Tags: Elder Scrolls


I'm not a noob to Oblivion, but still I'm discovering new things about how things work. Here are my three newest discoveries. If these tips are old news to you, then you are not allowed to post mean comments! Just go away! Shoo! This post is insightful and it will blow your mind and the internet is forever changed, and I don't want to hear otherwise!

Here they are, in order from number 1 to number 3, whatever that means:

1. When your Mercantile skill reaches 50, some merchants will have new unique magic items to sell you. For example, the Birthright of Astalon becomes available from Claudette Perrick in the Imperial City, providing a nice boost to agility (+5) and magicka (+50). The skill description forgot to mention this nice perk! Until now, I've been ignoring Mercantile because it takes forever to level up. Now I'm starting to warm up to it.

2. Illusion skills that claim to have a max level do not become obsolete for high level characters. For example, the best Command Creature spell says that it affects creatures of levels 25 or lower. In fact, Command Creature 25 pts will work on creatures of any level, as long as your spell effectiveness is 100%. Go ahead and command that level 45 Minotaur Lord to fight for you. The key for high-level illusionists is to wear no armor to keep that spell effectiveness maxed.

3. This one might have been obvious to others, but I just figured it out... *blush* When crafting potions with the Alchemy skill, you can use the "View All" button to add reagents that don't match others in the potion. In this way you can use four components, such that there are two pairs of components independently adding effects to the potion. It's like crafting two separate potions into one. For example, for a journeyman alchemist to create a potion with both Fortify Strength and Fortify Endurance, you can use these four components: Monkshood Root Pulp + Blackberry (fortify endurance), Arrowroot + Root Pulp (fortify strength). You may end up using more components this way, but it allows you to get effects that are otherwise impossible to combine in a single potion.


I've got a sudden urge to create an illusionist/alchemist/merchant...

Tags: Elder Scrolls   Games


Yes, I'm still playing Oblivion. It's a rare game that I don't get bored of after so much time.

My latest and greatest character is a Hermaeus Mora worshipper, that crustaceous blob with the great library. How does he read with lobster claws for hands? Anyway, I designed a house for myself using the construction set and put some big book shelves in it. My plan is to collect all the books in the game that I can find. Oblivion has a lot of books. Lots! This quest should keep me entertained until the next Elder Scrolls game comes out.

So, I needed a way to keep track of my character's growing library. Which books do I already have back at home? Which ones do I need? You get the point. Having just bought iWork '08 for my Mac, I decided to give it a try by creating a list of all the books. And so I did.

For all the other Elder Scrolls geeks out there, I'm sharing this checklist. It doesn't export well to Microsoft Word format, what with all the fancy layout I did with iWork. So it's only available in PDF and Pages format.

Get the files at the Oblivion Book Collector's Checklist page!

Let me know if I missed any books or if there are typos. Or just let me know if you're a book collector like me!

Tags: Discounts   Elder Scrolls   Games


For one week, starting Monday, October 15, the last official downloadable plugin for Oblivion will be available for FREE! It's the long talked about Fighter's Stronghold, which was rumored to be called "Dragonfire Castle", but isn't.

It's a castle. You want it.

Also included is a taxidermist. How long until someone creates a plugin to allow a stuffed Adoring Fan? I bet it will be available by next Wednesday. Go to it, modders!

Download it here on Monday.

Tags: Elder Scrolls   Games   Machinima   Music


After discovering Red vs. Blue years ago, I've been a fan of machinima. For those who haven't yet discovered this art form, it's where videos are created using footage from video games. Often, a new soundtrack is added to the video to tell a new story or re-interpret the game somehow. New dialog, new music, whatever. It's the visual version of what DJ's have been doing for decades: remixing existing work to create something new.

I just discovered some amazing musical machinima based on Oblivion by Stuart Maxwell. He remixes both the audio and video from the game to create hip-hop in "Not Bad Work For Some Folks", a bad dream in "Drugs", and funny drum'n'bass (vsnare?) in this one:

I don't think he knows me...

Reynald Jemane is my favorite Oblivion NPC, so I was sold in the first two seconds!

My personal favorite by Maxwell is "Drugs", but it's a bit heavy and surreal for most folks, I'm sure. But if you like surreal stuff, definitely check it out. It's a beautifully directed dystopian nightmare.

For some World of Warcraft machinima, check out Burning Twilight.

Tags: Elder Scrolls   Games   Geek Loot   Reviews


My big red Alienware PC is now about two years old. Seems like I just bought it. *sniff* As I mentioned earlier, I bought BioShock, the smash hit new game that doesn’t work. Well, this game really showed me how old my computer is. The graphics are still good, and oh-so shiny, but the framerate just isn’t high enough to allow me to react fast enough to the zombies... er, mutants... er, splicers? I don’t know, whatever they are. They’re zombies with a stupid name.

So, disappointed, I switched over to playing Oblivion again. I still love that game. Then I thought about making it run even better. I mean, eventually BioShock will get a much-needed patch (right?!) and then I’ll want to play it. So, I downloaded the Computer Internet to my hard disc driver, and found that video card prices have dropped delightfully! I was expecting to see the latest cards being sold for $300 or more (Canadian dollars), but found one of the recommended upgrade card (see Tom’s Hardware) for as low as $192! Wow, a PC upgrade that’s cheaper than an XBOX 360? Too good to be true.

The Tom’s Hardware upgrade guide I referenced describes my PC perfectly. It’s like they wrote it for me. But instead of following the advice strictly, I just bought the video card and ignored the CPU upgrade suggestion. Turns out it was a fine decision, because now I’m playing Oblivion with things turned up almost to max! BioShock looks better too, but still crashes all the time. So my “old” hardware wasn’t the problem. It really is just a broken game.

Click to continue reading...

Tags: Elder Scrolls   Games


E3 (the Electronics Entertainment Expo) begins today, where game companies will be pushing their latest and greatest games, and where Sony will try to convince you that the PS3 is the console you want! I'll be watching for news and videos about Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Hellgate: London, and Spore.

Bethesda announced on Monday that a Game of the Year edition of Oblivion will be released in September. Good news for those of you who haven't played it yet, or who want the Shivering Isles expansion on the PS3. But for me? I was hoping, but not expecting, for a new expansion, but this announcement makes it official that Oblivion is done.

However, the modding community is alive and well, with some very impressive mods in the works. So, in the spirit of E3, I present a small expo of work that modders are doing for Oblivion that should keep the game alive until Elder Scrolls 5 gets installed on our hard drives. Here are gameplay trailers for two mods that I look forward to most:

Click to continue reading...