Bethesda Says No to Oblivion Expansion

Heartless Gamer writes to mention a GamersReport article clarifying things for the many Oblivion fans looking forward to more content. Despite reports to the contrary, there is no expansion coming for the game any time soon. From the article: "'There's no expansion in development called Knights of the White Stallion. That's the name of a quest in Oblivion. Right now we have no announced plans for any new content, add-ons, or expansions. If that changes, we'll let folks know.' So there you have it folks, it seems that the listing was an honest mistake. While we have no doubt there will eventually be an expansion, Bethesda is far from ready to announce it."

Comments

Let them work.

[ducatier]

Rember they have the right to fallout 3 (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/fallout3/index.htm l?q=fallout%203) Hopefully they are working towards that and making it a worth while game.

There are several expansions/add-ons already

[MBraynard]

XBL has six available for sale - a few new really hard dungeons, etc. See them listed here. There is also an add-on for ?? horse armor ??.

Re:There are several expansions/add-ons already

[blincoln]

If Bethesda packaged up six months' worth of those into a $29.99 *offline* expansion pack, I would definitely buy it. As much as like their games, I'm not going to install DRM and then be nickel-and-dimed to death buying individual bits and bobs, only to have them not work in 5-10 years when I want to play the game again because the authorization servers don't exist any more.

Re:There are several expansions/add-ons already

[Knightking]

The addons aren't DRMed in any way. Once you download them, they're your's, and the only reason you wouldn't be able to use them in 15 years is if you no longer had a copy -- similar to that if you lose the install DVD, you won't be able to reinstall Oblivion when you feel like playing it 15 years from now, either.

Before you complain about it, try actually finding out how it works.

Re:There are several expansions/add-ons already

[MBraynard]

Further, they don't cost $29.99. They are under $3.00, I think. The most expensive is 250 points and the cheapest is 150 points.

Re:There are several expansions/add-ons already

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, their installer doesn't work in 64-bit versions of Windows, and they don't have any intention of fixing it, so you'll only be able to use them if you've still got a 32-bit system sitting around in 15 years.

I really wanted to support them, so I tried buying one of the mods, but I was rather disappointed to discover that I'd have to get the pirated version if I actually wanted to use it.

Re:There are several expansions/add-ons already

[zoney_ie]

They are cumulatively $13.53 now. There isn't that much content (i.e. although almost a quarter of the main game price, it is but a fraction of the main game content). In the long run, the plebs who can't work out the economics and faithfully buy each little scrap of content will be very shortchanged.

What is worst about this, is that if the model is successful (and it probably will be), we will see far less actual game releases (eventually it would be a case of why would the game company release the "main" game at all - if they can essentially move a subscription model). The entire thing is insideous, and is entirely arranged for Microsoft to have more people using and paying for their Live service. Don't be surprised when having a Live subscription becomes not only a must for Xbox360 gaming, but also PC gaming.

Re:There are several expansions/add-ons already

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't have to pay for XBL if your not playing games online, its a two tier system, Silver is free and Gold you pay for, the only major difference is that with Gold you can play online. If all your doing is downloading content then you just have to pay for the content. You can even play MMO's with a silver membership, you really should make sure what your saying is acrurate before you post.

Re:There are several expansions/add-ons already

[Anonymous Coward]

"your's"? What, are you retarded?

'There's no expansion in development called

[CrazyJim1]

There's no expansion in development called Knights of the White Stallion.

That's cool, but what are you calling it?

Re:'There's no expansion in development called

[davevt5]

If that changes, we'll let folks know.

Good catch, and, if they do announce, then by definition, they will 'let folks know'.

As someone who lives near Bethesda, MD

[Anonymous Coward]

All I can say is GREAT. I don't want more oblivion in my area.

Shame

[SSCGWLB]

Thats really a shame, I am personally about 30 hours into it (360 version), have been spending my time joining guilds and doing side quests. Oblivion is simply exceptional; the graphics, gameplay, and story are the best I have seen in many years. Stability is not perfect (3~4 hangs in that time). The only thing I wish it had is some type of co-op play, so my SO could play with me *sigh*.

~nate

Re:Shame

[Anonymous Coward]

The only thing I wish it had is some type of co-op play, so my SO could play with me

Trust me, you don't need co-op for you SO to play with you. ;-)

Why release an expansion ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why release an expansion when you can charge people $2 for a horse and $5 for a 10 minute quest?

