The Hero of Kvatch…Maybe

As happens I got tired of merely going into the forts and caves surrounding the Imperial City.  I had to back out of a cave with a couple of Conjurors who just flattened me.  😦 

I have always played with Claymore in hand and heavy armor and have used little magic.  Now that I’m depending on magic I really need some strategies for dealing particular kinds of enemies.  Conjurors.  Imps.  Bandits respond nicely to Flare and Shock.

I decided I should go ahead and start the main quest after all and also join the Mages and Fighters guilds. 

This brought me to Kvatch and the Oblivion Gate.  Lootmeister that I am, I’m stopping and gathering every bit of Blood Grass and Harrada Root I come by.  I’m going in any doorways I find such as the Sump of Misery and its extension the Desolate Well.  I love those Fleshy Pods.  My gold level is going up nicely.

Entering the Tower Portal to the Blood Feast (don’t you love these names) I thought I was getting a room with two Imps who succumb nicely to Cold Touch, but to my shock a Dremora Churl came running out of a doorway on the right and I was fighting two Imps and the Churl.  I fought rather long and desperately but died.  😦

Re-entering I went left to try to get rid of the Imp there first.  I got him down quickly but the Churl was suddenly right there.  In a better fight I killed him and restored enough health and magicka to get Imp two.

I’m getting solid non-freezing play sessions now using compatibility settings for Windows Service Pack 3.

For some reason, though I went in and changed the settings, I can’t take screenshots anymore.  I’m not willing to tempt fate by going in and changing the config again.

Picture me dead beneath the feet of a Dremora for now.

The UESP Wiki Map of the Kvatch Oblivion Gate World.  Printed for myself too so I can get all the loot 🙂

The Foaming Flask

I wandered the city a bit hoping a merchant or tavernkeeper might buy my loot.  I spoke with the denizens of The Foaming Flask then wandered around doing a bit more of the same.

Very clunky movement and interface tonight with a couple of freezes.  This put me IN A MOOD so when it began raining and the wind began howling I stopped by the little shack by the docks which is the first house you can buy.

Coming away from the shack I was approached by the unfortunately named First Mate Malvulis who warned me in no uncertain terms that I’d be in trouble if I went on her ship.

So, I did a most unusual thing, I ran and jumped on her ship like a yahoo and sure enough her gnarly crew followed me and made short work of me and my skellie.

A tad unfriendly.   I’ll avoid them once I get my snuggly shack.  I did not save with me dead.

MMO thinking invades my Single Player Game

It occurred to me this morning as I was planning my exploratory path around the lairs and caves surrounding the Imperial City that my Wow and Wildstar “get the exploration achievement” for each area before moving on fiendishness is being applied to Oblivion.

I notice also I’m much less freaked out by  sudden attacks and I calmly go between menus to pick my next attack. 

In my dim single player past I took it all much more personally and just ran right up and whacked the bad guys giving them no room or time to fight.

We shall see how I do in Ayleid Tombs. The combination of dim lighting, swirling mists and really creepy ambient sounds always had me turning down the sound and listening to upbeat music in order to get through in one piece. What a weenie, I know.

Oblivion: Imperial City

I entered the Imperial City hoping to sell some stuff as I’m nearly overburdened.  Of course it was evening in the city and the shops are closed.

At least she won’t be attacked by wolves as she stands around the streets.

I looked to see how her skill increases are going and am doing pretty well but would like to improve Mysticism and a few other things. I’ll have to get in the habit of checking that.

No intro music tonight and controls and movement were very clunky.

A single freeze as I got stuck running into a wall.  I was able to bring up Task Manager in this case to stop the program whereas in previous freezes I’d get bounced out and needed to reboot.  FYI .

Eq2 Report

Sent my Frog back to pay maintenance on her house.  

Turned off the wandering capability of my creepy house plant. I noticed one of the menu options was Punish. Talk about creepy.

Still not in the mood for the mushroom caves on behalf of my paladin so I ran a few quests with my ever appealing Mage.

Not much, but moving along.

Sideways Cave

I made it out of the sewers!  My play session started out with the opening credits music playing for the first time since I’ve begun.  A good sign. Not a single freeze anywhere in the cave.

Sideways Cave isn’t one I’ve gone in before and it was sprawling.  No treasure chests, just imps.  On the way out I found a “dead treasure hunter” who had lots of fun stuff on him.  Other than that, Imp Gall and lots of practice using magic. 

I got to really appreciate my Summon Skeleton.  I hit that then Protect then Shocking Touch.  A whack of my sword if needed.  Very cool.  I relied at first on the Flare which shoots a pretty weak flame and seems to miss as often as not.  Better to let skellie go running up like a Hunter Pet while I get in range.

I also learned to appreciate the Starlight Spell since it sure is dark in the cave, as you can see.  As you may know the game does a fantastic job with ambient sounds.  My footsteps through the watery underground lake or on a metal grate, the screech of an imp, music changing in tone to make it seem like something bad is going to happen around the next corner.  It doesn’t get better than this.

I usually go straight to Chorral to begin the main quest but I decided to walk and explore this time instead.  I was standing outside looking at the Imperial City and thinking this should be a safe spot when the music rose and voila a wolf came out of nowhere.  Good thing skellie was ready.

Name Notebook

One of the nice things about a single player game is, you can pick any name you wish for your character and nobody already has it.

