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Oblivion To Be Patched, Sells Well

Posted by Zonk on Mon Apr 10, '06 12:48 PM
from the still-working-on-the-thieves-guild dept.
Gamers with Jobs has word that a patch for Oblivion should be expected sometime in the near future. The future official content downloads, at the same time, should be cheaper to obtain. Meanwhile, the game has been burning up the charts, according to Next Generation: "The title has become the fastest-selling Xbox 360 game in North America, and according to The NPD Group, it's currently the best-selling PC game, with the Oblivion Collector's Edition following behind at number 2. NPD also reports that the RPG made up 13 percent of PC game sales during its first week on the market -- more than four times the sales volume of the next best-selling title."

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[+] Frustration With Oblivion Mod Costs on Xbox Live 360 comments
Vizionary wrote to mention the player backlash swelling out of a recent addition to Xbox Live. Major Nelson's blog made the announcement that they'd finally added the (previously announced) barding for the player mount in Oblivion. The catch is that the simple modification costs 200 points, removing a lot of the appeal of the small mods the Elder Scrolls series has thrived on. From commenter 'SW 1540' on that site: "Unquestionably, some downloadable content should cost money/points. Having said that, the cost of that content should be directly proportional to the enhancement it provides to the original game. For example, I would expect to pay $20.00 for the soon to come Perfect Dark Zero maps or new cars for Project Gotham. On the other hand, I would expect any additional costumes for PDZ to be free. I imagine there is good arguments on both sides, but one can see that the potential is there to exploit an eager fan. "
[+] Living In Oblivion 296 comments
The Elder Scrolls series is well known among PC gamers as the high water mark for an open-ended RPG experience. The series, set in the world of Tamriel, has a staggering breadth and depth thanks to the exacting standards of the team at Bethesda Softworks. The newest title in the line brings Tamriel to life in a manner that is renewing the faith of even the most jaded CRPG player. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion may not be the perfect game for everyone. For those willing to give it a shot, Oblivion treats gamers with a level of respect that is unique, uplifting, and (hopefully) inspirational for game developers in all genres. Read on for my impressions of a truly unique game.
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  • Games.. *sigh*

    (Score:1)
    by SonicBlue (921984) on Monday April 10, @12:51PM (#15099853)
    (http://saic.sapht.com/)
    "Let's not make it perfect, we can always patch it later!" 3
  • Not surprising

    (Score:2, Insightful)
    by DrMrLordX (559371) on Monday April 10, @12:53PM (#15099864)
    It's no shocker that Oblivion is selling well for Xbox 360. There hasn't been much else for 360 owners to buy, and I'm sure many 360 owners bot the console for this game in much the same way that PSX owners bought their units for FF7 (albeit Oblivion has probably lead to fewer sales than FF7). The fact that Oblivion is doing well for both 360 and the PC is pretty damn impressive, though. Just goes to show you that not everything has to be a MMOG or have multiplayer features to be fun.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10, @12:54PM (#15099872)
    The manual was a guide on how to avoid bugs.

    Take this excerpt from page 53:

    You may be tempted to enter the ancestrol tomb of C'Baothag, which holds silks, spices, and unimagineable riches beyond measure. DON'T. Entering this cave will cause the game to crash to your desktop, erasing all your saved games. You have been warned.
  • Sales of items

    (Score:3, Interesting)
    What I'd love to see are the sales of the horse armor. Something tells me that despite all the backlash and player resentment towards this, they will release a statement along the lines of "Customer feedback has been extremely positive and we've sold tons! Look forward to more content scraped from the original release to be sold to you as we bend you over even further!"

  • Impressive.

    (Score:2)
    by Blakey Rat (99501) on Monday April 10, @12:57PM (#15099886)
    Wow, that's pretty impressive. All I can say is: "Away from me, housecat! Look at that fur, what a disgrace!"

