Bethesda Softworks Announces Knights of the Nine™
for Xbox 360™ and Windows

New Faction and Quests to be available for Download
and at Retail on November 21

October 17, 2006 (Rockville, MD) — Bethesda Softworks® today announced plans to make its new Knights of the Nine™ content for The Elder Scrolls IV®: Oblivion™ available for the Xbox 360™ videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows via download and a new retail Windows product. Knights of the Nine will be available through Xbox Live® Marketplace for Xbox 360 and www.OblivionDownloads.com on November 21st.

Knights of the Nine will also be available as a Windows boxed product at retail on the 21st. The retail version of Knights of the Nine is a compilation that will include all the other Oblivion downloadable content released to date: Horse Armor, The Orrery, Wizard’s Tower, Vile Lair, Thieves Den, Mehrunes’ Razor, and Spell Tomes. Bethesda Softworks will publish and distribute Knights of the Nine at retail directly in North America and through a co-publisher arrangement with Ubisoft in Europe.

“We’re pleased to bring this new content to Xbox 360 and to Windows gamers who have been so supportive of Oblivion,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “To date, the response to our new downloadable content has been terrific – it’s easily the most popular downloadable content on Xbox Live Marketplace for Xbox 360 and has been very popular for Windows as well – and we think the opportunity to enjoy an entirely new faction and quests is something our fans will be eager to try.”

Knights of the Nine features an all-new faction and quests for noble characters and answers many of the questions surrounding the Ayleid ruins found throughout Oblivion. Players can join a new faction and found their own order of holy knights – leading them into battle against a sorcerer-king and his demonic minions while exploring massive dungeons and searching for legendary relics – the holy armor and weapons of the Divine Crusader.

Released in March 2006 for the Xbox 360™ videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows, Oblivion is currently the highest rated game available for the Xbox 360 according to MetaCritic.com and GameRankings.com. The game has won countless awards and accolades to-date including G4’s “Best Game of 2006” and the #1 ranking on PC Gamer’s (UK) list of the top 100 games of all time.

In addition, Bethesda Softworks announced in September that Oblivion will be coming to the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system in North America, and that a version for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system is also in development for release next year. The PLAYSTATION®3 system title will contain the Knights of the Nine content.

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'Knights of the Nine' (PC/Xbox 360) QA - Pete Hines
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Submitted by thankeeka on November 2, 2006 - 12:44pm. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion | Interviews
What can I say? We are huge fans of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, as we gave both the PC and Xbox 360 versions both perfect scores, thanks in large part to its huge, open ended world, letting players play how they want instead of how they are told to play. Bethesda has also done a great job of continuing to provide content, and they look to up the ante with the upcoming Knights of the Nine, which will be available as both a retail unit for PCs and downloadable content for 360 owners. We got to ask Pete Hines some questions about the game, just to see what we are in store for when Oblivion is expanded even further.

1. Besides being available for download, Knights of the Nine will also be coming out in a retail version. Is it coming to retail for both the PC and Xbox 360? How will the retail edition work? Will players be able to purchase just that disk and have the full game as it is now, or does it only include the Knights of the Nine content? Will players have had to have bought Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion first?

The retail version will be PC only, at this time. We are very interested in having a retail SKU for Xbox 360 but apparently there are some issues with that on the console side and so we can't do it right now. Should things change, we absolutely would make Knights available at retail for Xbox 360. We're very disappointed we aren't able to at this time.

The disc for PC includes Knights of the Nine plus all the other downloadable content (DLC). So you have to own Oblivion and have it installed to play it.

2. Knights of the Nine will contain the previously downloadable content: Horse Armor, The Orrery, Wizard's Tower, Vile Lair, Thieves Den, Mehrunes' Razor, and Spell Tomes. Are these the exact ones that people have downloaded before or have they been tweaked a little if at all for the Knights of the Nine release?

Nope, they're the same as originally released.

3. For fans who have already gobbled up that content, there is still new content coming they haven't played yet such as an "all-new faction and quests for noble characters." What is this new faction called and what are they about? Good? Evil? What types of goals will you be accomplishing in this faction?

The new faction is basically the opposite end of the spectrum from the Dark Brotherhood. So you have this really evil faction in Oblivion, but there's no really good guys. No noble knights going out to do good and protect the innocent and all that. So you basically get to restart an order of holy knights that has been defunct and is now needed to help fight this sorcerer-king that has shown up and is causing problems.

4. In the press release it says "all-new faction and quests for noble characters." Are these all quests pertaining to the faction or are these in addition to the faction? What types of quests will people be doing?

They all pertain to the faction. So you have to go out and find all these powerful artifacts that have been lost, the Crusader's Relics. The quests are a little more "adventurous" in that you have to figure some things out on your own and piece together the clues...that kind of thing.

5. Continuing with the "all-new faction and quests for noble characters" statement. Does the "noble characters" part simply mean those up for the task or will have players have had to have reached a certain level or achievement, like say beating the main story of the original game, before they'll be able to access this new content in particular.

