Oblivion meant so much to me as a teenager, releasing when I was 13, and I still love playing it. From a modern lens though It's a broken mess, but sometimes the pieces come together to make something beautiful.
I look forward to experiencing it even if the start was a little slow. I'm a huge fan of your videos by the way! I'm something of a completionist myself (insert norman osborne meme here)
If I were to rate TES games, I'd say: - Morrowind has the absolutely best setting, main questline and the general level of immersion - Oblivion has the best side questlines. Thieves' Guild, the Arena and Dark Brotherhood are some of my most favorite questlines in RPG's ever. - Skyrim has the best gameplay and is the most fun to actually play. Shame that it's dungeons and quests are so lackluster, but thankfully it's also the most modded game in the world
I don't have much experience with Oblivion yet, but I'd agree. I'm so happy Skyrim is the all-time most modded game. The gameplay is super fun and you can basically do whatever you want now even pull forward older games (Skywind, Skyblivion, Skyggerfall, etc.)
I mostly agree, except with the dungeons. Morrowind and Oblivion dungeons are probably some of the worst dungeons and designs I have ever seen. Empty and without any storytelling to them, while each Skyrim dungeon shows what happend there and is special in some way.
I agree but I'll add that while Skyrim has the best gameplay, at least when it comes to combat, it's still pretty bad. TES really doesn't do combat well.
@@elderyaag3534 That's true, they all look great with lots of interesting visual storytelling-it's just a shame they're mostly all linear corridors. Something in between that and Oblivion's mad labyrinths would've been cool. Morrowind's dungeons were certainly routine and very simple, luckily you were regularly rewarded with cool loot or an artifact of some sort, often in the most unassuming locations (especially if you could levitate).
@@micryt. I dunno, I feel like TES combat is just fine, especially in Skyrim. Not every game has to be Dark Souls or something like that in order to have good combat.
Oh man Oblivion. You had to be there, it was absolutely mindblowing, just like Morrowind. The total freedom, the memorable quests, everything voice acted, the pure art of the OST, the (at the time, for an open world) incredible graphics and physics, the radiant AI craziness, the mods...and The Shivering Isles! I build a pc just for this game, played it for like 2 years straight. Still play it.
I know you're going to hear this a lot. The mages guild, thieves guild, and the dark brotherhood are all amazing questlines that take you on a huge adventure. Magic is seemingly shallow when you look at the spells you're able to buy or find in the world (with fingers of the mountain being one of the only good ones), it is best used as a supplement to regular combat. When you start doing the mages guild, you will quickly find out that members of the University can build their own spells and enchant their own gear, which makes magic go from being mid, to being pretty awesome and fun and even potentially busted depending on what you make. That being said, the questline to even be accepted into the university is a four hour endeavor of going to every guild hall in Cyrodiil and getting a recommendation, each of these being an extremely in depth and fun quest on their own, so when you finally unlock the ability to make spells and magic item, it feels really earned....and even then, you're only like halfway done with the mages guild questline and there's so much more to do so when you finally reach the end, it feels like you earned it. It was a stark contrast to Skyrim's mages guild basically being "well everyone else is dead so I guess you're archmage now" quest that was just one dungeon delve after another, and didn't require any magic at all to complete. Thieves guild is 10/10, assassins guild 10/10. Fighters guild and Arena are lame and mid. All daedra shrine quests are awesome. There's also a ton of quests around, just ask people about rumors when you talk to them in towns and they will point you to people of interest. Most of them are really good. The main quest is okay but it really pales in comparison to Oblivion's side content. Also Shivering Isles? Sooo good.
Well said. The Fighters Guild does get a bonus point from me though, for putting a spin on The Standard Rat Stomp Quest. I had a Main Quest delayer mod installed in one of my playthroughs where you arrive by ship in Anvil, so joining the Fighters Guild there that was my first quest. Even knowing what was coming it was fitting and hilarious.
Good to know. I'm glad you agree with my early impressions of magic being supplementary, but I'm also glad it improves! Thank you for the write up. Does Mehrunes Dagon have 2 shrines? Why was I given one at the start? I've done lots of NPC conversation but have yet to find any meaningful quests (not fetch quests). As I said in the video; after almost 8 hours I'd gotten like 2-3 "real" quests which was low compared to other TES games.
@@FrostbreakYT Dagon doesn't have a shrine in base game, you got the one at the start because of the DLC. It's the same with the old fallout games too (new vegas, fallout 3) when you get the GOTY version with all the DLC and you get bombarded with quests or items after leaving the tutorial area lmao.
Spoiler: there's an NPC that steals forks. If you don't meet them soon enough, they will get killed by guards when they are inevitably caught stealing. They even get a grave after they die, regardless of if you meet them and get a small side quest or not. I also dropped one of the main books on my first character as a kid and couldn't continue the main quest. After literally months of trying, I had to make a new file. RIP my dark elf. Thanks for the content!
I was SO relieved when I figured out what it was. This was recorded over the course of a few days and one night I saw a skybilivion video and immediately knew what it was!
I had the exact same experience, never played Oblivion but somehow new that area the second it came up. Then he started talking about his deja vu and I was like “yeah me too! Wait wtf..” it was bewildering for a moment.
Skyrim was my first elder scrolls game and i thought it was the best game id ever played, then I tried oblivion and fell head over heels twice as hard. EsIV just does something for me. Love it
@@FrostbreakYTonly an adult brain will realize palkia controls space, which dominates time. Because you can have space without time. But time without space is basically nothing.
Saying magic feels secondary in oblivion compared to skyrim is a kin of weird thing to see with how often people say skyrim has dumbed down magic compared to oblivion and morrowind.
Yeah he just hasnt discovered how incredible magic was in Oblivion. It is SO much more rewarding and customizable to what you want in Oblivion. If he continues to play I'm sure he will figure it out. I dont want to spoil it for him though.
13:32 - Okay, that's interesting because when I played, I got bombarded with them often. You just talk to every NPC you see and you shouldn't have problems with that. Join a guild and you're set.
Yep, there is lots of radiant quests but you either need to start doing them directly (sometimes by accident) or ask for "Rumors" to every NPC and they will often give you an indication of who you need to speak, investigate or a new location (like a shrine)
You can craft your own spells, it’s just a lengthy process. Definitely worth it though. There are some insanely fun quests in this game. One is where you get a house for insanely cheap because it’s haunted!!! That’s as much as I’ll say because I really like that quest. Also the Brotherhood quest is awesome. And the Knights of the Nine quest.
To me, Oblivion is special, primarily because of the time it was released. Nowadays, when we think of RPGs, countless titles come to mind with similar concepts or approaches. Even Skyrim is a direct evolution of many ideas introduced in Oblivion. But back then? It was a completely different story. I was 10 years old when I played Oblivion in 2007, and I vividly remember the sense of freedom it provided - something I had never experienced before. The closest comparison I had was GTA: San Andreas, but even GTA couldn't come close to the feeling that Oblivion delivered. Of course, Oblivion has its flaws. The repetitive dungeons, for instance, are a common complaint. Yet, for its time, it was revolutionary. The character creation system, despite being the subject of many memes, was incredibly advanced and functional for 2006. Few games offered that level of customization: you could adjust every detail of the face, choose from a variety of races, modify hair length, and even tweak colors for different facial features. It was insane - in the best way possible. Another standout for me was the immersion. There’s something about Oblivion that still pulls me into its world. Maybe it’s the way the side quests are crafted. The Dark Brotherhood, for example, requires you to complete missions in far more creative and specific ways than any other game in the series. Or the Mages Guild, which transforms the process of joining into a grand journey. You didn’t just “sign up” - you earned your place, and the game made sure you felt that. I’ll admit that Oblivion hasn’t aged all that well in some areas, especially its leveling system, which is notoriously flawed. Even so, it remains my favorite Elder Scrolls game. I love Skyrim. I love The Elder Scrolls Online. But Oblivion holds a special place in my heart. A bigger one. Maybe it’s nostalgia. Maybe. But in the end, it’s just love.
The magic system in Oblivion is one of the most complex and powerful in the franchise. However, it’s challenging to fully dive into. The issue is that it’s a system so powerful it almost "breaks the game," but it’s incredibly counterintuitive. It took me nearly 15 years to finally decide to create a full-fledged mage because of this. Leveling the "wrong way" can be extremely punishing for players. It’s funny-I also find it less rewarding than in Skyrim because it works so differently... but at the same time, I find it more fun. I’m not sure why, but I have vivid memories of quickly shooting arrows while making massive jumps. That’s because leveling in Oblivion actually impacts gameplay to such a degree: the more you jump, the higher your jumps; the more you shoot, the faster you shoot. You become quicker, allowing you to escape and fire arrows at an increasing pace. It felt much more like, "I’m an elven archer firing arrows rapidly in the heat of battle," and less like, "I’m a stealthy archer who takes down enemies with a single shot," you know?
