Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Remake)

[one-armed dwarf]

Appears that this is definitely happening now, out in around a week according to rumours

 

https://www.resetera.com/threads/images-of-oblivion-remake-from-virtuos-games-“leak”.1164534/

 

A lot of the image links in the thread are returning 403 errors now so they locked it down, but a few were saved

 

 

 

 

Colour grade is more brown (not a criticism just a remark)

 

Keyart

 

[DANGERMAN]

I remember in the early days of the forum people absolutely loving Oblivion 

[Nag]

Those screens look quite nice... I'll play it again anyway. 

[Maryokutai]

Now this could be different times of day and such, but it does seem they have toned down the neon greens which I think is a shame. The whole over-saturation and everything glowing like its radioactive is part of this game's visual identity and I actually quite like that. Everything else is a clear upgrade though, that's safe to say.

 

I'm not sure I can enjoy/get into a game like this anymore, but I might try just for nostalgia's sake (which is a weird phrase in this context but it is almost 20 years old after all).

 

It's really weird this just keeps creeping up through leaks and such and is seemingly planned to release soon-ish. I mean if there has been one game in MS's lineup that would have benefitted from at least some sort of marketing hype cycle it's certainly this one, especially after Skyrim turned out to be such a phenomenon.

[mfnick]

Yea the main thing I remember when thinking my about Oblivion is the bright green everywhere you look.

 

Should have doubled down on it and made the buildings and caves green too. Missed opportunity. 

[one-armed dwarf]

Remakes are just such a weird business to me, I think we're too scared of games looking old.

 

It's like if every film director felt the need to George Lucas their old stuff but the oldness is not as separable from its intrinsic qualities as some might say, not always.

 

That said, not like Oblivion is lost to time or anything so the argument here is weak, the old version is easily accessible on PC and Xbox I think.

[Maryokutai]

There's more to games than just the visuals that can age, but I get your point. Availability is a good keyword though, I never actually checked how well the 360 version runs on Series X but I'd imagine it should at least shave off quite a few seconds of its frequent loading screens, which would immediately improve the experience quite a bit. Other than that there's not much wrong with the game outside the level scaling elephant in the room of course.

 

Edit: that first sentence is worded in a bit of a confrontational manner which wasn't intended. Plus the point extends to gameplay as well in some cases, I remember the remastered version of Metroid Prime feeling very wrong to me with its modern dual-stick control scheme. Immediately switched back to its original tank controls.

[Sly Reflex]

I wonder if they binned off the old leveling system and made that more streamlined, because quite honestly it was sort of shit. It was super cumbersome. Skyrim did a way better job at it, even though that was gimped in its own way.

[one-armed dwarf]

I think Oblivion's main issues aren't really age related though, I'm sure if someone looked for the 2006 Oblivion thread on here there would be complaints about the level scaled world and how it shattered immersion, which is its biggest issue really. As for the leveling system itself, I sort of like the idea of using skills in such a way to boost their specific stats but I don't like how it encourages min-maxing, which is a Morrowind issue too. They should change is so that only major skills count towards the level up I think, so that your class feels like it matters more (there's a mod that does that for Morrowind).

 

I mean really they should remake Morrowind* tho, only played it for the first time in '22 and it's in my top 5 most mindblowing games now. It finally made sense to me why people were so disappointed in Oblivion, going from such a rich setting with its ambiguous, disputed history to an also-ran LOTR game. 

 

I think voice acting has held RPGs back, that's my hot take

 

*(I also feel like with the success of the Kingdom Come games, it would be a good way for bethesda to test the waters and see how people respond to this sort of friction-based design in their RPGs again)

[Nag]

[DANGERMAN]

What if that's Silent Hill 4 remake? 

[Nag]

I guess they'll be ip theft prosecutions seeing as it was posted by Bethesda...😂

[DANGERMAN]

There's old-school Fallout fans who would say they have form 

[one-armed dwarf]

They're showing it here

 

 

Watching it sort of makes it easier to avoid impulse purchasing. Like, it looks good, but there's this disharmony between the UE5 graphics and how inherently strange the game itself is. Maybe tho you could argue this in fact enhances Oblivion's sense of the uncanny for the better

 

They changed the leveling tho, which is big. They say it's a combination of Skyrim and Oblivion (not sure how)

 

edit the more I watch the more they win me over tbh, it sounds like a really smart remaster of a deeply flawed game

 

Have seen lots of comments that this is unfortunate timing for Expedition 33

[Maf]

This looks really nice. Releases today as well. 
 

I barely played Oblivion so this will basically be fresh for me. Just hope it runs well on PC given it’s UE5

 

Want to finish FF7R and Indiana this week but after those are done will give this a try 

[Nag]

Downloading it now... but I won't be touching it until I've clocked Expedition 33.

[mfnick]

1 hour ago, one-armed dwarf said:

Have seen lots of comments that this is unfortunate timing for Expedition 33

Yea, I really hope it doesn’t hurt that games success. Really shit timing. Bit poor on MS’s part IMO. 

[Maryokutai]

I haven't listened to all of it so I'm completely unaware of the gameplay changes, but after seeing it in motion I like the change in art style even less. I just looks like Skyrim now. 

 

Only 10 bucks as an upgrade if you already have the game is very appealing though (that is if someone can confirm it works with the disc version).

I might just randomly buy this at some point to check it out because hearing the music again and them using the same Patrick Stewart lines for the trailer as they did in 2005 was quite the effective nostalgia bomb.

 

Edit: wait, never mind, the 10€ version I saw is just the upgrade from the Remaster towards the Deluxe version of said Remaster. In hindsight that was a bit unrealistic to expect.

[mmmark]

Fucksake asif I don’t have enough games I keep promising to concentrate on. Downloading. 
 

Xbox is killing it. Shame Sony is slaying in sales. Undeserved.

[Metroid66]

I'm already level 3😃