In the MMO world you really need to be creative.  I keep making little lists of names I use or might use then I can’t find the list when I go to make a new character in an online game.  Not good.

Once again I started a list but in a small notebook and when I got to Lord of the Rings Online I had to log into numerous servers (why they haven’t made it possible for you to change servers easily I can’t imagine).

I noted all the names used then went ahead and deleted the characters on all but two servers which I like best.  Might as well free those names and character space up for someone else.

The next thing I knew I was trotting my level 60 Hunter through Moria to complete an old quest.  I got “discovery” on a location I’d been in dozens of times before.  I was a bit sad that I didn’t know the place like the back of my hand anymore.

I’ve seen so many people write that they started having issues with the game at Moria and didn’t care for it after that.  I always loved Moria, and for me the game took a real downturn with Lothlorien which was a horrible disappointment.  It was nothing like Tolkien for me and the next area after it (which I can’t recall anymore, except to think it was goblin camp after goblin camp.)

I took a long uneventful walk along Durin’s Way, admiring the music.   After Galaxies, the music in Lord of the Rings Online was always the most beautiful.

Before setting out I had a devil of a time clearing my character’s inventory.  I tossed as much as I could that wouldn’t sell.  Then I made the mistake of opening some 6 and 7 year rewards boxes.  Doof.  Full again.

This character was stopped in her tracks because her quest giver wouldn’t talk to her to complete the quest.  Bah.

Backed down once more to my level 40 Loremaster in Angmar.  Forgot she was more than just a mage and didn’t bring out her bear for a couple of spider fights.  Oops.  Inventory issues (again) and a completed quest sent me back along the trail.  I forgot how nice the horses are in this game and that you can name them.

Couldn’t find the quest giver, can no longer understand the map to help find him.

Blah blah blah.

So close to getting out of the sewers…

I’m painstakingly moving along, saving constantly.

Here I stumbled into a chair and couldn’t get out.  Maybe the smell of roasting rat was too appealing.

 Froze a fair few times especially in the last dialogues with the Emperor.  Combat is practically slow motion, it could not be more unresponsive.  Rats, I say.

My character, who turned out pretty well. Usually human faces are really blotchy.

There I was, looking at the archway out of the sewers when a goblin jumped up behind me and I couldn’t turn to cast a spell or swing but he was having at it, my light armor skill kept increasing.   That is rather unfair. If you’re going to freeze the game, freeze the goblin too.

A gratuitous shot of my secret in game crush (besides Martin) Baurus.

On Microsoft’s Windows 7 compatibility page, my edition of Oblivion is marked “compatible”.   Hahahahahaha.

Wildstar

I “pre-ordered” Wildstar at the last possible second to get the Rocket House.  It seems to show up in one of my menus as a Piglet House????  Say what?  I cannot apparently do anything with it till level 14.  Bogus.  Little characters like a place they can call home right away.

I think my girl’s hair is a darker shade of pink than I had in open beta.  Very distracting.  Apparently there is currently no “barber shop” where I can lighten it.

On the plus side the ship quests went much faster this time and I’m out in the world happily exploring every single inch of the game at my own pace.

Combat feels a bit different live.  I really need a new keyboard.  I have pounded the beezus out of my current one. (Went out and got one, np.)

If I can get my virtual act together I will post a Wildstar Wednesday update.

Ooohhhh too exciting.

Elder Scrolls

Ever since trying out the Elder Scrolls online in their open beta I have been thinking of returning to the real Elder scrolls worlds, those rich stories, those incredible environments.

Morrowind

I have Windows 7 and apparently my Game of the Year Edition of Morrowind despises Windows 7 or vice versa.  I read a variety of trouble shooting tips, none of which worked.  I got a music error and a font error that just froze the screen.  😦   

In desperation to play I cleared space on my utilitarian laptop with Windows XP and loaded it there and so far it works.  Looks awful but my imagination will have to fill in the blanks.

Oblivion

This is my all time favorite game.  It freezes the computer at dialogue boxes galore and forces a reboot.  Also looked at tips here and finally got it to work a bit playing as admin.  I saved the game every inch and got further in the sewers than in numerous previous attempts.  Finally had to give up for the day.   Posts online say the Steam version also freezes.  Doh.

Skyrim

I have played little of Skyrim and for some reason just did not care for it.  Still, it feeds the Elder Scrolls beast does it not.

Annoyingly to me, I had to log into Steam and update Steam and verify my address and account blah blah blah before I could play.  This, padawan, is why I just want my other games to work, so it is just me and my game world, no intrusion or demand for proof of anything before I immerse myself in the character and the world.

Defiantly I just struck out with my character across the landscape.  I wanted to use a long sword and some magic (which I haven’t used much in the past).  I dispatched some bandits at one location and found a nice cache of treasures in their little tower.  Then I moved on and came to a temple whose name I can’t recall.  Bandito city but my fireballs and sword proved too much for them.  Scum puppies.

I don’t care for Skyrim’s bleak snowy landscapes, but inside the chambers of a tomb or temple it is pure Elder Scrolls so I’ll get my fix here after all, and hope that Morrowind continues to function on my laptop.  I will find a way to get Oblivion going, I WILL.

Last note:  I created a Breton in Morrowind and Oblivion with the same name and somewhat the same skillset to try out a true magic character for the first time (usually I go Warrior).  If I can get them working it will be fun to explore the new class/race combo.