@@FabresFour Thank you for that comment that's really well said! I don't plan on giving up on magic quite yet, but it does feel like it was a second-thought (spells bound to a keybind, not wielded, almost like a bonus-action rather than a "staple" of combat). I'm glad you say archery improves; in both Skyrim and Morrowind I could feel myself getting stronger at archery; but in this game (and looking back on older footage) it doesn't look like anything improved. I've heard the magic in this game is really great; I personally, have yet to see that. Obviously I'm just scratching the tip of the iceberg with 10 hours - but Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Skyrim all have more impressive systems in a fraction of the time played. Just my impressions as a new player obviously, but I hope you're right
@ Yeah Morrowind is my favorite in the series but I also really appreciate Oblivion. It might not be as much like a traditional RPG mechanic wise but there is still a lot of great world building etc. and there are still RPG elements unlike Skyrim where they stripped almost all of it away or at least dumbed it down. Only thing that is disappointing about Oblivion to me is that they favored leaning into LOTR instead of sticking to cannon Cyrodiills jungles and Mediterranean/Latin style.
@@Seto1997 my guess would be limited technology probably made it easier to keep it simple. Id pay so much money to see oblivion remade from scratch with todays technology but also have the passion it was given back then
@@kyle21843 I don’t think there is much concrete evidence about the reason for the change but if you read in game books or talk to in game NPCs in TES I-III they describe many parts of inland Cyrodiil as jungle. But then in TES IV-V it is mostly grassland and hills, the Imperial culture also changes a lot to a more traditional medieval fantasy rather than jungle Romans. I personally find original lore Cyrodiil/Imperials much more interesting and nuanced but I still like Oblivion for what it is.
One of the things you may not realise is that the Cyrodiil you see here is VASTLY different from what was mentioned in the older lore (Morrowind and before). In the pocket guide of the Empire, Cyrodiil was a massive jungle. The Imperial City was Rome meets Imperial China. There should be rice fields all over, as well as minarets. It's legitimately one of the more interesting things you see in fantasy. It is a city of a Thousand Cults. Moth priests roam the land like pilgrims. Sure, some of the pocket guide is just outright propaganda, but the old Cyrodiil was much more vibrant and alien. You know, like Morrowind. But then Peter Jackson's LOTR movie came out and Todd changed the direction to something more European. There is literally a quote from Michael Kirkbride (the genius who wrote the 36 Lessons of Vivec) confirming this. Because of this lore change, people are still upset we didn't get Jungle Cyrodiil. I'm a Skybaby myself and I'm upset about it! Some may cite that the early consoles can't handle lush jungles, but I think that's nonsense. Real forests are extremely dense too but all game worlds are designed for the player first. Either way, this is something you should deff look into. There's subreddits like r/teslore that got deep into this. I don't hate Oblivion because of this, personally I think it has the funnest game design that is better than both Morrowind and Skyrim, but it is a huge missed opportunity. Anyway, fantastic video as always.
Yeah Cyrodiil plays the part of the central lands having pretty much all terrain and biome types, mostly jungle due to being surrounded by Valenwood, black marsh, morrowind etc. shame they made it un-unique stereotypical fantasy setting
I've always heard about Cyrodiil being covered in Jungle in the lore. It's not in ESO and it's not in this game either; so I assumed it was a long time ago but never knew that backstory! It seems they changed a lot to fit with more LOTR themed aesthetic. Like how Orcish armor was this super elegant gold and silver masterpieces; but in the newer games it's basically the Uruk-hai armor which is almost a stark opposite.
@@FrostbreakYT Disclaimer: I have not played ESO. But I do remember on said subreddit that when Tiber Septim became Talos, he retroactively turned the jungle into a forest. It's a theory floated around, but I'm not sure how true it is. Hang around enough ES lorebeards and things can get philosophical. For the longest time, ES didn't have a dedicated lore keeper or even lore bible with them because, to their understanding, real history is convoluted as well so why bother, the contradictions are the point. However when they made ESO, Lawrence Shick took up the job. He has retired half a decade ago and I'm unsure who's the current lorekeeper on ESO.
@@pendantblade6361 fascinating. Didn’t know that but tracks with other retrospectives that this game was supposed to be a lot of things but technical limitations of a brand new untested generation of hardware left the game stripped down.
@@pendantblade6361actually if you pay attention to Heimskr’s rant in Skyrim (and I never did) it implicitly mentions that Tales transformed the jungle of Cyrodil to better serve his people
When Oblivion came out it was far better than every game made up to that point. Nothing was spoiled for me. I saw Grey Gox posters and didn't know it would be part of the game until I joined. This was the most fun I ever had in a game.
For me the best part was the Shivering Isles DLC as a whole. I'm not a fan of the brotherhood, but I do agree that the story and experience there is one of a kind and might indeed be a must have ;P
Yeah oblivion has level scaling. It's the bad kind of level scaling too, where you have to pre-emptively know about it and train your character based combat-orientedly. Your character level defines how strong monsters you encounter much like Skyrim, but Oblivion still has stats that define your hp / mp / stamina growth. You can end up with a character with 100 smithing that has grown like 5 hp during all the level ups.
All those quests you got immediately are DLC, yes. Also, the worst thing about Oblivion is the level scaling - which you’ll start to see as you progress. Overall, I do believe it’s a much better game than Skyrim. Worse combat and magic, sure - but the quests, writing, and characters are incredible, and better than any game in the series (I say this as someone who liked Morrowind best overall). If you want to experience that, just pick a town, and explore / ask around until you start to get all the quests in that town. Each city has its own flavor and set of quests that are very memorable. And then of course, make sure you do the Dark Brotherhood. Best part of the game. Maybe the best quest line in any TES game :)
I am digging this video. There is so much for you to learn about. It's technically possible to Max your character by making sure you get the plus 5 to each stat before leveling. I love the Amber light armor. Blocking with shields helps a lot when you go inside the oblivion gates. MUCH more to see in this game!
Oblivion was my first TES-game, and my first foray into open world RPGs, so it will forever hold a special place in my heart. That doesn't mean I am blind to it's weak spots, but it seems to me you spent too much time on DLCs (yes, those were DLCs) and too little time in the actual game. There are tons of quests to find and explore within the main game.
I spent about 10 hours playing. Idk what was DLC (Dagon + Player house thing?) but that was less than 20% of my time. Idk I spoke to loads of NPCs, maybe I got unlucky. No one had stuff for me to do. Much less than Morrowind, Skyrim, and even Daggerfall.
That's my 'gripe' with his recent content. Frostbeak stood out to me because he used to be all about 100% completing content like ESO. His recent videos about Daggerfall and Morrowind are the polar opposite of that I feel.
The magic system is a little deeper with the player being able to make spells of there own. The only problem is that it's locked behind a questline and if you have no idea about it, or the questline, then you can miss it entirely. IIRC you need to get a letter of recommendation from the other mage schools of each town and then you can go to the capital and join the mages guild.
Shivering Isles Knights of the Nine Mehrunes Razor The player homes: Vile Lair, Wizard's Tower, Thieves' Den, and Fighter's Stronghold Orrery Horse Armor Spell Tomes All of the above are DLC. Ironically The Elven horse Armor is known for being one of the first major payed cosmetic DLC's for a major AAA title at the time. I'm sure there were others, but this was the first of note. This paved the way for many more Cosmetic DLC's. i believe there are memes about it. the rest is history.
Just want to say i recently found your channel and i truly love everything you do. I think it’s absolutely great and i hope you’re proud of it. I genuinely look forward to all the vids to come. Keep it up!! :)
Oblivion has the best mage system in all of the elder scrolls. You can create your own spells. You gotta join the mage guild and then it’s a thing in the back.
@FrostbreakYT Playing on the 360 helps alot, i even managed to sink 190 hours on my last skyrim character. On pc i can play for like 10 hours max before starting a new character and adding new mods
@@FrostbreakYT I easily sank over 1500 hours into Oblivion just on the 360. Bought it again for PC but sadly I prefer playing with a controller and it never got native controller support on PC.
I have just recently found your channel (like 2 or 3 days ago) and i just want to say that i am really enjoying your videos, they are entertaining, informing and the fact that you can make me have such an urge to play these games (which i have always struggled to get into, even skyrim) is telling as to just how entertaining your work is. Thank you, and keep up the good work. Cheers 🍻.
