Not sure if its purely nostalgia, or the random encounters of pure chaos, but Oblivion is my favorite elder scrolls game. The feel of it just speaks to me.
Could be the sheer atmosphere. It's so whimsical and tonally all-over-the-place (shifting between some really grim and violent stuff to the goofiest fantasy concepts seemingly at random) that it kind of becomes it's own thing that's unique to most other fantasy. It feels like a parody of a fantasy setting, but without the actual parody, because no matter how silly it gets, in-universe everything takes itself seriously and at face value. Plus it was made when bethesda still bothered to put effort into quest design.
@@darko1295 I'd say thats a very accurate description, yes. And as you said, it feels more like Bethesda still cared. I think creativity, writing and taking risks took more of a backseat in recent titles. Played it a bit too safe in my opinion.
It's notable because Oblivion and Fallout 3 are the last time that Bethesda got really creative with quests. Fallout 4 and Skyrim are just quite a bit blander and more straightforward.
oh god 100%! loved Skyrim and Fallout 4 though, but the difference is night and day when it comes to creative effort. I loved Fallout 3 and then loved New Vegas even more, which is crazy considering Obsidian wasnt even a Bethesda team but they poured so much creativity into the game and still made it better than Fallout 4, which says so much about Bethesdas effort haha@@kaylee42900
Only in Skyrim, Oblivion requires you to do what the OP said and actually press the yield button. I like this more as in Skyrim, guards would constantly just walk away in mid battle until they played the "fool me thrice" game and eventually learned after the 16th swing I wasn't as sorry as my shield made me out to be. @@MiddayEnglishman
When people tell me that they are starting Oblivion for the first time I literally cannot describe the envy that I feel. To play this game again for the first time would be something. It’s been a huge part of my life since I was in high school.
There was once upon a time when I owned an xbox 360.. back in boarding school days. PC Gamer the last 15 years lol. (this game led me to it actually, I have an escape rooms riddle, you're locked in an Inn room, no magic, no picklocks, xbox so no console commands. what do you do?)
@@EmberqladzeBest game ever made. The NPCs actually have fleshed out personalities unlike the boring ones in Skyrim. There is a lot of humor amongst the drama which is a God send compared to other games that take themselves oh so seriously. And the quests are the best in any game. Especially the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood. Also side quests with Glathir, Mazoga and Dar-Ma etc. And the graphics are beautiful especially for the beast folks. The ones in Skyrim ar hideous by comparison. And where else can you have both Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean voice characters for you.
I played it for the first time last year and I actually hated it very repetitive oblivion gates and the same 5-10 annoying enemies all game. quests are mostly stupid fetch quest and you also get vampirism that basically kills you immediately. to cure vampirism you must complete a very elaborated long and boring quest
I started playing today for the first time, and I played for about 10 hours straight immediately. It’s amazing, I haven’t been so immersed in a game since I was a kid.
Best way to play the conversation mini-game is to mouse over each option quickly and observe the NPC's facial expression as you mouse over. Each NPC has 1 love, 1 like, 1 dislike, 1 hate. If you prioritize ensuring that you get the smallest piece on the dislike/hate each round, you will almost always end up raising reputation.
@@ghostmusashi It is quite easy. You can think about it as smalltalk / provoking in real life. If you make someone like you, than they will give you better prices when shopping (affects haggle) and tell you more about quests. On the other hand if you drop their disposition a lot they will attack you, without you commiting crime. It is alternative to charm and frenzy spell for non-magic characters that works slightly differently as it does not effect aggresion. So therefore it can also stop the weird random attacks of companions if you hit them to much. (they are pissed at you so you talk them to like you more) And help them accept yield. (so you should play this game with your companions from time to time) I do not know if that is true as i did not tested it. But i also heard that if guard has a high liking of you he will not arrest you and even pay the fine himself.
@@alec5779 Well keep in mind I generally didn't build for having high speech or anything, I almost always played with a combat oriented character. But in my experience, you end up losing more from the bigger pieces landing on negatives than you gain from the bigger pieces landing on positives. I'm sure the speech stats will affect this, so YMMV. But I always prioritized getting the smallest piece to land on dislike/hate and pretty much always ended up gaining disposition in the end.
Unpopular opinion: ONLY VANILLA WITHOUT MODS. The Remake of Oblivion is in the final stage. I woudlnt even invest a second in such a game. I play only vanilla Oblivion on Pc nowadays. No mods are needed to make funny things because how (Idk how to explain that feeling) oblivionly TES IV is. I played TES III and Skyrim but this beatiful mastgerpiece is my childhood game for ever. The enviromnemt, the music, the Npcs, the interarction with everything and everybody. This game had so many goals for little me. Beeing in the black hand. becoming grayfox (Who remembers Gay Fox? xD), seeing Martin turning to that fking legendary dragon, defeating Jyyggalag, and so many many more goals. I'm gonna be 22 years old in September. I hope I have the chance to play this game later in my life and remind me of my childhood time. Thanks for reading my text, have a nice one :)
Fun fact: while Martin Septim was always intended to be played by Sean Bean, all his dialogue was recorded by Wes Johnson (the voice actor for almost all other male imperials in the game) in the event that Sean Bean wouldn't be available. Since Bethesda got Bean almost all of Johnson's performance was lost, but a little bit of it still survives and can be found on UA-cam.
I am so glad, we got the living spoiler voicing Martin, rather than Wes 'let me do all the voices' Johnson. ...Not gonna lie, i love Wes Johnson, but Bethesda really went utterly fucking dogshit lazy, because you can hear his voice everywhere in Oblivion.
@@extrage3061 Have you ever heard about bread? I don't want to sound rude, but what kind of a dumb question is yours? No, i am Patrick Star, i live under a fucking rock and never heard about money. If you're implying that Bethesda is always choosing 1 voice actor for 90% of their NPCs because of cost reduction reasons, then this is no less stupid than without this argument, because at some point people will get bored and start to loose interest in their games, not just only because of the voice actor issue, but several other issues besides that on top of it. Which means they're still shooting their own foot in the long run, doesn't matter if it hurts now, tomorrow or in a year, because it will hurt them at some point. And this is the major problem with them right now, they seem to not care about the long run, only short term, which can be explained with greed. So yeah, there's your essay to read and enjoy as an answer to your stupid question.
@@Haggysack2k8 Wes is capital-a Amazing, but only like two of his performances stood out among the generic Imperial male voice. Lucien Lachance and Sheogorath.
Came for the silly oblivion face in the thumbnail. Stayed for the “yep, they serve food there” Edit: Okay this is just a really good video, nothing new from the legendary industry titan Owen Kung.
@amingZealot I hear the VAs were given their lines in _alphabetical order_ - how deranged is that? It's frankly remarkable that Oblivion's voicework is as solid as it is considering the recording process.
Really digging you taking a look at older games. Also really like you taking the time to give tips and tricks to work around some of the antiquated aspects of all these games. I'm sure it definitely helps new players not get so frustrated at parts of these older games so they can focus on the better parts. I hope you blow up man! Keep up all the hard work and I'm sure it'll pay off.
I’m find it abysmal that Skyrim got released on the switch, but not Oblivion. I’d love to sit in the backseat of the family van punching the crap out of enemies on my switch.
@@pacho6821 That they didn't port Oblivion, I have tons of games on the Switch I could play on PC but would rather sit on the couch and enjoy it on a big screen
Not only Oblivion, but FO3 and FNV, ik the games arent in good shape but it would be so good to play these games on the go (only reason i have switch really lol), skyrim becomes boring without mods after sometime
9:15 Fun fact: Cyrodiil wasn't retconned from being a jungle to a forest. It was originally retconned from being a forest to being a jungle. THEN, it was re-retconned.
Lmao, the cope is getting surreal at this point. Yeah, remember arena guys? Remember how you fought a dude, and then another dude, and then a bunch of them, and then you did A quest (1) and the last dude was so sad that he decided to commit sudoku by the way of standing still? Truly the moment in gaming.
The pizza wheel is pretty easy. Each of the 4 slices have a mood they put the npc in, indicated by their face. You want to select the two happy slices when they have more cheese, and the angry slices when they have less cheese. Its pretty simple.
