Oblivion is impossible!

[slackbheep]

I am way, way too lazy to read this whole thread just to offer advice, but if you're finding the skill system is putting you off of the game download Obscuro's Oblivion Overhaul with maximum haste. Words cannot describe how much a few mods like that and some of the combat overhauls/additions can add to an already fantastic game. OOO is a massive retooling of the game to give it a more traditional leveling system and as well as making most loot and monsters static. It also comes bundled with some other high quality add-ons.

 

[Aerter]

It does get better. The first gate is tough, but you'll get enough levels for the rest of the game to be reasonably easy.
Let me repeat it, IT GETS BETTER. Just so everyone knows

 

[Torrasque]

Does anyone know if there is a follower that could help me out this early?

First off, since this is your first time playing, you want to customize as little as possible.
Choose a default class (I suggest a melee heavy class), there are several that have no magic at all, and I think there is one that has blade/blunt/heavy armor/etc. etc.

Second, the leveling system in this game is not really the same as most games. Your primary talents determine what level you are, and your secondary talents are there for shits and giggles. So, if you have speechcraft as a primary skill, and level that to 50, your level will reflect that. If your speechcraft is level 50, and your blade is level 5, then your actual level will not reflect your combat proficiency.

Third, and this is very important, all enemies in this game scale to YOUR level. So if you are level 5, every enemy you encounter, will be scaled to that level. For the most part, this scaling will not make a bit of difference (crabs and rats can't get any stronger really), but if you go into a dungeon at level 5, and at level 25, the enemies you encounter will be very very different. This is very important to remember, because if you are level 15 because your restoration, acrobatics, and speechcraft are leveled through the roof, and your blade, light armor, and block are level 5, you will be pretty useless in combat. So instead of fighting against enemies that reflect your combat proficiency, enemies that would have leather armor and iron swords, you will fight enemies with glass armor and silver swords.

So be very careful how you level, and take it easy.

Also: don't go into any oblivion gates until you are positive that you can take care of yourself. The oblivion gates are really difficult at first.
I suggest doing some side quests in a guild (fighters or assassins guild is great for starting gear) until you have a good set of armor, good weapons, and a good amount of restoration at your fingertips (potions or spells).

 

[madwarper]

I remember when I first started playing Oblivion. My characters were completely random, and I couldn't figure out the leveling system. Which lead me to level up in a way that had my stats end up being subpar compared to the level scaled enemies.

Spoiler: That is when I figured the best and worst feature about the leveling system in Oblivion.

Leveling your character the "right way" is just like playing a spreadsheet.

Plan ahead, vary your class skills, get 10 points in two (or one if you're working on Luck) in skills of differing attributes, then get 10 points in a skill in a class skill and get +5 to those 3 attributes (or +5 to the 2 attributes and +1 to Luck).

About gameplay;

Join the Mage, Thief and Assassin guilds. Unless you get some DLC, the getting into the Mage's compound is the only way to craft your own spells and create your own enchanted equipment. The Thief and Assassin guilds have some interesting quests.

Spoiler: Assassins/Mages guild tip

When doing the Anvil Recommendation quest, run backwards and when you see the wizard give chase, run into the wilderness and attack them before they speak with you. That way, the wizard will still count as an innocent and the assassins will talk with you.

Find the Peryite shrine ASAP, before you complete its quest, you can wail on the immortal soulless husks of its followers to train weapon/spells.

 

[Timedraven 117]

i find it boring annoying and hard to level because it doesent even explain how to

Even though I only just started replaying the game, I have played the intro so many times now that I honestly cannot remember how well done it is in terms of this.
Lucky for you that there is this thing called the Internet eh?
Seriously though, follow the same advice as the OP and give the game another try. Or, if you, unlike Will, are playing on PC, you could try that XP mod. Never used it myself, or knew it existed, but it might help you out.
Will: I won't tell you what class to play, but if you do want to play a mage, you could focus on Conjuration, that would allow you to summon critters AND armour/weapons. Not sure how easy those types of spells are to find, though.
Mind you, there really isn't anything to stop you skipping the main quest for now, heading to the nearest town, and getting started on the Mages Guild quests. That is where you will find people selling spells, and once you get into the University, will let you make your own spells.
You will also want to level Mysticism (I think?) so that you can get some decent soul catching going on, which is another fairly complex aspect of the game, in that you have to (successfully!) cast Soul Trap on a creature, have that spell active on the creature as it dies, and have an empty Soul Gem capable of storing that creatures soul. The filled gems are used to create and recharge enchanted items.

well i probably will you know just dont know when. any way heres to hope of a new fallout game and skyrim

I think I heard somewhere that Beth is working on Fallout 4, although I doubt they have much more then the location and the factions. Presuming the runmor was real in the first place.

heh hope so

 

[Rems]

Also read the instruction rulebook, like really read it. That way you'll actually know what the mechanics of the game are and the icons- i mean really not seeing the health bar is something that could be fixed with just a few minutes patience and reading the book.


