User:Eganio/Oblivion

I was introduced to the UESP when I purchased Oblivion on the recommendation of a friend familiar with the series, and have since become a huge fan of the game. In my estimation, it is easily one of the most detailed and exquisite gameplay experiences available to those who enjoy RPGs of this nature. Although numerous small bugs and a generally cheesy dialogue repertoire make gameplay somewhat obnoxious at certain points, these minor flaws are far outweighed by the game's sheer expansiveness, creative and challenging quest lines, and highly enjoyable interactions with NPCs, creatures, and locations. The necessity for strategy and the breadth of choices available for achieving one's goals makes this game dynamic and fast-paced, despite the length, difficulty, and volume of related tasks. In short, this is one of my all-time favorite games.

Start the game knowing it will take you longer to complete this game than most other games you've played. This means go slow, get to know your environment very well, and enjoy yourself. Don't try to conquer the game in one week...you will most likely not enjoy the experience, or at the very least, will miss out on much of the game's enjoyable content.

Map

The map is enormous and full of locations. Although you will notice a few general molds that are used over and over for locations, each will have unique aspects that oftentimes demand a more careful approach to a seemingly familiar layout. The usual mechanic with Bethesda games applies for fast-travel, i.e. if you have discovered a location, you may fast-travel to it by selecting it on the menu map. Use caution when fast-traveling, as enemies may be waiting at your destination. When you begin the game, you will be in the Imperial City, which is more or less the center of the kingdom of Cyrodiil. From here, you can choose to pursue quests based in the city and its surroundings, or venture out to new cities to seek alternative quests and safe locations.

In general, having places to heal, trade, and sleep is essential. Inns provide safe housing, but at a hefty price, especially in cities, which can prove unaffordable at the beginning of the game, when your gold is in short supply. Free alternatives can be found all over Cyrodiil, but each comes with its own associated risks:

Campsites

Throughout the Cyrodiil wilderness, you will come across numerous campsites, which are almost always occupied (if at all) by a small group of bandits, who are invariably hostile toward any visitors. Campsites contain at least one small tent covering a bedroll, and a small amount of minor loot, most commonly cheap wine, beer, or ale and some ingredients. As a place of refuge, campsites should be used minimally, as they expose the player to whatever happens to be roaming in the general area, as well as sunlight (which is bad news for characters who happen to be vampires).

Shrines

In addition to campsites, shrines sometimes offer exposed accommodations, but these accommodations are typically occupied by worshipers of the daedric prince to whom the shrine is dedicated. Daedra worshipers are generally non-hostile toward visitors, and regard a player's presence as innocuous. In essence, shrines can be thought of as campsites with friendlier occupants, more exposed accommodations, and no loot.

Caves

Caves provide basic accommodations at best, but offer protection from the outside world. Caves are always entered through a wooden door built into a rock face. In certain caves, there will be bedrolls placed in various locations by their humanoid occupants. However, all caves contain various enemies which must be dispatched before you can safely rest on any nearby bedrolls (if you're lucky enough to find them). At worst, caves simply contain enemies and loot. Furthermore, sleeping in a cave previously (or currently) occupied by vampires runs the risk of contracting porphyric hemophilia, which if left uncured, leads to vampirism. In total, a cave is generally a poor choice for a place of refuge.

Mines

Mines are basically caves with veins of ore running through them, and, like caves, are always entered through a wooden door built into a rock face. This means you will find the same basic blend of tunnels, cavernous rooms, and the occasional sleeping accommodation you might find in a cave, but with perhaps more enterprising and covetous creatures guarding the veins of precious silver emanating from the walls (which can be looted). If seeking to clear out a mine, be prepared to eliminate a fair number of goblins or humanoids that might be plundering the precious metals. Outside of that, there is very little difference between a mine and a cave.

Forts

Forts are crumbling brick structures usually with at least one discernible turret (like on a medieval castle) protruding from the soil. They are invariably entered through a large wooden double-door. In general, forts provide better accommodations and loot than caves and mines, but are usually occupied by more fearsome enemies, most commonly marauders and goblins. In addition, booby traps are common to all forts, and are among the deadliest in the game. Therefore, forts should generally be avoided as a place of refuge unless you are prepared for a bloody battle for the territory.

Ayleid Ruins

These are possibly the most visually appealing and intricate structures in the game, replete with enemies, loot, booby traps, and sleeping accommodations. Ayleid ruins are easily distinguishable from all other structures not only by the style of architecture (gleaming white stone structures, normally with a central spire), but also by their size, easily covering more external surface area than any other underground structure. Ayleid ruins are always entered through a single stone door with a straight staircase leading up to it or a spiral staircase leading down to it.

