King Coin's videos Options

[Acadian]

So Aravi went back to Fort Vlastarus and got that note from the vampire baroness. Then to Nornalhurst. Her use of that decayed veteran to fight the vampire assassin archer was brilliant. And my goodness, she sure did some fine shooting there. Wow! And she seems to be doing much better managing her fatique.

This was a great vid!

Buffy's on her way to Nornalhurst to help Aravi (or perhaps get in the way, lol).

[Grits]

Woo hoo, Shadowbanish wine! Hel-lo, Nerussa.

Wow, I was so tense watching Aravi in Nornalhurst, when she said, “Ready and willing” I nearly jumped out of my seat! I found that Decayed Veteran quite scary.

[Thomas Kaira]

Just finished off The Lost Spires here, so it's time for my review. I'll do my best to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.

It was fairly typical of questlines I have come to expect in Vanilla Oblivion, with the entire story being "faceless hero grows through the ranks and becomes tho only hope for Tamriel's survival." Looking at the big picture, the story itself was fairly weak, as it only actually kicked in at the endgame in the final couple of quests. the rest of it was simply "go there, dungeon-crawl, come back with interesting item."

On that topic, the dungeons were a bit on the lengthy side. If you are only going to have one or two new dungeons in your mod, I can understand them being a bit lengthy, but The Lost Spires adds in almost ten, and they can really drag on at times, especially when the paths diverge. And don't get me started on the Ayleid dungeon added by the mod... that one was ridiculous. What you found at the end was always fun and interesting, but I often found myself getting bored as I crawled for hours on end through the new dungeons. You could probably cut them in half without hurting the experience any.

Then again, good loot requires a long, difficult dungeon, so at least three of the Spire ruins could be left as they are. But when a dungeon's sole purpose is for you to get to the end to advance a quest, which The Lost Spires had several, you gotta rein things in there so you don't bore the player and make him feel all his hard work was done for mere pennies. The longer the dungeon length stretches, the larger the rewards at the end need to become; standard Risk vs. Reward mindset here. Again, I cite the Ayleid dungeon, three levels, each taking about half an hour to explore, all done for a quest item and some generic valuables? How do those ends justify the means? For THAT length of dungeon, I would expect a unique weapon or armor piece for my troubles. See the Mehrune's Razor DLC, one huge dungeon that took a massive amount of time to explore... but you got a wickedly powerful unique weapon for doing it. What if the DLC had simply replaced the dagger with a scroll saying 'now you gotta go here'? How is that worth my time?

In the end, I refused the highest rank because I never really felt any connection to the questline. It was as if The Lost Spires existed in a world of its own, it never really integrated itself into the world that well, and the ending was a bit cliche (but a helluva lot of flash!). You should definitely avoid this one if you like to play dead-is-dead, because you WILL die during the climax. The questline also offers very little roleplay opportunity. My character is not supposed to be able to use two-handed weapons, but at the end, she was forced to because the only weapon that can defeat the boss is a two-handed monstrosity. I just never could get immersed into the questline, and it played out something like I would expect in an action-adventure game, rather than a roleplaying game, although since Oblivion is essentially a hybrid of the two, I can see why that route was chosen.

Final verdict: Entertaining? Yes. Immersive? No. Will I come back for seconds? Probably not.

This post has been edited by Thomas Kaira: Jul 18 2011, 11:42 AM

[mALX]

Hey KC - your in box is full and I can't respond to your last PM !!! URG !!!

[King Coin]

@ mALX: She went in ready for war and was pleasantly surprised to find that they had all been killed the first time she went through.

I’m really liking this one too. I am enjoying it much more than the Lost Spires. This one isn’t as polished as The Lost Spires, but I am enjoying the quests much more.

Thanks mALX!

@ Acadian: The use of that zombie against the archer was straight from Buffy. Maybe Aravi should have been helping the archer kill the zombie instead of helping the zombie kill the archer, because it had a lot of fight left in it after the archer went down.

A compliment on her archery from Buffy’s guide carries lots of weight!

Thanks Acadian!

@ Grits: Still need 2 more bottles of the stuff before Nerussa will be happy. They are pretty difficult to find.

The sound set can do silly things like have you speak when you are 3 feet away from something hostile. They never seem to notice though which is good!

Those ‘decayed veterans’ are quite tough. I’m glad Aravi was able to toss it at the archer before having to deal with it on her own.

Thanks Grits!

@ TK: It was a pretty enjoyable mod and I thought those were pretty cool. It was well polished and incorporated sound effects pretty well into the new dungeons.

The dungeons did tend to go on longer than they should. Some of them really had some neat thinks hidden in them if you explored enough. Others just got waay too long and should have been cut down. The maze in that one dungeon, while not particularly difficult to get through, really was nothing more than a time waster.

Some of the quest items you recovered were very awesome and well worth the dungeon for in my opinion.

