LET'S PLAY: OBLIVION

In case you like soundtracks to your LP's, this is the youtube video for you.

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I have only closed one Oblivion gate over the past two years. There are some cities in Cyrodiil that I've only visited once. I've never played a real rogue-type character and I've never advanced past level eight. I barely know how Oblivion works, even though I bet I've put over 100 hours total in the game so far.

That all changes now.

Welcome to Craze's TES IV: OBLIVION Let's Play. I'll be posting annotated screenshots of my adventures and mishaps as a usually chaotic good Argonian rogue/mage hybrid.


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Mod List (WIP)
Potentially all of the mods being used!

Major Game Overhauls
-AF Leveling Mod by Auryn & Fraktyl: This awesome mod makes leveling happen in the background. I have it set that after I gain seven attribute increases by gaining enough skill levels, I get to choose three +1 boosts at the normal level-up screen (and you don't need to sleep to make it pop up - it happens immediately!).

Other Gameplay Changes
-Attack and Hide by ???: I don't know how this plays with the stealth overhaul, but it essentially cleans up sightlines and psychic enemy AI.
-Enhanced Grabbing by shadeMe: Makes NPCs react to you trashing their homes, lets you look at stuff without auto-theft, is generally cool.

Item Additions
-Dwemer Skyship by Lots of People: It's an airship. I haven't seen it yet!
-Runeskulls by Exnem: I guess these are one-shot enchantments? I don't know if they work with OOO since OOO un-randomizes a lot of drops/chests, but we'll see if I find any later on!

Immersive and/or Useful Graphic/Audio Changes
-Darker Dungeons/Nights by Teenk: As shown in Chapter I, this makes the game world darker. Starlight/Night Eye spells and torches/illumination staves are much, much more important.
-DarNified Dark UI/BTMod by Lots of People: Plain ol' BTMod vastly improves the layout/size of the menu - you can fit 4x or more items on the screen at once. This is a must-have; the DarNified and Dark versions are optional but I find that they're a nice change (although I don't use that tiny 'immersive' HUD. Gross!).
-RAEVWD + Other LOD Mods by Lots of People: Really Almost Everything Viewable When Distant, alongside about 50 little texture replacements (and when I say "little" I mean "big") make far-away areas look 100x better than vanilla Oblivion. It is amazing to see a ruin in the far distance - or even that tower two hundred yards away. Not good for wimpy computers but it runs just fine on my 512mb GeForce 9800M GS-equipped laptop. I put this under "immersive/useful" audiovisual changes because it adds even more of the "oh look, I can GO THERE!" aspect to Oblivion. It's also pretty much essential if you want to play without the map and/or compass.

Cosmetic Graphic/Audio Changes
-Cyrodiil Terrain Color Map by Whisselj: Replaces the ugly monochrome default map with a gorgeous colored topographic map. <3
-Enhanced Water by LprMan: Makes water prettier.
-Natural Enviornment + Add-ons (except water) by Max Tael: You want butterflies, storms, rainbows, squirrels, and about 500 other things? This is a very nifty mod if your computer can handle it.
-Oblivion Stereo Sound Overhaul by canderoc: Nowhere near necessary, but prepare to jump the next time you hear a thunderstorm.
-Qarl's Texture Pack III: 2048x2048 resolution textures for almost everything in the game world except flora and objects/creatures/NPCs. It is incredible if you have the computer for it.
-Replacement Title Screen Movie by ???: Because you can only watch that map a few hundred times before it gets boring.
-Trees and Flora by ???: I use both this and v2 and the darker tree canopy shadows. This with QTP3 and RAEVWD makes the game look incredible.

Utilities
-BOSS: Sorts out mods so that they are in a perfect load order. Saves a lot of time and energy!
-Oblivion Mod Manager: Easily manage your mods and escape the terrors of archive invadiation in the config file. I'm using it right now to get an alphabetical list of my mods!
-Operation Optimization: Optimizes the operation of Oblivion. Get it now.
-Wrye Bash: Does all kinds of technical little things. Not reccommended for pure utility, but more advanced mods can require this. (Hey WIP, it's in Python!)