Also, invest into endurance and whatever controls your weapon of choice every level. Youll 1-2 shot almost any enemy. Almost... If the combat isnt your cup-o-tea, this is a fun way to circumvent it
I love and have been watching most " Is Oblivion worth playing videos" since like 2016.... Oblivion is just one of those games that is timeless, could be 2040, and it's still worth playing. It's got that magic that makes it really special. Skyrim has the same feeling to me as well. I really hope ES6 captures this feeling too, it will be a damn shame after all these years if it doesn't. Great video.
Props for acknowledging the fact that you can still play the game normally if you tweak the difficulty slider. Most youtubers completely ignore this and act like the game is simply unenjoyable without min-maxing (which like you stated is tedious at best). I usually play at around 45%.
"I have no idea how this wheel is supposed to properly work" The more full the wedge/slice is, the more dramatic the attitude shift will be. So you want to try and choose the fuller wedges on the choices where the NPC is smiling and vice versa on the choices where they're frowning. Tbh I've never understood the confusion around this system. I was maybe 10 when I first played and it seemed so intuitive to me at the time. Btw, getting staggered in a chain like you're saying does not happen when you have 60+ agility and are actually using a shield. Your problem is that you were blocking without a shield. You can tend to chain stagger enemies later on just like they did to you early if you just damage or drain their agility and use a shield. I'm glad you mentioned the difficulty slider. I have completed multiple efficient leveling runs (never felt unfun tbh) and I usually started the game with the difficulty at 60/100 while very gradually sliding it down to roughly 35/100 so that I really felt like a force to be reckoned with towards the end of the game when I was level 52ish. Also, actually you can get a glimpse into why at least some of the Mythic Dawn cultists join the cult. For one of thing, you can't use the kinds of logic that you are using to discern why a cultist joins a cult. You yourself are clearly not the type of person who would be susceptible to being manipulated into joining a cult. If you pay attention to each NPC before you start the quest that turns them hostile, all of them lead pretty isolated and miserable lives. People who both intensely desire to belong to a larger group fighting for a higher cause and who have hardly any connection to family or friends are extremely vulnerable to being manipulated into committing otherwise unthinkable acts. They could even be convinced that daedra aren't as evil as their reputation would lead people to believe, and that death will lead to a worthy reward and an escape from their empty and depressing mortal existence.
Yeah just go around once with the smallest "slice" and listen to (or watch) the reactions. If you want to raise their attitude to you then just make sure you click on the small slice when it is on one of the two negative reactions, forget about the positive ones they will take care of themselves. Besides the more you click the higher your Speechcraft anyway. It is easy as pie.
Yeah I don't get why the persuasion minigame is memed as being complicated. Hover over each wedge. Look at NPC's facial expression. Big wedge for smile, small wedge for frown. Rotate if available and advantageous. Very simple. The game explains it in a tutorial popup - I'm guessing a lot of players skipped over it due to tutorial fatigue (the player will have read a lot of pop-up tutorial boxes by the point they try persuasion) and just clicked at random, not pausing for long enough to take note of NPC facial expressions when you mouse over the wedges. I guess they also clicked too fast to be able to discern the Disposition change from each wedge they clicked so they couldn't even trial-and-error it. I'm not saying the minigame is perfect or the game explains it perfectly but it really is mostly a player issue.
I always found it confusing. I think it's because the game never really tells you how to do it same with lock picking. I owned this game before my family had internet (internet cafes ftw) so couldn't look it up just had to roll with it. @@rdrrr
@@MiddayEnglishman The tutorial popup tells you how it works, although I don't remember how clearly it explains it. I managed to figure it all out aged 15 so it can't have been that bad.
Hell yeah it's worth playing. And if the fucked up level scaling gets to you just turn down the difficulty a bit. Oblivion has some AMAZING quests and dialogue. The faction quests blow Skyrim's out of the water too. When you finally become the head of a faction you feel like you deserved it
Just remember to make Endurance your main priority during every level up and you won't have to use the slider bar. Endurance is your health points and it keeps you alive. Strength helps you kill things better and carry more loot. Make them a priority even if playing a Mage or Thief character and you will be fine. (Also do the max 5 training sessions allowed at each level to help you max out those attributes to 5 per level if possible).
The level scaling in this game is buns in the same way I thought it would prove to be in Diablo 4. The game never really gets harder, just the enemies spongier. I don't hate this game and I don't hate D4, but I'll always have trepidation with scaling. At least FF VII Rebirth made it optional (though, to your point, you can change difficulty on the fly with Oblivion, not that difficulty is why I hate it). To the one reading who hasn't played: don't let this scare you away from Oblivion. You can become absolutely busted powerful in this game, but on normal you'll be plenty powerful regardless. It's just what I'd call a bad feature of an otherwise good game.
The reputation wheel game is actually super useful earlier on if you take the time to get good at it. Lateron, you may as well use charm spells or just bribe them though.
Loved this video start to finish. Oblivion has always been my favorite Elder Scrolls game and it's awesome to see it still getting attention 18 years later. I'll be starting another play through soon because of your video.
I really do appreciate you take your time to explain HOW mechanics in this game function and why they're either outdated or create a struggle for players, like the bouncy combat, rather than just leaving it as 'clunky', it kinda gives me words to the feelings to the combat I had but couldn't figure out, or where exactly the levelling system is broken and how to overcome it
My dad bought this game for me in 2008 and I fell in love instantly, we would all play it and keep each other updated on our characters and progression. Game holds a special place in my childhood for sure.
I am one of those weirdos who, back in the day, completed several playthroughs with efficient leveling. Endurance always needed to be leveled up +5 until 100, because of the Endurance-based health boost received each level. So +5 for Endurance, +5 for another attribute, and the +1 for Luck. Had to take the Thief birthsign, if I remember correctly, for that Luck bonus. I actually loved Oblivion's leveling system, and was very bummed to see Skyrim simplify it.
Your line delivery is excellent, probably some of the best I've heard in recent times. Every line has a sense of impact, intrigue, passion etc. It feels authentic and I can't help but take note. Well done.
To this day I never mod the potato faces, I just have a genuine fondness for them. ) One thing I liked about Oblivion is you could yield to a bandit by lowering your shield (and accept theirs) and they might let you go, whereas in Skyrim they say yield but get back up and fight.
There's a mod out there called "Undeformed Potatoes" that slightly adjusts some of the weirder looking NPCs without fundamentally changing the way the game looks. There are so many NPCs in Oblivion it's not surprising some of them came out looking a bit cooked - just slightly editing facial geometries helps a ton. It doesn't make ugly NPCs "prettier", but it does make them less freakish. There's a similar mod for New Vegas and I recommend it equally highly. I'm not a fan of OCO etc. because I think they fundamentally change the feel of the game - and I also think they look kinda bad in their own way. OCO NPCs are all plasticky and hard to tell apart from each other, and frankly not everyone should be young and hot. Elderly NPCs should look elderly, and alcoholic beggars should look a bit cracked, you know?
@@rdrrr Thanks for the recommendation I'll check out the mod you mentioned. Completely agree about the plasticky look, they're a little uncanny valley in their own way.
@@sanguinelynx I'm very much a "Vanilla Plus" guy. I'm not into big overhaul mods because if you go too hard, you're no longer playing Oblivion. I like more subtle changes that feel like they keep the "spirit" of the game intact. Sometimes it's the small changes that make all the difference. "Louder Nirnroots" is a godsend. "Coloured Enemy Health Bars" is really nice as well.
Not that it matters since you *can* mostly ignore it, but he persuasion mini-game is pretty simple when you look at it. Each "topic" will affect the NPC in 4 different ways, which you can tell from their facial expression when you hover over it. They'll either Love, Like, Dislike, or Hate the topic. The impact of that will depend on how full that "slice" of the wheel is when you select it. So the object of the game is to choose the Love and Like options for the fullest slices, giving you big boosts in their attitude towards you, and the opposite for the dislike and hate reactions to minimize their dislike for you. Since the wheel rotates each time you select a slice, there is some strategy to it. ... Or just bribe the NPC and ignore it. It just works.
The s ragedy is easy. Just concentrate on watching the smallest slice each rotation of the wheel and click on it if it is in front of the dislike or hate ones. If it isn't then chick on one of the like or love options. Super simple.
