TES IV Oblivion Analysis | A Waste of Potential

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Quick correction: I forgot that the manual exists, you can view a lot of information about the perks there. Also, you don't have to be level 25 to access the Shivering Isles DLC. I have no idea why I thought this, but I swear I read it somewhere lol

[@captianbacon]

One of the things I loved about oblivion and older games when the manual mattered...

[@Mr._Anderpson]

So glad this comment is at the top. Decided to play it again a few weeks ago & hunted down the game in a closet. Opened the CD case for Oblivion & there were the manual, map, and a few Post-It notes with tick-marks for skill increases per level tucked away inside. I realize I'm old & still have CD/DVD ROM drives. It makes me wonder if downloading these games from Steam includes at least a PDF of the manuals & attached materials.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

It does, it's just not very clear that it's included and is relegated to a small link in the sidebar

[@VioletDownpour777]

It would be interesting to see your take on Skyrim because well.. I also believe that game is disappointing. Actually if you had to put Skyrim and oblivion side by side I'd pick oblivion every time. Especially if there was a mod installed to fix the broken leveling system. But even with that broken leveling system I think I prefer oblivion. Even though that broken leveling system is.. honestly a HUGE almost deal breaking problem for people. Probably going to get Morrowind on Xbox backwards compatible soon. It looks more akin to the fallout series and well.. I think in average the fallout series beats the elder scrolls series in every way. So I expect Morrowind to knock me off my feet. It sounds like RPG heaven.

[@alabaster_squier]

@@VioletDownpour777 Skyrim is extremely disappointing. I love the leveling system in oblivion though. Sure, its bad, but only if you don't know how to break it. And sure, a game shouldn't be that way, it should feel intuitive, but I feel as though oblivion provides heaps of build potential. Its not that bad, and kind of fun once you master it.

[@alekz8580]

My favorite oblivion memory is coming out of a cave with meticulously maximized loot weight and immediately being over encumbered by a bandit shooting me with an arrow.

[@williamings773]

He got you in the knee.

[@Masterslackers]

​@@williamings773Best comment 10/10

[@deadshot4245]

Judging from sir loot goblin possibly in the yameka lol ​@@williamings773

[@guguludugulu]

@@williamings773 You kneed him in the ass

[@dagothur131]

For me it was the level scaling and copy paste dungeons, that turned me off. Also the oblivion gates became repetitive real quick. There was no variety apart from quests, which also take you to this copy paste dungeons most of the time.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yup. That was definitely one of the more disappointing parts for me too

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

That part's actually optional and thank Talos for that

[@EQOAnostalgia]

Yep, nailed the sentiments i feel. It just felt samey, and tedious. I probably got really close to the end of the game but just got so bored with the design i didn't bother. Similarly with Morrowind i found myself just messing around for countless hours and never bothering to beat the game lol, then one day i zerged the boss hella early and beat him some how. I don't remember if i followed up or not but Skyrim blows the early games away in terms of variety in their dungeons and keeping the experience fresh til the end. Not as technical no, but i feel like they hit a perfect balance of depth and simplicity. There is a reason Skyrim is so legendary.

[@xenxander]

The leveled loot was the largest turn off. I realized that normally you have to be lv.17 to 24 for loot to be its best. Therefor doing quests before that means you get the sub par reward for it. This applies to sigil stones too. No point in doing anything till you power level up to 20 and you better have power leveled the right way too. This also applies to the archmage staff and other things. There are very few 'static' loot items in the game. Even 'hadred soul' the best bow in the game, suffers from its enchantments being lower if you find it at a lower level.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah they're pretty much giving you an incentive to not do anything but grind which blew my mind the first time I learned that they did. It's such a kick in the balls to the player it makes me sick

[@hahano1121]

I have no idea how, but Jaufre ended up hating me so much he spent the entire siege of bruma fighting me instead of the daedra. No amount of knocking him on his ass snapped him to his senses.

[@Elyseon]

Martin accidentally getting hit by an arrow and going medieval on the soldiers during the battle for Kvatch.

[@deadshot4245]

That's classic oblivion comedy to be fair

[@HeadacheCentral]

The difficulty of enemies being so out of whack was why I switched to the easiest difficulty setting in Oblivion. Combat just felt artificially stretched to the point that its flaws became so obvious it'd turn either to tedium or boredom.

[@trafo60]

I don't think AI schedules make quest markers necessary. Quest givers could just say things like "go find this and that person, I don't know where they live but I've seen them in the tavern, you might want to look there during the evening" or something. As you mentioned, most NPCs have fairly straightforward schedules, so it wouldn't be a big deal

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

They could have even more easily just added that to the quest text in your journal, but they didn't. I think they went for the path of least resistance on this one tbh, it would probably have been too much work to add more voice lines and text to every single quest involving an NPC. I think it would also go against the design philosophy of the rest of the game if they were to do that. You might be right, but if they added those kinds of descriptions, why even bother with the quest marker?

[@coolkid9967]

@@FromHerotoZeroYTgot to remember this was a transitional period between Morrowind and Skyrim. I imagine the design ideas relating to quest information weren’t fully thought out due to this. Morrowind was popular, but nowhere near oblivion, and even less so compared to Skyrim. The competing idea was “leading the player along”. As much as it hurts immersion, leading players around with simple to understand UI will boost sales. Whether this is out of convenience, simply making the game playable for more people (young children, very busy people with minimal gaming time, idiots), more people will buy the game if it is simple relative to the tedious quest info system of morrowind. Not hating on morrowind either, but most would agree, it certainly isn’t for everyone.

[@inchriswemistrust]

I can see oblivion as disappointing if one was a fan of the more RPG and D+D aspects of the elder scrolls. It’s definitely not as big of a sandbox as morrowind, but I loved it because the stories and factions were sooo good, and gameplay wise it had that classic, turn-your-brain-off, satisfying gameplay loop. I think morrowind, oblivion, and Skyrim are all great elder scrolls games in their own right, but that’s also based off my definition of the elder scrolls series. If someone started with morrowind or earlier, no doubt they’d be disappointed by the casualization (idk if that’s a word haha) of oblivion and Skyrim. I enjoy each game for what it is. But morrowind is still my favorite ES game and even my favorite game of ALL time

[@scaccu]

Tbh morrowinds main story is better.

[@Pwnicus187]

As someone who *did* start with Morrowind, this sums up my disdain for the later games in the series.

[@midnari]

Tbh I think the side stories and missions in Morrowind were awful

[@peacefusion]

if you started on morrowind, you shouldnt be hating oblivion or Skyrim for being more than Morrowind ever tried to be. Less quest? Better Quests. Less customization? better graphical features. Less text clicking, more rpg adeventuring. If the video is able to say oblivion is trash, we can also say Morrowind combat is garbage.

[@thebinksake8741]

​@@midnari I agree on that too, i think its just the nostalgia feeling that they are praised

[@mamumurako]

Wow that quest marker not making you familiar with the places was so on point. I can almost draw the map of Morrowind by memory unlike Oblivion. Morrowind’s lack of quest marker does makes me feel more involved and immersed.

[@therandomdickhead5744]

I had no idea it affected my sense of direction that much. Really makes me want to play morrowind

[@elgatochurro]

You might enjoy thief 2, the metal age then All I did was put the compass bind to tab and suddenly I was able to navigate ANYTHING

[@hideakiakio6698]

The landscape of Oblivion doesn't help.

[@dasik84]

I can draw map of all three games. :) But the best system so far is - surprisingly - in MMORPG Secret World. The quests are split in multiple categories: - main story quest (1), - main quests of the area (you can have 1 to 3 at once), - investigative quests (they don't have ANY quest markers, just puzzles and clues, you can have 1 in a moment) - dungeon quests (for groups of players, one at the time, I don't play them) - side/fetch quests (1 to 3 at the time) All those quests have different color, so you immediately know. And the quests whose purpose is to not show quest marks simply don't have them.

[@shadestrider1033]

I turned them off in Skyrim, and I felt way more immersed. I don’t even think you could turn them off in Oblivion.

[@shetlandapache949]

I think there were a couple things that oblivion did that i liked, but morrowind has so much more depth and freedom there is no real comparison. Loved npcs getting schedules which made sneak feel like a real thing, loved being able to make poisons and equip them to weapons, i also liked being able to cast spells with weapons drawn. Really was not a fan of the erosion of freedom, whether it was the spellmaking, the quest markers, the possible equipment, the scaling. Also loved mounts, but hated how the game seemed to lose all nuance.

