Personally I love the forests, in fact the first thing I am going to do (When I get a chance) is go wandering around for hours. Maybe do some hunting in the process.

So what about the rest of you? What about Oblivion do you love the most?

Probably magic. I'll spend quite a while discovering that. Oh, and the new physics should keep me entertained for quite a while as well!

Almost everything

For me.. Its just that its a whole new area to uncover. I love discovering secret ruins and caves. One of my fondest memories of Morrowind was from the very first day. I was just wandering around outside Seyda Neen and decided to swim in one of the little ponds. I found a cave entrance underneath the water and decided to check it out. I spent an hour taking breaths of air in air pockets just so I could harvest all the little pearls I kept finding in the seashells there. Its just that sense of discovering new things the very first time that I am going to enjoy so very much!

For me its definately the Radiant AI. Man, its gonna be fun to creep around in NPCS homes and spook 'em out.

Then, well, you know, if they see me, I'll have ta get rid of them.

For now I'll just spend my time doin' nothing until Oblivion ships.

Definitely magic. A pure mage was almost impossible in Morrowind (without mods), but it sounds like the magic system in Oblivion will leave Morrowind in the dust. I'm always drawn to games that involve magic, so I'm looking forward to seeing how Oblivion magic works.

I'm going to be having tons of fun with Script Effect and the procedural terrain/forest generator... and that's when I'm NOT playing the game.

I agree that ScriptEffect should be an entertaining addition. It would certainly make a lot of modders jobs easier.

The forests and the creatures. I hope there is some rats or badgers in the forests so I can have something small to hunt.

Agree on that!

I´m also hoping the creation of NPC:s will be as good as they say.....the option of varying the age and things will make it very realistic

I'm going to check out the new combat and stealth moves. From what I've heard, those are my favorites.

I am most excited in the different guilds. And the cities. And the NPCs, and the horses, but that's it haha so i guess i have four favorite things that this game is offering

At first I was most excited about Radiant AI and the forests(not to say that I am no longer hyped about them) but now I am becoming increasingly hyped about the Stealth, combat and magic systems. So yah I am most hyped about five different things. Each one of these features is a quantum leap above Morrowind's implementation of the features.

Well, I'm excited about more than one thing, but if I had to choose two of my fav, it would definitely be the more in-depth Quests and Radient AI. I'm getting more excited about the Guilds as well, after checking out the official ES forum-topics that has info on some Guild quests. It seems that the NPC's will more at least more interesting, and have more personality than Morrowind's.

(However, I'm worried that only a few NPC's will be really deep, and the rest of them would be bland, like in Morrowind, and I hope that would not be the case. Also, I hope the entire game would not revolve around dungeon-monster-fighting entirely. I prefer fighting outside, not inside scary, dark places. )

A while after first announcing it they said that one of their big things is that they were going to make ruins and such feature much more outdoors but looking from the demos that when a dungeon is indoor it is as dark and scary as possible.

Radiant AI

With out a doubt the hand to hand and block combo within the combat system
I am dying to find out if a martial art style play will be able to face off with monsters once it is high enough.

More friendly Creatures, Larger Areas, Graphics Boost, Physics, Kenetic Battles, Improved Archery, Radiant AI, Arena Guild, Something to fill the Xbox360's RPG Void...
... I think that's what I am looking forward to the most... Anything else in the game is a bonus...

I'm excited about the modding potential in reference to the A.I.!! It's not that I don't think the characters already in the game will have plenty of personality, I am simply more confident in the imagination of "thousands" rather than "dozens"!!!

Looking forward to more involved quests. And a deeper relationship with guilds.

It probally is more a "fav thing while waiting for Oblivion"
But I love all the various dev quotes we get.
They are like a bunch of giddy children trying really hard to keep a secret
but nearly bursting with excitement.
There is such an obvious passion and love for what they have created it is contaigous.

PS loved this weeks newsletter but wasn't as good as the first

Lets see, I'll probably follow an NPC for hours, watching RAI in progress, then live in the forest, learning the wisdom of the trees and various books I find in ruins. So pretty much, Forests and RAI.

Besides the extreme graphics...

I think it has to be horse riding, also a more interactive menu when dealing with NPCs.

A year after the official release I'll look forward to the modding community's contributions. In particular, the Forgetten Realms project seems pretty epic. I'm wondering if anyone has plans for better heads/bodies this time round?

I doubt it, the way they were talking about the face generater seems like it would be harder to mod a head into the game, besides, you can make your own faces in game.

The bodies sound unlikely as they are using really good modeling programes that costs a ton of money, so it will be a few years before someone gets a better program and makes better models.

Im excited about everything and i cant even decide on my first character. I cant choose between a nord warrior arena fighter or a thief character. maybe both but to answer the question im most excited about the new stealth system AND the new arena guild sorry there is no way that i can choose only 1 option im just too damn excited about this game !

Actually its not so much the quality of the program as it is the quality of the models. It depends on how many polygons the program can handle without making a real hit on performance. I would be willing to bet that given the creativity of the very passionate TES community that we will see a better bodies mod within a few months. Especially given the popularity of the Morrowind version.

Man, i just can't wait to be a thief/assassin type of characther! I'm looking foward to hopping about the NPC's rooftops, stalking them in the night, and then finding a "back way" into their house so I can kill them quietly. Then, I'd enjoy dashing through town and stealing a horse, and riding away with the Law behind me. Ah, I'm so evil!

I’m looking forward to being part of this RPG revolution. Oblivion is going to take the gaming community buy storm both on PC and 360 because of the size of the world, graphics, physics and effort put into to making it the best it can be. Being part of that is going to be great.

