0:00

Oh, what are you doing?

0:02

I'll tell you what you're

0:05

doing. You're listening to the

0:07

Elder Scrolls. LORCAST. Either you

0:09

are, or I'll be skipping

0:12

rope with your entries.

0:14

Tada. This is the Elder

0:16

Scrolls Lorcast. Your source for LOR

0:18

and so much more. Adventurers, welcome

0:20

back to the Elder Scrolls Lorcast.

0:22

You've got me, Tom and Lotus,

0:25

and hey, hey. we are we're

0:27

back but you know what we've

0:29

we've finished a lot of the

0:32

other stuff we were doing around

0:34

like necromancy and that kind of

0:36

stuff and we decided it was

0:38

time to start another series here

0:41

and with all the rumors about

0:43

the oblivion remake and sky oblivion

0:45

coming to very very close launch probably

0:47

sometime later this year we thought it'll

0:49

be fun to go back to oblivion

0:52

and kind of talk about it a

0:54

bit we're probably going to cover some

0:56

more individual lore topics on future episodes

0:59

but in order to get everybody into

1:01

the pool, so you know, walk down

1:03

the steps into the pool, we decided

1:05

this week that we were going to

1:08

compare the story and the kind of

1:10

the world setting, the general feeling and

1:12

vibe of Oblivion. I would say the

1:15

current, yeah, it's called the vibe

1:17

of the different games. We're going

1:19

to compare Oblivion to Skyroom because

1:21

over 60 million copies of Skyrim

1:23

have been sold, about 10 million

1:25

copies of Oblivion. So there is

1:27

a large audience that has been

1:29

playing Skyrim over the last 14

1:31

years who never really gave Oblivion

1:33

a try, and it is a

1:35

very different game, not just from

1:37

a game play and technology standpoint,

1:39

but also from the way the

1:41

world feels, the way the questlines

1:43

work, the stories, the details. And so

1:45

we thought we'd go through and we're gonna

1:48

note all the differences in order to kind

1:50

of get you. into that and and hopefully

1:52

by the end of this you're going to

1:54

see why it's one of our favorite games

1:56

also like it's it's up there with more

1:59

wind and sky mean, I almost said

2:01

skywind. Like the modded version of

2:03

more wind to make it work.

2:05

Yes. Yeah, sky rim that never

2:07

came. Anyway, sky, you guys know

2:09

what we're talking about. So, Lotus,

2:11

we all get it. Lotus, you

2:13

ready to dive in? How you

2:15

doing? I am, I am. And

2:17

actually, just as a note to

2:19

like, oh, favorite things or whatever,

2:21

because oblivion is kind of like

2:23

this weird, 10 million copies of

2:25

something is like. a huge success

2:27

but just comparatively heck especially like

2:29

60 17 years ago when it

2:32

came out yeah yeah but at

2:34

the same time like by comparison

2:36

it it's Obviously, well, very little

2:38

compares to the amount of copies

2:40

of Skyrim sold. But like, Morwind

2:42

has this like cult following me

2:44

included where it's just like, oh,

2:46

well, that's the best one type

2:48

of deal. But I will say

2:50

just before we get into it,

2:52

I, the award for my overall

2:54

favorite soundtrack from any Elder Scrolls

2:56

game is actually oblivion. Oh, yeah,

2:58

I agree. I agree, too. Like,

3:00

Skyrim is very good. Morwins is

3:02

very good. from beginning to end.

3:04

Yeah, oblivion is actually my favorite

3:06

from beginning to end album. I

3:08

feel like it's any in the

3:10

series. There's there are moods that

3:12

some of the songs hit that

3:14

are not in some of the

3:16

other games. This is like on

3:18

a scale of 1 to 10

3:20

if oblivion's a 10 and then

3:22

Skyroom's like a nine. You know,

3:24

obviously, you know, some of my

3:26

favorite tracks are from Morawind or

3:29

whatever or from. Skyron, but like

3:31

I just mean like as an

3:33

overall album like really nothing compares

3:35

to oblivion for me It's just

3:37

my favorite of all of the

3:39

stuff Yeah, it was composed for

3:41

the series nothing compares to you

3:43

oblivion now. I've got Shinano Connor

3:45

singing oblivion songs. Nah, I don't

3:47

like where that's coming. All right,

3:49

so hey, let's get into it.

3:51

Here we go. Good old 90s

3:53

jokes remember. 90s kids will remember

3:55

Shinado Connor. Anyway, here let's get

3:57

into this. So I've got a

3:59

series of main points here. Main

4:01

point number one, the tone of

4:03

the games. So with the tone,

4:05

we have a difference between high

4:07

fantasy, which is oblivion, and gritty

4:09

realism. These are general tone differences.

4:11

You can argue that there's still

4:13

some gritty realism in oblivion, there's

4:15

still some high fantasy in skyrum,

4:17

but they kind of sway a

4:19

little bit more in one direction

4:21

or another. Yeah, it's what they

4:23

lean most into, not that it's

4:26

devoid of the other. Right, right.

4:28

So oblivion embraces this like... classic

4:30

high fantasy thing with similar tropes.

4:32

You've got like ancient prophecies, otherworldly

4:34

realms, oblivion, which is in the

4:36

title, Daedra cult's part of the

4:38

title, and Noble Bloodlines. You have

4:40

like the, you know, the Septim

4:42

dynasty, and oh no, the emperor's

4:44

dead, who's going to replace him,

4:46

he doesn't have any children, oh,

4:48

maybe he does, all of that

4:50

stuff. And you get swept up

4:52

in this narrative between like, the

4:54

emperor, gods, demons, you know, Daedra,

4:56

and it feels very high fantasy.

4:58

It feels very like this is

5:00

traditionally kind of the way the

5:02

stuff goes, right? Like the very

5:04

almost Lord of the Rings, but

5:06

not the same plot line, if

5:08

that makes sense. For lack of

5:10

a better way of describing, it's

5:12

the feel. It's definitely got a

5:14

more, especially because of like some

5:16

of the aesthetic. to the armor

5:18

is more whimsical than you'll see

5:20

in Skyroom. It's a little cleaner,

5:23

a little cleaner, a little, yeah.

5:25

And definitely less weird than Marlin.

5:27

A little less greedy, a little

5:29

bit more, it might be just

5:31

the difference in graphics technology, but

5:33

a little bit more, the lines

5:35

are cleaner, everything's a little more

5:37

symmetrical. Skyroom feels like a dirty

5:39

world. Oblivion does not as much.

5:41

No, not at all. And speaking

5:43

of dirty worlds, like, one of

5:45

the examples of this is you

5:47

go into literal, like, gates to

5:49

a hell, right, to oblivion. It

5:51

feels like a hell dimension, and

5:53

then you have to fight these

5:55

evil creatures in order to close

5:57

the gates. That feels like a

5:59

descent into hell. That feels like

6:01

a very high fantasy kind of

6:03

thing, right? Now, the difference here

6:05

is that Skyram is. Much more

6:07

grounded in its tone. It's got

6:09

this like Nordic aesthetic, which is

6:11

very real world. There's real Nordic

6:13

history that they're pulling from. Heck,

6:15

even then real Nord's didn't necessarily

6:17

have horns on their helmets, but

6:20

that's like the fan, the modern

6:22

fantasy of like, Nord's with horns

6:24

on their helmets and things like

6:26

that. Sure. So you've got that

6:28

and it definitely has its own

6:30

kind of cultural historical lens and

6:32

this idea of like an ancient

6:34

power that's reemerging in the world

6:36

and it's got kind of that

6:38

but it's all in this gritty

6:40

politically interesting world where it's not

6:42

just about like the emperor is

6:44

dead is the emperor's line going

6:46

to come back which again feels

6:48

very lord of the rings. you

6:50

have more of like a civil

6:52

war going on, imperials and nords,

6:54

you know, storm cloaks and what's

6:56

going to happen with that? And

6:58

you of course have Daedric princes

7:00

and all of this other stuff,

7:02

but there's, it feels like there's

7:04

more moral ambiguity there. Is that

7:06

a fair? Yeah, I would definitely.