[@speedgriffon2504]

Me, I'm directionally challenged. I remember that twice I almost quit the game in frustration because I was led into some long, complex labrynth, then couldn't find my way out -- and the quest marker worked against me, showing a crow-flies general direction but not which doors to take in what sequence and that sort of thing. Skyrim fixed this by giving most dungeons an "exit" near the objective.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Those are the worst, though personally I feel like every cave, even the ones that are supposed to have occured naturally, going in one big loop ending back at the entrance again feels too unnatural. They should rather have populated the complex caves with more easily recognizable landmarks

[@speedgriffon2504]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT I can definitely see that. Surely there's a middle-area to be found, where not every cave has an "exit" sign, but you don't have to be Daedelus to find your way out.

[@NetoKruzer]

Oblivion introduce me to the Elder Scrolls universe, so for all its faults, it still have a special place in me...

[@miguelbranquinho7235]

For sure, there's a lot of stuff I really love about Oblivion, but after Morrowind there's just no going back. The feeling of immersion is all-consuming.

[@rudebox5688]

"Nothing says that the portals all need to lead to the same kind of oblivion" - That would be true if all the daedra were invading, but they're not. It's just Mehrune's Dagon. That's why all of the portals go to the deadlands. The oblivion crisis is kind of a misnomer but the majority of people wouldn't know any different.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

You're not wrong. I mainly aired the question in an attempt to create some discussion because I thought the Deadlands were so drab and boring. If they wanted to I'm sure they could have written in some other places just for the sake of a bit of variation, like Deadlight or even The Chimera of Desolation

[@Elyseon]

Mehrunes Dagon is just an edgelord Satan wannabe.

[@hoid8069]

True, but that highlights a HUGE missed opportunity with Boethiah's quest, since his realm of Oblivion looks exactly the same as Mehrunes Dagon's.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

I was HUGE into EverQuest Online Adventures when i discovered Morrowind. It was a MMORPG on PS2 with a massive world, no loading, something like 11 races and 14 classes! Just incredible! So when i saw Morrowind in a local EB Games i was blown away. I still remember opening my copy and unfolding the map in the car as my mom drove me home! I was floored. To me the Elder Scrolls games instantly reminded me of someone taking a region from EverQuest. Like Neriak for example and making it into a single player game. Neriak is basically Morrowind, ruled by Dark Elves, massive volcano dropping cinders, huge mushrooms everywhere. To me Elder Scrolls will always be like and offline EverQuest, each game set in its own region. Skyrim was like Halas in EverQuest and Permafrost. I haven't been let down by the direction personally, but i understand why others have been. They certainly were less accessible games and more technical, but for myself i feel like the added variety in dungeons, the more streamlined mechanics and safeties in place just make for better replays. I found myself growing rather fatigued by the Dwemer ruins of yore in Morrowind and confounded by the Ayleid ruins of Cyrodiil. Plus those dang oblivion gates man! Skyrim is legendary for a reason, it perfectly hit that balance of depth and accessibility.

[@Nilsacc]

Just recently played oblivion as mage. It certainly helped alot to get a 45sec invis spell and spam it later on in the game to save most of the tedious dungeons, i fully agree on that.

[@xenxander]

The Blackwood armor is fairly good and better than any Arena or Fighter's guild armor you ever get. The fighter's guild doesn't care if you wear blackwood armor either. Such a lost opportunity on so many avenues.

[@morzemus1805]

Oblivion was the first Elder Scroll game I played (back in 2009, I think). Still haven't finished the main story despite buying it again for PC a year back or so. MW is actually the first and only Bethesda game I've ever finished the main story. During my second "playtrough" of Skyrim I never even started it properly because I didn't want to deal with the dragons in my forest hike simulator.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I'm dreading the day when I'm gonna play through Skyrim for a video and have to fight off a generic dragon every other hour or so lol

[@shadestrider1033]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT I thought that was a strength of Skyrim’s world, that Dragons could pretty much attack whenever they wanted. It made the return of the Dragons feel a lot more like a tangible threat rather than a background event. They can kill NPCs too. People might feel this is annoying, but for me, it honestly added to the setting. I wish the Civil War Questline had more overworld battles, but even if it really wasn’t conveyed as well through the overworld, it still manages to leave impact through dialogue with NPCs. It feels like Oblivion was lacking majorly in both departments. The Oblivion Crisis doesn’t feel like much of a threat when the Daedra are just hanging out near the doors and not attacking the nearby inn. It also feels like there wasn’t much dialogue even acknowledging it, outside of quests directly related to it, which are few and far between outside of the main quest.

[@zahrashadagon2888]

I feel you were a bit harsh on oblivion. Morrowind is my favorite but I feel oblivion is a good middle ground between Morrowind and Skyrim. To be honest I wish oblivion and Skyrim were more like Morrowind. The problem is people are lazy and want instant gratification.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Maybe, but it's so infuriating how they had laid all the ground work with Morrowind and then just said fuck it and removed so much of it. I agree with the gratification. It sucks but sadly it works wonders, just look at the sales of Skyrim

[@zahrashadagon2888]

I understand. I was pretty pissed to lose the spear weapon class and throwing weapons. They really keep removing more and more each game.

[@soulrebel6309]

Good middle ground? No! Oblivion was supposed to be better than Morrowind, but instead went backwards

[@CorvoFG]

Fighting Mannimarco in ESO: 10 minute top level boss battle requiring planning and strategy. Fighting Mannimarco in Oblivion: 3 hits with a sword and he’s an epitaph.

[@jmlaw8888]

Mannimarco was in Oblivion? Wow, all I got was a camp Altmer.

[@parrot998]

@@jmlaw8888 Thank goddess for the mod that changes his appearance, lair, and adds an intimidating voice filter that makes him come off more like his Daggerfall version.

[@ziongite]

I literally tried to play this game and I genuinely thought it was broken, as I leveled up, the game actually got harder, not easier. I later researched and found out the game levels up with you, in effect making your leveling more like a placebo, and if you spent time leveling at any point the game will be harder, the game is the easiest at level 1. This is the most stupid system I have ever heard of, it isn't even realistic, even in real life when we gain experience doing something we end up with progression being easier, not harder. But in Oblivion it's the opposite, the game is broken by design, by a horrible design. It's no wonder no other future bethesda game had this system, and no other RPG has this system, Oblivion stands as literally the worst leveling system I have ever seen in any video game. And it made the game unplayable to me, so I stopped playing. I would rather have fun playing a game and feel like I am becoming stronger over time and better, rather than play a game like Oblivion that punishes you for playing it, and where progression through the game should be done at the lowest level possible to even make progression possible.

[@rustycheese641]

cry about it bitch. Just beat the game on level 1 then

[@SuperCrumpets]

just started watching and im so glad you start with the ui, its always triggered me how bad it is compared to the 1 click for everything in morrowind and noone else cares enough for somereason

[@mercenarymudcrab]

There is definitely something wrong with a game when you have to install a mod that totally overhauls the leveling, skill and attribute-point system and another mod to totally overhaul the inventory system before it is playable. What really bugged me though during my play-through was, that you could not set the difficulty-slider to max (as in Morrowind) because this did multiply the health of the enemies in such extrem ways that it simply out-scaled all the damage you could to with weapons or spells... while setting the slider to Minimum you could one-shot everything which obviously was very boring. So you play with the slider kind of in the middle which kind of took the idea of building a character out of the game.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Mods are nice, but not when they're used almost as an excuse not to make functional in-game systems lol. And yeah, the difficulty slider can be a hassle to work with, especially since it doesn't really tell you what specifically it changes! I totally forgot about it in this playthrough though haha

[@naunau311]

