Everything Skyrim Players NEED To Know Before Playing Oblivion

you watching this video right now have probably played skyrim at least i'd hope you have but perhaps you never found the time to properly dive into the elder scrolls game before it the older scrolls for oblivion was the seed planted all the way back in 2006 that would ultimately grow into the youtube channel you're looking at right now i was but a child with zero responsibilities who could play the game for weeks and years on end you on the other hand might not have so much free time and perhaps the idea of sitting down and figuring out everything within this sensational but old game is a little bit daunting well today i'm going to remove every barrier to entry and make things as simple as possible so that you can hop into cyrodiil and experience oblivion in all its glory i want you to escape from the imperial city prison and go explore this beautiful map immerse yourself in fan favorite faction plots get lost in what may be the single best dlc of all time and personally experience its iconic main story this is not a video for those looking to optimally maximize some sort of complex god build or anything of that nature it's a video for those who want to play oblivion for the first time but have only ever played skyrim or for those who played oblivion years ago and want a well-rounded refresher on that note i'd be curious to see how many people would want a guide on making some builds that are actually very powerful so let me know in the comments in typical elder scrolls style you begin as a prisoner and just like in skyrim you'll have to pick your race before you get started play around with the main customization sliders like hairstyle and hair color and try using the randomize feature for the face design to see if you get something you like but generally you're going to have to do your best while embracing that characters look a little funny in oblivion the races in oblivion have much more varied passive bonuses than in skyrim bratons begin with 50 more points of magicka have an innate 50 resistance to magic and once a day for 60 seconds can use the dragon skin power to gain 50 shield this is really effective and i'll explain more on the shield spell when we discuss everything magic imperials get two once per day powers also known as greater powers but no passives there's the star of the west which allows you to absorb 100 points of your opponent's stamina with a touch spell and voice of the emperor which lets you charm a target for 30 points for 30 seconds which is another effect i'll touch on in the magic section nords gain a touch spell of their own called nordic frost dealing 50 points of damage once per day it's actually pretty powerful in the early to mid game stages they can also cast a 30 shield spell called woad for 60 seconds once per day and have a permanent 50 resistance to frost red guards have a 75 resistance to both poison and disease and their adrenaline rush greater power turns them into quite the superhuman it boosts agility speed endurance and strength by 50 points each and fortifies their health by 25 points for 60 seconds i'm gonna go through what all of these attributes do soon but just know that's a massive increase high elves actually start with 100 more points of magicka as well as 75 resistance to disease that said they have a fun drawback being a 25 weakness to fire frost and shock their biggest strength magic is a double-edged sword wood elves also have a 75 resistance to disease as well as the beast tongue power which allows them to command a creature up to level 5 for 60 seconds once per day while fun for role playing and at early levels up to level 5 isn't that impressive so it's not the best greater power around dark elves have a massive 75 resistance to fire damage as well as the ability to summon an ancestor guardian for 60 seconds once per day this leveled ghost can cast ranged and touch-based frost spells and can work as a good distraction against foes though it does have less health than a standard ghost and is often defeated quickly at higher levels orcs have an innate 25 percent resistance to magic as well as the berserk greater power which grants them 200 more points of stamina 20 more points of health 50 more points of strength but drains agility by a hundred points for 60 seconds it's pretty good for unleashing a barrage of power attacks argonians in oblivion have 75 percent disease resistance as well as full immunity to poison and the ability to breathe underwater and finally we come to the khajiit who can use a nightie spell that lasts 30 seconds as often as they desire as well as the eye of fear greater power which allows them to demoralize that is inflict fear on foes up to level 25 for 30 seconds once per day also up to level 25 actually allows you to affect any level enemy let's dive into the mechanics that make your character so unique as you can see on screen it's not just each race that starts with different attributes but also whether you choose to play male or female screenshot this info for when you start your own playthrough if you'd like although just keep in mind the attributes within each race are the same for the most part so it's usually best to pick male or female for what you want from a role-playing perspective as an example of the differences argonian males have 10 more points of speed whereas argonian females have 10 more points of intelligence you get the idea races also start with different skill bonuses and here's another chart to screenshot that shows you exactly what skills different races will excel at in addition you'll be able to pick or create your very own character class which modifies both attributes and skills even further unlike skyrim there are no perks to choose in oblivion instead when you level up you get to choose three attributes to boost you also don't get to choose between adding to health magicka or stamina directly instead attributes are what's used to affect these also stamina in oblivion was called fatigue but we're calling it stamina in this video to keep things as familiar as possible for skyrim players for the most part it has the same use as it did in skyrim however when stamina is running low especially at 0 you actually have reduced melee damage and stealth capabilities simply put attributes are extra stats