Will you be picking up The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion?

[Drake]

Personally, I'm going to wait a bit :)

[DCMan]

I definately wouldnt rush out and buy it.. but if it happened to come up for sale at a half decent price and it had good reviews, I may consider it!

[Nut]

Never. I mainly play FPS and thats about it. Looks cool though.

[Drake]

I fired it up last night and three hours passed in the blink of an eye. As long as you don't mind the nonlinear storyline the game will be great :)

[Kill-Switch]

I might pick it up in a few weeks, see what the reviews say ... and see if I can find my pants ;)

[DAVE185]

Nope...not my kind of game.

[WackyComputer]

The Wookie has no pants.

[arigr]

after goin thru 3 lvl 60s (and workin on a 4th :P ) on WoW its kinda nice to play somethin new ;) im up to lvl 12 already and playin a little FEAR in between....still a little disappointed in the fighting style bethesda kept from morrowind tho..but its a whole new world :)

[wfarid]

i loved morrowind, and this game is even better... unfortunately i wont be able to play it for the next 2 weeks due to the fact that im building a new comp build...

[Kill-Switch]

Bought the game the other day, only played it a little but definately loving it. The graphics are damn sweet :D

[Player0]

I gotta be honest, I'm not familiar with these games much at all. Oblivion is a single player, First Person Perspective RPG? It's a non MMORPG?

I'm not a fan of MMORPGs, and I havent really enjoyed PC RPGs much in the past either. But, this one has a lot of hype surrounding it, and as Ive been looking for a new PC game I may give it a go.

[Kill-Switch]

Oblivion is a First Person Perspective RPG, it is NOT a MMORPG. Graphically it is truely amazing (BTW you can switch to a 3rd person view if you want ;)). Gameplay wise is hard to tell right now, for me, as I've on;y just got it really so haven't been able to get into it a whole lot yet. So far so good though ;)

[Drake]

I've probably put about 15 hours into it and it's immediately obvious that reports of 100+ hours of gameplay are accurate. I've not even touched the main quest, either.

My mom as put about 28 hours into it :rolleyes:

[Yanic18]

Its a great game, allthough I liked the enviroment morrowind had, Oblivion is deffinatly better. I'm so glad they updated the fighting style from morrowind however...
If you do start to play it make sure you don't have the difficluty on too easy, cause then it gets boring.

[Player0]

Im torn on actually buying it or not, is there a demo worth anything?

[Player0]

I guess theres no demos, but I found a Morrowind CD in my game case that I got from an ATI bundle at somepoint. I guess I should try that.

[Kill-Switch]

I hated Morrowind for some reason, but I'm enjoying Oblivion. So chances are you may not get a good feel for Oblivion by trying Morrowind. BTW there are "other means" to getting a game ;)

[Player0]

Ive been playing Morrowind some, and I do like it. In fact, Ive been playing it since typing about it. Unfortunately, its a slow, wordy game. And Ive been skipping the wordy parts. With no training, combat is a bit lame, but I do see the potential in this game. Its a bit like KoTR, which I also like, but just barely.

I may pick up Oblivion since if Im gonna spend the time, Id rather spend it on a newer, possibly better game :)

[Player0]

Okay, I bit, I picked up a copy of it. Lets see it bring my 6800GS to its knees :)

[Player0]

Nope! 6800GS does it well, 1280x960 Very High settings with HDR on. Looks very pretty.

So far the game starts off a lot more interesting than Morrowind, the action feels a lot better, and its worth exploring just cause of how pretty things are. KS is right, this game is a MUCH different animal from Morrowind so far. The GUI is completely different, but works much nicer. Still a largish learning curve tho.

[Player0]

Had to drop down to 1024x768 once I got out of the Dungeons, and updated my drivers helped a lot too. Ive been fighting in the arena all night, up to Gladiator level tho the fights are getting hard. My poor gladiator suit is falling appart, i dont know how to fix it up :P

[Kill-Switch]

Where are the arenas you're fighting in?, I must have missed them LOL

To repair armour and weapons you need a repair hammer (I think that's it's name). You can buy them or pick them up from dead enemies, although they don't have themm too much making it too easy to keep everything in good condition ;)

[Player0]

Where are the arenas you're fighting in?, I must have missed them LOL

To repair armour and weapons you need a repair hammer (I think that's it's name). You can buy them or pick them up from dead enemies, although they don't have themm too much making it too easy to keep everything in good condition ;)

Im still in the Imperial City. Im still a lowly Gladiator. I can't beat the three Lizard guys in one of the matches. Im only a level 4 and just dont have enough power in any of my attacks to last a long match. I bought Heal Major Wounds and it helped a little. Im trying to build up my Destruction Level to over 50 so I can use this super Drain spell I bought. Im using Heavy Armor and have a 92% effiency which is not helping, so Ive put a few grand in gold in to training that.