For reference a good way to make a custom class in Oblivion is this - an armor type - armorer since you'll be repairing it - sneak, it makes life easier - a weapon type whether it be blade or blunted weapons The next three can be whatever you like but I always pick restoration, alteration, and then the last one I experiment with. This helps you make a pretty viable class Also magic is super powerful in Oblivion but you have to really invest into it. Once you've leveled it up a bit and are in the Arcane University, you can really make some crazy shit. You're just scratching the surface my guy. There is so much you have you to experience in this game you can't possibly say that this games mechanics are secondary to Skyrim of all games
Not always, it's best to put in some skills you don't really use, this is to help increase attributes when levelling. At least 2 of my somewhat most used skills I don't select so I can increase attributes without levelling to get them juicy +5s
playing Oblivion for the first time only a few months ago gave me a new perspective on the series. It was amazing to see just how similarly Skyrim and Oblivion play, to the point where it genuinly puzzles me how people keep claiming Skyrim was the one that "dumbed down" the roleplaying, when Oblivion clearly did most of the work.
ah gotcha. And from what other people say, the leveling in this game is brutal. Some people stay at level 1 because it's so much easier than leveling up so I may have screwed myself with the power leveling.
@@FrostbreakYT no not really if you weren't dying or barely doing damage you're fine. If you power leveled to 20 you might have had issues. You also didn't do the arena though. Scroll duping is also fun .
@@FrostbreakYT Yeah, I cringed a bit knowing that you were only getting the +5 to that one attribute from just spamming Conjuring. The real trick to min-maxing involves making your preferred skills as secondary ones so that you DON'T level up from spamming them. So that you can get in levels on other skills to get points so you can decide when it's the right time to level up.
@@FrostbreakYT It has been so long since I played I honestly forget how long it takes, but you get access to the spellmaking altar through the mages guild.
@FrostbreakYT Go do the mages guild quest line, you’ll get it around the mid of the quests. On the other hand, if you don’t do the mages guild quest line, you won’t be able to access the spell crafting unless you do one of the player home quest (the one near Bruma if I remember correctly On a side note, if youre still doing ESO, the recent expansion also allows you to do a little spell crafting, albeit a bit more restricted. Oh and love your vids Frost! Keep up the good work!
@@FrostbreakYTMages Guild has a spell altar that you can create custom spells with however you need the recommendations from each mages guild in every city first. However you have the Frostcrag Spire DLC (one of the many quests that popped up at the beginning) which gives you a Spell Altar but you just need to buy the candles and stuff from the Imperial City. Thus gives you the ability to skip the Mages guild if you want. But the mages guild offers a lot of spells you can purchase from members and requires a certain level to cast them depending on which magic branch/tree.
I remember buying Oblivion after Skyrim had come out. I couldn't afford to buy new games, so I settled for a pre-owned copy of Oblivion. I remember going to my friend's house and seeing him play his shiny new copy of Skyrim, and there I was with Oblivion. And you know what? I still loved it for what it was. It was no Skyrim, but it had a certain charm to it that I'll never forget.
Getting the Xbox 360 and oblivion on launch was truly something else. All me and my friends spoke about for ages. Shivering isles dlc is something that I will never forget playing either.
Archery in oblivion is simply awful. Magic has ways to cheese damage but you need university access to create spells. Inns and small towns also have quests. From skyrim, I see validity in your criticisms. I like oblivion's tamriel because npcs are generally more cheerful than the miserable people of skyrim. I highly recommend a leveling mod and an alter of spell creation mod.
Oblivion was my first Elder Scrolls game I actually owned and got to play as more than a friend showing me the game for a few minutes. I love it's vibe so much, especially while wandering the wilds. The music is perfect for fantasy exploration. But yeah, a lot of the systems can be obtuse and frustrating like leveling and enemy scaling. Both of which have a variety of mods to fix which make it great, but yeah. Skyrim has the most fun gameplay of the modern three, and Skyblivion can't come soon enough.
Alright I’m going to keep this spoiler free but this is my personal favorite elder scrolls game so here are some tips. Firstly, the reason things seemed harder at the end and the bows didn’t do much is because the level scaling in oblivion is…questionable at best. Technically it’s optimal to not level but that’s dumb and boring so I’ll just tell you how to be a bit more efficient with it. The leveling in this game works by granting you a level for every 10 skill increases you get among your major skills and you can then increase three attributes to increase during a level. The amount you can increase these attributes depends on how many skill increases you got in the skills that the attribute governs with each attribute other than luck having 3 skills. In order to get a +5 you need to get 10 levels among those three skills in that attribute. While you don’t need to get a 5 each level, you do want to keep in mind if you’ve gotten a good amount of skill ups before sleeping. Also health is only increased when you level and how much you get is based on endurance, so it’s usually recommended to try and get that early and often. Then if you want to be a mage I’d strongly recommend going through the mages guild until you can get to the college which requires you to get a recommendation from each cities guild (you can fast travel to every major city as you’ve likely noticed). This allows you to craft spells which makes being a mage so much more powerful and more rewarding. As a general tip with that I recommend making a touch spell with high damage so you can see what I mean. Also in general I recommend going for the guild quests because imo that’s where this game really shines, especially the dark brotherhood which has the best quest in all of elder scrolls. They also give you some pretty neat rewards that can potentially help. Then just for some more misc things, those starting quests from the sewer are all dlc that come with goty edition, making your own class is recommended but it’s best to only have about half of your major skills be important so you don’t outlevel your attributes, the loot tables get way crazier at higher levels (bandits literally get daedric armor) but they do suck at first, when you buy/sell it’s best to raise their disposition which can be done by a button at the bottom of the dialogue options which has you play a game where an npc loves/likes/dislikes/hates each option which you can tell based on their face and you want big wedges on the good ones and smaller wedges on the bad ones and then you can haggle to get better buy and sell prices since they love to gouge you in this game, and as a mage you can either supplement with a staff or with sword and shield are the best options. I’m sure a lot of this was said by others and I know it’s long, but this game really does get better as you play it and these can be nice to know before hand. If you have any other questions, please ask and I will hopefully be able to answer them.
I also played Oblivion for this first time this year and I enjoyed it for the most part but the levelling was a massive issue for me. Within the first 10 hours I got hit with a huge difficulty spike and over the course of the game I had to adjust the slider lower and lower. Also at around 80 hours or so I ran into the slow motion animation bug while trapped in an oblivion gate so I couldn’t leave and had to repair my save file with a mod so that was fun.
I have played Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim extensively, and Oblivion is the only one where I have done 100% of the quests. I literally had nothing to do but radiant quests. Though, I may actually have more hours in Skyrim, but spread across more characters.
apropos of when you said "there's little enchanted loot in oblivion," around level 4 at the 12 mins mark, enchanted loot enters the loot tables a little later-but becomes abundant-around the lvl 10 mark, which is roughly halfway into a regular playthrough: at that point you start drowning in gold
Oblivion has an issue with damage sponge enemies, ESPECIALLY at higher difficulties. And yes sadly, while you can be a mage the removal of massive amounts of spells puts a tamper on it. Also, making your own spells is often more mana efficient than the NPC ones for some reason, but they locked spell creation behind the mage's guild requiring several hours before you can do so.
Oblivion is the greatest game of all time and nobody can convince me otherwise. I was seven years old when it came out, but I have probably put more hours into it than any other game. It's far from perfect, but it was incredibly impressive for its time and although there is a bit of a learning curve, once you get into it, you realize just how much was put into creating this game.
Mannn Oblivion was my first ES game. Maybe not the best of the series, but I have such fond memories of that world, the characters and the jank lmao. Also had THE BEST DLC of any ES games, I will stand by that. You gotta make sure you play Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine Frostbreak
This is my first time commenting but I’ve been enjoying your videos. I would HIGHLY recommend the assassins guild questline. It has some of the best quests and one of the best assassination missions of all the elder scrolls games (imo).
Woah woah woah... I did NOT hear you say the magic system seemed shallow in Oblivion, right? The sole reason I prefer Oblivion over Skyrim is because of how much more advanced the magic system is! I despised the fact that Skyrim got rid of spellcrafting. Skyrim magic is so bland, and without mods to help it scale at higher levels it just falls off pretty hard.
Also, the reason your bows probably felt weak was because you skipped several levels just spamming Conjuration lol. You basically skipped leg day, but for bows.
I'm glad you mentioned the weird slight zooming in and out whenever you look around. I thought I was insane or my game was broken. The worst thing about Oblivion happens when you realise how broken the levelling is. At the start it is less noticeable but eventually everything becomes a bullet-sponge and you stop having fun. Recently I learned how to use WyreBash and spent a weekend modding it, to try and make archery actually viable. Unfortunately the modding was more fun that the game at that point, so I gave up.