that exist separately to skills which modify things about your character there's strength intelligence willpower agility speed endurance personality and luck strength increases your melee damage how much you can carry and your total stamina intelligence increases your total magical pull willpower increases magical regeneration and also adds to your total stamina agility is a third attribute that increases your stamina as well as your damage dealt by ranged weapons and reduces your chance of being staggered speed affects the length of your jumps and of course how fast you move which believe it or not is quite helpful in battle for outmaneuvering foes also consider there's no sprint button in oblivion endurance is the final attribute that increases your stamina pool and also increases the amount of health you begin the game with and how much you'll gain each time you level up to be clear the earlier on you have more endurance the more total hp you'll be able to accumulate throughout your playthrough personality makes npcs like you more leading to better prices easier gathering of information and also makes aggressive beings more likely to accept yields if you wish to cease combat finally there's the odd one out luck but don't treat this like the luck attribute in fallout games the vague description is that it affects everything you do in a small way but really it just increases your skill points by 40 of every level of luck you have over 50. that means a character with 90 luck will have a secret plus 16 to all their skills though skills that can surpass level 100 in effect ie acrobatics and athletics are not affected it will also make you more likely to win if you bet at the imperial city arena it will make you less likely to contract diseases and people suspect it can even help with lockpick chance and so on though it's hard to confirm the bonus you get for a heavy investment is not really that amazing when you consider the opportunity cost so i'd only really invest here if it's for role-playing reasons or you've kind of maxed out your attributes that you want and you're looking for something else to boost just remember you can only add 1.2 at each level which is one of the reasons it becomes even less desirable if you're new this all might sound overwhelming but i promise you you won't need to get stuck focusing on every tiny detail of attributes if you don't want to unless of course you enjoy that if you're a warrior focus on strength and endurance if you're a mage focus on willpower and intelligence a little common sense goes a long way so long as you don't spam points into personality and luck as a barbarian character it's hard to actually ruin your build in fact one of oblivion's criticisms is that some enemies become huge hp tanks at higher end game levels due to the way that level scaling works so if late into your build the game feels like it's getting a bit harder as you get stronger it probably is and it's not your fault that said this isn't really a big problem until you're a much higher level character and if you get to that stage then you've had a really fun time in oblivion anyway and my goal of guiding you into playing the game has been a success also oblivion has a difficulty slider in the settings menu and if you're playing purely for enjoyment feel free to drag it down if you level up so much to the point where the game feels a bit too grindy it's your play through so do whatever makes it the most enjoyable no one's going to stop you another thing you'll notice about attributes is that when you level up you don't get to apply flat bonuses to them instead the amounts will be based on what skills you trained the most this level attributes have skills related to them for this purpose so if you train your block skill a lot then you'll have a bigger bonus to apply to its related attributes endurance attributes don't actually change the underlying skill levels so don't worry about that and again don't let this overwhelm you that much if you're playing a certain build then the big bonus opportunities each level should relate to the attributes related to your character's playstyle anyway no skill increases related to an attribute means you can add one point to it upon leveling up plus two if you have one to four skill increases related plus three for five to seven skill increases related plus four for eight to nine and plus five for ten or more that's the nitty-gritty but as a new player just play the game and get what you get i highly recommend picking two to three attributes you wanna focus on and just pump those every time you level versus trying to spread points around evenly no need to overthink things that said as a tip i'd say endurance is a pretty safe attribute focus for most characters particularly early on as your health will increase by 10 of it each level though it is rounded down and it does help to reduce the difficulty of the game at later stages in addition to saying luck isn't that fantastic i'd say neither is personality for the majority of new players you can always level your speechcraft and mercantile skills separately but of course if you really want to roleplay as a charming character that everyone loves especially from the get-go then go for it to level up you need to level any of your major skills for a total of 10 times you'll then get a message on screen that you should rest and meditate on what you've learned meaning you're ready to level up however unlike skyrim where you can just do it in your menu you'll need to find a bed to sleep in needing to sleep to level is something i actually appreciate about oblivion it forces you off the path sometimes to pull into different inns or town buildings that you may have otherwise not explored but what is a major skill well you'll get to choose your own major skills towards the end of the tutorial when you're prompted to select a character class it's best to make a custom class by the way which you actually get to name yourself but if you want to pick a pre-defined one that already has all the choices you want then go for it a character class has a specialization either combat stealth or magic as well as two attributes which will be boosted further oblivion's system while not perfect really helps define your character better early on especially if you give them a unique backstory with pre-existing