Okay, I stopped being lazy, hope you have a good read: 1:05 While I understand the argument, I’d say that the way Oblivion does it is totally justifiable for an RPG. In my opinion, you’re not supposed to pick a race it fits your min-maxed build. Keeping it vague and not having straight-up numbers add to the immersion imo. Take for example the Nord thing it says both “Nords are famous for their resistance to cold” and “They are highly talented warrior”, with those informations you know enough to understand what they’re capable of: they will resist cold but not be immune to it (When a race is immune to an element it doesn’t say “resistant to” it says “immune to” => see the argonians) and they will be good with every skill required by a warrior archetype. 2:30 I would tend to agree on that, nothing much to add. Although all melee weapons get the same “new” power attack at each stage, making it easy to know which attacks you can/can’t use. 4:45 Yeah the journal is bad, we can all thank quest markers for that. 6:15 I disagree that this is as big an issue as you make it out to be. 7:15 Funnily enough the map is the one place where they went for immersion and yeah the information you can get from it are very limited but I don’t know that this is an issue; if the player wants to brute force their way in a straight line fine but when faced with a mountain and knowing that your objective is on the other side of it, it makes sense to go around it. And yeah the levitation removal is sad. 7:50 The big icons are a result of the game being a console port, again that is a shame. I take issue with your “arbitrary number” argument tho. Every such number in any RPG is arbitrary. All we need to understand is that that weapon deals X damage, X being the result of the weapon’s quality and the player character’s skill in using that weapon both of those things making sense: a better weapon will deal better damage, and the user will deal more damage with a weapon they master. One thing that is badly explained is that the number displayed in your inventory is the amount of physical damage you will deal, and so if you have an elemental damage enchant, you have to add that on top to give an estimate of how much damage you will deal. 8:35 The durability thing is really subjective in my opinion, it’s a percentage and some people will be fine with that (myself included) although I agree that there should be some kind of display as to how many hit can you take/how many times can you use the weapon before it breaks. All of this kind of becomes a non-issue quickly though since there’s a good chance that you’ll be spamming repair hammers after every fight. What doesn’t make sense and doesn’t get talked about enough in my opinion is the non-sense of how the durability is actually calculated, the formula is that each strike removes (0.06*BaseWeaponDamage) meaning that if you use an iron dagger with a damage of 5, you’ll lose (0.06*5)=0.3 durability per strike. While on the other hand, with a deadric dagger you’ll lose (0.06*19)=1.14 durability per strike. Meaning that your iron weapon is sturdier than your deadric weapon. 9:05 Yeah I’m with you on that one. 10:30 yeah this tutorial takes way too long to go through, agreed although I’m really confused as to what you mean by “almost nothing happens”. There is a fight every 30 to 40 seconds if my memory serves me right and the rest of the time there’s some dialogue. Story-wise well the emperor dying is pretty major. My good faith interpretation would be that you’re talking about a lack of pacing. That I would agree with, you’re fighting some regular goblins/rat, and all of the sudden the emperor dies it’s weird pacing for sure. As for the comparison between Oblivion’s tutorial and Morrowind’s tutorial, both don’t achieve the same thing. Morrowind tells you which buttons do what and then lets you go into the world with minimal information on the story, not that it’s a bad thing, it’s just very “morrowind”. Oblivion absolutely holds your hand, showing you what spells do, what interactions you can have with the environment, what the combat is like, how different enemies will react and you end up with a good understanding of the gameplay. Story-wise everything has been set into motion and some major events have already happened, pushing you towards the next main quest. Both are different and while I like morrowind’s more I think it’s unfair to say that it’s outright better. 12:50 I disagree there, the end of Oblivion’s tutorial works pretty well in my opinion. Right in front of you is a dungeon that’s big and noticeable enough that you will instinctively be attracted to it and if you turn around once you’ve cleared the bandits you’ll be faced with the impressive Imperial city. And while yeah it feels weird for a newly escaped prisoner to go back into the imperial city, nothing in the game is telling you that you’re wanted. After all you just interacted with the emperor and his guards. 14:30 Again, I agree with what you’re saying, Oblivion’s main quest never lets go of you. You always need to do something urgently and even when Martin asks you for a deadric artifact (Which imo would have been a great point at which to slow down the story and let the player explore) Martin gives you a book telling you precisely where to get one. One thing I disagree with, however, (Even tho it’s quite minor) is you saying that “One gate outside of Bruma will turn it into the next Kvatch”. That is absolutely false, and I don’t mean that from a gameplay perspective. Kvatch got destroyed because a great gate and three regular gates opened. Not because of one gate as a lot of people seem to think. 15:42 And yet again, that is correct but you’re forgetting that this can also be a bad thing. 16:12 That’s neutral but when talking about a game’s combat I think it would be better for you to say which difficulty you’re playing at. 19:00 HARD AGREE HOLY SHIT I HATE THIS FORWARD POWER ATTACK. But overall you’re spot-on on your analysis of the combat although some playstyles absolutely solve all of those issues. 20:35 Ah yes, the dreaded power scaling. I would have worded that differently but ultimately yeah. 21:00 Again, knowing what difficulty you were playing on would be nice to know how relevant this argument is. 24:15 that was the case for morrowind too by the way. I’m not sure what changed between the two games but yeah they’re the same on that point. 25:45 Yes something says that. It’s Dagon’s plane of oblivion. And the designer decided that this was how his plane was going to look. I agree that it’s a lack of imagination on their part to make it a classical representation of hell but that fits in the larger discussion of Oblivion being the most generic fantasy setting of all of the Howard elder scrolls games. 25:50 yeah the towers being the same is just lazy from Bethesda. 26:05 That’s a flaw of the towers themselves though. Whoever decided that to close the gates you only needed to grab the sigil stone is at fault/to thank. My biggest issue with that is how hard it makes it to believe that cities wouldn’t just throw a squad of guards in there and have them rush to the sigil stone to deactivate the portal. 28:10 yeah one other issue is that the only weapons that would be worthwhile are overpriced. Like heavily overpriced. 30:10 nitpick but trolls are weak to fire spells. I don’t know if they mention it anywhere but with a fire spell, those trolls become pushovers.

[@naunau311]

part 2: 36:55 I don’t agree that the dynamic AI is what made the quest markers necessary. I really really disagree. They had plenty of opportunities to account for the AI being moving objects and still giving the player ways to find them. The quest markers were brought in to pander to a more lazy/casual audience and to lessen the amount of line needed for each quests, given that everything is now voice acted and so every line of dialogue costs at the very least 100 times more than before, they can’t exactly give you accurate information on where you need to go, who you need to find, what you need to do. They can only give vague directions so as to not break the immersion too much and then put a marker to give actual useful directions. Also side note, throughout this whole video you act as if morrowind is the only previous elder scrolls game. Now I understand that this is probably because you haven’t played daggerfall or that you’re directly comparing morrowind and oblivion but I think it’s disingenuous to not acknowledge that quest markers were always there in elder scrolls games. Morrowind is the exception. It’s not a “new feature” that came with oblivion. Same for fast travel. 38:38 In my opinion this argument is irrelevant. Or rather it doesn’t address the quest marker or the fast travel issues. I could tell you how to get from anywhere to anywhere in skyrim without fast travel and yet skyrim has both fast travel and quest markers. I know how to get to every shop in every city and so on. I think oblivion’s city layout/design has more to do with that whole “I don’t remember shit about how to go to X” thing than the quest markers/fast travel. That joins back to the whole “Oblivion is a generic fantasy world with vibrant color and everything looks the same” discussion imo 40:28 I’m honestly not going to address the guild quests discussion as I would need to replay them again to do some accurate/relevant critique. All I’m going to say is this: the dark brotherhood is awful. Hard disagree with your take on Mankar Camoran, to be honest. He’s just not impressive as Alduin or Dagoth Ur (although he’s definitely more impressive than “Lord Woodborne of Wayrest” or Gothryd) On the whole voice acting issues, funnily enough, those issues aren’t present in the french version of the game. Thus proving once again that France is a superior country. And well, we’ve already sorted out most of my issues with your DLCs part. A bit of a long comment it would seem! Good luck on your next videos

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

@@naunau311 Thank you so much for taking time to write this, it really helps and I appreciate it very much! The way I interpret this is that, for the most part, there are certain parts I could be more clear about, is that it? I have a tendency to forget that not everyone else lives inside my head too and probably provide too little information for people to follow my train of thought sometimes lol. I will say though, to clear up some small stuff, the part about the tutorial was as a whole meant to show how it can detract from wanting to replay the game. It is waaay too long imo and the fights, maybe except for the first Goblin you encounter, aren't all that exciting. The part about the emperor dying not being significant was kinda made as a joke to contrast that opinion. I did feel it maybe didn't come off as I thought it would which is why I added the "quack" sfx haha. For the record, I played Oblivion on the default difficulty setting. I didn't even think of lowering it, mostly because I totally forgot it existed. They really shouldn't have relied so much on the manual, like wow. Then again though, that's horrible research on my part. On the weapon attack numbers part I probably should have added a line where I explain that it never really feels like the damage you deal go up or that you dispatch enemies faster in tandem with the number growing which is what makes it feel useless. This is most likely because of that damn leveling-system, man I hate that thing. The "one gate outside Bruma" thing was really just me exaggerating a bit to get the point across. (Also wasn't that first gate in Kvatch a great gate or am I misremembering things? In that case why didn't you get one of those special sigil stones from that one??) I think the troll's weakness to fire is mentioned randomly by NPC's, but that wouldn't really have helped me since I went for a more sword/bow-focused build. I really wish I had a better experience with that quest, cuz the visuals are SO PRETTY! You're right on the money, I never played the games before Morrowind, mostly because I couldn't get them to work. Maybe I will one day but as you hypothesized the topic was mostly focused on how I experienced Oblivion after having come straight from Morrowind. Again, thank you so much for this. It's opened my eyes a bit to stuff I thought were pretty minor. It's honestly really refreshing to have people like you point out inconsistences, bad writing or just disagreeing with my opinions. I've learned a lot from this I feel, can't wait to apply it to the next vid!... ... But then you had to go and call France a superior country I don't know if I can trust your opinions after that

