Why bother with the "careful" part if everything is scaled to your level and you don't need skills to hit anyway?
This is where you begin to 'address' my views. However you immediately proceed to disregard my own comments on this point, particularly why I mentioned such criticisms were "entirely moot". Im afraid, this is a common theme.
*wildly hyperactive imagination necessary.
I remember a very pedantic discussion that I involved myself in many years over the meaning of "unique". But the general connotation suffices for the point raised in this thread. Are there unique places of especial interesting within Oblivion ? If you insist not, then I am most curious as to your criteria. Particularly since a wild imagination is supposedly required.
But the fact is admist an already engaging world there are key places where the nature of the domain whether architecturally or otherwise denizen orientated bespeaks of places of note. Not that I mean that a place must be unique to enjoy the experience.
If it fails so hard at it's strengths, what words can describe it's weaknesses
The problem as I see it, is that the vast majority of 'critiques' are exclusively subjective and/or ambiguous. Much as your above claims never addressed any of my points but just made unqualified counters or simply ignored specific stipulations.
I prefer just going outside, especially given that said geography inexplicably went from jungles to generic temperate climate landscapes my country has an abundance of. Also, there are very few places of interest in OB.
as above
Given that lore is one of the things that made previous TES games actually interesting, and that quests can make or break an RPG, those are sound complaints.
This is a good deal more meaningful. The Lore in Oblivion is not as good as Morrowind, granted, however this is often conflated with the conclusion that it must be bad. Comparisions by contrast are a flawed measure of intrinsic value. Of course, philiosophically speaking discerning the inherent nature of a thing without reference to something else is naturally difficult to comprehend yet rudimentary analysis will show the flawed logic of assuming contrast as the means of direct experience.
The metatheme is sufficiently interwoven, as such the plot works in conjunction with said lore, and various texts discuss numerous aspects, both historical and metaphysical, of the realm/s. There are not too many rpgs with the same magnitude of free floating information to be personally sought out for a more informed understanding. There is not a complete reference but that is fine, in fact that simply leads to the open endedness of the lore. Theories abound but definite knowledge is difficult to really claim. Moreover for those wishing to learn what they will, studying information found within books can inform about the nature of the world, theories thereof and places of interest.
In short, while it is not Morrowind, and while there are some books that are mightly poor compared to the predecessor, the Lore as a whole is not bad. That common view is the result of misguided logical assumptions.
Quests *can* make or break an rpg, but not necessarily. Since I find quests at large in most rpgs to not be that deep or intricate for the most part Im not one to place all that much emphasis on them. Yes, quests can add to a game, but rpgs are not confined to quests. If anything (depending on what one cares to derive from an rpg experiences) this is where Oblivion excels, as you really dont need quests to partake in hours of free form roleplay enabled by the sheer expansiveness of an open and diverse world.
What's left of OB if you remove quests?
I would say personal initiative to choose to involve oneself in the world as one would care to. There is plenty to do. I can readily elaborate.
Running around killing things? - almost every FPS in existence accomplishes this better.
Unabashed subjectivity, every FPS does not do this better. FPS are designed with specific game play in mind. Now maybe according to your personal values that is that really matters, but for those who prefer the theme, the freedom, the possibility to explore and discover, character development and loot, rpgs do it better by design default.
Exploration? - ...of nearly identical dungeons belonging to one of three or four uninspired tilesets, filled with nearly identical, levelled enemies and nearly identical levelled loot?
Well again, I have already touched upon these issues, as they were the flaws I previously pointed out. Undue reiteration is a really bad indication of the state of a discussion. Atlhough churlish insinuations are clearer still. In short, mods solve the majority of these flaws rather nicely.
Oblivion would be playable without mods, but obviously not for long. With the vast range of possible mod selections, the available content is augmented immeasurably. When a player mentions an additional five or more gigabytes of additional game data this indicates a substantial addition to overall game content.
NPCs? - of the nearly identical ones who stare at walls a lot and talk about mudcrabs variety?
Again, this is not a unique flaw to Oblivion, is it. But what people also conflate is the simple magnitude of difference in npcs. Unsurprisingly not everyone is the world is all that unique or different, but indeed quite a few are and there are many ways to acquaint yourself with them. This seems to be one of the things really overlooked by a lot of players, just raw observation of characters, interactions, activities and general information. Quests dont need to be directly activiated for observant players to discern potential sources of interest.
Making cool items and spells? - fail given that most of the interesting options were removed. Closing the gates? - as if the first one didn't bore the crap out of everyone.
if you are going to insist on exclusively value ladden assessments there is no real point in disagreeing with them. Simply because with such a subjective nature there is no rational basis, and hence value.
Except that you can leave the burning Kvatch for a round year in game and nothing will happen.
So it would seem, however as I pointed out for the rp inclined the crisis at hand warrants involvement.
Okay, I dont believe there is a need to continue with the rest of your points. You did not like Oblivion, so be it. Conversely Im immensely fond of the game, on so many levels there is nothing that provides the same magnitude or level of quality. With the addition of player made mods the game just has so much potential and personal configuration to augment the experience as one sees best.