I probably wouldn’t play it again either, but I am very pleased with the experience I had with it.
--------------------------------
Aravi recently lost her sword in a fight with a marauder (The one in this screen). We searched and searched, but it was lost at the top of a steep hill and it went who knows where from there. So she needs a replacement. These are two swords that I am considering for her. Do you like one over the other? Do you think she should use neither and find something else?
Sword 1
Sword 2
--------------------------------
The Note to the Baroness from the last video if you are interested:
Note
---------------------------------
Aravi continues Nornalhorst.
TIME: 5:36

[mALX]

My vote is for sword # 2

Whoa, that note was a bad sign !!!

Nornalhurst:

I noticed Aravi is doing the smart thing and trying to avoid fights now, sneaking a lot more now that a disease could kill her.

I was amazed at her fight with that lich - the way she was able to use the pillars for cover and keep nailing him with arrows !!! What a fight !!! And she had to keep turning that zombie back on the lich, for some reason he kept losing the spell !!!

Those diseases are really taking their toll, I always wonder why Aravi doesn't chew on the Welkynd Stones, they will restore her magicka in a pinch like those diseases have her in. They won't help her fatigue though.

Holy Cow, what a vid !! And knowing she just went back in for more while still sick ... URG !!! Awesome Vid !!!

[Thomas Kaira]

You're lucky you are using Fran's mod and not OOO.

If you had OOO, you would've had a VERY nasty surprise waiting for you at the end.



This post has been edited by Thomas Kaira: Jul 19 2011, 11:15 PM

[Acadian]

Gosh, both blades are neat. I prefer the red handled one though. As Mrs Acadian is fond of saying about cars, "It's a red one, so it must be faster!"

Thanks for sharing that note. I wondered about it from the last vid. Interesting stuff between the orc and baroness vampires.

More Nornalhurst. That was a magnificent job Aravi did vs that lich. Her speed and footwork to support her bow is stunningly good! Good job also turning that summoned zombie to help.

Gulp. Aravi has the whole level two to clear still.

As promised, Buffy went to Nornalhurst looking for Aravi. She often has trouble spotting traps in the dark, but saw this one while setting up an attack on a vampire (you can see her arrow in flight)- Screenshot 1. Just as Aravi did upon reaching level two, Buffy managed to make it through those swinging blade traps and keep all her bits attached- Screenshot2.

[King Coin]

I went looking and found two more swords already in my game. So the vote has been reset. There are the first two:

Sword 1
Sword 2

and:
Sword 3
Sword 4

[mALX]

My vote would be between swords 2 or 4 on looks alone - not sure what their stats are though, lol.

[Acadian]

Of the four, I think sword 4 looks the best!

[Grits]

Sword four is so shiny! And I think that blade would suit what I imagine as Aravi’s fluid fighting style. I vote for sword four.

Sword one is my personal favorite, though. It never hurts to have a backup blade!

[King Coin]

@mALX: That note shows waaay too much organization among the vampires of Cyrodiil. And whoever is running the show won’t be happy with Aravi that is for sure.

For some reason there are some enemies that are really difficult to command. Zombies are one, and skeleton guardians are another.

Thanks mALX!

@TK: I considered OOO but I didn’t like some of the changes it made. Are some of the things it does optional? I know with Fran’s I was able to pick and choose what parts I wanted it to add/change.

Thanks TK!

@Acadian: Those screens of Buffy are wonderful! Oh if Buffy does manage to find Aravi I hope she doesn’t mistake her for a baddie!

Aravi can really put her bow to work at ranges most archers would be grasping for a backup blade or calling upon magic.

Thanks Acadian!

@Grits: We'll keep all the swords. Maybe some of the others will be rotated in. Thanks Grits!

-------------------------
Well it looks like Sword 4 won the vote. That sword was added by the RealSwords Bosmer weapon pack. It was bought from Daenlin!

Sword 3 was added by RealSwords Khajiit weapon pack. It was purchased at Border Watch.

Swords 1&2 were both added by the Apachii Goddess store mod located in the Waterfront district.

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This video picks up where the last one left off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z62oqR0hBrE
TIME: 7:35

This post has been edited by King Coin: Jul 22 2011, 01:13 AM

[mALX]

Holy Cow, what a battle !!! Aravi did so good at sneaking that I thought she may just slip past them all, was really surprised when she took them on! That place is really dark, I don't know how she sees the enemies, but she always knows - I noticed that she always takes off her night vision to aim, so it kind of gives me a warning that she sees something.

These enemies are really tough, and I don't know if it is the mod doing it or the Francesco's overhaul, but WHEW !!! I literally don't think Aravi will make it through some of these battles!

Man, that blade is worth its weight in gold! You beat the tar out of that Orc with it, and it is still at 100 repaired !! (unless you repaired it off cameral, I keep forgetting you do that a lot, lol.


AWESOME VID !!!!!!

[Acadian]

Very smooth effective kitty!

Clever of Aravi to toggle her night vision to better see through that pesky Ayleid mist.

I was delighted to see that Aravi can now get her 'zoom' on when the aims her bow.

mALX is right (well, naturally - she always is) that Aravi's sword is fabulous - she really let that first orc have it! Ouch, that hurt though when she took a power attack from the first orc; I was so glad to see her dodge the same tactic from the second orc. And yay! It looks like she is learning to use fatigue (poisons) to drop her foes.

