Can Oblivion be played without a guide?

[Kev]

Maybe I just suck ass at RPG's, but I could never finish games like zelda without a guide. I don't want to bother with guides anymore, and I'm thinking about picking up oblivion. So whats the scoop?

 

[Schadenfroh]

Oblivion is a mildly amusing first person shooter with quests and stats, being a FPS it has little to offer in terms of plot or character development. You have all of the locations that you need to go to for your quests marked for you on your map and your compass will point to that place. You have fast travel to major towns and points of interest that you have already been to, so you just pull up the map, click and you are there instantly. In other words, the "guide" is built into the game, so you do not have to think

Dialog choices are:
Rumors
(Obvious dialog related to quest)
Trade
and other blatant "straight forward" dialog options that offer little in terms of immersion.

You get to grind a good deal by closing over a hundred oblivion gates that can be one of six or so layouts. There is a strange leveling system in which you need third party mods to "normalize" (mainly OOO).



But boy...... it sure does look pretty


apoppin can tell you more, he is our resident Oblivion expert, with more hours logged than just about anyone.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Also, guides are free at www.gamefaqs.com

 

[Piuc2020]

I agree with most your point Schadenfroh but still, Oblivion was fun to me, I logged 60 hours on my main character its just not a good RPG, more like a first person action game with a few hold-your-hand RPG elements.

The story sucked ass, I would have rather had no voice acting than have to listen to 3 voices (I'm not kidding, the hundreds of NPCs in this game, including major characters only share 3 voice actors... and no, the voice actors don't do any effort to differentiate characters), your character has no development (no character has any development for that matter), the leveling system is very crummy and the game auto balances itself so you can never find a foe you can't beat and equipment scales to your level. I fail to see why no reviewer mentions this, Oblivion is not a good RPG at all... its more of an action adventure game, it is still very fun though and ith as great graphics.

If I have to be honest, I think Oblivion is a 8.5 game at best, 9.0 if you use a few mods to make it a little better (like Oscuro's Overhaul, btmod, etc).

 

[Kev]

It's funny but the reasons you guys seem to be down on it might actually make me like it more. I like to have my hand held when I play games!

I liked world of warcraft which holds your hand, but once I realized that 90% of the players are complete retards, I decided that I didn't need the MMO part of MMORPG.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: Piuc2020
I would have rather had no voice acting than have to listen to 3 voices (I'm not kidding, the hundreds of NPCs in this game, including major characters only share 3 voice actors... and no, the voice actors don't do any effort to differentiate characters)

Like south park

 

[hans030390]

Once you start playing without guides, it becomes easier to play games without them.

 

[Kromis]

It can be played any way you want it to

 

[everman]

It was rather straight-forward, of course there are plenty of free guides.

 

[torpid]

If oblivion is just an FPS that looks pretty then what do you call final fantasy games? I guess adventure games? Because Oblivion is a thousand times more "role playing gamey" than final fantasy.

Really, only AD&D based games would be RPGs by this definition, right?

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: torpid
If oblivion is just an FPS that looks pretty then what do you call final fantasy games? I guess adventure games? Because Oblivion is a thousand times more "role playing gamey" than final fantasy.
Really, only AD&D based games would be RPGs by this definition, right?

Yes, and only a handful of those would qualify.

DeusEx and Zelda have more role-playing elements than Diablo or Final Fantasy.
BUT..............
Whether I like it or not, many games get published under the category of RPG that may not actually fit.

Now, getting back to the question the OP asked instead of a pointless debate already played out too many times here in AT: Oblivion can be played without a guide.

The journal is pretty good and even lets you quick-link to appropriate locations on the game map. The published strategy guide is OK, but they fattened it up just to raise the price. It really doesnt have THAT much info as thick as it is. You can go to gamefaqs.com and get better walkthroughs for the main and side quests.

 

[torpid]

I didn't play 4000 hours or anything, but I did complete the main quest. The only guides I used were for finding a couple of shrines. You definitely do not NEED a guide. Of course, I should note that the shrines I looked up ended up yielding incredibly powerful items that made the game a breeze.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: torpid
If oblivion is just an FPS that looks pretty then what do you call final fantasy games? I guess adventure games? Because Oblivion is a thousand times more "role playing gamey" than final fantasy.

I have never played final fantasy or any eastern game for that matter (tetris being the only one). Final Fantasy is even far more departed than Oblivion from D&D? What exactly do you do in it? Is it like a hybrid of diablo and doom II in third person with zero story and zero character development?:Q
Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines is the closest a FPS has ever gotten to being an RPG, and IT IS A MASTERPIECE! (after you apply the unofficial patch)

 

[apoppin]

i got to level 30 or so and then i had to visit the forums to fix a game stopping bug

it's better without looking at a walkthru ... i only check to find what i *missed*

plus i reported a few unique discoveries to the Oblivion forums ... and finished at Level 92 without cheats or the console


i am getting Bloodlines this coming week ... so i can finally compare

But Oblivion is an Action-Adventure Fantasy RPG with FPS *fighting*
--you pick a class and character and get to choose where to specialize

NOT like D&D style NWN2 [thank the gods]

think--like Gothic series or Fable or even DM M&M ... but more Huge and free roaming and pretty bug free

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: apoppin
NOT like D&D style NWN2 [thank the gods]

You need to play Baldur's Gate I and Baldur's Gate II if you want to see what D&D games can be.

But, VTMB is right up your alley.

BTW, APoppin, PM me when you get Vampire, I will hook you up with everything you need to know without spoilers.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: apoppin
NOT like D&D style NWN2 [thank the gods]

You need to play Baldur's Gate I and Baldur's Gate II if you want to see what D&D games can be.

But, VTMB is right up your alley.

BTW, APoppin, PM me when you get Vampire, I will hook you up with everything you need to know without spoilers.