I did a quest for the Merchants to figure out why the one guy had such low prices, and I got an AWESOME sword from it which drains WillPower and Endurance on hit. I wont ruin the quest, but its VERY well worth it. What I lack most is Money. I found the Thieves guild and can get in to that if I want, but I htink Im going to stay away from being a Theif. Theres some Fighters Guild which should pay money for quests but I cant find them. I cant seem to join the Mage Guild yet either.

Ah, the trick to the Gladiator Armor was that it was Magical, and I dont have the Armorer skill level to repair it yet. I took it to a shop in town and they fixed it from 23 Health for 1 gold :D Yeah, Ive been going through a lot of magical hammers. My speed stat is pretty low and my sword skill is pathetic, with very little block, so I take huge amounts of Damage. Luckily Im a good healer and my Endurance is extremely high. Once I get a little more mastery on the Heavy Armor (where im focusing my skills right now), I should be fairly well rounded. I just cant beat any enemies who are too fast, and I need a couple better Touch magic skills to help with close range. Frostbite works pretty good but some enemies have high defense on it. I have Spark but its far too weak anymore.

I need more money for these things, and I cant find a Merchant who will buy stolen goods. I have about 4-5 side quests that take me outside of the city which may help me get some money. Anyone know a good place to make cash in the Imperial City? Outside of the Arena, which really netted me thousands until it got too hard.

[Kill-Switch]

Yeah I found it today, I'm also in the Imperial City (arena is on the East side). I just did the side quest to get those four books to try and find that cults hideout. I do have a load of side quests to do and just picked up the one you're talking about regarding the merchant selling stuff real cheap.

I'm at level 5 and only did a couple of fights in the arena, found them not overly difficult, but on the other hand they weren't too easy either LOL.

As far as I know (which isn't very far LOL) there isn't a real easy way to get money (not including cheats of course). I desperately need cash, but I found that harvesting plants gets a little cash along the way. It's not a lot, but if you're doing it as you walk to another town or quest then hey it's basically easy money (albeit a small amount). Most traders, BTW, won't buy stolen goods, so either ditch them or get in touch with the theives guild ;)

[Player0]

At the very least, this game is very very big ;) Howd you get to level 5 already? Was it a quest or just random fighting that got you up there?

I feel like I could spend 2 weeks real time just exploring the damn imperial city :)

[Kill-Switch]

I jumped right into the missions and quests, I only really started exploring once I got to the Imperial City ;)

[Drake]

For money, raise your alchemy. Walk between the city harvesting plants, and instead of eating/selling the ingredients, make potions. I make about 800 gold travelling between Chorrol with a skill of 50 something.

Want to sell stolen goods? Join the thieve's guild :)

Personally just join all the guilds. It only adds to gameplay :)

[Kill-Switch]

That's what I do Drake, whilst on the way to somewhere instead of mapping I walk/run and along the way I harvest plants. At some point I use my novice Alchemy skills to make potions which sell for a few gold each :)

[DCMan]

Ive been playing it for a bit.... I need a new video card... ;)

[Kill-Switch]

I downloaded a mod-pack which included a few graphical tweaks such as higher resolution textures and enhanced sky textures ... plus a load of other tweaks that I've not bothered with yet.

[DCMan]

ive got a wierd problem now.. binkw32.dll keeps crashing in the title sequence so I cant play it any more at the moment! very annoying...! great game tho - i've enjoyed what ive played of it so far...

[Synthohol]

http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?binkw32

try overwriting yours with this one, make sure you find all the instances it appears (hidden system folders etc...)

[DCMan]

Thanks - I already tried that and I got the error:

The procedure entry point _BinkCopyToBufferRect@44 could not be located in the dynamic link library binkw32.dll

could anyone send me their version of it from the actual Oblivion game? msn me it or something? :)

Oh yeah - and im using all the latest video drivers too :)

[Synthohol]

maybe try reverting back to an old or whql driver from a year ago??