7:08

It's a little less good verse

7:10

evil as opposed to faction versus

7:12

faction. Yes. Whereas in, oblivion is

7:15

a little more cut and dry,

7:17

like you are being invaded by

7:19

this horrible threat that wants to

7:21

kill you. end of the world

7:23

threat as well. They kind of

7:25

generally always have that type of

7:27

thing. But I feel like the

7:29

political part of it is a

7:31

little more, not at the forefront,

7:33

but like, it's almost like a

7:35

side main quest, whereas you don't,

7:37

like, the other quests in oblivion,

7:39

not that there aren't weird high

7:41

fantasy or law. know, grounded ones

7:43

to go with the high fantasy,

7:45

it just seems less so more

7:47

than like Skyram. Like Skyram, it's

7:49

more peculiar if it's super high

7:51

fantasy, at least in my opinion,

7:53

and oblivion, it's like, well, yeah,

7:55

no, there's obviously normal things happening

7:57

as well in the kingdom, but

7:59

it's got a more high fantasy

8:01

focus. Right, right. Yeah. So here,

8:03

let's move on to... Number two,

8:05

the main quest is significantly different

8:07

from the perspective of who you

8:09

play in the story. So the

8:12

difference here is in oblivion, and

8:14

we talk about this all the

8:16

time, Lotus. You are not the

8:18

chosen one. You are not the

8:20

main hero, right? Martin Septim, and

8:22

spoilers, by the way, for a

8:24

17-year-old game, but Martin Septim. is

8:26

the chosen one. He is the

8:28

one and you are there to

8:30

support him. You are there to

8:32

bring him out of hiding. You're

8:34

there to support him. You are

8:36

there to fight against the dangers

8:38

of the world. But you are

8:40

a secondary character to his main

8:42

character in the end. Whereas in

8:44

Skyrim, you are the you were

8:46

the freaking dragon board. You are

8:48

the one who absorbs the souls

8:50

of dragons. You are the one

8:52

who can, you know, actually become

8:54

powerful enough to fight Alduin at

8:56

the end. Right. Like all of

8:58

that is. very very different and

9:00

so the the Questlines kind of

9:02

circle around this in in oblivion

9:04

you are supporting these characters and

9:06

you're doing some very important things

9:09

but you're still always a piece

9:11

of the world rather than the

9:13

main focus whereas in like you

9:15

know Skyroom you you are the

9:17

one who climbs the 7,000 steps

9:19

to High Rothgar and you're the

9:21

one who learns the shells all

9:23

of that stuff. And I mean,

9:25

so one, that's one of my

9:27

favorite things about the story is

9:29

that you are not, you're supporting

9:31

the important people and as a

9:33

proxy are important because they might

9:35

not make without you, but you

9:37

are pretty. Placible in theory Yeah,

9:39

yeah, which is kind of interesting

9:41

You know, it's like oh, well,

9:43

yeah, you know You're the one

9:45

in Patrick Stewart's dream Right, right,

9:47

but it's to do something for

9:49

someone else rather than yourself. Now

9:51

granted the shivering Isles gives you

9:53

a bit more of a permanent

9:55

focus to the world which I

9:57

think is also cool, but um

9:59

I just really like the fact

10:01

that that's an interesting twist that

10:03

you're not the hero you're more

10:06

of a supporting character because that's

10:08

actually pretty unusual in general I

10:10

guess for for you know any

10:12

fiction I've watched most games yeah

10:14

across the board that's that's less

10:16

common and on top of that

10:18

It's the only time really in

10:20

the series that that happens. Yeah,

10:22

it's usually the main focus. Right,

10:24

right. It's kind of the difference,

10:26

speaking of Lord of the Rings,

10:28

if both of these were in

10:30

Lord of the Rings, it would

10:32

be the difference between being like

10:34

Aragorn or Froteau or Gandoff or

10:36

being Sam or Gimli, right, right.

10:38

Like you're there to support the

10:40

other characters. They're the ones who

10:42

are the more important people, but

10:44

you're just... a support character. Yeah,

10:46

you're secondarily important. But I just

10:48

think that is, you know, that's

10:50

pretty neat. And it's something that

10:52

I guess like almost explained, like

10:54

it's kind of funny, like this

10:56

is gonna, insert Lotus putting his

10:58

stupid battle spire reference in as

11:00

much as possible for the nine

11:03

of us that have played that

11:05

game. But like, it's funny because

11:07

in that game. yes okay you're

11:09

the main hero but you're the

11:11

second best mage in the battles

11:13

fire like you lost to somebody

11:15

else and that's ironically the only

11:17

reason you didn't get messed up

11:19

at the start so it was

11:21

like you being second best ironically

11:23

lets you be the hero in

11:25

that game but you're the hero

11:27

this game you're just straight up

11:29

like helping the hero so you're

11:31

it Lesser hero. Yeah, you're the

11:33

hero of kavatch at one point.

11:35

Right. You're not the hero of

11:37

the empire. You know, that's a

11:39

very different thing. Very different for

11:41

sure. Yeah. So again, one of

11:43

the features I really like about

11:45

the storytelling in oblivion. Yes. Cool

11:47

stuff. All right. So number three,

11:49

there's a difference between the villains

11:51

and the mythic themes. So go

11:53

with me here. In oblivion, we

11:55

have the mythic dawn. And this

11:58

is a secret society of daydreamers.

12:00

They believe that Nurne should be

12:02

ruled by Mayron's Degon. They're basically

12:04

like kind of an end-time cult

12:06

who wants to bring about the

12:08

destruction of the world and the

12:10

way that they see fit, right?

12:12

And in order to do that,

12:14

they assassinate the emperor because they

12:16

want to be able to open

12:18

oblivion gates, which basically breaks down

12:20

the prophecy and how all that

12:22

stuff works about the... Amulate of

12:24

kings and all of that, right?

12:26

So the red diamond. In Skyrim,

12:28

yeah, there's a song about it.

12:30

In Skyrim, Alduin is the prophesied

12:32

n-times thing. So they're kind of

12:34

similar. One is about the prophecy

12:36

of the way to keep the

12:38

Daedric princes out of, you know,

12:40

messing with with Nern. And the

12:42

other is about, oh no. The

12:44

world is supposed to end and

12:46

this is how it ends, right?

12:48

Right. And now you're in both

12:50

cases you're fighting back against that,

12:52

but one of them is being

12:55

manipulated by like this mythic cult

12:57

and the other is kind of

12:59

just the way the world seems

13:01

to go and you're fighting back

13:03

against the reality of it. So

13:05

there's subtle differences, but they're definitely

13:07

different. Yeah, they really are. And

13:09

again, it's one of these things

13:11

where it's like you can explore

13:13

a similar theme, but in different

13:15

ways. And I feel like that's

13:17

one of the things that's most

13:19

interesting about these games being back

13:21

to back. Just because they do

13:23

have a lot of similar themes,

13:25

they're explored in very different ways.

13:27

Yeah, yeah. So another example would

13:29

be in Skyrim, once you get

13:31

far enough in the main quest

13:33

line, same thing with Oblivion, once

13:35

you get far enough in the

13:37

main quest line, in Skyrim, you

13:39

get dragons. And dragons kind of

13:41

randomly show up places and they

13:43

mess stuff up and you got

13:45

to deal with them and you

13:47

absorb their souls, you take their

13:49

bones, all of that stuff. In

13:52

Oblivion, you come across... gates. These

13:54

gates seemingly randomly pop up, but

13:56

they're just like the dragons. They're

13:58

in specific places where they're more

14:00

likely to show up than others,

14:02

and then you go into the

14:04

gates and you close the gates.

14:06

So they're different, they have a

14:08

similar kind of mechanic. But the

14:10

way that that feels is very

14:12

different. One of them is like,

14:14

oh, I'm fighting bandits on the

14:16

side of the road, and holy

14:18

crap, there's a dragon here, what

14:20

do I do? And the other

14:22

one is, hey, there's a gate

14:24

that popped up. Sometimes monsters come

14:26

out of it. Do I want

14:28

to go in there right now

14:30

and fight a bunch of daydra

14:32

and go through an entire little

14:34

dungeon in order to close it?

14:36

Maybe, you can run away from

14:38

a dragon. But there's something that

14:40

feels much more impactful about like,

14:42

oh crap, there's a dragon on

14:44

me, what am I going to

14:46

do? Then like, oh look, there's

14:49

a gate over there, nope, I'm

14:51

going this way. It feels more

14:53

optional. Yes, I'll nope out of

14:55

this stationary gate that might or

14:57

might not be dropping enemies. Right,

14:59

right. Yeah, but it does change

15:01

the way the world feels, like

15:03

the little. pieces of like flame

15:05

rain down, you know, like it

15:07

starts to feel more like oblivion.

