OBLIVION: The Shivering Isles [new expansion pack]
01-05-07, 10:50 PM
#1
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Thread Starter
OBLIVION: The Shivering Isles [new expansion pack]
Oblivion Getting 30+ More Hours
Another expansion is on the way for one of the best RPGs of 2006.
January 5, 2007 - British gaming mags PC Gamer and PC Zone have spilled the beans on a new Oblivion expansion titled The Shivering Isles. The new content will let players explore The Isles, which are divided into northern/southern areas titled (not too invitingly) Mania and Dementia, respectively. Players will be able to reach the Shivering Isles through a door on an island that appears in Niben Bay near Bravil.
The expansion will extend Oblivion's gameplay for another 30+ hours, and includes new quests, creatures, and dungeons. One new quest involves solving a mystery in a town on the Mania/Dementia border, where every citizen has a look-a-like. Among the new monsters are the Gatekeeper, a collection of bodyparts that have been stitched together, and the Knights of the Order, made up of tree roots.
Oblivion's first expansion, Knights of the Nine, was released November 22, 2006 for PC and Xbox 360. So far, The Shivering Isles has only been announced for PC, but with a little fairy magic the 360 and upcoming PlayStation 3 versions will get to vacation in the Isles as well. The expansion is currently set for a Q2 2007 release.
IGN.com
Another expansion is on the way for one of the best RPGs of 2006.
January 5, 2007 - British gaming mags PC Gamer and PC Zone have spilled the beans on a new Oblivion expansion titled The Shivering Isles. The new content will let players explore The Isles, which are divided into northern/southern areas titled (not too invitingly) Mania and Dementia, respectively. Players will be able to reach the Shivering Isles through a door on an island that appears in Niben Bay near Bravil.
The expansion will extend Oblivion's gameplay for another 30+ hours, and includes new quests, creatures, and dungeons. One new quest involves solving a mystery in a town on the Mania/Dementia border, where every citizen has a look-a-like. Among the new monsters are the Gatekeeper, a collection of bodyparts that have been stitched together, and the Knights of the Order, made up of tree roots.
Oblivion's first expansion, Knights of the Nine, was released November 22, 2006 for PC and Xbox 360. So far, The Shivering Isles has only been announced for PC, but with a little fairy magic the 360 and upcoming PlayStation 3 versions will get to vacation in the Isles as well. The expansion is currently set for a Q2 2007 release.
IGN.com
01-18-07, 11:47 PM
#6
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Thread Starter
Shivering Isles Cast Chill over Oblivion
Official expansion confirmed for Xbox 360 and PC.
UK, January 18, 2007 - Is it us or is there a nasty chill in the air at the moment? Perhaps the UK is mimicking Bethesda's newly announced expansion pack for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and has also become the Shivering Isles.
Thankfully though, despite the awful weather, we don't currently play host to Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. He's the rather terrifying-sounding star of the Shivering Isles expansion, which is set for release on Xbox 360 and PC this spring.
Promising more than 30 hours of new gameplay and featuring an entirely new part of the Oblivion world, Bethesda revealed that "The Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides - Mania and Dementia - filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within. You'll encounter more than a dozen new creatures including hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibious Grummites. Throughout your adventure, you will discover all new items, ingredients, spells, and more, and have the talented craftsmen of Crucible and Bliss forge new armour and weapons just for you."
According to Bethesda, the new territory will be approximately one fourth the size of Cyrodiil, the sprawling province where Oblivion's events unfolded. After purchasing the expansion, your existing or newly created characters will be able to travel to and from the Shivering Isles at any time.
Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks said: "The enthusiastic response we've received to our downloadable content has been overwhelming, and we're excited to bring Oblivion fans a full expansion. The world we've created for Shivering Isles is unlike anything you've seen or played in Oblivion and we can't wait for folks to play it."
Xbox 360 owners can download the expansion pack from Live's Marketplace while PC fans will need to pick it up from retail outlets. Where's the justice?
