Hey all, long time no visit.

I've been http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCTLfKRUV9c some http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsSUWqbGgH0 on YouTube, reminiscing about Oblivion and the fun times had therein. I've only played the series since Morrowind, sticking with consoles for economic reasons, so these videos showing off high-spec PCs and mods really wowed me.

I'm mostly a console gamer, and I've had a fantastic experience with the series on my consoles despite the obvious shortcomings of those versions. Morrowind was unforgettably magical, and Oblivion was next-gen epic. Recently, though, I'm finding the PC a more and more attractive base for gaming, with my love for The Elder Scrolls series (and other Bethesda IP like Fallout) probably the foremost reason. The task of building a great, future-proof PC is a daunting one for a first-timer, and I'm putting it off until some announcement from Bethesda regarding the next Elder Scrolls. It's likely we're getting closer and closer to some announcement of the next installment in the series, and those above vids have got me thinking...

Oblivion looks like a totally different game there than the one I played. Given the time and effort put into it from the mod community, the game has practically been perfected to a logical culmination—they've improved textures, animations, balancing, everything. It's like the community has fulfilled the game's potential, as a labor of love, and that just amazes me. So, thinking about jumping into PC gaming and setting up a rig of my own, the question becomes: do I even play the thing when it comes out, or wait still longer for this devoted community to craft it into the diamond that inevitably follows release? Can I even wait longer than that (lol)?

I wonder what the community here thinks about all this. I imagine there is a large PC-crowd on these forums, and I'd like to maybe hear what everyone's experience has been between the games and the mods, how that experience has changed over time as new modifications become available, etc. Or what some console gamers think of the lack of such a community in their version. Maybe there's a possibility that community mods will become available on consoles in the future? I'm just probing, here. Jump in if you want, I'll be monitoring on and off for awhile.

Thanks!

::edited poll for better accuracy::

Yay, first post and vote.
Good pole dude, this will surely give good feedback. YOU ARE A FREAKING GENIUS.
This will end the Make Elder Scrolls for consoles trend. No offense to console users. But if bethesda made the game for PC first and just made cuts for consoles then we wouldn't have these debates. PC users get what they want, and console users get a playable game.

After a few good mods came out, (OOO, MMM, the ULs, Better Cities, Realswords, OBGE), Oblivion went from good to awsome.

I doubt there will be any "Skyrim Graphics Extender" for at least a few years after the launch of the actual game. Rest assured though, it will happen and there wil be great mods for TES V.

No, unfortunately there will be no mods for console owners. This does not bother me though as the devs version of Oblivion is my favourite. I used to play OB on the PC and I switched to Xbox 360 to find it was waaaay better. No cheats. That is what matters. If you switch to PC you might use cheats and that ruins the game. Its addictive so never start.

EDIT:

Screw you x_death. Us console owners deserve equality. I am a hardcoe Elder Scrolls fan and I do not think that it is fair for the PC gamers to have a better version of a game that I might very well like more than them.

Well playing most all TES games and seeing the massive amounts of user created plug-ins on the web for the PC versions, I would play the game (buy it) months after it's release. Watching reviews for it, critics and the sort I'd base my decision on that which I'd want to play it on. If it's presented well on the consoles I'd be more inclined to do so, but that's because I don't have enough money to pay for a new PC.


Downside is that (personally) the console player get robbed of the rich non-company based additions and mods. Not saying that Bethesda did this on purpose, but it would be nice.

What a strange couple of first posts

If you look at Oblivion most of the 'groundbreaking' mods started being developed/released in the last couple of years

It takes time. I think it's mostly dependant on the work of the script extender team

This is interesting: being a console gamer, I had no idea that some of the more impressive mods have been so recent. 'Script extending' is a method of modifying the content I presume, but as opposed to what? And why is it so unruly/difficult to handle?

I meant no offense, but it is unfair for us PC users to get a Dumbed down game, becaues of you consoles users have pride issues. Consoles have limitations no one can argue that, but because of that everyone has to suffer. *cough* communism *cough*

I am not saying that they should make cuts for the console, if they didn't have to then I'm all for keeping the games the same. I might even get a PS3 or Xbox 360 and play TES 5 on it.

