User:Gir-rocks
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Hi Im Kenny....i currently Live In IL and I HAve Myspace....it is http://www.myspace.com/bad_dogg_90 Plz Add And Enjoy my Page
[edit] OMG
So My Mom And Dad Bought this House and it has a huge Backyard and Yea I'm Happy.....Itz Needs Some Work THough
[edit] Obilivon
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, or Oblivion, is a single player fantasy-themed action-oriented computer role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks and the Take-Two Interactive subsidiary 2K Games.
It is the fourth installment in the Elder Scrolls video game series. It was released on March 21, 2006 for Windows PCs and the Xbox 360. A Playstation 3 release was shipped on March 20, 2007 in North America,[2] and April 27, 2007 in Europe.[3] One expansion pack, Shivering Isles, and a number of downloadable minor content releases have followed. The game was well-received by critics, winning numerous awards[4] and scoring an average of 94% in Metacritic's aggregate.[5] Oblivion sold well: 1.7 million copies by April 10, 2006,[6] and over 3 million copies by January 18, 2007.[7] A package including both Shivering Isles and the official plug-in Knights of the Nine, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition, was announced on July 9, 2007, with a planned release date in September 2007.[8]
Oblivion's story focuses on a former prisoner drawn into a Daedric Lord's plan to conquer the mortal plane. Gates to the hellish realm of Oblivion are opened, through which many daedra flow. The game continues the open-ended tradition of previous Elder Scrolls games, allowing the player to travel anywhere in the game world at any time, including the option to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely. Developers opted for a tighter pacing and greater focus than past titles; a design choice that was well-received in the gaming press.
[edit] GamePlay
Oblivion is a fantasy-based role-playing adventure game and an example of open-ended or sandbox gameplay. The main quest may be delayed or completely ignored as the player explores the expansive game world, following side quests, interacting with NPCs, and developing a character according to their taste. The player is free to go anywhere inside the land of Cyrodiil at any time while playing the game, and even after completing the main quest storyline the game never ends, allowing the player to build their character in whatever way they want, with no restrictions on skills or equipment. The game contains many enemies for the player to fight, including monsters and animals. Many enemies, quests, and treasures are "leveled", or become increasingly difficult, as the player gains levels. The player, however, has the option of adjusting the difficulty level.[9]
The fast-travel system found in Arena and Daggerfall, but left out of Morrowind, returned in Oblivion. In Oblivion, if a player visits a location, it appears as an icon on their map. The icon may then be clicked to visit that location, with time elapsing in the interim.[10] Oblivion also introduced ridable horses while removing Morrowind's transportation options, such as Mages' Guild teleporters, silt striders and teleporting spells. The game also removed all levitation spells and items, as the cities in Oblivion are separate cells from the rest of the world and thus must be entered into, and exited from, the town gate to avoid glitches.[11] Select non-player characters may enter and exit areas at will, and will do so quite often, following the Radiant AI's commands.[12]
One major focus during Oblivion's development was correcting Morrowind's imbalance between stealth, combat and magic skill sets.[13][14] The skills system is similar to Morrowind's, though the number of skills is decreased, with the medium armor, unarmored, spear, and enchant skills removed altogether, and the short blade and long blade skills condensed into a single blade skill.[15] The game also introduced "mastery levels," which give skill-specific bonuses when the player reaches a certain level in that skill. The combat system was also revamped, with the addition of "power attacks", generally given by mastery levels, and the removal of the separate styles of melee attacks present in Morrowind. Ranged attacks were also changed, so that the determination of a hit is based solely on whether the arrow struck the target in-game, rather than the character's skill level. Spears, throwing weapons, and crossbows were removed as well, while staffs no longer counted as weapons, but are only used for casting spells.[16] The choice came from a desire to focus all development efforts in ranged weapons on bows specifically, to "get the feel of those as close to perfect as possible", as perfect as the Havok physics engine allowed the team to do. Morrowind's passive Block skill became an active feature in Oblivion, activated by a button press. When, in the new system, an enemy is successfully blocked, they now recoil, offering an opening for attack.[17]
Although it is set after the previous Elder Scrolls games chronologically, the game is not a direct sequel to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind or any other game.[13] Oblivion begins with the arrival of Emperor Uriel Septim VII (voiced by Patrick Stewart), accompanied by a troupe of Blade bodyguards, at the palace prison, seeking to flee from a group of assassins—later revealed to be members of the Mythic Dawn—through a secret underground exit. By chance, the exit is located in the cell occupied by the protagonist. The Emperor frees the player, and sets off through exit into the catacombs as the protagonist follows. At the end of the catacombs, the group is ambushed, and quickly overwhelmed by assassins, which results in the protagonist taking on the task of guarding the Emperor while the surviving bodyguards engage the enemy. While awaiting the result, Uriel entrusts the protagonist with the Amulet of Kings, a special amulet that can only be worn by those of the Septim bloodline, and orders the player to take it to a man named Jauffre. Immediately afterwards, an assassin ambushes and kills the emperor before he is, in turn, defeated. The sole surviving guard, Baurus, questions the protagonist, and explains that Jauffre is the Grandmaster of the Blades, and can be found at Weynon Priory.