[DCMan]

ive just done a bit of research and I came across quite a few people who were having a similar problem, and alot of them had a 9600 series vid card... :(

ah well, i guess its about time i got a new one anyway... i've got a good few years use out of this one tho. i'll just have to wait a few months till finances improve!

[Player0]

The 6800GS runs it just fine, tho you may want to spring for the 7800GS.

Irregardless of the 9600 being slow, the visual effects you will get with a Shader Model 3 video card is worth it alone. Your games will look 10x better, AND you can use HDR ;)

[Player0]

I downloaded a mod-pack which included a few graphical tweaks such as higher resolution textures and enhanced sky textures ... plus a load of other tweaks that I've not bothered with yet.

Is this an official pack? Share link? :)

Not that I can run any higher textures likely.

[DCMan]

I dont really have the money to go for a 7800 of anything at the moment.. but I have found a 512mb 6800XT that is at least a little bit feasible (if i speak to my parents nicely... I figure i've not lived in their house for 6 years, so they mustve saved some money in bills at least ;))

Any good? Bear in mind, I'm having to buy an AGP card for my NF7-S, which I will upgrade hopefully sometime much later this year or next year, and i'm guessing that will be PCI-E, so I only really need this to see me through another year or so..

[DCMan]

This is the basic spec of the one im looking at... its a bit slower than the GS I think, but I think it should do for another year? Either way, as P0 says, its going to be a step up from a 9600pro - I just want to get the best bang for a budget buck. This is selling for £99. What do you guys reckon?

Graphics Engine: NVIDIA 6800 XT GPU
Video Memory: 512 MB
Core Clock: 300 Mhz
Memory Clock: 700 Mhz
Memory Speed: 2.8 ns DDR 2
Memory Bus: 256 bit
Interface:AGP 3.0 (8x / 4x / 2x / 1x)
RAMDAC: Dual 400 Mhz
D-Sub:Yes
DVI-I: Yes
TV-Out: Yes
Video-In: No
Pipelines: 8 pixel / 4 vertex

Edit: found some more - Same spec as above but:

£4 cheaper, mem@1000mhz, GPU@350mhz but only 256mb

[Kill-Switch]

Here you go Tom, a link to the mod-pack. This link is for version 4.0 (and I had problems with it LOL) but I know there's a version 5.0 out there which I got from a Torrent site but can't find right now. I'll do a little more searching for the v5.0 that I got but I'm sure if you search a torrent site or two you'll find links to it.

Overloads modpack v4.0 (http://www.megagames.com/news/html/patches/elderscrollsivoblivion-overloadsmodpackv40.shtml)

[Player0]

I understand there is a huge mod community for Elder Scrolls, but I dont understand why. I have 20 hours in already with no sign of letting up, and its easily a 150 hour game. Probably the biggest one Ive ever played. Who possibly needs more?

DCMan,

I upgraded from a 9600 Pro to the XFX AGP 6800GS. Shop very carefully. The speed of one card may be radically different than the speed of another. Many manufactuers like XFX batch their Nvidia chips to rate at overclocked speeds, and it works out well.

The pickings for AGP are getting more and more slim. I dont know much about the 6800XT, but the 6800GS can be modded to unlock vertex shaders and stuff to make it a full blown 6800 or 6800GT. Overclocked, mine does better than a 6800 Ultra.

And overclocked, its BARELY enough to run Elder Scrolls the way you'll want to run it, with 1024x768 and HDR. This is on a P4 3.2 doing 3.6Ghz or something and 1g of PC4000. I still get stuttering outside.

The XT may still be able to handle it, but you are going to loose some of the experience because youll have to really cut back on the details. And part of the intrigue of the new game is that its SO fun to walk around and look at all the pretty things.

If I didnt just buy the 6800GS, I would likely sell it and get the best AGP card I can just for this game.

You may be able to find good deals on AGP cards as vendors are really looking to get rid of them. Yo umay be able to find older 6800s on EBAY that will be cheaper and more powerful than the XT.

Just my opinion tho :) She's a monster.

[Kill-Switch]

Tell me about it, I think I've put in around 20 hours and I know I've barely scratched the surface of what the game is and has to offer.

On the other hand some of the mods are additions to the game, in that mod-pack I linked you to there are "enhancements" such as 2046x2046 textures instead of the standard 1024x1024 textures, improved sky textures, higher detailed facial textures and stuff like that. They merely enhance what is already a damn good looking game :)

[WesM63]

Hey guys,
Its been a while but i've been busy.. well work, this game, my g/f and my car.

This game friggin rocks. I'm level 17 and have about 50hrs of game time into it. Just as it starts to get boring.. i stumble upon something else.. like the Dark Brotherhood. If you havn't joined.. you should! Gives the game a whole noter feel.

After not begin able to play with HDR, i bit the bullet and picked up a x1900xt... oh..my...lord :) 1280x1024 4xAA 16xAF HDR.. makes the game astonishing!

This is a must have mod, it re-adjusts your inventory screens (makes items smaller so you can get more on your screen without continually scrolling!) and gives you an actual time for spells.

http://www.beider.org/btmod/

[DCMan]

The XT may still be able to handle it, but you are going to loose some of the experience because youll have to really cut back on the details. And part of the intrigue of the new game is that its SO fun to walk around and look at all the pretty things.

Anythings gotta be better than the 640x480 with nothing switched on and everything else set at the lowest setting.. and even like that, its like playing with a very slow strobe light flashing when im outside!

I'll bear in mind what you said about the different cards. I hadnt really thought about the potential of unlocking extra pipes etc - looks like time for some more research ;)

[Player0]

Wes, how did you enable HDR and AA to work at the same time?

It wont let me do that.

[Synthohol]

i cant believe they got patrick stewart to do the intro voice.
thats captain picard for us startrek fans:)

[Kill-Switch]

Yeah I was half expecting to hear him break out into "Space, the final frontier, these are the voyages ..... " :D

[WesM63]

Wes, how did you enable HDR and AA to work at the same time?

It wont let me do that.


Tom,
Not sure if you can do it with the 6800GS. I had to install the ATI "chucK" patch and force AA in windows, then enable HDR in game.

Supposidly Bethesda said no current GPU can handle HDR and AA besides the xbox360. Blashphemy! Runs fine on my x1900xt. Needless to say, Bethesda got owned by ATI lol.

[Kill-Switch]

Supposidly Bethesda said no current GPU can handle HDR and AA besides the xbox360. Blashphemy! Runs fine on my x1900xt. Needless to say, Bethesda got owned by ATI lol.

LMAO, that's so funny. The XBox 360 isn't as powerful as the current high end graphics cards or even those one step down :rolleyes:

[Player0]

Man, now that I have more spells, dealing with all of them is getting to be a NIGHTMARE. The Hotkey thing is okay but... I could use another 8 spots just for common spells. Otherwise it takes 8 hours to search through them all..

Is there anyway to get more bindings??

[Kill-Switch]

Not as far as I know.

[Synthohol]

i wish i could run faster, i have capslock on but its still too slow for me, there is alot of land to cover.
im so far behind you guys its funny. im still in the "star shaped" kingdom.
i guess im just impatient, i want to kill more and travel less.

[DCMan]

i wish i could run faster, i have capslock on but its still too slow for me, there is alot of land to cover.
im so far behind you guys its funny. im still in the "star shaped" kingdom.
i guess im just impatient, i want to kill more and travel less.

Couldnt agree more!! hehe.. I ended up taking all my armour off when I was running places and then putting it all back on when I heard the music change when there was an enemy around... I just got given a horse tho, so it makes it a bit faster...

I dont reckon you're that far behind me tho - if you're even behind me at all. im not that far into it yet. Although I did go to a plane of Oblivion last night for the first time. That was quite cool.. Cant wait to see what this looks like when the new vid card arrives!!

[Kill-Switch]

For Tom, and those wishing to add visual enhancements to the game I have the link you need to a LOT of things you may find useful :)

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?SCID=27&CIID=36919&p=6

[Player0]

Bump up your speed attribute for more speed, its really good for running away from all the horrible enemies on your :mad2::mad2::mad2:. There are plenty to run from if you go exploring too much.

My biggest complaint is Burden. ive been whipping up feather potions and leaving all my armor in my house to be able to bring back loot in less than 8 trips. I now have 25,000 in funds but cant find the trainers I want, and dont need anything else to buy :P

[Kill-Switch]

The trainers are pretty spread out, one town generally only has one or maybe two trainers to use :(

And yeah the burden thing is a problem, it's a pain in the a$$ to go on a long mission killing things only to not be able to reap the rewards as you have to leave most of the stuff behind :( I guess if you build up your stats burden will become less of an issue ... with any luck LOL.

