More Oblivion Shots WHOAAAA!! 1 more week!

[LoadsaMoney]

Oblivions another 60hz only job like DOA4.

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

snip

not disagreeing that GRAW looks good buuutt.............

For the win tbh

 

[McDaniel]

For me best to play the game going by videos and screenies yes you can compare but when you play the game it looks so much nicer.

i suppose, standard shots dont mean anything when you play it ona huge HDTV

Ultra_Extreme - that is a good shot and like i say im not saying the GFX are bad i just dont think there as as people make out...but i think there remarked on like that ebcause of the gameplay element this promises too

 

[Abooie]

And i just mean the graphics as a whole, i mean Oblvion looks good, but it also seems a bit "cartoony".

GR:AW to me seems more realistic, but i guess it should be as Oblivion isnt meant to be realistic in the same respect

Have you seen the screenshots on IGN?

http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/702/702493/imgs_1.html

Remember you can go anywhere you can see You see a mountain, or a tree in the far distance, it's there.

And if this doesn't wet your appetite >

Several of the development team went back to university to learn how to build evolutionary geological models to literally grow the forests and fauna.

A quote "The technology used to create these landscapes combines procedural generation of the ground based on soil type and years of erosion, places trees based on species and random growth clustering, and make a grass base on regional patterns, all of which create randomized yet realistic woodlands.". (Gamespy).

 

[Adam Senior]

MUHAHAHA! who said ghost recon looks better? Im sure on 1 of the levels in G>R>A>W thier is a foot bridge which jst appers on screen when u get close enough for the game to decide OOOOps ill put it in now then u step back a foot and its gone, forward its thier, kinda anoyed me a bit that a game thats so NEXT GEN has to do that? ARGgggg

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

at the end of the day, it wont be the graphics that make this game. I mean whatever the 'next gen' title, FEAR, FN3, PGR3 etc. After 30 mins of play your mostly used to the visuals and for the most part ignore them in favour of what is actually going on in the game. Now whilst this settling in period for Oblivion should be substantially longer than in the other previously mentioned games, hell the videos that are around now are more than testament to this end, it will still fade and give way to gameplay.

Now this leads on to what we expect from the gameplay itself. Quite frankly imo if it was just morrowind again but in 16km2 of the sort of terrain ive seen then it will still be worthy of a few months of my time or more. But it doesnt look like its just gonna be morrowind again, if the term just can be applied to the open, sprawling genre busting originality of morrowind.

Here are a few facts that have come from my research into a variety of hands on sources that have emerged since the game went Gold...

Radient AI, which was underplayed i thought by bethesda (making me worry about its true functionality), has NOT been de-bunked AT ALL by critics, AI normally being a prime target for journo's when 'advancement' is claimed in this area. This to me suggests that it at LEAST is pretty fair if not very good indeed. If its even half of what bethesda and that aw inspiring (if not scripted) 'Dog' video.

The graphics truly are as unbelievably good as we have been told for the last four years. Sure some of the wow factor has diminished thanks to some pretty neat showings on the 360 (FN3 GRAW etc) however never has an open plan game created close to this kind of explorable habitat, this goes beyond anything any of us will have ever played. To non morrowinders it will be hard to pen in any truly credible manner what this means, because simply there is NO OTHER game like morrowind. This isnt fanboyism, although i am an unashamed one, this is pure truth from a guy who has played close to every major game ever. This game will proffer over 200 hours of exploratory goodness, and future mods will put it into years of playtime, i know ive had morrowind characters for over 2 years of play without doing everything or seeing every sight etc and most of the landscape in morrowind was brown arid nothing, this will offer so much more, its half again as big and...well look at the screens.

Guilds and quests. These two have the least info atm. No one really knows much about the further quests, or the path of the main story which is reputedly 20-30 hours in length, which isnt bad when you consider that morrowind had a main quest that if persued wholly could be done in 10 hours or so, and ive seen a video of it done in merely 2 an a half hours!!! Yet morrowind still kept me occupied for what is now years. So a 20hour main quest is something most people will not bother with for at least 20 - 30 hours play making at the very least a hefty 50hour plus game. We do know there will be 4 guilds: Thieves, Mages, Fighters and the dark brotherhood. Whether there will be any surprise extras is unknown, but likely as bethesda are prone to this sort of misinformation which is something i love about their company.

From the information in the achievement list we can discern that as previously you can rise to run the guilds as guildmaster. It is unknown whether or not guild rivalries still exist and if so whether you can run all guilds at once.