I actually just finished a Min/Max thing inspired by Baron's Castles Poison run so I did all that... While also only using Poison for damage. Went with a High Elf and after Felldew Addiction and Oghma Ininium and even Vampirism... I can say I did it. But I do not advise it, it's a pain in the butt to keep track of things and in the long run it's not really needed. Just rush max endurance and do everything in stride. The Health aspect is really all I care about now. Edit: I didn't say what I wanted to say - Great Video! First timer here. Loved it.
I played Oblivion when it came out, I was in high school at the time. My PC could hardly play it at the time but I played the hell out of it even with a crappy framerate and ultra low settings. It was the first RPG I played where it felt like you had the freedom to do anything. So many good memories staying up late playing it.
Wow this was a Very Fast hour of viewing. My husband played older ES games, I only did some Skyrim but he told me the lore and gameplay for oblivion was good. Had no idea how dense it was. 👏 ovation, sir, and a Like+Sub.
Oblivion is the best game not only in Elder Scrolls but ever period for me. Great replay value too. And NPCs that you remember unlike the forgettable ones in Skyrim. And wonderful quirky humor. Guilds are the best and their quests especially the Thieves and Dark Brotherhood. And side quests and all the Daedra quests and the Indiana Jones inspired "Collector's" quest line and the Arena where in the end you get the most iconic NPC in any game ever - The Adoring Fan. (He even ends up in Starfield). And side quests like the paranoia Glathir one and Mozoga the Orc etc.
This has turned out to be one of the best Oblivion videos i've seen, and that's huge considering i 1st played Oblivion the day it released...and in fact just replayed it.....again🙄🤣🤣🤣 Great job! Subbed❤
I put 100s if not 1000s of hours into Oblivion when it first released and never noticed the level scaling issue because of the type of characters I always made. I always leaned on illusion and invisibility, paralyze, and sneak. I knew the enemies got tougher but I never put it together that the leveling was broken just because of my builds. If I had made a strict melee character I certainly would have learned about this issue much earlier lol
I did efficient leveling on max difficulty for my entire playthrough, but I used the item duplication exploit on alchemical ingredients exclusively to reduce the tedium. I didn't use the duplication for infinite money to not make the game completely broken, but I had a decent time even with infinite potions. I was getting pretty overpowered because I focus leveled endurance and int in the early game so when I got to level 25 I Rolplayed that my character went mad, she'd his max level divine crusader armour and fled into the shivering isles which I want to do with no armour on max difficulty
How long did it take you to work out how to do the exploit? did you toil hard? was there a story arc? did you quest? and did you untold power?. The game seems to be mainly about going out and learning about the world, for me the Dwemer but also the Ayleids to become the most powerful mage that existed. Like you say exploit but I heard ancient power of an unknown Daedra.
I do Endurance, Strength and Intelligence in that order with an occasional Willpower thrown in. There are so many free foods to be had in the barrels and crates and inside peoples' homes that I had no trouble getting alchemy up really fast with no need to dupe food. In fact I had to restrain myself to dole it out in roughly 10 alchemy level increments for each level up so I could save some of it for the next level. (Never make it a major either it goes up so fast no need to).
@middayenglishman6003 I got into playing oblivion pretty late, I already knew of the exploit from watching videos and what not. I played morrowind on Xbox and used the drain intelligence exploit in that for infinite Magica, and kinda ruined my experience. I did another playthrough I enjoyed more without the ability to use it. I still don't have the patience to play morrowind without BOBS.
Great video! I started with the Morrowind video, and this made me so happy. I will say, I wish this had more of the eccentricity that the morrowind video had, but nonetheless keep it up
When I play the old Elder Scrolls games I always do efficient levelling, it is really not that hard if you had some plan beforehand. You can for example just make all your main and secondary skills be for the same attribute and the rest whatever you are never going to use that is easy to level up (possibly without combat) like snak if you don't plan to play stalthy and that is already enough if you pay some attention to wether you could level up now or not. You can level up way more often then you need to in order to get everything to 100 so you do not need to be perfect at all, but the fear of messing up leads to people ONLY picking skills the do not want to use, which is where the insane tedium some people experience comes from. So how I play is I have for example all the strenth skills and I just prepare the level by using let's say spells so I get my 10 levels for intelligence and endurance and then I play normally untill I get my level up and then prepare my level again. Obviously this does not work if you overextend your adventure for so long that you made 20 or more level ups in your main skills but that is really not hard to avoid. As soon as you have a skill at 100 you can just use that for every situation. Also since at some point you want to go somewhere to sell whatever you found adventuring anyway it is not that different I feel, just instead of the carry weight it is your level progress sending you back to town, so it doesn't change that much in my opinion. It is still a stupid system though.
I really think the problem is just "learn-by-doing" (is there a better word for that? "Skill-based leveling", maybe?) systems in general. It sucked in Final Fantasy II in 1988 and it sucked in Oblivion in 2006. It's just hard to design a system like that that isn't opaque, intrusive and annoying. I think most of Oblivion's game design is actually solid, so I don't use any big overhaul mods... except the leveling system. I mod the _shit_ out of that - I use Ultimate Leveling to implement a Fallout-style XP system. An XP-based system lets you play the game the way _you_ want, not the way the _game_ wants - plus it rewards exploration, reading books etc., which is nice.
I think I was 16 or 17 when Oblivion came out. I remember playing this for the first time with friends. It was mindblowing having a open world game that looked so good graphically at the time. It's got its flaws but i have a ton of nostalgia for it.
The persuasion mini game is so easy, just look at their face and try to align the full slice with their happy expression and the empty one with their angry face. Spam and repeat.
This was a fantastic watch my guy. Your writing, sense of humor and calm, informative diction is really pleasant to listen to both as background content and (the way I watched it) with full attention too. Subbed!
What i like about Oblivion more than Skyrim is the fact your actions mean something and random people will recognize you for them making you feel like you made a change in this world whether it be for good or bad which is super good for immersion. As a kind of sucks in Skyrim they talk down on you even though people can see or should know that you're the dragonborn and treat you like you're just like some other beggar or nothing about your achievements are truly ever mentioned which takes away the immersion honesty like I do like the leveling in Skyrim wish they could have that in Oblivion while keeping a lot of its skills and spells. As it does feel cool to do a backflip to dodge an spell or attack like a boss or to even roll forward to dodge an attack from an enemy or to get away from them
Your content does not disappoint, I may have found you because of my unhealthy stalker obsession, but I stayed because your content's high quality in general.
You overstate how difficult/tedious efficient leveling is and overplay how crucial it is for balance. There is no need for a spreadsheet nor for perfect +5 each level, the game gets easier even if you're doing inefficient level ups, with the exception of somehow focusing only on Personality and non-combat skills. It really shows that you've only played the game with this flaw modded out (and in an unbalanced way at that, as I doubt you were expected to have +5 on each level up).
@@max7971 In a vacuum it does get harder, but as you progress throughout the game you gain skill levels, perks, spells, gold and enchanted items to significantly boost your power. Certain items will also scale to your level when you first acquire them, meaning that you should be of a higher level to get the better version of said item and that if you're less optimized attribute-wise you still get a better item than a player who hasn't leveled. Not to mention getting access to better loot overall at higher levels. On the top of my head, and I might be wrong, but I can't think of an enemy that spawns that would be a significant roadblock as to encourage not leveling. Even something like a minotaur is gonna be vulnerable to paralysis (Either from being Master at a weapon skill, poison or magic), kiting their slow attacks or using ranged options from a ledge they can't pathfind towards. Compare this to Morrowind's overworld enemies gaining innate Reflect, making it extremely problematic for magic users to deal with them.
On a laptop you go into CONSOLE COMMAND mode (~) and type tdt. That shows you where you are at in the 7 attributes. Like Endurance is currently at 7 this level and Strength at 5 and Intelligence at 8 etc. So it is really easy to efficiently level. Especially since you can buy 5 training sessions of your choice at every level too to fill in gaps instead of grinding. (You type tdt again to shut off the stat list btw before exiting CONSOLE COMMAND, it is like a toggle switch).
The first time I ever played this game it blew my mind. Walking out of the sewers for the first time and seeing those rolling hills and trees is something I’ll never forget.
there is actually a youtuber who 100% the game and he had to do efficient levelling the whole time. his name is "VoicesFromTheDark". yes his name is edgy, he made it when he was a teenager.
