The wonderful thing about RPGs is that they are so rich and varied in things to do, that we as gamers, play them for different reasons.

When it came to Morrowind, one of the things I personally loved doing (and many others no doubt) was plundering. Remember that huge map you got with the game? I had that thing covered in circles with numbers, and then on the back I had another massive list of items I'd found in these areas corresponding to the number I had on the front. As useless as it may have been, I had a great time finding all the relics and other hidden things. I smashed up the Fighters Guild in Ald'Ruhn and made it my base camp. I had all my artifacts and other rare items on display.

My favourite find had to be the...



...And now to the point.

I was super excited for Oblivion. I had high hopes of a new paper map covered in black acetate pen. I won't deny, It was a good game. I spent alot of time in Cyrodiil. However, my favoured aspect of the previous game was gone. I plundered dungeons for months looking for hidden artifacts and other rare items the developers had stuffed away into little crevices. Alas, nothing.

Alright so there were some things...



...but most of it was quest rewards or included with DLC where the whole point was to obtain the relic. Elven daggers called " Witsplinter " don't count, I'm talking unique. I was anticipating my first discovery of a ruin/cave full of bandits geared up in super rare Glass Armour so I could come back at a later level, smash 'em up good, and take all their stuff. Nothing... why? "Something called Level Scaling" they said. Dissapointment. Remember in Morrowind there was only 2 full sets ( if that ) of Daedric armour? and remember where they hid the 2nd pauldron? Sneaky...


So to conclude with a few questions;

Did anyone else miss this?

Was there enough said about it to make an impact on Skyrim's development? I know there was alot of criticism about Level Scaling, but what about artifacts? and whole ruins dedicated to the placement of one rare item.

PLEASE PLEASE! YES! I want it :3

Hell yea I miss it, and I'm pretty sure this has been covered in about a billion threads by now ^^. But i'll restate my position; I think Bethesda has learned that oblivion style level scaling did not work, and with the removal of that, I believe treasure hunting will return.

yeah level scaling is...
meh

not a fan, no one really is
hopefully they've learned =)

Absolutely. I hated random loot (although it does prevent the "sneak here and find the best weapon in the game at level 1" thing) I was working on part of a mod for Oblivion where you could go treasure hunting. I would like to see some kind of a Treasure Hunter Guild, where you can find some of the cool items through quests (but the items would be there regardless of if you are part of the guild or not).

The main thing I want is truly secret rooms. Rooms that you have to trigger traps or switches in specific orders, or press a switch that all you see when you are looking at it is the symbol in the crosshairs. No "Secret Switch" or "Hidden Door to " in the corner. Just something that most people would miss normally, like an odd cave wall.

Will it though? Level scaling is an issue, but it's removal won't bring about a full return.

Developers have to create areas for placement of these things.



Is it...laziness?

Well, I do think it has a strong chance of coming back... Bethesda has been working on this game for a very long time a very great (according to themself) great team. I mean yea it's not certain, but I do believe we'll see a return... maybe I'm just getting my hopes up *shrug*

But this is what made it so great!

You were usually killed by the holder or high level bandits anyway. You'd mark it down and return for sweet revenege later.

That was the reason I checked out every cave, tomb, whatever in Morrowind. I knew that there was a chance that I may find a unique item. Skyrim definitely needs this.

Edit: I usually skipped ruins, fortresses, and caves in Oblivion because I knew it wouldn't be worth it.

I absolutely agree, artifact hunting was one of the major features that made Morrowind so great.

I tried not to skip anything in hope that I'd find something eventually.

:shakehead:

Treasure hunting, one of the things that made Morrowind great. I hope hidden unique loot make a return in Skyrim because it adds so much to the exploration incentive

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Artifacts

There we lots of cool stuff to find. Collecting the unique stuff was one of my favorite parts of Oblivion.

But I agree, more treasure hunting and more cool stuff to find and collect would be awesome.

See how just about all of them are from quests though? That's my issue.

I don't know if you played Morrowind or not, but imagine finding all that stuff just by looking. No hints or rumours of it's existence, and it's carefully placed inside a hidden chamber, deep within a ruin or cave. Perhaps even dropped behind a bed in a house located in the Imperial City.

That's what was missing from Oblivion.

I will answer short and big: Yes I want it to return!

The surprise factor is capital. The moment of discovery is the strongest feeling one can get and Oblivion didn't manage this at all, it kinda made all loot seem trivial since every highwayyman has the best gear and the richest houses have carrots in their locked chests.

To fix that whole "sneak in at level 1 and get best weapon" thing you could always implament a system like Demon Souls where you need a certain strength/ skill level to use weapons of certain weight or strength.

Good suggestion.

That could work well.

Like if you're a Master of Long Sword you could use a certain rare item.

Interesting

Yes I would just like unique dungeons more than anything else.

Loot is great but the journey is better.

Alternatively, they can just make it impossible ridiculously hard to sneak in at level 1 because you're level 1 and there's no way you're sneaky enough or strong enough to get the artifact. I like your suggestion, too, and don't think that it needs to be mutually exclusive with what I said.

As for the OP, I agree completely. I hated that Dragon Age: Origins had unique items scaled to your level. It always feels like I got some really awesome item, but in a few levels all the generic items are going to be better than it. =/

I've been running OOO since it was first released so I don't remember too well what Oblivion was like before it. But I likes me treasure so any improvement in this department is fine with me.

Is that some kind of 'Anti-Level Scaling' mod?

That would be interesting. Alas, I played on the Xbox 360.

I want treasure hunting! :flamethrower:

Really? I didn't even notice that in Origins.

However, as I've stated before, it's not just about the item's being scaled. They need to be physically placed ( hidden ) into the world.

Don't you feel this was completely missing from Oblivion?

I know they're not allowed to say a word, but I'd like to know what the devs think. It's not something people report in reviews, and I'm afraid we'll have to wait until release to find out whether it's in or not. I remember just assuming Oblivion would have this fantastic feature.

Absolutely. Yes. Like how that shield Eleidon's Ward was in Morrowind. It was placed high up on a wall, in a sunken daedric ruin inside a cave far away from civilization. How awesome is that
And even better, it really didn't have anything to do with the cave.
I really liked this in Morrowind... that if you looked really hard during your travels, you could discover things (often very valuable artifacts) totally unrelevant to any quests and such. Just pure, awesome treasures that had been hidden or forgotten in cool places