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Posted by: Renee Oct 23 2018, 11:30 PM

Have some cake, folks. Tomorrow shall be a celebration for me!

October 24, 2008 is the day (actually it was night) when I first discovered TES IV: Oblivion. Although I had seen a Bethesda game in the early 2000s; I was at a party and somebody was playing a brand-new game on the brand-new Xbox, and this game had a lot of fog in it and LOTS of room to roam around, I did not know the name of the game I saw. I spent much of the 2000s looking for this game, unknowing that it was never released on Playstation. During my search for that game, I bought and tried plenty of others on PS and PS2, hoping I'd find that mysterious one with all the fog in it. Of course, I never did.

Fast-forward to October 24, 2008. I was bored one night. I had a bit of money saved, and began to think if there's anything worthwhile on the PS3, I'll go ahead and get a PS3 then. So I went to GameRevolution.com (my favorite gaming website at the time) and began reading their PS3 reviews, starting with the As. Assassin's Creed was not out yet. I'm pretty certain I would have just stopped at AC if it had been out. Thankfully, it was not, or was not on PS3 yet.

I moved on to the Bs. Then the Cs. The Ds. Es. F.... G ... H .. I JKLMNOPQRST.

T Okay, so a game with a complicated name caught my attention. https://www.gamerevolution.com/review/72342-the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-review. Actually, I will quote its very first paragraph now.

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Like most adult geeks reared on Dungeons and Dragons, I often find myself a bit disconnected when faced with the endless waves of Japanese RPGs that have taken over the genre. Every time I find myself in the shoes of yet another spiky-haired protagonist with a mysterious past and a sword the size of a telephone pole, I wonder where all the role-playing has gone.

Not that there aren’t some excellent imports out there, but is walking my pre-designed character, his bossy, magical girlfriend, and a talking animal through a linear story in which I save the spirit of the earth, or the essence of Gaea, or whatever they’re calling it this time, really role-playing? If you’re truly playing a role, you should be able to forge your own destiny as a sneaky thief, a righteous paladin, a crude barbarian, a pretentious mage, or a vile murderer.

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That right there is what caught my eyes. Because that was ME, so far as gaming went. I felt like those two paragraphs described ME as a gamer. I had spent all these years playing linear games.... not all of them were horrible, but every one of them was linear. I'd literally go to step off some path, hoping to be able to explore some pretty underbrush, but *bonk* nope.... can't even step off the path. "A bit disconnected." ... "Pre-designed characters."... "Weapons the size of telephone poles."... Why doesn't anybody make a game which allows ME to make the character I want to make? Is such a thing even possible?

After not even reading that whole article, it took me maybe 40 minutes to jump in my crappy Corolla, drive to the nearest mall, and plunk down $400 for a PS3 and this cool new game. The next few hours were then a blur. I rolled a character named Lady Anne. She was my first! I don't even know what she looked like, I never took a picture of her. But after spending 3 hours doing the tutorial, delivering the Amulet, I decided that Lady Anne would "retire" in Chorrol, because I loved the opening experience so much, I immediately wanted to do it all over again, with some other character (whose name I have forgotten).

Anyway, that's my story. Thanks for listening. Feel free to share your stories, too.

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 23 2018, 11:56 PM

Wow, ten years! I am just one year behind you.

I too, have long been tired of the games that force a specific protagonist on you. Except for a few rare cases, like with Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, it is not the character I want to play. So I tend to stick with games where I can create my own character, and play them how I want them to.

Posted by: Lopov Oct 24 2018, 09:13 AM

Though I played Oblivion shortly after its release, I didn't find it that great as I do it these days, because my main games during that period were GTAs. Later as I became older and more mature and discovered the beauty of roleplaying, I started to appreciate Oblivion much more. Happy birthday Oblivion!

Posted by: mirocu Oct 24 2018, 05:38 PM

Happy anniversary, Renee!


I celebrated mine last year so you're not far behind. I know your story quite well but it's always fun reading about it. My tutorial experience was amazing as well but never to the point that I wanted to do it again. As you may have figured out, I'm a one time only kind of Crow


Congrats on your decade playing Oblivion! Have some more while you play!

Posted by: Renee Oct 24 2018, 07:07 PM

Yes, for me this is Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. I'd go back to a Tomb Raider game if I weren't so involved with Bethesda games (or Baldur's Gate) but Beth and BG have ruined me for all other linear games.


Thank you. And as you know, my first non-linear game was actually GTA: Vice City, but I don't count that because it's a pre-designed character. I also tried Evercrack Everquest before Oblivion, but got bored with EQ, or something.


