So far, the expansion is incredible. The graphics are beautiful and the new area definitely looks like an entirely different place from Croydill (it reminds me a lot of Morrowind, actually). Gameplay is good -- early on, there's a very tough monster you have to get past. The game provides at least two different ways to weaken the monster, or you can simply fight the thing using whatever weapons/spells you usually use if you're powerful enough. Fun stuff.

One question for those who may have played further than I have:

I haven't played it yet but I'm curious about your question too. One article I read made it seem like

Yeah, you definitely end up in the same location, regardless of which door you go through. But I think the door effects your stats somehow - but I'm not sure how.

I'm spending the time going through the game again (as a different character), not doing anything related to the Main Quest (which keeps the Oblivion gates closed) and doing stuff I haven't done before (like joining the Leyawiin Knights, etc).

I hope there's some deal on points soon.

Going through one door or another grants you a specific spell. Mania grants a fury spell, and Dementia grants a fear spell.

I think you can play through it twice, based on the Achievements.

(Yes, there's achievements for it!)

Question for anyone who has finished this...

There's a glowing portal by the table where what's-his-name is sitting when you show up. As far as I know, that portal is always accessible (although at certain points in the Shivering Isles story it can be harder to get to due to enemy spawns).

Wanted to make everyone aware there is a game-killing bug in Shivering Isles:

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Shivering:Reference_Bug

Basically, something in the Shivering Isles code speeds up the rate at which the software generates Form IDs (every unique object has its own Form ID). Since there are a finite number of Form IDs available, once the game runs out, items start disappearing and new items won't spawn. Ordinarily, you have 1000+ hours of playtime before you hit this problem, but with SI, you basically have 50-75 hours of play time. Note that once you install SI, the clock is running, regardless of whether you are using SI content (i.e. if you install SI and stay in Cryodill, you're still using up your 50-75 hours).

This problem was apparently discovered Sunday and has already been patched on the PC, so I would expect an XBox patch soon.

Wow. Thanks for sharing that. I was kind of bummed that my expansion pack is still on backorder, but now I'm glad I haven't installed it before reading your post.

Quick question. My nephew bought and downloaded this expansion pack for his 360 but he doesn't know how to play it..

He said he goes into the game but doesn't see like anything special or added?

After 24 hours (game time) have passed, he'll get a new quest that will lead to all the expansion stuff. So once he's installed it, he can either play normally until he gets the notification, or he can just have his character wait/sleep for 24 hours and then go straight to the new stuff.

Ok. Thanks a lot.

He said he waited the 24 hour game time and nothing ever happened..

Strange. After 24 hours game time, he should get a quest notification that a mysterious island has appeared in the Niben Bay (near the city of Bravil). If he hasn't gotten that notification, I don't know what's going on.

Maybe he did get the notification, and without really reading it, hit a button and skipped it. It happens. He should just swim over to the island in the middle of the lake right above Bravil - the portal should be there. If it's not, he didn't download the expansion pack.

Ok. I'll tell him that. Thanks a lot.

Has anyone experienced the Bug on the 360?

Thanks. Hadn't heard about this one yet.

Bethesda has announced an expected release date of Monday for the Shivering Isles patch for both PC and XBox 360:

http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/in...owtopic=685238

Bethesda has confirmed release of the patch, which updates the game from 1.2 to 1.2.1!

As someone who just bought oblivion, should I go ahead and get the expansions or play through the game and then purchase them?

If I were you, I'd play the regular game (main quest/guilds) for a while first (I'd actually finish the main quest first, just to close those annoying Oblivion gates) before downloading and starting SI. But as soon as you feel like you need a change of scenery, that would be a good time to maybe try out SI. But it really doesn't matter - it's all set up to do in whatever order you like.

One thing though I would play the SI before you level gets too high. I'm like a level 45 and found it pretty easy to defeat most everything in SI.

Once you get past level 25 or so, everything becomes simple to beat -- so you're either going to have an eays time with Shivering Isles or an easy time with the last part of the main quest (or both).

I've been playing Shivering Isles with the same character who did the main quest and all side quests I could find in Vanilla Oblivion. The combat hasn't given me any challenge, but I'm enjoying the story.