    Hehehe.
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • by Halloran (182820) on Monday April 10, @01:01PM (#15099913)
    I wonder if their future patch plans include the creation of a sort of online marketplace for paid add-on content for the PC similar to what is offered via Xbox Live.

    Now granted this may not appeal strongly to those of us in the community that can go out and get our own free content, it could certainly be of some benefit to a standard, non-power user.

    Anyway, I'd be interested to see what this company may try and do to bridge the gap and bring in additional incremental revenue.
  • Hehe...

    (Score:2)
    by Kjella (173770) on Monday April 10, @01:01PM (#15099918)
    (http://slashdot.org/)
    Just exited Oblivion now, the game is very good but it's too easy in the endgame. I've made myself a spell called "Death Incarnate" which gives:

    100/1 Fire damage
    100/1 Shock damage
    100/1 Frost damage
    100/1 Drain Health (will return if it doesn't kill the creature)

    Almost anything falls to the first hit of that combo, which eats 250 of my 340 SP. Then wait for me to recharge, spot the next enemy on the horizon, BAM! I finished all the Arena quests today without breaking a sweat. Did Necromancer's Amulet and Bloodstained Helm, all necros die before they even spot me. Haven't run into any quest bugs either yet, but I wish they'd fix the Z-axis detection.. if you're in a cavern one level down, and it circles so you're "close" but in a completely different tunnel, they detect you. Very unrealistic unless they all have Life Detection (magic).
    • Re:Hehe... by DrMrLordX (Score:3) Monday April 10, @01:12PM
      • Re:Hehe... by MikeBabcock (Score:2) Monday April 10, @03:35PM
        • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Hehe... by skroz (Score:2) Monday April 10, @01:15PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • by JeanBaptiste (537955) on Monday April 10, @01:08PM (#15099954)
    too bad for the XBOX owners

    ***Is there anyone here playing Oblivion that can tell me why level scaling doesn't suck???***

    i went through the first 'main' mission with a level 1 fighter with no problem. level 9 thief and i cant get past the first guy. its even that much more impossible with my level 33 mage.

    i did find a mod that tries to remove the traditional RPG where gaining a level will help you rather than hurt you (oscuro), but its not perfect and i'd rather have an official fix from bethesda, cause as far as im concerned its broken as it is now.

    (and its pretty easy to power-level... just set up a spell, then find a heavy object (in real life, not in game) and place it on the 'c' key on your keyboard. i got to level 33 in less than a day. but it didn't help as the enemies were just that much more powerful (and yes I do know how its important to have a well rounded character.... but thats only because of the level scaling.))

    again, I'd love to know why level scaling doesnt suck because I haven't seen any reasons yet.
  • Hmm

    (Score:1)
    by Gorkamecha (948294) on Monday April 10, @01:12PM (#15099992)
    In regards to the horse patch..."selling well" without stating a number is a marketspeak trap. For example, if they only expected to sell 2 and they sold 3, then the product is selling well. It doesn't really MEAN anything....The fact they are releasing the second pack at a lower cost would lead me to believe that "well" in this case = not well enough.
    • Re:Hmm by GrumblyStuff (Score:1) Monday April 10, @01:26PM
      • Re:Hmm by SirTalon42 (Score:2) Monday April 10, @01:29PM
        • Re:Hmm by GrumblyStuff (Score:1) Monday April 10, @04:04PM
  • Level scaling?

    (Score:1)
    by CptPicard (680154) on Monday April 10, @01:15PM (#15100009)
    Does anyone know what this patch is going to fix/alter? Is there going to be at least an option to get rid of the weirdness caused by the level scaling monsters and in particular the scaled stuff that causes roadside mobs to be equipped with überloot while they're still blackmailing you for 50gp?

    If the patch fixes this (or makes it optional) I might actually consider buying Oblivion...
  • Content addons?