Aw, come on! Just one more time! Kidding.

Posted by: ghastley Oct 25 2018, 08:22 PM

This had me trying to figure out when I first played Oblivion. My first mod, Rumple Mod, was posted to the Nexus in August 2009, but I'd started creating it a year before that. I know I must have played the game a bit before starting to change it, but it's hard to work out when.

I assume you have a diary entry or something outside the game itself. I was trying to use the file dates on my installation, but BOSS rewrites the esp dates, and a lot of things copy in with their original create date already set. I.e. they're Beth's dates, not mine. My best estimate so far is June 2008, but not which day.

And I played the TES series in the order: Oblivion, Daggerfall, Arena, Skyrim, Morrowind. I have not modded Arena, but I don't know if anyone has managed to do that. All the others, even if I haven't published any for Morrowind (yet?)

Posted by: Renee Oct 25 2018, 08:45 PM

I looked at my first batch of saves one day back when Lady Anne was still extant, and so October 24, 2008 is burned into my memory, since my first character no longer exists (I think). I began gaming somewhere between 9:30 pm and 10:00. Spent so much time gaming, I decided I'd better call in "sick" for work the next day.


I went Oblivion (2008), Skyrim (2011), Arena (2013), Oblivion on PC (2014), Skyrim on PC (2015), Daggerfall (last year, I think), and finally Morrowind would be summer of 2017.

Posted by: ghastley Oct 25 2018, 09:09 PM

I can't do that, as I had so many I culled the older ones a long time ago. Many of my profiles have the oldest save at level 50.

At some point, as well, I started playing multiple characters with different combinations of mods, using Wrye Bash's profiles, and files may have been re-dated in that reorganisation.

Posted by: Sakiri Nov 25 2018, 09:57 PM

I was all over Oblivion on launch day. I'd grown tired of Morrowind, and my bf at the time was all over it. He was waiting for Oblivion with bated breath.

Then I proceeded to play the crap out of it until 2010. Then Skyrim stole me(took over a year playing other stuff).

I don't have old saves. I changed computers four times. Bought the game twice. Never played on console.

Posted by: mirocu Nov 26 2018, 06:03 PM

Amateur

Posted by: Sakiri Nov 26 2018, 07:57 PM

Wouldn't have done it twice if I could use the DVD I have. No drive.

Posted by: mirocu Nov 26 2018, 08:03 PM

I've bought it five times at least and I still have all of them

Posted by: Sakiri Nov 26 2018, 11:10 PM

I've never lost a disc nor had one wear out. At first I used ex bf's discs, then bought my own in 2007. Still have it(only one DLC).

Posted by: Renee Nov 27 2018, 12:06 AM

mitocu you're one to talk! Mister "I got Skyrim on my shelf and have never played it!"

Posted by: Sakiri Nov 27 2018, 12:40 PM

Wait, he actually has Skyrim but never played it?

Lol. That's funny. But it's also okay.

Posted by: Renee Nov 27 2018, 02:52 PM

Yeah, mirocu .... er.... uh...

better let him explain it. I'll get it wrong.

Posted by: ghastley Nov 27 2018, 03:15 PM

I also had Skyrim, but resisted playing it for a long time.

I bought the Anthology Edition for the other games. You couldn't get Morrowind any more, and I also wanted Arena, so why not? I ended up trying Skyrim, despite the Steam involvement, when I couldn't get Morrowind to work on Windows 8, and I'd already played enough Arena.

The rest is history. I still despise Steam, and the fact that a third party can turn off the game I bought from Bethesda, but I'm living with it, modding the @#$% out of it, and now playing ESO more of the time. Skyrim still gets attention when the urge to make a mod gets hold of me - like now.

Posted by: Sakiri Nov 27 2018, 04:38 PM

I wanted to get the anthology but never could afford it back at the time.

I have Morrowind through Skyrim and I still play Skyrim the most.

Wonder how Arena and Daggerfall would run on Win 10 though.

Posted by: Renee Nov 27 2018, 04:45 PM

I've run both games on Windows 8 and 8.1, I've never had any issues. Either game requires a DOS emulator to run on newer systems, but I think the Anthology set comes with its own emulator. If you're not using the Anthology, you'll probably just have to google a bit to find this program.

I know these two games were offered for free for awhile, not sure if that's still true. Decrepit would know, wherever he is. Bottom line though is that I've never had any issues with either game. If anything, they load up super-quick with modern processors, whereas back in the day apparently '90s-era computers were super slow loading up!

