Hey folks,

So, we've all done it before, in-fact, a lot of us have done it several times. Im talking about 'leaving the sewers'. For me the first time I left them, 4 years ago, it was magical.The little beach and dock in-front of you, the beautiful effects of the gently flowing water, a short way beyond the water, a grand Ayleid ruin, surrounded by the lush green grass, rolling on forever.. It was a moment I will never forget, my entire life. The graphics were just so awesome coupled with the lovely background music, and even better for me, as it was my first 360 game, and my first experience with next-gen consoles..

So, did anyone else feel anything like this the first time they exited the sewers? The grand feeling of starting something so epic, that you will still play it and enjoy 4 years later, and years to come? Does anyone even remember this? As a-lot of us (including myself) only got it shortly after it was released. What were your reactions? Were they similar?

Forget? Not likely. From Buffy's Journal:

* * *

Smells. Rats. Goblins. Yuck. Daylight! Only a few slivers, but real sunshine ahead. Thank you Mara. Rusted and unused, the round gate required several kicks to finally creak open, exposing full daylight, fresh air and a beautiful lake.

I was so excited I started dancing around like a little, well, wood elf. That of course attracted the attention of a mudcrab on the shore of the lake who began clicking, hissing and moving towards me pretty quickly. Rather than reaching for an arrow, my right hand erupted in a stream of flames that both killed and cooked the beast.

Cracking the crab's shell open with a large stone, I ravenously ate the meat. A huge drink of the lake later, I felt a bit better.

At that point I could feel Acadian urging me to climb the hill up to the Imperial City.

I guess it was the pent up emotions of what I had recently been through and so many sudden changes forcing their way into my life. I'm sure that being exhausted didn't help. Waves of despair, anger and frustration surged within me.

Choking back a sudden urge to cry, I put my hands on my hips and defiantly threw back my head. "Look", I said angrily, "if we're going to travel together, we need to reach some understandings. You obviously know many valuable things about my world, and I believe you can help me; but just as obviously, you know nothing about women. We are going to have to work together here. I'm filthy, bone tired and I stink. I'm not going one step further without a bath in this nice lake."

Silence.

"Well ok then." I took off those putrid clothes and dove into the lake. Ten minutes later, I felt like a new elf as I reluctantly climbed out of the water. I spent a couple hours on the old wooden pier, scrubbing my clothes and the stuff I brought out of the prison. I figured maybe I could sell some of it for enough gold to help get me home.

The sun was now well below the top of White Gold Tower, which meant I only had a few more hours of daylight. I dressed as best I could and, with a small strip of cloth, tied my now dry hair into a ponytail. After carefully loading my pack, and strapping on the bow, goblin staff and quiver, I started the climb towards Imperial City.

* * *

I left the sewers and the game crashed, the first time that I played it lol.
But when I managed to get it on the ps3, When I left the sewers it did feel magical, it still feels that way when I play it now adays.

It was definitely magical for me. I remember getting my Xbox 360 for Christmas about 4 years ago and on the first day stores were open I sold all of my PS2 (and I mean all) stuff, all the games and controllers and other accessories, and Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition was the first game I saw and grabbed off the shelves, I just knew it was going to be an epic game and I had to have it. When I got home I placed the Oblivion game disc in the Xbox tray and from that point on I was hooked. I do get the occasional "vacation" from Oblivion, but I always come back with new ideas on how I want to play and live in the wonderful world of Tamriel

meh, first thing i saw when i got out was that mysterious ruin, probably full of pretty jewels, seeing as an old sewer had a couple pretty gems i dove in the river, slaughtered the slaughterfish, and got inside. i grabbed every welkynd stone, varla stone, and precious stone i could get my hands on.

Man, I just love reading your stuff! Keep it up! :foodndrink:

I remember it well. I ran to the little island where Vivilren is and for a brief moment got disorientated because I was so engrossed with the graphics. It took me a while to realize that the big white wall on the land I just swam from was in fact the place I needed to go.

