nehrim: total coversion for oblivion

[slavatrumpevitch]

Hey, I just found out about this mod for oblivion called Nehrim. it's by a german modding group Sureai. it looks phenomenal- i don't know why i didn't hear about it earlier. there's some youtube stuff of it here:

 

 

the voiceover is a little corny, but it looks like it'll be really awesome when it comes out. have you guys heard anything else about it?

[Komag]

Looks pretty good. I'm disappointed to see "Total Conversion" and then see all the same building models and mostly the same AI models and stuff like that. I'm sure it will be cool though.

[Vadrosaul]

A conversion from a medieval fantasy game to another medieval fantasy game? Thanks, but I'll take the Dark Mod. It takes real skill to change the entire setting from the engine's original inception.

[slavatrumpevitch]

i wasn't trying to say it was going to be better than TDM, in fact I wasn't comparing it to TDM at all. (in truth, i await the dark mod much more eagerly than Nehrim) having say that, though, it seems silly to "poo-poo" a mod, based on how hard it would be to do. the impressive part about what they're doing obviously isn't doing a whole lot of code re-writing, it's the fact that they're going to handcraft a vast landscape rather than let a computer algorithm do it for them. i really liked Oblivion, and of my few complaints, the biggest was always that the landscape and all the ruins, etc... were too generic. so if Nehrim plays virtually identically to Oblivion except that the entire playing area is unique and lush with detail, then that, IMHO, sounds amazing. however, they game play won't be virtually indentical, so i'll have to wait and see how it is. However, i'm thinking it'll be pretty sweet.

[Komag]

I've owned Oblivion twice though and already spent WAAAAAAAYYYYYYY too many hours in that world. One of my saves had over 200 hours on it, another had over 100, and all the rest together it probably another 200 or so. That's just insane.

 

But you never know, I may pick it up again in a couple years, just to try mods like this (and to play Shivering Isles which I never got to do).

[Crispy]

I've owned Oblivion twice though and already spent WAAAAAAAYYYYYYY too many hours in that world. One of my saves had over 200 hours on it, another had over 100, and all the rest together it probably another 200 or so. That's just insane.

I have no idea why you didn't die of boredom. I think I played about 15 hours before getting utterly tired of the same-old, same-old.

 

Morrowind lasted a bit longer, probably because it was the first Elder Scrolls game I'd played. But I still didn't finish the main quest even once.

 

I think it's down to the fact that RPGs aren't my cup of tea any more. I ploughed many hours into Exile III back in the day, but I've since got extremely bored of the grinding that all RPGs have to some extent. The exploration factor typically isn't enough to hold my interest for very long.

 

Perhaps strangely, I did enjoy City of Villains (the only commercial-quality MMORPG I've ever played) during the 2-week trial that I played it for. It was probably the social aspect combined with the superhero setting, which I have a soft spot for.

[Nyarlathotep]

I have no idea why you didn't die of boredom. I think I played about 15 hours before getting utterly tired of the same-old, same-old.

I think I got maybe seven hours before I decided I needed to mod the fuck out of it to make still interesting to play.

[sparhawk]

having say that, though, it seems silly to "poo-poo" a mod, based on how hard it would be to do.

 

Tha's right. In the end it doesn't count how much work it was, but how good it is. And you can do something really good with small efforts as well, if you are creative enough.

 

The name of that mod tickles my mind. Was this a differnt mod before and renamed because of copyright reasons? Or am I confusing it with another mod. I seem to remember something about a Lord Of The Ring settings, but maybe the name is only similar or so. Not sure though.

 

The trailer looks quite nice. Even the voice in the beginning sounds quite good to me. Many mods really suffer from bad voice acting, but this one seems to do rather good IMO. In some mods, I really wonder why they simply didn't drop the voice, if they can't make it good. It often spoils an otherwise good impression.

[oDDity]

I have no idea why you didn't die of boredom. I think I played about 15 hours before getting utterly tired of the same-old, same-old.

