TES4:Oblivion - Shivering Isles (spoilers)

[stoffe]

Do anyone have the Shivering Isles expansion pack for The Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion that was released recently? I'm considering whether to buy it, but I can't really get a good idea of what it contains from checking the screenshots and descriptions.

 

Is it just more of the same, but with a new main quest, or does it change the game in some substantial way that couldn't be done with mods alone? Is it worth the cost?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Jason Skywalker]

I've got it!

 

But i still need to finish Carbon first. -.- If nobody else gives you a review or so, i'll try to do it. You can always check on Gamespot though.

[FiEND_138]

I'm enjoying it so far, even more so than the main game. Is it worth the cost compared to mods & the like I couldn't tell you, since I'm on the 360, but so far I'm not regretting the cost. Just don't take that as a personal endorsement to drop the cash just in case you do & then find it a waste of money.

 

I'll be back with an edit later after I've finished to give you a more in depth answer to your questions, but so far it's more of the same but the quests seem to feel more fun than what shipped in the basic game. Atleast to me.

[stingerhs]

my understanding is that it allows you to create arms and armor from raw materials as a new feature, but i think the only stuff that can be made is from the new ingredients that are in the new areas.

 

aside from that, its just a lot of extra content (Gamespot estimated it at about an extra 30 to 40 hours of content). no new features or anything, just content.

[Darth333]

I got it, installed it but didn't played it yet due to lack of time. However, I heard pretty good comments so far. Apparently the new world is more imaginative than Oblivion.

 

It adds some new models, animations and a few scripting functions too:

 

 

SetPlayerInSEWorld isInWorld:integer - sets a flag on the player

GetPlayerInSEWorld - gets the flag on the player

PushActorAway - sort of force push seems to work only on the player...

SetActorsAI

ClearOwnership

 

 

A quick FYI to avoid annoying issues if you decide to buy it: (I had to reinstall the whole thing )

 

If you are using mods that require OBSE, you have to install the version of patch 1.2 which is available on the official TES website and then install Shivering Isles on top of it. There is a patch included with the Shivering Isles but it will update your oblivion.exe file to a version slightly older (v.1.2.0.201) than the patch on the official site (v. 1.2.0.214) and OBSE doesn't recognize it.

 

Also, if you have mods that add .bsa files to your Data folder that don't have acorresponding .esp with the same name as the .bsa, you have to register them in the .ini file in the sArchive list.

[Vaelastraz]

Question: Does it change the concept of Oblivion somewhat?

 

Oblivion was lifeless & unatmospheric to me, I can't stand that in RPGs.

 

If that's better with the addon, I would consider getting it.

[Ghost Down]

Yeah, I got it to. Got it the day it was released, great expansion! Much better then the original game IMHO!!

 

- Ghost Down

[stoffe]

Sounds good, so I went out and bought Shivering Isles. Just need to do some backups before installing it and trying it out. Will probably require some tinkering to get all my mods to play nice with it as well.

 

Do you need to have helped Martin Septim complete the main quest in Oblivion before you can go to the new Shivering Isles area, or is it accessable at any time during the game?

 

(And do you play the role of the protagonist's sidekick in the Shivering Isles main quest as well, or do you get to be the hero there? )

[Ghost Down]

Nope, You don't need to beat the main quest. Just sleep 24 hours and an Portal will open. Travel to it and enter it. And yes, you are more of a sidekick (Sheogorath's goon)

 

- Ghost Down

[stoffe]

Got the expansion installed and started playing a little yesterday. Haven't gotten very far yet, still in the walled up Fringe area. A few questions so far:

 

Does the Bravil city guard just outside the portal have anything important to say? The Dark Elf emerging from the portal who the guard was fighting fell into the water, and the guard jumped down after him, where the two killed each other (or one possibly drowned, don't know, both their corpses were floating in the water at least ). The surviving Khajiit woman didn't seem to have anything meaningful to say at least, so I proceeded through the portal.

 

What do you need to do to be able to enter the "Gardens of Flesh and Bones" (I think that's what they were called) interior. The door is locked and says it requires a key to unlock. It's the door inside the walled courtyard where there is some skeleton shackled to the ground in the middle.