The flickering must be a modern PC thing. It definitely didn't do that on the 360. Also, the meme of stealth archers started in Oblivion because of how OP it is.
I know you are going for the ol vanilla, but I would suggest that on PCs and modern hardware, you install the "Unofficial Oblivion Patch," "4GB enabler," and "Darnified UI." Makes it a little less painful especially Darnified UI. Darn does what beth should have done for the PC version as the UI was intended for console and to be viewed on a TV across the room so they made it big af.
@@FrostbreakYT Shivering Isles is a bigger expansion, think of it more like... Let's say, Dawnguard or Dragonborn, whereas the razor and the house content is more like the Skyrim AE creation club quests
@FrostbreakYT all those quests that popped up at the start are dlc. The only true quest lines are the razor, the door and the Chapel. The latter ones being full expansions. The rest are player homes and horse armor. I prefer frost crag spire because you can get custom enchants and spells early with just cash.
@@FrostbreakYT Shivering Isles is Dragonborn DLC, and Knights of the Nine is the Dawnguard DLC if you wanted a Skyrim comparison. Shivering Isles is touted as one of the best DLCs until Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine came out for The Witcher 3, but the Shivering Isles takes all of the odd decisions that Bethesda made for the game and really played into it, makes you wonder why Bethesda ever take themselves seriously when their best work is when it's a bit alien.
I think I’m roughly the same age as you. However, my intro into Elder Scrolls was Oblivion in around 2009/2010. So to see a different perspective is quite refreshing. Great video
I was working in a network room while watching your morrowind, then daggerfall, and now oblivion video. They are funny, and I don’t agree with you most of the time but I get it. Great video!
"The magic system seems shallow" oh my sweet summer child, you have no idea just how mistaken you are... Skyrim's magic system is a fecking kid's pool compared to Oblivion's! xD Also, re: quests... guilds. It's the guilds. Join all of them, you'll have more quests than you'll know what to do with.
You're half-right about magic and weaponry. A pure mage is expected to have a staff. As you felt in the beginning, destruction magic is powerful but costly. It's a lot easier to trap souls and keep a staff charged than it is to restore enough magicka to support constant nuking. Your other primary option is to exploit the spellmaking system to stack weakness effects on your target with primer spells and then blow them up with a modest spark.
hearing the magic system seems shallow for oblivion is so weird. as skyrim dumbed down magic by a large margin, but i chalk it down to just 10 hours of gameplay
It dumbed down the magic system overall, but did kinda streamline the basic elemental spells, replacing the "on touch" effects with a general continuous blast of magic from your hand. That and the clairvoyance spell were the only real unique changes that weren't straight up downgrades or removals.
In Oblivion you can create your own magical weapons. Which you can make them insanely powerful. Like so powerful, you have to be careful with them or you'll end up taking yourself out. I would make a special bow, where the arrows would explode on impact, and create a massive fireball. So as a stealth archer, I could simply fire an arrow into a room and any NPC within the room was caught in the blast of the explosion. Not surprised they didn't have that feature in Skyrim. It was very very OP.
Bro you dont know how much I love this game. Besides NFS MW this was my second game for the x360 back then. For me as a 9 year old, this was like experiencing a second reality. Prob one of my all time Favorite games ever.
In my opinion, Skyrim had better game mechanics as far as combat. But oblivion was the much better game from a writing and creativity standpoint. Better questlines, better DLC’s.
Oblivion npc interaction with eachother are my favourite out of all of the es games: Example: Valis Odil: "Hello. You haven't seen my sons, have you? They went off into the forest to fight those monsters, and I'm worried about them." Npc: "That's so sad!" Valis: "You bet!"
Oblivion was special to me. Morrowind was my first Elder Scrolls game and I had fun with that game but when Oblivion came out the graphics were awesome, gameplay felt fluid and having voice acting for all the npcs was so cool. It was a huge jump in improvement which was really cool at the time. My only issue with Oblivion was how repetitive closing the Oblivion gates got
17:55 Honestly, the damage of any weapon in Oblivion doesn't feel good, not just bows. Power attacks with melee weapons will do a little more, but it's still not great.
Although might be abit biased as Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was my first Elder Scrolls game ever played as well as first ever actual video game, but Oblivion will forever be my favourite Elder Scrolls game. Love the content!
Dude has no idea about making spells and enchanting, be patient and pursue the mages college and claim Frostcrag spire. The latter will get you some of what you're looking for pretty immediately but if you consider that cheating you can go thru the mage's guild questline for the reward at the end (no idea why it was saved for the end, tbh)
I was like 13 when I first time played oblivion in 2007. I played with cheats (I don’t know why) and never ended the main story. Returned after a few years and completed it, oblivion still have a special place in my heart
Oblivion meant so much to me as a teenager, releasing when I was 13, and I still love playing it. From a modern lens though It's a broken mess, but sometimes the pieces come together to make something beautiful.
I look forward to experiencing it even if the start was a little slow. I'm a huge fan of your videos by the way! I'm something of a completionist myself (insert norman osborne meme here)
same for me this was something i played around 12 -13 an I put hundreds of hours in
2 of my current fav youtubers? baller.
Lol Mort here, you're a real one
@@ayochill9716go outside 😂
I saw a Mudcrab the other day, but I steered clear of the thing. Nasty critters...
I do not get this reference (yet)
@@FrostbreakYTlisten to NPCs talking to each other around town. Oblivion has some of the best worst dialogue ever
@FrostbreakYT The blue plates are nice, but the brown ones seem to last longer...
@badsip They say syndicates of wizards have led a boycott of imperial goods in the land of the altmer.
@@FrostbreakYT Ohh...Goodbye
If I were to rate TES games, I'd say:
- Morrowind has the absolutely best setting, main questline and the general level of immersion
- Oblivion has the best side questlines. Thieves' Guild, the Arena and Dark Brotherhood are some of my most favorite questlines in RPG's ever.
- Skyrim has the best gameplay and is the most fun to actually play. Shame that it's dungeons and quests are so lackluster, but thankfully it's also the most modded game in the world
I don't have much experience with Oblivion yet, but I'd agree. I'm so happy Skyrim is the all-time most modded game. The gameplay is super fun and you can basically do whatever you want now even pull forward older games (Skywind, Skyblivion, Skyggerfall, etc.)
I mostly agree, except with the dungeons.
Morrowind and Oblivion dungeons are probably some of the worst dungeons and designs I have ever seen. Empty and without any storytelling to them, while each Skyrim dungeon shows what happend there and is special in some way.
I agree but I'll add that while Skyrim has the best gameplay, at least when it comes to combat, it's still pretty bad. TES really doesn't do combat well.
@@elderyaag3534 That's true, they all look great with lots of interesting visual storytelling-it's just a shame they're mostly all linear corridors. Something in between that and Oblivion's mad labyrinths would've been cool. Morrowind's dungeons were certainly routine and very simple, luckily you were regularly rewarded with cool loot or an artifact of some sort, often in the most unassuming locations (especially if you could levitate).
@@micryt. I dunno, I feel like TES combat is just fine, especially in Skyrim. Not every game has to be Dark Souls or something like that in order to have good combat.
Oh man Oblivion. You had to be there, it was absolutely mindblowing, just like Morrowind. The total freedom, the memorable quests, everything voice acted, the pure art of the OST, the (at the time, for an open world) incredible graphics and physics, the radiant AI craziness, the mods...and The Shivering Isles! I build a pc just for this game, played it for like 2 years straight. Still play it.
i came in from skyrim and ended up liking it more tbh
You said it better than I did. I feel the same way.
Shivering Isles is the highlight of this game. I remember replaying this to exclusively play that.
I know you're going to hear this a lot. The mages guild, thieves guild, and the dark brotherhood are all amazing questlines that take you on a huge adventure. Magic is seemingly shallow when you look at the spells you're able to buy or find in the world (with fingers of the mountain being one of the only good ones), it is best used as a supplement to regular combat. When you start doing the mages guild, you will quickly find out that members of the University can build their own spells and enchant their own gear, which makes magic go from being mid, to being pretty awesome and fun and even potentially busted depending on what you make. That being said, the questline to even be accepted into the university is a four hour endeavor of going to every guild hall in Cyrodiil and getting a recommendation, each of these being an extremely in depth and fun quest on their own, so when you finally unlock the ability to make spells and magic item, it feels really earned....and even then, you're only like halfway done with the mages guild questline and there's so much more to do so when you finally reach the end, it feels like you earned it. It was a stark contrast to Skyrim's mages guild basically being "well everyone else is dead so I guess you're archmage now" quest that was just one dungeon delve after another, and didn't require any magic at all to complete.