[@naunau311]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT Nice! And for the damage thing, the way it's calculated makes sense and is pretty clear imo, it's just that with the scaling you won't notice the difference. Fuck scaling man

[@michaeldavies7949]

The stats system really wound me up having 100 in strength did little to affect the strength of your attack and 100 intelligence did nothing to affect the strength of your potions even though raising alchemy gave you intelligence modifiers

[@AlchemistOfNirnroot]

It's pretty obvious why intelligence doesn't scale the strength of your potions considering Morrowind's exploits. Not that you couldn't make 1000 dmg/30sec poisons.

[@michaeldavies7949]

@@AlchemistOfNirnroot Lol yes, that's why loved Alchemy in morrowind. But you couldn't apply poisons to weapons without mods

[@batshine8]

At 5:50 you nailed it already with what's wrong with Oblivion, Bethesda listened to console players over pc players and started dumbing down their games to make it easier for that audience while flipping the bird to pc players and forcing modders to fix, or improve, the game.

[@morticianflame]

Oblivion is the one modern ES game I just can't get into. The ugly and goofy looking/acting characters, the stiff janky melee combat (which is ironic since Morrowind, an older games feels less stiff and more fluid), the awful UI, and the awful level scaling which makes it feel like you're never improving and getting stronger

[@bonesawmcgraw8209]

I'd say it's more unfulfilled potential rather than wasted potential. I agree with most of your points, but saying it's a waste implies it's not worthwhile.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Hmmmmmmmmmm you might be right... I wonder what makes for the better looking title, because now I'm unsure if that's what I should have called it instead

[@Gloops01]

Oblivion was my first TES game, and first open world game, I think, so I have a certain nostalgic love for it. Both Morrowind and Oblivion have their plusses and minuses. Early levels in Morrowind are frustrating because you can’t hit a thing and have no money; mage characters have to keep resting to regain magicka (potions are hard to come by with expensive ingredients), and archers have to carry a million arrows, 95% of which will pass through an enemy - which will then charge rapidly at the player, forcing them to use melee anyway. Then by level 20 or so you’re an invincible god, there’s no challenge and combat becomes boring. Pickpocketing is near impossible, just broken, and the Thieves guild quest line is ludicrous when everyone is static and usually standing next to the thing you want to steal 24/7 (and merchants will then accuse you of stealing any item of the same type if you try to sell it to them months later). Oblivion NPC schedules improved that mechanic massively.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah, the schedule system isn't all bad. You make a good case for it, I'm just sad that seemingly the NPC schedules plus the insistence on having everything being voice acted meant they almost HAD to include the quest marker to cut down on descriptions :/

[@Gloops01]

​@@FromHerotoZeroYT Yes, I would have preferred the quest markers to be optional, so casuals could just switch off their brains and follow the compass, but hardcore players got proper directions. The text system in Morrowind allowed for more dialogue, although most NPCs still just had generic text and not much personality. Skyrim was even more reliant on quest markers than Oblivion, with an arrow pointing at the quest NPCs head! I've put a few hundred hours into all three games, but they're all quite shallow role playing experiences. Usually the only option is do a quest, or not. Why can't I switch allegiance and defect to the Silver Hands? My character hates those werewolf weirdos! Give me branching quests, like Fallout: New Vegas.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I must say I agree. The Bloodmoon DLC did the whole allegiance switching thing, but that was only really a side quest. I do think some of the quests in Morrowind had more intricacies to them, at least more than in Oblivion, but you're right, there weren't many enough

[@goraack]

Video was awesome, pretty much agree with everything that was said. It's sad to see the elder scrolls games devolve over the years.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

From the viewpoint of someone that like deep and technical RPG's, yeah. I do still think that there's something there for the more casual crowd though, but they definitely didn't take the series on the path I thought they would

[@robotface42O]

I wish the allies to bruma quest was mandatory, but they let you choose through a handful of quests In each town. You would have to deal with personalized quests for the city, letting you get more attached to the world, instead of being a grind fest. It feels like they never play tested combat or some of the quests, but yet with fallout 3 their favorite saying was "great game are played, not made." Just a what if but What if Uriel septim was a dictator who would use max charm spells to keep power, or maybe it could be a count that did it.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah. Despite how tedious it could be at times I still think the Hortator step of the main quest is one of the greatest things about it because it, along with the rest of the main quest as well, forces you to travel to almost every major settlement on Vvardenfell You shouldn't listen to Bethesda PR. They are unreliable at best lol I like the idea, but I'm afraid it would never be deemed "epic" enough at this point

[@shadownite3378]

You layed out perfectly a lot of the issues I have with this game and why I dont enjoy it as much as Daggerfall, Morrowind, and shit even Skyrim. Oblivion is my least favorite game in the series aside from Arena so Im glad someone seems to share the sentiment of the game not being as good as a lot of people claim it to be. My main problem with Oblivion is that it takes out so much of what made Morrowind special while also not having a lot of the good improvements Skyrim did. Aside from the quests being probably the best in the series (which Ill give credit to Oblivion for that), there's no real reason to actually go back and play this game. Want a more improved and modernized combat system that has at least a tad more strategy involved, with better sound effects, and sick combat animations? What about a game where stealth is actually more enjoyable to do and isn't ass on top of having a world that feels more alive to explore and not as static? Well then just play Skyrim then. Want a game with more extensive lore and more creative world building that doesn't look like every other generic fantasy world that came out lord of the rings or Game of thrones? A world with all kinds of fun unique details that you dont get with most open world games as well as having far more choices at your disposable and in depth magic system that you can play around with extensively? Okay then play Morrowind! Want a game where you have a limitless amount of options at your disposal that would make even Morrowind look limited by comparison and randomly generated dungeons and quests that give the game an infinite amount of replay value? Not to mention being able to explore a massive world thats bigger than Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrims worlds combined? Then play Daggerfall. Seriously aside from the quests (Which by the way you can only experience with fresh eyes once and even then they still have issues as you layed out) there's no actual real reason to go back and play Oblivion compared to its predecessors and successor. Oblivion is this awkward middle child in the series. It gets rid of so much of the freedom, options, world building, and lore from the previous games while also being one upped by its little brother Skyrim in some of the more modern and streamlined mechanics and design that make it more appealing to modern gamers. Im actually surprised btw you didn't bring up Oblivion's world building as a critique. Its one of my biggest issues with the game, Cyrodill just looks like your standard generic looking fantasy world. Hell even Skyrim's world is more interesting despite it still being a bit more on the generic side when compared to Morrowind. I honestly hope with Elder scrolls 6 we get the best of both worlds. Combine bringing back the rpg elements, the expansive magic system, and expand on the players option like in Morrowind and Daggerfall while also keeping a lot of the good modern mechanics of Skyrim that appeal to newer players. Give players the option to choose if they want to use the quest marker and give players the option to choose if they wanna be able to kill essential npc's or not! That way daggerfall and Morrowind fans like you and me can be satisfied but it would also make the newschool fans who are use to how streamlined Skyrim is happy as well! I dont think most of that is hard to ask and it absolutely can be done!

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I think I mentioned that Oblivion looks like a mostly generic fantasy setting somewhere in there, but you're right, I should have gone more in-depth with it because there really is a lot to talk about in that regard. I think I was somewhat onto it in the NPC section where I talk about the schedule system but yeah, if I were to re-do it I definitely would spend some more time on that! I like your ideas. I don't know much about game coding but they seem simple enough to implement, no? The only thing I see which could be a problem is the amount of extra work they'd need to do to give out directions and such if they dropped the waypoint system completely which I have my doubts about them doing despite how well they know the game will sell, lol.

