Oblivion Shivering Isles; your thoughts

[Sirharper]

So far I dig it. My only concern going in was it would be too different and unlike the original gameplay but that has not happened. The new play is faithful to the original with new characters. So far I am not impressed with the new items and abilities but that could change in time. I don't really see 30 hours of play here though but time will dettermine that as well.

Seeing a 1000+ gamerscore on a game for the first time is kinda trippy.

Loading the added content takes...FOREVER...thats kinda a bummer.

[DJSteel]

i'm very interested in seeing that sword that levels up like you do.. I'll probably get this..but not right away...

[Sirharper]

i'm very interested in seeing that sword that levels up like you do.. I'll probably get this..but not right away...

I would be very intereted in that as well but no idea where it is yet.

[DJSteel]

lol..yeah I'm not sure.. I just saw pictures of it in the OXM...

[DeaconBlade]

care to give me a write up for the site Harp on the expansion?

[Sirharper]

care to give me a write up for the site Harp on the expansion?

Sure, when do you want it?

I could try it now but I have the feeling there's much more is discover if we hold off a few days.

[DeaconBlade]

whenever you can give people a good, clear review of the expansion pack from install to play to comparison between it and Oblivion's main quest etc.

[Sirharper]

Oh boy...this is gonna take awhile Deac. It appears you need to play the whole thing twice to get the full expirence (and achievements).

[Sirharper]

Completed!

A mere 14 hours and 8 minutes and I did some lollygagging along the way. I also wasted time with a return to Skingrad and Frostspire to store items along the way.

[Kinjutsumaru]

Completed!

A mere 14 hours and 8 minutes and I did some lollygagging along the way. I also wasted time with a return to Skingrad and Frostspire to store items along the way.


Well bring on the insightful review man, and stop lollygagging. I always prefer hearing a fellow gamers thoughts on a game than reading some magazine review or what ever. So go write that review right this instant Sir http://www.iberiansninjagaiden.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/bolt.gif

[Sirharper]

Hold your horses mister...I'll get to it today. LOL

[Sirharper]

i still can't get over how wierd this looks.

I'll explain in my review why it's not completely finished yet.

[DeaconBlade]

geez you're already almost done with the expansion campaign?

[Falcon009]

I love Shivering Isles, I downloaded it yesterday, played it until Midnight last night. and I've only completed about 5 quests of the main quest line. I love just looking around at everything because it's so amazing. Dawnfang/Duskfang is pretty badass also. It was so worth the 30 bucks, if you like oblivion at all you need to get this. It's the most fun I've had in oblivion in a long time. I was like the master of old Oblivion, knew all the quests and everything about it. Then I walk through here and have no idea what im doing or where I'm going.

[Sirharper]

geez you're already almost done with the expansion campaign?

I am done. I'll explain more in my review today but basically they make you play it twice to get the missing achievement. It's BS. Maybe thats how they came up with the 30 hrs number. 15 hrs each time though.

[Sirharper]

I love Shivering Isles, I downloaded it yesterday, played it until Midnight last night. and I've only completed about 5 quests of the main quest line. I love just looking around at everything because it's so amazing. Dawnfang/Duskfang is pretty badass also. It was so worth the 30 bucks, if you like oblivion at all you need to get this. It's the most fun I've had in oblivion in a long time. I was like the master of old Oblivion, knew all the quests and everything about it. Then I walk through here and have no idea what im doing or where I'm going.

That was like my opinion of it too...until I got further into it.

[Falcon009]

Are you trying to tell me that its not gonna be nearly as good here in a little bit?

[Squidpunch]

i actually traded in my oblivion copy long ago - but this release makes me want to pick it up again - just trying to find a good deal (ie not $60 again)

[Sirharper]

Are you trying to tell me that its not gonna be nearly as good here in a little bit?


Emotional answer: It's good, and worth it.
Logical answer: Quests seem like busy-work, value does not add up.

[Falcon009]

goodluck, used is like 55

[Squidpunch]

yeah, I am aware, so I will either end up renting it from gamefly, or biting the bullet and just buying it ;)

[Sirharper]

My review of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion expansion pack Shivering Isles

Reduced spoiler version

Preface:

Part of what makes Oblivion so great is the power of personal choice given to the players to control their own game experience. These choices impact almost every aspect of the experience. It first starts with the creation of your character and choice of its birth sign. These options impact the skill set that character will possess from that point on. Additionally, you are also offered the option of selecting your class of character, which also impacts how it will develop. For the purposes of clarification my main Oblivion character is a Norde, birth sign Warrior, class Knight. Essentially, what this means is my character is set up as a good (as in non-evil) brute force, melee combat person that attacks fast, loud, hard and manually. There is little ability to use magic, stealth or engage in criminal activity. Based on that, my experience may differ considerably from what you may discover. It is important to note that as I review this I am speaking mainly from my own experience and you could likely find your game play different.