Thieves guild is 10/10, assassins guild 10/10. Fighters guild and Arena are lame and mid. All daedra shrine quests are awesome. There's also a ton of quests around, just ask people about rumors when you talk to them in towns and they will point you to people of interest. Most of them are really good. The main quest is okay but it really pales in comparison to Oblivion's side content. Also Shivering Isles? Sooo good.
We found him, lads. The single person who likes the Oblivion mages guild.
Well said. The Fighters Guild does get a bonus point from me though, for putting a spin on The Standard Rat Stomp Quest. I had a Main Quest delayer mod installed in one of my playthroughs where you arrive by ship in Anvil, so joining the Fighters Guild there that was my first quest. Even knowing what was coming it was fitting and hilarious.
Arena is alot of fun, otherwise I agree. The guilds are way better than the main quest in Oblivion
Good to know. I'm glad you agree with my early impressions of magic being supplementary, but I'm also glad it improves! Thank you for the write up. Does Mehrunes Dagon have 2 shrines? Why was I given one at the start? I've done lots of NPC conversation but have yet to find any meaningful quests (not fetch quests). As I said in the video; after almost 8 hours I'd gotten like 2-3 "real" quests which was low compared to other TES games.
@@FrostbreakYT Dagon doesn't have a shrine in base game, you got the one at the start because of the DLC. It's the same with the old fallout games too (new vegas, fallout 3) when you get the GOTY version with all the DLC and you get bombarded with quests or items after leaving the tutorial area lmao.
Oblivion is peak because the NPCs were so beyond their time, they were broken
Hi, Hello, Bye, Goodbye, Hi!
Spoiler: there's an NPC that steals forks. If you don't meet them soon enough, they will get killed by guards when they are inevitably caught stealing. They even get a grave after they die, regardless of if you meet them and get a small side quest or not.
I also dropped one of the main books on my first character as a kid and couldn't continue the main quest. After literally months of trying, I had to make a new file. RIP my dark elf.
Thanks for the content!
The coolest thing imo was the shaman staves can be used to actually cause an actual war between the goblins
@@FrostbreakYT Good day! Have you heard about the High Elves? I don't want to talk about that! Get lost!!
@nighttimestalker
I don’t think that mechanic is actually functional without mods
cant wait for the next 10 hours man
Glad to hear it :)
@@FrostbreakYT please do finish it! I want to see your reaction of what bandits are now wearing once you're at level 20.
Getting gaslit deja vu from the skyblivion trailer is so funny
I was SO relieved when I figured out what it was. This was recorded over the course of a few days and one night I saw a skybilivion video and immediately knew what it was!
I had the exact same experience, never played Oblivion but somehow new that area the second it came up. Then he started talking about his deja vu and I was like “yeah me too! Wait wtf..” it was bewildering for a moment.
Skyrim was my first elder scrolls game and i thought it was the best game id ever played, then I tried oblivion and fell head over heels twice as hard. EsIV just does something for me. Love it
What some people view as polish other people view as raw pure freedom. Early game is slow, he'll warm up once he sees more of the game for sure.
Him saying diamond over pearl made me realize he's my favorite TH-camr
Diamond will always rein supreme.
@@FrostbreakYTonly an adult brain will realize palkia controls space, which dominates time. Because you can have space without time. But time without space is basically nothing.
@@dudewhyevenaskfacts time is subjective space is objective. Space can exist without time.
Saying magic feels secondary in oblivion compared to skyrim is a kin of weird thing to see with how often people say skyrim has dumbed down magic compared to oblivion and morrowind.
He didn't even join the mages guild, he literally has no idea how much fun magic can be
Yeah he just hasnt discovered how incredible magic was in Oblivion. It is SO much more rewarding and customizable to what you want in Oblivion. If he continues to play I'm sure he will figure it out. I dont want to spoil it for him though.
with all due respect, this channel gives so much credit to the "skybaby" slur it's insane
13:32 - Okay, that's interesting because when I played, I got bombarded with them often. You just talk to every NPC you see and you shouldn't have problems with that. Join a guild and you're set.
Yep, there is lots of radiant quests but you either need to start doing them directly (sometimes by accident) or ask for "Rumors" to every NPC and they will often give you an indication of who you need to speak, investigate or a new location (like a shrine)
You can craft your own spells, it’s just a lengthy process. Definitely worth it though. There are some insanely fun quests in this game. One is where you get a house for insanely cheap because it’s haunted!!! That’s as much as I’ll say because I really like that quest. Also the Brotherhood quest is awesome. And the Knights of the Nine quest.
Nay to knights of the nine. How could you not mention shivering isles?
@@zonty2362 I like the Knights of the Nine quest! I left out quite a few I think, but Shivering Isles is definitely great.
@@6O8gamer07 Shivering Isles is so much better than KotN... Like leagues above.
@ I’m not sure where I disputed the quality of Shivering Isles.
To me, Oblivion is special, primarily because of the time it was released. Nowadays, when we think of RPGs, countless titles come to mind with similar concepts or approaches. Even Skyrim is a direct evolution of many ideas introduced in Oblivion. But back then? It was a completely different story.
I was 10 years old when I played Oblivion in 2007, and I vividly remember the sense of freedom it provided - something I had never experienced before. The closest comparison I had was GTA: San Andreas, but even GTA couldn't come close to the feeling that Oblivion delivered.
Of course, Oblivion has its flaws. The repetitive dungeons, for instance, are a common complaint. Yet, for its time, it was revolutionary. The character creation system, despite being the subject of many memes, was incredibly advanced and functional for 2006. Few games offered that level of customization: you could adjust every detail of the face, choose from a variety of races, modify hair length, and even tweak colors for different facial features. It was insane - in the best way possible.
Another standout for me was the immersion. There’s something about Oblivion that still pulls me into its world. Maybe it’s the way the side quests are crafted. The Dark Brotherhood, for example, requires you to complete missions in far more creative and specific ways than any other game in the series. Or the Mages Guild, which transforms the process of joining into a grand journey. You didn’t just “sign up” - you earned your place, and the game made sure you felt that.
I’ll admit that Oblivion hasn’t aged all that well in some areas, especially its leveling system, which is notoriously flawed. Even so, it remains my favorite Elder Scrolls game. I love Skyrim. I love The Elder Scrolls Online. But Oblivion holds a special place in my heart. A bigger one. Maybe it’s nostalgia. Maybe. But in the end, it’s just love.
The magic system in Oblivion is one of the most complex and powerful in the franchise. However, it’s challenging to fully dive into. The issue is that it’s a system so powerful it almost "breaks the game," but it’s incredibly counterintuitive. It took me nearly 15 years to finally decide to create a full-fledged mage because of this. Leveling the "wrong way" can be extremely punishing for players.
It’s funny-I also find it less rewarding than in Skyrim because it works so differently... but at the same time, I find it more fun. I’m not sure why, but I have vivid memories of quickly shooting arrows while making massive jumps. That’s because leveling in Oblivion actually impacts gameplay to such a degree: the more you jump, the higher your jumps; the more you shoot, the faster you shoot. You become quicker, allowing you to escape and fire arrows at an increasing pace. It felt much more like, "I’m an elven archer firing arrows rapidly in the heat of battle," and less like, "I’m a stealthy archer who takes down enemies with a single shot," you know?
@@FabresFour Thank you for that comment that's really well said! I don't plan on giving up on magic quite yet, but it does feel like it was a second-thought (spells bound to a keybind, not wielded, almost like a bonus-action rather than a "staple" of combat). I'm glad you say archery improves; in both Skyrim and Morrowind I could feel myself getting stronger at archery; but in this game (and looking back on older footage) it doesn't look like anything improved.
I've heard the magic in this game is really great; I personally, have yet to see that. Obviously I'm just scratching the tip of the iceberg with 10 hours - but Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Skyrim all have more impressive systems in a fraction of the time played. Just my impressions as a new player obviously, but I hope you're right
Thinking that Oblivion is redundant because of Skyrim of all things is WILD xD
I know right? Oblivion has so much depth to it whereas Skyrim is really just a massive yet empty game
@ Yeah Morrowind is my favorite in the series but I also really appreciate Oblivion. It might not be as much like a traditional RPG mechanic wise but there is still a lot of great world building etc. and there are still RPG elements unlike Skyrim where they stripped almost all of it away or at least dumbed it down.