As the game progresses, it is revealed that the Emperor's death has allowed multiple gates to Oblivion to open, and a Daedric invasion is to begin as a result. The only way to close down the gates permanently is to find someone of the Septim bloodline to retake the throne and re-light the Dragonfires in the Imperial City. Fortunately, it is also revealed that there is indeed still an heir to the Septim throne: an illegitimate son named Martin Septim (voiced by Sean Bean), who resides in Kvatch. However, the Daedra have Kvatch under siege and the protagonist has to venture into the Planes of Oblivion and close down the gate. After having closed the gate, the protagonist arrives at the Kvatch chapel and persuades Martin to join him to travel back to Weynon Priory. Oblivion Gate Oblivion Gate
Upon arriving, the player finds that Weynon Priory is being raided by the Mythic Dawn and the Amulet of Kings has been stolen. Recovering from the attack, Jauffre orders the protagonist to escort himself and Martin to Cloud Ruler Temple, the stronghold of the Blades in the Jerall Mountains. At Cloud Ruler Temple, Martin is recognized as the Emperor and is given command of the Blades, and the protagonist is sent off in search of the Amulet. After some investigating, the protagonist arrives at the Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon, a Daedric cult lair run by the Mythic Dawn, believing the Amulet to be held there. The Mythic Dawn's leader Mankar Camoran (voiced by Terrence Stamp) escapes to his Paradise through a portal using a mystical book called the Mysterium Xarxes. The protagonist recovers this book and returns it to Martin, who deduces that the only way to recover the Amulet is to follow Camoran, and create a portal to the paradise as well. A "collect-the-pieces" plot begins, as the player must recover three key items that are necessary to recreate the portal. Having acquired all three items, Martin reveals a final item that needs to be used in order to create the portal, a Great Sigil Stone used in a Great Gate to the Planes of Oblivion, similar to the one that devastated Kvatch. Martin and Jauffre hatch a plan that involves allowing Bruma to be attacked by the Daedra so that a Great Gate can be opened. The protagonist then must venture into the gate and obtain the Great Sigil Stone. Arriving on the battlefield of Bruma, Martin gives a moving speech before charging into battle against the Daedra. Many men are lost, but a Great Gate is finally opened. The protagonist enters and recovers the stone.
