Oblivion:Oblivion for Morrowind players

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Contents 1 Main Characteristics 2 Skills 3 Combat 4 Magic 5 Alchemy 6 Stealth 7 Merchants 8 Travel 9 Quests 10 Guilds

This article details the main differences between Morrowind and Oblivion, and how to adapt.

[edit] Main Characteristics

• Your fatigue no longer drains as quickly when you are running. Running only slows the rate fatigue regenerates.
• Transportation is almost nonexistent in Oblivion.
• Spells cannot be deleted from your spellbook, unless you're playing on the PC version.
• Most enemies you encounter will be level-dependent, and not fixed.
• NPCs have dynamic schedules, so they may move around town, go to church, go to work, or be sleeping at any given time of day.
• Some NPCs have been made essential to the game, and can only be knocked unconscious, rather than killed as they could in Morrowind.
• NPC dialogue is completely voiced, so reading is optional.
• There are far fewer topics you may discuss with NPCs, but nearly all NPCs have unique dialogue.
• You may not rest in the wilderness or in owned beds, but waiting now provides all the same restorative effects as resting. You must still sleep in a bed to level up, though.
• Items can be freely moved and manipulated using an allocated button.
• Chests and containers have no storage limit.
• You can actually buy houses in Oblivion.
• There is only one type of disease, so one type of potion can cure all the diseases you may catch.

[edit] Skills

• You choose 7 major skills at the start of the game, and you must raise those skills in order to level.
• Every other skill is a minor skill. Raising those will not affect your level, but it will affect your attributes when you level up.
• There are skill requirements that must be met before spells of a certain strength can be cast.
• Speechcraft interface has been changed into a mini-game, where a player must go through a cycle of actions including admire, joke, intimidate, and boast. The player can no longer taunt an enemy into attacking him/her.
• The skills short-blade and long-blade have been condensed into the Blade category.
• Similarly, blunt weapon and axe have been condensed into Blunt.
• You may only use a trainer 5 times per level.
• Each skill comes with its own perks at levels 25, 50, 75, and 100.
• There is no Enchant, Spear, Medium Armor or Unarmored skill in Oblivion.
• You must reach level 50 in Armorer before you can repair magical items.

[edit] Combat

• You may always hit an enemy when you swing your weapon. The only limiting factor now is how much damage you do.
• Spears, broadswords, crossbows, and throwing weapons have been removed from Oblivion. Katanas are also only available as Akaviri Katanas and Dai-Katanas
• Aside from katanas, every base weapon type is available in every material.
• There are significantly fewer types of armor available in the game - 12 as opposed to 27, not including expansions.
• There are no pauldrons in Oblivion, and gauntlets have been condensed into one item.
• There is no medium armor in the game. It is all either heavy or light.
• The shield has an allocated button so you must actively block incoming attacks.
• You can perform power attacks by holding down the attack button and moving in different directions.
• Each weapon has a basic damage rating. There are no varying damage levels for different types of attacks, such as stab, crush, or thrust.
• Some types of armor and weapons will only appear after reaching requisite character levels.
• Enemies can pass through doors and usually pursue the player for much longer distances than in Morrowind.

[edit] Magic

• Your magicka restores over time, except for characters with the Atronach birthsign, so you don't have to sleep or drink potions to get it back.
• Spellcasting has been allocated to its own button. There is no need to switch between weapon and magic modes to cast spells.
• Certain spells are absent from Oblivion, including Mark/Recall, Levitate, Sanctuary, Slowfall, and Divine/Almsivi Intervention.
• Several spell effects are associated with different Magic Schools. For example, Absorb is a Restoration spell instead of a Mysticism spell.
• There is always a 100% chance of casting a spell. The only limiting factors are your Magicka level and your skill mastery.
• Weapons must be brought to enchanting altars to enchant them.
• You can't fail at enchanting items.
• You must use a soul gem or a Varla Stone to recharge a magical item. It will not constantly regenerate. You can also opt to pay to have it recharged.
• Enchanted pieces of clothing or armor are always "Constant Effect".
• Enchanted weapons are always "Cast on strike".
• There is no way to enchant staves.
• Wearing armor reduces the power of a spell.

[edit] Alchemy

• You can only drink up to 4 potions at once.
• Potions with only negative attributes can now be used to poison a weapon.
• When making potions, you can only make potions with effects listed in your inventory. You may not create a potion of Night-eye with 2 ingredients you know to give the effect if your Alchemy level isn't high enough to show that.
• You can't fail at making potions.
• Various valuables, such as diamonds or rubies, are no longer ingredients. You can't eat them or use them for creating potions.

[edit] Stealth

• Your crosshair will change to red to indicate an illegal action, such as stealing and trespassing.
  • Even though the crosshair turns red while pointing at some books, it's never illegal to read them, only to pick them up.
• Stolen items will have a red hand icon over them to indicate they're stolen.
• Stolen items may not be sold to regular merchants. You must find fences from the Thieves Guild in order to sell the stolen goods.
• The weight of your boots affects how well you sneak until you reach Journeyman level.
• The amount of light shining on you also affects how well you sneak, so it is important to stay in the shadows.
• Lockpicking is no longer random. You now enter a mini-game where you must manually pick the tumblers to unlock the lock.
• Lockpicks may be used an infinite number of times, provided you do not break them in the lockpicking mini-game.

[edit] Merchants

• Merchants have a constant amount of gold, which never decreases. However, with high enough mercantile, you may invest extra money in the store so merchants have more gold.
• Items in a merchant's store are not for sale. Merchants have separate inventories for trade items.
• Merchants no longer equip items which you sell to them.
• You may set a certain level at which items are bartered, instead of bartering every time you wish to buy or sell items.
• You sell each item individually, instead of selecting several items and selling them only then.
• Instead of showing every item in your inventory, when you barter, only items the merchant buys will appear.
• Shops will close at night and will be locked until they open again.

[edit] Travel

• Each city loads in a separate cell, instead of in the game itself. Small towns and villages are still in-world though.
• Every location you have discovered is marked on your map.
• You can fast-travel to any location that you have discovered, but there are no transportation services like boats or Silt Striders.
• Horses help to speed up regular on-foot travel and fast-travel.
• Instead of a mini-map, a compass is at the bottom of the screen, which points out locations, discovered or not.

[edit] Quests

• Your journal now organizes all your quests under separate titles.
• You may choose to activate any active quest when you want.
• Your compass points you to where you need to go in an active quest.

[edit] Guilds

• Advancement in guilds is only dependent on quests, and not skill and attribute requirements.
• The guilds that may be joined are very different: the Dark Brotherhood may be joined in Oblivion, but there are no Morag Tong, Temple, Imperial Cult or Great House factions, or any vampiric clans.
• Guild quests won't require you to kill any NPC essential to another guild's questline.