Gamespot Reader Reviews Shivering Isles!!!

[Texas Red]

300hours of PLAY!!! MADDNESS!!!

I played Oblivion for 600 hours but my friend tells me he went over 1000 hours.

Lololol, I cant even imagine how long it will take for me to finish Mass Effect! Bioware says that the game doesnt fit on a DVD! Its definitely GOTY. I think it will be better than Halo 3. Not sure about FF 7 though.

 

[MisterStone]

Give the poor Saudi kids a break. Oblivion is probably the closest they will ever get to walking around freely in the wilderness in relative safety. Or seeing a woman with her face uncovered before their wedding night, for that matter...

*edit* Drinking, I forgot drinking... they can indulge their sinful fantasies to the utmost in Oblivion!

 

[JarlFrank]

Review? Did I miss anything? Is the expansion out yet? Really?
Okay, then I have to try it out. As soon as I'm at home [abusing the school computer now... I hate that fuking suky keyboard here] I'll download a torrent.

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

Review? Did I miss anything? Is the expansion out yet? Really?
Okay, then I have to try it out. As soon as I'm at home [abusing the school computer now... I hate that fuking suky keyboard here] I'll download a torrent.

Aww how cool!!!+111! You da CraCKa!!!11è!

 

[Micmu]

And a retard, too, to even bother with this kiddie garbage

 

[Naked Ninja]

Ripping off 12 year old kids is a bit shameful don't you think? Like shooting fish in a barrel.

*edit* comment in regards to the original topic poster, not the school kid stuff.

 

[whitemithrandir]

I'm perusing the screenshot gallery over at gamespot's right now and all I can say is:

As powerful a tool as Facegen is, how come all the chicks are UGLY AS SIN?

 

[Dpayne]

Honestly that's a big problem I have with Bethesda games. I understand that no everyone in the world is beautiful and androgynous like Japanese RPGS, but honestly Bethesda, does a world of adventure and high fantasy really have to contain a bunch of hideous assholes in their forties with horrendously pockmarked skin?

 

[Jasede]

I actually think that's a nice, realistic touch. Though personally, I'd prefer a cornucopia of androgynous bishie-boys.

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

I don't think I even want to review this. The MADDNESS is just too much.

 

[Naked Ninja]

You guys are making fun of the Madness-themed island thing, but honestly, it sounds like a cool concept for a region. I'm tired of other planes in RPGs being constrained to "Hell plane", "Fire Elemental plane" etc. The fractured mind of a mad diety sounds sweet.

Not saying that the game is any good, but I like the concept. I've always quite liked ES lore and world style compared to traditional fantast settings.

 

[Dpayne]

I'm glad madness amounts to a giant purple mushroom and a spooky swamp from Scooby Doo.

 

[sportforredneck]

does a world of adventure and high fantasy really have to contain a bunch of hideous assholes in their forties with horrendously pockmarked skin?

They based it off the people of Maryland.

 

[Dpayne]

Yeah I can understand making people ugly for realism (although realistically there are average looking people and attractive people too), but if we're really shooting for realism then why are there only three voices in the game?

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

You guys are making fun of the Madness-themed island thing, but honestly, it sounds like a cool concept for a region. I'm tired of other planes in RPGs being constrained to "Hell plane", "Fire Elemental plane" etc. The fractured mind of a mad diety sounds sweet.

Not saying that the game is any good, but I like the concept. I've always quite liked ES lore and world style compared to traditional fantast settings.

I like the concept too. I've always liked Sheogorath and the lore surrounding him, but my main issue with the Roofling Isles of MADDNESS is that it wasn't handled by the people who made ES lore and Sheogorath what it is; it was made by the coffee bitch and his cronies, and I really don't think they can do clever, mind-twisting insanity (see Eternal Darkness) - it will, as the above poster stated, probably amount to giant purple mushrooms and a god of MADDNESS who talks a bit like The Master.

 

[Dpayne]

It really is a great idea, and while the screenshots are pretty they're hardly representative of madness or anything creative.

