The Elder Scrolls

[scathefire]

From what I see most loreheads generally do not like what ESO did with it.

Didn’t ESO also disregard the fact that Cyrodiil was supposed to still be a jungle at that point in time? But they just ignored that for the sake of Oblivion nostalgia.

 

[Breadbassket]

Didn’t ESO also disregard the fact that Cyrodiil was supposed to still be a jungle at that point in time? But they just ignored that for the sake of Oblivion nostalgia.

ESO in general kind of plays fast and loose with the lore at times so that checks out.

 

[Desu Mountain]

Playing Morrowind for the first time. Went for the Total Overhaul mod, though I got rid of some stuff, like those ass-ugly UI changes. Anyway, I spent an hour or two learning the Daedric alphabet, just because I kept seeing Daedric text and got curious, and it was an incredibly easy thing to learn. There's some fun stuff to find.

Like this:

Note: any misspellings were in the original text. Punctuation added by me, since there is none in the original text.

"I call upon the Lords of Darkness. Answer my call and appear. I am the lord and master of death. Fear me for you shall not live and so on and so forth. Excetera excetera. Come and attack me you stupid Deadra. I'll kick your sorry asses and farm your corpses for goodies. Ha.

I can't think of anything else to write but I need to fill up space so I'm just going to write a bunch of nonsense now.

I'm getting awfully tired of this. Can I stop now? No? Damn. Ok fine. I'll write something else then. Is this okay? It's not like anyone can read this crap anyway. It's no wonder the Daedra are going to be pissed when you summon them if this is the crap they have to listen to."

And here are some scroll texts.


"Woe upon you"


"Invoke swiftly and wisely"


"Strength and honor"


"Shadows and fog"

 

[Übertroon]

So even though Skyrim quests and Oblivion quests can be pretty similar, Oblivion quests feel better and I don't know why. I'm not talking stand-out quests, I mean generic go to X and kill Y kinds of quests. Is it just because Oblivion characters have better dialogue and personality, and the quests having more flavor due to not being radiant?

A lot of Skyrim sidequests involve going through dungeons, like a lot of them.
Oblivion has the one with the town filled with people worshipping demons and kidnapping people.
The Orc who puts people on an island to hunt them for sport.
Townspeople being robbed by an all female gang.
A man having bought a haunted house that is revealed to house a long dead ancestor turned lich.
The floating inn that gets hijacked by thieves wanting to steal a rumored treasure.
The painted world filled with painted trolls.
The vamprie hunting hobby group.
Glarthir thinking half of Skingrad conspires against him.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

A lot of Skyrim sidequests involve going through dungeons, like a lot of them.
Oblivion has the one with the town filled with people worshipping demons and kidnapping people.
The Orc who puts people on an island to hunt them for sport.
Townspeople being robbed by an all female gang.
A man having bought a haunted house that is revealed to house a long dead ancestor turned lich.
The floating inn that gets hijacked by thieves wanting to steal a rumored treasure.
The painted world filled with painted trolls.
The vamprie hunting hobby group.
Glarthir thinking half of Skingrad conspires against him.

True. Oblivion had more variety in side quests.

 

[Tri-Tachyon'sClown]

Forgot if I posted this.

 

[Problematic User Forever]

Didn’t ESO also disregard the fact that Cyrodiil was supposed to still be a jungle at that point in time?

Isn't the conditions of the retcon that it stopped being a jungle throughout all time or something?

IDK, it's literally a page from a book and nothing else, so I feel it should be disregarded like most of the original pocket guide at this point.

It wasn't even jungle and rice paddies in Arena, right?

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

It wasn't even jungle and rice paddies in Arena, right?

Was just generic forest all the exterior the Imperial City had in Arena.
Remind you Arena had basically limited exteriors of cities, and even that was all randomly generated.
Even in that game have a generic castle as the Imperial Palace.

 

[Tri-Tachyon'sClown]

Didn’t ESO also disregard the fact that Cyrodiil was supposed to still be a jungle at that point in time? But they just ignored that for the sake of Oblivion nostalgia.

Didn't Tiber Septim CHIM the jungle away? And I mean he retroactively made it so Cyrodiil was never a Jungle in any timeline because CHIM and the time shenanigans related to it? Then again that concept is fucking wacky and never agreed upon.

 

[Problematic User Forever]

Was just generic forest all the exterior the Imperial City had in Arena.
Remind you Arena had basically limited exteriors of cities, and even that was all randomly generated.
Even in that game have a generic castle as the Imperial Palace.

I know, but like *shrug*

You know what I mean?