Posted by: ghastley Nov 27 2018, 05:44 PM

Anthology installs both of them to run under DosBox. That handles the different display drivers, processor speeds, sound etc. that you had to select in the old DOS install process.

When I made mods for Daggerfall, I had to run the tools in DosBox, too, as they were all built for DOS.

I found that Windows 10 handled old games better than Windows 8. I couldn't get Morrowind to work under 8 at all. It wouldn't show me a cursor, which made it unplayable. Win 10 fixed that, but I got rid of my win 10 laptop, and play everything on the Win 7 desktop machine. Windows 10 spent all its time trying to update itself, and that got in the way of actually using it for anything.

Posted by: Sakiri Nov 27 2018, 06:11 PM

That's weird. My Win 10 almost never updates.

But good to know everything does run on it. Should I ever get the itch.

Posted by: mirocu Nov 27 2018, 06:45 PM

Hmm, not sure what the significance is. All I said was I bought Oblivion five times. But yes indeed, I do have Skyrim though never played it. Too busy playing all my copies of Oblivion

Posted by: ghastley Nov 27 2018, 07:41 PM

Nor did mine, but 75% of the CPU was used checking unsuccessfully for updates, without even using the internet. I'd turn off windows update, and kill the service task, and be OK for while, but whenever I did want to get an update, it would all turn itself back on. The looping task never got fixed by any of the updates applied, either. I found several reports of the same problem from others, and the fix was always to turn off automatic updates, and keep them off.

I gave the laptop to my mother, who has no internet connection, and can't use the Windows Update feature anyway, with it turned off. She'll never turn it on, so the problem won't come back for her.

Posted by: mirocu Feb 25 2019, 06:54 PM

Twelve years for me now in February. Blimey.


And the years go on...

Posted by: Acadian Feb 25 2019, 07:09 PM

Neat, mirocu! Or as dear mALX would say, 'AWESOME!'

Posted by: mirocu Feb 25 2019, 08:01 PM

Sometimes it feels like I'm missing out when sticking to the same game instead of moving on in the series. But then Auriel's Ascension starts playing, I see Cyrodiil again, and I'm home...

Posted by: Renee Feb 25 2019, 08:32 PM

Congrads, crow. Have yourself some sir. You and I, we're the only ones (plus about four others in the new forums) who still can't get enough of Cyrodiil.

Posted by: mirocu Feb 25 2019, 08:44 PM

Thanks for the cake, Renee! I need that after all the semlas I've eaten recently


Oblivion is my home game, plain and simple. The way it works is; games find me. It's always been like that more or less. Not gonna go through it all now but when Oblivion came around it was just another game to explore. But even early on the scope of it told me this was not gonna be a short-lived journey. I actually got a little scared to not have time for something else anymore, especially since I initially intended to play another game first. I had even started to read that game's manual in preparation. But for whatever reason, Oblivion jumped up..

Posted by: Renee Feb 25 2019, 09:59 PM

Yeah me too. It literally jumped out at me, this game. It changed my life. I had substance abuse problems back in the latter 2000s that I was really struggling with. So this game, which pretty much began to steal away ALL my available free-time, was quite the blessing because it gave me something to do, assuming my daughter was at one of her friends' places, or whatever.

And I'm glad IV was my first Elder Scrolls experience, not III. I'm glad my first was the one everyone used to call "generic." I realized some time in 2009 or 2010 that if this game is a generic, streamlined, dumbed-down fantasy game, then I'm a lover of generic, streamlined, dumbed-down fantasy games. :tongue: From my perspective, Oblivion was not really generic, streamlined, or dumbed-down. After playing all those linear games from the '90s and 2000s, TES IV (to me) seemed absolutely spectacular and open, with lots to do and plenty that's never even gotten done.

That being said, i wish you would try Skyrim, crow. You already have the game. And you don't have to use Steam, although I don't wanna get into how to avoid Steam publicly, I do know of someone who's avoided it for many years, and he's not had any problems.

There, I said it.

Posted by: mirocu Feb 25 2019, 10:03 PM

Completely agree.


Thanks, but I have no interest in playing Skyrim.

Posted by: RaderOfTheLostArk Mar 15 2019, 10:51 PM

Ugh, don't get me started on the whole "generic/dumbed down/etc." stuff that this fanbase uses against every subsequent game. Especially when most of the people who say that garbage love the game that STARTED the streamlining (Morrowind). If there were more Daggerfall fans that were more vocal or still populated the fanbase, they'd be saying the same garbage about Morrowind. Hell, I bet there were even some Arena fans back in the day that complained that DAGGERFALL "dumbed down" mechanics. Streamlining isn't inherently good or bad. It all depends on what exactly you do. Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim all have both good and bad examples of streamlining.