IGN.com
Official expansion confirmed for Xbox 360 and PC.
UK, January 18, 2007 - Is it us or is there a nasty chill in the air at the moment? Perhaps the UK is mimicking Bethesda's newly announced expansion pack for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and has also become the Shivering Isles.
Thankfully though, despite the awful weather, we don't currently play host to Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. He's the rather terrifying-sounding star of the Shivering Isles expansion, which is set for release on Xbox 360 and PC this spring.
Promising more than 30 hours of new gameplay and featuring an entirely new part of the Oblivion world, Bethesda revealed that "The Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides - Mania and Dementia - filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within. You'll encounter more than a dozen new creatures including hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibious Grummites. Throughout your adventure, you will discover all new items, ingredients, spells, and more, and have the talented craftsmen of Crucible and Bliss forge new armour and weapons just for you."
According to Bethesda, the new territory will be approximately one fourth the size of Cyrodiil, the sprawling province where Oblivion's events unfolded. After purchasing the expansion, your existing or newly created characters will be able to travel to and from the Shivering Isles at any time.
Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks said: "The enthusiastic response we've received to our downloadable content has been overwhelming, and we're excited to bring Oblivion fans a full expansion. The world we've created for Shivering Isles is unlike anything you've seen or played in Oblivion and we can't wait for folks to play it."
Xbox 360 owners can download the expansion pack from Live's Marketplace while PC fans will need to pick it up from retail outlets. Where's the justice?
IGN.com
01-19-07, 12:01 PM
#10
DVD Talk Hero
Since they said that Knights of the Nine will be around 15 hours and it turned out to be around 7, does that mean that this expansion will be closer to 15 hours than 30 like they claim?
01-20-07, 12:34 AM
#11
Banned by request
Originally Posted by The Bus
The latest GI issue seems to imply the expansion pack will be both available as a download and as a retail release.
01-20-07, 05:47 AM
#12
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bama
Posts: 988
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Was thinking of buying this for the 360. I have a few questions though? How do these expansion packs work? Is it something you do after you complete the game or what? I'm really confused on this? I'm about to retire from Madden until next season and I've got a few shooters I need to finish and then I need a game like this. Also, how does it stack up against the FF series? Thanks
01-20-07, 10:42 AM
#13
DVD Talk Hero
Originally Posted by tacos
Was thinking of buying this for the 360. I have a few questions though? How do these expansion packs work? Is it something you do after you complete the game or what?
02-16-07, 10:23 PM
#14
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Thread Starter
Bethesda Opens Gateway to Shivering Isles
Oblivion's biggest expansion yet is one of the last, reveals the developer.
Featuring an entirely new area of the Oblivion world to explore and a whopping 30 hours of unique gameplay, Shivering Isles will have fantasy fanatics dusting off their swords and shaking in their pixie boots at the prospect of getting stuck into a new adventure.
Before the portal leading to the Shivering Isles opens this Spring we called upon Pete Hines, VP of public relations and marketing at Bethesda Softworks, to get a better idea of what we can expect in Oblivion's upcoming add-on.
IGN: When did work start on The Shivering Isles?
Pete Hines: We really started on this right after we finished Oblivion. We spent a lot of time looking at the best things in the game and the things we knew people liked from the original, then we tried to work out how we could deliver more of the same thing. For example, some people really liked the Dark Brotherhood and some of the other NPCs, so we really wanted to expand on those well-loved elements in this new storyline.
IGN: Shivering Isles is by no means the first Oblivion expansion so what makes it different from the other downloads already available?
Pete Hines: We want each expansion to feel fresh and new. Each one has to seem like we're bring something different to the Oblivion world. It has to be different to the main adventure to justify a release. And with 30 hours of new gameplay, we thought this certainly justified a release.
IGN: Has the gameplay been tweaked at all?