But aren't we in agreement that the evil-ness will be fun? Man, I can't wait. I'm writing a story set in Cyrodiil to pass the time.

I have been talking to people like nonstop about this game since I found out it was coming out like a month ago and I keep stress RAI, physics, and pretty pictures. But one of my favorite things is going to be modding I think, which I have never done b4 as my computer is weak. The forests and trees are something I have used to gauge a game's attention to detail for many a months now, over a year acctually. I love the prospect of finding and using new magic, stealth manuvers, and combat strategy. I also want to see how the world reacts to each person being assainated, like if I kill the mayor does a new one get elected? lots of varients on that concept that I have, I love the auto-fix of rooms you mess up I think I will walk in a bookstore and knock everything over, go away and walk back in to a freshly made store...just to knock it all over again


OMG EVERYTHING IS AWESOME, I seriously can't get enough info on this, I have been on the forums for the last 7 hours for instance.....I really need to get homework done but When i start it I can't concentrate.... I might have to have my cousin take my computer to his house 12 hours away so that I can get my stuff done for the quarter before OB comes out. and omg the lack of my ability to finish stuff in next quarter is going to be horrible...and if my computer dies I am going to get seriously violent in the real world b/c I can't afford repairs after I pay for the needed upgrade.

you and me both, brother. 'cept, i'll be playing it on x360. but i can relate with the talking about it to everyone

Ragdoll and real time physics all the way! Finally no more dying the same way everytime! Yay! And Ya I'll be playing it on the 360 too...

Ya me too, I loved fighting outside and in the light but I also think that the stealth will be useful in the dark.

Brrr... I also liked fighting outside much more than in dark scary caves.. Usually I tryed to do quest in caves during the day (real time), they were less scarier then

But to stay on topic, RAI is definatly the one thing I look forward the most, it seems very wellworked. In connection to that I also look forward the "life" of the game, mostly city-life, were I would look at people wander about doing their chores and myself taking part in everyday life.

As a second connection to RAI I'm looking forward the quests, especialy the non-main quests, I want to see how immersive they are, how personal they become and how well they are build. I hope to take part in puzzle-like quests like solving a mysterious murder for the local guardpost... That would be really cool.

Well, the new AI of course. I'll probably go walk around watching people for a while.
Second would be the new combat system. Having to switch to the magic position every time you wanted to cast a spell made combat a bit tedious. In Oblivion you can wack them with a sword and the follow up with a fireball will just be a button press away.

my favorite thing is that I can go into another world then my own after work or in times I don't like the 'real one'

the fact that the differences between the Elder Scrolls world and real life are getting smaller and smaller is also a bit frightening though
can you imagine how these virtual worlds in 10 years from now will look like ..i already think the Oblivion world is more beautiful then the real one (looking at the graphical aspects mainly)

^ ^
In ten years the AI and graphics will be real time influenced by full range 360 degree 3D and with uploaded psycees (sp wrong)...well maybe that is 20 years away but you get the idea....they already made a headgear unit that super-imposes pac-man balls on real life landscape that you physically walk around and collect. what that means is if you are wearing this thing you see floating yellow balls above the sidewalk and the thing keeps track of a couple stats like where balls have been picked up and how many you have collected....not sure about the ghosts though, maybe the thing uses a GPS unit..not sure about that part but I AM positive about the super-imposed images...just food for fear, I mean thought.

Probally the RAI i cant wait to see what its really like and of course the beatiful scenary thats on offer

Definately being able to order people around as the head of an order!

My PC is primed and ready to go so I would say that the graphics will be a major thing for me. The character creation will more then likely take me longer then normal to to fine tuning. I also cannot wait to see the combat system as well as take a stroll to the arena and duke it out.

Surely the new Combat system. There was nothing more degradating in MW then combat, for me.

I agree... I wanna take on a Ogre with a mace and shield and actually have to stay awake rather than tapping attack and hoping for a block.

i hav 4 dogs so for me its the dogs i gonna protect them and summon a lil yorkshire terrior like my 4 lol

seriously its the new armer it looks kool especially mith and elven

my favorite thing about Oblivion will probably be artifact hunting and discovering wonderful places. the artifact that i'm anticipating the most is the skull of corruption.

EDIT: oh, if they have multiple variations on the daedric helm in OB then that will be my favorite pass-time activity

another EDIT: finding the unicorn will be very fun for me

True for me, too...
They mentioned loot will work similar to Diablo II as in the stronger you are, the better the loot... I can't wait to find what fantastic item the Minotaur will be protecting at the heart of a dungeon at level 50+. It'll be worth the wait, because I don't think I'll be rushing the levelling.

Also, I think there is one Daedric Helm for every Daedric General/Commander in the game.
It will be good if it's true, but not sure where I heard it.
Can't wait to make a display of every Suit of Armour in my house. Pity there aren't dummys for armour, but a table will be fine!

EDIT: Found Something about Daedric Generals (About 4th one down), but nothing of the helms. I don't think I imagined it, even if it's just a rumour... I'll keep looking!

Radient AI I cant wait to kill my first innocent NPC and watch the town go crazy as I gallop away on my horse

The MAGIC SYSTEM...oh yeah, finally we mages can go around without weapons, and still be able to survive ( I could not do that before I was at level 50+,in Morrowind.)

I think it will be Radiant AI

Yeah you might have something there Fargoth...but i still look forward to the magic system....the skull of corruption sound cool though.

I LOVE everything about Oblivion, one of my favorites is the new landscape, not the ashlands and the swamps in morrowind, but almost all the landscape in oblivion is beautiful, bu the one thing i am waiting for is the way the guilds work and the new weapons, clothing, and armor. I want to be able to love the way I look!!