3. Gameplay

General

World

Gameplay

TES Construction Set

Wishful Thinking

Special thanks to InLeatherArmor for reviewing the FAQ

3.1 General

3.1.1 What is the general storyline?: The story of TES IV: Oblivion is completly independant from previous Elder Scrolls stories, but take place in the same world.; A strong magic barrier fuelled by the magical bond of the Emperor of Tamriel with the land kept the Daedra at bay.; In the opening sequence of the game, assassins struck and killed the Emperor two sons and are now in pursuit of the Emperor. By chance the Emperor's escape route pass through your cell and the guards give you yor freedom.; Along the way to escape, the Emperor is killed. On his dying words, he give you the Amulet of Kings (a powerful and very ancient artifact) and task you with finding his lost heir.; As the magical barrier weakens, portal to the planes of Oblivion will open, and you can venture in those alternate dimension to try to find the heir or perhaps attempt to get some Daedric loot? The choice is yours! This is a completly open ended game.; After the death of the Emperor, the political landscape of Cyrodil is fractured as 5 Counts vie for power. You can expect massive battles, and not just between the Counts, there are rumors of undead armies and Daedric hordes! You can also join any of the mercenary guilds (Fighters, Mages, Thieves), become a famed gladiator in the Arena, or even become a cut throat evil assassin in the Dark Brotherhood. The choice is yours.
3.1.2 What is the amount of Gameplay?: The main quest, if you follow a straightforward path is about 20-40 hours. If you do all the side quests and guild quests, you're in for over 200 hours. Of course you can also pursue your own goals, from gathering the largest stack of mushroom to building the largest pillow fort (Havok powered pillow fort).; You can also search the countryside for Daedric shrines and do quests for the Daedra Lords. You will also find many dungeons and scattered local quests. Finally Radiant AI itself might initiate quests up to the level of complexity of Fargoth's quest in Morrowind.; Hard facts:
3.1.3 How does the character creation work?: You start the game in company of the Emperor helping him escape assassins. Before the game begins you select your character race and appearance.; This initial dungeons is about 30 minutes of gameplay.; After your escape, based on your style of play, you are suggested a suitable profession, but you can bypass it and select anything you want or even create your own custom class.; Just before the exit you get a confirmation screen where you can completly change your race, look, class and birthsign.
3.1.4 Is there a shortcut to create characters?: Save just before the confirmation screen after the first dungeon. You can create new characters from there.

3.2 Skills

3.2.1 What are the skills?: Here is the list of all 21 skills classified per attributes
3.2.2 What are skill ranks?: Morrowind style training is no longer available, you have to learn the hard way.; However there is a new type of training available that can increase the amount of features (perks) available to you.; In order to access that training you must have reached a certain efficiency level.; The training ranks available are as follow:; It has been hinted that the old type of training was replaced by this system, but there was never a clear FAQ or codex entry on the subject.
3.2.3 What are skill perks?: Each time you reach a new rank in training, you gain access to new perks. Perks are features that amplify your skill a lot. It can be a zoom feature for the Marksman skill, or a new power attack for a weapon skill. Some perk like the sneak attack are obtained from one skill (Sneak) but affect many other skills (weapons skills). Some high level perk can even allow combo that use more than one skill, such as acrobatics attacks (block + jump).
3.2.4 Can you give examples of skills perks?: See the skill section list above. There are also Guild perks. But those are completly different and obtained by raising in Guild rank.; One example is the Enchant perk for the Mages Guild.