Explore Ayleid ruins with a good deal of caution. They commonly contain undead enemies, some of which require special weaponry (silver or daedric) or magic attacks. In addition, the traps in Ayleid ruins can be especially well-hidden. Whereas traps in forts generally rely on trip-wires, traps in Ayleid ruins rely on well-hidden pressure plates. Ayleid ruins are often multi-chambered, with each chamber boasting a good deal of volume, so exploring them should be done carefully and patiently. This will reveal otherwise easily overlooked beds and loot.

Inns

Inns are scattered throughout Cyrodiil, mostly in or near cities and on main roads. To sleep at an inn, you must speak to its proprietor and select the "Bed" dialogue option. Prices vary from 10 to 40 gold, depending on the location and type of accommodations offered. Inns are not a good choice for storage of valuable items, as the price paid only grants the player access to the room for a 24 hour period, after which furniture contents are reset. Some inns can be adventures in and of themselves. For instance, The Bloated Float Inn, which is basically an inn built into a water vessel, has a surprise for the player upon sleeping in a rented room for the first time. (I'll let you find out what the surprise is.)

Cities

The enclosed (walled) centers of counties within Cyrodiil manifest themselves as identifiable cities, which prove ideal places for resting and trading, each boasting its own unique blend of guilds, merchants, inns, and real estate. Sleeping in inns is a safe option, but can become quite expensive. Purchasing a safehouse in a city almost always requires completion of an associated (but usually rather simple) quest and expenditure of a very large amount of gold, but is well worth the investment. In addition to providing re-spawning ingredients (if you purchase the associated upgrades), unlike inns, they provide non-respawning containers for safe storage of valuable items and a secure sleeping arrangement.

While inns and real estate provide accommodations at a price, if you join a guild, you can sleep in any of the beds within any guild (of the order you joined) in Cyrodiil free of charge. Furthermore, you can loot re-spawning containers and surfaces in guilds of which you are a member, which often contain useful ingredients, weapons, and apparel. Also, if you happen to be a vampire, you can feed on sleeping guild-mates, which adds an assault charge to your stats, but does not initiate any of the mechanics normally associated with assaulting someone (i.e. a guard accosting you with the standard criminal options of resisting arrest, paying the fine, or going to jail) if no one witnessed the act.

Oblivion Gates

Put simply, oblivion gates should never be used as places of refuge. In addition to being devoid of any sleeping accommodations whatsoever, they are replete with powerful daedra and traps, and are by far the most inhospitable locations you will encounter in all of Cyrodiil. Oblivion gates also commonly possess one or two daedra who have passed into the physical realm to guard the gate, so fast-traveling to them can be highly treacherous. Otherwise, oblivion gates must be opened by the player in order to cross into the planes of oblivion and thereby encounter daedra (and eventually close the gate). For a low-level character, tackling an oblivion gate can prove extremely challenging, and they should generally be avoided until you have a solid armament and skill set.

The only caveat to the above admonishment against using oblivion gates as cover is when the character is a vampire. When daylight is rapidly approaching (or has already broken) and no other interior locations are within a reasonable distance, a character suffering from vampirism can use the planes of oblivion as refuge from the sun. Within the planes of oblivion, the sky is a constant dark reddish hue with no sun, and night and day are foreign concepts. If seeking to wait until day passes, you will need to eliminate any enemies that might happen to be lurking near the gate (because you cannot wait while enemies are nearby).

Quests

Quests are the backbone of progress through the game's main storyline, and provide ancillary details that incorporate locations, characters, and creatures. There are numerous quests available to you by joining guilds, speaking to certain NPCs, or activating them under certain circumstances. Although the game can certainly be played and enjoyed without activating any quests, they enrich the gameplay experience in more ways than can be described in one paragraph, and provide access to NPCs, locations, and loot that would be otherwise unobtainable (or at least extremely difficult to find). Furthermore, quests often provide more than just monetary compensation for their completion. Oftentimes, special items are rewarded for completion of certain quests. These items include enchanted weaponry and apparel that are imbued with additional attack/defense powers beyond their base specifications. These items easily become extremely valuable to a player seeking to increase skills and level, as they empower the player beyond their natural abilities earned through leveling up.

When a quest is activated, it is added to your Current Quests tab, under the map heading. You can also make the quest your main quest by selecting it from the current quests list, at which point it will become your Active Quest, which has its own tab under the map heading. One useful aspect of the Active Quest tab is the Map option that becomes available in the upper right hand corner. Selecting this will take you to the menu map, where the next destination associated with the active quest is marked for you. A red icon indicates that your target lies beyond a barrier, i.e. a door or portal, while a green icon indicates that your target is within the area you are currently occupying.