talents i'll put the skills on screen again relating to not only each attribute but each specialization whichever specialization you pick will have these related skills boosted by five more points and it also increases how fast they level up to get the most benefit pick whichever one has more skills you think you'll be using instead of just one main focus skill for example if you think you'll be a battle mage who uses destruction extremely often and that's your only magic skill you're still better off picking a combat specialization to boost your weapon skill the block skill your armor skill and so on and just having destruction start a little bit lower and train it up nothing too complex here after picking two attributes it's time to consider those major skills we mentioned you get to choose seven and unlike skyrim these will be the only skills that can actually help your character level up in addition to that these skills get another plus 20 boost on top of any specialization or racial bonuses if you want to pick the seven skills you think you'll use the most go ahead and do that with the custom class alternatively some players who are willing to be patient may wish to leave some of their used skills outside of their major skills list this may sound a bit weird as they'll start lower and also level a bit slower the payoff here if you're willing to do it is that they won't contribute to you leveling up and therefore you'll be able to train them up on the side without the game becoming as challenging as quickly i know some hardcore players will literally pick six things they never use for their major skills and then one that they will and only level up to like level seven or something so the world stays easy but remember we're not necessarily trying to have that sort of extremely optimized god build experience here to be completely honest the fact that there's four different leveling speeds for skills isn't even known or noticed by the majority of players major skills that are in your specialization will level the fastest then major skills that aren't in your specialization then minor skills in it and finally minor skills not in it again it might sound confusing but believe it or not it's another thing i'm gonna tell you not to worry about for your first playthrough just put your main skills you want to use as your major skills and potentially keep one or two in the minor skills category if you want to go that slightly more patient route it's that simple i'd say that two skills you could put in that minor skills boat are acrobatics and athletics athletics levels from you just running around and acrobatics from you jumping but because these don't toughen you up or contribute to your damage output many players wouldn't want them to assist in boosting your base level and having the world around you get tougher that said do not sleep on speed a fast character with high speed and athletics can zip around the battlefield far more effectively so the recommendation to make it a minor skill is only from a character leveling speed perspective it's not actually a bad skill at all by any means of course if you want to play with low difficulty and you just want to get right into playing an agile acrobatic character straight away then to hell with optimization just have fun picking them as major skills and begin the game feeling like a zippy and nimble thief for assassin the skills in oblivion feature many names you'll be familiar with as well as some new ones also while there's no perks the skills can unlock permanent perk-like benefits at the milestones of 25 50 75 and 100. i'll touch on some of the notable ones and you can see what peaks your interest from strength there's blade blunt and hand to hand in oblivion instead of one-handed and two-handed they split the melee weapon skills up based on what kind of trauma your foes head will be experiencing there's not much difference so just pick the weapon style you think is cooler honestly the blade skill includes daggers all swords both short and long and even includes great swords which are called claymores in oblivion the blunt skill includes war axes maces clubs battle axes and warhammers so you'll definitely be able to experience one-handed and two-handed fun regardless of your choice blunt weapons compared to blades of the same quality are slower but do more damage but consider reach 2 a small war axe is still faster than a sword but can't reach as far both blade and blunt will unlock a sideways power attack with a five percent chance to disarm then a backwards one with a five percent chance knockdown and finally at level 100 a five percent chance to paralyze on a forward power attack same goes for hand to hand plus at expert they get a knock back attack that can proc when blocking which at level 100 gains a chance to disarm but i wouldn't really choose hand to hand unless you're looking for a fun challenge role-playing a martial arts monk-like build obviously there are ways to make it work but it's just not as good as other combat skills and while it damages enemy stamina it doesn't compare well to enchanted weapons and powerful spells in the end game from endurance there's amra block and heavy armor so in oblivion there's actually armor and weapon degradation third era cyrodiil isn't a post-apocalyptic wasteland so don't worry you don't have to expect degradation to be as intense as fallout games but it's there the armory skill lets you break less repair hammers when fixing your gear these are miscellaneous items that can be bought or found in a similar sense to how lockpicks can at level 75 you can take armor and weapon condition beyond 100 to 125 percent making them do more damage or grant more protection do note that you can't actually smith gear from materials in oblivion like you can in skyrim for the most part armor is a convenient skill as it means you don't have to pay someone in a city to repair things for you some may also consider it a god build skill if they're really just trying to max out their weapon damage to that 125 percent condition point for new players though i want to emphasize that degradation isn't a annoying aspect of the game as items don't degrade that fast the block and heavy armor skills do exactly what you expect them to if you're going to use a shield block will make you take less damage