Synopsis:

After downloading the slightly under 1GB expansion I had the feeling things were really going to be different and that became evident quite quickly. I had spent the few days prior to release going back developing and preparing my character for his new adventures. That really paid off in terms of getting items arranged and skills tweaked. It also helped to re-learn the controls. The first thing you'll notice is that after you launch Oblivion after Shivering Isles is downloaded is the new Bethesda logo followed by a rather significant delay in "loading additional content" at the start screen. Once in I loaded my last game save as usual and I was back in Skingard where I was before. I walked outside and immediately wondered where the Shivering Isles where and how to get to them. They did not show up on the map. After about 5 minutes suddenly and without cue a new quest popped up and location was discovered. I proceeded to the nearest waypoint and traveled the remaining distance to the portal. After completing seems like a The Matrix-type entry process I was on my way. Lots of new things to see hits you right off the bat. New textures, items, plants, people and monsters greet you. After the first significant test in the new land I noticed how much more difficult the monsters would be here. I was taking damage and that rarely happened to me before but I welcomed it as new and different. You then are presented your first task in the main questline. I suggest proceeding directly to it as I spent time clearing dungeons only to find out I would have to do them again as part of the quests. The people all seem a little expectedly crazy and the main character comes off as something of a faux-Scottish (think of Fat Bastard from Austin Powers) type. You have been given access to a helper that you can summon anytime for information, he is quite useful at times. New weapons and armor are to be found (or created) and depending on what you use now they may or may not be an improvement. Generally I found my tried and true weapon (Umbra sword) continued to work best even better that the advertised new swords found in Shivering Isles. That was a disappointment. I was pleased that the new way of creating items (remember this is the spoiler-free version) produced a suit of armor that was superior to the Imperial Dragon items I was using since completing the main questline of the original. New ingredients were nice to see but not terribly useful for me. There are many new spells many of which you are given for free while progressing in the questline.

Overall you will find that much is different yet there is a comfort and familiarity and bond with your character that is reassuring as you play.

The Quests:

The quests are new and quite different. I do have to say though they seem like they lack substance. Several seemed more like idle busy-work than real adventuring. Lots of walking around (no horses to be found) and getting to places rather than actually doing things. The story line is good but theme of insanity doesn't really play much part in the activities. One thing of significant frustration though is the arrangement of the achievements. Basically they expect you to play it twice to get all of the additional achievements due to a choice you must make making one of them impossible the first time through. More on this in my advice section.

Value of the Expansion:

The emotional answer is yes it is worth the $30 and significant HDD space consumption. After all you are playing new content on what I believe is the best game to date for Xbox 360. Hope you like buying with emotion because thats the only way you'll be able to justify the cost.

The logical answer is the opposite. $30 for an expansion that I played out in just over 14 hours is in no way worth the money. Let's view it in these terms: The original content sold for $60 and offered most people about 80 hours of game play. Broken down thats about $0.75 per hour of play for the original. Shivering Isles on the other hand sells for half the cost of the original and by Bethesda's quotes is 25% the physical size of Cryodiil. Bethesda also quoted about 30 hours of game play; I found about half of that. Where they counting the fact you need to play it twice to get all the achievements? Hmmmmmm. At any rate the breakdown of Shivering Isles per hour comes to about $2.11 per hour of game play. Anybody see a disparity here yet? Sorry Bethesda, you really messed up in pricing this. You relied on the emotion of your users to buy this when the product in no way logically justifies the price. You would have better served your fan base by adding Shivering isles to an Oblivion 2 and putting it out later in the year. Maybe we now have a sense of how the Marketplace will be used to ratchet up profits and nickel and dime users.

My Advice for playing:

Since this is the spoiler free version I will not be specific but here are a few tips.

1. Before entering the Isles store as much unneeded items as possible. There very few options to store things once you're there and even those options come later.

2. Search every hollow log you see. There are great items in them.

3. When presented an option between two choices at the end of a quest...SAVE YOUR GAME RIGHT THEN AND KEEP THAT SAVE SEPERATE! You will not regret you did and will understand why you did it later.

4. Prepare to take some damage. That means carry potions and repair hammers to avoid trips to town.

The Bottom Line:

I love Oblivion, I like the expansion even though the much-touted weapons were a letdown. The value is questionable at best, you really will be basing you decision on emotion rather than substance. If you can live with that by all means get Shivering Isles. If not, use the same money to buy a Platinum Hit title that will likely offer more time in game play.

[Kinjutsumaru]

Nice review Harp. :applause: I like the advice part at the end, nice touch.

[Antediluvia]

Thanks for the review!

[DeaconBlade]

any score on that Harp?

[Sirharper]

any score on that Harp?

Score on Oblivion: 9.5
Score on Shivering Isles: 7.0

You'll usually find my scores very much in line with professional ratings like OXM except for comparison the real score of GoW should be no higher than 8.5.

[DeaconBlade]

ok. i'm gonna put your review on blast if that's ok.

[Sirharper]

play on playa.

[Falcon009]

Harp, have you done any of the side quests? Because I have already found a few of them, and although they're aren't real long, the time does add up. Oh and I did beat the main quest line finally!

[Sirharper]

Harp, have you done any of the side quests? Because I have already found a few of them, and although they're aren't real long, the time does add up. Oh and I did beat the main quest line finally!


Yeah that 14 hours included some side quests and clearing out unnecessary dungeons. Plus some trips back to my house in Skingard and The Spire to drop off items to save.

It also included a trip back to pick up my Grey Cowl outfit for the sneaking quest.

[Sirharper]

There...now I have it fully finished. 60/60, 1250/1250.

[DeaconBlade]

and you're still on tap for the 7.0 score right?

[Sirharper]

Yes, I'll buck the OXM decision on the basis of value (as I outlined) which they did not seem to take into consideration.

One could agrue that since they use an 11-point scale I am within 0.5 of their rating.

[Raithgar]

Harper, just wondering what character type do you play? Just restarted the game a week ago (not that I gotten far in the first place due to I picked up Dead Rising in the same week, and oblivion was my first game).

Been working on a Warrior/Theif custom.. might have to restart only due to I forgotten how the character levels by how you play.

[Sirharper]

Did you read my review? ;)

All was outlined in the preface. :)

[Raithgar]

doh sorry.. must have missed it, my bad

<<Edit>>
God I'm an idiot.. right in the first paragraph..

[DeaconBlade]

http://www.unscripted360.com/2007/04/03/shivering-isles-review/