I enjoyed Bloodlines,however BG series were my favourite of the 3 above,I have just installed both BG1 and BG2 with all expansion packs for Vista x64,it's going to take me awhile to finish replaying both of them again.


As to Oblivion,I always thought Morrowind was a lot better then Oblivion if you take away the pretty graphics,after about the 10th Oblivion gate I got fed up with the gates, the main story is very short.
I still try to play it now and then but find I can only manage 30 mins at most,I have finished the game and explored virtually every area(master in most guilds too).


Morrowind on the otherhand is real exploration game with a nice long main storyline with loads of quests, some are real pain to find(nice to have a good challenge),the game of the year version is cheap to buy now and contains both Morrowind expansions packs for about £10 ($20) which gives you a bigger area and more quests then Oblivion ever did.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: apoppin
NOT like D&D style NWN2 [thank the gods]

You need to play Baldur's Gate I and Baldur's Gate II if you want to see what D&D games can be.

But, VTMB is right up your alley.

BTW, APoppin, PM me when you get Vampire, I will hook you up with everything you need to know without spoilers.

i think KotOR series is an *awesome* D&D game ... i loved both of 'em despite their faults

i got the latest VTMB patch by the fans ... and i probably should have the game this week ... i am finishing up Fable ... once you get used to the save system it is excellent

 

[fierydemise]

Oblivion basically is its own guide, just read your journal and follow the colored markers and you'll be fine. That said it still is a lot of fun and as everyone says its really pretty.

 

[LintMan]

FYI: One of the big PC gaming magazines (either PC Gamer or CGW/GfW) just picked Oblivion as their Game of the Year.

I personally liked Oblivion a lot, though most of the criticisms above are accurate, ie: auto-balancing enemies and auto-leveled loot, lack of deep character interaction. Surprisingly, the lack of voice actor variety didn't bother me really.

What no one mentioned yet really is that Oblivion is BIG. Really big. With tons and tons and tons of stuff to do. It's that stuff that makes Oblivion great despite its faults. Stuff like an assassination mission to kill all the guests at dinner party one by one without being discovered. Free some Ogres from slavery. Rescue the souls of a group trapped in the netherworld. Rescue an artist trapped inside his painting. Unite long lost brothers. Spy on some people for a paranoid elf. Infiltrate a prominent guild to discover and expose their dark secret. Rise through the ranks to head up 4 guilds. Become a vampire. Get cured of being a vampire. Rescue a woman from a Cthulu-like cult in a creepy quest tribute to HP Lovecraft's "A Shadow Over Innsmouth". Help a small town of people who turned invisible. And none of that is part of the main plot line, it was all optional.

So back to the OP's question: do you need a guide? Not really, if you just want to play and find things on your own, you can get by with very little outside help. But I personally like to experience almost everything, and I'd never have found and completed all the fun stuff I did without reading various online guides and forums. (Wikipedia has a very detailed and useful guide.) So I'd say that you don't need a guide to play and complete the game, but if you want to get the most fun out of it, guides are a big help.

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

YES.. it can totally be played without a guide. However, with the size of the world as big as it is, the guide IS helpful for finding out what you've missed.

I think out of the box, the game was eye candy with craptastic implementation. After a few mods to disable the hold-your-hand compass markers and re-balance the levelled lists, it was 10,000 times better. A few further mods to increase LOD texture quality and the game became pure gold for me.

 

[StopSign]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
I have never played final fantasy or any eastern game for that matter (tetris being the only one). Final Fantasy is even far more departed than Oblivion from D&D? What exactly do you do in it? Is it like a hybrid of diablo and doom II in third person with zero story and zero character development?:Q

Wow I can't believe I just read that. Blasphemy!

The best RPGs of all time are made by Square. Chrono Trigger, FF6, FF7, FF8, FF9, Chrono Cross, Xenogears and FF Tactics are all classics that kids nowadays probably have never heard of and never will. Their recent line of crap (FFX, FFX-2, FF12) have tainted the company name.

To whoever that said FF games are not RPGs, that is definitely incorrect. RPGs are exactly what the name suggests - role playing games. You control characters that are customizable. Any game with a great deal of customization can be classified as a RPG.

 

[erickj92]

You never need a guide for any game

 

[igowerf]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: torpid
If oblivion is just an FPS that looks pretty then what do you call final fantasy games? I guess adventure games? Because Oblivion is a thousand times more "role playing gamey" than final fantasy.

I have never played final fantasy or any eastern game for that matter (tetris being the only one). Final Fantasy is even far more departed than Oblivion from D&D? What exactly do you do in it? Is it like a hybrid of diablo and doom II in third person with zero story and zero character development?:Q
Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines is the closest a FPS has ever gotten to being an RPG, and IT IS A MASTERPIECE! (after you apply the unofficial patch)

Final Fantasy games are EXTREMELY character and story driven. Some gamers find Final Fantasy to be too linear, but that's the trade off for a solid story.

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by: erickj92
You never need a guide for any game

I suck at all video games that aren't FPS. So yes, I do.

 

[Ricochet]

Answer for OP: No guide needed whatsoever to complete the game.

LintMan summed it up pretty good. Oblivion, for me was one of the most immerseful experience in a game ever. The world is huge and the level of detail given to that world is just absolutely astounding. They render every little object and made them interactive.

I don't know how people argue that Oblivion is not an RPG in the truest sense. It doesn't matter how the battle system and control scheme are implemented: real time, turn-based, FPS, or 3/4 view. The underlying system is heavily stat based. Your characters attributes and skills are determined by stats that you build upon. If any of you ever bothered to play the Pen & Paper RPG like D&D and Rifts you'd realize that Oblivion is truer to RPG genre than either Zelda or Final Fantasy.