when using it and at level 75 it gives you a chance to do a knockback shield bash counter staggering foes of course heavy armor will make you more protected and less encumbered by such armor and it will also degrade much slower as your skill in it climbs from speed there's athletics acrobatics and light armor light armor does the same as heavy armor but for light armor styles though notably it gives you 50 more armor rating if only wearing light armor when the skill level hits 100 one other small difference is that heavy armor has more health and therefore degrades slower athletics makes you swim and run faster and recover stamina faster as you run around acrobatics makes you jump higher and reduces fall damage it also allows you to use directional dodges at skill level 50 although these are often more showy than effective you can use them to dodge attacks of course but you'll find a high speed character to be better at dodging by simply moving left right or backwards away from attackers versus actually using the dodge mechanic from agility we have security which was the name for lock picking sneak and marksman the name for archery the lock picking mini game has you pick tumblers up and fix them in place with a timed reaction at higher skill levels less of them will fall down when you make a mistake getting better at this skill also makes the tumblers move less rapidly making timing your reactions easier sneak will help you stay undetected while sneaking around and as you reach skill milestones you'll get higher sneak attack damage multipliers be able to move at full speed in sneak mode without increasing detection chance and so on marksman will make you better with a bow which is the only ranged weapon type by the way at skill level 50 you can zoom in by blocking in at expert and master you get the same knock down and paralysis chances that blade blunt and hand to hand have however instead of needing to power attack which you can't do with a bow it just applies to your normal arrow shots which is pretty neat in personality we have mercantile speechcraft and illusion magic mercantile was basically blended with speech in skyrim and involves how much money you'll make when buying and selling goods you can haggle with npcs to get better prices and have more leeway when doing so speechcraft affects your ability to get information from people and have them like you it all comes back to disposition which is a changeable score each npc has ranging from 0 to 100 when you select the persuasion minigame icon you basically just choose from admire boasts joke and coerce in the best order you can clicking the largest wedges when they align with something the npc will like or love and trying to click the smallest ones when they dislike or hate it you'll have to select all four each round so there's a bit of strategy to it you can read their response based on their facial expression as you hover over an option but if you can't be bothered playing the game you can just bribe people if you've got the coin speechcraft can understandably feel a little bit useless when you've got more coin and you can simply just resort to bribes instead and do note bribing is more efficient the higher your speech craft is this position can alternatively be raised with charm spells which are from the illusion school now we're still talking about a personality related skill for now but do note that the rest of the skills will be magic related and there are some differences in oblivion in illusion you'll actually find the paralyzed spell as well as a spell called silence which prevents a target from casting spells spells to cast the light on self are also here as our spells to calm cause fear frenzy and to rally there are also the spells command creature and command humanoid to turn a foe to your side there's night eye and also chameleon which is an odd spell which makes you semi-invisible yet you can retain the ability to interact with things like open doors without it turning off like invisibility would this can be useful if you get really good at illusion and get a potent chameleon spell especially if you mix it with a chameleon enchantment but generally for most characters chameleon won't make a huge difference if you're good at stealth you'll be fine and if you're bad you'll get detected anyway unless again it's really potent when it comes to mage skills you'll gain the ability to cast spells based on your skill level the separations of novice being below level 25 apprentice being between 25 and 50 journeyman from 50 up to 75 expert from 75 to 100 and master upon level 100 are used here spells also cost less magicka to cast the higher the related skill is and this increased efficiency is actually exponential next up we have conjuration mysticism and alchemy which will help you boost the intelligent attribute most when you level up conjuration in oblivion is actually a lot of fun it does exactly what you'd expect and there's a large list of cool entities to summon in battle providing for much more variety than skyrim did especially considering the summon spells added in the shivering isles dlc there's also no reanimation spells except for a staff you get from the mages guild story but that's all i'll say on that conjuration also includes turn undead in oblivion and summoning a variety of bound weapon and armor pieces mysticism is another one that was blended into another skill namely alteration in skyrim in oblivion it contains detect life and telekinesis both of which are cool but not necessary for the majority of characters mysticism also has soul trap and on that note enchanting exists in the game but isn't a skill in itself that said you'll still need to have the ability to use a magical effect for example through having a spell you can use to then actually use this as an enchantment mysticism also has dispel which lets you get rid of any magical duration effect that is currently troubling you so long as it's cast from a spell technically you can't dispel effects if they're the result of a lesser power or an enemy's enchantment damage making it a custom target spell you can actually use it to help you remove enemy summons from the battlefield and other effects on them like their shield spell and finally there's three other effects reflect spell absorb spell and reflect damage reflect damage reflects