Only thing that is disappointing about Oblivion to me is that they favored leaning into LOTR instead of sticking to cannon Cyrodiills jungles and Mediterranean/Latin style.
@@Seto1997 my guess would be limited technology probably made it easier to keep it simple. Id pay so much money to see oblivion remade from scratch with todays technology but also have the passion it was given back then
@@kyle21843 I don’t think there is much concrete evidence about the reason for the change but if you read in game books or talk to in game NPCs in TES I-III they describe many parts of inland Cyrodiil as jungle. But then in TES IV-V it is mostly grassland and hills, the Imperial culture also changes a lot to a more traditional medieval fantasy rather than jungle Romans.
I personally find original lore Cyrodiil/Imperials much more interesting and nuanced but I still like Oblivion for what it is.
@@Seto1997this is explained in-lore
"kind of looks like my uncle" - remembers the uncle, sighs - "that's fcuked up".
hope my family never find this video. They'll know exactly who I'm talking about xD
One of the things you may not realise is that the Cyrodiil you see here is VASTLY different from what was mentioned in the older lore (Morrowind and before).
In the pocket guide of the Empire, Cyrodiil was a massive jungle. The Imperial City was Rome meets Imperial China. There should be rice fields all over, as well as minarets. It's legitimately one of the more interesting things you see in fantasy. It is a city of a Thousand Cults. Moth priests roam the land like pilgrims. Sure, some of the pocket guide is just outright propaganda, but the old Cyrodiil was much more vibrant and alien. You know, like Morrowind.
But then Peter Jackson's LOTR movie came out and Todd changed the direction to something more European. There is literally a quote from Michael Kirkbride (the genius who wrote the 36 Lessons of Vivec) confirming this.
Because of this lore change, people are still upset we didn't get Jungle Cyrodiil. I'm a Skybaby myself and I'm upset about it! Some may cite that the early consoles can't handle lush jungles, but I think that's nonsense. Real forests are extremely dense too but all game worlds are designed for the player first.
Either way, this is something you should deff look into. There's subreddits like r/teslore that got deep into this.
I don't hate Oblivion because of this, personally I think it has the funnest game design that is better than both Morrowind and Skyrim, but it is a huge missed opportunity.
Anyway, fantastic video as always.
Yeah Cyrodiil plays the part of the central lands having pretty much all terrain and biome types, mostly jungle due to being surrounded by Valenwood, black marsh, morrowind etc. shame they made it un-unique stereotypical fantasy setting
I've always heard about Cyrodiil being covered in Jungle in the lore. It's not in ESO and it's not in this game either; so I assumed it was a long time ago but never knew that backstory! It seems they changed a lot to fit with more LOTR themed aesthetic. Like how Orcish armor was this super elegant gold and silver masterpieces; but in the newer games it's basically the Uruk-hai armor which is almost a stark opposite.
@@FrostbreakYT Disclaimer: I have not played ESO. But I do remember on said subreddit that when Tiber Septim became Talos, he retroactively turned the jungle into a forest. It's a theory floated around, but I'm not sure how true it is. Hang around enough ES lorebeards and things can get philosophical.
For the longest time, ES didn't have a dedicated lore keeper or even lore bible with them because, to their understanding, real history is convoluted as well so why bother, the contradictions are the point. However when they made ESO, Lawrence Shick took up the job. He has retired half a decade ago and I'm unsure who's the current lorekeeper on ESO.
@@pendantblade6361 fascinating. Didn’t know that but tracks with other retrospectives that this game was supposed to be a lot of things but technical limitations of a brand new untested generation of hardware left the game stripped down.
@@pendantblade6361actually if you pay attention to Heimskr’s rant in Skyrim (and I never did) it implicitly mentions that Tales transformed the jungle of Cyrodil to better serve his people
When Oblivion came out it was far better than every game made up to that point. Nothing was spoiled for me. I saw Grey Gox posters and didn't know it would be part of the game until I joined. This was the most fun I ever had in a game.
Definitely play more oblivion. Maybe try the dark brotherhood questline, it's basically the best oblivion has to offer
For me the best part was the Shivering Isles DLC as a whole. I'm not a fan of the brotherhood, but I do agree that the story and experience there is one of a kind and might indeed be a must have ;P
I can't get enough of Oblivion. I played it cuz of the memes and now it's my favorite game of all time 😂
Still waiting for the "STOP, you have violated the law"
I still play this way more than Skyrim.
Having all the dlc initiate when you first start is so disorienting
Love your videos man. Inspiring me to play the Elder Scrolls that I haven't played and its been a blast, keep it up and can't wait for the next!
Thanks, will do!
"I'm not sure oblivion has level scaling"
... oh no
Yeah oblivion has level scaling. It's the bad kind of level scaling too, where you have to pre-emptively know about it and train your character based combat-orientedly. Your character level defines how strong monsters you encounter much like Skyrim, but Oblivion still has stats that define your hp / mp / stamina growth. You can end up with a character with 100 smithing that has grown like 5 hp during all the level ups.
Bro I’m actually surprised you’ve never played oblivion, mankar camoran is one of the most interesting characters in TES lore.
Oblivion > Literally every other Scrolls game ever made. No argument.
All those quests you got immediately are DLC, yes. Also, the worst thing about Oblivion is the level scaling - which you’ll start to see as you progress. Overall, I do believe it’s a much better game than Skyrim. Worse combat and magic, sure - but the quests, writing, and characters are incredible, and better than any game in the series (I say this as someone who liked Morrowind best overall). If you want to experience that, just pick a town, and explore / ask around until you start to get all the quests in that town. Each city has its own flavor and set of quests that are very memorable. And then of course, make sure you do the Dark Brotherhood. Best part of the game. Maybe the best quest line in any TES game :)
Nah ESO’s Dark Brotherhood is miles better than Oblivion’s.
@ lol that’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard my guy
I can’t even put it into words how fucking excited I am for skyblivion to come out
I've been waiting for this! Great content as always man :)
Appreciate 'ya :)
I am digging this video. There is so much for you to learn about. It's technically possible to Max your character by making sure you get the plus 5 to each stat before leveling. I love the Amber light armor. Blocking with shields helps a lot when you go inside the oblivion gates. MUCH more to see in this game!
Oblivion was my first TES-game, and my first foray into open world RPGs, so it will forever hold a special place in my heart. That doesn't mean I am blind to it's weak spots, but it seems to me you spent too much time on DLCs (yes, those were DLCs) and too little time in the actual game. There are tons of quests to find and explore within the main game.
I spent about 10 hours playing. Idk what was DLC (Dagon + Player house thing?) but that was less than 20% of my time. Idk I spoke to loads of NPCs, maybe I got unlucky. No one had stuff for me to do. Much less than Morrowind, Skyrim, and even Daggerfall.
How did you post this comment 19h early?
@@guest6926Member early access
That's my 'gripe' with his recent content. Frostbeak stood out to me because he used to be all about 100% completing content like ESO. His recent videos about Daggerfall and Morrowind are the polar opposite of that I feel.
@@hondsdollekat there are only so many hours in a day.
Seeing age 6-24 made me feel old.
I born under the second moon of the new millennium am one of the ancient ones.
The elder zoomers.
6-24 back in 2021* Meaning these days, the oldest Zoomers, like myself, are 27
Make sure you go to Anvil and do the haunted house quest so you get the best house in the game, Benirus Manor
The magic system is a little deeper with the player being able to make spells of there own. The only problem is that it's locked behind a questline and if you have no idea about it, or the questline, then you can miss it entirely. IIRC you need to get a letter of recommendation from the other mage schools of each town and then you can go to the capital and join the mages guild.
Modern gaming: "Git good"
90's-Y2k gaming: "Figure it out. Oh and then Git gud."
The DLC for the mage house lets you get access to spellcrafting altars pretty easily.
Shivering Isles
Knights of the Nine
Mehrunes Razor
The player homes: Vile Lair, Wizard's Tower, Thieves' Den, and Fighter's Stronghold
Orrery
Horse Armor
Spell Tomes
All of the above are DLC.
Ironically The Elven horse Armor is known for being one of the first major payed cosmetic DLC's for a major AAA title at the time. I'm sure there were others, but this was the first of note. This paved the way for many more Cosmetic DLC's. i believe there are memes about it. the rest is history.
spent my morning watching your morrowind videos. So happy to see this after lunch.
Wow that's good timing! Hope you enjoyed :)
Just want to say i recently found your channel and i truly love everything you do. I think it’s absolutely great and i hope you’re proud of it. I genuinely look forward to all the vids to come. Keep it up!! :)
Oblivion has the best mage system in all of the elder scrolls. You can create your own spells. You gotta join the mage guild and then it’s a thing in the back.