Aww, thanks! Especially since you are the OP of this wonderful thread. I'm sure there are folks who probably get tired of hearing about Buffy the pvssyrbox. She has been here so long though, that I suspect those who don't care for her are gracious enough to simply roll their eyes and skip to the next post. Lol.

We do get enough PMs, as well as comments over on her Journal site to indicate that there is something about her. . . . Thanks again! :twirl:

It enthralled me bliviongate:

very nice

When i first got it, which was only about 9-10 months ago for either a Christmas or birthday gift on my PC, I remember thinking to my self "Damn, this hunk of junk manages to pull this off?"
The hunk of junk is referring to my old computer

When this subject comes up I'm always the only one who thought the game looked ugly, lol.

Frankly, I was appalled by what I saw the day the game was released and I exited the sewers. The immediate area around me looked nice but beyond that, across the water, I thought the terrain looked horrible. Soupy, low-resolution textures, cheap-looking trees...I was crestfallen. After having waited for years to see this game and having heard such glowing articles in the press about how wonderful the game looked I felt I was looking at something that could have been released in the nineties.

To their credit, Bethesda recognized the problem. With each patch they worked on their implementation of LOD until it began to look decent in most places (it certainly looks better in front of the sewers nowadays). You still see the occasional "landscape snap" when LOD suddenly snaps down to become detailed terrain as you move forward, but overall the game looks much better now than it did when it was released.

I remember about four years ago I left the sewers and what I found was beautiful, but the best I felt was yet to come. The first time I went into that Oblivion Gate in Kvatch not knowing what to expect , and at level two was an absolute thrill. That is also when I found out about the Dark Brotherhood. I figured We're alone and no one will ever see me kill this fool. I was wrong.

I remember thinking "This is a really pretty RPG."

Oblivion was the first Elder Scrolls title I'd really sat down to play. I've put in about an hours worth into Morrowwind before Oblivion came out, but that was it because I didn't own an Xbox at the time and my old PC couldn't handle it.

Nah the first thing I did was check my display settings and see if my framerate was as good as it could be, reload a few times, and then swim across the island where i immediately got in a dumb fight with some people. I guess it wasn't that auspicious. I did think it was pretty though.

:shrug:
I don't remember, it was 5 years ago. I don't remember what I had for breakfast.

I remember saying something along these lines:

"Yes! Finally outa that stupid tutorial... now, can I wear that necklace thingy?"

I remember that moment very cleary, because I was still playing with the settings trying to get a decent framerate out of this machine. I had just spent the last 10 minutes crawling along at about 9fps, and I just wanted to get past the character creation stuff so I could start fiddling with stuff!

I think My ecperience was something along the lines of 'Finally! Out of the sewers! Wow, this game looks brilliant, and what's that destroyed old building, I'll go and have a look' That building turned out to be Vilverin, where I was pwnd by the Bandit archer!

First time I left the sewer, I looked out across Lake Rumare and thought "WOW". Now when I exit the sewer I think "I'm glad that's over". I kinda miss the "WOW" to be honest

I remember expecting to have a ton of fun with the "revolutionary" Radiant AI >.>

My first character was an Imperial thief. Was definitely going for a Garrett-like experience, as I was excited about the stealth improvements over Morrowind. Still do like playing stealth characters the most.

I thought ,like a lot of people, "thank goodness I'm out of the sewer". Then I looked around and gazed in awe at the landscape. Then I began walking around the city walls, went into the city and brought a sword from Rhossan. I really thought it was the best god-damn game ever. I still do.

This was the first time I'd ever played a Elder Scrolls game. The first time I had played a RPG but the most weird bit is that I hadn't ever heard about TES before.

I can sign my name on every letter that you wrote. Well except I′m on PC, not xbox

My experience is much like yours. Oblivion was my first 360 game, and it is magical. I can't imagine this game being out of my top four games of all time.

It is still my biggest "woah" moment in the last five years. Such an amazing sight!