a set percentage of melee damage you receive whereas reflect spell is a percentage chance to reflect the entire thing spell absorption also gives you a certain chance to fully absorb an entire spell do note that reflect damage as a spell can only be gained by getting a power or enchantment with this effect and therefore unlocking it for custom spell creation this is the case with a few niche spells in the game where you can only make them as custom spells after getting access to the effect some other way honestly though this can just make unlocking some unique effects feel really cool overall mysticism isn't really that great early on and new players can safely ignore it for their first playthrough but it is one of those niche skills that can make you really powerful later on if you focus on it particularly when combined with additional enchantments finally in intelligence is alchemy which is obviously not a magic school but it will allow you to gain magical effect benefits through creating potions or poisons some of these effects can't be found as spells selling potions is also a decent way of making extra money and overall the skill is similar to what you'd expect from skyrim however instead of using an alchemy station you can just make potions on the go by using the mortar and pestle in your inventory getting other alchemy items of various ranks which you can find or buy such as a calcinator will improve your concoctions further finally under the willpower attribute we have alteration destruction and restoration these are in my subjective opinion the best magic skills for beginners who aren't sure what they want to specialize in here you've got damage you've got healing and you've got fun utility by fun utility i mean alteration as it has things like water breathing and water walking which are self-explanatory and importantly it has the open spell which can be used by mages as a substitute for lock picking though you will have to be an alteration master and custom make a spell if you want to open very hard level locks there's also four shield spells a standard one and then one for each of the elements the elemental ones like shock shield for example actually boost your standard armor rating like a normal shield spell and then add resistance to the element in this case shock on top in general the way armor rating works is that it's a percentage of damage the piece of armor absorbs from physical attacks a player's combined rating functionally will not exceed 85 so if your armor rating is 30 for example you will take 70 damage from physical attacks that means with 50 points from actual armor and 35 from a shield spell you're fully maxing it out then there's the feather spell which effectively decreases the weight of items you're carrying decreasing encumbrance and therefore boosting carrying capacity by lightening your equipment weight it can also make you run faster on the opposite end there's the burden spell which increases a target's encumbrance this also increases how fast they lose stamina and can make them immobilized if they go over their carry capacity though that's quite rare burden's not particularly effective in most instances and while you can stack weakness to magic effects on a target to make it work that's rather advanced if you've managed to unlock the drain attribute effect for custom spells you'd be better off casting drain strength which will make them weaker overall this is from the destruction school which in oblivion has far more than frost fire and shock spells their spells to cause weakness to all elements as well as poison and magic in general their spells to damage or drain health magicka and stamina and even drain enemy skills making them less effective at them you can even disintegrate enemy weapons and armor magical starves in particular are quite easy to destroy leaving some enemy mages rather helpless finally we have restoration which is cooler than you might think in addition to healing yourself or your stamina bar and being able to fortify magicka health or stamina it can also be used to resist magic and to absorb a variety of things there's spells to absorb enemy magicka to absorb attributes like speeds so you get faster as your enemy gets slower and even to absorb skill so you might steal their one-handed prowess as you more effectively use yours to cut them down being able to absorb stats attributes and skills is awesome there's also spells to fortify your own skills and attributes making you better temporarily at whatever you desire you can also restore any attribute that has been drained and cure yourself of disease and poison or cure in allies paralysis now that you understand everything involved within attributes and skills here's those charts from earlier again if you want another chance to screenshot them to help you pick the race that sounds most appealing for the kind of build you've realized you probably want to play having talked through all the spells it's worth explaining that unlike skyrim where you can equip spells in each hand oblivion uses a spellcaster button this means you can hold whatever weapons you like a bow a sword and shield or perhaps a warhammer and still cast your equipped spell only one spell is equipped at a time but you can switch between spells fast if you hotkey them anyway for a fun spellslinger experience what this means is that various battle mage type classes can work really well if you want to use armor and a weapon in addition to your magic why not the downside of using a weapon is of course just the opportunity cost of picking certain attributes as you'd have to add points to strength and either endurance or speed in addition to a preferred magic attribute instead of dumping quite exclusively into intelligence and willpower but it's not the worst path to take by any means mages can often end up being better off by being adorned head to toe in armor even the heavy stuff but there is another mechanic at play here spell effectiveness like all things so far i can really simplify this by saying it practically won't matter at all unless you want to use illusion magic often or other niche spells affecting targets up to very high levels spell effectiveness is a stat reduced by wearing armor no armor leads to a hundred percent spell effectiveness but if you do wear armor either the magnitude or the