Pete Hines: We haven't touched anything on the gameplay systems because it might break them. We didn't want to tweak anything just in case it causes problems with the rest of the game.
IGN: Is there anything you would have changed?
Pete Hines: To be honest we feel pretty good about the game as it is.
IGN: How long to you think Bethesda will continue to release new content for Oblivion?
Pete Hines: We do not see it going on forever and ever. We have two more downloads that we have been working on that will be released after Shivering Isles. Each of these new elements takes a very long time to create, particularly considering there are some we do that just fall by the wayside after we've started work on them. I think that we're coming to the end of downloadable content for Oblivion now.
IGN: Have you been impressed with the success of your DLC so far?
Pete Hines: They have been extremely profitable but not only that, they've been successful and well received. It's amazing how many people have been downloading. People are still buying new content even though the game has been out for a year. In fact more people are downloading now than ever before and Oblivion is regularly one of the most played games while someone is logged into their Xbox Live account - even though it doesn't have a Live mode. The Knights of the Nine has been a huge success and we've had a lot of really great feedback.
IGN: You haven't always had good feedback from your DLC though, particularly the horse armour pack...
Pete Hines: The horse armour got us off to a rocky start. The price did not match the product. But apart from that the consensus has been that we have put out some great stuff for the price.
IGN: When did you realise it was important to release regular DLC for Oblivion?
Pete Hines: Towards the end of Oblivion we looked at things we really wanted to do but we wanted to make sure that we explored a slightly different element with each expansion. We ensured they drew on different talents of the team. We can make sure that, if someone has an idea or a person is right for the job, we give them the time to work on something new. This is much better than going back to the same guy over and over again and saying "now make me a dungeon crawling section". This allows us to create more original content because the people that produce it are the people who are interested in that particular element.
IGN: What about the people who haven't got Xbox Live? Do you think it's unfair that those people will never have access to the new content?
Pete Hines: It's a shame for those people who don't have Live and that's why we really wanted to release a retail version. People are understandably angry that without Live they can't access the new content, but a retail pack just isn't feasible. We could potentially start work on a disc once we've finished the expansion but that would be somewhere way down the line.
IGN: On the subject of Xbox Live, did you ever consider adding an online MMO element to Oblivion?
Pete Hines: We didn't consider doing an MMO because if you try to do something alongside an expansive single-player experience, the main game is bound to suffer. For example, even if you try to make it co-op it means you have to change absolutely everything in the game to make sure it would be fun for two players, as well as just one player. Encounters with enemies, talking to NPCs, going to different locations… Everything would have to be tweaked and it introduces so many more problems. If you want an MMO, you should just buy an MMO. You shouldn't buy an adventure game with an MMO mode tagged on. We wanted to create a game that was like nothing else and the only way to do that was with a single-player game. Even adding an arena mode where you could fight people online isn't an option, although some people have asked for it, because it's not what Oblivion is about. Any MMO elements would just be a distraction.
IGN: Do you think the Elder Scrolls series has done everything it can in the world of fantasy? Do you ever see the series moving on into another genre, like sci-fi for example?
Pete Hines: I do not see it moving into the sci-fi genre, no. We feel like there is still a lot more we can be doing with the genre and from Morrowind to Oblivion, you can see they're both very different games. I guess if you want a Bethesda sci-fi fix you're just going to have to get Fallout 3.
IGN.com
Oblivion's biggest expansion yet is one of the last, reveals the developer.
Featuring an entirely new area of the Oblivion world to explore and a whopping 30 hours of unique gameplay, Shivering Isles will have fantasy fanatics dusting off their swords and shaking in their pixie boots at the prospect of getting stuck into a new adventure.
Before the portal leading to the Shivering Isles opens this Spring we called upon Pete Hines, VP of public relations and marketing at Bethesda Softworks, to get a better idea of what we can expect in Oblivion's upcoming add-on.
IGN: When did work start on The Shivering Isles?
