h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ah, found a console command:

To determine how many of the random gates will open, type:
set MQ00.MaxOpenGates to x

x equalling the number of new gates opening.

But I also noticed that 'several Main Quests reset this variable'

Oh, and fast travel is for sissies











Nah, not really, especially not when mounting your horse with as many feather spells as possible cast on yourself after a successful dungeon raid.

And I only rcently found out about the 'goron roll' Athletics ability:

'As a journeyman (skill 50 or higher), the dodge ability allows for faster travel on foot by performing a "goron roll": press block, move forward/back/left/right, and repeatedly press jump.'

Apparently, it'll allow you to move faster than on horseback, except for the very fastest horses.

And I constantly discover new stuff - Guilbert Jemayne just took Freya on a different route than I've seen before, running to Chorrol, over Frostcrag Spire, Dragonclaw Rock, Bruma and through Waynon Priory - like a sightseeing tour through the northern waypoints

Ah yes, the good old Random NPC Routes. After I closed the big Oblivion gate with the Seige Crawler it took Martin three days to get back to Cloud Ruler Temple... I assumed he'd go through Bruma and up the path but he went around Bruma instead. Quite a long way around. At a walking pace. And when I tried to speak to him en route he just told me off.

I tend to fast travel if I'm currently working on a quest, but otherwise I just explore and find little paths leading off the road and follow them.

Or I just strike out in a random direction until I see something on my 'radar' and go investigate. That's how I found a chapel full of necromancers.

Ah yes, that one scared the bejeesus out of me, because I was expecting it to be empty

I quite enjoy the exploring part of Oblivion - and that's why I don't like those random gates popping up everywhere.

The free-exploration side of the Elder Scrolls games (I started with Arena) has always been one of the big draws, although the area to explore and the amount of 'things' to find has steadily reduced. Still a big draw though.

'Tis interesting as well that there are non-levelled (or just very tough levelled) encounters to be had. I bumped into the unicorn/minotaur bit of the daedric shrines quests without knowing it was there - one of those 'I wonder what that .... eek! Run Away!' moments.

The gates are darned annoying, although as an easy(ish) way to get item enchantments they have their uses. I preferred the Morrowind item enchantment process though as it was far more flexible and powerful.

And there are occasional bits I find - wasn't till 3rd or 4th play I found the bloke outside the citadel with the quest for killing fish, for example. And playing it as a stealth em up really can work, that was a surprise. Not quite Deus Ex but certainly on a par with VTM:B.

Although I never got the hang of playing a pure mage type. I guess my natural tendency is to wear the heaviest armour I can find and run at them shouting 'AAARRRRGGGHHHH'. Not the subtlest RPGer, me.

I once tried using the Unicorn as a mount, but I can't really recommend it as it will viciously object to being eaten by the Orc at the stables outside the Imperial City, and you'll have a hard time trying to mount it again. Made me laugh though, since none of the stable staff will die, and neither will the unicorn, so it just turned into an evergoing event.

Personally, I prefer the sneaky-archer-light armour type of character, even Freya despite her being a stately Nord woman.

Trying to get Martin to Cloud Ruler Temple, and I had quite forgotten the war cry of the Sigil Keeper (have been avoiding the main quest for some time):

'You should not be here, mortal. Your blood is forfeit, your flesh is mine!'

I tend towards the sneaky archer types as well. The dungeons might take a long time that way but it's rather satisfying if you're able to complete one without getting into any direct combat! I have a few enchanted bows now, one that I got from a quest and the others I enchanted using the stone thingies you get from inside the Oblivion gates.

Although there was that time I played an Orc when I just decided to throw subtlety out the window and ran around in full plate with a two-handed axe. That was fun. Somehow that character ended up becoming head of the Mage's Guild.

I've also finally discovered the Arena this time around. Somehow I just avoided it on all my other plays.

The Arena is a good place - did you find the quest there yet?

With the Orc wanting to learn about his ancestry? Yeah, I've got that. Haven't done it yet though.

The outcome of that specific quest has always saddened me.

Argh, Oblivion crashed yet again, right when I was about to close the Kvatch gate. Quick save is my friend...

I think one of the imbalances in the game is that you simply can't keep to being a pure tank character, high level magic will always take you apart. You need either healing magic or alteration for shields. Plus you simply run out of thuggery skills to increase.

So yeah, my normal go-to characters usually go through the fighters guild quests and the mages guild ones next. Mainly cos that gives a chance at enchanting half decent magic - although in oblivion you are often better off getting a unique item.

In mnay ways the non-mage fighter types have been left behind during all the simplification from Arena till now. You used to have far more armour pieces to choose from and far more types and mods to choose from. More skills and more combinations that made the fighters much more able. I guess they think it evens up since a low level mage is push over really.

Be interesting to see how the further simplification in Skyrim works out. Oblivion was clearly console-gamer oriented and Skyrim looks to be even more so. Still, if it makes a packet for them then it is good to have such games out there, even if not as pure as a geek like me would like

Saw my first Skyrim ad on TV last night - interesting they did it as film with actors rather than game footage.

I'm looking forward to playing with the dual-wielding system in Skyrim... and hoping they use it in the next Fallout game: double pistols!

Think I might experiment with playing Oblivion as a charismatic mage, using spells and staves as much as possible and finally getting to grips with the spinny social interaction mini-game instead of just throwing money at people.

It took me some time to figure out how to charm people, I'll try to describe it briefly:

Click Start

Hold your pointer over each of the 4 'cake' sections and watch their faces to find out which 2 they like most.

Click a 'like' section when it's as full as possible, and a 'dislike' section when it's as empty as possible.

You can only use Rotate once, use it wisely.

It's a kind of puzzle at times, and I've grown to like it.

Aaah... I had forgotten how beautiful the sunset looks from Cloud Ruler Temple. That's one of the things I enjoy about Oblivion - how sometimes I'll just stop running/riding and instead try to move my character into a spot where she can get the best view - and then just enjoy it...

I particularly like a clear sky at night, with both moons up.

Yes, it is very pretty and atmospheric.
One of the main reasons why my PC is hooked up to my telly - I've often wondered if, if I could be bothered, it'd be possible to get the game engine running with a fly-around camera perspective and just have it as a sort of moving landscape picture on the telly when not in use.

Well, have downloaded 5.1 Gb on my, at best, 1 Mb/s connection - took something like 2 hours.

Running the setup I got an error message but running it again worked OK.

After that, I had to queue a while because the 'Steam swervers are too busy'.

Am now waiting for the Steam download, currently at 9% and ticking slowly *wanders off for something to chew on*

32% *paces*