Nehrim Review - By Daggers

The long and almost forseeable ending to Nehrim finally came across my computer screen last night, I couldn't help but have a heaping pile of mixed feelings. Mostly bad.
Do not get me wrong, the game play as, well, exactly like oblivion for obvious reasons, but the story like was emersive and kept you waiting for the next step to unfold. As a male player (and single a single one at that) It was even moving to see the dialog bits unfold with my companion, Kim.
The game offered plenty of exploration, lots of dungeons, and caves, and ruins with almost a surefire reward in the end of goodies, and if they match the set of armor you're working on, all the better, eh? The creatures where extraordinary, sadly which is to say I found much more entertainment in the variety of creatures than the NPC's. Except for storyline characters, well, unless you're playing the story line it's self, the game is pretty much anti-social.
The feel of the OVERALL big picture to me, with the Shadow-Gods, temples in the sky, powerful weapons that can kill gods, killing of girlfriends out of jelousy a thousand years ago, so on and so forth (oh and lets not forget the hairstyles of most the main characters) This felt very much like an anime. I almost expected the voices to be japanese, and not german half the time.
I will wrap it up short and sweet as I can here. I am disappointed. While I loved playing through the game, I was very looking forward to all the positive after effects of exploring the world after everything I had accomplished, hearing rumors about me, and the girl at my side (oh wait, nevermind, "fate" killed her for being shy...fml). Since the game is anti-social enough as it is, and the REAL after effect I was looking forward to was seeing what became of Kim and me (she had amazing character development) I emotionally do not feel the need to swing my sword or explor any more dungeons now that I am the shadow-god and free to move about the country. Emotionally, the drive to keep playing after the credits is not there. I think oblivion did a better job of motivating you to poke your head around a few corners after beating the mainquest. Nehrim lacked that big time.
Personal vote: 6.5 out of 10
Was good, but let down ending. No drive to continue or replay.
Thanks

PS: If there is an easter egg sort of thing, and I can run into Kim somewhere and find out her dying was all just a bad dream, please post about it

Wow completely lacking spoiler tags to - thanks ... not.

I agree with you in some aspects. It is true, even though the game is claimed as "not remotely related to oblivion", the gameplay is the same. Yet, it adds a lot of fun in many ways, dungeons for example are now so enjoyable since it is not only killing but puzzles etc. I dislike small aspects, and I think the biggest aspect is that it has low mod-ability. That is, most mods won't work with it since it is a big overhaul poking its fingers into most vanilla settings and the whole map. I personally would rather play a 100+ modded oblivion than Nehrim (long term I mean, Nehrim is awesome in the same way you would say vanilla Oblivion is awesome, you run through it, beat the game, but don't go back unless you use mods) I love dungeons so I just opted to download countless adventures and dungeons that modders have created. It would be wonderful to have some of the places including dungeons of Nehrim available for Oblivion.

While I kinda liked the story, maybe because I like animes or I just liked to taste something new, I agree with your last sentence "No drive to continue or replay". I give the mod a 8/10 though because it is undoubtedly really enjoyable.

^
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Not sure what a spoiler tag is. I am kind of new to the new lay out of the forums. I used to post when the forums was on www.elderscrolls.com. However I made sure if you read the title of my post, it clearly says in all uppercase "warning" and "spoilers".... don't mean so sound like an jerk, but you're own fault bro

^
Agreed completely. I have been using my internet for other things, so I really haven't had much chance to swing by the forums and download mods for oblivion (and compared to morrowind, I'm not too great at installing oblivion mods, something always seems to go screwy) But yeah, I'd personally like to see a lot of the weapons and armor sets put into original oblivion. Hunting down separate pieces was very fun and enjoyable. This was definitely fun to play I am not denying that at all

Well, there is a huge SPOILER at the title



use [ spoiler] text [ /spoiler] (without spaces)




@Thread
SureAI is working on an addon afaik. It will continue the story of Nehrim. I will look forward to it

Thanks fallen

I do not think that word means what you think it means. I'm actually having a hard time figuring out what you mean here, since this seems to be your sole criticism. And yes, I'm genuinely curious.