15:09

So they're similar, but yet still

15:11

different. Yep. So that's no, go

15:13

ahead. It's like, for those in

15:15

the audience to play ESO, it's

15:17

like the different types of incursions

15:19

that happen, different zones have different

15:21

like group events you do. Now

15:23

granted, these are single player games,

15:25

so it's not a group event

15:27

type of deal, but it's like

15:29

the world event that. The game

15:31

around instead of it being zone

15:33

specific like with ESO covering like

15:35

a bunch of zones it's like

15:37

game specific okay like and to

15:39

be fair both of these are

15:41

in Elder Girls Online they've reused

15:43

both these mechanics when you're in

15:46

elsewhere you deal with dragon incursions

15:48

and when you're in Blackwood you

15:50

deal with Not Daderick Gates, but

15:52

there are riffs that open and

15:54

it's, you know, Dagon's kind of

15:56

trial run for how to invade

15:58

and see if he can get

16:00

around some of the restrictions that

16:02

he has. So it's kind of

16:04

interesting that these are both like

16:06

used later on in the series.

16:08

Right, right. And what I think

16:10

it's also interesting to point out

16:12

that And before anybody's like, well,

16:14

actually, there are people who believe

16:16

Mayrun's Degon is the thing that

16:18

ushers in the end of time.

16:20

Like that is part of the

16:22

prophecy about him. But that there

16:24

is also prophecy about the dragons

16:26

be involved with that too. And

16:28

they both seem pretty accurate. Like

16:30

they both seem likely. There's some

16:32

pretty strong overlap. I could definitely

16:34

say. Yeah, yet they're both distinctly

16:36

different because the dragons don't work

16:38

for Mayrun's Degon. Like they're not

16:41

in. like hoots with each other.

16:43

They're two very different things and

16:45

the lure around them is very

16:47

different and the culture's belief about

16:49

them depending on the culture is

16:51

very different and yet they both

16:53

seem like possibilities that could actually

16:55

happen and you got to deal

16:57

with them. So they're similar in

16:59

that way. 100%? Yeah. So all

17:01

right so that stuff's pretty similar

17:03

but yet the nuances are a

17:05

little different. Number four. This one

17:07

this one Okay, well I'll just

17:09

read it and then we'll discuss

17:11

it. The dialogue in the, this

17:13

is the title, a character charm.

17:15

So I'm going to talk about

17:17

Skyram first, then we'll talk about

17:19

Blimian. Skyram has more polished dialogue,

17:21

lots of voice diversity. Now not

17:23

a ton of voice. You're going

17:25

to still run into the same

17:27

voice. actors, but more voice diversity

17:29

and a more cinematic presentation as,

17:31

you know, even the beginning of

17:33

the game, like, oh, you're finally

17:35

awake, you're on a cart, you're

17:38

having conversations with people, you're moving

17:40

through, you know, into different areas,

17:42

and then you get off the

17:44

cart, like, it feels more cinematic,

17:46

right? In Oblivion, there are like,

17:48

what, 12 voice actors or something?

17:50

Yeah, and sometimes they change voice

17:52

actor. based on the line even

17:54

though it's the same person. Yeah,

17:56

it's not, it's not as polished

17:58

when it comes to that side

18:00

of it. It was also one

18:02

of the first examples of it

18:04

being fully voiced in the series.

18:06

That's true. I mean, it was

18:08

17 years ago. I mean, this

18:10

was still very early in. Yeah,

18:12

this was nearly a launch game

18:14

for the 360. Not, no, it

18:16

didn't miss the window, but like,

18:18

think of it this way. The

18:20

distance between now and oblivion. Is

18:22

the same distance between oblivion and

18:24

like Super Mario brothers on the

18:26

Super Nintendo? Nope. No, I don't

18:28

like that. Now I feel much

18:30

older. I don't care for that.

18:32

Or or the the the Super

18:35

Nintendo version of Legend of Zelda.

18:37

No, no, I don't like any

18:39

of this. Like, but like think

18:41

about that like the distance. I

18:43

don't want to in time like

18:45

the the advancements in tech. And

18:47

so the advancements in tech between

18:49

oblivion and Skyrim. It's actually a

18:51

very short period of time, just

18:53

a few years, but yet the

18:55

presentation was leaps and bounds different.

18:57

But that doesn't mean that oblivion

18:59

was bad. I mean, that the

19:01

character faces are a little bit,

19:03

I don't know, overly round and

19:05

funny looking, that like the amount

19:07

of geometry wasn't as good, the

19:09

subtle, sudden total shifts in the

19:11

like you were saying, like, sometimes

19:13

you'd have a character and then

19:15

all of a sudden their voice

19:17

would change to some other voice

19:19

actor, but sometimes it would be

19:21

the same voice actor and they

19:23

like lose their accent or sometimes

19:25

it would be the same voice

19:27

actor and all of us they'd

19:29

go from like hello those citizen.

19:32

I can't believe you did that.

19:34

Why don't you come on over

19:36

and we'll treat. You know, and

19:38

it's like, yeah. Why did you

19:40

what? How did that work? And

19:42

they're clearly still figuring that stuff

19:44

out. Right. And again, you know,

19:46

technology was advancing, but they were

19:48

still really kind of working with

19:50

some, they were really pushing that

19:52

system right out the gate in

19:54

a lot of ways. So, you

19:56

know, they had a lot more

19:58

time to refine Skyrim for that

20:00

same system. Like that's a several

20:02

year gap worth practice on the

20:04

system and the hardware for Skyrim

20:06

where it was, you know, a

20:08

lot of time on the Dev

20:10

kits obviously because it came out

20:12

not even a full year I

20:14

don't believe after the system launched.

20:16

So very different parameter set on

20:18

what they were working with. Right.

20:20

And then if you go backwards

20:22

from Oblivion to Morawind, the distance

20:24

is equally interesting because you go

20:26

from. All these voice characters with

20:29

actual real personalities and then you

20:31

go back to more wind and

20:33

it's like reading a novel You

20:35

know if somebody was talking you

20:37

knew it was probably really like

20:39

a main focus storyline thing right

20:41

and it would be paragraphs It

20:43

would be like tell me about

20:45

the city you know of this

20:47

is the city of Vevek and

20:49

it would be like here's paragraphs

20:51

with clickable. It was like reading

20:53

a Wikipedia article with click-able links

20:55

is what it felt like Very

20:57

very different. Very different. Yeah. Yeah.

20:59

So okay. So the character and

21:01

dialogue is different. Also, I think

21:03

this, you can kind of squeeze

21:05

this in here too. The, both

21:07

games have these systems for how

21:09

the characters interact with the world.

21:11

They have their characters interact with

21:13

the world. They have their schedules.

21:15

They go to certain places. They

21:17

get up in the morning. They

21:19

go work at their shop in

21:21

the middle of the day. Maybe

21:24

they go back to take a

21:26

break and then they go back

21:28

to their shop and then they

21:30

go back. But the implementation of

21:32

that in oblivion is a little

21:34

bit weirder. It's a little bit

21:36

different. Yeah, again, it might be

21:38

just them exploring with it, but

21:40

that whole radiant AI thing that

21:42

they had going on. Yep. Yeah.

21:44

Sometimes the characters would just choose.

21:46

Questing that was done by. True.

21:48

Yes. Not that there isn't that

21:50

in Skyroom to an extent, but

21:52

it was a little more focus

21:54

on it, I felt like in

21:56

oblivion. You can kind of repeat

21:58

a lot of things in oblivion

22:00

as like radiant questing ID. There's

22:02

just kind of like procedurally generated

22:04

quest to let you kind of

22:06

keep going and there were definitely

22:08

some like the Thieves Guild and

22:10

stuff like that. in Skyrim, but

22:12

I feel like there was a

22:14

little more focus on trying to

22:16

see if they could get that

22:18

to work in Oblivion for my

22:21

recollection, for, you know, better or

22:23

worse. Yeah, and in Skyrim, the

22:25

characters can wander around, like, say,

22:27

a city like White Run, and

22:29

they'll bump into each other and

22:31

they might have a conversation, but

22:33

that stuff all feels much more

22:35

intentional. In Oblivion, it was like,

22:37

you'd have two characters that just

22:39

happened to be passing by on

22:41

the road, That, you know, the

22:43

seed you were looking for in

22:45

order to plant your garden. Yes,

22:47

thank you for asking. I did

22:49

find the seeds. Good to know.

