PC News and Game Reviews

Well after many the tough quest I think I have completed the main quest in Oblivion. My reward however may as well been a half rabid mongrel dog with no hind legs……

After saving the world…I was rewarded with “Dragon Armour”. Chancellor Ocato promised me the armour of kings (or emperors) for my heroic deeds. It took 2 long weeks to fashion. I rushed to the Imperial Armoury. There was a lot of confusion regarding this quest as the text speaks of an “Imperial Compoundâ€? (never heard of that before!!??!!). Anyhoo the armour is the in armoury in the Imperial Prison (Imperial Compound!!!??!! wtf)

I eagerly approached the armour as it glistened on the table before my eyes. As I donned each piece of armour I watched my defence plummet to an all-new low. I looked the shite, but the armour is terrible. I would have been happier with the mongrel dog above….thank you Oblivion for a lousy reward!!!!

Well I’ve a few more quests to go…….

Hi there,

I must say that in all my gaming I have come across very few games that I could not finish due to sloppy coding on the developers behalf! Well Oblivion is about to be named and shamed in this list of ultra elite bug riddled tripe!

Now don’t get me wrong…its still a great(about to become good) game…but what’s a great game when you CANNOT progress past a part because one of the programmers fell asleep on his keyboard….and door_open = 1; became door_open = 0;!!!!!!

I recently set off into Miscarand on the quest to find the Great Welkynd Stone within! I was going fine when I got to the “door of no coding”. I cleared the huge room in front of the door which leads me deeper into the dungeon. I then stepped on a pressure pad that should unlock the door and allow me to proceed. Instead what seems to have happened is that 2 Dread Zombies now stand guard at the door (which will not open). The zombies have a never ending pool of hit points. I tied for about 20 minutes to kill them but had barely got them down to half hit points before I got bored and gave up!!!!

Now either way I don’t see the point in killing them. The stupid door will not let me progress through the quest. So basically the game is un-finishable, as this is a main quest. Of course after 10 seconds of googling I was not alone with the Miscarand problem…it is a known bug! How in the name of jasus did the testers not find this bug? Its not like it’s a glitch…..its a fecking door that WILL NOT OPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So Oblivion you join the ranks of the horribly bugged….up there with the likes of Hidden and Dangerous! Well done boys!

Now if you manage to get through Oblivion without getting infected with Vampirism….then you are indeed a lucky player. Before I caught it in earnest…I had managed to dodge it several times.

Basically there are 3 ways of contracting haemophilia polymorphism (vampire disease). The first time I caught it I was clearing out a vampire infested lair. It was a quest I started in the Imperial City Arena. I was sent by the champion gladiator to find out about his father…who was a blood sucking vampire!

1) I found his father and put him to the blade….but during the fight obviously got covered in dirty vampire blood. My first thought was to go to a church, the two being linked from hours watch “Dracula, the Prince of Darkness”. I prayed at the altar, and luckily that was that.

2) The second time I was “bitten” in my sleep. Not really very fair as I had no chance to defend myself, however it is understandable based on how vampires ply their trade (sneak gits!). Once again I made for a church. But stupidly I got side-tracked with a camp I found en-rout to the church in Bruma. By the time I got there a day had passed….and I had “turned”!!!!

3) I’ve heard that the Dark Brotherhood will also “gift” new members with Vampirism. I chose to slay the messenger from the Dark Brotherhood…he still lies on the floor of the Chorrol Mages Guild!!!

Once you’re a vampire it’s not all that bad. You get new powers, but also burst into flames in sunlight unless you feed on a victim each night. You will not find it hard to find victims, and I would advise you to indulge whenever the chance arises. I got stuck indoors for hours on end as I had not feed enough to walk in sunlight. It can be a real pain in the ass so do help yourself to the local peasantry.

Now there may come a point when you want rid of the pox…be warned…once it’s gone you CANNOT become a vampire again. I wont spoil the quest…that’s already been done 1000 times! Get you to a church and follow the trail from there (this quest is riddled with bugs)!

A few nice features in Oblivion would have been the ability to turn NPC’s into vampires! If you feed on the same one 3 or 4 times he may turn. Also it would be nice (though probably impossible to code) to allow other NPC’s to ploy their respective trades…to give the world a more ALIVE feeling. For example a random encounter with another thief as he breaks into a manor you are robbing….etc…..

Now if you’re like me you hate lock picking. I can’t stand it. The sound of a lock pick breaking makes me want to find a town guard……smile at him as he smiles at me……draw “The Sword of Death!!!!”…………….and smite him!

While browsing another Oblivion blog I heard talk of a Skeleton key, that would boost my security skill to ridiculously high levels! Without wasting a moment I stopped the quest I was half way through and began the quest: Shrine of Nocturnal.

The quest begins north of the southern most town….can’t think of the name but I know it begins with an “L”. If you take the north east road out of town near the river you will find the Shrine of Nocturnal. Talk to the behatch and she will give you a quest to recover a stolen gem of some sort that was taken from her (The Shrine voice is hilarious). Now if you go back to town “L” and begin asking questions about the town you will hear about two muppets who have just found a “large gem”. You stake them out and you will overhear them talk about some cave to the south of town “L”.

This cave is tough to clear. I am a level 12 bard and it took me 3 goes to kill all in my path!!!! The trolls have an endless amount of hit points! I fought one from the bowels of the cave all the way to the top of a hill outside. I had to run and heal myself as the knuckle dragger chased me through the forest! But he like his Mountain Lion friends fell. Does anyone think it a bit strange to see a Mountain Lion and a Troll patrolling a cave together? Such co-operation between a wild animal and an evil monster hell bent on destruction…..anyway…..their dead now.

At the bottom of a flooded tunnel you will find the gem. Take it post haste back to the Shrine for the ultimate award (at least for me), an end to lock picking!!! Not a single lock can stand in my way now!!! I never have to hear the annoying sound of lock picks breaking!!!!! This thing cannot break!

Off to close another Oblivion Gate….I am starting to think this game would be better titled: Elder Scrolls: The Closing of the Oblivion Gates (X50)