Bloodmoon - now that's more like it

The quality difference vs. Tribunal is (in my opinion) pretty significant. I didn't hate Tribunal, and I appreciate rounding out the "gods" train of thought, but Bloodmoon is just a richer experience after around 15 hours. It is also pretty clear this is the makings of Skyrim. It really makes me wonder why Oblivion was made the way it was? Not that Oblivion was bad, but Morrowind is (melee combat aside) just superior in pretty much every aspect (again just my opinion…).

Side topic: the compass (and lack thereof):
I realize you can turn off the compass in Oblivion, but how would you find anything? When you get a quest in Morrowind you usually get enough info (directions + landmarks) to find your destination relatively easily. How frustrating is it to find stuff in Oblivion without the quest markers on the compass?

I know many of the quests in Skyrim would have been impossible without markers. I don't think Oblivion was as bad though.

I found Bloodmoon better than Tribunal, too, especially since it added to the open world rather than creating a few new closed off spaces.

I never made it to Bloodmoon, despite spending around 200 hours on Morrowind. I'm looking forward to finally playing the expansions later this year when I (hopefully) find time to do a replay of Morrowind with MGSO.

I liekd Bloodmoon better than Tribunal as well. For one thing, I really disliked the Mournhold sewers … and those assassins who were such a pain in the butt for my char in his mid-level-twenties. And the slightly boring surroundings: they were so un-weird (with the exception of Clockwork City) and so not Morrowind, but not in an interesting way. I did like the story, though, I liked several of the NPCs (yay, Daggerfall!), and I liked how you got a house rather early in the game.

I liked Bloodmoon more because its landscape reminded me a lot of my Daggerfall experience in the more mountainy parts of that game. That, plus the and the slightly prettified NPC models. While I wasn't overly impressed with the storyline, it felt really good to roam the wilderness. I liked the Draugr, I loved meeting and I really loved the as a reward for choosing a certain side during one of the two main questlines. In all, Bloodmoon was an attractive mix of both Daggerfall and Morrowind, and it was the basis for the Skyrim experience.

I just wrapped up Bloodmoon. I thought it was excellent with a few exceptions:
1. The constant snow storms got old fast. Having it snow here and there is great but being blind and being forced to rest so often got annoying.
2. Combat with mounted Reikling got VERY OLD with the annoying reflect damage.
3. The mazes. Do I need to express my frustration further?

Otherwise I thought it was great. A bit shorter than Tribunal, probably because of the lack of backtracking. Great landscape, good story, NPC's and quests.

So now are you going to play Daggerfall?

Nope. Started Oblivion. I never got around to Knights of the Nine or Shivering Isles. It looks pretty good with godrays and Qarls textures etc. Certainly the combat is welcome improvement. I hope I don't get bored though, I've tried a rerun through the game in the past and all the flaws killed it.

I don't think I could ever go back to Oblivion after Skyrim.

Shivering Isles was prolly the best part of Oblivion. At least for me. And disregarding Itius Hayn.

Yep, although Knights of the Nine was pretty cool, too.

Its not a terrible game and I think folks remember all the flaws more than the good stuff. I gave it a few hours and the combat alone is such a huge improvement over Morrowind its not funny. True Skyrim is far better, and it should be since it really just attempts to perfect the model, little more… Also true Oblivion has horrific level scaling, "sameness" problems in the landscape, dungeons etc. but… it still has lots going for it. Good quests. Good melee combat (via the shield). Fantastic lore. Did I mention the combat?

What mods did you install for Oblivion?

Not too many:
Qarls Texture Pack
no Loading Area message
natural environments
Oblivion Graphics Extender (with just the godray shader loaded)

Bloodmoon was by far my favorite part of the Morrowind chain. But then I have a fondness for the Norse settings in games, Werewolves and Hircine, snow and full moons.

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
Not too many:
Qarls Texture Pack
no Loading Area message
natural environments
Oblivion Graphics Extender (with just the godray shader loaded)

I would highly recommend also adding something to tweak the level scaling. Imo, that is the single biggest issue with Oblivion.

I'm ok with it as is. This is my second run through, I've done over 120 hours in the past. Thinking back on it I tried a few leveling mods but ended backing them out: Francesco's and Obscuro's overhaul. Both had me fighting legions of goblins at level 1. Later I added passive wildlife which I might have kept. Too many lions.

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
I'm ok with it as is. This is my second run through, I've done over 120 hours in the past. Thinking back on it I tried a few leveling mods but ended backing them out: Francesco's and Obscuro's overhaul. Both had me fighting legions of goblins at level 1. Later I added passive wildlife which I might have kept. Too many lions.

There was a mod called Adventurers for Oblivion that I thought handled scaling well and didn't add much more than was needed. Obscuros was way over the top.

Yeah, Obscuros definitely changes too much for my taste. I don't like mods that add fan-made content or quests.

Still, there's no way I could play Oblivion without at least one of the minor level scaling mods. I don't care how good the graphics, sound, etc., can be made with other mods, the obscene amount of scaling in the vanilla version makes it unplayable for me.

OK wait…so you didn't put over a 100 hours into Oblivion when it came out? It couldn't have been that bad… I agree it can be improved upon but it was hardly unplayable. I just got my butt handed to me by a bandit on the road with a battle axe (I'm level 3). It can still be challenging out of the box. Goblin Skirmishers are pretty tough too early on.

Actually, I've barely played Oblivion. I put maybe 10-12 hours into it when it was released and never went back. I found no enjoyment in an RPG where all the enemies and loot were 100% scaled to my level.

Not that I haven't meant to give it another try. I've just never found the time, and there were always better RPGs to play.

When I do go back though, the first mod I install will be something that tweaks the level scaling. After that, I'll mod the UI, and remove achievements and all the markers on the compass.