Do side quests, that's on of the main features of an oblivion game. Doing side quests and just generally exploring will give you more items, gold, experience (as in the opportunity touse your skills and hence level.)

Make sure your main skills are the skills you will actually use regularly or yo will never level, or hate doing so as you will have to grind.

If you really are stuck then turn the difficulty down. I personally don't know where all these people saying they had to turn it down are coming from (i found it just fine), but people are better at and enjoy different things so whatever.

 

[jthm]

Don't play the main quest first. Also, try rolling a Breton with high blade and magic skills. Touch on damage magic is awesome and fits so well between blocks.

 

[Terminal Blue]

As others have said, mod the game now..

In particular, get a mod which makes levelling reasonable. As it stands, the system is gob-smackingly stupid because it rewards you more for sitting around casting precisely the right number of light spells than it does for actually doing what your class is meant to be good at.

Oblivion is not a bad game once it's been modded. But I really don't understand why it seems to be so popular. It is utterly, ridiculously crappy without mods.

 

[madwarper]

4> Enchant dagger with Drain 100HP for 1 second, Soul Trap 1 Second, Weakness to Magicka 100% for 1 second

Problem: you can only enchant an item with one magic effect at a time.

You're only half right.

You can only enchant Armor/Clothing with one effect.
You can put multiple effects on weapons/spells.

 

[William MacKay]

ok, enemies always have health bars: they just dont have images in some games. you do get experience, but its in certain areas (hand to hand, light armour etc) and the major skills determine your levelling exp. also, enemies level up with you, so people suggest having the skill you'll use more as minor skills so you dont level up when you use them, but you still have a high skill in them. also, dont do the main quest only, do the arena/fighters guild/mages guild and level up your combat/magic skills and access better stuff. i had pretty much done the arena and was blazing my way through the mages guild when i went to joffre.
also, in the oblivion gate, you get a Kvatch guard as a follower.

 

[Extravagance]

The first gate is damn hard. The best thing to do is basically ignore it for a while. Find one of the guilds like Mage or Warriors and do some side stuff for a good while. You'll level up/get some more experiance with the game and the first Gate wont be quite a pain in the arse as it is. It's an open RPG game, you really don't have to follow the story line until you're good and ready. It took me 30+ hours to complete, because I was having too much fun doing other stuff to bother with running round saving the world.

Bows are also pretty pointless. They're upgrading that in Skyrim apparently, as well as the combat system.
Health bars are not essential. COD, Halo etc don't have them. Just hit it until it stops moving
In short, its good once you get into it. Don't just follow the story line, do other stuff. Don't worry too much about the gates and so on, they just tend to sit around without causing much trouble.

On the side discussion: Played it without mods, loved it.

 

[Ruffle My Truffles]

I had the exact same problem the first time i tried it but once you get used to it its great fun. Definitely give it a second chance

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

Once you 'get' Oblivion, the game is very easy. I always think about jacking up the difficulty, because it seems I just wade through everything like a tank. In fact, the game is completely broken. I won't spoil (you can look it up easily enough) but there are several glitch-free ways to make your character unstoppable. If it doesn't bother you, just ignore these methods. God mode is only fun to try.

Leveling up by advancing your major skills is great- again, after you 'get it'. I like it a lot more than collecting experience by the kill. The only problems are the way attributes are raised and the level scaling system. Maximizing your stat points is an incredibly tedious and restrictive process. Playing your character your way is what the Elder Scrolls is all about, or so I thought. But it's almost impossible to do that and make the most of attribute point gains. And due to level scaling, a character with bad stats is a bad character, not just a late bloomer. It sounds like these problems are being addressed in Skyrim, but we'll know more on 11/11/11.

But only advanced players need to worry about that stuff. You can do well enough without too much fuss. Follow these rules and you'll do alright:

1. Major in at least one "attack" skill and focus on it (Destruction, Blade, Blunt, Hand-to-hand, Marksman).


2. Avoid Majoring in Athletics and Acrobatics. They increase too quickly. You will end up a level 20 character with level 10 fighting skills. And due to level scaling, you'll be fighting level 20 monsters. Some other good choices for Secondary Skills (even if you intend to use them) are Armorer and Alchemy.


3. Use everything at your disposal. You have weapons, armor, repair hammers, potions, spells, scrolls, Minor/Major Powers, enchants, poisons, sneak, and a bunch of cool stuff I won't even mention to back you up. I have so many items and abilities to rely on I never get around to using them all. If you're having a hard time, look through your magic and item menus until you find something useful. And in the future, come prepared.

 

[Duskflamer]

4> Enchant dagger with Drain 100HP for 1 second, Soul Trap 1 Second, Weakness to Magicka 100% for 1 second

Problem: you can only enchant an item with one magic effect at a time.