3.3 Combat

3.3.1 Is mounted combat available?: No. But your horse has health and can (and most likely will) be attacked.; There will be horse armor available as downloadable content for the PC and Xbox 360. It is unknown if some horses armor will be readily available in the initial game.; The example that what given was the availability of a Daedric style horse armor matching the Daedric armor set of the player. It seemed to imply some horse armor may be available right away, but not all types of armor.; If attacked while riding, you will either need to run away, or dismount to fight.
3.3.2 Were some features removed since TES III: Morrowind ?: Spears, crossbows and thrown weapons are out.
Some weapons & armor skills got merged.
Enchant is now a high rank Mages Guild perk.
3.3.3 What are the other major differences between TES III and TES IV combat system?: TES IV combat is more action oriented. Now there are no dice rolls used to determine if you hit a target. If the target is in range and you hit, you will make contact.; Your stats, weapon skill efficiency and type of weapon are used in determining the amount of damage done to an enemy.; Strength plays a role in damage per strike, and speed (both the character's and the weapon's) in damage per second. Weapon rating for speed and damage also have an impact.; Both blocking and dodging are active skills now. The target of an attack may elect to block, absorbing part of the damage (based on his block skill and stats). He can also elect to avoid the attack by running, jumping, dodging or even by using magical means.; Sneak attack and Marksman zoom perk are now availlable.; Read the other sections for more details on these and other TES IV combat concepts
3.3.4 How does blocking work?: You hold the block button and brace for impact. If you succesfully block, the opponent may recoil, giving you the opportunity to counter with a power attack. At high rank, the blocking skills give perks such as disarm; The block skill will govern all effectiveness of blocking, whether it is done with a weapon, shield or your hands. Blocking with a weapon or shield absorbs damage from the attack (preventing some of it from getting to you), but they will also take damage. Blocking with you hands will not absorb weapon damage, only hand to hand damage.; The block skill (and your stats) will govern all effectiveness of blocking, that is how much damage get absorbed, and the chances of producing recoil or disarm.; Holding up you shield for blocking will slow you down (unable to run), and you also have to be facing your opponent to block an attack.; see 3.3.6 for Dodging
3.3.5 How is Hand-to-Hand changed?: Hand-to-Hand is now more similar to warrior monk fighting, and can be as deadly as using a broadsword.
3.3.6 How is Unarmored combat changed?: Dodging is now an active skill based on Athletics and Dodging.; You can use Acrobatics moves to get out of the way. Acrobatics allow rolling moves and Prince-of-Persia style of Acrobatics.
3.3.7 What changes were done to the armor skills?: There are now only 2 armor skills (Light and Heavy) overing 6 subtypes of armor each (for a total of 12 subtypes).; Armor will penalise you when sneaking or using magic. A good armor skill will reduce the penalty and some high level perks will negate it altogether.
3.3.8 What are recoil and disarm?: Recoil is an effect obtained by blocking where the opponent is pushed backward and stunned for a short time, allowing for a strong opportunity attack.; Disarm is a skill perk available for weapons, Hand-to-Hand and Block (shield) skills.
3.3.9 What is a sneak attack?: A sneak attack is a perk allowed by the Sneak skill that let you make devastating attack against an unsuspecting foe; Not all weapons can benefit from an undetected sneak attack. High-damage two-handed weapon will have a sneak attack, but will not benefit from it.; It has been said that each weapon will have its own sneak attack, and that when used will ignore an opponent’s armor rating to inflict more damage.
3.3.10 How do Ranged weapons work?: You aim, you shoot.
Only bows are available.
The zoom perk allow you to zoom on the target.
You can use arrows to activate traps or hit/move objects.; Staves will be ranged magical weapons. It is suspected their use will be covered by other skills such as Destruction, rather than by the Marksman skill.
3.3.11 What is yielding?: Opponents may yield to you (surrender) and you may yield to opponents, avoiding a deadly end. However it depend on Factions, Reputation and type of NPC's.; A Daedroth is more likely to eat you as snack than to accept your surrender.
3.3.12 What are poisons?: Alchemy allows the making of poison that can be used to coat weapons for a single-use poisoned attack; A poison is simply a potion with a detrimental (harmful effect). The effect need not be damaged based, it can also have special effects such as Paralysis or Silence.; A small green droplet icon appears on the screen indicating a potion has been applied to the weapon. Once you hit a target the poison work its effect, and the weapon return to it's normal state.; The Dark Brotherhood has poisoned apples for sales to it's members. It is unknown if there are more types of poisoned foods, or if you can poison food yourself.
3.3.13 How do magic weapons work?: Magic weapons are all cast-on-strike and do negative effects on target. They are charged items and must be recharged using soul gems. You cannot enchant weapons with positive effects or with effects that would affect the PC.
3.3.14 How is Radiant AI affecting the combat?: NPCs, or creatures such as skeletons, may pick up weapons from the ground. Opponents may yield, flee or even set ambushes. They can even follow you though doors into interior cells.
3.3.15 What's the relation between the Arena guild and combat?: Since its a Faction, the Arena can allow for a safe place to practice your skill through non-lethal combat (using the yielding feature above).; You can also raise through the ranks, trying to become a champion, gain fame, and obtain rewards.; The Arena is also a place where you can observe combat or even place your bets and possibly turn a profit from that gambling.
3.3.16 Is dual wielding availlable?: No, but it will certainly be modded in!
3.3.17 Is locational damage used?: No, damage still work the same (a global health value). However the engine take in account strikes from front, sides, and back and adjust damage accordingly. The engine does not support dismemberment on NPCs (or the player). However skeletons will crumble to dust and bones when defeated.