duration of your spells will be lowered if you have a very low armor skill you may find your spell effectiveness to be around 80 percent however once your armor skill is at level 49 so basically around that level 50 journeyman mark you can maintain spell effectiveness of 95 percent only suffering a 5 penalty do be warned though as oblivion will round down the end numbers as an example of where that can be impactful if you had a long duration effect with a small magnitude say fire damage of 4 points for 10 seconds for a total of 40 then even 95 spell effectiveness will knock this down to 3 points because the 5 penalty that takes it to 3.8 instead of 4 gets rounded down with most spells however it's definitely not the worst thing and playing as a battle mage is really fun however as mentioned illusion suffers because illusion spells in oblivion cap out in theory at level 25 but unlike skyrim oblivion has this inbuilt rule to allow these level 25 spells to affect any level the problem is that as soon as it gets rounded down even a tiny bit that no longer becomes the case so puppeteer type character builds will want to wear robes and probably just use shield spells instead for protection this does apply to a few other spells with the same up to level 25 aka beyond level 25 exception a custom-made maxed out turn undead spell is an example here as it can affect undead up to level 25 which means beyond level 25 if and only if your spell effectiveness is a hundred percent also pro tip casting while holding the block button makes you cast twice as fast which can be really useful for just spamming off fireballs or spamming a healing spell on yourself another thing you should know about magic in oblivion is that there's these powers just as there are powers in skyrim however there's no powers button like there is in skyrim to use dragon shouts so it uses the spellcaster button instead you just have to select the power then press the button greater powers as mentioned in the races section earlier can only be used once a day and don't cost any magicka lesser powers can be used as often as you like and some cost magicka while others don't oblivion's magic being more diverse than skyrims makes it really fun and once you've joined the arcane university by doing the recommendation quest for each mages guild hall around the province you'll gain access to spell making spell making alters can be used to custom make spells by mixing together effects you know and changing their magnitude duration area of effect and even whether they're ranged touch-based or targeted on self it will cost plenty of money to make some over-the-top spells though and while you'll be unable to make a spell you don't have the relevant skill level for you can make spells that you don't have the magicka pool to cast so make sure you're aware if the spell you're making is actually efficient to use or even usable at all enchanting is also done at an altar in the arcane university using a filled soul gem or you can also enchant things with preset effects using a special stone recovered from inside oblivion gates known as a sigil stone you'll close plenty of oblivion gates in the main story so you'll have many opportunities to play with these for standard enchanting you'll simply select the item you wish to enchant pick one or if applicable more effects define their parameters and choose which stone you'll use it's quite similar to skyrim setup despite not being a skill itself worn items like armor can be given just one effect while weapons can be given more to recharge a drained weapon you can pay a mage who offers the recharging service or use a soul gem that you may or may not have filled yourself there are also special stones mostly found in ayleid ruins called vallestones that recharge all magical items in your inventory also from aylid ruins are these commonly found welcomed stones which can be used once and then they disappear to recharge your magicka completely by now you probably have a pretty good idea of what kind of character you'll be playing but even if you know what race you're choosing how you'll customize them what custom class you'll make and what play style you want to focus on you also get to pick a birth sign unlike the standing stones of skyrim that you can just select whenever you like to change one of your powers birth signs represent the constellation your character was born under and are permanent however there's also a host of magical stones around the map which can grant you additional powers of their own on top and can be changed including a doom stone representing each birth sign the birth signs begin at the apprentice which grants you a hundred more points of magicka but a 100 weakness to magic this can be fun for some mage builds especially if you want to amplify the pre-existing double-edged sword of playing a high elf but honestly it's a solid drawback so consider it carefully the atronach stone is another one you shouldn't take lightly those of you who watch our skyrim builds know how much we have loved the atronach stone over the years but in oblivion it prevents you from regenerating magicka over time instead it increases your base magicka by a massive 150 points and grants you a massive 50 spell absorption and that's the way that you actually recharge your magicka this can be used to help make a powerful mage build but it's very niche and i don't recommend taking on this challenge for your first playthrough unless you're really keen on it then there's the lady sign which grants plus 10 to willpower and endurance a safe bet for any build using these attributes the lord's sign gives you the trolkin curse a permanent 25 weakness to fire in addition to the blood of the north lesser power which at the cost of 50 magicka allows you to regen 6 points of health per second for 15 seconds the lover sign gives you the lover's kiss power to paralyze a foe for 10 seconds once per day at the cost of 120 points of stamina it's nothing crazy but it's fun for role playing the mage sign is a safe bet for magic users as it simply gives you 50 more points of magicka without any drawbacks the other signs might have the ritual sign lets you cast the blessed word lesser power for 40 magika and it turns undead up to level 25 which as you know from earlier means it goes beyond that in fact regardless of if