In spite of buying the game not long after release, I've never managed to play through Oblivion. I briefly tried playing vanilla, but quit not long into it because I wanted to take advantage of the wonderful mods the game community had made...and I knew I'd never play through the game twice (I'm a once around guy, especially with games that take tens or hundreds of hours to complete). Unfortunately, I was overambitious in my mod installation...and my game then contained enough errors that it was too frustrating to play. I shelved it.

But I recently played through Fallout 3 (vanilla, strangely), and had a great time of it. This inspired me to give Oblivion another go. But, again, I want to take advantage of some of the great mods out there (again, I know this may strike you as a strange sentiment given that I played Fallout unmodded — but there weren't any mods at the time that I started my Fallout 3 game that significantly altered it).

Only this time I want to restrict my mod installation (at least initially) to just those mods that fundamentally transform the game. So I'm looking for recommendations. To be clear here, I'm speaking solely of content that makes the game more compelling, the combat more enjoyable, the play better balanced, existing characters more memorable (or adds them), introduces great new quests that are as good or better than the vanilla game, etc. Good examples here would be Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, Realistic Leveling, Race Balancing Project and The Lost Spires.

What I'm not looking for are cosmetic, immersion and/or convenience enhancements (examples: NPC textures, more weapons, better weather, improved appearance, UI, framerate, audio, alchemy ingredients gathering mods, dynamic lighting, etc.). I'm not saying I won't ultimately use some of these or that they don't expand and change the world — only that you don't need them to fully experience Oblivion's (and community content) stories, make combat fun, have a balanced leveling experience (so the game remains challenging), and see what Oblivion fundamentally has to offer. Wearing an amazing-looking set of armor in a real-sounding thunderstorm won't make my game especially memorable; surviving an outstanding quest by the skin of my teeth will.

So, which were the mods that really took your game to the next level?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

- ELB

Your wants sound pretty similar to mine. Check out my "must haves" in the copy/paste below. You can also answer the questions if you want and look oversome of the other links. If you need any specific help I'd be glad to assist, just don't have much time to type more right now.

Here are a few of my suggestions:

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8273 Makes combat more interesting and fun.

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15256 You already mentioned it, but here it is. (if you're feeling ballsy with the installations, go with FCOM instead.)

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15619. You should enjoy this one particularly if you enjoyed fallout 3

To be honest, some of the best mods that enhanced my immersion also did so by rebalancing and tweaking gameplay in ways that brought the game to a whole new level of both intense and intensely awesome. The single mod that probably gave me the most by way of a new appreciation for the game, and the one I'd particularly recommend, is Arthmoor's phenomenal http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35265, which does a frankly staggering number of things all within the limits of the vanilla Oblivion code, making the game much more fun, immersive, and harrowing.

I am playing again after playing The Witcher 2. I'm going to try and play as a Witcher, with a 2 handed sword, light or cloth armor, and a focus on simple magic and stat-buffing alchemy. Any mods anyone would suggest?