Many quests have items associated with them that become designated as quest items when in your inventory. Most quest items do not show up in your inventory when bartering, and cannot be dropped or sold. This ensures that the player will not accidentally end the quest prematurely. For the rare instances where quest items can be dropped or sold, there is often a decision to be made by the player, i.e. whether selling or keeping this quest item would be more beneficial than completing the quest and receiving the reward. For instance, during the quest Sins of the Father, you are tasked with retrieving the very useful Honorblade of Chorrol, which although a quest item, can be used or sold by the player. However, returning the sword to Castle Chorrol rewards you with the Escutcheon of Chorrol, which is an extremely useful shield, especially for a character skilled in heavy armor.

Battle

Battle with NPCs and creatures is a core component of gameplay, and arguably one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game. The battle mechanics allow for seamless incorporation of offensive and defensive techniques as well as effective use of equipment. While some games provide seemingly unnecessary variability in weaponry and apparel that doesn't seem to alter the battle experience, Oblivion makes fantastic use of its extraordinary diversity in weaponry, apparel, and skill. Every minute detail of your character's build is taken into account during battle, as is the build of your enemy. Furthermore, incorporating strategy into your battle is as important as the equipment you bring to the fight.

I have a fairly broad consideration of battle in Oblivion. I consider encounters with individual enemies to be skirmishes, whereas I consider an assault on (or defense of) a particular location to be a battle. When inside a typical (non-quest related) location's interior, all of the creatures and/or NPCs therein are part of a re-spawning cadre of enemies that will reset after some time. This means taking control of the location enough to loot, sleep, and generally do what you like typically requires dispatching the entire set. This to me is one battle, with the requisite skirmishes that eliminate foes one-by-one comprising a broader strategic plan. In my opinion, this conception of battle makes you a much better player of Oblivion, because you will consider entering locations (even if just for for looting purposes) as a planned attack that requires a careful and multi-faceted approach.

Weapons

Weapons comprise one of the two key material aspects of an effective battle strategy. Knowing which weapon your character would use most effectively is essential to winning battles. In general, slower, stronger characters tend to favor heavier, slower, and more damaging weapons, such as those requiring two hands to wield them. Conversely, lighter, faster characters favor smaller, quicker weapons that do less damage per strike, but can be wielded with one hand, and therefore could be used more often in a given period of time than a two-handed weapon. This is a core concept that will come into play more often than you may think. Even when deciding which loot to keep and what to sell, remembering the strengths and weaknesses of your character is vital. In addition, associated skills influence what types of weapons would fit your character best. For instance, a player who is focusing on building up his/her character's blade skill would have little or no use for blunt weapons. Similarly, a player building up a character's magical abilities might tend to favor staves, rather than traditional melee weaponry.

Knowing how to build an effective armament is the next level in weaponry. As you get to know your character, you will realize what types of weapon you want to have available for battle. In general, for non-magical characters, it is a very good idea to carry around silver or daedric weaponry for encounters with ethereal undead, which are completely resistant to all other forms of melee weaponry. If you rely on enchanted weaponry, it is also a very good idea to carry around filled soul gems, as these can be used to recharge enchanted items, even during battle. A Varla Stone is another good choice for carrying around, but should be used only in extreme situations when all of your enchanted items have been depleted, as Varla Stones fully recharge every enchanted item in your inventory.

Because inventory space is dependent on weight, rather than filling slots, you can choose what proportion of your base encumbrance is comprised of weaponry, allowing you to prioritize your inventory. For instance, the warrior classes tend to allot more weight to weaponry and armor, whereas magical and alchemical characters tend to allot more weight to potions, books, spells, and ingredients.

Apparel

Apparel is the second key material aspect of an effective battle strategy. Maintaining a solid defense is as important as ensuring a powerful offense during battle. One aspect of battle that many players tend to overlook while in the heat of things is the damage being done by the enemy. It can be easy to focus too narrowly on whittling down your enemy's health bar while yours is being depleted even faster. Insuring that you have a strong defensive shell during battle will provide the time necessary to dispatch your enemy before he/she/it kills your character. Just as with weaponry, choosing the right type of apparel for your character is paramount. Select the type of clothing appropriate to your character's build and skill set. For instance, a player focusing on raising his/her character's heavy armor skill will have little or no use for light armor. Furthermore, a character intended for stealth would be better suited to dark robes, hoods, and soft shoes, rather than heavy, clunky armor. For characters using one-handed weaponry, a physical shield is a must. Not only does it increase your armor rating, but it allows you to directly block attacks during battle (weapons can be used to block, but are understandably less effective for this purpose).

As with weapons, apparel is often enchanted, imbuing the wearer with added defenses beyond the base aspects of the clothing. These aspects are extremely important to character build and skill set, as they often influence variables that are affected by such things. In addition, enchantments on apparel often affect physical capabilities beyond battle aspects, which can be incorporated into a general battle strategy (e.g. apparel that increases your sneak ability). One important addendum is that wearing armor that you are not skilled in reduces your magic effectiveness. Another important note is that a master of a particular type of armor is not encumbered by it at all, meaning its weight is no longer factored into your encumbrance.