[@shadownite3378]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT You probably did and I just missed it on accident, my bad. I do agree though it could be tricky to add back directions as well for every quest now that I think about it more. Oh well, I just hope they realize that they dont need to displease Morrowind fans to make the game sell and it is possible to please both audiences. Shit you could even combine the perk system from Skyrim and bring back things like Major skills to have a more rpg experience. Although it would be a bit difficult to implement such a system that would please both fans.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah. At the end of the day though I don't think they will risk alienating the "new" Skyrim fans by implementing more complex systems and I also fear that they will continue to strip the features down since they've had so much success with that in the past. The only thing that could interfere with that would be the Microsoft acquisition which is why I'm still cautiously optimistic, but only time will tell I suppose

[@Malentor]

Late reply, I know, but I just want you to know you're certainly not alone in your disappointment in Oblivion, or your ranking of it compared to the other titles in the game - I pretty much share your sentiments entirely, though not when it comes to the quests, those are extremely overrated, especially the oft fawned over Dark Brotherhood questline, which was meh at the very, very best. That being said, the long detailed quests were never really what made the series, and so Todd Howard's singleminded focus on having such things, and designing everything in the world around quests, instead of furthering the overall sense of the world, and trying to create a more immersive simulation of a real world, lead to the theme-park ride focus from Oblivion onwards, although credit where it's due, with certain improvements in Skyrim.

[@shadownite3378]

@@Malentor I think for me it was more so the variety of the quests themselves. I really liked the variety overall and I felt they were the most creative the series has seen. Though I agree in turn the world building and lore took a hit which in the end wasn't really worth it but at least helped Oblivion stand out I guess.

[@AustrianPainter-dw8zo]

Daggerfall and skyrim are my favorites, but I can't stand oblivion. I fucking hate oblivion, it is the worst of the series. Everytime I see those character models it fills me with rage

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Calling them character models is generous of you

[@ImperialCaleb]

I do not understand the hist sap quest in the Fighter's Guild at all. The initial implication I got is that the Blackwood Company are wiping out this guy's town as to make an example to others to pay their debts on time or end up like Marcel. That doesn't hold up though, as apparently there's a real goblin tribe harassing this town, so there might be truth that they really were contracted to kill goblins. But that doesn't make sense either, since Marcel is released back into his town after the residents are killed, and there aren't actually any goblin corpses. If they released Marcel right after this quest, that is evidence towards the theory that they were making an example of him. But he doesn't put the pieces together himself, he blames bandits, but then says that wouldn't make sense since they have nothing to steal. How does he not know it's the Blackwood Company teaching him a lesson? It's also weird that the other men with you apparently also only see goblins, so you're all having the same hallucination at the same time. If this is implying that the Blackwood Company is able to control what you see when you take hist sap, that's stupid. Then when you go back to Modryn, he tells you "they no longer know what they do" implying that all of this is just them hallucinating and fucking up without knowing it. He could be wrong, but why confuse me even more? Also why did everyone you need to kill conveniently look like a goblin and your teammates look normal? It seems to me like this was not thought out well and hist sap is just used as a massive plot device that does whatever the writer wants it to.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Marcel's debt has anything to do with the Blackwood Company. Even if it did, we already paid it off one way or the other via an earlier Fighters Guild quest. On the topic of the Hist sap: There's a concept called subliminal stimuli or something like that, where you're exposed to an image for a fraction of a second, or a topic is mentioned in a conversation to make you drawn to something or whatever. Apparently the hist sap from the sick tree makes people go raving mad. You're told that you're sent to the village because it's infested by goblins and the hist sap combined with the belief that there will be goblins there might create the illusion where the normal townsfolk are mistaken for monsters. This could also be why your companions still look human, you don't expect them to be goblins. As for whether or not there actually are goblins there or not... Personaly I don't believe so. I like your theory about them being made an example because of Marcel's debt though. The ones that issued the contract might actually be the people Marcel was in debt to, which honestly makes a lot of sense now that I think about it! Of course, I might just be reading too much into it, but if it's wrong I guess I can kinda excuse it since it only happens once after all.

[@ImperialCaleb]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT Story-wise, there isn't any reason Marcel would be spared and that specific town massacred if the Blackwood Company wasn't connected to the debt quest. If it's really just coincidence that the debt quest and goblin quest take place at the same town AND the guy that owes the debt somehow survives, it's very contrived, there's tons of other settlements that they could've used if the debt and the Company weren't connected. Either Marcel owed the Company or they were hired to raze this town. Also even though the debt was paid late, that doesn't mean it'd be forgiven, like in that Dark Brotherhood quest where the guy needs you to stage his own death because those debtors were insulted that he missed a payment. Unfortunately Oblivion doesn't give those debtors a name, I remember in Morrowind the Camonna Tong was behind a lot of debt related quests, but since Oblivion leaves them nameless we can't surmise if it's the same ruthless organization in both debt quests. As far as the hist sap thing goes, I did think about that. The thing is if you're writing a fairly simple story and you're going to use a vague theory like that, you'd better establish it first, the only thing we really know about hist sap in the story is that it causes hallucinations and makes you stronger. Having a hallucinogenic show exactly what is needed for the story to progress feels lazy (especially considering apparently every one of your teammates saw the same hallucination.) If you hadn't seen the residents as goblins and only killed a bunch of goblins, saving the town, the story really wouldn't have been able to go anywhere with that, so it's just too convenient that the sap shows exactly what is needed of it for the story.

[@fyraltari1889]

It's been a while since I played, and sorry for replying to an old comment, but since Hist trees are sapient and use their sap to communicate with Argonians, isn't it possible that the tree intentionally made you and the others hallucinate goblins but made sure not to include the others? Edit: If you put your conspiracy theorist hat on, maybe that tree is the real leader of the blackwood company, they're from Black Marsh, after all.

[@zachthompson9976]

My god hearing that oblivion song in the intro for the first time in almost 20 years made me feel a certain way! Was absolutely one of favorites back in the day but anytime i get the urge to replay it i remember the notebook i had to use as a kid to get decent level ups and i pass 😅

[@XtremeXiledHybrid]

omg u protect the rats instead of killing them how subversive if u like this quest ur brain is smooth

[@josiahpaulthompson]

Boomer Rant: In early 2020, I gave Oblivion a few chances. No matter the playthrough I just could not seem to bring myself to even finish a guild questline. So then I revisited Morrowind, and I honestly tunnel visioned the next several months through -- at the very least-- 15 to 30 play-throughs (that is the conservative estimate). I loved every moment, there was always something new to discover in the mystical landscape. Realizing this cycle was never going to end, I resolved to go out and collect every Lesson of Vivec, and organize them in Tel Uvirith. Upon writing this post, it had dawned on me that the artifacts in Morrowind I want to keep for the memories of my adventures, but less so for later releases. That being said, I think Oblivion art team did an impeccable job at setting the stage for cultural immersion through miscellaneous items, (crystal balls were fantastic) but they failed to be optimally captivating because, unlike Morrowind, they do not tell a story through individualized names or their surroundings. A staff in Solstheim in TES3 expansion, Bloodmoon, can be found under a frozen creek and it is called Haakon's Lucky Break. It's volatile luck fortification tells a story of a man named Haakon whose staff failed him as the ice shattered beneath him, leading him to a watery grave. If this was Oblivion, an NPC would hold your hand to these thoughtful parts of content. RPGs should be more Sandbox and less Conveyer-Belt. Let me find the hidden gems on my 7th playthrough, don't have an NPC spoil it for me right out of the gate. Last thought: even the Dunmer of Vvardenfell seem to be a prouder people than even the Nords of Skyrim because half of them named their enchanted weapons in Morrowind. Nords in Skyrim brag about having the best weapons and armor but cannot even be bothered to name their battle raiments? A Dark Elf bandit is more likely to have more respect for their gear than a high ranking Jarl.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

This was actually kinda eye-opening in terms of how items were used to tell a story in Morrowind. Thank you

[@josiahpaulthompson]

My story also involved about 400 stacks of moon sugar under my bed over Caius' fairwell note. Thanks for the video ^_^

[@josiahpaulthompson]

Lmao I just started sincerely reading this comment again.. and then realized I wrote it 2 years ago. 😅

[@spimpsmacker6422]

Coming from someone who actually enjoys Oblivion and having it be my introduction to the ES series I agree with a lot of points you say here. I think mechanics like fast-travel and quest markers really take a lot of self-investment out of exploring the game's world and discovering new places that only encourage you to dig deeper into it. From what I've gathered, the best way to approach the game is to open yourself to a variety of skills and play-styles rather than restrict yourself to a single class in a playthrough; which may arguably also ruin the whole point of having a class system in the first place. Despite all the flaws of ES4 however, there's something so charmingly simple about Oblivion that keeps reeling me back to it. Hopefully ES6 can find a way to combine the best of all the more recent mainline titles.