But if you have to make cuts because of console limitations, then don't make the same cuts for PC.

Besides its not like you console gamers will miss out on what your not already missing out on.

So PC gamers should be screwed over when it comes to graphics(higher res textures, shadows, etc) because consoles can't run them?

OT: My first TES game was Oblivion for the PS3. I didn't know anything about the TES series, and it was a great experience for me. Then, I found out about mods, and I got really jealous of PC gamers. I decided to buy Oblivion for the PC, and I had a blast with all the mods. Just recently, I bought Morrowind GOTY for the PC, but only a couple of days ago did I really start playing it. I'm currently using MGE(no shaders unfortunately) and a bunch of hi-res texture mods, and the experience I'm getting is just as magical as the one I got when playing Oblivion for the first time. And Morrowind has a great modding community, so I know that when I beat the game a couple of times, there's a plethora of mods available to make the experience better.

Okay, what ever man. I don't want the moderators coming down on us so I'm gonna finish my argument here. Consoles have limitations but so do PCs. BGS is not going to make TES V for only the best of the best PCs. They are gonna make it for the upper threshold of PCs out there. Xbox 360s and PS3s can take the stuff those comps can take. No need for limitation. Fine, change the interface but do not make the PC's interface infinitely better.



Graphics don't make the game. Morrowind is wonderful and magical without mods.

My current PC is the first one I ever built. My goal was almost purely: "I want a computer that can handle Oblivion on highest settings!" I haven't touched my 360 since.

Playing Elder Scrolls on the PC is magical. You can deck the whole game out in high rez textures, make all NPC's look better and more unique, and play as one of numerous custom races or enhanced versions of vanilla races. Just about any element of gameplay you're dissatisfied (or merely bored) with can be changed. Get new weapons, armor, houses, and quests! Make towns more detailed and the wilderness more unique! Explore new continents! Ride a freakin' dragon!

That said, it does take some effort to get everything working properly. I've spent many hours wallowing in frustration while trying to get Oblivion working the way I want it to. In fact, my game is currently a little overmodded. It crashes frequently and lags terribly. I've been contemplating reinstalling it, which would take hours and require many tough decisions regarding which mods to keep. Even so, it's still way more fun than vanilla Oblivion. Morrowind, on the other hand, runs beautifully (way better, in fact, than it did on my Xbox.) Its modding community is even more developed than Oblivion's, and it's still active after all these years.

If you have the money, you should definitely get a gaming PC. They're not as hard to build as you might think, and trust me: you'll never go back.

EXACTLY my point. The console cuts usually get modded in after a while, but why should one have to rely on mods all the time to get quality.

I like consoles, but aside for certain types of games, they are pretty much useless to a hardcoe gamer like myself.

Of course graphics don't make a game. However, they can enhance the experience.

Holy CRAP. I'm not even gonna bother with you guys anymore. You are being outrageously prejudice and its making me sick. Good day to you, fetchers. I'm out of here.

I'm just stating facts in a polite manner, for the most part. YOU are being prejudice. Its like your not even reading my whole post. I LIKE THE CONSOLES, but them and ES series don't mix. Edit: Except for Morrowind Goty on the XBox.

I don't have a hardcoe PC, mine svcks actually. I can't even get console graphics quality. It was a matter of cut features and gameplay mechanics. Radiant AI seemed awsome in the demonstration, but svcks in release, and thats just one thing.
If they try and make graphics and AI better for consoles then they'll have to cut quests, dungeons, etc. The open world ES suddenly feels like its trapped in a box(xbox lol).
Either way CUTS WILL BE MAD BECAUSE OF CONSOLES.

But if it makes you happy, I can just wait for mods or something.

I primarily play on PC and I love me some user-created mods. ^_^


I agree. Even before I had a nice computer and was playing TES and FO3 on Xbox 360 I thought it would be stupid to cut stuff out of the PC version for console limitations.

They cut the radiant AI because the NPCs kept killing each other

Indeed they did.

But this whole PC vs consoles gone out of hand so I'm locking this :meh: