5 things that annoy me about oblivion

[Phatose]

1. You can't kick Mehrunes Dagon's ass.

Did Martin Really need to sacrifice himself to summon the avatar of akatosh to kill the four armed menace? Sure, he's eighty feet tall, but I bet I could've kicked his ass. All the same, I cut both his shins and shot an arrow into his crotch just to say "FUCK YOU", but I really should've been able to climb his shoulders, tell him Sithis sends his regards, then cut his 4 armed 80 foot throat.

2. The manservant of that guy you drop the head on to kill for the dark brotherhood

I walk into the bar to sell some shit to the only thieves guild fence I can remember the location of, and there he is, whining. Then somebody comes up to him, asks him if his master is dead, and the fucker say "NOooo".

3. That rat lady who's the first quest in the fighters guild

Man, did I ever go back and slit her throat on principle alone.

4. You can't get laid

Really, you can't. You can be the hero of the entire fucking universe, with a fortify sexual prowess for 100 for 1000 hours spell, but nobody will fuck you. No wonder there are no children.

5. The fact that I'm faster then my horse

Thank god for fast travel, since even shadowmere is a slug.

Erm... probably should have done that earlier...

[Kuja]

The only thing that disappointed me quite a bit was when Martin sacrificed himself to save the world. It wasn't the "Turn into the giant dragon to kill the giant demon" bit - that was quite good - but it was the fact that it was such a stereotypical thing to do. I actually thought that Bethesda might have done things more uniquely (your character NOT being the main character/hero was a excellent idea), rather than just doing the whole worn-out "noble sacrifice" plotline which has been done to death in novels, games and movies.

Even more so, it's the fact that the "majestic" feeling ran out for me around at the Main Quest "Spies". The Cloud Ruler Temple introduction was *very* well done, but after that it decended into "Well, we need three extremely rare items which are conviently hidden in deep dungeons, go fetch". The Paradise quest was very well done, but the fact that Martin chose only you to accompany him to the Imperial City kind of killed it for me. I mean, come on, here's a temple full of elite soldiers who had their last charge killed due to their ineptitude, and yet they don't even volunteer to follow their current charge as a honour guard ?

Apart from those two though, and the fact that you only earn 200 gold a week as the highest Dark Brotherhood Representative, the game was excellent.

[Cardel]

Well actually a few blades do follow you to the Imperial City. If Jauffre and Baurus are dead, Captain Steffan comes with a couple of other guys.

[GRRRR]

and the fact that you only earn 200 gold a week as the highest Dark Brotherhood Representative

Well, Listener = very high ranking courier

(watta drab after all those truly excellent quests)

[Phatose]

I realized another thing that annoys me. You can't easily give NPC allies items.

I'm stopping in at my home in rosethorn to pick out a wardrobe for my statue after the battle of bruma. The servant STILL isn't wearing the nice enchanted dress I made for her, even though I left the thing on her bed. Maybe I should've left a diamond ring and one of those love notes there too?

Anyway, I'm looking through my chests for a good look, and realize that we're about to have a giant battle, daedra everywhere, the emperor himself at the front of the battle, and I've got a house full of daedric artifacts, magic armors, swords and axes and all sorts of nasty stuff. Now really would be the time to break out the good shit for some loaners, especially considering that idiot Burd shows up in friggin clothes sans Armor. Yet, even if I was to dump them all at the battle site and yell "Load up boys, this is gonna be a rough one", nobody would take em.

Anybody know of a mod, perhaps, that will let me say "Hey Burd, you moron, put on this daedric enchanted platemail before you get yourself killed!"?

[RarRar]

I realized another thing that annoys me. You can't easily give NPC allies items.

Heh, I'm about to experiment with this kind of thing quite carefully. If you sneak a poison apple into a person's inventory, apparently they will eat it eventually and die (haven't actually tried this yet). If you give them some potions, will they use them during battle? NPC's DO use potions but don't know if radiant is smart enough to use one's you've placed in there.

I've devised a poison that will damage personality but give 35% Shield for 130 seconds and Restore Health for 25 seconds. Don't know if this will actually work (I'll report tomorrow if anyone's interested) but if you use a "poisoned" old rusty iron dagger and nick your allies, will it protect them during battle? When you nick them they may ignore it if they're fighting or you may have to yield when they get pissed. I'll find out. Just a couple of the ways I'm experimenting with to protect other people (my Restoration skill is the suck). The Bruma battle is getting closer. I just took out the Bruma spies (and Burd was surprisingly, suspiciously unhelpful there) and I'm off to do other things for a bit before I come back and speak to Martin and Jauffre.

I'll also be stopping by ye olde staff shoppe to see if there's anything good I can use. Any other ideas for protecting your allies?

[Phatose]

You know, I haven't managed to get those damned apples to work at all. I can lay them everywhere, but nobody ever picks one up. And the game won't let me plant items - I get a "you can't put items into a container while pickpocketing" message.



How exactly are you making that poison? AFAIK, in alchemy, if there is even one positive effect, it makes a potion, not a poison.

[RarRar]

These are all just wild plans, routes of investigation. I don't know anything for certain yet.

You know, I haven't managed to get those damned apples to work at all. I can lay them everywhere, but nobody ever picks one up. And the game won't let me plant items - I get a "you can't put items into a container while pickpocketing" message.

In the DB pirate quest I was able to place a poison apple into the Pirate's inventory while he was eating. Then waited around for EVER to see if he'd die, got bored, then just killed him with my sword. So I haven't actually USED a poison apple to kill somebody but I can confirm it is definitely possible to place one into somebody's inventory while pickpocketing.

How exactly are you making that poison? AFAIK, in alchemy, if there is even one positive effect, it makes a potion, not a poison.

I haven't tried it yet. If what you say is true then it will not work, obviously. My theory was that when you create a potion with both positive and negative effects then there is some rule that determines whether it becomes a poison or potion. If ANY positive effect == potion as you say then so much for my idea. I was thinking perhaps the rule might be that the first effect would determine whether it's potion or poison.

Ah well. Maybe I can get my magic skills up enough to cast good shields on everybody before the battles start.

[RyushiBlade]

I've also gotten the "You can't place blah blah blah..." message. I'm not sure if it has to do with your security level or not. I'm sure a real thiefy character would know.

[Phatose]

I'll have to check, see if my stealth skill needs to be boosted. Maybe it's an unannounced perk?

Funny fact: Poison apple effect is considered to be a positive effect by the alchemy system, so you make poison apple suicide potions instead of poison apple poisons at master alchemy. Guess they saw that one coming.

[PeeperStorm]

What really bugs me:

- I've been all over the damn province, and I can't find a toilet. Not even an outhouse. What the hell are all those sewers doing under the Imperial City when there's no reason for them? Where do the citizens of the towns go when they need to "go"? How come no one's complaining about the smell?

- Everyone can tell at a glance what skills I'm really good at. "You look sneaky to me" they say, or "I bet you know how to make potions". How come they never say those things to each other? Are they all skillless losers, or just better at hiding it?

- I'm in the capital city of the freaking Empire, but there's only about 60 homes and a half-dozen waterfront shacks. How the hell can this place support 14 shops along with 5 or 6 inns and taverns?

[Phatose]

I kinda figured the lack of toilets explained why there were bowls everywhere.

And yeah, the skill comments are kind of stupid. Some "Look at the muscles on you", make sense. Others.....where exactly is "MASTER ALCHEMIST" tatooed on me?

[RyushiBlade]

- I've been all over the damn province, and I can't find a toilet. Not even an outhouse. What the hell are all those sewers doing under the Imperial City when there's no reason for them? Where do the citizens of the towns go when they need to "go"? How come no one's complaining about the smell?

I was actually thinking the EXACT same thing today. I wandered into Slash 'n Smash in the Imperial City and I thought, "Hey. Hold on. How does this orc do his real business?"

True, they have sewers, but really. Maybe someone will make a mod... I'm sure they could add sewers to the other cities, too. I just hope they have good, high-quality toilets. I don't want anything that looks out of place!

[Campaignjunkie]

I love poisoned apples. I used them to "purify" the Cheydinhal Sanctuary (well except for poor Vincente, I had to stab him in his sleep). You have to look and see where NPCs get their food, and take everything else out of the barrel/cupboard - and if all that fails, pickpocket them and physically stick the apple in their inventory.

Imagine what that's like in real-life: you wake up, "Hmm, what's this apple doing in my pocket? Oh well, looks tasty."

[Phatose]

You know, I tried, and even with with max stealth, it will not let me plant anything on anybody via pickpocketing.

[GRRRR]

Yeah, this game needs a "Fallout Dynamite" mod

Altho with the saddle bag mod horses do use health potions you put "into" them, should be possible.

[RarRar]

You know, I tried, and even with with max stealth, it will not let me plant anything on anybody via pickpocketing.

Quite right. I am able to plant poison apples just fine, but I get the same message if I try it with anything else (100 Stealth + 60 Chameleon). The poisoned apples must be an exception in the game rules. Such a shame. Also, as predicted, any positive effect turns an alchemical reaction into a potion. So my two favorite possibilities for protecting NPC allies are null and void. BTW, just by chance I happened to stumble upon the Wayward Night Quest last night. That was a pretty fun mission and good practice in ally-protection.

[BlackCapedManX]

I remember reading somewhere (official game guide maybe?) that you can put stuff in NPCs inventory if its weight is zero (So keys, poison apples and the like). So I suppose if you want to have a lot of fun (and are like me and don't mind screwing with the CS to make the game more interesting/enjoyable) make some zero weight potions and such and stick them in your friends' inventories to keep them alive. I think (because this was how it worked in the CS) that like Morrowind, NPCs will automatically put on whatever armor has the highest rating (which I used to great effect in Mournhold, I went into an armor shop that also had a guard in it, sold guard armor from a previously slain mournhold elite guard to the shop owner, she donned it, and not having enough strength, couldn't move to react when I would kill the guard in her shop to get more armor to sell to her) so you could also make 0 weight suits of armor for the sole purpose of giving them to your friends, so that they didn't suck.

I'm not sure if it'll work or not, but it might be worth a try.

[Banksie]

And yeah, the skill comments are kind of stupid. Some "Look at the muscles on you", make sense. Others.....where exactly is "MASTER ALCHEMIST" tatooed on me?

Actually this one I can believe too. Many chemists in real life often stain their fingers interesting colours from time to time when working with various chemicals. I just assumed that I either smelt funny from handling the ickier alchemic components (Mort flesh in particular must reek something fierce) or had stained my hands with the various wild chemistry combos I had been trying.

[Naartjie]

SPOILERS, you motherfuckers.

edit: you *dumb* motherfuckers

[Phatose]

TTLG Forums > Gaming > Oblivion - Hints and Spoilers > 5 things that annoy me about oblivion

[BlackCapedManX]

Actually this one I can believe too. Many chemists in real life often stain their fingers interesting colours from time to time when working with various chemicals. I just assumed that I either smelt funny from handling the ickier alchemic components (Mort flesh in particular must reek something fierce) or had stained my hands with the various wild chemistry combos I had been trying.

Yeah, I can understand that, I practically scream "PAINTER!" because about 0% of my clothing is not permanently stained or caked with a variety of bright colors.

[RyushiBlade]

TTLG Forums > Gaming > Oblivion - Hints and Spoilers > 5 things that annoy me about oblivion

Still, Phatose, posting the game's ending in the very first line without any spoiler tages probably isn't a great choice. Sorry to everyone who accidently read it

[Phatose]

I figured anyone who worried about spoilers would've immediately concluded there would be some in this thread, simply because if not, it would've been in Oblivion general. But you're the boss.

[Fig455]

I agree w/ Phatose.