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What this topic is for
This topic is here for you to comment in and to tell me how much you love me/what I'm doing terribly wrong. I'll try to pose a major question every once in a while so that there is community participation, but even if I don't then feel free to suggest things to do. Please stay mildly 'in-character,' however - say "there's a strange ruin just outside of the sewer entrance," not "hit Vilverin nao. It's at coordinates 467,782 in the IC Eastern district, cell 1963." Thanks!

If you would like me to upload a full-size (widescreen 1364x768) screenshot of any small screen, post that! All of the originals are preserved during the batch resizing.

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Chapter List
Chapter I: Recap and a Foot Massage

I would rather that this is my topic. If you would like to upload them, make your own topic about game glitches (I'm sure others would have plenty of great screens to share as well!).

Chapter I: Recap and a Foot Massage

Okay. I took over forty awesome screens of my initial post-intro dungeon exploits... but they were with the default in-game screencapture dealio that doesn't play well with Vista. So, we are going to start with a recap of my attack on Fort Urasek (the highlight of my adventure) - if you want to know about my, er, other transgressions, read the story that might or might not have happened with the guards in the post above.

It always ends with a trip to Shady Sam. I use an Enhanced version with a no-talkie expert-level fence Sam. It makes my days as an unaffiliated thief easier, and Shady Sam accepts all items. He just only gives me ~2% of their value and makes me buy items at a ~890% markup. I'd say that's balanced. =P



Here are some pictures I took of what happened in Fort Urasek. The fights are wonky like I said above, but I went back to document my carnage after I got Fraps all set up. Note the big screens and the difference between a modded DARK DUNGEON++++ with no light and then with the starting Illusion starlight spell. It makes lights, uh, neccessary. <3







This is a w$(%*$(*%&@$@@$^$^ trap that also involved darts and logs. @$%$#@%@#%



Anyway. In the PRESENT TIME I need to go get some fish that I really hate and there aren't enough of and I need TWELVE SCALES but there are like TWO FISH that drop them and UGH. At least I pickpocketed the questgiver's key and looted his life savings.

Where I need to go is where my cursor is pointing to.



I don't know what mod allows me to magically sneak attack as I run over to the fish breeding area, but it makes my mage/rogue hybrid pretty swank!



THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT KIND OF SLAUGHTERFISH GAAAAHHH



I don't know which mod adds this, either, but I know that I really, really love it.



Hmmm. Could this strange stone and the dagger it temporarily binds to me be useful in fighting fish? Look at the screenshots, then tell me. Oh, by the way, I died.





Sigh. Well, I gave up on fish for a few levels so now I need to go entertain myself while my bounty level decreases over time. Post-chapter I I've exchanged this mod with Reneer's Guard Overhaul mod which, if I read correctly, eliminates the entire bounty over time instead of little by little. I prefer the little-by-little, but RGO adds so much other stuff that it's not a big issue.

The next few screens are just some pretty and/or interesting scenes and nice loot that I screencap'd.









If you look very closely next to the left edge of my dagger in the following image, you'll see a small red line. That is the tail of a Khajit that I heard talking. That is the tail that spelled his doom. That is the tail of MY PREY.



I was pretty loud later on, though, and managed to attract the Vilverin 'boss' thug (I believe). This screenshot is now my wallpaper.



If you look in the left archway you can see about 400 more thugs chasing me as well!



This is why I like to make potions of Fortify Endurance. Also, I killed this hedge wizard by giving her a foot massage.





After escaping the Vilverin bandits and seeing this pretty scene, Ea the Argonian Mage/Rogue hybrid needed a break. Next up: full mod list in the OP and more of Ea's antics! Remember, if you have suggestions feel free to tell me what to do - just don't be explicit (say "there's a pretty shrine north of -that town- called Cloud Top," not "go to clodtp coordinates 262,591 cell 146t2 beware of 3 bear spawns and a coogarr").

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paaJHabx1Lk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_2Jduxc2P8
^- Hilarious, includes guards.

Working on the mod list and will eventually set up an anchor link list for the list of contents.