Its come out in the past couple days that SE is pushing back DE3, but I'm not sure if they announced when it was going to be released. SE is going through some tough times.

Regarding exclusives, I don't think that just because a major release is exclusive to one console would not worry a publisher. Yeah if Gears or Uncharted were multi, it would be a bigger deal, but publishers still have to be thinking about the best time to get the most sales.

Regarding ES:V, I wouldn't mind them pushing it back if they keep it in development and stay working on all the little kinks. The less bugs in the initial release, the better. If I have to wait an extra three months for a better, more polished game, I wouldn't mind.

 

Deus Ex 3 was scheduled for a Q1 release, and even though it's getting pushed back, I'd be surprised to see it slide all the way to Q4. All we know at this stage is that it'll be released sometime after March.

There is a LOT of money thrown around on games purchases in Q4 of any year. I don't think TES V being released at that time is a problem. AAA games that're exclusive to one console are much, much smaller concerns than AAA multi-platform games. TES V has even less to fear from the likes of Uncharted and Gears of War sequels than many other games will. They both target rather different gaming demographics than a medieval fantasy RPG with dice-roll fighting mechanics, which will further insulate TES V from them.

I think you're worrying over nothing.

 

I definitely hope I'm worrying over nothing. It just seems every time I get into into the hype for a game, it gets pushed back. And based on the amount of quality games scheduled for next year, some are going to be released in 2012. I just wonder which ones will.

 

The chosen release date is both good and bad :

It means the game is at least in alpha stage at the moment, and that Bethesda doing well so far.

On the other hand, they can't afford to push back the release. Not only will they lose face, but they might lose the Christmas period while simultaneously get their market shares attacked by the Steam holiday sales.

That's why I'm expecting a very buggy release, Bethesda style, in 2011, or a Q1-Q2 2012 release, because if they push it back, it is probably better to make the release perfect.

 

Aside from what's already been stated, I'm really hoping for an improved magic system. Morrowind's wasn't bad, but the probability to succeed casting was always kinda screwy. I always managed to fail right when I really needed to manage it, even if it said I had a 99% chance, and having to put away my weapon and take out my hands always seemed retarded.

Oblivion did better in some respects, not having to put my sword up made it a lot less of a pain to use spells in combat, but I was disappointed with the lack of variety in spells as well as the ridiculous magicka costs of some. I found the school system fairly annoying, suddenly having the ability to cast more powerful versions of the same thing when you reached a set skill level as opposed to it being gradual. And I hated how you were stuck with completely useless spells in your magic list forever.

Mods fixed a lot of it, especially in the sense of variety, and once the OBSE (oblivion script extender) came out things got even better. But I usually try to have one vanilla play through, and vanilla mages sucked.

 

^ On that note, what I really want is different animations for spells. Every single ranged fire spell is a fireball, etc. Can't we have some variety in it? It's just as annoying as the "blue orb for almost every spell" thing the latest Harry Potter movies have going on.

 

My previous post seems to have been swallowed by the ether and I cbf'd to write it again but suffice it to say, the greatest improvement they can make to Elder Scrolls is to remove level-scaling.

All in favor?

 

I disagree. The level-scaling wasn't the issue. It was the fact that there weren't level-scaling caps so that monster you fought at the beginning isn't difficult at level 30. If the level-scaling had caps, it would still make the game difficult without making it ridiculous.

 

They're finally makin a #5? I loved Morrowind, and I loved Oblivion even more. I can't wait to see what #5 will look like. It took them long enough to start on #5. That's 5 years. Dang.

 

Also: I love Oblivion and got it again for PC and am about to jump in but there's a slight problem; I played so much of it on the PS3 that the only thing I never got round to was finishing the main quest.

After all those playthroughs the game is guaranteed to feel bland. So I was wondering what the best mods out there were. Not just the ones that removed level scaling and such but the ones that really added new weapons, spells, places, mechanics etc to spice it up.

P.S. Is there any good particular website to find them on. I've been looking but the websites that I'm given like the Wiki provide far too little info for my liking. If there was any site like Civilization Fanatics that provided detailed texts on changes and screenshots could you please give me the url?

 

I'm actually glad Bethseda waited for 5 years to release ES5. Hopefully, they made productive use of that time to fix up all the things they fucked up in Oblivion because honestly, even thouh I loved Oblivion, it was buggy as hell. I also hope they make combat more interesting as it was just plain boring sometimes.

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/

^^That should really cover all your modding needs for Oblivion. Some of the mods altering and expanding the magic system were really welcome. You'll have to join though to download mods over 2mb I think.

 

Yeah, you have to join to download files over 2mb, but membership is free. There's also a tesnexus forum to help you install particarly complicated mods like FCOM.

 

With Skyrim coming out, in 11 months, I'll try to finish up Morrowind and Oblivion within that time. Both unmodded, because I think that mods take away from the game, and that I'll fuck up installing them.

I'll add Fallout 3, and New Vegas to the list as well. It'll be a year full of Bethseda games up the ass. Where in each game, I'll spend 20 hours on each character till I'm satisfied.

 

Yeah, when you need a notebook to make sure that delaying the quest doesn't mean that the AI rapes you and every one of your allies, you'll realise that taking away isn't a bad thing sometimes.

But speaking of Elder Scrolls I really think they need to work on the combat and magic system- a lot.

 

Wait, what?

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but yours is crazy. Bethesda games without mods are lesser games. A big part of playing then is experimenting with mods until you find what works best for you. De-consolifying the UI in New Vegas and F3 is one mod that can only be a good thing for PC gamers. The Unofficial Oblivion Patch by the legendary team of Quarn and Kivan which fixes 1800 bugs and glitches is near goddamn essential. Qarl's Texture Packs? Unique Landscapes? Viewable When Distant?

How these mods "take away from the game" is beyond me. Fuck vanilla. Really. I've never understood why people try to play Bethesda games on consoles, where mods are a non-starter.

Installing mods is fairly idiot proof. Grab whatever Mod Manager has been adopted by the game's respective community, and follow the readmes. You can get a game that's close to the vanilla experience, but clearly enhanced, simply by being selective of the mods that you use.

 

What Yak said. He smart.

 

Aye, this. I played through Oblivion vanilla for the first time about a year ago (ish) on a PC without a net connection, and just decided to try and complete the starter quest immediately so that the mobs were the lowest level. Got bored of the storyline and I ended up just doing a spree of gate closures with only Hand-to-Hand and the self-healing charm.

No cheats. No mods. Six or seven Oblivion gates closed with a low-level's fists. Nothing spoils a game more than a levelling-mob system working for you instead of against, and the 'Oh fuck I'm awesome!' wore off after number three or four. Then I go back later in the game, levelled and pimped out, and have trouble getting to the door of the tower. Blargh.