    (Score:2)
    by danpsmith (922127) on Monday April 10, @01:40PM (#15100161)
    Who are these people that find that Oblivion just does not have enough content and they must buy even more addons? From my view, it looks like you'd never even, in imaginable life, even if you were playing hours upon hours a day, really come across everything in Oblivion it is so big, and you need more? Then you wanna complain about high prices? Anyone dumb enough to need more content in that game deserves to pay.
  • The patch...

    (Score:1)
    by hrrY (954980) on Monday April 10, @02:04PM (#15100337)
    I hope they fix the slowdown in the Hackdirt/Weynon Priory area....
  • by Akuinnen (174212) on Monday April 10, @02:20PM (#15100442)
    (http://www.kijo.net)
    I really enjoyed this game and the previous game "Morrowind".

    That said, the biggest annoyance was the lack of decisions you can make during a quest. The quests and dialog choices are on rails. If a quest has an objective, often you have to perform that objective to the letter. There were many times during the game where I would have liked to betray someone, perform a quest in a different manner or just flat out refuse to do something. Each time I found the game pushing me down a specific path. While I love the world exploration aspect of this game, it lacks some of the role playing experience I've had in games like BG: II or Planescape Torment.
  • by jbridges (70118) on Monday April 10, @08:16PM (#15102821)
    Put off doing the main quest until you are a few levels up, then go into "hellish" area.

    The monsters have scaled up to match your level.

    Your allies have NOT!!!!

    Allies die quickly, you are stuck alone fighting the hordes.

    (of course if you decide to play the game casually, do a bit of thief, do a bit of combat, do some magic, you know... have fun..... then you will be screwed as you level up! Exploring the average dungeon soon becomes a massive chore of running and healing from every single creature.. UNFUN).

  • Re:Holy Crap, you mean...

    (Score:3, Interesting)
    by SirTalon42 (751509) on Monday April 10, @01:09PM (#15099964)
    "Personally as a big fan of Morrowind, I wouldn't be caught dead with anything other then the PC version simply for the mods. Don't know why any Elder Scrolls fan could do without the mods."

    Speaking as one of the people that bought Morrowind for the XBox, I'll tell you why I did that: I had no clue about the plugins on the PC version, I didn't even know there was a PC version. Morrowind was the first time I had ever heard of the Elder Scrolls.
    [ Parent ]
  • by MaineCoon (12585) on Monday April 10, @01:40PM (#15100163)
    (http://www.avpmud.com/)
    I bought the PC version myself, but heres why my friends with 360s (I have one as well, so it was an option should I have taken it) got the 360 version:

    1. Playing it on a 40, 50, or in one case, 60" TV, on their couch.
    2. Running it at excellent graphical settings, in HD, on a video game system that costs about as much as a graphics card that can match the performance.
    [ Parent ]
  • Re:Best Buy

    (Score:2)
    by CaymanIslandCarpedie (868408) on Monday April 10, @01:42PM (#15100171)
    So you'd be interested to know about the 360 and you don't already know because your NOT interested in the 360? ;-)

    Here [xbox.com] is a pretty complete list of all the announced 360 games and release dates (if they haven't already been released).
    [ Parent ]
    • Re:Best Buy by Zadaz (Score:1) Monday April 10, @03:33PM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Re:Holy Crap, you mean...

    (Score:3, Interesting)
    by Kaldaien (676190) on Monday April 10, @03:55PM (#15101235)
    I am a big fan of the Elder Scrolls series as well. I have a computer that is more than powerful enough to run Oblivion with most of the bells and whistles turned on, but I bought the XBOX 360 version because I wanted to play it on my beautiful SONY HDTV from my bed. I do not care about user created modules because the public modules for Morrowind all sucked; perhaps that changed at some point, but I stopped paying attention to user modules rather quickly. I think that Bethesda ought to offer a system to copy modules onto a USB storage device from the computer and transfer them onto the XBOX 360; Microsoft would probably have a tizzy though, since this would essentially penetrate their XBOX Live Marketplace only distribution system.
    [ Parent ]
  • 6 replies beneath your current threshold.