Upon returning to the Temple, a portal is created and the protagonist ventures through, arriving at Camoran's paradise. After fighting through Camoran's men, the protagonist confronts him in his throne room, and slays him in battle. Upon his death, the protagonist takes the Amulet from Camoran's neck, and sees Paradise evaporate around him. The protagonist returns the Amulet to Martin, and the Blades travel to the Imperial City to re-light the Dragonfires, ending the Daedric invasion. However, the Daedra begin a desperate assault of their own and overrun the Imperial City. The protagonist and Martin fight their way to the Temple of the One, in the Imperial City Temple District, to find that a 200-foot tall beast is wreaking havoc in the city, revealed to be the Daedric Lord Mehrunes Dagon himself. Martin fights his way into the Temple, and shatters the Amulet of Kings to merge himself with the spirit of Akatosh, the Dragon-God of Time, becoming his Avatar. He defeats Dagon in one final confrontation. The Amulet of Kings is destroyed, Martin disappears, the gates of Oblivion are shut forever, and the throne of the Empire again lies empty. A final monologue by Martin, describes this in an optimistic light, claiming that the future of Tamriel is now in the protagonist's hand. After the battle, Lord Chancellor Ocato of the Elder Council proclaims the protagonist Champion of Cyrodiil.[18]
[edit] Setting
In preparation for the game, developers gathered together materials from all manner of sources—"mountains of photographs snapped from ventures outside the dark confines of our office...huge numbers of nature books that our artists use for recreating authentic trees, grasses, and plants." "Texture images, reference photography of architecture, natural formations" that the team has drawn from personal trips overseas also formed a part of the team's sources. "We pull," said producer Gavin Carter, "from as many sources as we can get our hands on."[17] Where, in Morrowind, the chief graphical focus of the team was on water, the chief focus in Oblivion lay on its forests, its "big, photorealistic forests".[19] The inclusion of procedural content tools allowed for the creation of realistic environments at much faster rates than was the case with Morrowind.[20] Using IDV’s SpeedTree technology, for example, Bethesda artists were able to "quickly generate complex and organic tree shapes with relative ease". Bethesda's Noah Berry attests that "using parent/child hierarchies and iterative branch levels comprised of highly modifiable cylinder primitives, an entire tree shape can be created in a manner of minutes, just by adjusting numerical values and tweaking spline curve handles".[21] Instead of Morrowind's artificially smoothed-over terrain, erosion algorithms incorporated in the landscape generation tools allowed for the creation of "craggy mountain vistas" quickly and easily.[20]
Oblivion does not offer deformable terrain, although, like Morrowind, it does offer dynamic weather and time, shifting between snow, rain, fog, sunny skies, overcast skies, etc.[22] Developers pushed the game's view distance "extremely far out", so that the player character can see "for miles - mountains, towns on the horizon, grand forests in the distance, everything", according to Carter. Oblivion makes more use of multi-level environments than did previous games, varying the topology to a greater extent than did Morrowind.[14] A higher density of content was pursued in the creation of the game's dungeons, with a greater level of "monster encounters, quest NPCs, puzzles, and our brutal physics-based traps" than Morrowind had.[20] The populations represented in Oblivion do not match the numbers attested in previous in-game literature—populations of ‘thousands upon thousands'. The development team decided to set the NPC populations at a level that would play well, rather than one that would match game lore.[12] According to a Microsoft press release, Oblivion's game world is approximately 16 square miles (41 km²) in size.[23]
Oblivion, unlike previous series games, offers few loading screens or breaks in the action as the player travels through the game world. Only when moving from interior to exterior environments, or when fast-traveling, does the game pause to load.[24] The gameworld of Oblivion is cordoned off at its edges by an invisible and impassable wall. In most places, the development team built this limit around an insurmountable physical barrier, like a mountain, but as this was not always possible, there are places where the screen displays a "you've reached the edge - go back" message, and prevents the player further access. The player character may still look into these regions, however, as the team still built in landscape several miles deep.[25]
[edit] Development of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
An in-game screenshot showing Oblivion's user interface, HDR lighting and long draw distance, improvements made as part of a goal to create "cutting-edge graphics". An in-game screenshot showing Oblivion's user interface, HDR lighting and long draw distance, improvements made as part of a goal to create "cutting-edge graphics".
