Oblivion:Gripes

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This page is dedicated to Gripes, i.e. to complaints about the way the game was designed to behave. Some of these are oversights, but most are design choices. Please note that not all complaints/ideas/problems belong on this page...

Related Pages
Technical Support Help for technical problems.
Glitches Unintentional, erroneous behavior.
Mod Ideas Ideas for things that should be added to the game.

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Types of Gripes 1.2 Gripe Icons/Structure 1.3 Guidelines 2 Broad Issues 2.1 Realism 3 User Interface 4 Game Balance 5 Game Content 6 Other

[edit] Overview

[edit] Types of Gripes

Balanced Design

Many aspects of the game are the result of balanced choices between alternatives. (E.g., the leveling approach of the game, which results in most of the world leveling up with the player.) Such choices are likely to have support from some players and opposition from others. And even those who oppose the choice may favor opposed alternatives. (E.g. Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, Francesco's Creatures and Martigen's Monster Mod (v.1.71) all "solve" the levelling problem, but in different ways.)

Restriction

A gripe about the inability to do something. E.g. the inability to delete spells from your spell inventory. There tends to be little controversy over this type of gripe.

Freedom

A gripe about too much freedom. E.g., that the Fast Travel feature makes the game too easy or removes immersion. Before posting such a complaint, keep in mind that many (most) players will oppose removing a freedom, and are apt to answer, "Just say no!" Freedom is indeed one of the hallmarks of Elder Scrolls games, and you may find your enjoyment increased by simply following self-imposed rules to not do certain things (e.g., not use Fast Travel).

[edit] Gripe Icons/Structure

Main point of the gripe is bold. State what's wrong, why it's wrong and suggest an alternative implementation. Keep in mind that if it's a Balanced Design choice, other players may (strongly) disagree with you.

This type of response is for a balancing type reply, i.e., why the point being griped about is desirable, or what the tradeoffs are. Keep in mind that these are usually matters of personal taste.

This is for a PC specific note, typically to note a mod, tool or technique that can be used on the PC but not elsewhere.

This is for an Xbox specific note. There will be few of these since console players don't have access to third party mods, external tools or the console.

This is for a PlayStation specific note. Again, because of console player limitations, there won't be many of these.

[edit] Guidelines

• Make sure the gripe is in the right category, and only place it in the Miscellaneous section if it does not belong anywhere else.
• Summarize the topic of the gripe clearly and concisely within the first sentence.
• The purpose of this page is to provide insights on how the game might be fixed. Please do not bash the developers or insult the people who had added comments before you.
• Write professionally, as this is not a forum. Leave out personal pronouns and once-upon-a-time stories.

[edit] Broad Issues

There are some underlying issues that are common to many of the individual gripes described on the following pages. This section addresses these general issues.

[edit] Realism

The game is not realistic.

It's a game, not real life. The elements of Oblivion were chosen so that they would create an entertaining game. Therefore, elements that are boring (e.g., toilets) were left out, as were elements that would prevent the game from running smoothly (e.g., wars with hundreds of combatants).

Oblivion is set on Nirn, not Earth. Many things would function differently in a world where magic is commonplace (e.g., magical locks, or even mechanical locks enhanced by magic, would not be equivalent to our standard locks). The laws of physics are not necessarily the same.

Oblivion has a well designed combat/physics engine that is still quite realistic. There are also several mods around to improve realism, but still, the vanilla Oblivion is very realistic in many aspects. Of course there are some flaws, such as the AI, but well, you can't just expect perfection from any game around.

[edit] User Interface

Many players believe that user interface is a major step back from Morrowind and was designed for a console interface in mind rather than a PC. The major gripes address:

• Overall
• Poor Use of Screen Real Estate
• Poor Stat Information Screens
• Controls (Keys, Mouse, Binding)
• Item and Spell Management

[edit] Game Balance

• Skill and Leveling System
• Scaled Leveling
• Thieving
• Strength
• Persuasion and Speechcraft
• Armorer
• Spells and Spell-Making
• Alchemy
• Enchanting
• Quests
• Equipment
• Naming

[edit] Game Content

• Overall
• Oblivion Gates
• NPCs
• Miscellaneous
• Tutorial
• Official Plugins

[edit] Other

• AI
• Notes