 

Morrowind lasted a bit longer, probably because it was the first Elder Scrolls game I'd played. But I still didn't finish the main quest even once.

 

I think it's down to the fact that RPGs aren't my cup of tea any more. I ploughed many hours into Exile III back in the day, but I've since got extremely bored of the grinding that all RPGs have to some extent. The exploration factor typically isn't enough to hold my interest for very long.

 

That's the problem with morrowind and oblivion, There is no exploration factor. They are cloned landscapes. Once you've seen one dungeon you've seen them all. THere are few creatures, none of the NPCs have any personality, and the quests get repetitive as well.

Gothic did a much better job in holding my attention. There was at least a sense of exploration, and the NPCs had personality.

Bethesda always tries to make games that are BIG, wihtout any other consideration.

[sparhawk]

Gothic I+II are among the best RPGs I have played, because they always took care to make the gameworld feel as if it were real and alive. Haven't played G3 yet, but if they followed that tradition, then it should also be good.

 

I tried to play Morrowind and soon got lost. Also tried to play Oblivion, but as soon as I walked out of the initial dungeon also got lost somehow. Or at least I lost interest in it.

[Sotha]

I have no idea why you didn't die of boredom. I think I played about 15 hours before getting utterly tired of the same-old, same-old.

 

-I played Oblivion for about ~200hrs, until I completed it. It definately needed some modding to make it more interesting. Oblivion was nice, but it contained several annoying features, such as scaling encounters (the player never needs to flee combat), broken economy (low level brigand has a glass armor, if you're high level), stupid AI (standing on a high box makes AI run around you, forever, yelling combat phrases), too few different monsters. Biggest annoyances, however, were -as Oddity commented- copy-paste dungeons. No thrill in investigating the same looking cave complex eleventh time.

 

But I guess that is the problem with computer RPGs, they get very easily boring and repetitive. I'd rather play a tabletop RPG campaing with my friends, the GM can change the pace of things if the players begin to look bored, and the degree (or the illusion) of freedom is much more vast. Oh, and that is more ROLEplaying, compared to computer "R"PG:s.

[Unstoppable]

That looks nice, very nice.

[SneaksieDave]

such as scaling encounters (the player never needs to flee combat), broken economy (low level brigand has a glass armor, if you're high level), stupid AI (standing on a high box makes AI run around you, forever, yelling combat phrases), too few different monsters. Biggest annoyances, however, were -as Oddity commented- copy-paste dungeons.

What is wrong with the developers over there? Do they not hear that these complaints are made constantly, and in fact are becoming the norm? These points sum up *exactly* on my complaints about Morrowind. The scaling, economy, etc., are very poor design decisions. But most of all, and as the quoted text agrees, is the damned copy/paste ho-hum boring environment. It could've been produced by a random landscape generator, and it gives me absolutely zero desire to explore. There's no point, it's all just dead. That pile of ruins over there is just that and nothing more -- yet another pile of non-aesthetically pleasing models plunked down on mesh terrain, nothing special about it at all, and perhaps there's a zone-change-door leading into yet another generic crap dungeon. It sounds like they still haven't figured it out, and this is the main reason I haven't even considered getting Oblivion (even despite previewing it at a friend's). Why bother with _generic_TES_game_4, when I already have _generic_TES_game_3, in which I can't even force myself to get to the end of the storyline? They have the foundation and ability to make a good engrossing game, and instead they choose the lazy route, over and over.

 

Bethesda, kindly wake the hell up.

[slavatrumpevitch]

it seems like you guys will like nehrim then. everyone seems to be making the same complaint "copy/paste dungeons, etc..." and that is exactly what Nehrim will remedy. (or at least, that is my understanding, but i could be tragically mistaken.) every square foot will be designed with care, and attention to detail, rather than having a computer algorithm just generate another area in the "alyeid ruin idiom"

[phide]

Do they not hear that these complaints are made constantly, and in fact are becoming the norm?