@@joshuastoughton1693Yes and you get his mask but the best part is you get the 3 story Thieves Guild hideout and live on the third floor. Other thieves come into the first floor to visit and I park The Adoring Fan there as my Meet and Greet guy to chat them up. Just play again and do the Thieves Guild all the way through. If you have a laptop now well Oblivion is super cheap to buy at this point and comes with the two expansions etc.
It's also just got a lot more content than skyrim. Oblivion is my fave. Also the dialogue is great and amazing, just not when the NPCS talk to each other.
owen kung i have followed you on ig for years as the best meme page and now u make my favourite yt videos ever. pls keep doing bethesda stuff and other cool old games like them
18:20 I did. At max difficulty. Was near impossible to even pass the rats in the tutorial (or kill them but you have to dodge most/all of them to avoid unwanted levels), but once you get going it's fun in its own way.
Man this game actually looking better than starfield especially tremendously better in the lore department, slightly worse in npc faces and no more, lightning is pretty much lot better. but oblivion aged like fine wine. all the faction in this game, feels Mutch better than Skyrm tbh, and with more depths
Oblivion is awesome, I did a recent playthrough again on console and turned down the difficulty bar one tick for every couple level ups, which worked out pretty well. I also didn't allow myself to wait to heal damage.
About the leveling system,you should only set your major skills as things that increase your damage. You should be increasing your dps each time you level up. It's a little weird but it works, and you will level up in a more combat experience oriented way instead of leveling by spamming jump and run 24/7
I remember seeing Oblivion first time in a gameshop running on a xbox360. and it was so amazing to see back in the days, Oblivion made me so addicted and it was incredibly fun and still is.
I can’t wait for skyblivion to be released though! I think sooooo many people are going to go from hating on oblivion or saying it’s janky to possibly thinking it’s one of, if not the greatest simply because the engine’s updated.
a blast to the past my man loved the video and the day the game was released it WAS one hell of an experience leaving the sewers i remember reading gamer pc magazines about oblivion's release with my friends in middle school waiting for it to come out
I love 3 things about Oblivion. Enemies change when you reach higher levels (Ghost>Wraith, Liches, bandits wear pretty badass armor, etc.), cooler/more stats that did things (Unarmored, hand-to-hand, acrobatics, etc.), and it's willingness to experiment (Stange/intractable set pieces, wild sidequests, iconic NPC interactions, etc.). I could say more like how variable types of enemies can be like you cant hurt ghosts unless you have the right type of weapo but the game has many interesting TTRPG inspirations and it's not afraid to wear it on it's sleeve.
seriously, the music is TOO GOOD! like we ripped the audio files, on playlists and still listen to the soundtrack almost daily still. Also the NPCs were great for its time and argueabley still better than most, they have not only daily routines, weekly and MONTHLY things they want to do. Its a bummer radiant was nerfed abit :( Also those graphics were the BEST for ages, i still remember being gobsmacked about the intro video was INGAME! seriously play games around the same time and youll see how this is so whole. replayable. a real functioning world. Theres still so much to talk about and its relevence to the time and how long it took for it to even start to age. its been 18 years and only started to feel old only like 5 years ago..
Oblivion is like a B movie, with those papier-mâché armor and weapons, and unrealistic overly fluid movements so as not to injure the other actors This game has its own charm, no less
The biggest issue with this game was it was seriously dumbed down for console, there were thousands of lines of dialogue cut, a ton of side quests, and even entire factions cut so it could fit on a single DVD. One of the biggest tragedies to befall mankind. If Bethesda was smart they would’ve done an official release of cut content. Or re-release a remastered oblivion with all the cut content restored, plus new content.
@@greenscheme2040 You understood it wrong, we all missed that stuff because consoles, no matter if you played on PC or not. There was supposed to be multiple arenas in different cities etc that was cut.
I installed Oblivion 2 weeks ago, including the Bevilex Modlist, Better Citites, Unique Landscapes, MOO, some more Quest Mods and things like Crowded Cities. I am 4 hours into game and besides 3-4 CTDs in that time, everything works so far. This is my greatest accomplishment this year, there is no better feeling than walking trough a modded Imperial City, including ENB and modern textures!
I have to say there is nothing more rewarding than having all your stats at 100 (minus luck still working on it) on perfect leveling. Getting the ring of perfection mixed with things like amulet of the acrobatic and you are zooming everywhere able to move in and out of enemies range pretty easily. even with the best weapons and spells shit still takes a while to kill but its enjoyable. Having a mod that keeps track of things really made it more manageable I haven't done the dlc to reset my stats further to level up even more but after a while it all becomes numbers not necessary but fun.
To me, gameplay factors aside, the music and atmosphere is just unreal. It really drives you into a whole other state of mind... damn even the caverns, the lighting, everything just feels so awesome.
Allies for Burma! after running around and closing the copy pasted Oblivion gates all this time, go close 10 more oblivion gates and them come back to close a BIG oblivion gate
I’ve had a lot of fun playing oblivion now that I’m older and able to pick it up and learn just from playing, when I was younger when I first got the game at 13 I couldn’t really understand the game. But I’ve already been into Skyrim for the whole year prior, and since I was struggling with oblivions mechanics I just left it alone till recently and it’s been really fun. I want to master it just like I’ve mastered Skyrim
Not sure if its purely nostalgia, or the random encounters of pure chaos, but Oblivion is my favorite elder scrolls game.
The feel of it just speaks to me.
Could be the sheer atmosphere. It's so whimsical and tonally all-over-the-place (shifting between some really grim and violent stuff to the goofiest fantasy concepts seemingly at random) that it kind of becomes it's own thing that's unique to most other fantasy. It feels like a parody of a fantasy setting, but without the actual parody, because no matter how silly it gets, in-universe everything takes itself seriously and at face value. Plus it was made when bethesda still bothered to put effort into quest design.
@@darko1295 I'd say thats a very accurate description, yes.
And as you said, it feels more like Bethesda still cared.
I think creativity, writing and taking risks took more of a backseat in recent titles. Played it a bit too safe in my opinion.
its everything a game should be, fun
It's notable because Oblivion and Fallout 3 are the last time that Bethesda got really creative with quests. Fallout 4 and Skyrim are just quite a bit blander and more straightforward.
oh god 100%! loved Skyrim and Fallout 4 though, but the difference is night and day when it comes to creative effort. I loved Fallout 3 and then loved New Vegas even more, which is crazy considering Obsidian wasnt even a Bethesda team but they poured so much creativity into the game and still made it better than Fallout 4, which says so much about Bethesdas effort haha@@kaylee42900
if u hold block and press Interact you yield and stop people from attacking you.
only if they like you
Just putting your weapon away works on guards.
Only in Skyrim, Oblivion requires you to do what the OP said and actually press the yield button. I like this more as in Skyrim, guards would constantly just walk away in mid battle until they played the "fool me thrice" game and eventually learned after the 16th swing I wasn't as sorry as my shield made me out to be. @@MiddayEnglishman
glad this is the top comment
@ne135 Calm 'em and Charm 'em. Some hostile NPCs even have unique dialogue.
When people tell me that they are starting Oblivion for the first time I literally cannot describe the envy that I feel. To play this game again for the first time would be something. It’s been a huge part of my life since I was in high school.
There was once upon a time when I owned an xbox 360.. back in boarding school days. PC Gamer the last 15 years lol. (this game led me to it actually, I have an escape rooms riddle, you're locked in an Inn room, no magic, no picklocks, xbox so no console commands. what do you do?)
I'm 22 years old and for the first time I'm thinking about downloading Oblivion and I'm only watching this video to see if it's worth it😂
Yeah it's totally worth it, better than Skyrim I think. @@Emberqladze
@@EmberqladzeBest game ever made. The NPCs actually have fleshed out personalities unlike the boring ones in Skyrim. There is a lot of humor amongst the drama which is a God send compared to other games that take themselves oh so seriously. And the quests are the best in any game. Especially the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood. Also side quests with Glathir, Mazoga and Dar-Ma etc. And the graphics are beautiful especially for the beast folks. The ones in Skyrim ar hideous by comparison. And where else can you have both Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean voice characters for you.