House ownership, in morrowind it became popular to modify maps mildly in order to produce uninhabited properties of lavish and functional proportions in which to display your plethora of wares, be they plundered, found or won. With Oblivions lavish environment this could only prove more popular and therefore bethesda have allowed that you can buy an undefined selection of houses in each town. Whether this is type-limited and whether or not they are stealable is unknown, but as the game registers 'ownership' in the stats screen it is likely you need a deed or similar item to truly own one (rather than morrowind style murdering the occupants and squatting ). This could prove truly interesting. NPC theives are included however i believe they cannot steal high value items to prevent them coming through your window and nicking your latest greatest sword while you sleep. Apparently this restriction had to be added as in testing, the tester often woke to find an NPC had looted him in the night and was wandering about town in his armour. This possibility had never been considered by bethesda as an outcome of radiant AI and is somewhat exciting! They also once found a town deserted and upon checking the gamelog found that a dark elf had stolen some high power weapons from a shop while looking for food, he then preceeded to murder the gaurds and townsfolk before incorrectly identifying his own feet as food and commiting suicide in the local inn. Interesting i think you'll agree.

Effectivley Oblivion promises something really special, building on the prooven and undeniably fantastic premise that worked so well for morrowind this should be the most interesting and evoloutionary video game since perhaps halflife although even that isnt in the same league truth be told. Thats what people all over the net have been saying for years and now that people have actually played it, i haven't heard anything to discredit it, that i think says it all.

 

[~J~]

O sod it! Just pre-ordered

 

[Davey_Pitch]

NPC theives are included however i believe they cannot steal high value items to prevent them coming through your window and nicking your latest greatest sword while you sleep. Apparently this restriction had to be added as in testing, the tester often woke to find an NPC had looted him in the night and was wandering about town in his armour. This possibility had never been considered by bethesda as an outcome of radiant AI and is somewhat exciting! They also once found a town deserted and upon checking the gamelog found that a dark elf had stolen some high power weapons from a shop while looking for food, he then preceeded to murder the gaurds and townsfolk before incorrectly identifying his own feet as food and commiting suicide in the local inn. Interesting i think you'll agree.

Got any links about this, sounds quite fantastic

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

Got any links about this, sounds quite fantastic

sorry m8, dug from the archives, i think it was in one of the interviews with the devs that turned up around Q4 last year, look on the official site in old news, tho i think ive about covered the jist, it was just the dev explaining how the AI had presented some surprising problems. I look forward to odd things happening.

 

[KennyBhoy]

I hope all this stuff about the AI being so good is true......Too many times i've been fooled by people pimping their games AI, only to find out it's actually nothing special.....

I always found Peter Molyneux was one for going a bit OTT about his games AI and when you actually seen it......It was like, ummmmm huh

 

[0gami]

Please stop it, I am part way through 4 really good games and I am skint! lol

 

[Kainz]

Quick count. Who's ordered the Collectors Edition and who's got the normal version?

I'm tempted for the CE version but its £50 although the goodies and that coin are very good. I may opt for the normal version though. Seriously unsure about what to do.

 

[KennyBhoy]

Went with the normal version......Doubt i'd touch or need the useless tat that comes with the CE one......Theres a game to played!

 

[Davey_Pitch]

Quick count. Who's ordered the Collectors Edition and who's got the normal version?

I'm tempted for the CE version but its £50 although the goodies and that coin are very good. I may opt for the normal version though. Seriously unsure about what to do.

I ordered the CE version, and got £2.50 off with a loyalty voucher from Gameplay, so was *only* £47.50.

 

[KennyBhoy]

I ordered the CE version, and got £2.50 off with a loyalty voucher from Gameplay, so was *only* £47.50.

Loyalty?.......Much you need to spend to get that?

 

[Davey_Pitch]

Loyalty?.......Much you need to spend to get that?

I don't dare go back and add it all up, would easily be several hundred pounds since I opened my account with them.

 

[KennyBhoy]

I don't dare go back and add it all up, would easily be several hundred pounds since I opened my account with them.

And all you got was a measly £2.50?

I reckon i must have spent around 700ish with GP and never had anything from them in regards to Loyalty

 

[Davey_Pitch]

And all you got was a measly £2.50?

I reckon i must have spent around 700ish with GP and never had anything from them in regards to Loyalty

Okay, just to satisfy my own curiosity I went through my account and added everything up.

£1349.50

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

map will be muchos useful. coin nort so much.

 

[KennyBhoy]

Okay, just to satisfy my own curiosity I went through my account and added everything up.

£1349.50

meep!!

Thats quite a bit....I weigh in at £778.73 ......Quite a bit to go before i get my £2.50