22:51

And then they like leave and

22:53

keep walking. Yes. It was like,

22:55

that was the whole conversation. I

22:57

have to go back to my

22:59

home planet now. Right, right. Whereas

23:01

like in Skyrim, it's like, you

23:03

know, they walk around, they seem

23:05

to have more actual real conversations

23:07

rather than just like bring up

23:09

one thing. Okay, goodbye. Right, right,

23:11

right. Yeah. Now for sure. And

23:13

again, it's just an improvement on

23:15

the system. You know, everything has

23:18

its beginnings. And oblivion definitely has

23:20

a few more. the beginnings of

23:22

some of the systems they really

23:24

implemented. Right, right. So here, let's

23:26

move on to number five. I

23:28

think we're number five. Yep, number

23:30

five. The setting is very different.

23:32

So Skyrim, it's like this Nordic

23:34

frontier kind of environment where there

23:36

are different. biomes in sky rim.

23:38

You've got like the very north

23:40

which is very very cold and

23:42

freezing lots of snow. You've got

23:44

like the riften forest which is

23:46

very beautiful and it's got like

23:48

these fall colors. You have the

23:50

center of the map which seems

23:52

to be a little bit more.

23:54

What's the word for like tundra

23:56

like? Yeah, but there's still there's

23:58

still grass and plants and things

24:00

like that. Each of the zones

24:02

feels different for sure. And each

24:04

of the zones still feels different

24:06

in serial in Cyridil in oblivion.

24:08

But there's this feeling of like

24:10

this I don't know there's something

24:12

about that like northern Nordic thing

24:15

that I think just really hit

24:17

for when Skyrim came out but

24:19

it also lends to that same

24:21

kind of gritty feel that we

24:23

talked about before in at the

24:25

beginning like you don't come across

24:27

somewhere that's just super bright green

24:29

and lush with lots of colors

24:31

you can pick up flowers and

24:33

things but it's never quite Everything

24:35

feels always a little bit desaturated,

24:37

if that makes sense. Yes, the

24:39

color palette is very different, I

24:41

would say, between the two of

24:43

them. Desaturated is a good way

24:45

of putting it. That's definitely a

24:47

thing from the 360, like. Here's

24:49

a war and everything like that

24:51

was always known for like call

24:53

of duty It was like how

24:55

many shades of brown is your

24:57

game gonna look right fallout three

24:59

was another one where it's like

25:01

oh, you know pick your shade

25:03

of brown and green and that's

25:05

gonna be your your game Yeah,

25:07

and oblivion stood out in stark

25:10

contrast to that trend right which

25:12

was also kind of related to

25:14

the fact that it's like well

25:16

it was kind of not first

25:18

to the party, but much earlier

25:20

on so that trend hadn't been

25:22

established just yet with the gritty

25:24

realism type of deal in the

25:26

color palette. And the other thing,

25:28

again, not necessarily how it maybe

25:30

is intended, but seasonally, when you're

25:32

in Skarim, I feel you get

25:34

the feel of two seasons. You

25:36

get winter, and if you're in

25:38

the rift, you get autumn. Those

25:40

are your two seasons. When playing

25:42

oblivion, I always get, much like

25:44

with Elder School's blades, for anybody

25:46

who played the... that game. I

25:48

always feel that it has a

25:50

feeling of spring like to it

25:52

or summer spring summer, but it's

25:54

like not even like the hot,

25:56

it's like so much of the

25:58

stuff is like sort of in

26:00

bloom and like, but like there's

26:02

even like snow and stuff like

26:04

that in various points in oblivion.

26:07

Yeah, if you go to the

26:09

north, yeah, it's not common. So

26:11

it feels like, oh, you know,

26:13

you can have part of it

26:15

and it's like. being that I'm

26:17

in New England, I have all

26:19

the four seasons pretty consistently. You

26:21

can be late in spring and

26:23

it can be 65 degrees outside,

26:25

but there's still snow on the

26:27

ground. But it's like, it's got

26:29

that weird spring feel to it.

26:31

And I always felt that that

26:33

was kind of the case with

26:35

oblivion. Yeah, the other thing I

26:37

liked about oblivion is that you

26:39

are in serial, you're in the

26:41

center of the continent. and if

26:43

you go north it starts to

26:45

feel like skyrum things get snowy

26:47

right if you go south it

26:49

starts to feel like black marsh

26:51

things get kind of marshy right

26:53

and it almost feels like a

26:55

microcosm of the entire continent all

26:57

in one place because as you

26:59

got to the edges of the

27:01

map it started to feel more

27:04

like the zones that you were

27:06

getting close to but never could

27:08

quite go into sure but it

27:10

there was something about especially before

27:12

skyrum came out this feeling of

27:14

like the culture, the climate, like

27:16

heck even the cities in the

27:18

north felt more Nordic, the cities

27:20

in the south, felt more Argonian,

27:22

like you felt like you were

27:24

kind of diving into each of

27:26

the cultures and moving around an

27:28

even greater amount of space than

27:30

was actually there because there was

27:32

a distinct difference with the way

27:34

Not only the environment felt, but

27:36

the people felt, the conversation, the

27:38

style of the homes, all of

27:40

that felt very different. And sure,

27:42

Skyrim has its different zones, and

27:44

Markarth looks very different from White

27:46

Run, looks very different from solitude.

27:48

Sure. Right. Absolutely. But it's not

27:50

a microcosm of the entire continent.

27:52

It's more of just distinct different

27:54

parts of Skyrim. Yes, and it

27:56

all still has a very wintery

27:58

feel to it. to me at least.

28:01

Sands the Rift, which is, you know,

28:03

definitely got the autumn vibes going. Yeah,

28:05

yeah. So I always felt like that

28:08

was a fun part of exploring the

28:10

map in oblivion, if that makes sense.

28:12

And I mean, you have to, you

28:15

can't forget the first time you come

28:17

out of the sewers. Like I remember

28:19

going through that. In fact, the first

28:22

time I played, I'm pretty sure I

28:24

started a character, played through maybe halfway

28:26

through the sewer tutorial section at the

28:28

beginning. And I was like, now I

28:31

want to be a different character. I

28:33

didn't realize that you get a chance

28:35

to like tweak things right to get

28:37

it. So I went back, create another

28:39

character, play through again. I was like,

28:42

okay, maybe I'll do more this, maybe

28:44

I'll do more magic or whatever. I

28:46

don't remember specifics. And then finally got

28:48

to the And then finally getting to

28:50

that great and being like, oh, I

28:52

can change my character here if I

28:55

want. And so I quick save it

28:57

there. Go through the great. And then

28:59

that and everyone talks about this.

29:01

And Todd Howard talks about this

29:03

and uses the same thing and

29:05

fallout and all these other games.

29:07

That moment of like you come

29:09

out and you see the colors

29:12

and like the world in front

29:14

of you, like and everything in

29:16

oblivion had. Like there was not

29:18

real HDR yet, there was not

29:20

real like high resolution, like this

29:22

was the first console that could

29:25

do 1080P. So like that level

29:27

of resolution was still pretty new.

29:29

But everything had kind of that

29:31

weird, smeared like pseudo HDR thing

29:33

going on. Yeah, little bit. So

29:35

it felt like coming out into

29:37

almost like a like a painted

29:40

world. If that makes sense. Yeah, yeah,

29:42

yeah. Well, so to your point, the art

29:44

style that we've kind of been looking at

29:46

is there's almost like a watercolor aesthetic

29:49

to oblivion. Yeah, and even more so

29:51

when you're actually in a painting, but

29:53

I was in a say, yeah, specifically

29:55

related to the painting quest, which is

29:57

really entertaining with the painted troll fat.

30:00

But yeah, I was going to

30:02

say, but it has that watercolor

30:04

feel to it. Again, kind of

30:06

building off the whimsical nature of

30:08

it. High fantasy definitely feels more

30:10

like that in a lot of

30:12

different ways. Yeah, so that sets

30:14

the difference. The setting does distinctly

30:16

feel different. So be aware of

30:18

that jumping into it. All right,

30:21

number six. The gills in the

30:23

side stories. feel very very different.