If they keep this up they will be able to charge 100 times as much for the same ammount of content that they would release in an expansion pack.

never played it

[Xiph]

When it came i decided that i would not play it until my studies are finished.
i'm not afraid that it'll suck, i'm afraid i'll like it too much.

Re:never played it

[eddy]

I flunked a course in discrete mathematics in part due to Oblivion, which was released in the week before the final.

Can't even say I feel bad about it :-)

Possibly confused by a mod?

[MK_CSGuy]

There is a mod called Knights of the White Stallion that expands the faction with the same name in the original oblivion. Perhaps in some point of time (i.e. at GameStop) someone mistook it for an official expansion? Seems weird for a retail store, but it could have happened anywhere in the chain.

No expansion is fine

[Kesch]

Who needs expansions when you have HORSE ARMOR! I don't know about you guys, but I spend hours walking around on my armored horse.

All the villagers are like "Oh, wow! Is that an armored horse. That is simply amazing. You are the coolest person ever."

My ego is so big now that I had to mod Oblivion to get more bag space so I could hold it all.

Honestly, it was the best 5 bucks I ever spent.

Re:No expansion is fine

[Das Modell]

A reliable insider source has told me that Bethesda will release an expansion called Horse Adventures in Oblivion. You get to design your own horse and then feed and dress it (armor sold separately!).

Yet another misleading /. article...

[ProppaT]

Headline: "Bethseda Says No to Oblivion Expansion" Body: "While we have no doubt there will eventually be an expansion, Bethesda is far from ready to announce it." Sounds like they said there will eventually be an expansion, just not soon...not that they're not going to have an expansion.

Re:Yet another misleading /. article...

[Babbster]

You know, I was all ready to defend the headline since it was the same headline as the referenced article, but I couldn't come up with such a defense. The right headline would have been "Bethesda Debunks Oblivion Expansion Rumor" (or "Bethesda Denies Rumored Oblivion Expansion" - or anything similar) and the /. editor should have realized that immediately.

Re:Yet another misleading /. article...

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you really believe that the /. editors actually read the articles linked to in submissions?

So what?

[Anonymous Coward]

So Bethesda has announced there is no mod/expansion named "Knights of the White Stallion". Of course not, there is a quest in the game with that name though.

However, that doesn't change the fact that Zenimax trademarked the names "Shivering Isles" and "Knights of the Nine" in August. Both of those names could easily be names for expansion packs for Oblivion. (note: none of the official mod's names were trademarked from my research).

Re:So what?

[Haeleth]

Zenimax trademarked the names "Shivering Isles" and "Knights of the Nine" in August. Both of those names could easily be names for expansion packs for Oblivion.

Highly unlikely. The trademarks for "Shivering Isles" and "Knights of the Nine" are for the field of "providing downloadable computer game programs offered via handheld computers, wireless telephones and mobile and wireless devices; providing online computer game programs offered via handheld computers, wireless telephones and mobile and wireless devices". So if they are anything to do with the Elder Scrolls universe, they will almost certainly be new Elder Scrolls Travels games.

The summary contains the entire article text!

[Tipa]

All you're missing are the ads upon ads upon ads. Really. The summary is the whole thing.

of course not

[crossmr]

Because they've sold their soul to the console and consoles can't have expansions. Only entire new games. But hey..no...they haven't changed for the consoles, everything is just as awesome as it was with previous offerings.

Re:of course not

[Allison Geode]

not necessarily. they put out the expansions for morrowind as the "game of the year" edition, which included the original game and both pc expansions.alternately, they could have it install to the hard drive from a store-bought disc, and run as a modification (much like how the downloads do.) they could easily put out full-on expansion-packs for the console version. the other thing to remember, is, morrowind was the first game in the series to have an actual expansion. the rest of the series hasn't.

Re:of course not

[crossmr]

Thats because Morrowind was a step up. Shall it be one step forward, 2 back?

Re:of course not

[Enderandrew]

Actually, there was a great deal of talk of designing the guy to allow for expansions via XBox Live from the get go. And perhaps you didn't read the article. It didn't say that there would never be an expansion. They said they haven't announced the expansion. Bethesda's usual policy is not to announce any project until it is about 70% complete.

I expect the expansion to come, but a bit later.

