The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Oblivionesques?
Sorenson
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So playing Elona got me to remember that I hadn't yet finished the Shivering Isles expansion for Oblivion, and having finally done so now I have an itch for games of such an epic, massive, and freeform nature and to be honest I can't really think of anything good that fits within those general guidelines. Thus I figure that I'll toss this out on the forum in the hopes of finding something suitable to satisfy the itch and maybe do the same for some other folks in a similar situation.
Basically, what I'm looking for should have
A) As much nonlinearity as can be helped with as few blocks and "you must complete X to continue" checkpoints as possible
Classless skill-based system or something that puts far more emphesis on the skills part than on the class part - basically something that'll let me play "my" way
C) A decent level of customization, or at least so I can make sure my character doesn't look like he spent his childhood running into brick walls
D) And while not nessecary, a good modding community is always nice
Stuff I already played/know of that might get raised:
Fable (Bought it, beat it, liked it for what it was, and am looking forward to the sequal)
The Fallout Games sans that shitty console one (Love 'em, beat 'em multiple times, have FO3's CE preordered)
Morrowind (Might be redundent, but you never know, and besides that this always gives me a gigantic cockblock later on that makes me drift away)
Two Worlds (I downloaded the demo for this on Live a while back and my general reaction was "ew". That and the PC version (the better of the two supposedly) has issues with vista based on what I've read.)
Arcanum (Am actually playing that right now, but I'm just not "in the mood" for it)
STALKER (OK, not really going by what I outlined, but just on the chance someone mentions it. Damned good game, though, can't wait for Clear Sky).
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines (Was fun for a run, but now it's just done)
Basically, what I'm looking for should have
A) As much nonlinearity as can be helped with as few blocks and "you must complete X to continue" checkpoints as possible
Classless skill-based system or something that puts far more emphesis on the skills part than on the class part - basically something that'll let me play "my" wayC) A decent level of customization, or at least so I can make sure my character doesn't look like he spent his childhood running into brick walls
D) And while not nessecary, a good modding community is always nice
Stuff I already played/know of that might get raised:
Fable (Bought it, beat it, liked it for what it was, and am looking forward to the sequal)
The Fallout Games sans that shitty console one (Love 'em, beat 'em multiple times, have FO3's CE preordered)
Morrowind (Might be redundent, but you never know, and besides that this always gives me a gigantic cockblock later on that makes me drift away)
Two Worlds (I downloaded the demo for this on Live a while back and my general reaction was "ew". That and the PC version (the better of the two supposedly) has issues with vista based on what I've read.)
Arcanum (Am actually playing that right now, but I'm just not "in the mood" for it)
STALKER (OK, not really going by what I outlined, but just on the chance someone mentions it. Damned good game, though, can't wait for Clear Sky).
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines (Was fun for a run, but now it's just done)
Sorenson on
0
Posts
The second Gothic really improves the controls to something resembling normal, along with improving just about everything else from the first one really. While I wouldn't go so far as to say it's better than Morrowind it's just as good. As for the third Gothic, I hear it has a lot of issues with game-breaking bugs and whatnot along with some balance issues (though I think I heard some of those got cleared up with a patch) but if you can get it to work than it's a really good game.
This man's avatar has your answer.
I know you said not to bring it up, but still...
I guess theres any of the GTA games? They fit your list.
As to the whole Morrowind thing: it's not that I don't want to play the game, even if Oblivion spoiled me on things like Combat and magic use and such, believe you me I WANT to play and finish it some time in my life: it's just that when
Gothic 1 and 2 are awesome.
Gothic 3 has some of the most ridiculous load times and bugs this side of 1998.
Even if he doesn't want, I do. Please, do tell.
I installed Gothic 3. The game was so much of a slideshow I couldn't even play the beginning.
http://www.goozex.com/trading/asp/itemdetail.asp?item=14883
If you do use Goozex, please use referral link below.
Diablo clone, but really good, with a rather large, open world to explore and lots of side quests.
I am here assuming that if you're playing Arcanum & fallout, you don't require first-person view to be interested in an RPG.
But the control is...I dunno...it doesn't feel right.
Fixes a ton of bugs.