Such complaints are made by the typically hardcore PC RPG guys. The real bacon's in the console crowd who have little interest in anything other than graphics and tits (and Oblivion surprisingly didn't really have any of the latter, while Morrowind actually had cat tits). Entice them with the prospect of acquiring New Sword B or Shiny Armor Set C, and you've got 'em. Toss in a few lines of dialogue from Patrick Stewart and you own them. Push the game's complexity beyond what one might encounter in Windows Solitaire, and you've completely lost 'em.

 

Let's just say they do it for the mortgage. It's a shame, too -- they could have done wonderful things with the Elder Scrolls universe. It's actually a pretty damn well-developed IP (or I suppose it once was).

[Mr Retarded]

Nice generalisation you made there. Don't forget that Morrowind didn't have auto levelling and was also hugely popular on the Xbox. Unfortunately for some, buying a console is the only way to play the latest games, but that doesn't instantly classify them is dribbling morons.

[SneaksieDave]

Morrowind didn't have auto levelling

Sure it does, that's what the levelled lists are for. (Or are you guys talking about something else, auto levelling for the player, or...?) When at level 1, you come across rats everywhere. When 20+, you come across daedra instead. Plenty of times I've seen low level brigands with glass equipment. Why? Because I went to level 52 (because of this design) before even reaching step 3 of the prophecies. It's completely ludicrous - I can walk into Vivec's temple and completely own his ass (without breaking a sweat, just a lot of mouse clicking), and I'm not even declared Nerevarine yet.

 

Very poor design.

[Mr Retarded]

Really? My bad.

 

To be honest, I wasn't massively impressed with the game and don't remember much about it. I stopped playing once I was called Nerevarine and had no urge to go wandering about. I crossed the island a few times doing stupid retrieval missions and then lost interest. Maybe I'll have another go sometime, if there's anything in particular worth playing it for?

[SneaksieDave]

That sounds about where I am with it, too. I want to see it finished, if just for completeness, but there is almost nothing pulling me forward (especially considering time required to do so).

[phide]

Nice generalisation you made there. Don't forget that Morrowind didn't have auto levelling and was also hugely popular on the Xbox.

There will always be those groups of users who are 'above' other users in terms of intellect and taste. Yes, Morrowind did very well on the Xbox, yet it was also a much simpler game than its predecessor (Daggerfall), which was grander in scale, depth and complexity despite having been released much, much earlier. Morrowind was, essentially, the first "Todd Howardized" Elder Scrolls title. It got hit a bit, but not to the extent it could have.

 

Oblivion sold tremendously well not so much because of those who were infatuated with Morrowind originally but because it was a newer, more mainstream (and visually attractive) sequel. Instead of extensive text dialogue trees, there were over-compressed VOs and few dialogue options (generally Rumors and one or two other items of no relevance). Instead of real RPG elements, there were hack-and-slash faux RPG elements such as faux leveling: the game could be completed at level 1 with less difficulty than at level 30. The interface was a massive step back from Morrowind's. And to top it all off, a good deal of the new lore wasn't even canon.

 

The game obviously targeted half-wits, and it sold highly because a large number of console owners are half-wits.

 

I expect the upcoming Fallout 3 to be even more Todd Howardized.

 

EDIT: Make that canon, not cannon

[oDDity]

Well that's the future of all gaming, so just give it up now and forget all about it like me.

[Sotha]

Well that's the future of all gaming, so just give it up now and forget all about it like me.

 

Well, we should not toss the axe in the well yet.

 

I'd say that the mentioned is the future of all commercial gaming. Luckily there are always some people who are willing see a lot of trouble to create something genuine, clever and new with volunteer work. It seems reasonable to think that the amount of people unsatisfied with commercial games is increasing rapidly, as the gaming industry moves even further pleasing only half-witted idiots. And the gaming industry takes this into account by publishing tools to modify their games.