When Morrowind finished, they took half the Morrowind team and immediately placed them at work on Oblivion. The other half of the team stuck around and did Morrowind expansions.

All the big designers from Morrowind and Oblivion went straight from Oblivion to working on Fallout 3. That leaves the junior design team to work on expansions, addons, patches, and preproduction for the next Elder Scrolls title.

Bethesda is also hard at work at 2 major Star Trek titles as well. So the expansions won't be out for a while.

Re:of course not

[crossmr]

I'm not particularly confident in Star Trek: Legacy. Another simul launch and those of us who can actually step back and look at it and not be blinded by the shinyness see what it did to Oblivion. I don't think this is going to be Armada 3, which is a shame because Armada was a nice game. A very good RTS that had some interesting options, like the ability to take an enemies ship and use it.

As far as if the expansion is coming... we'll see. They may ride the downloadable content gravy train.

Re:of course not

[Blakey Rat]

Morrowind on original Xbox had an expansion. Ninja Gaiden (also on original Xbox) actually had two expansions, although they were kind of slim on new content. Many Xbox Live-enabled games have had additional levels, vehicles, characters, etc available for free download, and some have them for paid download. (Right now this moment, there are Oblivion mods on Live Arcade for paid download from Xbox Live Arcade.)

In short, you're wrong. Consoles can have expansions.

Re:of course not

[crossmr]

What I see is a bunch of downloadable content, which hasn't approached "expansion" level yet. There hasn't been a full blown expansion for a console yet that hasn't come in the form of a new game or GOTY edition.

Re:of course not

[zero_offset]

When Morrowind finished, they took half the Morrowind team and immediately placed them at work on Oblivion. The other half of the team stuck around and did Morrowind expansions.

They should fire the half that worked on Oblivion gameplay.

The only Oblivion expansion I'd like to see (and on the PC at that) is one that works like Morrowind.

Re:of course not

[Enderandrew]

There are tons and tons of huge mods for Morrowind that add hundreds of hours of gameplay.

Have you seen Sea of Destiny?

What about Tamriel Rebuilt?

http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/

Re:of course not

[vatica40]

Dynasty Warriors.

Re:of course not

[zero_offset]

I think you may have misunderstood what I posted. I like Morrowind a lot, but they totally screwed up the gameplay aspect of Oblivion. I'd love to have Morrowind and it's expansions, but with all the benefits of the Oblivion engine. The real pisser is that it doesn't sound like it would be all that hard. Early on when Oblivion was first released, the devs said they had major pieces of Morrowind successfully running in the Oblivion engine. But by now, it's clear that the very vocal complaints about Oblivion have fallen on deaf ears. On the PC side there are patches that fix a lot of the problems, but it really shouldn't have come to that.

Re:of course not

[Anonymous Coward]

Whatever. Oblivion is a far better game than Morrowind ever was.

Re:of course not

[CronoCloud]

Final Fantasy XI

Re:of course not

[Enderandrew]

If you like Morrowind's gameplay then play Morrowind and check out the mods that add to it. If you don't like Oblivion's gameplay, then why have Morrowind in Oblivion's engine, unless you are just looking for improved graphics?

Graphics aren't that important, and either way, there are tons of texture and model improvements for Morrowind if you look that will make the game look better.

I'm curious. What specifically about Oblivion's gameplay did you not like?

Re:of course not

[zero_offset]

Yeah, I just wanted the improved graphics. I've reloaded Morrowind recently, and frankly, by today's standards the graphics suck. A lot. I didn't like the way Oblivion's world constantly "leveled up" around me. It was annoying and silly. The distribution of powerful equipment was so messed up it was basically broken. Wandering bandits, desperately attacking innocent passerby... wearing ultra-rare armor and wielding weapons of immense power. Or the way the wildlife changes and disappears over time. And of course, the ultimate extension of this problem, the way the dungeons and adventures were basically unscripted. Or the fact that the whole gameplay setup is so weak that a level 1 character can plow through the Oblivion games and basically win the game once you know how the system works -- knowledge that isn't exactly hard to come by. Indeed, the reason I went to Oblivion forums in the first place is that after a few hours of play, everything just seemed very fishy and shallow...

Sure you could make the argument that it allows for open-ended gameplay, but I own a giant pile of games that allow open-ended play. An RPG should have a story, and Oblivion really failed in that respect. It had the outline of a story, but that's about it. In my case it rapidly became so annoying -- so transparent -- I simply had no urge to play the game. To me it looks like this: you aren't advancing if everything around you keeps pace automatically and universally -- you're standing still, they're just changing the labels.