you're wearing armor and what your spell effectiveness is because technically it's not a spell it's a lesser power and it's also not affected by silence you also gain a greater power mara's gift to restore 200 points of your health for one second and this can really be a handy lifesaver in the middle of a tough battle the serpent sign gifts the serpent spell to once a day allow you to cast a touch spell at the cost of 100 points of stamina that does three points of damage health for 20 seconds while curing you of any poison and it dispels 90 points on self helping to remove spell effects currently affecting you it's a bit of a random one although it has its useful moments particularly the dispel effect the shadow sign allows you to become invisible for 60 seconds once per day which is great for stealth builds especially early on but sometimes when you've become that master of stealth it kind of feels like you don't really need it anyway this deed sign simply adds 20 points to the speed attribute and i'd actually say this is pretty good for many characters it helps you get around the map faster run out of the range of enemy attacks by running backwards or to the side and so on some may say it's a convenience sign but i think it's pretty good and i'd consider using it for any build with a focus on speed the thief sign grants the most attribute bonus total but it's 10 points to agility 10 to speed and 10 to luck which is solid for any stealth build be it thief or assassin the tower sign grants you two greater powers one allows you to open an average lock once per day and the other grants you 5 reflect damage for 120 seconds once a day remember this is only melee damage so weapons damage and creature damage and it's five percent of every hit they land going back onto them and finally there's the warrior sign which gives you a bonus of 10 points to strength and endurance as you'd assume it's an easy choice that would benefit any melee weapon wielding build as mentioned there are actual stones on the map called doomstones and there's one for each birth sign that any player can pick without any requirements i'll put their effects on screen so you can see what's on offer doomstones also only work between 6pm and 6 am there are also stones called runestones that will temporarily bestow you with bound weapons and armor another 7 stones called heaven stones can be visited to collect new powers from each one but there are certain fame and infamy requirements that must be met and by this i mean a combined total score of both fame and infamy they're basically just checking you've done plenty of stuff in the game so what is fame well there's a few other considerations between oblivion and skyrim that are worth mentioning without going too deep into unnecessary detail fame is basically a score you can view in your menu that accumulates based on you doing heroic deeds infamy is another score that's there that you can boost by doing not so heroic deeds if you know what i mean your fame score will make those characters who are highly responsible and moral people like you more and your infamy will make them like you less the opposite applies to immoral characters and whether or not they're fond of you some benefits like being able to receive blessings from shrines of the divines can be limited if your infamy exceeds your fame another difference between skyrim and oblivion relates to vampirism vampirism in oblivion feels more like you're gifted with superhuman abilities than it does in skyrim emphasis on the human part though as you can't actually turn into a vampire lord nor can you become a werewolf or undergo any form changes in general vampirism will still change your appearance as you progress into deeper stages without feeding and ultimately the more starved you are the more powerful you become but also the more drawbacks you accrue one of the biggest differences between skyrim and oblivion is that sun damage is a thing instead of your stats being stunted and not recharging as is the case in skyrim you'll actually get cooked to a crisp in oblivion unless you're really well fed and therefore at stage 1 of vampirism after 24 hours of no feeding you progress to the next stage then stage 3 after another day and once you've reached the fourth day you hit the final stage sun damage worsens at each stage however you'll gain a bonus to strength willpower and speed as well as acrobatics athletics destruction hand to hand illusion mysticism sneak and even normal weapons resistance if you've fed within 24 hours these bonuses are plus five but after each day another plus five accrues so at the final stage you have plus 20 to all the skills resistances and attributes mentioned you'll also have a 20 weakness to fire at the earliest stage then plus 10 each stage after for a 50 percent weakness at stage four you'll also gain new powers by default you have hunter's sight which gives you nice eye and detect life for a hundred feet for 30 seconds and only costs five magicka to cast so you could consider it unlimited then you unlock vampire's seduction which charms for 50 points for 20 seconds once a day next is reign of terror which once a day silences targets within 20 feet for 60 seconds and demoralizes targets up to level 6 for 60 seconds on touch finally you gain embrace of shadows to get night eye for 90 seconds and invisibility for 180 seconds once per day in the final stages guards may refuse to accept yields forcing you to flee or kill them and npcs will often just refuse to speak to you i won't spoil all the ways to become a vampire but it can happen if you catch porphyria hemophilia from a vampire during combat and don't cure it within three days there's also a chance it can happen if you sleep outdoors far away from civilization the quest for curing vampirism begins with you talking to raminus paulus of the arcane university and carries on from there but be warned once cured you can't become one again as far as mounts in oblivion go it's all horses just like skyrim although there's no horseback combat horses can be bought or found and the two main ones i think are worth knowing though they are expensive to buy other white horses of anvil and the black horses of chaden hall the white horses are fast enough and super sturdy and the black horses though moderate in their health are the fastest of