The development of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion began in 2002, immediately after Morrowind's publication.[26] Rumors of a sequel to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind began circulating June 2004, and were confirmed with Oblivion's official announcement on September 10, 2004.[27][28][26] Oblivion was developed by Bethesda Softworks, and the initial Xbox 360 and personal computer (PC) releases were co-published by Bethesda and Take-Two Interactive subsidiary 2K Games.[29] According to interviews with Bethesda staff, the publisher-developer relationship—one of the few independent relations in the industry—worked well, and Bethesda was not subject to excessive corporate guidance.[30][31] Originally scheduled for a November 22, 2005 release, in tandem with the Xbox 360's launch,[32] Oblivion was delayed to a March 21, 2006 release for Windows PCs and the Xbox 360.[33] A PlayStation 3 version of Oblivion was released on March 20, 2007 in North America,[34] and April 27, 2007 in Europe,[35] following delays similar to those for the Xbox 360 release.[36][37][38] The PlayStation 3 release was touted for its improvement over the graphics of the PC and Xbox 360 versions,[39][40] although some of the improved shader routines optimized for the PlayStation 3 release were set to be ported over to the other releases through patches.[27]
Developers working on Oblivion focused on providing a tighter storyline, with fewer filler quests and more developed characters.[16][41] The developers sought to make information in the game world more accessible to players, making the game easier to pick up and play.[42] Oblivion features improved AI (courtesy of Bethesda's proprietary Radiant AI),[43][44] improved physics (courtesy of the Havok physics engine),[45][46] and impressive graphics, taking advantage of advanced lighting and shader routines like high dynamic range rendering (HDR) and specular mapping.[47][45][17] Bethesda developed and implemented procedural content creation tools in the creation of Oblivion's terrain, leading to landscapes that are more complex and realistic than those of past titles, with less of a drain on Bethesda's staff.[20][48]
[edit] Audio
Oblivion features the voices of Patrick Stewart, Lynda Carter, Sean Bean, Terence Stamp, Ralph Cosham and Wes Johnson.[49] The voice acting received mixed reviews in the game press. While many publications characterize its voice acting as excellent,[50][51][52] others found fault with its repetitiveness, even while commending its general quality.[53][54] The issue has been blamed on both the small number of voice actors[55] and the blandness of the written dialogue itself.[56] Lead Designer Ken Rolston found the plan to fully voice the game "less flexible, less apt for user projection of his own tone, more constrained for branching, and more trouble for production and disk real estate" than Morrowind's partially recorded dialogue. Rolston tempered his criticism with the suggestion that voice acting "can be a powerful expressive tool", and can contribute significantly to the charm and ambience of the game. Ultimately, his opinions were superseded. "I prefer Morrowind's partially recorded dialogue, for many reasons. But I'm told that fully-voiced dialogue is what the kids want."[57]
Oblivion's soundtrack was created by Jeremy Soule, a video game composer whose past scores had earned him a BAFTA award in the "Game Music Category" and two nominations for an AIAS award for "Original Music Composition". Soule had worked with Bethesda and Howard back during the creation of Morrowind, and, in a press release announcing his return to composing for the series, Soule repeated the words he had said during Morrowind's press release: "The stunning, epic quality of The Elder Scrolls series is particularly compatible with the grand, orchestral style of music I enjoy composing the most."[58] As in his compositions for Morrowind, Soule chose to create a soft and minimalist score so as not to wear out users' ears.[59] Soule has stated that, while composing the music, he did not imagine any specific characters or events; rather, he wanted it "to comment on the human condition and the beauty of life." In a 2006 interview, he related that this desire came as a result of an unfortunate car accident that had occurred during his composition of the score. "I ended up rolling in my car several times on an interstate while flying headlong into oncoming traffic," he relates. "...I felt no fear.... I simply just acknowledged to myself that I've had a good life and I would soon have to say goodbye to all of it in a matter of seconds." Soule managed to leave the accident with only minor injuries, but the feeling he felt in those moments before the crash ended—"that life is indeed precious"—remained with him throughout the rest of the composition.[60]
Critical reaction to the English version of Oblivion was almost entirely positive. At Game Rankings,Oblivion holds an average review score of 94% for the Xbox 360, making it the 2nd highest rated game of 2006 and the 2nd highest rated Xbox 360 game released to date,[69] 93% for the PC, making it the 5th highest rated game of 2006, and 93% for the PS3 version, making it the highest rated game overall for the PS3; PC Gamer UK, PC Gamer US, PC Zone, GameSpot, IGN, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and OXM have all awarded the game 9/10 or more, and praised the game for its immersiveness and scope, winning the game awards from various outlets.[6] The television program X-Play, citing similar reasons, awarded the game a rare 5/5, with Eurogamer awarding it a perfect 10/10 and Japanese game magazine Famitsu awarding it a 38/40. GameSpot called the game "simply one of the best role-playing games ever," awarding a score of 9.6 for the Xbox 360 and 9.3 for the PC[70]. PC Gamer UK did, however, criticize the repetitive and occasionally absurd nature of conversations between in-game NPCs, saying that it broke suspension of disbelief, but still awarded the PC version a high 93%. OXM also said that the Xbox 360 version of the game suffered from occasional frame rate drops, though they were not as frequent as the Windows version, as well as slightly longer loading times on a Core system which lacks a hard drive. Although the Xbox 360 version is slightly more favored by critics, many noted that when tested on a high-end system, graphics and performance on the PC were considerably better than those of the console version.