I played it for the first time last year and I actually hated it very repetitive oblivion gates and the same 5-10 annoying enemies all game. quests are mostly stupid fetch quest and you also get vampirism that basically kills you immediately. to cure vampirism you must complete a very elaborated long and boring quest
I started playing today for the first time, and I played for about 10 hours straight immediately. It’s amazing, I haven’t been so immersed in a game since I was a kid.
well...
wait until you play morrowind and see an item that’s worth 10,000 gold
Same here.
BY AZURA! BY AZURA! BY AZURA! IT'S YOU, THE GRAND CHAMPION, STANDING HERE NEXT TO ME!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Best way to play the conversation mini-game is to mouse over each option quickly and observe the NPC's facial expression as you mouse over. Each NPC has 1 love, 1 like, 1 dislike, 1 hate. If you prioritize ensuring that you get the smallest piece on the dislike/hate each round, you will almost always end up raising reputation.
Sorry, but I still don't know what that mechanic is for :C
@@ghostmusashi It is quite easy. You can think about it as smalltalk / provoking in real life. If you make someone like you, than they will give you better prices when shopping (affects haggle) and tell you more about quests. On the other hand if you drop their disposition a lot they will attack you, without you commiting crime. It is alternative to charm and frenzy spell for non-magic characters that works slightly differently as it does not effect aggresion. So therefore it can also stop the weird random attacks of companions if you hit them to much. (they are pissed at you so you talk them to like you more) And help them accept yield. (so you should play this game with your companions from time to time)
I do not know if that is true as i did not tested it. But i also heard that if guard has a high liking of you he will not arrest you and even pay the fine himself.
ohh I've been prioritizing getting the larger ones on love/like. Is that less efficient?
@@alec5779 Well keep in mind I generally didn't build for having high speech or anything, I almost always played with a combat oriented character. But in my experience, you end up losing more from the bigger pieces landing on negatives than you gain from the bigger pieces landing on positives.
I'm sure the speech stats will affect this, so YMMV. But I always prioritized getting the smallest piece to land on dislike/hate and pretty much always ended up gaining disposition in the end.
To me oblivion isn't just the funny face npc conversation game, thats surface level stuff, the quests and locations are really the icing on the cake.
there are mods that make the faces become way better
Where does icing go? On the surface level of the cake
Unpopular opinion: ONLY VANILLA WITHOUT MODS.
The Remake of Oblivion is in the final stage. I woudlnt even invest a second in such a game. I play only vanilla Oblivion on Pc nowadays.
No mods are needed to make funny things because how (Idk how to explain that feeling) oblivionly TES IV is.
I played TES III and Skyrim but this beatiful mastgerpiece is my childhood game for ever.
The enviromnemt, the music, the Npcs, the interarction with everything and everybody.
This game had so many goals for little me. Beeing in the black hand. becoming grayfox (Who remembers Gay Fox? xD), seeing Martin turning to that fking legendary dragon, defeating Jyyggalag, and so many many more goals.
I'm gonna be 22 years old in September. I hope I have the chance to play this game later in my life and remind me of my childhood time.
Thanks for reading my text, have a nice one :)
Fun fact: while Martin Septim was always intended to be played by Sean Bean, all his dialogue was recorded by Wes Johnson (the voice actor for almost all other male imperials in the game) in the event that Sean Bean wouldn't be available. Since Bethesda got Bean almost all of Johnson's performance was lost, but a little bit of it still survives and can be found on UA-cam.
I am so glad, we got the living spoiler voicing Martin, rather than Wes 'let me do all the voices' Johnson.
...Not gonna lie, i love Wes Johnson, but Bethesda really went utterly fucking dogshit lazy, because you can hear his voice everywhere in Oblivion.
@@Haggysack2k8 Oblivion drinking game: take a shot every time you hear Wes Johnson.
Don't actually do that, you'll die.
@@Haggysack2k8 Have you ever heard about money?
@@extrage3061 Have you ever heard about bread?
I don't want to sound rude, but what kind of a dumb question is yours? No, i am Patrick Star, i live under a fucking rock and never heard about money.
If you're implying that Bethesda is always choosing 1 voice actor for 90% of their NPCs because of cost reduction reasons, then this is no less stupid than without this argument, because at some point people will get bored and start to loose interest in their games, not just only because of the voice actor issue, but several other issues besides that on top of it.
Which means they're still shooting their own foot in the long run, doesn't matter if it hurts now, tomorrow or in a year, because it will hurt them at some point.
And this is the major problem with them right now, they seem to not care about the long run, only short term, which can be explained with greed.
So yeah, there's your essay to read and enjoy as an answer to your stupid question.
@@Haggysack2k8 Wes is capital-a Amazing, but only like two of his performances stood out among the generic Imperial male voice. Lucien Lachance and Sheogorath.
Came for the silly oblivion face in the thumbnail. Stayed for the “yep, they serve food there”
Edit: Okay this is just a really good video, nothing new from the legendary industry titan Owen Kung.
"Yep they serve food there" might even have landed if the actors were given any context at all for their lines.
@amingZealot I hear the VAs were given their lines in _alphabetical order_ - how deranged is that? It's frankly remarkable that Oblivion's voicework is as solid as it is considering the recording process.
Really digging you taking a look at older games. Also really like you taking the time to give tips and tricks to work around some of the antiquated aspects of all these games. I'm sure it definitely helps new players not get so frustrated at parts of these older games so they can focus on the better parts. I hope you blow up man! Keep up all the hard work and I'm sure it'll pay off.
every year there is always video asking this question , and every year the answer is "cheese , for everyone "
I’m find it abysmal that Skyrim got released on the switch, but not Oblivion. I’d love to sit in the backseat of the family van punching the crap out of enemies on my switch.
I swear, I hate that so much
@@AliceValentine The Switch or the fact they didn't port Oblivion?
@@pacho6821 That they didn't port Oblivion, I have tons of games on the Switch I could play on PC but would rather sit on the couch and enjoy it on a big screen
Just get a Steam Deck, problem solved.
Not only Oblivion, but FO3 and FNV, ik the games arent in good shape but it would be so good to play these games on the go (only reason i have switch really lol), skyrim becomes boring without mods after sometime
9:15 Fun fact: Cyrodiil wasn't retconned from being a jungle to a forest. It was originally retconned from being a forest to being a jungle. THEN, it was re-retconned.
I mean, isn't jungle a type of forest?
Option 5 for leveling: partial efficient leveling. Just get your endurance as high as possible as quickly as possible and then play the game normally.
Yeah I mentioned that just now too. Endurance at 5 points a level and the game becomes so so easy.
I like this game more than Skyrim. Purely for the guilds. And the arena. Having an ocean of fences to use as a thief was epic! Oh and the magic to!
You forgot the quests
Does skyrim have a reference quest to The Deadliest Game?
The Dark Brotherhood story line and quests are amazing too.
And Girugamesh
Lmao, the cope is getting surreal at this point.
Yeah, remember arena guys? Remember how you fought a dude, and then another dude, and then a bunch of them, and then you did A quest (1) and the last dude was so sad that he decided to commit sudoku by the way of standing still? Truly the moment in gaming.
you're weird@@max7971
Quick correction; You *can* yield to NPCs. Interact while blocking. Depending on disposition and other factors,they may or may not accept.
The pizza wheel is pretty easy. Each of the 4 slices have a mood they put the npc in, indicated by their face. You want to select the two happy slices when they have more cheese, and the angry slices when they have less cheese. Its pretty simple.
Also, invest into endurance and whatever controls your weapon of choice every level. Youll 1-2 shot almost any enemy. Almost...
If the combat isnt your cup-o-tea, this is a fun way to circumvent it
I love and have been watching most " Is Oblivion worth playing videos" since like 2016.... Oblivion is just one of those games that is timeless, could be 2040, and it's still worth playing. It's got that magic that makes it really special. Skyrim has the same feeling to me as well. I really hope ES6 captures this feeling too, it will be a damn shame after all these years if it doesn't. Great video.
Props for acknowledging the fact that you can still play the game normally if you tweak the difficulty slider. Most youtubers completely ignore this and act like the game is simply unenjoyable without min-maxing (which like you stated is tedious at best). I usually play at around 45%.
My god just when I was finishing watching the oblivion work stream. The devil works hard but Kung works harder
You actually can surrender *yield.
It doesn't tell you though. You block and press the A button.
It does tell you, but its an awful explanation of it.
@@ZeallustImmortal yeah I don't think the game tells you.