The thieves guild quest line in this game is probably one of the greatest Elder Scrolls quest lines ever made
The Dark Brotherhood questline would like to humbly challenge the Thieves Guild Questline to a boxing match. (They're both great.)
The older i get the more i appreciate Oblivion, i have played over 40 hours on my current (2nd character)
damn. That's a lot of time on one character. Most I've ever sunk on one was in Skyrim, think I had 120+
@FrostbreakYT Playing on the 360 helps alot, i even managed to sink 190 hours on my last skyrim character.
On pc i can play for like 10 hours max before starting a new character and adding new mods
@@FrostbreakYT I easily sank over 1500 hours into Oblivion just on the 360. Bought it again for PC but sadly I prefer playing with a controller and it never got native controller support on PC.
I have just recently found your channel (like 2 or 3 days ago) and i just want to say that i am really enjoying your videos, they are entertaining, informing and the fact that you can make me have such an urge to play these games (which i have always struggled to get into, even skyrim) is telling as to just how entertaining your work is. Thank you, and keep up the good work. Cheers 🍻.
ya same
Oblivion > skyrim
The levitation ban sucks, but punches actually work
For reference a good way to make a custom class in Oblivion is this
- an armor type
- armorer since you'll be repairing it
- sneak, it makes life easier
- a weapon type whether it be blade or blunted weapons
The next three can be whatever you like but I always pick restoration, alteration, and then the last one I experiment with. This helps you make a pretty viable class
Also magic is super powerful in Oblivion but you have to really invest into it. Once you've leveled it up a bit and are in the Arcane University, you can really make some crazy shit. You're just scratching the surface my guy. There is so much you have you to experience in this game you can't possibly say that this games mechanics are secondary to Skyrim of all games
Not always, it's best to put in some skills you don't really use, this is to help increase attributes when levelling. At least 2 of my somewhat most used skills I don't select so I can increase attributes without levelling to get them juicy +5s
Don’t neglect the Arena. 😁
o7
@@FrostbreakYT get the Camera Chase mod, it fixes the motion drift!
playing Oblivion for the first time only a few months ago gave me a new perspective on the series. It was amazing to see just how similarly Skyrim and Oblivion play, to the point where it genuinly puzzles me how people keep claiming Skyrim was the one that "dumbed down" the roleplaying, when Oblivion clearly did most of the work.
going from level 4 to 10 is what made those dwarven shit appear so suddenly
ah gotcha. And from what other people say, the leveling in this game is brutal. Some people stay at level 1 because it's so much easier than leveling up so I may have screwed myself with the power leveling.
@@FrostbreakYT no not really if you weren't dying or barely doing damage you're fine. If you power leveled to 20 you might have had issues. You also didn't do the arena though. Scroll duping is also fun .
@@FrostbreakYT Yeah, I cringed a bit knowing that you were only getting the +5 to that one attribute from just spamming Conjuring. The real trick to min-maxing involves making your preferred skills as secondary ones so that you DON'T level up from spamming them. So that you can get in levels on other skills to get points so you can decide when it's the right time to level up.
The magic system gets better when you can start crafting spells... which isn't a great way to have set it up, but oh well.
Am I close to spellcrafting? Don't tell me if it's a spoiler though :)
@@FrostbreakYT It has been so long since I played I honestly forget how long it takes, but you get access to the spellmaking altar through the mages guild.
@FrostbreakYT Go do the mages guild quest line, you’ll get it around the mid of the quests. On the other hand, if you don’t do the mages guild quest line, you won’t be able to access the spell crafting unless you do one of the player home quest (the one near Bruma if I remember correctly
On a side note, if youre still doing ESO, the recent expansion also allows you to do a little spell crafting, albeit a bit more restricted.
Oh and love your vids Frost! Keep up the good work!
@@FrostbreakYTMages Guild has a spell altar that you can create custom spells with however you need the recommendations from each mages guild in every city first. However you have the Frostcrag Spire DLC (one of the many quests that popped up at the beginning) which gives you a Spell Altar but you just need to buy the candles and stuff from the Imperial City. Thus gives you the ability to skip the Mages guild if you want. But the mages guild offers a lot of spells you can purchase from members and requires a certain level to cast them depending on which magic branch/tree.
I remember buying Oblivion after Skyrim had come out. I couldn't afford to buy new games, so I settled for a pre-owned copy of Oblivion. I remember going to my friend's house and seeing him play his shiny new copy of Skyrim, and there I was with Oblivion. And you know what? I still loved it for what it was. It was no Skyrim, but it had a certain charm to it that I'll never forget.
Getting the Xbox 360 and oblivion on launch was truly something else. All me and my friends spoke about for ages. Shivering isles dlc is something that I will never forget playing either.
Man.. the radiant AI was truly something special to behold lol
Archery in oblivion is simply awful. Magic has ways to cheese damage but you need university access to create spells. Inns and small towns also have quests. From skyrim, I see validity in your criticisms. I like oblivion's tamriel because npcs are generally more cheerful than the miserable people of skyrim. I highly recommend a leveling mod and an alter of spell creation mod.
Mages guild questline let's you create your own spells. Give that a shot if you wanna dabble in everything magic has to offer in oblivion
I used to not like Oblivion that much when it came out, but I grew to love it. It's now my favorite Elder Scrolls game
Oblivion was my first Elder Scrolls game I actually owned and got to play as more than a friend showing me the game for a few minutes. I love it's vibe so much, especially while wandering the wilds. The music is perfect for fantasy exploration. But yeah, a lot of the systems can be obtuse and frustrating like leveling and enemy scaling. Both of which have a variety of mods to fix which make it great, but yeah. Skyrim has the most fun gameplay of the modern three, and Skyblivion can't come soon enough.
Alright I’m going to keep this spoiler free but this is my personal favorite elder scrolls game so here are some tips.
Firstly, the reason things seemed harder at the end and the bows didn’t do much is because the level scaling in oblivion is…questionable at best. Technically it’s optimal to not level but that’s dumb and boring so I’ll just tell you how to be a bit more efficient with it. The leveling in this game works by granting you a level for every 10 skill increases you get among your major skills and you can then increase three attributes to increase during a level. The amount you can increase these attributes depends on how many skill increases you got in the skills that the attribute governs with each attribute other than luck having 3 skills. In order to get a +5 you need to get 10 levels among those three skills in that attribute. While you don’t need to get a 5 each level, you do want to keep in mind if you’ve gotten a good amount of skill ups before sleeping. Also health is only increased when you level and how much you get is based on endurance, so it’s usually recommended to try and get that early and often.
Then if you want to be a mage I’d strongly recommend going through the mages guild until you can get to the college which requires you to get a recommendation from each cities guild (you can fast travel to every major city as you’ve likely noticed). This allows you to craft spells which makes being a mage so much more powerful and more rewarding. As a general tip with that I recommend making a touch spell with high damage so you can see what I mean.
Also in general I recommend going for the guild quests because imo that’s where this game really shines, especially the dark brotherhood which has the best quest in all of elder scrolls. They also give you some pretty neat rewards that can potentially help.
Then just for some more misc things, those starting quests from the sewer are all dlc that come with goty edition, making your own class is recommended but it’s best to only have about half of your major skills be important so you don’t outlevel your attributes, the loot tables get way crazier at higher levels (bandits literally get daedric armor) but they do suck at first, when you buy/sell it’s best to raise their disposition which can be done by a button at the bottom of the dialogue options which has you play a game where an npc loves/likes/dislikes/hates each option which you can tell based on their face and you want big wedges on the good ones and smaller wedges on the bad ones and then you can haggle to get better buy and sell prices since they love to gouge you in this game, and as a mage you can either supplement with a staff or with sword and shield are the best options.
I’m sure a lot of this was said by others and I know it’s long, but this game really does get better as you play it and these can be nice to know before hand. If you have any other questions, please ask and I will hopefully be able to answer them.
I also played Oblivion for this first time this year and I enjoyed it for the most part but the levelling was a massive issue for me.
Within the first 10 hours I got hit with a huge difficulty spike and over the course of the game I had to adjust the slider lower and lower.
Also at around 80 hours or so I ran into the slow motion animation bug while trapped in an oblivion gate so I couldn’t leave and had to repair my save file with a mod so that was fun.
It's wild to me that this and Skyrim came out on the Xbox 360. Absolutely wild how far they went on that hardware
If we are lucky there will be Skyblivion out this year :D
Oblivion is Peak elder scrolls, everything from there wasnt as good as that. But still i like Skyrim and eso very much.
