![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Catch-up #2: Oblivion
I'm getting a bit disappointed with Oblivion. Apart from the impressive graphics, the game itself simple isn't that interesting. You can't interact with most of the environment, and the setting is pretty much a standard fantasy-game world. Much of the game is simply a series of dungeons, ruins, and caves of very similar design, filled with monsters and bandits. Boring!
There are also some serious flaws with the design of the game. For example:
You can improve skills by using them. But some skills can be improved easily, while others can't. You can improve the Conjuration and Alteration skills by repeatedly casting spells from those schools of magic. I was literally able to boost those skills to 100% - the best possible score - by choosing the cheapest possible spell from a school, and putting a (closed) bottle of Hershey's magic shell syrup upside-down on the C key. My magicka regenerated more quickly than the spellcasting used it up, so all I had to do was walk away for twenty minutes or so, and boom! Instant Conjuring and Alteration mastery!
If I'd known this from the beginning of the game, I could have done it then. It takes less than a minute to gain a percentile point in either of those skills.
Not so for the Destruction and Restoration skills. For Destruction, you actually have to target an enemy with the spell - and since the difficulty of enemies scales up as you increase in power, that's never a safe or easy task. As for Restoration, you have to actually have some damage to heal - you can't just cast healing spells if you're not injured. You can jump off cliffs or high buildings to injure yourself, but the process is still MUCH slower than it was for Alteration and Conjuration.
That said, I'm more than halfway through the Mages Guild recommendation quests, and should soon be able to start making my magic staff. In the meantime I've bought the Apotheosis staff, which seems to work well.
There are also some serious flaws with the design of the game. For example:
You can improve skills by using them. But some skills can be improved easily, while others can't. You can improve the Conjuration and Alteration skills by repeatedly casting spells from those schools of magic. I was literally able to boost those skills to 100% - the best possible score - by choosing the cheapest possible spell from a school, and putting a (closed) bottle of Hershey's magic shell syrup upside-down on the C key. My magicka regenerated more quickly than the spellcasting used it up, so all I had to do was walk away for twenty minutes or so, and boom! Instant Conjuring and Alteration mastery!
If I'd known this from the beginning of the game, I could have done it then. It takes less than a minute to gain a percentile point in either of those skills.
Not so for the Destruction and Restoration skills. For Destruction, you actually have to target an enemy with the spell - and since the difficulty of enemies scales up as you increase in power, that's never a safe or easy task. As for Restoration, you have to actually have some damage to heal - you can't just cast healing spells if you're not injured. You can jump off cliffs or high buildings to injure yourself, but the process is still MUCH slower than it was for Alteration and Conjuration.
That said, I'm more than halfway through the Mages Guild recommendation quests, and should soon be able to start making my magic staff. In the meantime I've bought the Apotheosis staff, which seems to work well.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2008-08-01 10:42 am (UTC)(link)This applies especially to computer games (variates a bit of course). Their makers put all their efforts on making games look good, while they neglect everything else. The really GOOD games are made by teams that don't care that much about how good it looks. Of course this is not totally the gamemakers fault since they simply do what makes them profit. As long as the masses go for pretty looks regardless of content that's what they get supplied with.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2008-08-01 10:45 am (UTC)(link)