them all there's also a special horse in the dark brotherhood plot i'd highly recommend getting but that's all i'll say about that horses can also be used to climb up mountains with similar slope scaling capabilities to horses in skyrim you can also steal a horse successfully if you mount it without people detecting you but watch out for whatever reason horses can detect you committing crimes and report you to the authorities i don't make the rules here so don't shoot the messenger speaking of crime in oblivion things differ from skyrim in the sense that your bounty follows you all around cyrodiil you can't just escape from one city to another and expect to strike up a friendly chat with the guards they'll try to arrest you when you speak to them and if your bounty is over a thousand they'll try to arrest you on site as was the case in skyrim you can resist arrest pay your bounty and have your stolen goods removed or go to jail and serve your time of course it's possible to perform a jailbreak or you can serve your sentence in the cell's bed just remember it's a longer time with a bigger bounty and you don't merely lose experience towards skill leveling you actually lose skill points completely with a maximum of 10 random skill decreases possible if you've been particularly bad also if you join the thieves guild you can ask adoyan to bribe the guards to remove your bounty at half the cast speaking of the main guilds they're a really special part of oblivion and are well known for having some of the most enjoyable storylines and memorable characters you also climb up faction ranks which are viewable in your menu so you can see where you stand in the guild at any given moment here's some advice on how to join them without spoiling too much for the fighters guild and the mages guild simply walk into any of the local halls and ask to join what you need to do will be straightforward from there for the dark brotherhood simply be a murderer play the game and they'll soon find you for the thieves guild you're going to want to be in the imperial city read one of the wanted posters and then ask around about the grey fox you may need to find a way to raise a beggar's disposition if you know what i'm saying alternatively if you go to jail and serve your time you can be contacted on the way out it seems to happen for non-violent crimes like stealing finally you can also sign up at the arena in the imperial city by heading down into the bloodworks and speaking to owen have fun fighting your way to grand champion status i'd like to touch a little on the main story in the dlc for roleplaying reasons you don't actually need to get wrapped up in the main story if you don't want to you can keep the amulet the emperor gives you or just drop it off at wayne and priory outside of coral and then just go do whatever you wish you can really just leave the sewers and decide you do not care about the main story and go do everything else the game has to offer side quests guild story lines dlcs even however as a first time player i'm sure you'll want to go experience the main quests too and i'd definitely recommend it i guess i'd just say that there's no need to rush but at the end of the day it's all up to you as for dlcs the two big ones are the knights of the nine and the shivering isles knights of the nine can be started by hearing rumors about the attack on the chapel of dybala in anvil people are talking about some sort of prophet there ask about him and go talk to him to kick things off for the shivering isles a dlc set in shea gorath's realm of madness you actually receive a pop-up after 24 in-game hours saying you should investigate rumors of an island that suddenly appeared in the nibben bay heading to this otherworldly landmark will have you able to enter a portal to the isles this dlc is just legendary it's full of new characters a big main city multiple towns new creatures new spells new gear and even a crime and bounty system not connected to the guards in cyrodiil however because many cool quest rewards and items level with your character in oblivion i would personally recommend doing the dlcs later on in your playthrough to get the best gear possible particularly if you think it's something that would be important to your final character i'm talking after reaching level 20 or even level 30. level 21 is the minimum to get the most powerful crusaders relics from knights of the nine and there's even unique gear in the shivering isles that won't be at its strongest unless you're level 30. that said if you're not fussed about that don't let me stop you if you want to try to do it all earlier it's definitely possible daedric prince quests also featured in oblivion and they're pretty fun although they don't tend to fall into your lap the same way that some did in skyrim instead there's actually a shrine for most daedric princes around the map with the exception of dagon and jigalagas they both serve as antagonists stay gone for the main quest and jiggle lag for the shivering ass dlc finding a shrine you should be able to ask around and figure out the requirements for speaking to the daedric prince although do note you can't do hermaeus mora's quest until you've done every other daedric prince's quest i'll say the shea gorath quest is particularly fun each quest does have a level requirement though which i'll show on screen now so happy travels enjoy cyrodiil in all its glory subscribe for more elder scrolls content and like the video if you found it useful it really helps us out social media links can be found in the description as can links to other oblivion content you may find useful my name is michael and i look forward to nerding out with you again very soon

Channel: FudgeMuppet

Views: 224,280

Keywords: skyrim, oblivion, elder scrolls, fudgemuppet, oblivion vs skyrim, The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion, sheogorath, mehrunes dagon, shivering isles, elder scrolls 4 oblivion, oblivion enchanting, oblivion lockpicking, which oblivion class is best, where oblivion guilds, why oblivion is the best, oblivion dlc, how oblivion leveling works, why oblivion is better than skyrim, elder scrolls guide, daedric princes, oblivion magic, dark brotherhood, spellmaking

Id: eZLaW2k3P54

Length: 48min 33sec (2913 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 02 2022