30:25

You can kind of summarize this

30:27

as like personal arcs to political

30:29

drama or in not just political

30:31

drama in a sense of like

30:33

the Civil War, but like heck,

30:35

the Dark Brotherhood feels like political

30:37

drama. All of that stuff has

30:39

kind of its own different things.

30:42

So if you look at oblivion,

30:44

it's skills offer very clear in

30:46

structured progression and then there are

30:48

memorable twists, right? And In Skyrim,

30:50

it feels like the quest lines

30:52

are more rushed, if that makes

30:54

sense, or each quest is less

30:56

connected to the previous quest. So

30:58

the difference I would explain here

31:00

is that Skyrubs feels more like

31:03

a game where they set up

31:05

like, okay, go through this quest,

31:07

go through this quest, go through

31:09

this quest, go through this quest,

31:11

and then after the fifth, sixth,

31:13

seventh, quest, however many quests are

31:15

in the quest line, then you

31:17

come across the like ending Climax

31:19

twist thing, that happens, right? And

31:21

there's some sort of big thing

31:24

at the end, which is a

31:26

fun and exciting thing, and then

31:28

you're done, and maybe you have

31:30

the radiant quest after that. Oblivionian

31:32

felt like, like, a part of

31:34

this group. And there's more than

31:36

just like seven quests to do.

31:38

And each quest, I feel like

31:40

I'm working up the ranks of

31:42

the group in a very, like,

31:45

I don't remember, I remember Skyrim

31:47

feeling more like a game and

31:49

Oblivion feeling more like, okay, I'm

31:51

doing the Major's Questline now. I

31:53

guess I'm part of this group.

31:55

And if I'm part. to this

31:57

group, I need to be this

31:59

person. I need to do these

32:01

things. I need to act in

32:03

these ways. I don't know what

32:06

the boundaries of this are. And

32:08

because the Questline takes longer to

32:10

do and there's more quests, it

32:12

feels like you can kind of

32:14

sit and be that person in

32:16

that Questline longer, if that makes

32:18

sense? I can, yes, I actually

32:20

would agree with that. It's

32:23

more I do agree with you on

32:25

that one it does have that feel

32:27

to it because again it's I guess

32:29

a stark contrast of saying like I'm

32:32

part of this group is The one

32:34

that it's kind of meamed at this

32:36

point where it's like you can basically

32:38

beat the College of Winterholds questline You

32:40

have to like crawl your way up

32:43

the ranks by collecting out chemical ingredients

32:45

for different stuff in it. Like don't

32:47

get us wrong. You do some cool

32:49

stuff. But like after so many quests.

32:51

It's like all of a sudden. You

32:53

can go in as a thug and

32:56

not really have any magical aptitude and

32:58

become master. Yeah, you're the archmage after

33:00

just like seven quests. Whereas you have

33:02

to like crawl your way up the

33:04

ranks by collecting alchemical ingredients for different

33:07

like. Guild sections to even have them

33:09

talk to you. Right, and you have

33:11

to visit different cities in the different

33:13

guilds. Yeah. Yeah. That all felt like,

33:15

I hope they go back in that

33:17

direction because the direction they went with

33:20

like Fallout 4 was more similar to

33:22

Skyrim. Those quest lines for different groups

33:24

are still fairly small. If maybe they

33:26

fell a little denser, but then you

33:28

go to like Starfield and Starfield Felt

33:31

very slim. on like you're doing this

33:33

group and again it felt like here's

33:35

seven quests and I'm sure the numbers

33:37

not 100% accurate but it felt more

33:39

like okay I did that I spent

33:41

two to three hours doing it I'm

33:44

done this now onto something else I

33:46

guess whereas oblivion felt like a thing

33:48

you lived in you know you could

33:50

spend 10 hours doing a quest line

33:52

for a guild and just kind of

33:55

earning your way up the ranks while

33:57

doing other stuff too. Like I think

33:59

that's something else too is that in

34:01

Skyram it feels like if once you

34:03

start a quest line for a guild

34:05

you just want to kind of mainline

34:08

that quest line. You just want to

34:10

keep doing it until you get it

34:12

done and then you're on something else.

34:14

Oblivion felt like I'm part of this

34:16

guild now I'm going to continue doing

34:19

other things out in the world but

34:21

I'm going to keep an eye out

34:23

for ways I can continue to do

34:25

this on the side. So very different

34:27

lived in kind of feel and I

34:29

hope they go back to this for

34:32

elder squirrels six I think these are

34:34

the things that make the world building

34:36

really work is because you feel like

34:38

you actually have to and yes it

34:40

is a little more grindy but it's

34:42

not grindy in a in an annoying

34:45

kind of world of Warcraft sort of

34:47

way like I'm gonna improve my crafting

34:49

so now I have to mine all

34:51

the or on you know this side

34:53

of the continent and make sure or

34:56

bring me a hundred and twelve skeever

34:58

butts which don't get me wrong there

35:00

is give me 10 or an earner,

35:02

give me 20 and earner, give me

35:04

30, there are those too. But that

35:06

kind of stuff didn't make me feel

35:09

like I have to go grind this

35:11

right now. Instead, it made me feel

35:13

like, okay, well, I'm out adventuring this.

35:15

I need to, yeah, I need to

35:17

just be aware, because that's what you

35:20

would do in real life, right? Like,

35:22

if somebody said, like, hey, Pepsi has

35:24

released Crystal Pepsi again, but it's only

35:26

in certain locations. and it's going to

35:28

be out for like the next three

35:30

months. If you happen to come across

35:33

one, please let me know if you

35:35

want to buy and ship it to

35:37

me, I'll pay for it. You wouldn't

35:39

just stop what you're doing right now

35:41

and go to every store in the

35:44

area looking for Crystal Pepsi. Right. That's

35:46

true. And I also appreciate that somehow

35:48

that was what you chose. Crystal Pepsi.

35:50

This is another 90s reference. 90s kids

35:52

will remember. Yeah. All this thinking back

35:54

in time stuff has got my brain

35:57

back in history. But instead what you

35:59

would do is for like the next

36:01

three months, any time you had to

36:03

go to the store, any time you

36:05

would get groceries, you just kind of

36:08

keep your eye open. And if you

36:10

saw it, you'd pick one up. That's

36:12

how you would do it. And after

36:14

a certain amount of time, you'd come

36:16

across. like, hey, can you get me

36:18

three or four of those? Okay, I

36:21

got you three or four. Here you

36:23

go, I'll ship them to you. Thank

36:25

you so much. Like, move on to

36:27

the next quest. It's something you do

36:29

on the side while still doing other

36:32

things, which is kind of the way

36:34

the oblivion gates felt also, if you

36:36

think about it. It's more of like,

36:38

hey, I'm over here on the side

36:40

of the map, I guess I'll do

36:42

it. Rather than let me hunt down

36:45

all the oblivion gates and I'm just

36:47

gonna. hone in and focus on that

36:49

one thing. Now I'm sure there are

36:51

people out there who don't share my

36:53

view of this and are going to

36:56

say, well now I mean line to

36:58

each of those things and that's just

37:00

how I play games. And that's fine

37:02

too. I guess my greater- Oh sure,

37:04

that's totally a thing you can do.

37:06

It just fell to your point and

37:09

a lot of times I do that

37:11

because I'm very- goal oriented in games

37:13

like we joke about like the completion

37:15

aspect that I have that you really

37:17

don't So I definitely do kind of

37:20

like fixate and like use stuff as

37:22

like a goal oriented method But at

37:24

the same time like it feels like

37:26

I'm choosing to focus on that as

37:28

opposed to I sort of have to

37:30

focus on that I guess so yeah

37:33

even though I kind of fall into

37:35

that camp I get what you're saying.

37:37

And like the Nernet one, for example,

37:39

I literally just kind of kept in

37:41

the back burner in the background. I

37:43

was like, yeah, I'll get to this

37:46

as I collect them. Yeah, so much

37:48

so. Remember, don't eat them. So much

37:50

so that I remember when my wife

37:52

and I started dating, what we, I

37:54

think we got into playing Fallout 3

37:57

when it came out. And I was

37:59

like, have you ever played Elder Scrolls,

38:01

Scrolls Oblivion? And Skyroom wasn't out yet.