Skills

While weapons and apparel comprise the material aspects of an effective battle strategy, a character's skill set is the experience-based repertoire of abilities that determines their efficacy with the weapons and apparel chosen for their build. Having amazing weapons and armor is useless without the skills to back them up. There are skills governing expertise with each weapon and armor type, and building a skill set alongside the appropriate armament is crucial to developing a powerful and fearsome character. For example, just as picking up and using only blunt weapons will do nothing to increase your blade skill, purchasing blunt skill training and collecting items enchanted with blunt skill increases while using nothing but blade weapons is just as pointless.

Each skill set comes with an associated hierarchy of expertise levels, ranging from novice to master. And each expertise level comes with skill perks, which unlock new abilities associated with the given skill. Increasing skill levels is essential for crafting a more and more effective character. This becomes evident in aspects of battle such as repairing your weapons and armor between skirmishes, where a master of repair can use the same repair hammer endlessly without breaking it. This is a particularly useful perk that makes carrying around more than one repair hammer (which weighs one unit) unnecessary, and eliminates the possibility of running out of repair hammers during battle.

Strategy

No battle plan is complete without the intent of employing well-crafted strategies that incorporate weapons, apparel, and skills into a coherent assault (or defense). Knowing each enemy's build is as important as knowing your own, and using the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents to your advantage can make quick work of dispatching your foes. Decisions regarding the details of your actual battle dynamic will, of course, be made in real-time, but using your judgment of a situation prior to actual engagement with enemies will permit you to arrange potential courses of action in your head, making it possible to manage entire groups of enemies by dealing with them as individual components of a greater strategic plan.

The first necessary component of your battle strategy is having a reliable source of light. Because the vast majority of interiors you will be dealing with are dimly lit at best (many being in complete darkness), it is absolutely essential that you be able to illuminate your surroundings. The ubiquitous torch is introduced at the beginning of the game, where you will be navigating the Imperial City sewers, and should remain a constant component of your inventory. The torch provides decent light for a few feet, but will alert enemies to your presence, so it should be used sparingly if possible. Another extremely reliable source of illumination is the Night-Eye spell, which allows you to see in the dark for a certain period of time (some enchantments grant you permanent night-eye). This magic comes in the form of scrolls, potions, enchanted items, and powers bestowed upon certain races and builds.

Being able to see is one thing, but knowing where your enemies are is one of the best advantages you can have. The Detect Life spell is particularly useful for surprising your foes. This spell creates a purplish aura surrounding any life form (even undead) within a certain range. An effective method of quickly eliminating an enemy that is unaware of your presence is to sneak up behind and initiate a power sneak attack, which if successful, will inflict 6-fold damage. Weaker enemies can usually be dispatched in one blow using this method, while stronger enemies will be relieved of a significant portion of their health.

When used in conjunction, Night-Eye and Detect Life comprise a powerful sneak method. Although it comes with obvious significant disadvantages, being a vampire is not without its benefits. It provides the lesser power of Hunter's Sight, which is a repeatable temporary (30 second) application of both Night-Eye and Detect Life spells on the character. This can easily become an indispensable part of battle, because it permits dealing with multiple enemies one-by-one, since you can monitor their paths through their respective zones of control. It also prevents being surprised by enemies as you navigate dark corridors and rooms. The only caveat to using Hunter's Sight during a stealth approach is that casting the spell creates a blueish aura around your character that may alert nearby enemies to your presence, so it should only be applied when hidden.

Another key aspect of battle strategy is knowing what your enemy is likely to do if face-to-face with your character. For instance, many enemies can summon creatures to aid them in battle. While this may seem daunting, it can be circumvented. The advantage you have over a summoned creature is that if its summoner dies, it disappears instantly. Therefore, when facing an enemy that has summoned an assistant, focus on the summoner as if the summoned creature did not even exist. Even if it has been separated from its summoner, eliminating it will come at the cost of its being replaced rather quickly, and you will again be presented with the necessity of killing the summoner preferentially. Furthermore, summoned creatures do not provide any loot whatsoever (even the base ingredients that are normally lootable from a particular creature), as their bodies disappear immediately upon death, making killing them essentially a waste of time. This highlights the importance of knowing your enemy, since differentiating summoner from summoned creature is paramount. For instance, at higher levels, the nether lich can summon a gloom wraith, the skeleton champion can summon a skeleton hero, and the xivilai can summon a clannfear.

Coupling weapons and apparel during battle is an essential aspect of strategy. A patient player wielding a shield will allow the enemy to attack the raised shield, at which point the character immediately initiates a power attack that will strike while the opponent is recovering from the deflection of his/her/its blow. Getting comfortable with the dynamic interplay between blocking and attacking is a foundational aspect of battle strategy, and can make your character extremely powerful, even against difficult enemies.