No disclaimer to offer. I've nothing to do with the mod's design, don't know anyone personally on the team, and I've never played it.

I'm not really a fan of Nehrim either. It combined several things that I hate about Oblivion mods (and Oblivion itself), which really put me off:
1. Anime hair.
2. No lighting. Okay, we get it. You want us to use a torch. But how about letting us see y'know, something without one? It's like nobody eats their carrots in Nehrim (or Tamriel!).
3. Long-ass tutorial dungeons. I JUST WANT TO PLAY THE DAMN GAME ALREADY.

And from what you've mentioned, there's a romance subplot as well, which IMO, nobody ever gets right. DO NOT WANT.

I appreciate all the hard work that went into it, but it's hardly the greatest thing since sliced bread, IMO.

This MOD is a total conversion and was designed to work as a game on its own...so complaining about being not compatible with other mods seems pointless to me...also this mod...total conversion or whatever you want to call it is story driven and not designed as a longtime rollplay game...story, quests, dungeons...locations in general, voice acting etc etc are truely amazing (especially for a mod)...complaining about using oblivion game mechanics is pointless as well..hell it is the Oblivion engine.what do you expect...they even added a lot of features that can be found in other RPG's like "Gothic"....I don't understand why people always think a game or a mod must provide everything...this mod gave me real fun for a lot of hours...some stuff was better than everything I played before , some stuff was simply ok....I agree there is no longtime motivation or many reasons for replaying it and also beside the quests the npc's, AI and dialogue are pretty boring...but that's not a problem...I simply removed Nehrim after playing it...sometimes it is just nice to play and enyoy a game (or mod) ...not every game is such a longtime moddable monster as Oblivion...btw I also don't think Skyrim will be...but at the end it is all a question of personal taste

cheers

Well this first post absolutely could have had the spoilers tags used for the one plot give away. ... whatever.

Also why is this inflammatory and badly written thread getting all the attention when http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1169987-nehrim-fates-edge-review/ which has a useful review got none?

Nehrim not compatible with mods? http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1159104-nehrim-and-mods-ii/ Here is my load order:
Try looking on Nexus - you will see the Nehrim mods - have to use a specific search word though.

And look all those mods are changing the vanilla content of Oblivion.

Why didn't you respond to it, Psymon? Fair's fair.

As for me, I disagree with a number of the basic premises of the review you link to, but out of courtesy and respect don't want to get into an argument with its writer. I'll just say this: "There is no doubt in the minds of everyone who has played it that Oblivion is a great game," is illogical. The format, "XYZ is loved by everyone, therefore" simply doesn't work. It's a means to circumvent genuine critical appraisal, by an appeal to vox populi that is unmerited--since no reviewer can speak for the views of "everyone," nor does wrapping oneself in an absolute majority opinion mean anything. Much less in a game such as Oblivion that has polarized players between those who have felt it's the greatest thing since opposable thumbs, and those who consider it a dumbed down, simplified, and streamlined version of the excellent Morrowind system (only redeemed through mods).

When a reviewer starts out with "There is no doubt in the minds of everyone," I stop reading. It's a good time to smile, bow out, and look elsewhere for threads.

But let's get back to this review. We owe it to the reviewer.

I found the review useful, did not take anything written as bashing Nehrim. Just one player's opinion, and the way it was worded you could tell what style of play they prefer and if it fits your own. In my case I identify with Daggers in style of play and based on his review I would play Nehrim for the many good aspects it has. No mod is perfect for everyone.

A game's value is subjective, like religion, beauty, art, etc. We all interpret our experiences differently, it is the truth to us, and the only value from an opinion is if the opinion giver shares a common view of the subject with our own. Otherwise it is just an opinion.