38:03

And she wasn't out yet. And she

38:05

wasn't out yet. computer. I only had

38:07

the PC version. I didn't have the

38:10

Xbox version. We had an Xbox and

38:12

I was like, all right, I'm going

38:14

to go find a copy of this

38:16

on the Xbox so we can play

38:18

it together on the TV. And I

38:21

remember finding a used copy at like

38:23

some game store, I don't know, it

38:25

was like Game Stop or something, and

38:27

started playing and, you know, gave my

38:29

wife, my now wife, the controller. And

38:31

she's like, like, in the world. And

38:34

she did the exactly the same thing.

38:36

And she called it Nenroot, like on

38:38

purpose because it was cute. you know,

38:40

because not because she didn't remember the

38:42

name. She's like, oh, nin root, nin

38:45

root. And it was like, she wasn't

38:47

just mainlining the, the Nern root. She

38:49

was like doing other things and then

38:51

keeping an eye out. Oh, here's some

38:53

I'm gonna go find it. You know,

38:55

just put it in my pocket. Like

38:58

that was her thing. And that's exactly

39:00

how you play it. It makes the

39:02

world feel so much more just a

39:04

piece of something bigger. 19 years. Why

39:06

do you have to go and correct

39:09

that? 19 years. I really don't appreciate

39:11

all this is doing to my psyche

39:13

about how old I have this episode.

39:15

Oh, we're so old. All right, number

39:17

seven, number seven, there's definitely a shift

39:19

in tone, not just in the ways

39:22

that we've already described, but due to

39:24

the era that these were created in.

39:26

Oblivion is very much a child of

39:28

the... early 2000s and the success of

39:30

the Lord of the Rings movie. I

39:33

mean, this is a fantasy revival. It's

39:35

very colorful. There is distinct differences in

39:37

moral clarity, although I would argue that

39:39

in Tolkien's writings and go listen to

39:41

the Lord of the Rings look as

39:43

that I do if you want any

39:46

more detail on this. What comes across

39:48

is stark moral contrast and a lot

39:50

more in the films than in the

39:52

books. There's a lot of gray if

39:54

you really really dig into it. There's

39:57

there's actually a ton of gray. But

39:59

general perception of these things was more

40:01

of like a moral black and white

40:03

kind of like, oh, these are the

40:05

good guys and these are the bad

40:07

guys, right? That kind of thing. Yeah.

40:10

And it's got this like epic. Like,

40:12

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

40:14

like, like, adventure, adventure, adventure, adventure, adventure,

40:16

adventure, adventure, adventure, adventure, adventure, adventure, adventure,

40:18

in, like, adventure, adventure, in, like, like,

40:20

adventure, adventure, like, adventure, like, adventure, like,

40:23

adventure, adventure, like, adventure, like, adventure, adventure,

40:25

like, adventure, like, adventure, adventure, like, adventure,

40:27

like, adventure, like And the stakes are

40:29

cosmic, right? It's big stakes, big black

40:31

and white, evil bad guys, we're the

40:34

good guys, everyone does what they're supposed

40:36

to do because they're on that side

40:38

of the moral aisle, right? In Skyrim,

40:40

you've got these kind of, everything kind

40:42

of shifted to this morally gray thing,

40:44

the world, and I feel like we're

40:47

still in it. The idea that both

40:49

of these things can be enjoyable, but

40:51

that shift to like, I don't know,

40:53

we were on the verge into 2011,

40:55

we're just a few years from, you

40:58

know, the Game of Thrones TV show

41:00

coming out, and that idea of like,

41:02

everybody's a little bit gray. Yeah, the

41:04

contrast being so apparent, really became less

41:06

appealing. It seemed like having that, well,

41:08

nobody's really perfect, even the good guys

41:11

caught on quite a bit, whereas back.

41:13

you know previously that really wasn't the

41:15

way things were done it was here's

41:17

you good guys to your point here

41:19

is you bad guys like you get

41:22

them like yeah right make things better

41:24

and and that's that's been a change

41:26

in popular fiction recently both video games

41:28

TV shows movies things like that the

41:30

witchers the Northman like Yeah, like these

41:32

other like since then these other series

41:35

have been much more and in popular

41:37

season I'm not saying I'm not saying

41:39

this from a perspective of like literature

41:41

or TV or movies since then have

41:43

only been this and before then have

41:46

only been this. We're going to get

41:48

comments, especially on the video version, where

41:50

people are like, well, actually, there's always

41:52

been a diversity. I know that, I

41:54

get it. But you can see the

41:56

trend in the popularity of these things

41:59

that points to a kind of zeitgeist

42:01

in the culture that says these things

42:03

tend to be more popular now as

42:05

opposed to these other things then. That's

42:07

the difference. And the way that we're

42:10

talking about things aren't just one extreme

42:12

or another. also applies to what we're

42:14

saying. It's not just there's only this

42:16

type of writing or only that type

42:18

of writing. Right, right. Yeah, the Lord

42:20

of the Rings was published the same

42:23

exact stipulations that I'm preferring. Right, the

42:25

Lord of the Rings was not published

42:27

in 2006, right? And also the first

42:29

book of a song of Ice Fire

42:31

Game Thrones was also not published in

42:34

2011, right? Sure. Those were both published

42:36

decades before any of these things happen.

42:38

So there's not like a complete through-line.

42:40

that certain types of fantasy seemed to

42:42

rise to the top of popularity. Yeah,

42:44

and hit mainstream popularity. Right. During certain

42:47

periods of time. Yeah. And that's, yeah,

42:49

that's, that's mainly it. It's like, because

42:51

back in the day, like, recent, another

42:53

example of that, like, comic books are

42:55

no longer nerdy. Like. the marvel franchise

42:57

movies have made how many zillions of

43:00

dollars at this point like because they

43:02

became mainstream popular dungeons and dragons was

43:04

like a thing that was like oh

43:06

yeah no a bunch of nerds play

43:08

that and now it's like super commonplace

43:11

that everybody knows about it it's all

43:13

over the place it's in things that

43:15

are not dungeons dragons but model parts

43:17

of their games or movies after things

43:19

and so it's just Nurd culture became

43:21

very mainstream in a lot of ways

43:24

and changed this the same way that

43:26

like, you know, things ebb and flow

43:28

and it's kind of at the time,

43:30

these really ebb and flows in like

43:32

mainstream popularity is all. Right, right. And

43:35

so in Bolivia, you get like this

43:37

distinct good and bad kind of thing

43:39

going on. You also get these other

43:41

nuanced differences, like in Skyrim, it's got

43:43

more of this kind of survival quality.

43:45

In fact, it has a survival mode

43:48

in the game. It's all about your

43:50

heritage. Like, oh, we are Nords, we're

43:52

proud of our heritage, the fragmentation of

43:54

power. And those, there's similar qualities to

43:56

not just things like the witch or

43:59

like I mentioned before, but also the

44:01

popularity of series like fallout, survival in

44:03

the wasteland. Your heritage has something to

44:05

do with it. Like, are you a

44:07

wastewater? Are you a goul? Like, where

44:09

did you come from? Who do you

44:12

like align with? And sure, there's some

44:14

overlap there. Of course, you go back

44:16

to oblivion and it's like, well, if

44:18

you were a Breton, then you're a

44:20

Breton and if you're a, you know,

44:23

a dark elf, you're a dark elf.

44:25

And like, there's distinct differences. But there's

44:27

something about the way that those things

44:29

are portrayed, which feels different. Yeah, for

44:31

sure. So there you go. That's number

44:33

seven, the era and the tone differences,

44:36

as these things have been published and

44:38

come about, which leads me to wonder,

44:40

kind of wrap this up, Lotus. Do

44:42

you think, once we get an oblivion

44:44

remake, if that is really coming, or

44:47

if we get the remaster, or like,

44:49

I mean, not the remaster, the sky

44:51

oblivion, the update. We at least know

44:53

we're getting sky oblivion. Right. So when

44:55

that comes out, do you think it's

44:57

going to hit? as hard as it

45:00

did in 2006 today. But like even

45:02

though the culture is very different, right?