So one of the things about this faction is that it's only for "good" guys. Meaning if you have any level of infamy, you have to go on a pilgrimage before you can join, or continue (if you're already doing the quests). So if you join and start doing the quests and go off to do something else and kill an innocent person, you'll have to do the pilgrimage all over again.

6. Oblivion is such a huge game even without this inclusion of the new Knights of the Nine content. After people download or purchase the new Knights of the Nine content, how will they be able to find it so they can tackle just those new events. Does Knights of the Nine take place in its own country or region, or will it be scattered about the already existing Oblivion world?

It takes place in the existing world. It starts off in Anvil and when you go there folks will be talking about it and if you go to the Chapel there you'll see it's been defiled and someone asks for your help.

7. The press release says that in the game you'll be able to found your own order of holy knights. Can you talk about this a little? How will characters go about finding these knights to recruit? Will they join you in battle? If they join you in battle do they react on their own or can you give them commands of some sort?

They'll come find you throughout the storyline and ask to join. You get your own priory that you can fix up and make your own. And yes, they can fight alongside you. Companions still act like they do in Oblivion and will decide for themselves how to fight in battle, you don't control him.

8. Is this sorcerer king and his minions the new main villain of this expansion pack? What is his name and what is the story about why he is being such a thorn in the sides of the people of Oblivion?

Just to be clear, it's not an expansion pack. It adds another 10-20 hours of gameplay, but we still consider it more DLC...just really big DLC. Let's just say this guy was banished a long time ago (by the guy who's relics you go off to find) and when he gets back he's pretty pissed about his exile and looking for a little payback. He and the god's of Tamriel are not on good terms.

9. Much like Oblivion, where there was a main quest to follow, and you got an ending, does the same hold true for Knights of the Nine like after battling this sorcerer king?

Definitely.

10. The press release also talks about new massive dungeons. How massive are we talking about? Number of them and time it takes to walk through them?

They're pretty big, as big as some of the major ones you find in Oblivion. How long it takes to get through them really depends on playstyle, level of your character, and so on, but like I said before, probably somewhere between 10 and 20 hours to finish it all.

11. Besides the new faction and quests, the holy weapons and armor of the Divine Crusader seem like the other real big draw. What types of weapons can players receive and armor? Because since Elder Scrolls is all about playing the way you want, not everyone uses the same weapon sets or armor in the game. Will there be new weapons and armor for every player? Light armor, heavy armor, etc? What is the graphical style and look of these new weapons and armor?

The relics you set off to find are the armor and weapons of the holy crusader. Very cool stuff. Same stuff you see on the guy in the OPM cover. We'll have a wallpaper of that guy up soon. When NPCs come to join your faction, they'll also wear special armor that identifies them as one of your knights.

12. It seems that players are going to learn a lot about the Ayleid ruins from playing Knights of the Nine. How will this information unfold and can you give us a taste of any of the secrets we'll learn about them?

That's something you'll have to learn in the game.

13. Will Knights of the Nine feature any new creatures and if so can you reveal what they are/look like/attack styles they have?

Yes, the sorcerer-king's minions are called Aurorans. The creatures from Oblivion they're most like would probably be Dremora.

14. Fans really seem to like trying to become a vampire. Is there any content like this in Knights of the Nine, such as the ability to turn into a werewolf (which was introduced for later packs of Morrowind) and if not are there any plans for something like this in the future?

No plans to do anything like that.

15. What will be the retail price of Knights of the Nine? What will be the points cost for download on Xbox Live Marketplace?

The retail version will be $19.99, and that includes all of the DLC released to date, including Knights of the Nine. To download just Knights of the Nine for PC/Xbox 360 is $9.99/800 points.

Wow for $10 you get all the download content up to date. Not a bad price.

No, it's $10 just for Knights of the Nine.

Knights of the Nine will also be available as a Windows boxed product at retail on the 21st. The retail version of Knights of the Nine is a compilation that will include all the other Oblivion downloadable content released to date: Horse Armor, The Orrery, Wizard’s Tower, Vile Lair, Thieves Den, Mehrunes’ Razor, and Spell Tomes.

This will be $20, and includes all content, but for PC only.

Anyone else download this yet? Seems OK, but I'm not too far along yet. This was actually great timing for me as I just completed the main quest the day before DL'ing this, so it's kind of like a continuation.

Huge Oblivion fan here, downloaded it right off the bat and beat it within three hours or so. Big let down, to be honest.. Not a lot of content, just one new set of armor that really isn't all that great and the storyline is lacking. For the price of $10, it isn't to bad, but if I bought the retail PC version for $20, I'd be extremely pissed off.

I started this today and am lost trying to find all those damn shrines.

I beat the quest also. When I was reading about it, they said 20-40 hours of new content, but it only took a few hours, maybe 4-5 tops for me. Definitely some cool stuff, but way shorter than I expected it to be.

If anyone wants the PC retail version, CC is selling it for $10 this week.

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