One of the things most of us who do companions also like to do is show them off; but screenshots of NPCs just standing around tend to get boring, so we use posemods for setting up all sorts of lovely and oft intricately choreographed shots.
For Oblivion, there are quite a few mods that have such things - some tame, others... less so.
In my trawling of teh webzorz this evening, I came across a link to one I wasn't familiar with for Oblivion, by the name of "Goma Pose".
"This is a compilation of all the pose mods based on CTAddPose that I have created since a few years ago; consisted of 16 esp files, a whopping total of 815 poses are available."
This, I think will take some time to go through... and many (most?) players will likely never make it to the finish line in a mod this size.
Still, it should offer up quite a few possibilities for those of us who still play the old, archaic game.
Fair warning: I haven't actually tested this mod yet. I've downloaded, but not had a chance to fire 'er up. With 30 endorsements and no thumbs-downs, I figure it can't be too broken, though.
I'm sure I'll have some screenshots to show off once I do get a chance to test it.
There are how many esps? That's a lot of poses! And I thought LostRider's upcoming release was alot at 150! Admitedly, the Goma Pose mod is a compilation of the past couple of years, but still!
ReplyDeleteOne of these days I'm going to have to actually finish Oblivion...
I tried merging a lot of those .esp files once but the mods wouldn't work afterward. I hate having to make choices; I want it ALL...
ReplyDeleteUh, Kitty... see in the documentation where it says: "Do NOT merge this mod with any other pose mods using an automatic merging program such as TES4Gecko." I personally took that to mean it doesn't merge well even manually.
ReplyDelete"I want it ALL..." Typical woman, though.
And now we duck the incoming blunt object...
@Sean: You're not missing much by not finishing Oblivion. In the four years and change I've been playing Oblivion, I've finished the main quest twice.
ReplyDeleteIt is poorly written, poorly scripted, and provides you with no discernible reward for all your trouble.
If all you want it a bare minimum of Oblivion gates to deal with; don't even go to see Jauffre. Just carry the amulet with you. Unless you advance the main quest, there are virtually no Oblivion gates in the wilderness.
Beyond that, there was far more amusing ways to get the skill level-ups that you would in the course of the main quest.
The quest for Mehrune's Razor is worth quite a few, and carries some neat loot, as well.
Interesting that you would mention Mehrune's Razor. I actually have that mod.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the gameplay tip. Maybe my time would be better spent going back to Neverwinter Nights 2.
Druuler
I suppose it's a matter of where you find your fun, but I see the main quests of all three games as garbage. FO3 was painfully bad; at least Oblivion is at least just cliched and boring.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, do you really think two dozen mods a day are being posted for a game that's almost five years old - on just one site, mind you - because of the quality of the main quest? Hell no, it's because of all the other stuff you can do.
Bethsoft's Gamebryo games don't have the following they do because of their (almost universally reviled) writing; it's because of the sandbox nature. Do whatever you want; there is no linear story to hold you back if you don't want it to.
Look at it this way: instead of... saving the world from ZOMG EVL PPL R GUNNA DO BAD STUFF! quest #14,339A; decide amongst yourself that the game's current objective is to... say, clean out Dunbarrow Cove; fix it up into a smuggler's hub, and then use your new, shady merchants to fence the items when you start stealing everything that isn't nailed down; eventually using the proceeds to purchase a spiffy and respectable home in Chorrol for you and your henchcuties.
Trust me; that alone will eat a solid ten to fifteen hours of gameplay. For Hard Mode(TM), switch your goal to the Skingrad house, that requires you have a renown (fame minus infamy) of twelve or fifteen. Trying to work fame up while committing crimes makes for more than a few annoyances, tough choices, and general slowdowns.
One of my favorite activities in the game is scouring the world for Black Soul Gems to power my evil magical devices. Since Black gems are inordinately rare, this usually amounts to a scavenger hunt for Grand gems that I can convert via the Necromancers' altars. And of course, once you find said altars, you have to figure out which day of the week the celestial alignment is - as it changes every game.
I guess the key to loving Oblivion is to think for yourself. It's like playing with legos as a kid - the world is what you want it to be; not what someone else tells you it should be.
The fact that one can basically ignore the main quests completely in FO3, Oblivion and, I assume, New Vegas does make for a more carefree style of play. One can feel "rail-roaded" with the Neverwinter Nights games. I think the building tools for Bethesda might give you more options for modding than the World Editor for Atari. If there is really one thing that does turn me off of Oblivion, its the faces are all so damned ugly, lol!
ReplyDeleteI've also claimed Dunbarrow Cove and sent the pirates out to loot. Might also want them to start kidnapping here and there...I have a vampire minion I have to feed...
Druuler
I agree totally on the modded replayability of the Bethesda games. Would you believe that as long as I've owned Oblivion I've never played the MQ past the point where you find the map or whatever to the Mythic Dawn on the tomb in the IC? Thanks to the community and the game's sandbox style, there's way too much other stuff to do... in addition to my own unfinished modding endeavors.
ReplyDeleteI actually finished the FO3 MQ, but only because it can be breezed through so quickly and at the time I wasn't playing with very many mods. I've come close to finishing the NV MQ, but somehow I've lost my motivation to do so.
In defense of the Neverwinter Nights games (I still haven't started NWN2 yet) I have to say that it's a very similar situation with tons of community-produced offerings, though the modular style in which the game must be modded still forces each of those additions take the form of linear quests. Next time I fire up NWN1 I'll likely be playing the Infinite Dungeons expansion with my custom cohorts rather than playing one of the default campaigns.
And you guys already know how I feel about the community-contributed content for another certain old game, so I won't bore you again by going into a long dissertation on that subject. Which reminds me, I need to finish the blog post I've been working on for like a week now...
Hey, Herculine, do you remember Deekin from NWN 1? I think that other certain old game was one of his favourites. He was always mentioning it ;) Speaking of which, I just finished loading version three of it and "Resurrection of Evil" onto my new hard drive.
ReplyDeleteHey look at that thread derailment...
Druuler
You know, Herculine, you reminded me of one of the primary reasons why I didn't like NWN.
ReplyDeleteThat being, you have to run one mod or another; since they're set up as "modules" - where in Gamebryo, you can cram as many into one world as you want.
Also: I personally hated Deekin. Annoying little twerp.
ReplyDelete@Nos:
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm with you on the modular aspect being a distinct drawback of NWN... but as I know you're often all too aware, we gotta work with what the devs gave us sometimes unless we can otherwise help it.
@Druuler:
While that's obviously my least-favorite version of that game, the community has produced some stuff for it as well. Just Google for mods and you should find some links to FileFront, StrategyInformer and the like where you can DL them. It's been a while since I've even looked at 3, but if I remember correctly you'll have to go through some BS to get mods for it installed and working, stuff like entering console commands and codes and such.
Ah! Hoisted with my own petard! You have vanquished me, fair Neko. I concede to your wit and skill.
ReplyDelete