RPGs

[Fausto]

Its only in the past few years that I've started playing d&d. In my last campaign (3.5 ed), I was a human warlock rootworker (kind of like a voodoo priest) in the service of the raven queen. We had a good group going, although I was building my character's mythology on stuff that I was reading about at the time, and it didnt really mesh well with the world of the game. Also, my friends and I are all writers, so we write these side stories and post them on facebook. Our DM will give us extra credit for anything we do to build up the character, either during gameplay or on the side.

I'm currently working on my character for an upcoming game, a tiefling bard. This time, we used a character builder program to do all the technical stuff, which really saved a lot of time (I highly recommend the program, it comes free with a subscription to one of the magazines). The story is set 500 years after the previous campaign, so there's now a steampunk element to it. Also using 4th ed, and bards apparently dont suck nearly as much as they used to.

<=  My current profile pick is when I dressed up as my previous character, Black Fox, for a halloween party.

[Rev. Powell]

I bought OBLIVION the week it came out, and haven't needed another game since.  I have both SHIVERING ISLES and KNIGHTS OF THE NINE expansion kits, and I have added a really cool downloadable mod called THE LOST SPIRES to the mix.  By the time I do the three main quests, the Spires, the guilds, and all the random adventuring I want, I just start off with a new character and build a new set of skills.  WHAT A GAME!

That being said, I am curious about DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS.  And, of course, I will get ELDER SCROLLS V when it comes out, even if I have to buy a new computer to play it!

Hey Indy, I've heard you go on and onabout this game.  How would you say it compares to MORROWIND?  Years ago I played that and enjoyed it, though I didn't have the rection you do to OBLIVION.  Just curious if you'd played both and whether you thought OBLIVION was a great leap forward.

[indianasmith]

I have played both games several times.  Graphically, OBLIVION is much sweeter than Morrowind, although the world of Cyrodil is much less alien than the landscapes of Vardenfell.  But the landscapes, the wildlife, and the overall scenery are simply incredible.  SHIVERING ISLES, however, contains that bizarre otherworldy aura that Morrowind had, without the annoying Cliff Racers.  Fast Travel is a very convenient feature; you can walk from place to place as much as you like (or ride a horse), but you can also travel instantly to any spot that you have visited before, a real timesaver.  Dialogue is way better than Morrowind - you hear everything the character says, and it is also run across the bottom of the screen in print large enough you don't have to squint to read it.  Also, the monsters and bandits are levelled to your character's ability, so the game gets harder as you get tougher.  And the hellish world inside the Oblivion Gates is rendered in incredible, very gruesome detail!

In terms of  storyline, the Main Quest of Morrowind had a more satisfying ending, BUT if you play the Shivering Isles Add-On, it has a wonderful conclusion.  And the Guild Quests - Especially the grisly conclusion of the Dark Brotherhood saga - are lots of fun, and earn you some awesome magic artifacts.  As with Morrowind, there are tons of mods onine that add quests and changes to the game.  OBLIVION really is one of the most engaging games I have ever played, and I simply have not gotten bored with it yet!