@@extrage3061 Good for you but youre wrong
"I have no idea how this wheel is supposed to properly work"
The more full the wedge/slice is, the more dramatic the attitude shift will be. So you want to try and choose the fuller wedges on the choices where the NPC is smiling and vice versa on the choices where they're frowning.
Tbh I've never understood the confusion around this system. I was maybe 10 when I first played and it seemed so intuitive to me at the time.
Btw, getting staggered in a chain like you're saying does not happen when you have 60+ agility and are actually using a shield. Your problem is that you were blocking without a shield. You can tend to chain stagger enemies later on just like they did to you early if you just damage or drain their agility and use a shield.
I'm glad you mentioned the difficulty slider. I have completed multiple efficient leveling runs (never felt unfun tbh) and I usually started the game with the difficulty at 60/100 while very gradually sliding it down to roughly 35/100 so that I really felt like a force to be reckoned with towards the end of the game when I was level 52ish.
Also, actually you can get a glimpse into why at least some of the Mythic Dawn cultists join the cult. For one of thing, you can't use the kinds of logic that you are using to discern why a cultist joins a cult. You yourself are clearly not the type of person who would be susceptible to being manipulated into joining a cult.
If you pay attention to each NPC before you start the quest that turns them hostile, all of them lead pretty isolated and miserable lives. People who both intensely desire to belong to a larger group fighting for a higher cause and who have hardly any connection to family or friends are extremely vulnerable to being manipulated into committing otherwise unthinkable acts. They could even be convinced that daedra aren't as evil as their reputation would lead people to believe, and that death will lead to a worthy reward and an escape from their empty and depressing mortal existence.
I'm a shield guy too.. almost all magic though. Nothing can take me down lol though my offense is lacking a fair bit.
Yeah just go around once with the smallest "slice" and listen to (or watch) the reactions. If you want to raise their attitude to you then just make sure you click on the small slice when it is on one of the two negative reactions, forget about the positive ones they will take care of themselves. Besides the more you click the higher your Speechcraft anyway. It is easy as pie.
Yeah I don't get why the persuasion minigame is memed as being complicated. Hover over each wedge. Look at NPC's facial expression. Big wedge for smile, small wedge for frown. Rotate if available and advantageous. Very simple.
The game explains it in a tutorial popup - I'm guessing a lot of players skipped over it due to tutorial fatigue (the player will have read a lot of pop-up tutorial boxes by the point they try persuasion) and just clicked at random, not pausing for long enough to take note of NPC facial expressions when you mouse over the wedges. I guess they also clicked too fast to be able to discern the Disposition change from each wedge they clicked so they couldn't even trial-and-error it. I'm not saying the minigame is perfect or the game explains it perfectly but it really is mostly a player issue.
I always found it confusing. I think it's because the game never really tells you how to do it same with lock picking. I owned this game before my family had internet (internet cafes ftw) so couldn't look it up just had to roll with it. @@rdrrr
@@MiddayEnglishman The tutorial popup tells you how it works, although I don't remember how clearly it explains it. I managed to figure it all out aged 15 so it can't have been that bad.
Hell yeah it's worth playing. And if the fucked up level scaling gets to you just turn down the difficulty a bit. Oblivion has some AMAZING quests and dialogue. The faction quests blow Skyrim's out of the water too. When you finally become the head of a faction you feel like you deserved it
Just remember to make Endurance your main priority during every level up and you won't have to use the slider bar. Endurance is your health points and it keeps you alive. Strength helps you kill things better and carry more loot. Make them a priority even if playing a Mage or Thief character and you will be fine. (Also do the max 5 training sessions allowed at each level to help you max out those attributes to 5 per level if possible).
@@greenscheme2040 good advice! Though for a new player I'd just recommend messing with the difficulty slider!
The level scaling in this game is buns in the same way I thought it would prove to be in Diablo 4. The game never really gets harder, just the enemies spongier. I don't hate this game and I don't hate D4, but I'll always have trepidation with scaling. At least FF VII Rebirth made it optional (though, to your point, you can change difficulty on the fly with Oblivion, not that difficulty is why I hate it).
To the one reading who hasn't played: don't let this scare you away from Oblivion. You can become absolutely busted powerful in this game, but on normal you'll be plenty powerful regardless. It's just what I'd call a bad feature of an otherwise good game.
The short answer is that if you enjoy playing it, then its worth playing.
Im subscribed to over 300 people, but only keep the bell notification on for about 10. You're one. Great video as usual.
The mollies kicked in for someone.. [throws popcorn at you]
The reputation wheel game is actually super useful earlier on if you take the time to get good at it.
Lateron, you may as well use charm spells or just bribe them though.
Loved this video start to finish. Oblivion has always been my favorite Elder Scrolls game and it's awesome to see it still getting attention 18 years later. I'll be starting another play through soon because of your video.
Owen kung looks like an oblivion character
Especially with those rippling muscles
I really do appreciate you take your time to explain HOW mechanics in this game function and why they're either outdated or create a struggle for players, like the bouncy combat, rather than just leaving it as 'clunky', it kinda gives me words to the feelings to the combat I had but couldn't figure out, or where exactly the levelling system is broken and how to overcome it
My dad bought this game for me in 2008 and I fell in love instantly, we would all play it and keep each other updated on our characters and progression. Game holds a special place in my childhood for sure.
I am one of those weirdos who, back in the day, completed several playthroughs with efficient leveling. Endurance always needed to be leveled up +5 until 100, because of the Endurance-based health boost received each level. So +5 for Endurance, +5 for another attribute, and the +1 for Luck. Had to take the Thief birthsign, if I remember correctly, for that Luck bonus. I actually loved Oblivion's leveling system, and was very bummed to see Skyrim simplify it.
Your line delivery is excellent, probably some of the best I've heard in recent times. Every line has a sense of impact, intrigue, passion etc. It feels authentic and I can't help but take note. Well done.
To this day I never mod the potato faces, I just have a genuine fondness for them. ) One thing I liked about Oblivion is you could yield to a bandit by lowering your shield (and accept theirs) and they might let you go, whereas in Skyrim they say yield but get back up and fight.
There's a mod out there called "Undeformed Potatoes" that slightly adjusts some of the weirder looking NPCs without fundamentally changing the way the game looks. There are so many NPCs in Oblivion it's not surprising some of them came out looking a bit cooked - just slightly editing facial geometries helps a ton. It doesn't make ugly NPCs "prettier", but it does make them less freakish.
There's a similar mod for New Vegas and I recommend it equally highly.
I'm not a fan of OCO etc. because I think they fundamentally change the feel of the game - and I also think they look kinda bad in their own way. OCO NPCs are all plasticky and hard to tell apart from each other, and frankly not everyone should be young and hot. Elderly NPCs should look elderly, and alcoholic beggars should look a bit cracked, you know?
@@rdrrr Thanks for the recommendation I'll check out the mod you mentioned. Completely agree about the plasticky look, they're a little uncanny valley in their own way.
@@sanguinelynx I'm very much a "Vanilla Plus" guy. I'm not into big overhaul mods because if you go too hard, you're no longer playing Oblivion. I like more subtle changes that feel like they keep the "spirit" of the game intact.
Sometimes it's the small changes that make all the difference. "Louder Nirnroots" is a godsend. "Coloured Enemy Health Bars" is really nice as well.
Not that it matters since you *can* mostly ignore it, but he persuasion mini-game is pretty simple when you look at it.
Each "topic" will affect the NPC in 4 different ways, which you can tell from their facial expression when you hover over it.
They'll either Love, Like, Dislike, or Hate the topic.
The impact of that will depend on how full that "slice" of the wheel is when you select it.
So the object of the game is to choose the Love and Like options for the fullest slices, giving you big boosts in their attitude towards you, and the opposite for the dislike and hate reactions to minimize their dislike for you. Since the wheel rotates each time you select a slice, there is some strategy to it.
... Or just bribe the NPC and ignore it. It just works.
The s ragedy is easy. Just concentrate on watching the smallest slice each rotation of the wheel and click on it if it is in front of the dislike or hate ones. If it isn't then chick on one of the like or love options. Super simple.