Pete Hines: We really started on this right after we finished Oblivion. We spent a lot of time looking at the best things in the game and the things we knew people liked from the original, then we tried to work out how we could deliver more of the same thing. For example, some people really liked the Dark Brotherhood and some of the other NPCs, so we really wanted to expand on those well-loved elements in this new storyline.
IGN: Shivering Isles is by no means the first Oblivion expansion so what makes it different from the other downloads already available?
Pete Hines: We want each expansion to feel fresh and new. Each one has to seem like we're bring something different to the Oblivion world. It has to be different to the main adventure to justify a release. And with 30 hours of new gameplay, we thought this certainly justified a release.
IGN: Has the gameplay been tweaked at all?
Pete Hines: We haven't touched anything on the gameplay systems because it might break them. We didn't want to tweak anything just in case it causes problems with the rest of the game.
IGN: Is there anything you would have changed?
Pete Hines: To be honest we feel pretty good about the game as it is.
IGN: How long to you think Bethesda will continue to release new content for Oblivion?
Pete Hines: We do not see it going on forever and ever. We have two more downloads that we have been working on that will be released after Shivering Isles. Each of these new elements takes a very long time to create, particularly considering there are some we do that just fall by the wayside after we've started work on them. I think that we're coming to the end of downloadable content for Oblivion now.
IGN: Have you been impressed with the success of your DLC so far?
Pete Hines: They have been extremely profitable but not only that, they've been successful and well received. It's amazing how many people have been downloading. People are still buying new content even though the game has been out for a year. In fact more people are downloading now than ever before and Oblivion is regularly one of the most played games while someone is logged into their Xbox Live account - even though it doesn't have a Live mode. The Knights of the Nine has been a huge success and we've had a lot of really great feedback.
IGN: You haven't always had good feedback from your DLC though, particularly the horse armour pack...
Pete Hines: The horse armour got us off to a rocky start. The price did not match the product. But apart from that the consensus has been that we have put out some great stuff for the price.
IGN: When did you realise it was important to release regular DLC for Oblivion?
Pete Hines: Towards the end of Oblivion we looked at things we really wanted to do but we wanted to make sure that we explored a slightly different element with each expansion. We ensured they drew on different talents of the team. We can make sure that, if someone has an idea or a person is right for the job, we give them the time to work on something new. This is much better than going back to the same guy over and over again and saying "now make me a dungeon crawling section". This allows us to create more original content because the people that produce it are the people who are interested in that particular element.
IGN: What about the people who haven't got Xbox Live? Do you think it's unfair that those people will never have access to the new content?
Pete Hines: It's a shame for those people who don't have Live and that's why we really wanted to release a retail version. People are understandably angry that without Live they can't access the new content, but a retail pack just isn't feasible. We could potentially start work on a disc once we've finished the expansion but that would be somewhere way down the line.
IGN: On the subject of Xbox Live, did you ever consider adding an online MMO element to Oblivion?
Pete Hines: We didn't consider doing an MMO because if you try to do something alongside an expansive single-player experience, the main game is bound to suffer. For example, even if you try to make it co-op it means you have to change absolutely everything in the game to make sure it would be fun for two players, as well as just one player. Encounters with enemies, talking to NPCs, going to different locations… Everything would have to be tweaked and it introduces so many more problems. If you want an MMO, you should just buy an MMO. You shouldn't buy an adventure game with an MMO mode tagged on. We wanted to create a game that was like nothing else and the only way to do that was with a single-player game. Even adding an arena mode where you could fight people online isn't an option, although some people have asked for it, because it's not what Oblivion is about. Any MMO elements would just be a distraction.
IGN: Do you think the Elder Scrolls series has done everything it can in the world of fantasy? Do you ever see the series moving on into another genre, like sci-fi for example?