However, despite these flaws, IGN stated that "none of those criticisms hold back Oblivion from being a thoroughly enjoyable, user-friendly, gorgeous experience with enough content to keep you returning time and time again", awarding it a score of 9.3.[71]
In addition to numerous awards won by the game itself, Patrick Stewart's voice role as the Emperor won an award at the Spike TV awards,[66] and the musical score by composer Jeremy Soule won the inaugural MTV Video Music Award for "Best Original Score" through an international popular vote. The music was also nominated for a British Academy Award.
[edit] Rating change
On May 3, 2006, the Entertainment Software Rating Board changed Oblivion's rating from T (Teen 13+) to M (Mature 17+), citing game content not considered in the ESRB review, including "more detailed depictions of blood and gore" than had been previously considered, and "the presence in the PC version of the game of a locked-out art file that, if accessed by using an apparently unauthorized third party tool, allows the user to play the game with topless versions of female characters."[72] The "third party tool" in question was a game modification, the "Oblivion Topless Mod".[73][74] In response to the new content, the ESRB conducted a new review of Oblivion, showing to its reviewers the content originally submitted by Bethesda along with the newly disclosed content. The new review resulted in an M rating. The ESRB reported that Bethesda Softworks, the game's developer and publisher, would promptly notify all retailers of the change, issue stickers for retailers and distributors to affix on the product, display the new rating in all following product shipments and marketing, and create a downloadable patch rendering the topless skin inaccessible.[72] Bethesda complied with the request, but disagreed with the ESRB's rationale.[75] Although certain retailers began to check for ID before selling Oblivion as a result,[76] and one California Assemblyman used the event to criticize the ESRB for failing once again,[77] the events passed by with little notice from either the public at large or gaming journalists in particular.[73]
[edit] Modifications
In addition to commercial plug-ins from Bethesda, there are many free third-party modifications, also known as mods, available for the Windows version. These mods change many aspects of the game, such as adjusting the visuals, gameplay, user interface, and adding original content such as new races, explorable game areas, armor, and weapons. The availability of modifications for the PS3 version is currently unknown. [78]
[edit] Expansion packs
[edit] Downloadable Content
From April 2006 onwards, Bethesda began releasing small, downloadable packages of content from their website and over the Xbox Live Marketplace for prices equivalent to between US$1 and US$3.[79] The first package, a set of horse armor for Oblivion's steeds, was released on April 3, 2006, costing 200 Microsoft Points, equivalent to US$2.50[80] or GBP1.50;[81] the corresponding PC release cost was US$1.99.[82] Although gamers generally displayed some enthusiasm for the concept of micropayments for downloadable in-game content,[83][80] Oblivion's horse armor release caused significant discord on the forums of the Internet, as gamers disputed whether the item was worth its cost.[80] On April 4, 2006, the day after the first content release, Bethesda representatives made a variety of broadly similar responses to inquiries regarding the content pack. Regarding the cost of the add-on, Hines stated that Bethesda aimed for a price point that "fit".[84] Hines assured the press that Bethesda wasn't going to respond rashly to customer criticism,[83] while other Bethesda representatives were stating that future micropayment plans remained uncertain.[85]
April 4, 2006 also saw the announcement of two new downloadable content packs for the coming weeks: an "Orrery" quest that would see gamers setting out to repair a Dwarven Orrery; and a "Wizard's Tower" that would offer a new home for player characters, complete with the capacity to grow herbs, summon atronachs, and make spells.[85] 1UP.com predicted that, given Bethesda's response to customer criticism, those releases would be somewhat more substantial than the "Horse Armor" release was.[83] On April 7, 2006, Bethesda priced the "Orrery". Offering what GameSpot called "more bang for less buck", Bethesda set the PC release price at US$1.89, and the Xbox 360 release price at 150 Microsoft Points, equivalent to US$1.88.[86]