[@gravesidepoet5405]

“The option to fast travel made me do it” is not a valid complaint.

[@spimpsmacker6422]

@@gravesidepoet5405 It's not just a matter of whether or not it's there, it's the fact that it also effects how the developers lay out the world as well. If fast travel wasn't so much a thing, it would force devs to crowd smaller areas of space with more content. Literally half the time I play an Oblivion quest, it forces you to trek half or all the way across the map to get to your destination. I try not to cheese it, but it gets boring when it takes 15 minutes or longer just to get to your objective location. Mind you this is Cyrodiil we're talking about, a country at least the size of Western Europe, so it doesn't make sense when 1 out of every 3 missions require you to trek what would be 50 kilometers in real-life.

[@TanToRza]

One thing i absolutely hated about oblivion, was the very specific quest markers. Theives guild asks you to go steal something, and the marker literally points you to the exact point, like which room and chest. No exploration required. I loed the game so much and played it a lot, but that one aspect kept me going back to morrowind.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

It's a shame you can't just turn it off either since the journal doesn't provide you with enough info to find your objective without the marker for the most part

[@robertharris6092]

I was born in 1995. And i first saw morrowind from my older brothers friend. But never knew what it was called. Maybe a year or 2 later my grandmother comes to visit (they lived very close) and just happened to have the xbox GOTY edition out of nowhere and i recognized it immedietly. So i was pretty young when i played morrowind. About 8 or 9. And even then. Years later when oblivion came out and i did enjoy it for the time i found morrowind better, so much more atmospheric. I was actualy scared as a child to explore outside of the citys. Lol. having so much free time as a child definitly helps make the slow combat of oblivion feel less annoying. Let alone lower standards.

[@xenophon1999]

I still remember how completely engrossed I was by Morrowind when I first played it back in 2002, it consumed much of the time I should have been spending on university work and to this day I can walk into Balmora and go straight to Caius Cosades' house, no map markers needed. The thing is, I don't really remember first playing Oblivion, It would have been around when it was released, and I have some vague memories of enjoying it, but I don't remember it in the same way that I can remember specifics from Morrowind. BTW, the ending of your video is hilarious!

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah I was pretty happy about that ending. I have a thing for horrible harmonica renditions of great songs, so I had to figure out a way to include that little gem haha

[@redomer91]

Mankar Camoran imho actually had the potential to become a grand villain like Dagoth Ur. The only issue lies with the presentation. His backstory is interesting and his motivation compelling. Even the immense cruelty of his paradise makes perfect sense given teachings within the TES-Universe.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I agree! I think the biggest problem is how he's not really a thing until the last hour when you actually enter his Paradise. You see him like, once before that?

[@redomer91]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT Yeah. Maybe with a bit of fantasy, the commentaries that you need to get to find the cult can be counted as a sort of introduction but that is a) part of the quest line when you meet him anyways and b) requires the player to read a lot.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah, and the reading part is as we all know 100% optional in Oblivion lmao

[@Elyseon]

He's just another delusional maniac with mental problems.

[@FgyjtIngenieroEuropeo]

Personally i think it would be better if there were quest marker ONLY when you look at the map, not in the mini map.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah! Not great, but definitely better!

[@michadomeracki5910]

Let's be realistic. If I have a chance to be that early then I deserve to comment before watching. I played Morrowind for the first time in something like 2003-2004. From the beginning I saw that this is something special. A game where you can have another life, a true simulation of a fantasy world where you can play however you like. I played for a good time then I played Oblivion in 2007 one year after the release. One of the best memories of my gamer life, amazing time. Everything about Oblivion was so good: physics, world, NPC behavior (yes I really like how they behave) just walking around the cities was an amazing experience. We got old guys but do not be sad because it is over, be happy because it has happened

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

That was beatiful Still doesn't change my opinion of the game, but thank you for sharing haha

[@Flickydicky]

Loved the video, dont know why it randomly showed up for me! Big fan of both morrowind and oblivion, this was a great video!

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah it keeps showing up for me too for some reason haha. No but thanks for watching, glad you liked it :)

[@asteroiderer]

I'm not sure I got the same reaction when I discovered the Shivering Isles. I agree there are still flaws, but 9/10 of the best parts of Oblivion were in that DLC; the unknown/mysterious environment, the unique questlines (though I do agree the ending was lackluster), the actual different and fun personalities of every different NPC, and even the dungeons there were pretty interesting and not nearly as cookie-cutter as Cyrodiil. I do agree with most of your points about everything else in Cyrodiil though: especially the leveling, combat, and dungeons. However, I must point out how cookie-cutter most ancestral tombs, kwama mines, and other small dungeon types were in Morrowind. Granted, they had more time after that which they could've used to develop them better in Oblivion and they had only just gotten that technology to an easier point when making Morrowind so it makes more sense for them to have not fully gotten in the groove of making everything unique there. Good thing they _mostly_ fixed that issue in Skyrim.

[@chesterstevens8870]

For all of it's many MANY flaws, the one thing Oblivion did right was lay the groundwork for the "open world sandbox rpg" formula that's become standard. It doesn't hold up in comparison to later titles, but none of those titles would exist today if Oblivion hadn't dared to try something new.

[@OuterHeaven210]

True af. Running around an open world doing quests.

[@oliverjoel5870]

I disagree I don't think Oblivion was original at all, in fact it is very generic and follows the same sandbox rpg design we've had for decades now.

[@JohnnyUtah488]

Daggerfall has entered the chat.

[@PixelsCollide]

Loved it, great video as always dude :D keep up the good work and the ending was amazing xD

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Haha, thank you! :D

[@Elyseon]

Also the map screen size is stupid.

[@VisComicaV]

I've been looking fwd to this since i saw you working on it on twitch. Always stoked to see you uploaded FHtZ!

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Thanks! I hope you enjoy the video :D

[@celphalonred1999]

Tried several playthroughs, could never finish any if them due to getting put to sleep. Don't know, just doesn't have any of the magic Skyrim has.

[@bigdaddyleen]

Looking forward to watching the vid!

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Hope you enjoy, Norse! :D

[@OuterHeaven210]

I loved oblivion. Still do. No game has ever given me the feeling of being an assassin like oblivion. I haven’t played Morrowind yet. A comment on your argument about the level scaling though. You really hAve to pull out all the stops with late game combat. My strategy was to use invisibility spells to jump around behind enemies and paralyze them before laying into them with blades. Combat was never an issue even at high difficulty

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

It's not that it's overly hard, I mean it can be, but that it takes so long to kill the enemies. The only ones that are difficult to deal with are the "monsters" though, the human NPCs are pretty much total pushovers throughout most of the game. Oh and hey, thanks for watching!

[@OuterHeaven210]

FromHerotoZero of course! I’m a big fan. Love all your videos tbh. I agree wholeheartedly, ogres and the like become damage sponges for sure.

[@enterprise-h312]

I have never seen a review make a mention of a spell which drains the mercantile skill. What does this spell sound like it is for? You would be forgiven for thinking that it can be used to lower prices of merchants except if you DO use it on merchants then they turn hostile rendering the whole spell pointless. 14:05 In the roleplaying that I did my character felt that it was more important to learn more stuff before getting into dangerous business. The relaxed tour is kind of boring. I was the archmage when I went looking for the next emperor but it did not feel all that exciting and at worst made me question whether I had outgrown gaming. 36:25 The most interesting thing about that person is if you go inside his home and read his journal. 1:05:14 Forget about that, why can't a guildmaster or archmage use the resources that come with the position to help with the daedric invasion? So having mages and fighters help you out during the siege instead of having to beg the other cities for help.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

That last point is something I wish I included more in the video because yeah, for as big and interconnected the world is supposed to be and despite how the NPC's are supposed to feel like living breathing people, it all sure feels dead and hollow. For example: I had already done most of the content in the game before I started the Arena quest and the dude still had no idea who I was lol

[@xenxander]

sorry for posting gain but. constant effect enchantment.. shield. on clothing .. Never losing armor and you get protection. It also trains unarmored.. so you get the unarmored benefit AND the shield benefit.. SO NO reason no to enchant clothing with constant effect shield.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

You can post as many times as you'd like, friend. That's a good tip!