Galsiah's Character Development
Completely overhauls the broken levelling system. Now you don't have to worry about getting 5x multipliers, or getting your endurance up early, or any of the annoying crap that the vanilla system puts you through. You don't even have to pay attention to your stats if you don't want to. As an added bonus, it makes mana regenerate Oblivion style, so mages are now playable.
Economy Adjuster
Overhauls the economy so that money actually matters, and you can't become a billionaire an hour into the game. Just don't use the daedric drops module, because it conflicts with Morrowind Advance and Armor Hunters.
Delayed Dark Brotherhood Attack
Stops the dark brotherhood attacks until you're a ways into the main quest. This is because they're a gigantic pain in the ass when you're trying to get other stuff done, and the unbalance the game by giving you access to an infinitely renewable source of expensive armour at the beginning of the game. Don't use this if you plan on doing Tribunal early, obviously.
NPC Move Command
If some jackass decides to stand in a doorway, you can tell them to move with this. It has a really annoying spelling error, but it's worth it anyway.
Graphical Enhancements:
Morrowind Graphics Extender
Among other things, allows you to have unlimited view distance. Yes, really.
Better Bodies
Fixes the character models so they don't look like horrible segmented abominations. Doesn't fix the hilariously bad animations though, unfortunately.
Better Heads
Replaces all of the face models in the game with much better ones. Now the women don't look like cross-dressing men.
Morrowind Visual Pack
This is the highest quality and most extensive texture pack that I know of. It replaces almost all of the landscape textures in the game with better ones.
Bloodmoon Landscape Overhaul
Visual Pack doesn't cover Bloodmoon, so we have this.
Texture Fix
When you install a high resolution texture replacer, you'll notice a lot of really bad looking seams on the ground where the textures don't merge properly. These were actually in the original game, but the textures were so blurry and indistinct that it was hard to notice them. This mod fixes almost all of them.
Weathered Signs
Replaces all of the road signs in the game with legible ones so you can see what they say without having to walk right up to them.
Added Content:
Adds a bunch of creatures, items and dungeons to the game. Everybody uses this.
Morrowind Comes Alive
Adds a shitton of random NPCs to the towns and wilderness. They randomly appear and disappear when you leave the cell they were in, so you'll see different people every time you visit a town. The new NPCs use a lot of content from the MW modding community, so you'll see new faces, clothes, weapons and armour on them.
Less Generic NPCs
Gives unique dialogue to most of the NPCs in certain towns, so they're not just walking signposts anymore.
Weapon Compilation
Adds a ton of weapons to the game so there's a little variety in what you can pick up.
Armor Hunters
Adds a few new types of armour to the game.
Creature mods - All of these add creatures to the random spawn levelled lists, so you're not fighting the same 12 or so creatures all the time, and so you'll find things that can actually put up a fight when you're at a high level.
Creatures X
Mephisto's Creature Pack
Creature Additions
Some other guy's creatures
Mod Care: I just spent half an hour making this list and I'm getting tired, so I won't go into too much detail here. The gist of it is that you should use Wrye Mash to create a merged levelled list file. Also make sure you read the readmes for every mod you install, including the ones I listed here. That last one should be obvious, but you never know.
You can pretty much go where ever you want after the first town/dungeon aside from the fact that if you go somewhere under leveled you'll get your ass kicked. The quests are pretty decent and are a bit more involved than most morrowind/oblivion ones. It does have a fairly linear main plot though, so don't know if that's a deal breaker or not. Although it's about the same as Arcanum except maybe slightly less stuff to do.
I'd say it's worth a shot.
EDIT: I suppose one thing I really should know is does it have any kind of multiplayer? That's be a good incentive if it did, preferably a co-op sorta' thing and not like ASV's more competative/survival thing.
*edit* just read the faq at larian's website and it doesn't have any multiplayer.
The Kotors are ok in that regard, probably more comparable to Fable.
I second Gothic 2. Story is a little shabby, but a game that provides actual difficulty (beginning to mid-game) is really refreshing.
Oh god the horrible horrible bugs.
Tumblr
My one complaint is the inventory is.....cluttered.
I hated the first hour or so, but after that the game found its groove with me and I enjoyed it enough to finish the main quest and many of the side quests. Honestly, I even found the game world more intriguing and interesting to explore than Oblivion's -- and I played 150+ hours of Oblivion!