45:04

The culture of 2006 and the culture

45:06

of 2025 are very different, like 19

45:08

years apart. It is. So you think,

45:11

I mean, yeah, we both agree, it's

45:13

a wonderful game, it has its flaws,

45:15

but it's a wonderful game. Do you

45:17

think that in today's culture, oblivion will

45:19

still stand out and make sense? In

45:21

the 14 years since Skyrim came out,

45:24

the younger people who haven't played Oblivion,

45:26

who have played Skyrim, or the teenagers,

45:28

who maybe haven't even played Skyrim, but

45:30

all of a sudden they get interested,

45:32

because let's say there's an Oblivion remake,

45:35

and they're like, oh, I play Elder

45:37

Scrolls Online, I want to try that

45:39

out. Like, do you think that's actually

45:41

going to resonate? Do you think people

45:43

will make sense to this generation? Be

45:45

more niche as a game because It's

45:48

there's two sides to this that I

45:50

kind of have is like again like

45:52

I just mentioned earlier like Dungeons and

45:54

Dragons is almost I'd say more popular

45:56

than ever I mean look at what

45:58

is it, Baldur's Gate, three? Yeah. Did

46:01

total gangbusters and like that's like the

46:03

gold standard for so many people now

46:05

is like what an RPG can do.

46:07

So like that high fantasy thing is

46:09

definitely super popular right now as well.

46:12

So like that's kind of become. part

46:14

of the zeitgeist. Okay, cool. So that

46:16

that almost fits again with the style

46:18

of oblivion. However, oblivion is in many

46:20

ways a product of its time as

46:22

well. So I don't know if people

46:25

are going to have the same interest

46:27

in something like that. Well, I think

46:29

I think there's an interesting example that

46:31

may clue us in a game like

46:33

Final Fantasy Seven, which came out. Well

46:36

before oblivion, this was like the late

46:38

90s. Oh yeah. In 99? Was it

46:40

no, it was earlier than that, 97?

46:42

Yeah, I think it was 97. Yeah,

46:44

I feel like it was 97. Right,

46:46

so almost a decade before oblivion, that

46:49

game just got remade, there's been two,

46:51

like, I think they're making it into

46:53

a trilogy of individual games. Yeah, I

46:55

believe you're correct. But that game actually

46:57

sold pretty well. Like a lot of

47:00

the millions of people have played. There

47:02

was a Final Fantasy and remake and

47:04

rebirth, I think, of the two that

47:06

have come out so far. Yeah. And

47:08

the story is slightly different. They've added

47:10

some things and changed some stuff around.

47:13

They've got a little bit more of

47:15

this like multiverse kind of thing going

47:17

on, which seems to be over the

47:19

last five or six years seems to

47:21

be kind of the thing. But outside

47:24

of the subtle differences in that story,

47:26

it's by and large the same story.

47:28

It's here are these characters, you're this

47:30

protagonist, the mood, the vibe, the locations,

47:32

the tone, a lot of that stuff

47:34

is the same, and it still works.

47:37

People are still into it, and I

47:39

would have to assume that's not just

47:41

people who played the original, who are

47:43

now, you know, 26 years, 28 years,

47:45

I can't do math, later... So my

47:48

thought, I guess, would be... I think

47:50

that this will make people interested in

47:52

the Elder Scrolls series very happy and

47:54

expose them to something that they might

47:56

really enjoy. I don't know if this

47:58

will pull in an audience outside if

48:01

you already have an interest in the

48:03

Elder Scrolls. Interesting. I have to wonder.

48:05

You know, I really have to wonder.

48:07

That's my thoughts on it. What if,

48:09

like here's another perspective we could look

48:12

on it, games where you are thrown

48:14

into a world where your decisions actually

48:16

matter, where the open world feels very

48:18

responsive to you, have still been very

48:20

popular. Cyberpunk came out a number of

48:22

years ago now. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2,

48:25

it's not a fantasy world, it's a

48:27

medieval realistic kind of world, but same

48:29

kind of thing. You have conversations with

48:31

people, you follow the quest lines, different

48:33

things happen, depending on your choices, that

48:35

has done very well. Do you think,

48:38

I think a counterpoint to you would

48:40

be those games, because of those reasons,

48:42

still seem to perform very well, so

48:44

a version of oblivion that is very

48:46

polished, might be appealing to that crowd,

48:49

even if they've never played Skyrim or

48:51

Oblivion. I could see that. It's mainly

48:53

just, I wonder if in a game

48:55

that kind of, some of the shock

48:57

and off factor was this. immense world

48:59

that was sort of unparalleled at the

49:02

time. It's going to be a lot

49:04

smaller than people are used to. Yeah,

49:06

that's true. So one of the big

49:08

factors to the game, I think people

49:10

might really enjoy the RPG elements more

49:13

because they're much more prominent in this

49:15

than in newer entries to the series.

49:17

I'll say ESO and blades and Skyrim,

49:19

stuff like that. We'll just go with

49:21

those as like newer entries type of

49:23

deal. I think the stronger RPG facets

49:26

of the game will probably make people

49:28

happy because it is something that people

49:30

were kind of myself included hoping they

49:32

would go a little harder in Starfield

49:34

with and they kind of didn't fully

49:37

commit. This is more toward that and

49:39

I think that will make people happy.

49:41

I also think that if people, if

49:43

we get an oblivion remake and the

49:45

response is, oh my God, I love

49:47

how deep these systems are, or I

49:50

love how How intricate and how long

49:52

it takes to get through a quest

49:54

for a faction any of that stuff

49:56

Do you think that's going to affect

49:58

how they develop elder scroll six? I?

50:01

I mean I would hope they would

50:03

have listened to Some of the feedback

50:05

they got on Thorfield about people being

50:07

like yeah, that was a start but

50:09

this would be even more and more

50:11

directly related to it like what if

50:14

they sell three million copies like let's

50:16

a remake? first week, three million copies

50:18

sold, responses in reviews, all of these

50:20

things. Oh my God, I'm so glad

50:22

they're back to this. This game, it

50:25

has polished a lot of things that

50:27

weren't great the first time, but now

50:29

because they've expanded or they've kept systems

50:31

that were here that we're on in

50:33

Skyrim, this feels like a fresh new

50:35

thing. So glad that we're back to

50:38

this. I hope that this continues for

50:40

the next elders girls. Like if that's

50:42

what a lot of reviews and a

50:44

lot of people say. It would be

50:46

super tone deaf for the Devs not

50:49

to pay attention to that because they

50:51

have an example from Starfield where people

50:53

were like, yeah, not so much your

50:55

fan the way you did it here.

50:57

And then you have the complete counter

50:59

example of like, hey, remember we did

51:02

this in oblivion and we did it

51:04

again. And everyone's like, yes, more please,

51:06

more please. Right. I would, yeah, I

51:08

mean, I think that will, I think

51:10

that will please. the RPG fans, but

51:12

again to the point I always wonder

51:15

where where is the line between accessibility

51:17

to the general populace where they make

51:19

it easy to get into and where

51:21

is the line that people like grindy

51:23

stuff and like I know people always

51:26

seem to think that having it be

51:28

complicated is the best and I think

51:30

having a degree of complication is good.

51:32

Yeah, but there's a balance. There's a

51:34

balance. But there's definitely a balance and

51:36

and I'll be curious what the overall

51:39

impression is of that balance because some

51:41

of the leveling is a little peculiar.

51:43

Yeah, but what if they fix that

51:45

thing? Like I would imagine in a

51:47

remake version of the game, they're gonna

51:50

fix, they're gonna fix the combat a

51:52

bit, they're gonna fix the leveling a

51:54

bit, they're going to fix the voice

51:56

act, hopefully they add more voice actors,

51:58

you know. I would imagine they have

52:00

less. They have a list of like,

52:03

okay, these are the things that people

52:05

traditionally felt we're and we're wearing great

52:07

about this. So if we're gonna remake

52:09

it, we're gonna make that. as good

52:11

in the game and try to make

52:14

everything better. You know, like, right? Keep

52:16

the stuff that works, fix the stuff

52:18

that doesn't. Yep. No, I definitely, I

52:20

would be surprised if this did not

52:22

sell well, to say the least. Oh,

52:24

sure. Yes. Yeah. But yeah, no, I

52:27

would, if this is real, which at

52:29

this point, more and more, because I

52:31

keep hearing about it at bare minimum,

52:33

it seems like it's. Yeah, even if

52:35

not, Skyblivian is a thing. Exactly. Skyblivian

52:38

we know is a thing, so you

52:40

at least got that. Yeah. And I

52:42

think it will have like, you know,

52:44

it'll definitely have an audience. I'm just

52:46

curious, the size of it. I guess

52:48

I don't know, but I'm certainly excited

52:51

for it either way. Like I would

52:53

love, as much as I love Skyrim

52:55

and playing through Skyrum, I would. I've

52:57

long wanted them to visit some of

52:59

the others in the series as well.