Pete Hines: I do not see it moving into the sci-fi genre, no. We feel like there is still a lot more we can be doing with the genre and from Morrowind to Oblivion, you can see they're both very different games. I guess if you want a Bethesda sci-fi fix you're just going to have to get Fallout 3.
IGN.com
03-08-07, 09:37 PM
#15
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Thread Starter
Shivering Isles Priced, Dated
When can you visit Oblivion's new Isles, and how much will it cost you?
March 8, 2007 - Today Bethesda announced the price and release date for the latest expansion to its epic RPG landscape, The Elder Scrolls IV: The Shivering Isles. Players can download the expansion from Xbox Live the week of March 26 for 2400 Microsoft Points ($29.99).
Also, a Shivering Isles trailer will available on Xbox Live later today, along with a new theme and pic pack.
IGN.com
When can you visit Oblivion's new Isles, and how much will it cost you?
March 8, 2007 - Today Bethesda announced the price and release date for the latest expansion to its epic RPG landscape, The Elder Scrolls IV: The Shivering Isles. Players can download the expansion from Xbox Live the week of March 26 for 2400 Microsoft Points ($29.99).
Also, a Shivering Isles trailer will available on Xbox Live later today, along with a new theme and pic pack.
IGN.com
03-08-07, 09:57 PM
#17
DVD Talk Godfather & 2020 TOTY Winner
Originally Posted by Flay
2400 points, holy crap.
looks like I won't be getting this.
03-09-07, 07:58 AM
#20
Video Game Talk Reviewer
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Formerly known as "Vryce"/Detroit, Michigan
Posts: 13,856
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Wow.. do they not want anyone to download it so they can say "look, our DLC has hit a standstill, we're not developing anything else for this game."
2400 points is way to expensive for the little content it adds. Even 1200 points would have been pushing it. I guess I can finally get rid of my disc if this is the last of the content and it is that expensive.
2400 points is way to expensive for the little content it adds. Even 1200 points would have been pushing it. I guess I can finally get rid of my disc if this is the last of the content and it is that expensive.
03-09-07, 08:01 AM
#21
DVD Talk Legend
It's priced the same as the PC retail release. I'll be buying it for sure. Oblivion has been one the best gaming experiences I've ever had. I'll gladly pay the price for an extra 10-20 hours (their estimates are always high) of gameplay. The Elder Scrolls series has broken ground for RPG's. Bethesda is much more deserving of my money than most other developers.
03-09-07, 08:04 AM
#22
DVD Talk Godfather
Originally Posted by Vryce
Wow.. do they not want anyone to download it so they can say "look, our DLC has hit a standstill, we're not developing anything else for this game."
2400 points is way to expensive for the little content it adds. Even 1200 points would have been pushing it. I guess I can finally get rid of my disc if this is the last of the content and it is that expensive.
2400 points is way to expensive for the little content it adds. Even 1200 points would have been pushing it. I guess I can finally get rid of my disc if this is the last of the content and it is that expensive.
03-09-07, 09:27 AM
#23
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Yeah, I think this DLC is getting way overpriced....also, how LARGE is this expansion going to be? With the 360 HDD being so small (for today standards), it can become really cumbersome to start deleting stuff just to play an expansion.
PS3 is doing the same thing though...$20 for Tekken 5 seems pricey to me. At least I usually get MS Points on sale (as I have NEVER paid $20 for 1600 points)
PS3 is doing the same thing though...$20 for Tekken 5 seems pricey to me. At least I usually get MS Points on sale (as I have NEVER paid $20 for 1600 points)
03-09-07, 09:42 AM
#24
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: WPB FL
Posts: 3,530
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Way to overpriced for my blood, it's a shame I was really looking forward to it. People were bitching when Knights of the Nine was 800pts, you think Bethesda would have got the message.
03-09-07, 09:54 AM
#25
DVD Talk Legend
Have any of you ever bought a full expansion for a PC game before? They've always been 20-30. This is nothing new. The only difference here is that you're not getting the physical media.