[DCMan]

This could also be quite interesting when its finished..

http://www.oldblivion.com/

[Synthohol]

This could also be quite interesting when its finished..

http://www.oldblivion.com/
damn, my voodoo3 2000 16Mb card isnt supported?
thats it, im boycotting the game.
if i cant play ES on the same box as i have played games on for 8 years with my top of the line DX6 drivers and P3 800 its no longer worth my time ;)

what? if it wasnt for sarchasm id have nothing to say in this post:)

bless you AMD @2.5Ghz.!!!

[Nut]

Finally picked up the game. Couldn't let you guys have all the fun.
So far I'm impressed. I haven't played an RPG since the days of Bard's Tale. I must say graphics are much improved :)

[WackyComputer]

And here you thought you would Never! pick it up.;)

[Nut]

:doh: What can I say, I'm a changed man.....so far.
I kinda picked it up just to see how it would run on my current gaming system. Very smoothe at 1600x1200 16AF HDR. I did have to use Beta Drivers 84.43 as the Official 84.21 caused slight hiccups. All is well though. Just have to learn that magic stuff.

[Player0]

The Ring of Feather makes life SO much better.

[DCMan]

how far in is the ring of feather?

[Kill-Switch]

I need to figure out how to get enchanted weapons recharged. Got me a lovely sword that can do a few magical damages during attacks (such as 10% change of shattering the enemies weapon!!) but it has no charge left and needs recharging. I was told, in-game, that to see a magic merchant who could do it ... but for the life of me I don't see anyway it's possible :(

[WackyComputer]

Recharging Weapons

The easiest (but most expensive) way to get enchanted weapons recharged is to pay for a recharge at a Mages Guild location. This costs 1 Gold for every unit of charge - unless you're rolling in cash, doing this is not advisable.

Ayleid ruins occasionally contain a Varla stone. One or two Varla stones can be found in several of the Ayleid ruins; activating it from your inventory will fully charge a large assortment of enchanted weapons. Each stone is worth 1000 gold, but it isn't wasteful at all considering that this is far less than what you'd spend on those same recharges at a guild.

Varla stones are not to be confused with the smaller Welkynd stones, also found in ruins, which can only be used to refill your magicka. They are also more common; there are around 40 total.

By far the cheapest method is to capture creatures' souls in Soul Gems and use their energy to recharge your weapons. Once you have Azura's Star, you can use a simple spell or enchantment to continually refill your equipment (see below).


Easy Recharges

Here's an easy way to constantly have a supply of recharging energy.

1. First off, do Azura's Daedric quest. The reward is the Azura's Star, a unique Soul Gem with infinite reuses and unlimited soul value capacity.
2. Join the Mages' Guild.
3. Select an unenchanted weapon that you don't intend to use; you're going to be sacrificing this weapon's usefulness in exchange for enchantment recharges, so the more powerful it is the higher its effectiveness.
4. Head to the Arcane University and get it enchanted. Add the Soul Trap effect and Drain Health effect for 100 magnitude, and keep the duration 1 seconds for both effects.

And you're done! Any time you're fighting a creature switch to this weapon to deal the final blow; the Azura's Star will refill with that creature's soul. Then use the Soul Gem to refill a weapon or item of your choice. You can also choose to summon and then trap the weakest creature you have a spell for, making recharging even easier. The 100 magnitude Drain Health effect ensures you will be able to kill Scamps you summon with one hit, ensuring that you can recharge 300 points per Summon Scamp spell cast.

The reason why you shouldn't use this as a standard combat weapon is that with many foes (especially weaker ones) the number of hits needed to kill the creature with the Soul Trap weapon will likely use up more charges than its soul will refill. This is also why a powerful weapon matters, as it increases the chances of that single blow actually finishing the creature off for as few wasted charges as possible.

An unique item for this, Umbra sword which can be found in a ruin west of Pell's Gate (south of the Imperial City on the Red Ring Road) casts Soul Trap spell upon strike.

Another method is to get the Soul Trap mage's staff when gaining access to the Arcane University. If you join at high enough level (17+), it lasts long enough (40 seconds with for the one I have) for you to kill the enemy with your preferred weapon so that you don't have to micromanage your weapons during the fight as much. At 7200 power (the higher level version) it has plenty of charges to last a good while before you need to recharge it.

