Uh-oh. It's time to watch Steam explode ...

[Rath Darkblade]

... because, because, because ... The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has been Remastered, and it's finally here! Rejoice! Or not, whichever.

At a whopping 125 Gb worth of download, this beast is beyond the reach of some of us. (I just watched Steam download a 3.6-Gb "update" for Age of Empires 4, which took about 36 minutes. I don't want to know how long 125 Gb would take ... 1,250 minutes? Which, at an average rate of about 100 Mb/minute, would make ... nearly 21 hours. Holy Mother ... Earth).

Even better, it retails for about $50 USD (or $90 Australian), which is about how much you'd expect to pay for a new game. Like Baldur's Gate 3 (when it was new).

And what do we get for all that? The same old boring Oblivion, except (of course) better graphics, better lip-synching, more diverse voices, better UI ... yeah, well - it's been almost 20 years.

Personally, I'd rather take my 50/90 bucks and spend it on a game I haven't played before and don't know the ending to. Like BG3, or something.

Still ... BY AZURA, BY AZURA, BY AZURA! STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM!

What about you, hmm?

[Tawmis]

Yeah I never finished the first - er, original - Oblivion.

[notbobsmith]

It does look interesting. Oblivion was my introduction to The Elder Scrolls. However, I do not meet the minimum requirements. Only have 8 GB of RAM and no SSD. Otherwise the requirements are surprisingly modest. I'm a generation or 2 behind on the CPU, but my GTX1650 should be fine. I did read that they added more voice talent. That does kind of mess with part of the charm. Occasionally, two random characters with the same voice will talk to one another. I wonder if they fixed some of the bugs. Characters are given scripts as part of their behavior. One character constantly walks between two towns. There is an error in her script where she works in a castle in one town, but the script tells her to go to a location in a castle in another town. So she is constantly walking between Bravil and Bruma (the error is probably a result of the similarity of the names) and usually dies when attacked by monsters. Or paintbrushes having no mass so they float when dropped. Almost all of these bugs have been fixed by a fan patch, so they are all documented. It shouldn't be a problem for them to go through and fix everything.

But I am more interested in Elder Scrolls VI. More time has passed between now and the announcement trailer (June 2018 to April 2025, 6 years 10 months) than the release of Skyrim and the trailer (Nov. 2011 to June 2018, 6 years 7 months).

[Rath Darkblade]

Heh. My introduction to The Elder Scrolls was Morrowind (the 3rd game in the series), and I was impressed -- impressed enough to buy Oblivion (and Skyrim) when they were released.

Incidentally, I thought that the quests in the Mages' Guild, the Thieves' Guild and the Dark Brotherhood (assassins' guild) were very well done in Oblivion, much more so than the Fighters' Guild. Also, the main quest (saving the world etc.) was incredible. The Battle of Bruma, and the Battle for the Imperial City, were very tense, just as they ought to be. The whole game had loads of atmosphere -- and the music! Wow - the music is classic now.

On the minus side, of course, were the bugs. Guards jumping into the sky and the sea, and then arresting me. People flying. And the animation of people's faces was, um ... not great. But the story was fantastic.

What did you think of Oblivion when you played it?

I agree, Elder Scrolls VI is more interesting to me than the Oblivion remaster ... and yes, we've been waiting a very long time for it. :-\ Morrowind came out in 2002, and Oblivion in 2006, and Skyrim in 2011. Since then, there have been seven (yes, SEVEN) re-releases of Skyrim, as well as Elder Scrolls Online and three mobile-only Elder Scrolls games (Legends, Blades, Castles).

When are we going to see any ES6? And will it feature hilariously bad dialogue (like ES4), or hilarious bugs (Oblivion AND Skyrim), or insta-memes...? We were all waiting for Elder Scrolls 6 for ages ... and then we took a crossbow bolt to the knee. *runs away*

[Tawmis]

Heh. My introduction to The Elder Scrolls was Morrowind (the 3rd game in the series), and I was impressed -- impressed enough to buy Oblivion (and Skyrim) when they were released.

Daggerfall was my introduction. I just remember a metric ton of bugs in that game.

What did you think of Oblivion when you played it?

Well, I never finished it.

[notbobsmith]

What did you think of Oblivion when you played it?

At the time, I think Oblivion was the best RPG that I played, though my RPG experience was limited having missed some of the one's that are considered classics now, like Baldur's Gate or Betrayal at Krondor. The main quest was fun and appropriately epic. I loved the scale, and the NPCs having "lives" as they move around cities. After Oblivion, I went and got the rest of the series. I played Morrowind, but I still haven't gotten around to the DOS era games. And then Skyrim came out and it just blew everything else away.

Heh. My introduction to The Elder Scrolls was Morrowind (the 3rd game in the series), and I was impressed -- impressed enough to buy Oblivion (and Skyrim) when they were released.

Daggerfall was my introduction. I just remember a metric ton of bugs in that game.

I guess the Elder Scrolls are known for that. I read someone saying that Skyrim was soon good, even the bugs were awesome.

But going back to the remake, I guess they fixed the dialog with beggars. They had a habit of speaking with an old, tired voice when asking for money, and then later revert to a normal voice with everything else. I kind of liked it that way. Like they either forget or choose to drop the act.