in a cave that he just randomly ducked into to escape the driving rain. He put up a good fight, but was overwhelmed..... RIP. :cry:

And now I get to create a new character. :twirl:
User avatar
Racheal Robertson
 
Posts: 3370
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:03 pm

Post » Fri May 04, 2012 2:37 am

Yeah, but each time you create a new character, are you solving the entire game and EVERY quest all over again? Or just doing a few things you might have missed?

I see it as a wide-open sandbox. You can do whatever you want. You can do quests whenever you want to, or not at all. There are only a handful of situations in the game where you are "locked in" until you finish a task, and very few where there is a time limit.

You can basically "tell your character's story" within the framework of the game, doing just those things that fit with your character, your mood, your desire for skill training, etc.

That includes, as Acadian said, the possibility of trying to do everything with one character, although, as Charleycakes pointed out, you still cannot get all the different quest awards, or hear all the possible dialog, in one playthrough.

As for really finishing in X number of hours... I don't know anybody who has actually completed the Nirnroot quest line, for instance, even though there are a finite number of them. There are open-ended questlines like the Black Bows, the Arena, etc. The dungeons respawn endlessly; go away for three game days, and there's new loot and enemies.

And there are more than 200 dungeons in the vanilla game, not counting Shivering Isles! Some of the quest lines have you randomly searching them for "collector's items." You could spent hundreds of hours in this game and not even touch everything once, and it all respawns over and over. It's truly endless.
User avatar
Bellismydesi
 
Posts: 3360
Joined: Sun Jun 18, 2006 7:25 am

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 8:58 pm

... I don't know anybody who has actually completed the Nirnroot quest line, for instance, ...

Baa did all the stuff for Sinderion a long time ago. Then she sold him more, ten at a time. Then she started saving them - she now has 46 in storage. She has a total of 236 in her journal. The only two from inside buildings that she collected were the pirate boat and Blackwood Hall. Baa has found 5 more Nirnroots in the last few days by following the water’s edge back a hundred yards or so, and behind buildings you’ve walked by dozens of times.
User avatar
suniti
 
Posts: 3176
Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:22 pm

Post » Fri May 04, 2012 3:42 am

Baa did all the stuff for Sinderion a long time ago. Then she sold him more, ten at a time. Then she started saving them - she now has 46 in storage. She has a total of 236 in her journal. The only two from inside buildings that she collected were the pirate boat and Blackwood Hall. Baa has found 5 more Nirnroots in the last few days by following the water’s edge back a hundred yards or so, and behind buildings you’ve walked by dozens of times.

There are over 300 in the world, so Baa still has work to do! ;)
User avatar
Charlotte X
 
Posts: 3318
Joined: Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:53 am

Post » Fri May 04, 2012 2:24 am

Nirnroot quest you can knock out in an hour, two tops if you follow the shore around. I always try to knock that out right away.

I eventually end up doing all the quests. I know it's not exactly the kosher way on this board but neither is playing a vampire. :D My "main quest" in an Elder Scrolls game always turns out to be to win the world over to vampirism. Sort of a Pandemic:Tamriel Edition. I achieve this by first doing quests to get in good graces, second turning the world to into blood dolls, then a select few get the best gift: vampirism. Stage 4 Vampirism= Madagascar.

What I'm trying to get at is you can do whatever you want in the game. It's single player. Enjoy however you want. If you are worried about holding out quests until the right level for the best reward look into getting a quest reward leveler mod. You did say you were on PC in a previous topic right?
User avatar
Claire Mclaughlin
 
Posts: 3361
Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:55 am

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 5:17 pm

Heh, Nirnroot is one (admittedly tiny) reason Buffy and I started our game over at 1000 hours. She lamented that her landscape was so free of the beautiful root of Nirn. In her new game and world with only a shiny new 200 hours on it, she has gathered her one and only sample – from the bottom of a well. Realizing that they don’t grow back, she will pick no more. Sinderion was not exactly thrilled, but seeing Buffy cordially balk at his quest is just one more reason why I’m glad I’ve ‘been there, done that, got the tee shirt’ with other characters. Regardless, after sharing a bottle of Tamika’s from Sinderion's fine collection of wines the two elves have become great friends.

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv43/Acadian6/Epic%20Buffy/ScreenShot969.jpg
User avatar
DAVId Bryant
 
Posts: 3366
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:41 pm

Post » Thu May 03, 2012 6:14 pm

Yeah, but each time you create a new character, are you solving the entire game and EVERY quest all over again? Or just doing a few things you might have missed?

I've yet to "complete" this game in terms of doing everything that can be possibly done on one character, but if I end up doing something repetitively that isn't the main focus of the character I end up very bored easily. As in, if I complete all the quests as per the intention of a character, then start diving into all the dungeons around town I'll get bored. But if I make a new character that prefers exploring all these dungeons, at least if I get bored I can incorporate some quests into the storyline. So it helps to replay as someone else along with the freedom this game gives because I'm not obligated to do anything except escape from the sewers.

If this is your first play of oblivion, the next time you play it you'll remember how to do certain quests and you'll wizz through them much quicker than you did before as you'll know where to go and where stuff is.

The dungeons respawn endlessly; go away for three game days, and there's new loot and enemies.

I did not know the loot respawns...that's great for my collector character.
User avatar
lauraa
 
Posts: 3362
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:20 pm

Post » Fri May 04, 2012 6:01 am

Nirnroot quest you can knock out in an hour, two tops if you follow the shore around. I always try to knock that out right away.

By "finishing" it, I was referring to collecting all the Nirnroot in the world. There are over 300 of them, and it will take a long time to find them all. :)


I did not know the loot respawns...that's great for my collector character.

Well, the loot in most chests respawns. Stuff outside of chests doesn't respawn generally, so the quantities of things like Welkynd Stones and Ayleid Statues are limited.
User avatar
Tom Flanagan
 
Posts: 3522
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2007 1:51 am

Post » Fri May 04, 2012 1:04 am

Thanks for the replies to this topic... very interesting..

I'm a little dissapointed at the number of obvious SPOILERS, but thanks..

Wahooka
User avatar
Laura Mclean
 
Posts: 3471
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:15 pm

Post » Fri May 04, 2012 5:52 am

By "finishing" it, I was referring to collecting all the Nirnroot in the world. There are over 300 of them, and it will take a long time to find them all. :smile:

Yea getting them all I couldn't imagine doing. That would take a lot of dedication.
User avatar
carrie roche
 
Posts: 3527
Joined: Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:18 pm

Post » Fri May 04, 2012 5:27 am

By the way, why do you say that I will get BORED with Skyrim? I heard its better then Oblivion...
User avatar
how solid
 
Posts: 3434
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:27 am

Post » Fri May 04, 2012 5:57 am

What obvious spoilers?


I've heard morrowind is the best out of the series, it doesn't mean it necessarily would be. There are many differences between the games that skyrim players may very well hate (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Skyrim_for_Oblivion_Players if you want some examples). It depends on what you like and want about your adventure really. Some oblivion players cannot stand the vanilla oblivion and use mods to modify it to their tastes.
User avatar
Benji
 
Posts: 3447
Joined: Tue May 15, 2007 11:58 pm

Next

Return to IV - Oblivion