Of course, it's a highly subjective thing I'm describing, and a lot of people's opinions are completely the opposite. I understand that. I was in the Bethesda discussion forums very early-on when it was a vehemently-argued topic. I'm not saying I'm RIGHT, I'm saying this is my opinion, and it's shared by a LOT of people -- so many that Bethesda probably should have responded.

And on the off chance you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the old Oblivion posts here, if they still exist:

http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/

Re:of course not

[Enderandrew]

I've read through the elderscroll forums quite a bit.

I've done RPG mods and such and I'm quite familiar with the challenges of open-ended design.

Morrowind used level-lists, just like Oblivion, but Oblivion used it to a far greater extent. I haven't looked, but I wouldn't be shocked if someone releases a mod pretty soon that alters the leveled-lists, and uses far less of them in Oblivion.

In a game like Ultima VII, the entire world is open to you from the get-go. What they do, is make combat a minor aspect of the game. There isn't much of it, and it is very easy. The world doesn't level up around you, but there never is much progression nor challenge. The game is about exploring the world and the plot.

Alternatively, and perhaps the best thing to do, is not to force the player along a specific plot by blocking off the world, but presenting a specific level of challenge in different areas. By doing this, the player feels like the game is open-ended, but in truth, the player is strongly encouraged to play along a linear path. I think this is what people seem to want, but they must understand that it cuts back open adventuring and exploring. It isn't perfect, and it will greatly diminish how open the world feels.

What I'd like to see Bethesda specifically do with their next Elder Scroll's title is make this a game option. At place X in the world they have a monster encounter placed. They should hand place a specific monster for the challenge they think that area should offer. If you turn on the option for the seemless difficulty where the game levels up automatically, then instead of that specific monster placed, one is pulled from the leveled list. Both players get what they want, but this doesn't come easily. More time must be spent balancing, and specifically placing and planning encounters. I feel this will make the game better, but more development zots have to go there, and something else suffers, such as perhaps a smaller world overall.

Again, either look for a mod that addresses your concerns. Bethesda ships a full toolset and enables people to alter the game to your liking. Or look for some of the graphical enhancers for Morrowind to make that game look better.

My personal opinion is that the Elder Scroll titles are pretty impressive overall, but I hate the entire rules system and pretty much everything it is predicated upon. I'm terrified of what they'll do with Fallout. I really hope they stick to the SPECIAL rules and provide a tactical/challenging game like the original Fallout titles, but I haven't seen that Bethesda is capable of that.

Re:of course not

[tdelaney]

I haven't looked, but I wouldn't be shocked if someone releases a mod pretty soon that alters the leveled-lists, and uses far less of them in Oblivion.

Perhaps you should look. The major ones have been out almost since Oblivion was released ...

Re:of course not

[cttforsale]

If we ignore "official" for a while, modded Xboxen with morrowind can play almost any community made mod for the morrowind PC version. http://forums.xbox-scene.com/lofiversion/index.php /t369851.html Yet another great reason to mod you xbox...

Re:of course not

[crossmr]

That would assume I actually want or own one in the first place.

Re:of course not

[Anonymous Coward]

Installing to HD - they don't want to lock out 360 users with no hard drive though. In fact, I heard that MS has a rule that no game can require the hard drive - maybe that would apply to an expansion disc, maybe not.
Plus, a 5-gig expansion would use a big fraction of the 360's drive. Obviously it's OK for one game to do it, but if 5 did it would be a major hassle.

Re:of course not

[Allison Geode]

ahh, i'd been told that such people existed, but I never believed it. are there really xbox 360 owners who don't have a hard drive? tell me: are you one of them? what possessed you to buy it? you realize that it ultimately will cost you more to go without it, since memory cards tend to fill up quickly, and two of them cost what 1 hard drive runs?

regarding it eating up the hard drive: sure. thats why you don't keep it installed forever. just like on pc. maybe there's an option from the menu to remove the actual expansion content, without touching save files, just to be sure?

Bleh

[Anonymous Coward]

Good, make TES 5 and make it proper. Oblivion was way too simple for my tastes. I want my roleplaying game damnit, not another action-rpg!