 

[Gilgamesh]

Didn't Tiber Septim CHIM the jungle away? And I mean he retroactively made it so Cyrodiil was never a Jungle in any timeline because CHIM and the time shenanigans related to it? Then again that concept is fucking wacky and never agreed upon.

This was a common theory (I think based on an in game book) before ESO came out, trying to explain oblivion’s tolkienesque look.
ESO has a book from some guy saying it was just a transcription error. An old loremaster video on the topic left it all open, as per usual.

 

[Deus Exica]

Is it just because Oblivion characters have better dialogue and personality, and the quests having more flavor due to not being radiant?

Oblivion quests tend to have a little twist to them that makes them memorable, even if they aren't really all that compelling from a gameplay standpoint, and almost none of them have meaningful choices or alternative outcomes.

A quest in Skyrim will be like "Hey, this tree is dying. Can you go to a mini-dungeon and retrieve a sapling for me? There are two methods to solve this quest."

Compared to Oblivion which is like "Go clear out rats in the basement. Actually this bitch keeps the rats as pets and a mountain lion is breaking in and eating them. Hunt down who set the mountain lion loose, then go with this new guy to hunt the mountain lions down."

That's like the most boring quest in Oblivion but it still has multiple unique characters, a little twist on the premise, and probably four or five stages to crawl through. Skyrim almost never goes beyond "Go to dungeon and come back." Even if there is a bit more choice and roleplay opportunities.

Isn't the conditions of the retcon that it stopped being a jungle throughout all time or something?

The dragon break is basically an in-universe retcon that means Cyrodiil was always a fertile grassland, yeah.

 

[Modern Audience]

Didn’t ESO also disregard the fact that Cyrodiil was supposed to still be a jungle at that point in time? But they just ignored that for the sake of Oblivion nostalgia.

The dragon break is basically an in-universe retcon that means Cyrodiil was always a fertile grassland, yeah.

I guess the explanation for cyrodil not being a rainforest is that they chopped it all down.




The image above is from the Peruvian amazon. Because of human civilization that area isn't as jungly as it once was. I don't know. It doesn't sit right how bethesda seems determined to remove all of the magic from elder scrolls, like, they took away focus from the nordic pantheon and had every single nordic priest focus on the the imperial divines because of Bruce Nesmith.

 

[Bob Barbas]

Unironically my favorite game in the series is Oblivion.
That's it, I just wanted to say that.

The craziest part is that I played Skyrim first. I dunno how to explain why, Oblivion is so intentionally and unintentionally hilarious that it almost feels like a parody of itself but played completely straight. There's not really any game like it in tone. I just can't get enough of it.

 

[Deus Exica]

Unironically my favorite game in the series is Oblivion.

I think I would like Oblivion a lot more if it could be a bit more immersive. As it stands, there's just a bit too much wacky shit going on to really work well for me.

 

[Rick The Stick]

I think I would like Oblivion a lot more if it could be a bit more immersive. As it stands, there's just a bit too much wacky shit going on to really work well for me.

Oblivion's goofiness definitely works for and against it.

 

[Deus Exica]

Oblivion's goofiness definitely works for and against it.

It definitely makes it more memorable, but when I am making a decision to invest hours of my time into a game as a form of escapism I don't want to constantly be reminded I'm in a game world by having the game constantly remind me it's one.

 

[Bob Barbas]

It definitely makes it more memorable, but when I am making a decision to invest hours of my time into a game as a form of escapism I don't want to constantly be reminded I'm in a game world by having the game constantly remind me it's one.

I prefer the way Oblivion does it than any game that has to sit there and shove meta humor down your throat.
It oddly enough feels more natural, the bugs, the goofy voice acting it all kind of blends together to create to me a sort've absurd fantasy world that's entertaining to witness in motion because you never know what ridiculous bullshit you'll see next.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

I prefer the way Oblivion does it than any game that has to sit there and shove meta humor down your throat.
It oddly enough feels more natural, the bugs, the goofy voice acting it all kind of blends together to create to me a sort've absurd fantasy world that's entertaining to witness in motion because you never know what ridiculous bullshit you'll see next.

Well, both Mehrunes Dagon and Sheogorath are featured in Oblivion (with the latter being in a DLC).
I made a headcannon about any wacky glitch or bug is Sheogorath doing.

 

[scathefire]

I prefer the way Oblivion does it than any game that has to sit there and shove meta humor down your throat.
It oddly enough feels more natural, the bugs, the goofy voice acting it all kind of blends together to create to me a sort've absurd fantasy world that's entertaining to witness in motion because you never know what ridiculous bullshit you'll see next.

That’s part of why Shivering Isles was so good, because it seems self-aware of the inherent ridiculousness and wackiness of the NPCs and leans into it.