More reasons why I'm digging Oblivion
Mar. 10th, 2007 08:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missroseroseCaution: Geekly rambling ahead. Non-gamers might want to skip this one.
I've been playing a sort of semi-stealthly type character - she's not entirely useless in melee combat, but prefers a good sneak attack with a bow. While wandering around randomly in the Imperial City, I came across a quest that essentially boiled down to dispatching a couple of grave robbers (after lots of sneaking around to find out what was going on, of course). As I'm approaching the final showdown, my trusty game guide warns me that it's a trap and the robbers will attack after a brief dialogue exchange. "Hm," I think to myself. "What would happen if I took the initiative?" So I save the game, sneak inside the mausoleum, pull out my bow, and shoot both of them in the back without them ever seeing me. Now, the in-game legal system frowns on killing people who haven't attacked you first, so all this time I'm fully expecting the game to chastise me for taking the law into my own hands, or at the very least give me a "Silly Wood Elf, now you can't finish the quest." Instead, the game congratulates me with something along the lines of "Since the penalty for grave-robbing is death, it seems justice has been done," and I get to loot the bodies of some pretty nice equipment before returning for my reward. I guess that even though they hadn't attacked me, no one was in the mausoleum to see me kill them so I can just walk away, whistling.
While I really like the freedom the game gives you to go about things your own way, to my used-to-linear-style-RPGs self, it feels really strange to be able not only to help people out or take the predictable quest path, but also to screw them over and think outside the box on quests. The only game I can even think of that had a similar system was Knights of the Old Republic, and there you had a meter telling you how good or evil you were acting. Also, almost all the choices in KotOR were wholly good or wholly bad, in that they pushed your meter towards "dark side" or "light side".
Oblivion has some much more complicated situations. Sure, there are lots of things the law frowns on - picking locks, breaking into people's houses, stealing things, murdering random people - but, much like real life, if you don't get caught you effectively haven't committed the crime. (One interesting side effect, however, is that anything you steal can't be sold at a regular merchant - you have to join the Theives' Guild in order to have access to fences, and they drive pretty tough bargains. You can use the stolen items yourself, however.) In addition, sometimes you find yourself outside the law for reasons other than personal gain. Part of the grave-robber quest involved breaking into a character's home in order to gather evidence - which, I might add, didn't preclude me from liberating a few useful potion ingredients and such while I was there.
Altogether, I have to say I'm kind of enjoying this whole sandbox style of RPG. Doesn't hurt that the game is more than living up to its reputation for graphical prowess - walking along the road away from the Imperial City, I climbed a hill only to come upon a breathtaking view of the city from above. The soundtrack is also quite remarkable for a game - there's some really lovely orchestration, but (like the best soundtracks) it tends to do its work on a subconscious level rather than standing out like many game soundtracks do. And while the music does loop, it does so unobtrusively enough that you barely notice. (Also? Best damn 5.1 surround mix of any game I've ever played. If you can't see what's attacking you or who's having a conversation nearby, just listen to which speaker it's coming from and turn in that direction.)
Okay, enough with the geekly rambling. My mother's going to be in town for the day, so I guess I have to rejoin the real world. At least for today...
I've been playing a sort of semi-stealthly type character - she's not entirely useless in melee combat, but prefers a good sneak attack with a bow. While wandering around randomly in the Imperial City, I came across a quest that essentially boiled down to dispatching a couple of grave robbers (after lots of sneaking around to find out what was going on, of course). As I'm approaching the final showdown, my trusty game guide warns me that it's a trap and the robbers will attack after a brief dialogue exchange. "Hm," I think to myself. "What would happen if I took the initiative?" So I save the game, sneak inside the mausoleum, pull out my bow, and shoot both of them in the back without them ever seeing me. Now, the in-game legal system frowns on killing people who haven't attacked you first, so all this time I'm fully expecting the game to chastise me for taking the law into my own hands, or at the very least give me a "Silly Wood Elf, now you can't finish the quest." Instead, the game congratulates me with something along the lines of "Since the penalty for grave-robbing is death, it seems justice has been done," and I get to loot the bodies of some pretty nice equipment before returning for my reward. I guess that even though they hadn't attacked me, no one was in the mausoleum to see me kill them so I can just walk away, whistling.
While I really like the freedom the game gives you to go about things your own way, to my used-to-linear-style-RPGs self, it feels really strange to be able not only to help people out or take the predictable quest path, but also to screw them over and think outside the box on quests. The only game I can even think of that had a similar system was Knights of the Old Republic, and there you had a meter telling you how good or evil you were acting. Also, almost all the choices in KotOR were wholly good or wholly bad, in that they pushed your meter towards "dark side" or "light side".
Oblivion has some much more complicated situations. Sure, there are lots of things the law frowns on - picking locks, breaking into people's houses, stealing things, murdering random people - but, much like real life, if you don't get caught you effectively haven't committed the crime. (One interesting side effect, however, is that anything you steal can't be sold at a regular merchant - you have to join the Theives' Guild in order to have access to fences, and they drive pretty tough bargains. You can use the stolen items yourself, however.) In addition, sometimes you find yourself outside the law for reasons other than personal gain. Part of the grave-robber quest involved breaking into a character's home in order to gather evidence - which, I might add, didn't preclude me from liberating a few useful potion ingredients and such while I was there.
Altogether, I have to say I'm kind of enjoying this whole sandbox style of RPG. Doesn't hurt that the game is more than living up to its reputation for graphical prowess - walking along the road away from the Imperial City, I climbed a hill only to come upon a breathtaking view of the city from above. The soundtrack is also quite remarkable for a game - there's some really lovely orchestration, but (like the best soundtracks) it tends to do its work on a subconscious level rather than standing out like many game soundtracks do. And while the music does loop, it does so unobtrusively enough that you barely notice. (Also? Best damn 5.1 surround mix of any game I've ever played. If you can't see what's attacking you or who's having a conversation nearby, just listen to which speaker it's coming from and turn in that direction.)
Okay, enough with the geekly rambling. My mother's going to be in town for the day, so I guess I have to rejoin the real world. At least for today...