[@sebastiengervais1078]

The only thing I kinda disagree is the fighting and skill system. Even if I'm a die hard Morroboomer, I still liked oblivion's fighting. For many of the other aspects, you took the words right of my mouth. Great video! I can't wait for the Skyrim critique.

[@DidierWierdsma6335]

Is skyrim next i would love too see that video? Great video btw keep it up👍

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Eventually, but not right now. This was a lot of work haha. Oh, and thank you!

[@KelvinShadewing]

In the FG goblin quest, my first time completing it, I had a glitch that was horrifying at first and hilarious in hindsight. All the dead villagers were standing around and slowly floating away. I was able to follow them but not interact with them, and eventually, they floated off into the sky.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Funnily enough that's kind of a metaphor for what's happening

[@colossalfckstk5535]

I love this video so much. I think you’re being harsh, I agree with most of your points though. I just don’t like to think about it so much when I play. Lemme enjoy my game dammit😅

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Thank you! I might come off as harsh, but it's all because of my love for the series

[@conlan8874]

In my recommendations, algo probably gonna take this far.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Oh no, I don't think I'm ready for that lol

[@FinnSwede906]

I love Skyrim, Fallout 4 and New Vegas, but Oblivion just didn't do it for me... I mean, it served as a place for me to log in around 170 hours over a boring U.P. winter... But I don't remember having a real great time? Between the silly puddy faces, lackluster combat, the annoying persuasion system and those damn Oblivion gates I just don't really see myself heading back to the Imperial City any time soon

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

At least most of the quest story-lines were fun

[@itstyrant5330]

Love your vids man, seems you put so much effort into these. I really wish more people saw your channel

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Thanks, I do try to put as much effort into these as I can manage!

[@arxfatalispsychopath1325]

arx fatalis from 2001 is way better then this fucked up junk

[@GoyimFlatEarther]

I haven't played Arx Fatalis, but I did hear about it. I wouldn't mind playing it actually. Much like Gothic 1 & 2 they where all game that came out around the same time as Morrowind but went a bit under the radar due to the Morrowind hype machine at the time.

[@jetnebula7915]

Honestly, mate, the only thing I disagree with here is when you said that the quests were good. Maybe I'm being unfair but Oblivion is just such a weak game in every respect that I can't even touch the thing after completing it once. Although I never got the chance to play the DLCs, which I would probably do if I could lol. I can confidently say that it isn't due to lack of creativity or imagination, because that was the only thing that made it bearable. My character was a custom "immortal" class based mostly on Highlander, but also other influences. I think the major skills were Blade, Alchemy (to explain immortality) and destruction. (There might be more, but that's all I remember). I also limited myself to carrying no armor, all I wore was the ragged pants from the beginning. It was very reliant on being nimble lol

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I do really like most of the quests, but yeah those aren't enough for me to replay the game. Once was enough for me too lol I'm actually impressed you managed to play the game that way considering how much crap they throw at you in terms of enemies and the amount of damage they deal to you

[@JohnTheBaptist87]

People who love oblivion because it was there first experience of a elder scrolls game, so nostalgia... every point made os exactly how I feel... morrowind >>>>>

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I don't think it's wrong to like a game because of nostalgia, but to berate other people's opinions because they don't agree with you because of said nostalgia like a lot of people do on negative Oblivion videos is not the right move. Hey, I'm glad you liked the video and thanks for watching :)

[@JohnTheBaptist87]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT not berating them, nostalgia n first experience of an open world rpg are the same reason I hold morrowind in high regard... changes that were made in oblivion had some good things but mainly were for the worse... n the points brought up are exactly how I feel

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Sorry, wasn't referring to you with the berating part. Dunno why I even included it tbh lol

[@michellenichols9538]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT lol.

[@captianbacon]

Seeing this opinion to my favorite es game makes me feel like my opinions towards skyrim are normal now. As there are so many things I feel oblivion does miles better then skyrim. Like for example the main quest and the guilds.

[@TheBandoBandito]

I'm now looking forward to the inevitable Skyrim video

[@ArniesTech]

The emptiness of that flat world always turned me off. No verticality whatsoever 😵

[@inybisinsulate]

1:09:12 , for reference the reason I start Oblivion is the glitches.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

That's valid haha

[@robertharris6092]

*sees avatar* yup that checks out.

[@ArniesTech]

In fact I dont need Quests, intriguing fascinating Stories etc. I could be perfectly happy forever running around a cozy town and talk to folks about rumors and the weather 🙏

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah, talking to the people is fun, which is why I think a lot of the fun of the quests and stuff comes from learning about the people and small details about the world. It's too bad Oblivion sacrificed a lot of the detail in conversations in order to have full voice acting

[@jmlaw8888]

The only way Oblivion has stood the test of time is as one of the dumbest games ever made. The game is its own best parody its stupidity is so ever present and baked into its design.

[@Cmdr_DarkNite]

It doesn't take an "hour" to get through oblivions tutorial. It takes all but 20 to 30 minutes max. 10 minutes if you put the game on Easy (we will circle back to difficulty levels). You also mentioned it takes too long to kill enemies. Ok, mod in the no dice mod in Morrowind then play the game. You kill enemies in 2 seconds. So, obviously Bethesda had to balance that. "Why didn't they just keep the old system"? Because the old system is inferior. People mod Morrowind to take the dice roll away. NO ONE mods the dice roll into Oblivion or Skyrim. Thus, it is objectively inferior per popular vote. And if the enemies take too long for you, put it on Easy. Difficulties are there for a reason. I know because I use them. Most, if not all of your combat complaints could have been fixed by simply putting the game on Easy. So, what exactly were you even on about?

[@BaldingSasquatch]

You call it a disappointment yet back in 2006 you couldn't go anywhere without hearing about how awesome Oblivion was. It was a phenomenon.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah, and still, I found it disappointing. Weird, huh?

[@BaldingSasquatch]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT probably cause you're a smelly doo doo head

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

HAHAHA KZbin actually flagged your reply as potentially offensive and hid it! I am of course highly offended by having been called a smelly doo doo head and will ban you from earth if you call me that again.

[@SCP-tn2ln]

​@@BaldingSasquatchimagine being so retarded that you have to use insults instead of having an actual argument

[@freziaplanet4198]

you do know you can save at the sewer gate right? That save allows you to skip the tutorial any time you make a new character. Unless you want to go back for a specific bit of loot you really really wanted... for some reason. Or just wanted to replay the tutorial again.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I guess, but it's not exactly the first thing that comes to mind.

[@pblchldy8082]

I mean some of these points are a legitimate joke. Not being able to remember locations inside cities has nothing to do with map markers or the fact that morrowind is in your opinion easier to locate points of interest. I actually found morrowind harder in that sense and thats purely because i have apent a lot more time in oblivion than morrowind......seems like way too many opinionated ideas are getting in the way of genuinely looking at the good and bad.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

There are no jokes in this video, I am only serious frfr nocap

[@maulressurected4405]

Morrowind was on the Xbox so the Morrowind style menus and fonts should be fine with consoles.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah, it's not optimal for consoles, but at least it was more practical than the one we got in Oblivion lol

[@LouieLouLoo]

I played oblivion a couple of times and i seriousley wanted to enjoy the game. I did at some point but what made me let go of the game is the lack of personal damage. It felt like it doesnt scale with the player while enemies scale way off aka bandits with highleveled gears. The more you level up, the more unplayabe the game is. I could still play the game at that time but i just didnt level up as much which kills the game for me.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah it sucks because Oblivion has some good parts, it's just that they're way overshadowed by the bad.

[@NightWatch652]

Hey there, PatricianTV sent me, and this video is really great! Here's a comment for the KZbin Algorithm so that more people can see this!

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Oh shit he did? That's awesome! And thank you for watching too!

[@lucianwong420]

I forgot his name, but I accidentally killed the son of that dark elf count in the Oblivion gate outside the city because he ran in front of my arrow. (I think it was the allies for Bruma quest) His death actually has different dialogue depending on if you killed him or the Daedra killed him. The count wasn't happy and i didn’t get my reward.