[Kill-Switch]

Thanks for that :)

[Player0]

Something tells me I shouldnt have waited till level 26 to close my first oblivion gate. Ourch! Nothing like going up against 10 enemies at once, a few storm atronaches, a bunch of clannflears, etc. Every single hit staggering you, dropping magic down 50pts, etc. I had to use the RUN! method.

The Skeleton Key is NICE!

[Kill-Switch]

Wow I can't believe you waited so long ... and are at such a high level LOL I'm around level 16 and have closed 3 or 4 oblivion gates! In fact in order to really begin the main storyline you are asked to close one at level 4 or 5! You must have been having too much fun exploring ;)

[DCMan]

im only at level 4 :(

I'm so far behind!

[Synthohol]

LOL, im still wandering around the first kingdom after the sewers, this map is bigger than new jersey.
there are other levels??

[Player0]

Wow I can't believe you waited so long ... and are at such a high level LOL I'm around level 16 and have closed 3 or 4 oblivion gates! In fact in order to really begin the main storyline you are asked to close one at level 4 or 5! You must have been having too much fun exploring ;)

I didnt know Kvatch was there! I've never gone that way before LOL. Im at level 29 as of right this second. I dont know how the whole Kvatch story line was for you guys, but every ROOM had something like 8 MAJOR enemies. Good thing Ive been leveling up my Alchemy and making some super potions. Drink a couple Restore 54m for 150s potions and cast unlimited FireBalls (or more typically, Heal Major Wounds heh).

My levels are probably prematurely high, because my skills are real real low in a lot of critical areas. I CANT take a hit without falling down cause my Agility is super low, and I cant seem to do ANY offensive damage.

[Kill-Switch]

there are other levels??

We're refering to the level of the character ;)

[DCMan]

When I did the Kvatch Story, I think there were probably about 2-3 enemies in each room, but I did that when I was level 3 I think. Is it a spoiler to ask where everyone else is up to?

[Player0]

Lets try to keep it spoiler free :)

I finally finished the Mage Guild quest. Ive been in the Arcane University and theres A LOT to do there. I only have about 20,000 gold right now and I can tell Im gonna need 10x that to build my next superweapon (a daedric claymore with 18 hit points which im gonna add magic too). Im gonna add shield 12% to all of my armor pieces which should give me some much needed protection. I want to add Night Eye to a helmet. Im gonna start magically inbibing some jewlery as well. But its gonna take some SERIOUS money.

So first, I get to go caving. Im also gonna finish some of the Daedra quests, the rewards are typically VERY nice.

[Player0]

I just noticed I have 66 hours in to this game...yikes. I have no life!

[Synthohol]

lol, you have about 4000+ hours in UT, whats the big deal?:)

[Kill-Switch]

So Tom who are you aligned with altogether? I've only joined the Blades and done some arena fighting. I was thinking about joining the Fighters Guild too at some point ... would it affect the game a whole lot if I did join them, and perhaps the Mages Guild too? I know that your alliences can affect the way others percieve you so obviously if I'm trying to remain the good hero I should stay away from the Theives Guild and those other evil guilds that I can't remember right now LOL

[Drake]

The Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood add a negligable amount of infamy to your character. The only downside is sometimes you have to kill a member of another guild, resulting in some tedious quest to get back in.

[Player0]

So Tom who are you aligned with altogether? I've only joined the Blades and done some arena fighting. I was thinking about joining the Fighters Guild too at some point ... would it affect the game a whole lot if I did join them, and perhaps the Mages Guild too? I know that your alliences can affect the way others percieve you so obviously if I'm trying to remain the good hero I should stay away from the Theives Guild and those other evil guilds that I can't remember right now LOL

I didnt know you could become a Blade heh. Ill have to look in to that. Im a member of Fighters, Mage, Thieves and Dark Brotherhood. I havent done any quests for the Fighters, Thieves and Dark Brotherhood yet. Im a member of some others, such as the Arena. Being Grand Champion REALLY helps out with your Fame status, which is important for some quests.

Joining Fighters and Mage guild early off is important just to get access to all the stuff in the Guild Halls, which can really pad your budget :) The most important I think is the Mage guild, which can charge your weapons, give you Soul Gems, let you purchase Expert Alchemy gear, get magical training, and give you access to Arcane University, which is EXTREMELY important. So if you use magic at all, you have to join this guild.

Is magic important? I went with a spell sword character with heavy armor, and offensive magic is getting really really worthless for me. A 45point damage long range shot costs like 1/4 - 1/3 of my Magika, and heavy armor runs it at a 95% efficiency, even at 103 Heavy Armor level. I can buy scrolls to do like 110 damage touches, which is extremely effective, but im at level 33 now, and im not sure WHEN i'll be able to cast a spell like that with my own magic.