I actually just finished a Min/Max thing inspired by Baron's Castles Poison run so I did all that... While also only using Poison for damage. Went with a High Elf and after Felldew Addiction and Oghma Ininium and even Vampirism... I can say I did it. But I do not advise it, it's a pain in the butt to keep track of things and in the long run it's not really needed. Just rush max endurance and do everything in stride. The Health aspect is really all I care about now.
Edit: I didn't say what I wanted to say - Great Video! First timer here. Loved it.
I played Oblivion when it came out, I was in high school at the time. My PC could hardly play it at the time but I played the hell out of it even with a crappy framerate and ultra low settings. It was the first RPG I played where it felt like you had the freedom to do anything. So many good memories staying up late playing it.
Wow this was a Very Fast hour of viewing. My husband played older ES games, I only did some Skyrim but he told me the lore and gameplay for oblivion was good. Had no idea how dense it was. 👏 ovation, sir, and a Like+Sub.
Oblivion is the best game not only in Elder Scrolls but ever period for me. Great replay value too. And NPCs that you remember unlike the forgettable ones in Skyrim. And wonderful quirky humor. Guilds are the best and their quests especially the Thieves and Dark Brotherhood. And side quests and all the Daedra quests and the Indiana Jones inspired "Collector's" quest line and the Arena where in the end you get the most iconic NPC in any game ever - The Adoring Fan. (He even ends up in Starfield). And side quests like the paranoia Glathir one and Mozoga the Orc etc.
owen kung absolutely cooking out the bangers well done sir
Another Kungumentary? What a scrumptious treat.
I love this freaking game. Btw we were friends on insta in 2015 I think.
This has turned out to be one of the best Oblivion videos i've seen, and that's huge considering i 1st played Oblivion the day it released...and in fact just replayed it.....again🙄🤣🤣🤣 Great job! Subbed❤
just finished the main quest tonight, and many others including add-ons… definitely had a blast !
I put 100s if not 1000s of hours into Oblivion when it first released and never noticed the level scaling issue because of the type of characters I always made. I always leaned on illusion and invisibility, paralyze, and sneak. I knew the enemies got tougher but I never put it together that the leveling was broken just because of my builds. If I had made a strict melee character I certainly would have learned about this issue much earlier lol
I'm a simple man, I see another 1Hour+ Oblivion video. I watch, i enjoy.
Great vid man!
You sound like on of these Oblivion Npc‘s in your Story telling (no front) 😭😂
I did efficient leveling on max difficulty for my entire playthrough, but I used the item duplication exploit on alchemical ingredients exclusively to reduce the tedium. I didn't use the duplication for infinite money to not make the game completely broken, but I had a decent time even with infinite potions.
I was getting pretty overpowered because I focus leveled endurance and int in the early game so when I got to level 25 I Rolplayed that my character went mad, she'd his max level divine crusader armour and fled into the shivering isles which I want to do with no armour on max difficulty
How long did it take you to work out how to do the exploit? did you toil hard? was there a story arc? did you quest? and did you untold power?.
The game seems to be mainly about going out and learning about the world, for me the Dwemer but also the Ayleids to become the most powerful mage that existed.
Like you say exploit but I heard ancient power of an unknown Daedra.
I do Endurance, Strength and Intelligence in that order with an occasional Willpower thrown in. There are so many free foods to be had in the barrels and crates and inside peoples' homes that I had no trouble getting alchemy up really fast with no need to dupe food. In fact I had to restrain myself to dole it out in roughly 10 alchemy level increments for each level up so I could save some of it for the next level. (Never make it a major either it goes up so fast no need to).
lol farming, go to a farm, harvest the fields every few days, make 80 healing potions, sell 80 healing potions. @@greenscheme2040
@middayenglishman6003
I got into playing oblivion pretty late, I already knew of the exploit from watching videos and what not. I played morrowind on Xbox and used the drain intelligence exploit in that for infinite Magica, and kinda ruined my experience. I did another playthrough I enjoyed more without the ability to use it. I still don't have the patience to play morrowind without BOBS.
being there in 2006 and playing this you can not comprehend how good it was for its time, the FIRST of its kind
i absolutey adore seeing an Oblivion video in 2024, you have my thanks sir
The music soul trapped me from the start. Playing on console with no internet to look up things. Just excited to see what I can find.
Great video! I started with the Morrowind video, and this made me so happy. I will say, I wish this had more of the eccentricity that the morrowind video had, but nonetheless keep it up
When I play the old Elder Scrolls games I always do efficient levelling, it is really not that hard if you had some plan beforehand. You can for example just make all your main and secondary skills be for the same attribute and the rest whatever you are never going to use that is easy to level up (possibly without combat) like snak if you don't plan to play stalthy and that is already enough if you pay some attention to wether you could level up now or not.
You can level up way more often then you need to in order to get everything to 100 so you do not need to be perfect at all, but the fear of messing up leads to people ONLY picking skills the do not want to use, which is where the insane tedium some people experience comes from.
So how I play is I have for example all the strenth skills and I just prepare the level by using let's say spells so I get my 10 levels for intelligence and endurance and then I play normally untill I get my level up and then prepare my level again. Obviously this does not work if you overextend your adventure for so long that you made 20 or more level ups in your main skills but that is really not hard to avoid.
As soon as you have a skill at 100 you can just use that for every situation.
Also since at some point you want to go somewhere to sell whatever you found adventuring anyway it is not that different I feel, just instead of the carry weight it is your level progress sending you back to town, so it doesn't change that much in my opinion.
It is still a stupid system though.
I really think the problem is just "learn-by-doing" (is there a better word for that? "Skill-based leveling", maybe?) systems in general.
It sucked in Final Fantasy II in 1988 and it sucked in Oblivion in 2006. It's just hard to design a system like that that isn't opaque, intrusive and annoying.
I think most of Oblivion's game design is actually solid, so I don't use any big overhaul mods... except the leveling system. I mod the _shit_ out of that - I use Ultimate Leveling to implement a Fallout-style XP system. An XP-based system lets you play the game the way _you_ want, not the way the _game_ wants - plus it rewards exploration, reading books etc., which is nice.
"Jauffre caught with his pants down", and "that bullshit but I believe it" this is precious nice video, good job sir.
I've actually been playing oblivion for the first time recently, it's nothing short of a stroke of genius. Such a captivating game.
I think I was 16 or 17 when Oblivion came out. I remember playing this for the first time with friends. It was mindblowing having a open world game that looked so good graphically at the time. It's got its flaws but i have a ton of nostalgia for it.
The persuasion mini game is so easy, just look at their face and try to align the full slice with their happy expression and the empty one with their angry face. Spam and repeat.
This was a fantastic watch my guy. Your writing, sense of humor and calm, informative diction is really pleasant to listen to both as background content and (the way I watched it) with full attention too. Subbed!
Another upload already? Very nice
What i like about Oblivion more than Skyrim is the fact your actions mean something and random people will recognize you for them making you feel like you made a change in this world whether it be for good or bad which is super good for immersion. As a kind of sucks in Skyrim they talk down on you even though people can see or should know that you're the dragonborn and treat you like you're just like some other beggar or nothing about your achievements are truly ever mentioned which takes away the immersion honesty like I do like the leveling in Skyrim wish they could have that in Oblivion while keeping a lot of its skills and spells. As it does feel cool to do a backflip to dodge an spell or attack like a boss or to even roll forward to dodge an attack from an enemy or to get away from them
I love you kungus I will be making a cyberpunk video soon
Your content does not disappoint, I may have found you because of my unhealthy stalker obsession, but I stayed because your content's high quality in general.
This was a joy to listen to. It’s like having Oblivion explained to me by my jock American nephew.
Perennial White Snake- Here I Go Again on My Own
I love you so much Owen Kung
You overstate how difficult/tedious efficient leveling is and overplay how crucial it is for balance.
There is no need for a spreadsheet nor for perfect +5 each level, the game gets easier even if you're doing inefficient level ups, with the exception of somehow focusing only on Personality and non-combat skills.
It really shows that you've only played the game with this flaw modded out (and in an unbalanced way at that, as I doubt you were expected to have +5 on each level up).
No, the game does not get easier if you don’t level efficiently, because enemies scale with level.
@@max7971 In a vacuum it does get harder, but as you progress throughout the game you gain skill levels, perks, spells, gold and enchanted items to significantly boost your power.