I have played Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim extensively, and Oblivion is the only one where I have done 100% of the quests. I literally had nothing to do but radiant quests. Though, I may actually have more hours in Skyrim, but spread across more characters.
apropos of when you said "there's little enchanted loot in oblivion," around level 4 at the 12 mins mark, enchanted loot enters the loot tables a little later-but becomes abundant-around the lvl 10 mark, which is roughly halfway into a regular playthrough: at that point you start drowning in gold
Oblivion has an issue with damage sponge enemies, ESPECIALLY at higher difficulties. And yes sadly, while you can be a mage the removal of massive amounts of spells puts a tamper on it.
Also, making your own spells is often more mana efficient than the NPC ones for some reason, but they locked spell creation behind the mage's guild requiring several hours before you can do so.
I'm happy for you 🎉 this was the game that made me fall in love with video games.
Oblivion is the greatest game of all time and nobody can convince me otherwise. I was seven years old when it came out, but I have probably put more hours into it than any other game. It's far from perfect, but it was incredibly impressive for its time and although there is a bit of a learning curve, once you get into it, you realize just how much was put into creating this game.
Mannn Oblivion was my first ES game. Maybe not the best of the series, but I have such fond memories of that world, the characters and the jank lmao.
Also had THE BEST DLC of any ES games, I will stand by that. You gotta make sure you play Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine Frostbreak
This is my first time commenting but I’ve been enjoying your videos. I would HIGHLY recommend the assassins guild questline. It has some of the best quests and one of the best assassination missions of all the elder scrolls games (imo).
"it's you - the face from my dreams"
as if the emperor hasnt suffered enough lololol
More! I just subscribed to your channel this week and I’m thoroughly enjoying it!
Awesome! Thank you!
Woah woah woah... I did NOT hear you say the magic system seemed shallow in Oblivion, right? The sole reason I prefer Oblivion over Skyrim is because of how much more advanced the magic system is! I despised the fact that Skyrim got rid of spellcrafting. Skyrim magic is so bland, and without mods to help it scale at higher levels it just falls off pretty hard.
Also, the reason your bows probably felt weak was because you skipped several levels just spamming Conjuration lol. You basically skipped leg day, but for bows.
He didn't play the game
As much as I love Skyrim, Oblivion will always be my favorite.
I'm glad you mentioned the weird slight zooming in and out whenever you look around. I thought I was insane or my game was broken.
The worst thing about Oblivion happens when you realise how broken the levelling is. At the start it is less noticeable but eventually everything becomes a bullet-sponge and you stop having fun.
Recently I learned how to use WyreBash and spent a weekend modding it, to try and make archery actually viable. Unfortunately the modding was more fun that the game at that point, so I gave up.
thank god it wasn't just me. I thought I also broke something lol
The flickering must be a modern PC thing. It definitely didn't do that on the 360.
Also, the meme of stealth archers started in Oblivion because of how OP it is.
Yooo. Finally you played Oblivion. My absolute fav game of all time.
I know you are going for the ol vanilla, but I would suggest that on PCs and modern hardware, you install the "Unofficial Oblivion Patch," "4GB enabler," and "Darnified UI." Makes it a little less painful especially Darnified UI. Darn does what beth should have done for the PC version as the UI was intended for console and to be viewed on a TV across the room so they made it big af.
Looking forward to you doing the shivering isles. Its the sequel morrowind deserved.
Oh right, how many DLC are there in this game? Are they large? I think the Mehrunes Razor quest I did was DLC but that only took like an hour or so
@@FrostbreakYT Shivering Isles is a bigger expansion, think of it more like... Let's say, Dawnguard or Dragonborn, whereas the razor and the house content is more like the Skyrim AE creation club quests
@FrostbreakYT all those quests that popped up at the start are dlc. The only true quest lines are the razor, the door and the Chapel. The latter ones being full expansions. The rest are player homes and horse armor. I prefer frost crag spire because you can get custom enchants and spells early with just cash.
I recommend limiting your level ups too. I prefer dnd rules where you only level up after significant events.
@@FrostbreakYT Shivering Isles is Dragonborn DLC, and Knights of the Nine is the Dawnguard DLC if you wanted a Skyrim comparison. Shivering Isles is touted as one of the best DLCs until Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine came out for The Witcher 3, but the Shivering Isles takes all of the odd decisions that Bethesda made for the game and really played into it, makes you wonder why Bethesda ever take themselves seriously when their best work is when it's a bit alien.
I think I’m roughly the same age as you. However, my intro into Elder Scrolls was Oblivion in around 2009/2010. So to see a different perspective is quite refreshing. Great video
I was working in a network room while watching your morrowind, then daggerfall, and now oblivion video. They are funny, and I don’t agree with you most of the time but I get it. Great video!
"The magic system seems shallow" oh my sweet summer child, you have no idea just how mistaken you are... Skyrim's magic system is a fecking kid's pool compared to Oblivion's! xD
Also, re: quests... guilds. It's the guilds. Join all of them, you'll have more quests than you'll know what to do with.
Oblivion is great but man a few mods go a long way... Such as improved faces. Also magic is OP once you start making your own spells.
You're half-right about magic and weaponry. A pure mage is expected to have a staff. As you felt in the beginning, destruction magic is powerful but costly. It's a lot easier to trap souls and keep a staff charged than it is to restore enough magicka to support constant nuking. Your other primary option is to exploit the spellmaking system to stack weakness effects on your target with primer spells and then blow them up with a modest spark.
grew up on this game, to hear that there was no quests to be found is crazy.. and yet you do a quest ive never done before
hearing the magic system seems shallow for oblivion is so weird. as skyrim dumbed down magic by a large margin, but i chalk it down to just 10 hours of gameplay
It dumbed down the magic system overall, but did kinda streamline the basic elemental spells, replacing the "on touch" effects with a general continuous blast of magic from your hand. That and the clairvoyance spell were the only real unique changes that weren't straight up downgrades or removals.
After all my playthroughs of Oblivion, last night I picked up the Helmet of Night Eye. Game changer!
In Oblivion you can create your own magical weapons. Which you can make them insanely powerful. Like so powerful, you have to be careful with them or you'll end up taking yourself out. I would make a special bow, where the arrows would explode on impact, and create a massive fireball. So as a stealth archer, I could simply fire an arrow into a room and any NPC within the room was caught in the blast of the explosion. Not surprised they didn't have that feature in Skyrim. It was very very OP.
Bro you dont know how much I love this game. Besides NFS MW this was my second game for the x360 back then. For me as a 9 year old, this was like experiencing a second reality. Prob one of my all time Favorite games ever.
Do questlines, and it will click: Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, Mages Guild, Knights of the Nine, hell - even the Main Questline. It will click.
In my opinion, Skyrim had better game mechanics as far as combat. But oblivion was the much better game from a writing and creativity standpoint. Better questlines, better DLC’s.
Oblivion npc interaction with eachother are my favourite out of all of the es games:
Example:
Valis Odil: "Hello. You haven't seen my sons, have you? They went off into the forest to fight those monsters, and I'm worried about them."
Npc: "That's so sad!"
Valis: "You bet!"
Oblivion was special to me. Morrowind was my first Elder Scrolls game and I had fun with that game but when Oblivion came out the graphics were awesome, gameplay felt fluid and having voice acting for all the npcs was so cool. It was a huge jump in improvement which was really cool at the time. My only issue with Oblivion was how repetitive closing the Oblivion gates got
17:55 Honestly, the damage of any weapon in Oblivion doesn't feel good, not just bows. Power attacks with melee weapons will do a little more, but it's still not great.
"Just had to shake myself hard enough."
But remember, more than two shakes, you're playing with yourself
"Magic feels secondary"... That's maybe the worst take I heard on this game
Although might be abit biased as Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was my first Elder Scrolls game ever played as well as first ever actual video game, but Oblivion will forever be my favourite Elder Scrolls game. Love the content!
Another great video
Thank you KingCouch :)
The best elder scrolls to exist from the graphics to characters designs to magic spells to ncp chatter to the story/sidequest
1:10 Jeremy Soule is amazing. I fall asleep to the "explore" tracks from this game all the time.
Dude has no idea about making spells and enchanting, be patient and pursue the mages college and claim Frostcrag spire. The latter will get you some of what you're looking for pretty immediately but if you consider that cheating you can go thru the mage's guild questline for the reward at the end (no idea why it was saved for the end, tbh)
I was like 13 when I first time played oblivion in 2007. I played with cheats (I don’t know why) and never ended the main story. Returned after a few years and completed it, oblivion still have a special place in my heart
As someone who played Morrowind since it's release (im old) everyone makes the nightmare fuel face in Oblivion