I think Nehrim is one of the most astounding accomplishments in modding that I have ever seen and have taken every opportunity to gargle the developers' collective naughty bits here on these forums and elsewhere, but I think I can agree with your criticisms in the general sense that there were parts were main plot slowed down, in particular

It can be very difficult to alter or remove parts of something that don't work out well in the end, especially if you've invested a lot of time and money into it. You see this in movies all the time; otherwise great plots but with a scene or two that just doesn't work. In fact, the whole main plot of Vanilla Oblivion is like this. It never really takes off and gets interesting. The storytelling in Nehrim is superior by far. And... I don't mind the anime hair. I just accepted that it's a different world with a different aesthetic to Vanilla Oblivion and nothing seemed particularly out of place in that regard.

@Psymon

Yes, I'm glad there are a couple of mods out there for Nehrim, but as your load order shows, some mods are just re-adding old oblivion gameplay that the makers of Nehrim decided to take out. What I mean by almost no compatibility is precisely that almost no mods that are already made will work simply because as the makers said the game is nothing related to oblivion at all, so putting mods like OOO, or FCOM, or Midas, or custom adventures/dungeons (maybe not all of them) is probably not gonna work, as well as other big and awesome mods. I like long term gameplay, with the ability to say oh well I'm bored now let me download a couple of custom quests and dungeons and have some more fun. Maybe that's us who say that the mod is too short and not replayable feel.

@onra

No one is bashing the mod itself. We all agree it is awesome in its own way. But since it has changed so many aspects, and the mod makers claim as almost a "stand alone game" it is as if we only had oblivion vanilla with a couple of mod that fixes some little things. It is fun, of course, but once you are done, you are probably not gonna come back.

Some people say also that once you are a little high level you pretty much own everything you see. I don't think that is the case (at least with everyone). Everyone has their own opinions, but it looks like most of us agree that it is one of the best mods out there but has no replay-ability once you are done.

I don't think that anyone was bashing Nehrim and I agree that there is not much fun replaying this mod or playing it longtime after finishing the MQ...but I think this was not intended...as I said elsewhere modded oblivion is something very special...I don't know any game that I played and modded that long...and I think there will be never something like it again....however all I wanted to say is that people tend to expect too much...Nehrim is a verry fine story mod...and like so many other fine games you play it and that's it...I mean i played through dragon age and it was fun but as soon as I had finished it it was gone from my hard drive and I am sure I will never play it again...but this is no reason to critisize it...

Not having played Nehrim, myself... but having seen some of it's amazing depth just through videos and pictures alone... I find myself inclined to understand both sides of the 'argument' here.

The fact of the matter is, when playing Nehrim... one ought to approach it more like they were playing a Final Fantasy game... or hell, Legend of Dragoon... since nobody ever mentions that one anymore.

Trying to compare Nehrim to the Oblivion experience... is like trying to compare Oblivion to Final Fantasy or Star Ocean. The only similarity they have, in terms of gameplay, is that Nehrim is made using Oblivion's system as a base. They're not even in the same -category- of games. The replayability only comes from the strength of its world and its story. So if you didn't like the story, or you're not a fan of the style of game... then of course you're not going to really want to play it again.

That being said, I haven't seen anything close to the quality of Nehrim (in terms of Total Conversion mods) ever... so I was thoroughly impressed.

I keep telling myself I'll give it a try, one of these days... so who knows?

But for now, I'm a bit trapped in modding Oblivion.


Anyways, that's just -this- gamer's take on it.

Make of it what you will.

Agreed 100%. We just have to accept that this mod was just intended to be a one fun awesome run and you are done. If we review this game as if it had nothing to do with Oblivion's engine (that is, a standalone game), I'd give it a 10/10 since it is awesome. But, like you say, modded oblivion is something very special, and people tend to expect this long last gameplay in every mod(I include myself in that list). And as Colonel Tannanbaum said, trying to compare Nehrim to modded Oblivion is like comparing to different game styles. Like final fantasy, it is just not a game that you are likely to play over and over.