[@dimiredstar2140]

Here's the deal, Oblivion is my favorite game by far yes I'm biased because it was such a huge part of my childhood but I can admit a lot of it's flaws, however I was able to overlook them because I enjoyed the world and the quests so much. For example skyrim as fun as it as and as a hall of fame game that it is feels shallow, oblivion does not and it will always be special to me even with its many flaws

[@FirstLast-yc9lq]

This is a good example of what happens when you completely scrap an original idea to chase popularity at the time (LOTR films) I have my issues with Skyrim, but it has it's own identity. Oblivion however, until the DLC, lacked it.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Even with the DLC, at least with Shivering Isles, it felt like they were trying to emulate the alien-ness of Morrowind. Oblivion could have been so much more

[@YsoKain]

Coming from patrician and well, I'm sad to say that I made it my divine duty to watch them all :D also your voice is rlly nice to listen to

[@briansanders8122]

You lost me at claiming that having to ask for directions (which sometimes literally point you in the opposite direction of your quest by the way) are somehow better than the quest marker.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Okay, so why isn't it?

[@briansanders8122]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT You're seriously asking why it's better to NOT be pointed in literally the opposite direction?

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

You're not seriously dumb enough to think that my question was about what you had written in the parentheses, are you? No, I was asking why you think that having a quest marker show you where to go is better than getting directions for where to go. Besides, there are only like 3 instances of the directions being wrong, granted one of those are during the main quest so that one kinda sucks.

[@hardcoredoom5892]

@@briansanders8122 When do people give wrong directions in Morrowind?

[@andrewpf91]

I played this right after Morrowind and I was very disappointed.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Same

[@bruciebruce9052]

In the original for Xbox 360 or the pc the game came with an instruction booklet. Man I wish I still had it. Oblivion as broken as it is, will always be one of my Favorite Games.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

It did for the PC version too, but I totally forgot that was even a thing lol

[@xScooterAZx]

It dissappointed me as well. I know I played it through without issue but I dont remember anything in it. It just wasnt as indepth and immersive as Morrowind.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

That's what a generic fantasy setting will do to 'ya

[@TheTortaLover_YT]

I could not enjoy oblivion for a long time until yesterday because I didn’t know way the fuck was going on, it looked confusing and I was lost. Until I attempted to play the game and I really enjoy it now. I already finished the dark brotherhood quest line and got shadowmere and gold horse armor. But I do understand your points here in the game. But a lot of these don’t make alot of sense either

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

As long as you're having fun, right? May I ask what it is you don't think makes sense?

[@TheTortaLover_YT]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT the map marker

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

A polarizing feature, for sure

[@VS-vv6pq]

In morrowind you made story of your hero, in oblivion, hero made your story.

[@szymonkubizna8532]

Out of Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, Oblivion is the only game I finished once and never picked it up again. Enough said.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah, only a madman would willingly go through the main quest multiple times

[@Hello-ge4yz]

Just about every point you made means absolutely nothing. You talk about how oblivion’s systems make no sense but talk up morrowind

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Your argument means absolutely nothing. You talk about how my points are wrong but you don't bring up a single example of why

[@Hello-ge4yz]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT you complain about the journal in oblivion not going into enough detail so you have to talk to npcs again to know what you’re supposed to do. There literally is not one time in the game the journal is that bad Gameplay in oblivion actually makes sense and is explained unlike morrowind where you need to use the internet to understand how to play the game

[@АурелЛазар]

It's funny how the same guy who is complaining about adding quest markers at the same time is is complaining about having to follow the road, to get around the mountains instead of levitating right to destination

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Well yeah, because depending on where you are, the quest marker will point you towards the other side of a mountain sometimes, so when you walk straight towards the objective you'll meet a huge wall that you can't get over naturally. Thanks for saying I'm funny, I actually really try with some of these jokes :)

[@АурелЛазар]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT don't take it as an offence. I didn't want to hurt ur feelings. Just not a big fan of running around to find the objective.just not finding it as the best time spending thing.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Oh don't worry, I don't mind :)

[@kenny6920]

As much as the game has obvious flaws and lazy design, I still come back to it more than any other. Like I love Baldur's Gate II for example, which has infinitely better writing, mechanics, leveling, etc. But Oblivion lets me role-play way more. I can be just a random potato in plain clothes walking around the world, collecting ingredients, bartering with the local shops, not a care in the world. I don't have to take the Amulet to Jaufree. The level of freedom in this game is unprecedented and never has been matched by another. But the more you try and level the more broken the game becomes. And many skills and spells are almost useless. I like to stay low level and enjoy the "everyday" lifestyle approach - no power gaming, no super characters. I want to be part of the simple world rather than be some god among men. No other game I've played allows this, and that's why I love Oblivion. Its like 3/10 in mechanics and 10/10 in atmosphere.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

That's completely valid, but not really how I tend to approach these games. It's refreshing to hear a new viewpoint though, thanks!

[@kenny6920]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT yeah man! Your points were also valid af, i actually really was frustrated with the leveling, dungeons, loot and the design of higher level items in this game when I first played, and realized mods never really helped change that fully. It always felt broken or incomplete, no matter how much I wanted to like the game. So I found a new approach that kept the replay value possible, and it made me love the game in a totally different way. Also I recommend not fast traveling- the world is always full of serendipitous moments that are truly meme worthy each play through. There's a sort of magic to it that I believe wasn't even inteded by the game designers and is a product of infinite possibilities within the radiant AI system.

[@Scourge1990]

I love the questing in oblivion that’s what got me hooked. I love the high-fantasy landscape and astethic I love the game and think it’s equally good as morrowind

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

That's fair, and the quests ARE good after all

[@austintaylor6620]

Great video and writing! You have my subscription. Keep up the good work 👊

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Thanks! Glad you liked it :)

[@maelofit]

Hey hero, I was also at the twitch stream a while ago, nice to see you followed through with a nice and long analysis video. Oblivion is a flawed gem, it has its cool moments, and let's remember that back in the day, it was impressive in terms of its open world design. The memes oblivion has inspired are also very much adored by people, and although my time in Cyrodiil is over, I do appreciate the times I have got to enjoy in this game, even though I agree with pretty much everything that disapointed you. Oblivion is an ambitious game, flawed, maybe sometimes even boring, but there still is plenty to enjoy in it if you were to play it for the 1st time in my opinion. Great video, I enjoyed it man, hopefully more people will watch it and subscribe.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Hey yeah, I remember, thank you for checking out the video! I wish I had the same experience with Oblivion as you, I really do, but I just can't bring myself to think of this game as anything but a bunch of awesome side-stories bogged down by an all-around awful game :/

[@jprgohard7138]

Just hearing the morrowind and oblivion intros brings me back to childhood and still gives me chills to this day. Day 9310 of waiting for a new elder scrolls game :(

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah, they're great!

[@collapsiblechair9112]

i've been sent here to give a like

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I like you

[@selbergful]

It’s sad the path Bethesda chose to follow. I logged hundreds of hours in oblivion and Skyrim, but watching retrospectives, and taking off the nostalgia goggles, leaves me disappointed with how much unrealized potential there was for this series. Starfield’s wet fart of a debut has killed any remaining hope I had for TES6. Great video!

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Seems Starfield has made a lot of people wake up to how Bethesda has been making games for years now

[@Jkush463]

when you pay in game currency to not have to play the game you know the game is fucked lol

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Assuming you're referring to where I paid off that woman's dad's debt instead of recovering their heirlooms... Yeah, I'm just glad I didn't have to go through another dungeon. It's almost like the game knew lol

[@guguludugulu]

One of the most ridiculous things that i encountered in Oblivion when first playing it is that if you complete quest line for Magic Guild first and then complete the Thiefs Guild quest line you get to steal your own magic stuff. Was very disappointed since Morrowind wouldn't allow completing quests for rival factions

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah, the start of Bethesdas "the player needs to be able to do everything" design philosophy. Kinda sucks, because it takes you out of the game immediately

[@Torpi583]

Clown with silly hat? Its a glass for potions.

[@terraincognita5488]

Paused the video and scrolled for minutes just to find this comment 😂 more specifically it’s a retort flask with liquid and bubbles

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

@terraincognita5488 I never expected my comments about how the potion icon looks to rile people up almost as badly as how I mispronounced agility in my Morrowind video lmao

[@YeetusMingus]

Oblivion was my first Bethesda game and my first open world game at age 13, so it was inevitable that it was going to blow my mind. I can't speak to comparisons with Morrowind because I haven't played it, but I think a lot of the popular critiques of Oblivion (some of which are featured in this video) are overblown, if not downright ridiculous. Although there were a lot of points here that I totally agree with. Hopefully Skyblivion fixes a lot of these issues and can bring Oblivion into a more modem era of gaming.

[@Greenstrtjs87]

i hope we see skyblivion

[@GeorgePerakis]

Knocking it out of the park man keep it up. PS: WHERE IS RATCHET 2

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Thank you! Also, RaC2 is on the way! Gonna aim for a release on Friday next week :)