53:02

Like, there's a lot of other games

53:04

in the series, you don't need to

53:06

just do Sky Rail. Right, and can

53:08

you imagine if an oblivion remake actually

53:10

comes out and does really well, that's

53:12

even more reason to... remake morrowind. Can

53:15

you imagine morrowind in a modern engine

53:17

with actual conversations with characters, but yet

53:19

you keep all the stuff that made

53:21

morrow wind really good. But instead of

53:23

having to like swing out a skiver

53:26

15 times before you hit it, it

53:28

actually has a real combat system. Like,

53:30

and you don't have to read pages

53:32

of text, you can just act like,

53:34

why don't they just put in voice

53:36

acting? You know, like all of that

53:39

stuff could train, like you could, you

53:41

have a story there. the guts of

53:43

a system that everybody loves, you modernize

53:45

it. How many people would go back

53:47

immediately and play a modern version of

53:50

Morawind and just be like, all right,

53:52

take my money, take my early, early

53:54

version, 120 bucks, but I get this

53:56

extra stuff and send me a statue

53:58

of Vivek or whatever. Yes, yes, yes,

54:00

please. Here you go. Yeah, exactly. So

54:03

I don't know. There's definitely, and I

54:05

think. much like I had said where

54:07

it's like I said that I really

54:09

only think this game I think this

54:11

was scrapped prior in the in our

54:13

patron episode I actually think this was

54:16

scrapped and that it was sort of

54:18

just it's coming out as a result

54:20

of some of the hype I don't

54:22

think it was just thrown away I

54:24

think they just stopped work on it

54:27

more or less but I think you

54:29

know as Hype built up around this,

54:31

it might have gone back into production,

54:33

which has led us to where we

54:35

are now. Yeah, we'll have to see.

54:37

The hype level around this seems pretty

54:40

big. So if that translates to sales,

54:42

I wouldn't be surprised because I personally

54:44

think that the only reason this is

54:46

actually coming about, if it does, is

54:48

because of the very vocal interest in

54:51

it. Right, right. Yeah, okay. Well, I

54:53

guess we're gonna have to see. But

54:55

I'd love to hear your thoughts on

54:57

this. Chime in on our Discord, comment

54:59

on the episode, if you're able to

55:01

do that, wherever you're listening or watching.

55:04

But yeah, let us know your thoughts,

55:06

because I think this is going to

55:08

be a really interesting thing. We're just

55:10

going to see how it plays out.

55:12

But tell you what, we're going to

55:15

take how it plays out. But tell

55:17

you what, we're going to take a

55:19

quick break. We're going to take a

55:21

quick break. We'll be back. We'll be

55:23

back. We'll be right back. You're listening

55:25

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56:44

you'll leave a podcast, or you'll listen

56:46

to us, but if you leave a

56:48

five-star review, or you'll listen to us,

56:50

and if you'll read it, those are

56:53

the ones we can see the ones

56:55

we can see, we can see, we

56:57

can see, we can see, we can

56:59

see, we can see, we can see,

57:01

we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, and, we'll,

57:04

and, we'll, and, we'll read it, we'll,

57:06

and, we'll read it, and, we'll, and,

57:08

we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, and, and, and,

57:10

and, and, Also, if you want to

57:12

leave a message, voice line dot app

57:14

slash elder scrolls is the place to

57:17

do that. You can leave a voice

57:19

message. We'll play it out and Lotus

57:21

and I will answer your question live

57:23

during the live stream. But also, of

57:25

course, it'll end up in the recordings

57:28

here at the end of each episode.

57:30

So please take a shot. If you've

57:32

got thoughts about oblivion remake, you want

57:34

to leave us a voice mail. And

57:36

if you aren't sure, Voice. Voice. Voice.

57:38

We still have to do the random

57:41

UESP page. My favorite. This is the

57:43

best part of the show. All right,

57:45

so if you're not familiar, UESP is

57:47

the best wiki online for Elder Scrolls

57:49

stuff, Friends of the show, all of

57:52

that. And they've got a little section

57:54

where you can get a little random

57:56

button, and we do it every week.

57:58

And this week, we get an... Elder

58:00

Scrolls Online thing. Do you want

58:02

to guess? You want to guess what

58:04

kind of Elder Scrolls Online thing this

58:07

is before I read it? It's

58:09

a housing item. It's not a

58:11

housing item, but it is. But

58:13

it is something you get from

58:15

the crown store and something that

58:17

you can use on your face.

58:19

It is subtle, dark lashes. So it

58:21

says here, when you want to emphasize

58:23

your lovely eyes without going overboard on

58:26

something like exotic or stage makeup, subtle

58:28

dark lashes are just the right touch.

58:30

It sounds like an advertisement. Yeah, I

58:32

was going to say, maybe it's dark

58:35

lashes. Yeah, maybe it's maybe. The subtle

58:37

dark lashes were available in the crown

58:39

store for 200 crowns. From January

58:41

19th, 2017 to November 6th,

58:43

2017, usable by female characters of

58:45

all races except for Kajit

58:47

and Argonians. Beast races stipulations

58:49

on those subtle subtle lashes

58:52

there. I don't care for

58:54

that. Yeah, beast races don't

58:56

don't get it And this doesn't work for them. And

58:58

my man, we nor can't use it either? What a rip. Just

59:00

ladies, just for ladies, emails. But it also says here,

59:02

crown store showcase description. Get this. A little

59:04

understatement can do wonders. But when you want to

59:06

emphasize your lovely eyes without going overboard. Oh, it's

59:08

the same exact statement. Can do wonders. But when

59:10

you want to emphasize your lovely eyes without going

59:12

overboard. Oh, wait. It's the same eyes. It's going to tell me

59:14

something else. Something like something else. It's going to

59:16

tell me something else. It's going to tell

59:18

me something else. It's going to tell me.

59:20

It's going to tell me. It's going to

59:22

tell me. It's going to tell me. It's

59:24

going to tell me. It's going to tell

59:26

me. There we go. So yeah, well, I'm

59:29

not going to edit that out. You know,

59:31

I really know what you can get with

59:33

that random page. Yeah, that's hilarious. All right.

59:35

Well, thank you everybody for joining us. Thank

59:37

you for being here for the live streams.

59:39

And Lotus, you have any last

59:41

thoughts? Any last words? No, I

59:44

was going to say, we've been

59:46

a little bit since we've had

59:48

an episode of tales, or we've

59:51

meant to do it last weekend.

59:53

for the new Eldish Girls Online

59:55

expansion. I can give you a

59:58

little preview. I like it. There

1:00:00

you go. Okay. All right. Yeah,

1:00:02

check out. Check out Lotus's other

1:00:04

show. Of course, you can check

1:00:06

out my other shows, The Lord

1:00:08

of the Rings Lawcast, which we

1:00:10

brought up a lot of Lord

1:00:12

of the Rings. If you've had

1:00:14

a hard time reading the Silverillian,

1:00:16

I take you through all the

1:00:18

details, make it super easy. Go

1:00:20

check that. We're going through all

1:00:22

the details, make it super easy.

1:00:24

Go check that out. We're going

1:00:26

through the Hobbit, we're going. cool,

1:00:28

really popular podcast that totally makes

1:00:30

sense on the network. They reached

1:00:32

out to me, I've been talking

1:00:34

with them, I'll reveal more in

1:00:36

future weeks, but very cool stuff.

1:00:38

So lots of stuff over there,

1:00:40

and Robos Radio.net to the website,

1:00:42

if you want, if you want

1:00:44

to sign up, join the Rocket

1:00:46

Club, I'll help you start your

1:00:48

podcast, all that kind of stuff.

1:00:50

So that's what we do around

1:00:52

here. Thanks for hanging out, Lotus,

1:00:55

thanks for being here, chat, chat.

1:00:57

I appreciate you as always. Until

1:00:59

next time, if you see a

1:01:01

Dydrich portal pop up in the

1:01:03

middle of your neighborhood, you could

1:01:05

just nope out. You could just

1:01:07

like leave it there. No, go

1:01:09

in, take the sigilstone, you can

1:01:11

never have no sigil stones. All

1:01:13

right, we'll see you next time

1:01:15

everybody. See you later. Bye everybody.

1:01:17

Thanks for tuning into the Elder

1:01:19

Scrolls Lawcast. Check out robots radio.net

1:01:21

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1:01:23

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1:01:25

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1:01:27

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1:01:29

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