Certain items will also scale to your level when you first acquire them, meaning that you should be of a higher level to get the better version of said item and that if you're less optimized attribute-wise you still get a better item than a player who hasn't leveled. Not to mention getting access to better loot overall at higher levels.
On the top of my head, and I might be wrong, but I can't think of an enemy that spawns that would be a significant roadblock as to encourage not leveling. Even something like a minotaur is gonna be vulnerable to paralysis (Either from being Master at a weapon skill, poison or magic), kiting their slow attacks or using ranged options from a ledge they can't pathfind towards. Compare this to Morrowind's overworld enemies gaining innate Reflect, making it extremely problematic for magic users to deal with them.
On a laptop you go into CONSOLE COMMAND mode (~) and type tdt. That shows you where you are at in the 7 attributes. Like Endurance is currently at 7 this level and Strength at 5 and Intelligence at 8 etc. So it is really easy to efficiently level. Especially since you can buy 5 training sessions of your choice at every level too to fill in gaps instead of grinding. (You type tdt again to shut off the stat list btw before exiting CONSOLE COMMAND, it is like a toggle switch).
Another Kung banger. Wallahi he cannot miss
The first time I ever played this game it blew my mind. Walking out of the sewers for the first time and seeing those rolling hills and trees is something I’ll never forget.
there is actually a youtuber who 100% the game and he had to do efficient levelling the whole time. his name is "VoicesFromTheDark". yes his name is edgy, he made it when he was a teenager.
Oh man, I used to watch that guy years ago! Loved him. Thanks for mentioning him, gotta go back and watch more of his stuff.
@@joshuastoughton1693Yes and you get his mask but the best part is you get the 3 story Thieves Guild hideout and live on the third floor. Other thieves come into the first floor to visit and I park The Adoring Fan there as my Meet and Greet guy to chat them up. Just play again and do the Thieves Guild all the way through. If you have a laptop now well Oblivion is super cheap to buy at this point and comes with the two expansions etc.
He is pretty good at commentary too compared to others who made oblivion lets plays, if you wanna watch an oblivion playthrough he is the guy.
It's also just got a lot more content than skyrim.
Oblivion is my fave.
Also the dialogue is great and amazing, just not when the NPCS talk to each other.
owen kung i have followed you on ig for years as the best meme page and now u make my favourite yt videos ever. pls keep doing bethesda stuff and other cool old games like them
Owen kung having a UA-cam channel was the least expected surprise of 2024 for me
18:20 I did. At max difficulty. Was near impossible to even pass the rats in the tutorial (or kill them but you have to dodge most/all of them to avoid unwanted levels), but once you get going it's fun in its own way.
Just started playing fresh on pc again last week and I must say I'm having a blast
Man this game actually looking better than starfield especially tremendously better in the lore department, slightly worse in npc faces and no more, lightning is pretty much lot better.
but oblivion aged like fine wine.
all the faction in this game, feels Mutch better than Skyrm tbh, and with more depths
Man. I still come back to this game and find new stuff I’ve never done or seen. It’s dated AF, but that’s part of it’s charm. Love this game
Oblivion is awesome, I did a recent playthrough again on console and turned down the difficulty bar one tick for every couple level ups, which worked out pretty well. I also didn't allow myself to wait to heal damage.
About the leveling system,you should only set your major skills as things that increase your damage. You should be increasing your dps each time you level up. It's a little weird but it works, and you will level up in a more combat experience oriented way instead of leveling by spamming jump and run 24/7
Hi Owen Kung I'm happy to see you still thriving and outputting consumable tidbits and whatnot. Fr love your work Owen xx
I remember seeing Oblivion first time in a gameshop running on a xbox360. and it was so amazing to see back in the days, Oblivion made me so addicted and it was incredibly fun and still is.
I can’t wait for skyblivion to be released though! I think sooooo many people are going to go from hating on oblivion or saying it’s janky to possibly thinking it’s one of, if not the greatest simply because the engine’s updated.
The moment you leave th3 dungeon and see that wide vista was truly a jaw-dropping moment at the time.
a blast to the past my man loved the video and the day the game was released it WAS one hell of an experience leaving the sewers i remember reading gamer pc magazines about oblivion's release with my friends in middle school waiting for it to come out
I love 3 things about Oblivion. Enemies change when you reach higher levels (Ghost>Wraith, Liches, bandits wear pretty badass armor, etc.), cooler/more stats that did things (Unarmored, hand-to-hand, acrobatics, etc.), and it's willingness to experiment (Stange/intractable set pieces, wild sidequests, iconic NPC interactions, etc.). I could say more like how variable types of enemies can be like you cant hurt ghosts unless you have the right type of weapo but the game has many interesting TTRPG inspirations and it's not afraid to wear it on it's sleeve.
seriously, the music is TOO GOOD! like we ripped the audio files, on playlists and still listen to the soundtrack almost daily still. Also the NPCs were great for its time and argueabley still better than most, they have not only daily routines, weekly and MONTHLY things they want to do. Its a bummer radiant was nerfed abit :( Also those graphics were the BEST for ages, i still remember being gobsmacked about the intro video was INGAME! seriously play games around the same time and youll see how this is so whole. replayable. a real functioning world. Theres still so much to talk about and its relevence to the time and how long it took for it to even start to age. its been 18 years and only started to feel old only like 5 years ago..
Still doesn't seem old to me. I'm doing yet another playthrough.
Oblivion is like a B movie, with those papier-mâché armor and weapons, and unrealistic overly fluid movements so as not to injure the other actors
This game has its own charm, no less
The biggest issue with this game was it was seriously dumbed down for console, there were thousands of lines of dialogue cut, a ton of side quests, and even entire factions cut so it could fit on a single DVD. One of the biggest tragedies to befall mankind. If Bethesda was smart they would’ve done an official release of cut content. Or re-release a remastered oblivion with all the cut content restored, plus new content.
I did not know that. I don't own any console so I'm sad some people missed the real game.
@@greenscheme2040 You understood it wrong, we all missed that stuff because consoles, no matter if you played on PC or not. There was supposed to be multiple arenas in different cities etc that was cut.
I installed Oblivion 2 weeks ago, including the Bevilex Modlist, Better Citites, Unique Landscapes, MOO, some more Quest Mods and things like Crowded Cities. I am 4 hours into game and besides 3-4 CTDs in that time, everything works so far. This is my greatest accomplishment this year, there is no better feeling than walking trough a modded Imperial City, including ENB and modern textures!
I have to say there is nothing more rewarding than having all your stats at 100 (minus luck still working on it) on perfect leveling. Getting the ring of perfection mixed with things like amulet of the acrobatic and you are zooming everywhere able to move in and out of enemies range pretty easily. even with the best weapons and spells shit still takes a while to kill but its enjoyable. Having a mod that keeps track of things really made it more manageable I haven't done the dlc to reset my stats further to level up even more but after a while it all becomes numbers not necessary but fun.
To me, gameplay factors aside, the music and atmosphere is just unreal. It really drives you into a whole other state of mind... damn even the caverns, the lighting, everything just feels so awesome.
I remember leveling up to I think 20 and then finding a minotaur. Most terrifying moment of my childhood!
Allies for Burma! after running around and closing the copy pasted Oblivion gates all this time, go close 10 more oblivion gates and them come back to close a BIG oblivion gate
Very important detail, sigil stones can have randomly crazy enchantments on them, which are amazing to grind
for me the gameplay was more fun, and skyrim was my first elder game
Oblivion's step out moment was actually fucking magical to me back in those days
Would really love to see battalion wars 2 on the wii. That game holds a special place in my childhood.
Your writing and delivery is great. Please keep making videos
I have followed you for so many years now on instagram, glad to see you becoming a quality youtuber. You will blow up one day!
I haven't watched it fully yet but this video is amazing already. Keep it up!
I loaded up obilivion a few days ago no mod just DLC....it is still amazing.
Thank god it's not one of those never-ending 10 hour videos bashing Oblivion while not considering it came out 14 years ago. Happy day!
I’ve had a lot of fun playing oblivion now that I’m older and able to pick it up and learn just from playing, when I was younger when I first got the game at 13 I couldn’t really understand the game. But I’ve already been into Skyrim for the whole year prior, and since I was struggling with oblivions mechanics I just left it alone till recently and it’s been really fun. I want to master it just like I’ve mastered Skyrim