3.4 Magic

3.4.1 What schools of magic are present in the game?: All 7 schools of magic are making a come back.
3.4.2 How do you join the Mage Guild?: You must learn (train) all 6 schools of magic. While not indicated in the article, it is suspected you must reach 20% in each skill in order to reach the apprentice rank in each category.; Once this stage is done you can attend the Magic University and join the Mages Guild.
3.4.3 Is the Enchant skill still available?: The Enchant skill is gone. However in Morrowind it was mostly used as a recharge skill and usually failed at creating items, unless you did your enchanting at a merchant.; In TES IV: Oblivion, Enchant is available as a high rank Mages Guild perk.; You can gather Elven Crystals through the land to enhance the enchantability of objects.; All enchant effects (except for weapons and staves) are constant effects. This is why the old enchant skill is now useless.; For charged items such as magic weapons and staves (ranged magical weapons) you will need soulgems to re-charge them. Filled soulgems are now available as treasures, to help the warrior types who don't know how to use Soultrap. Those charged items are only usable as offensive tools, they target your enemy with detrimental effects. Enchanted weapons work on strike. Staves worked like ranged weapons, but with their effectivness directed by the appropriate magical skill (Destruction for a fireball, etc.).; In the early game you can also enchant items using special magical stones present in the planes of Oblivion. However those types of enchantments are fixed.
3.4.4 How did the Alchemy skill change?: It's very similar to Morrowind. However, to prevent exploits, the number of potions you can drink at once is limited. Specific perks increase that limit.; See the section on poisons for more details. Cooking is also available and probably directed by the Alchemy skill, but details are sketchy, other than the ingredients cooked can add a heath bonus (heal health probably).
3.4.5 What changes were made to magic travel?: Mark and Recall and Levitation are gone to prevent exploit.; However magical travel, especially to get away from enemies inside a dungeon, or to heal from poison, will be available. We just don't know yet the form or the name it will take, or if a variety of travel spells will be available. Unlike fast travel, magical travel is intantaneous.
3.4.6 Does magicka regenerate over time in TES IV?: Yes! And it is governed by the Willpower attribute and will regenerate at a decent rate. Sufficient for a player to be a pure mage.; Your casting power can be suplemented by an arselnal of magical ranged weapons (staves).
3.4.7 How does Reanimation work?: There is now a spell to bring dead NPC's back to life as your servant. When cast at a recently dead NPC, their body will lift off the ground, hang in the air for a moment then return transformed as your willing servant.
3.4.8 What other changes are known about the magic system?: The whole system of spell points has been rebalanced. So numbers from Morrowind have little to no bearing on those in Oblivion.; However Telekinesis is one of the major feature, allowing you to move object at the distance, using the Havok physic engine. You can use it to get rid of traps or trigger them, but throwing things at NPC's or creatures will not harm them.; Havok will also be used to make the Paralysis spell more realistic. Now targets affected by Paralysis will become inert and fall, possibly harming themselves.; There is also a Reanimate spell to turn your enemies in mindless bodyguards.

