GAME POW 05.29.09: Level-Up in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Suicide in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Posted by Sam Pow on 05.29.2009
In this weeks GAME POW, Sam gives some tips on leveling your character in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and will also explain why killing yourself can really help in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.
GAME POW--- May 28, 2009
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Hello everyone! Welcome to yet another GAME POW! This week I'll be doing a bit of Quake Wars, plus some tips on easy leveling up in Oblivion. Add in some details on my new top secret column, and you've got a great new edition of GAME POW! Read on!
To summarize my week in gaming: PES 09 Wii. That's pretty much it. I've spent a lot of time with that game for review purposes. Plus, I should be getting Battlestations Pacific soon, and I've been looking forward to that game. It looks great. Also, today I checked out Alan Wake for the first time. It sounded interesting when I read the summary, but the trailer really sold me on it. I love cinematic games, and this game nailed the adventure thriller theme with its trailer. And the fact that Lionhead is making it is really encouraging. I'm thinking I might need some fresh 360 action for the summer, and I never got Burnout Paradise when it came out, so I'm considering that. Anyway, on with the article.
Oblivion can be a rewarding game if you're willing to put in the time to level up your character, but some of us are lazy, and I have the solution. Here are some great ideas for leveling up your adventurers skills easily and painlessly (most of the time). Check it out!
While it can be frustrating when your magic skills aren't high enough to cast your favorite spell, there are some easy ways around this. The Arcane University offers effortless ways to get around the constraints of leveling. This means that step one of any of these tips will be to join the Arcane University. All you have to do is make a low power, high area spell and then cast it in a group of people. For example, if you wanted to increase your illusion skills, you could create a spell that was Calm Humanoid 3 points in 100 feet. Since the spell is so weak it should be very cheap to buy and cast. Now just cast the spell in a place with many people and you will get huge points for experience. My suggestions would be the Imperial City, or even better the Arcane University itself, since it is small but packed with people. Now, if you cast a normal spell that is Calm, for say, 10 points, then you would get 10 points worth of experience. But, the 100 foot spell can reach most of the University, and hit about 10-15 people, giving you anywhere from 30-45 points worth of experience, and it is very mana-cheap, so you can cast it over and over again. This tactic can be used with other spells too. Unfortunately, there is just no way to train some schools like this, such as destruction. I don't think the Imperial Battlemages would take too kindly to that. You can use this trick with any on-target spell that affects humanoids and does not cause them them to attack.
Now of course, some of us are not mages, and need something to build our burly warrior muscles. There are easy ways to do that too. Here's my favorite. From Leyawiin, go north on the green road. You should be on the west side of the lower Niben Bay. Keep following the road until you get to a small settlement called Water's Edge. Find Biene Amelion's house and enter it. Once inside, you should find Biene Amelion (go figure). For some odd reason, I have found that she does not fight back when you attack her, and she is a quest character, so she will not die, instead passing out. Use her to practice your blade, blunt, hand to hand, and destruction. Unfortunately, eventually your skills will reach the point where she can no longer help you. My hand to hand is so high that I can knock her out in one punch. Now you have to find another quest character that is more powerful.
If you need to get somewhere, but find that your characters level is too low to brave the monsters outside, there is an easy fix for finding almost any location on the map. Using paint brushes, you can exit the confines of a city by jumping over its walls, giving you access to a new realm of Oblivion: The Gray Zone. The Gray Zone is the world of Cyrodiil before the game generates its textures and objects. It just looks like a lot of gray hills with some holes every now and then. It also does not generate enemies, so you can roam around without worry. In this mode, you can still discover locations, though. If you feel that a certain cave is too dangerous, get into The Gray Zone and find it on the map where it should be, allowing you to fast travel there. For those who are unaware, paint brushes suspend in mid-air when you drop them, allowing you to make stairs (and fun forts!). Dupe glitch paint brushes until you have many, and then make a stair way over the city walls (I recommend Bruma). If you are unaware of what the dupe glitch is, just Google it. It is a way to copy items.
Here are a few extra tips:
> Jump a lot when you're just walking around, you'll be surprised how quickly your acrobatics goes up.
> Sometimes your character can get stuck in a corner, repeatedly jumping. If you can get this to happen, you can easily increase your acrobatics.
> Quests are one of the best ways to increase your skills, so do as many as you can. The easiest way to find quests is to join a guild.
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Now that you have a powerful high level Oblivion character that seems like they'll never die, I'm going to switch the subject. Let's take a look at trying to die specifically!
In the midst of today's squad based shooters and survival horror games, it seems like you're always taught specifically not to die. But in some cases, dying would be the best option. And if you're going down, you might as well take your enemy down with you. Here are my Quake Wars suicide tricks.
The first and easiest way to suicide kill is with a grenade. Just whip out a grenade, hold down left trigger, and run into a crowd. Suiciding grenades instead of throwing them give you the advantage of being able to follow the enemies' movements. You could alternatively try this using scrambler grenades from a covert ops/infiltrator, stopping vehicles, but it is normally fairly simple to stick a vehicle.
Numeral dos would be artillery suicide. Artillery classes like the field ops and oppressor can gain a huge advantage by not worrying about their lives. It is much easier to place a strike point when you are right next to it. Also try using your short range artillery suicidely (if that's a word). Run into a CP and drop an artillery beacon outside to kill off respawning troops. Or, try to throw an artillery beacon into the enemies' main base.
The last suggestion will probably bring on the biggest explosions, and the biggest laughs. To start, switch to an engineer. Now find a medium class vehicle such as a hog or armadillo. Put two mines on the front, and get in. I would recommend you try to avoid picking anybody up. Now, drive the vehicle into something you want to destroy, get out, and stick a grenade on the front. Shortly, the grenade will explode, causing the two mines to go off, and do huge damage. This can be used to take out large vehicles, deployments, or anything else that needs to be blown up.
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Well, that does it for this week's GAME POW. I hope you all enjoyed it, and continue to read my column. Now, in my intro I mentioned I would be releasing details on my new column. Here we go. My idea for a column would be just that: ideas. I want to make a column about ideas for a new video game. Someone would give details about what they would make if they became the head of a development company. This isn't going to be like, "I would make a new Halo!" or anything, it's going to be totally original ideas for games that other writer and myself come up with. The column would (hopefully) feature two ideas each time, one from me and one from someone else. It would probably start in mid to late June, and would be a bi-weekly column. Each article within the column would explain the concept of the writers new game, how you will play it, what it will look and sound like, and what makes it unique. Please, PLEASE comment on this as I need assurance as to whether or not the reader of 411 games would actually enjoy this. Until next week, POW!
