The remake has me interested in replaying Oblivion for the first time in more than a decade. All I need to do now is... upgrade my GPU and double my RAM. Ah well, maybe in a year or three.
It's been surprising and encouraging to see so much commercial interest in this remake of an almost-twenty-year-old RPG. Seems like gamers both remember and dearly miss the old Bethesda magic. I smiled wide when you compared Oblivion's world to the environment you grew up in, because its world used to remind me of the forests and ravines of central Indiana that I explored as a kid. Ya just don't really get those sensations from FO4 or Starfield. Incidentally, +1 for Tamriel Rebuilt. My hot take is that it's the very best way to experience a Bethesda RPG in 2025. Fingers crossed that TES6 learns the right lessons.
I'm on a parallel arc with you at the moment despite having zero interest in ever revisiting Oblivion in any form. Instead I've finally broken down and downloaded the current Tamriel Rebuilt build for Morrowind, the project that introduced me to modding, sectarian conflict, and internet communities in general, and it's been like revisiting my home town except instead of everything i remember having shut down there's actually more going on. I think that's part of why these sorts of games are so much more nostalgic than others - the fact that their big feature is immersion means the places become as real in our minds as physical locations, and trigger the same familiarity/memory responses. And you're right, the Soule soundtracks are indelible part of that sensation. I can almost hear them sometimes just walking around my neighborhood.
It is interesting how much nicer Oblivion looks just with mildly better thought out lighting though. Of every technical 'advancement' through the ages I think the one we could've skipped was Bloom.
I've been meaning to try Tamriel Rebuilt for ages now, especially after the big update recently. I've never played Daggerfall and I recently installed Daggerfall Unity so I'm getting to that first but after 2 playthroughs of vanilla, I think later in the year I will finally play some Morrowind with mods; that draw distance fog is nasty. Morrowind is just one of those games that's an instant nostalgic classic. I played it for the first time only 4 years ago in 2021 but even when I returned to it at the tail end of last year, it felt like revisiting a cherished memory.
I couldn't agree more. I think the original Oblivion is a beautiful game but their attempts to emulate Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy are quite blatant and the remaster just shifts the game to be more in-line with The Elder Scrolls Online, which I would argue is the definitive art style for the series.
Daggerfall was a truly awe-inspiring game to grow up with, and the DU port makes it a lot more playable while still keeping the heart of why it was so special alive, plus there's a very decent modding scene keeping up with it now, which has finally made it a true modern Elder Scrolls game in the most important sense. I especially liked the Archeologist Guild mod that adds a whole faction to join with their own quest types and gimmicks revolving around eliminating the need to be a spellcaster [selling Marks of Mark and Recall, enchanting and Daedra summoning] and a sort of magic dowsing rod that you can use to see the quest item location in a random dungeon through the walls. Also the Airships mod that lets you take a scenic ride across the continent in real time.
I've gotten a few installed already and I've noticed the Archaeologists Guild is recommended a lot, I'll get it installed too before I start a proper playthrough
The remake has me interested in replaying Oblivion for the first time in more than a decade. All I need to do now is... upgrade my GPU and double my RAM. Ah well, maybe in a year or three.
It's been surprising and encouraging to see so much commercial interest in this remake of an almost-twenty-year-old RPG. Seems like gamers both remember and dearly miss the old Bethesda magic. I smiled wide when you compared Oblivion's world to the environment you grew up in, because its world used to remind me of the forests and ravines of central Indiana that I explored as a kid. Ya just don't really get those sensations from FO4 or Starfield. Incidentally, +1 for Tamriel Rebuilt. My hot take is that it's the very best way to experience a Bethesda RPG in 2025. Fingers crossed that TES6 learns the right lessons.
Oh, and congrats on the upcoming milestone!
I'm really glad you liked the dash of personal spice. II'm getting along fine on 16GB of RAM to be honest but it definitely requires a beefy card.
I'm on a parallel arc with you at the moment despite having zero interest in ever revisiting Oblivion in any form. Instead I've finally broken down and downloaded the current Tamriel Rebuilt build for Morrowind, the project that introduced me to modding, sectarian conflict, and internet communities in general, and it's been like revisiting my home town except instead of everything i remember having shut down there's actually more going on. I think that's part of why these sorts of games are so much more nostalgic than others - the fact that their big feature is immersion means the places become as real in our minds as physical locations, and trigger the same familiarity/memory responses. And you're right, the Soule soundtracks are indelible part of that sensation. I can almost hear them sometimes just walking around my neighborhood.
It is interesting how much nicer Oblivion looks just with mildly better thought out lighting though. Of every technical 'advancement' through the ages I think the one we could've skipped was Bloom.
I've been meaning to try Tamriel Rebuilt for ages now, especially after the big update recently. I've never played Daggerfall and I recently installed Daggerfall Unity so I'm getting to that first but after 2 playthroughs of vanilla, I think later in the year I will finally play some Morrowind with mods; that draw distance fog is nasty. Morrowind is just one of those games that's an instant nostalgic classic. I played it for the first time only 4 years ago in 2021 but even when I returned to it at the tail end of last year, it felt like revisiting a cherished memory.
I couldn't agree more. I think the original Oblivion is a beautiful game but their attempts to emulate Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy are quite blatant and the remaster just shifts the game to be more in-line with The Elder Scrolls Online, which I would argue is the definitive art style for the series.
Daggerfall was a truly awe-inspiring game to grow up with, and the DU port makes it a lot more playable while still keeping the heart of why it was so special alive, plus there's a very decent modding scene keeping up with it now, which has finally made it a true modern Elder Scrolls game in the most important sense. I especially liked the Archeologist Guild mod that adds a whole faction to join with their own quest types and gimmicks revolving around eliminating the need to be a spellcaster [selling Marks of Mark and Recall, enchanting and Daedra summoning] and a sort of magic dowsing rod that you can use to see the quest item location in a random dungeon through the walls. Also the Airships mod that lets you take a scenic ride across the continent in real time.
I've gotten a few installed already and I've noticed the Archaeologists Guild is recommended a lot, I'll get it installed too before I start a proper playthrough