New releases continued into late 2006, finding better reception in the gaming press. The "Thieves' Den", a 2.27 MB download offering the chance to "Uncover a famous pirate's lost ship and claim it for your own", was released on May 22, 2006 for the Xbox 360, priced at 150 Microsoft Points, "roughly" equivalent to US$1.89.[87] "Mehrunes' Razor", a quest revolving around a mage in search of the deadly Daedric artifact known as Mehrunes' Razor, was released on June 14, 2006 priced at US$2.99 for PC users and 250 Microsoft Points, equivalent to US$3.13, for Xbox 360 owners.[88] On July 13, 2006, "The Vile Lair", sporting a hidden crypt called "Deepscorn Hollow" for players bitten with Oblivion's vampirism bug, was released. Like the "Orrery" and the "Wizard's Tower", Bethesda set "The Vile Lair"'s PC release's price at US$1.89, and the Xbox 360 release's price at 150 Microsoft Points, equivalent to US$1.88.[89] On August 31, 2006, "Spell Tomes", adding books with "wondrous and powerful magic spells" to the random loot of fallen foes, was released for the price of US$1.00 on both the Xbox 360 and the PC.[90]
[edit] The Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition cover for the PlayStation 3. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition cover for the PlayStation 3.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine is an official plug-in for Oblivion. Announced on October 17, 2006 for release on November 21, 2006, the expansion was developed, published, and released in North America by Bethesda Softworks; in Europe, the game was co-published with Ubisoft.[91] The Windows version is available either as a download from the company website or as part of the retail-released Oblivion Downloadable Content Collection CD — a release that also includes all official downloadable content available for Oblivion. The Xbox 360 version is available via Xbox Live Marketplace, and the PlayStation 3 version of Oblivion includes Knights of the Nine in its packaged release.
Knights of the Nine centers around a faction of the same name, devoted to locating and preserving a set of "Crusaders' Relics". Once found, these relics must be used to defeat the sorcerer-king Umaril, who seeks revenge on the Nine Divines.[92] Knights of the Nine was generally well-received in the gaming press. Although it made little change to the basic mechanics of Oblivion, it was praised by some reviewers as a brief and polished addition to the game's main plot.[93][94][95]
[edit] The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles
An official expansion pack entitled The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles was released on March 27, 2007 for Windows and Xbox 360. The expansion offers 30-plus hours of new adventuring, features new quests, monsters, expanded freeform gameplay and a new land "that you can watch change according to your vital life-or-death decisions."[96] A PlayStation 3 version is confirmed and is expected to be released in 2007.[97]
Shivering Isles takes place in the realm of madness ruled over by the daedric prince Sheogorath.[7] The player is tasked by Sheogorath to save the realm from an approaching cataclysm known as the Greymarch.
[edit] The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition
On July 9, 2007 at E3 2007, it was announced that a Game of the Year Edition (GotY) for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion would be released in September 2007. The Game of the Year Edition is to include the original game as well as the Shivering Isles and Knights of The Nine content packs. The GotY Edition will be released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 at the price of US$59.99 and on the PC for US$49.99.[8][98] As of mid-August 2007, the release dates were set at September 10, 2007 for the Xbox 360 and PC in North American markets;[99] September 11, 2007 for the PS3 in North American markets;[100] and September 14, 2007 for the Xbox 360 and PC in European and Australian markets.[99]