Madness is something out of Heironymous Bosch or Escher (or some insanse combination of the two). Really there are a variety of things they could take influences from and what do we see in terms of madness? Mushrooms and a run-down dock. The npcs don't even appear to speak any differently than the ones in the regular world. At least make them like Bizzaro Superman. Be just a little bit interesting. So far it's just a tiny island in another dimension of the sixteen square mile empire.

 

[Naked Ninja]

Why must madness be bizzaro land? Thats the cartoon/kids defninition of madness.

The expansion talks about mania and dementia, which is more a real world type of madness, and no doubt far more common amoungst the human population, than loons who bounce off walls and eat their own shit.

Personally, I think madness as being "seeing normal reality through a somewhat distorted lens" is quite a good take on it.

 

[Dpayne]

I'm more talking about npc interaction. Bizzaro Superman was a joke (but at least it would be something). I highly doubt beings making up the court of the realm of madness would talk like normal npcs (and they do I've watched the preview video). And frankly, the concept of subtle madness seems like a way of justifying laziness on their part. I ask you again, how is a mutlicolored mushroom the equivalent of mania (I think Escher would have been a great inspiration here) and how is the haunted swamp from Scoopy Doo dementia (Bosch, Dali so many artists could have been looked to for this one).

 

[Starwars]

I've played it for a while now, and while I definetely prefer it to Oblivion, there are still millions of flaws.

Yes, the idea of the setting is interesting, and the fact that you have two 'realms' is pretty cool (I've only been to the one called Mania). But the trouble so far is that you just can't take the whole madness thing seriously. With a setting like this, you'd think it'd be a golden opportunity to try and disturb the player, make him feel something.
Instead, every NPC seems to be crazy in a very cartoonish way, where it's way more likely you're going to laugh at their silly antics, rather than taking it seriously. Sheogorath himself is a good example.

The only part of Oblivion I thoroughly enjoyed was the Dark Brotherhood questline. If this expansion had been similar in tone, then it could've been a really nice improvement over Oblivion. But it still has REALLY shitty writing for the characters, awful voiceacting in places (and of course, the same voices repeated over and over again), a world that feels completely devoid of danger etc etc.

 

[Naked Ninja]

Aw well, I didn't expect the game itself to actually be good. I just like the concept of the setting

 

[Ion Flux]

Ripping off 12 year old kids is a bit shameful don't you think? Like shooting fish in a barrel.

*edit* comment in regards to the original topic poster, not the school kid stuff.

Actually you know I felt kind of bad after seeing who this kid actually was. He looks a bit like Milhouse with a unibrow, but he's just a kid.

Anyway, my point still stands, this is who Bethsoft is making Fallout 3 for. Not us. I didn't buy Oblivion, he did.

I have no idea what you mean by "ripping him off".

 

[Section8]

I think he's referring to Bethesda targetting a product at someone who doesn't know any better.

 

[Joe Krow]

I think he's referring to Bethesda targetting a product at someone who doesn't know any better.

That's not a "rip-off," that's capitalism. Now if they were good capitalists they would go after our money as well. NOT! It's a lot easier to focus on the low hanging fruit. There are far more nieve twelve year olds then their are disgruntled roleplayers and it would take about five times the work to satisfy us... that might have affected the equation.

 

[Ion Flux]

I think he's referring to Bethesda targetting a product at someone who doesn't know any better.

Oh, right. Well that makes sense then. Carry on.

 

[Lumpy]

Yeah I can understand making people ugly for realism (although realistically there are average looking people and attractive people too), but if we're really shooting for realism then why are there only three voices in the game?

Maybe because making people ugly is free, while having 100 voice actors would cost more.
Admit it, you just want to masturbate to pretty Imperial boys.
Of course Bethesda want realistic worlds, because the worlds ARE their games. Everything sucks when not viewed as part of the world, but the whole was good in Morrowind. In Oblivion, they had a crappier world, thus a crappier game.