When I start playing this game a second time, I'm definitely going for a light weight, weaponless brawler, probably sans magic. Ill probably have an easier time, though I'll truely miss Conjuring and the most important spell of all, Detect Life :D

[Player0]

PS - Is telekenesis THE most worthless spell ever??

[Kill-Switch]

Well I just joined the Mages Guild and am running around like an idiot getting recommendations so I can access the Arcane University.

You REALLY must have played a lot to have become Grand Champion in the arena, I got stuck when I had to take on 3 guys at once ... wasn't fun being bounced around with little chance of blocking let alone throwing out an attack. The bastards will pay LOL

[DCMan]

When i couldnt get past a fight in the arena, I used the summon skeleton spell and had a few extra people fighting for me ;)

I'm part of the Mages guild, fighters guild, theives guild, Dark brotherhood and The Blades. Except I went to talk to someone in the Mages Guild, whilst in sneak mode and it appeared as me trying to pickpocket them even tho I didnt actually take anything - so at the moment Im having to run around doing some tedious task collecting 20 bits of 2 different plants... not the most fun thing I've done in the game so far...

[Drake]

You can steal from people across the room with it :)

[WackyComputer]

How can one steal from something one owns?

[Player0]

Or I can just walk up behind them and steal then! Not as fun, I admit.

The Arena was a lot of work, I had to level up to like 15 or 17 to finally beat the three lizard guys. Summoning is crucial. A defend spell, and lots of potions are critical.

Dont level up too much though, the game gets WAY too easy at level 30+. I still cant do any offensive damage, but I can summon guys who summon other guys. And just keep doing that over and over. Or I can drink one of the super potions I made and be basically invinsible with unlimited magika for 60 seconds. Then just drink another. I enchanted a sword with Absorb Health and Disintigrate Armor and my new vampire sword will kill anything in about 5 hits, fully recharging me. i dont even bother with all the armor anymore, and can pretty much jump over anything now im so light ;)

[Kill-Switch]

Damn Tom, you play way too much LOL

[Player0]

Anyone else completely bored with this now? Im at level 40, and am Arch Mage now, but have little to no desire to do the main quests, or any other side quests. I beat the King of Worms with one touch spell.

There are a lot of Daedric quests, etc, around that could make me a lot stronger, but whats the use? If there's no challenge, theres no point in getting stronger.

The game is best around levels 15 - 25. I really just cant understand why they made a game that you can easily spend 100 hours playing, but only concern themselves with making enemies interesting for half of that time.

This game was RUSHED to market way before its time. It crashes more than any other game I've played in a while. The game bug list reads like an instruction manual. The item duplication bugs are especially great. What, they couldnt get more than 3 voice actors?

Meh. This one got disappointing way too soon.

[Kill-Switch]

Yeah the game does have a few too many bugs, last night the game crashed right at thte point where I was just about to close an oblivion gate ... now I have to do it all again :(

And one other VERY annoying bug, for some reason at random times when I select a mission the arrow will point to a spot in the middle of nowhere! I think it may be related to one mission I'm not sure, the mission is ... umm ... it's the one where you have to track down that female gang who lure men away and rob them. I have to go to this tavern to get more info, but because of the bug I have no clue where it is. If you know what I'm talking about and know where the tavern is then let me know.

Oh and last night I got a message saying I'd been kicked out of the mages guild for stealing from them. No doubt it's just a standard mission the game throws up though LOL

I'm only around level 18 or 19 and the game does bore me a little at times, the yreally did need to spend more time refining it instead of rushing it out and then charging for minor "updates".

[DCMan]

Mine tends to crash at random intervals, for no reason on a regular basis... I count myself lucky if I get 30mins in without it crashing - very very annoying.

[Player0]

Mine goes down once every 1-3 hours of play, so maybe Ive been lucky. Though, it will sometimes crash every 15m. The game is VERY sensetive to GPU overclocking. Or vice versa.

I keep plenty of saves just incase I steal from the wrong peeps :) The mage guild reentrance task I hear sucks :)

[Kill-Switch]

Yeah it does, you have to harvest 20 dragon something-or-other plants and 20 red something plants too. So far there's only one area I've found then, way down South-East, and there aren't many either so it's a pain :(