Interesting... trademark research

[Travoltus]

How'd you find that out? I love doing research like that. :D

Re:Interesting... trademark research

[Anonymous Coward]

I found that out when I went to https://www.uesp.net/ the other day. There is a news article with a link to http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=login&p_lang =english&p_d=trmk where you can search for trademarks.

Sure they can!

[Slithe]

I heard that XBL allows you to download content (like Horse Armor), so I am sure Bethesda could release an entire expansion pack for a little extra. Failing that, they would still make money just by releasing the expansion pack for the PC (and a year or two down the road re-release Oblivion for the Xbox 360 with all the expansions and mods added in).

Re:Sure they can!

[crossmr]

The point being is that it'd be a while before they could re-release as a "GOTY" edition with the additional content. In the meantime they'd probably be inclined to improve the interface and other console-creep that tained the game. That would be wrong and they would admit their failure the first time around. Its better to deny everything, salt the earth and move on. From the responses I saw on the official forums, I don't expect that an expansion consisting of "more of the same" would be received with overwhelming enthusiasm from the PC crowd unless there were some improvements.

Oblivion should help with your discrete maths

[donscarletti]

Discrete mathematics harmed by Oblivion? You can learn it through oblivion:

• Modular arithmatic: Find the optimal amount of skills to beat up baddies before you go up a level and the baddies become as hard as they were when you started
• Set theory: Find the intersection of the set of skills you can go up levels in without swimming around for an hour L and the set of skills that are actually useful U.
• Graph theory: Find the shortest sequence of levels between when you start the game and when Merunes Dagon is destroyed.
• Predicate calculus: Prove that for each mission M, there exists a path P for which P does not cause the game to crash.

There you go, that should have got you 80% easy!

Pointless mods in Oblivion?

[A_Non_Moose]

It is fairly well known that in Oblivion mods and thru play that the horse "Shadowmere" is
unkillable, yet, despite that fact people pay to put armor on her.

Uh-huh.

Not only that, but darned if something goes wrong on pc or xbox, you are screwed
either way, because you can not "summon" the armored version (IIRC) and the xbox
user just winds up being screwed all over due to lack of console.

Simply put: the oblivion community is doing more to make Oblivion a better game than
Bethesda could ever dream, like Obscuro Oblivion overhaul (OOO), the mod that fixes
all of the messed up quests (Unofficial Oblivion Patch) and there is even a mod
in the making to expand the realms (forgot link, but the elderscrolls.com forum has it
in the mod section).

Not only that, but a fix for the spell and animation bug that occurs at 200 or so
hours was fixed by the *community* and not Bethesda.

Bethesda usually said "defrag and scandisk and uninstall mods" to queries to the
bug even when *OFFICIAL* plugins were the only things installed, and blamed the
mods.

So, of course, B*soft doesn't put any stock in anything that they would release. (G)

Enjoy it while it lasts...

[tygerstripes]

...because the French invented the CAN OPENER!!

(See Penny Arcade 12/09/06 if you have no idea what I'm on about)

Pardon me..

[MojoBox]

Huh? Bethesda isn't releasing an expansion? I hadn't notice, I've been too busy playing Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, a free (400MB+) mod that fixes everything Bethesda broke. No expansion eh? Oh well, wonder what other new mods have been released by the hard working community...

RPG Waiting Game.

[kidalimbo]

Great, so now what am I supposed to do while waiting for Avarice: GE to get finished. I was hopping that perhaps an oblivion expansion would come out soon while http://www.playavarice.com/ is being developed, but that seems like it won't happen. Off to go find some other RPG I guess...

Oblivion sucked

[popo]

This isn't a troll, its just an opinion.

Morrowind was gorgeous. It had giant mushrooms, floating squid, organic plant-buildings, insect mines, mongolian yurts, cantons, dust storms,
propylon indexes, etc.

Now we have deer, butterflies, tudor houses and "map travel" and a relatively uniform forest created with SpeedTree.

Yawn.

Not to mention the fact that after a relatively short amount of gameplay I decided to craft a helm of 100% invisibility... and then my character was invincible.

End of game.

Nice play testing.

Re:Oblivion sucked

[PoderOmega]

I agree with everything you said up to the helmet thing. Part of what is cool about this game and Morrowind is that you are free to do things like that.

Rats!

[Schraegstrichpunkt]

I thought this was an article about physics/astronomy when I saw the headline.