You're only half right.

You can only enchant Armor/Clothing with one effect.
You can put multiple effects on weapons/spells.

Really? Even with weapons I've noticed the options for enchantments disappearing once I selected one...maybe I'm misremembering and/or my game is bugging on me.

 

[Elfgore]

Tips: Lower the defficulty, Use blade, block , and armoror as main skills. Make your own costom class. And get it for the PC because mods and cheats are awsome.

 

[elvor0]

I really can't believe loads of people here think Oblivion is hard, on the default difficulty with no mods, Oblivion has got to be one of the easiest games I've played, I spent the first quarter of the game and the entire gladiatorial arena just punching things to death it was that easy. Also, if it is really that difficult, just turn the difficulty down.

 

[Raizekage]

Yea I had a really hard time with the game when I first started. Lowering the difficulty helped me learn the combat more easily and then I was able to increase the difficulty and continue playing normally. Awesome game FYI. I need to play it and beat it before Skyrim.

 

[The Heik]

So I bought Oblivion friday (late to the party, I know) because I was looking forward to Skyrim without ever playing a Elder Scroll game. I figured I'd check it out before I paid for Skyrim.
In short, I hate it. The combat is wierd. Why don't enimies has health bars? And whats up the with leveling system? I don't get expirience from killing things? You're telling me I can level up by increasing my acrobatics skill 10 times?
And why is it SO hard? I'm at the FIRST Oblivion gate! It's impossible. I got there at level 2 (because it's the second fukin mission) and now I'm level 4 and still can't come close to beating it. I have a iron bow and steel arrows, and a "fine steel longsword" I'm Aprentice in Archery and Blade. Why do people like this game? I think it will be the first game I give up on due to difficulty in years. Atleast I only spent $20 bucks on it.
Edit: Hey guys, thanks for all the replies. I was going to give another shot anyway, but for sure I'm going to lower the difficulty. Apparently archery sucks and or requires too much stratgie. I'll still to my blades and forget about archery all together. Does anyone know if there is a follower that could help me out this early?

Ok a couple of bits of advice. First of all they enemies do have health bars. When you point your cursor at an enemy and strike it, a small bar under the cursor decreases.

Second, I'd recommend exploring the world for a bit before you go to an Oblivion gate, as you can't leave it until you're done. I'd recommend first joining the guilds, then taking all the dosh you can carry from each of those locations, then sell whatever you won't be using right away (this will give you cashflow, and you'll stock up on some decent gear for low level characters. Seriously, without doing a thing, you can get steel/chainmail armor and silver weapons for nothing)

Third, if you find yourself low on health after each battle, you can use the wait function to restore your health without needing potions, so you won't be drained so much.

Fourth, archery only really works if you're a stealth character, as at higher skill levels, you can bash through even the toughest enemies without them even knowing where you are

And finally fifth, (though this was covered a bit before in point 2) explore. There's a lot of things you can do in the game that don't require you to go through the main plot, and in my opinion, are more fun (and dosh-rewarding) than it.

 

[OdyCay]

oblivion is easy and there is a health bar, you also must level up your major skill to increase in your level. if you cant play oblivion u cant play skyrim but u should buy skyrim and return it if u suck at it as well.

 

[Signa]

1> Get soul trap, drain health, weakness to magicka spells
2> Get Asura's Star
3> Join Mage's guild to access enchanting
4> Enchant dagger with Drain 100HP for 1 second, Soul Trap 1 Second, Weakness to Magicka 100% for 1 second

Win game.

I'm sure a lot of that doesn't make sense at first glance, but all it takes is just hunting for those few spells (faqs and wikis will help you) and a common iron dagger to win the game. Every strike you land on an enemy momentarily reduces his HP, but every strike after (if within 1 second) reduces it by 2x the last strike. First it's -200HP, then -400, then -800, -1600.... it doesn't take much to kill the strongest enemies in the game. And the soul trap effect will allow you to keep this going for every non-human/humanlike demon you kill.

Problem: you can only enchant an item with one magic effect at a time. You could make a spell with that effect but then you'd be constrained by your magicka.

Incorrect. Unless it was a silent addition by a mod, you can add up to eight effects if you are enchanting a weapon. The spell becomes "casts on strike" instead of "constant effect".

Oh wait, I remember now, the wiki itself told me how to do this. It's part of the official game

One problem: I'm not magic oriented at all.

Not a problem. There really isn't much need to be oriented in a class at all in Oblivion. I had NO stealth skills, and I still became head of the thief's guild. To get into the Mage's guild, you just do a few random quests, most completable as simple "go here and fetch" or at worse "kill these monsters" which can be done with a sword. You still can cast spells as a fighter, and the only spell you might have to worry about casting EVER is the first soul trap to capture a soul to enchant your weapon. That's not even necessary since most dungeons give you free full soul gems anyway (or was that a mod? Dunno).