What really impressed me here was Aravi's growing stealth - in this case, her ability to return to stealth after an engagement, allowing her to take out her foes one at a time. Gosh, this was fun to watch! What a talent you are over at KC Productions!

[Grits]

What a display of bow and blade! Those vampires are so fast, you can really tell here as they have a good distance to run. As mALX and Acadian said, that is a great sword. I love the speed, and the look really suits her. I was also impressed with Aravi returning to stealth, as Acadian pointed out. There was so much cover in there. It would have frustrated the heck out of me, but Aravi really used it to her advantage. The pauses where she took her time waiting for a target gave the whole episode a good pace. I really had a sense of her stalking them. Very enjoyable!!

[mALX]

Gosh, both blades are neat. I prefer the red handled one though. As Mrs Acadian is fond of saying about cars, "It's a red one, so it must be faster!"

Thanks for sharing that note. I wondered about it from the last vid. Interesting stuff between the orc and baroness vampires.

More Nornalhurst. That was a magnificent job Aravi did vs that lich. Her speed and footwork to support her bow is stunningly good! Good job also turning that summoned zombie to help.

Gulp. Aravi has the whole level two to clear still.

As promised, Buffy went to Nornalhurst looking for Aravi. She often has trouble spotting traps in the dark, but saw this one while setting up an attack on a vampire (you can see her arrow in flight)- Screenshot 1. Just as Aravi did upon reaching level two, Buffy managed to make it through those swinging blade traps and keep all her bits attached- Screenshot2.

GAAAAAH !!!! I just noticed this, Buffy helped Aravi in Nornalhurst !!! Holy Cow, a screen/vid crossover !! How did I miss this ???

I'm so glad to see Aravi has got friends to help her out when Vilja is in one of her moods !!! WOO HOO !!

[King Coin]

@mALX: That place was really difficult to see in. With the nighteye the bright mist hides anything in it so we had to keep switching to see in the mist and in the shadows.

I was quite pleased with her sneaking ability as well.

Which sword? We went in with neither of her swords repaired to 100%. Maybe you saw some of the daggers? She carried two of those as well and they were not used as of this point.

Thanks mALX!!!

@Acadian: That zoom is so helpful when taking those shots. I’m not sure how she managed before she had it.

I’m surprised too that she was able to basically take them on one at a time. I thought for sure she was going to be charged by the lot of them!

Thanks Acadian! !!

@Grits: Aravi is an all rounder character because I knew I’d like to be able to use a little bit of everything. I compensate by keeping most of her skills relatively low.

I think you could see her getting frustrated when she’d get a shot lined up and then the vamp would walk behind a hunk of rock or a pillar or something. The obstacles work both ways though.

Thanks Grits!

----------------------------
Pics with the new sword:

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8699/ob...07231512249.jpg

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/4360/obli...07231518084.jpg

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/8009/obli...07231541205.jpg

----------------------------

Picks up where the last video left off. Nornalhorst continued.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdpXNYJrkFQ

TIME: 7:30

[mALX]

GAAAAH! How did she look around the corner and then back at herself hiding there? Did you free the camera with enemies right there? Holy Crap !!! ARGH !!! The crosshairs were bright, what could be seeing her? ARGH !!! A cliffhanger !!!

Holy Cow what a fight at the end! Aravi switches so easily between casting command spells and shooting arrows at these enemies!

This is an Awesome vid from beginning to end, it has to be one of my faves !!! It was really scary to think about freeing the camera so that you had a shot of Aravi hiding on the other side of the wall from that pacing vampire - I've never seen anyone do that before !!! It was a fantastic idea to do that, really bringing home that moment of Aravi's situation, curled up in that alcove - huge moment in the film !!! AWESOME VID !!!!

[Acadian]

I like the new sword - very businesslike and suits Aravi well.

In the vid, her sword is working very well on those vampires with that nice fire enchantment. I also like to see her using those damage fatigue poisons. Nice to see her taking a few moments to let her fatigue come up, repair her gear and grab a bite to eat.

For mALX, not sure if Aravi was using TFC or just moving the camera as follows: If you press and hold down whatever key/control that switches you between first and third person views, it will free the camera and you can move it around the character. It's not as flexible as TFC, but it does give you a quick ability to peek around or look at the front of your character without the command console. I'm sure KC will let us know how he did it.

"This place is just too darn creepy. I really want out of here." Buffy's equivalent comment in her game is, "I hate dark places," to which I always find myself answering, "I know, Buffy. Me too."

"My blade will cut ya down to size!" Yay, Aravi! I noticed she gave that last mother of Nornalhurst an extra whack after death just for good measure.

So, Buffy is now wandering around the same lower level of Nornalhurst, hunting vampires and looking for her friend Aravi. Not to worry about friendly fire though. As you can see, she is making sure none of the pink glows she puts in her sights have tails. Screenshot

This was great fun to watch. Thanks, KC!