[T7nowhere]

I really dislike the way BS activates the mods and the expansion. I apparently heard a rumor about a mysterious portal from a ghost I that I killed. I've had the game for a week but I still haven't played it, I decided that I wanted to finnish the Oblivion main quest for the first time before getting distracted .

 

btw, just a reminder about using spoiler tags when discussion the gameplay and quests.

[Darth333]

  T7nowhere said:

I really dislike the way BS activates the mods and the expansion.

I dislike that too but there are still plenty of people who keep asking "how do I start the quest" on the official boards...I guess Beth went with the lowest common denominator as their target audience...

 

As for the other plug-ins, I use this mod to get rid of the spam messages while I am still in the initial dungeon: http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=6147

 

 

@ stoffe: I don't know, I haven't been able to start playing SI yet

[stoffe]

  Darth333 said:

I dislike that too but there are still plenty of people who keep asking "how do I start the quest" on the official boards...I guess Beth went with the lowest common denominator as their target audience...

 

People apparently figured it out with the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions in Morrowind which both were learned about more naturally in-game by talking to people. Though perhaps the target audience of Oblivion is younger or more impatient.

 

Still, they could at least have spawned some NPC near the player who rushed up to them and told them the rumor, and not just have it magically appear in the journal out of nowhere. Or added it as a dialog option to all the NPCs you can chat with (like the "Solstheim" entry in Morrowind). Should have been obvious enough. (I "heard" the rumor when I was out to sea on the Bloated Float fighting bandits )

 

Still, it's a relatively minor thing, and the rest of the expansion has been interesting so far, though I haven't had much time to explore yet. (Still in the Fringe, the walled area in the far west of the island.) The room you arrived in as soon as you passed through the portal was pretty interesting. Not exactly what you'd expect to arrive in when passing through a mysterious portal

[Jason Skywalker]

 

  Reveal hidden contents

No, the guard doesn't have anything you won't know. First off, you need to talk to Jayred Ice-Veins and learn that he wants to kill the Gatekeeper. You can then go to the inn in Passwall and talk to Nanette and to Relmyna to learn more. Be sure to talk all. You'll need to get Nanette's disposition up. After that, Jayred will give you a lockpick to enter the Garden. You'll have to kill two creatures. Watch out because Jayred has a terrible aim.

 

 

Hope i helped.

[stoffe]

  Jason Skywalker said:

(spoiler snipped)

 

Hope i helped.

 

I did that and the bone fanatic got his sample, but at the far end of the outside area where the skeleton is there is a door that's locked and requires a key to open, which I can't seem to figure out how you get open.

[Jason Skywalker]

Actually, i just found out about it. Ignore it now, don't worry, but it will be important later.

[Mono_Giganto]

  stingerhs said:

my understanding is that it allows you to create arms and armor from raw materials as a new feature, but i think the only stuff that can be made is from the new ingredients that are in the new areas.

It's basically identical to the expansions for Morrowind. You find the materials, bring them to a smith, and they make things for you. They even give you the material lists. Though, instead of ebony, glass, or fur, you're using materials from Sheogorath's realm. The only other differences are thaat these smiths will make weapons out of your materials, not just armor, and you don't actually have to pay money along with the materials.

 

The expansion itself is pretty fun. You do start out as Sheogorath's 'sidekick' but later into the main quest you're the star moreso than him. It's a bit more creative than the original game, too. A lot of the visuals remind me of Morrowind, actually. Mushroom-like trees, Golden Saints, and such.

 

While you can do the quest at any time, I'd recommend doing it after you've done just about everything else. Personally, I was driven crazy by the huge amount of greater/lesser powers I received during the main quest that only worked in the Isles, and served no other point than to clutter my spell list back in Cyrodiil.

 

The locked door you've mentioned, Stoffe, is unlocked at a later point in the main quest, if I remember correctly.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

At one point, you help Sheogorath fortify defenses of his realm, and one involves reconstructing the gatekeeper, requiring you to visit the garden. Pretty cool, because you get to choose from a selection of arms, torsos, legs, weapons, and such to give it different bonuses.

 

 

And for those of you who hate the "rumors" associated with official mods, I'd strongly recommend the link posted by Darth333 a bit farther up. I was actually about to post the same link, then noticed that she already had.

 

It won't fix this one, but it'll work wonders for all of the others.

 

I "heard" the rumor while I was in the Great Gate at Bruma.