I think this obnoxious "dumbing down" thing is mostly just people who feel this overwhelming need to feel superior on the Internet because they, for whatever reason, can't accept that there are different tastes and there other good games that don't fit what they want. And the only way they can feel superior is by being condescending to others and games they just don't like.

Anyway, Skyrim was my first one. To be honest, I didn't like Oblivion at first because I didn't expect it to be so different from Skyrim. But I gave it a chance and I started to really enjoy it. I came to actually love how different each game feels yet they all feel like they fit together in some way. Admittedly, I don't love it as much as Morrowind or Skyrim, but there is still a lot to love about it. For example, Oblivion has better overall side quests (i.e., not main quest or faction) than both Morrowind and Skyrim, IMO.

Just curious, 'Rocu: Why don't you ever want to play Skyrim? Besides the fact that you are a filthy pleb. Just kidding. But seriously, how come it doesn't interest you?

Posted by: mirocu Mar 16 2019, 09:25 AM

I've played Oblivion for 12 years and counting and it's like saving up to have long hair; it's time invested and you don't give that up easily. I've played other games in between, sure, but they are temporary which is something Skyrim couldn't be as it's open world as well. Yes, I do play Fallout 3 too but I can't have yet another game in that category. Also, Skyrim is too similar to Oblivion with spells and archery etc. I think this is the best I can explain why. I don't have an inherent hate for Skyrim or anything.

Oblivion is where it started for me and I still remember that indescribable feeling I got when I was new to it. It's the only game that ever caused me to get bad teeth for awhile becuase I simply couldn't stop playing to brush properly even after six hours of constant gaming!


Are.... Are you Uleni or just his deciple?

Posted by: Acadian Mar 16 2019, 11:51 AM

Good attitude regarding Skyrim, mirocu. Both are good games - just different. Skyrim took three steps forward from Oblivion. . . and three steps back. One of those steps back, I'm sure you recall, is requiring Steam to play.

Comparing the two. . . . Out of the box, I prefer Oblivion. For me, Skyrim would be unacceptable without a ton of mods. That said, heavily modded Skyrim is every bit as good or better than heavily modded Oblivion in my opinion. Can't go wrong loving either or both.

Posted by: RaderOfTheLostArk Mar 16 2019, 03:32 PM

Pah! Uleni is far beneath me! I'm nobody's disciple!

But fair enough on Skyrim, I suppose.

Posted by: macole Jan 14 2020, 06:26 PM

Agree. It took me 4-years to get over the Steam requirement before I bought Skyrim. Got it modded to play like I want then along came the Creation Club. CC's first update trashed my game. After a second CC update and a Win10 update did it again, I bowed out of Skyrim for awhile. Back to Oblivion, Morrowind, and Daggerfall I went.

Posted by: ghastley Jan 14 2020, 06:36 PM

The CC fiasco is making me very worried that TES VI will be a disaster for mod authors. I run Skyrim LE, but SE gets broken too often.

Posted by: mirocu Feb 14 2021, 10:28 AM

So I'm gonna piggyback this thread for this post


I'm not sure about the exact date, but this month it's 14 years since I started to play Oblivion. That's almost one and a half decade! And while I don't play as much each session anymore for obvious reasons, I am still playing and never actually stopped. This IS my go-to game, my backyard, Momma's street.
Right now we're at the point where Lothran is soon to leave Bruma and still after all these years I feel excited for it! Can't wait to get down from the mountains and see the wonderous green forest again and meet all the other people! And it's the same for when Lothran is about to go to Bruma at the end of November.


Oblivion is my game, Cyrodiil my home and Lothran my brother-in-arms. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

Posted by: Acadian Feb 14 2021, 01:37 PM

And here's wishing many more years ahead and together for mirocu and Lothran!

Posted by: Renee Feb 14 2021, 05:41 PM

I thought DOOM 3 was your game!

Kidding. That great, Crow. The date and time of my first ever Oblivion playthrough are burned into my mind: October 24, 2008 at 9:24 pm. Do you still have your first-ever Lothran save? If so, it might have a date, at least.

Posted by: mirocu Feb 14 2021, 10:04 PM

I do have that save but it's in a library so not in my current list. I can dig it up though if I really want to know.