3.5 Stealth

3.5.1 How do I stay honest?: The game has a feature where a red hand will show on screen when your looking at items that belong to some one else. Also there is a stealth-o-meter icon that indicates if you are hidden or not. This will avoid you costly mistakes.
3.5.2 How does stealth work?: The game features light, shadow and sound based sneaking. Your Encumbrance and the armor you wear will also have an impact (see armor section in Combat). The shinyness or color of clothing will not have an effect on your stealth ability, but camouflage, such as brush or forests will hinder and reduce the chance of an NPC noticing you.; There will be a small eye icon over the cursor that indicates if you are hidden or not.; The Sneak skill is the cornerstone of the system and allows hiding, stealing and even sneak attacks.; It will not be possible to distract or lead NPC's into traps using sound (such as firing an arrow at a wall or rock, and having the NPC go investigate).
3.5.3 How does lockpicking work?: Lockpicking is a mini game; The harder the lock, the more tumblers there are (from 2-5) and the more difficult it is to lock the tumblers in place.; You can tell the game to solve the lock itself without having you do it manually, and the game does a dice roll against the lock level using your Security skill. The higher your skill in lockpicking, the better chance you have of opening without breaking your pick.
3.5.4 How does Diplomacy work?: You move your cursor between 4 points to interact with NPC's:; As you move your cursor over the options, you will have to watch the subtle cues on the NPC’s face to see which one will work the best.; It's very useful to get information or to get out of sticky situations.
3.5.5 How does Mercantile work?: The following elements are known
3.5.6 What can you do with the Marksman skill?: This is a very versatile skill.
3.5.7 What are traps and how can you use them?: There will now be physic-based traps throughout the game (average 2-3 per dungeon). They will be implemented using the Havok engine and can range from spiked logs that swing down from the ceiling, pits you might fall into or gates that come flying off the walls towards you.; Most of the time you must avoid them or disarm them, but in some circumstances it may be useful to trigger them against unsuspecting foes (Marksman, Telekinesis and physic-based objects can all come in handy).; You will be unable to set your own traps in game, and must use the CS for this.
3.5.8 How do I get in the Thieves Guild ?: The easiest way to gain admittance, is to be thrown in jail for a non-violent crime, and someone from the Thieves Guild will then approach you and offer you to join.; You can also go through the conventional means of talking to NPC’s. Someone will eventually come to enlist you if you are a promising recruit.
3.5.9 Can you tell me about the interactive jail break?: The jail in TES IV: Oblivion is a real cell that you are taken to when caught committing a crime. All your items will be taken from you and put in the local evidence chest and returned to you (all except stolen items) when your time in jail has ended.; You can either serve your time, or find a means to escape.; Jail Facts
3.5.10 Can you tell me about the Dark Brotherhood?
3.5.11 What are Fame and Infamy?: The game keep tracks of many of your statistics, for example, and your Reputation with everybody.; Two very important statistics are Fame and Infamy. Fame measure your heroism, while Infamy measure your criminality.; Neither of these stats can be lowered, they only increase as you progress through the game. These, and many more (Faction, Personality, etc.), are all taken into account to decide what NPC’s disposition to you will be.
3.5.12 How will dead bodies be handled?: Guards and other NPC's will stop and examine dead bodies that they come across. SOme will even kneel down to express sorrow or wonder at the sight. It would not be in your best interest to be caught by the large group of NPC's gathering, so it will be possible to drag dead bodies to dark, hidden places, but it will be a slow process, as bodies are heavy things.

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