Redefining Oblivion

After I canceled my WoW subscription, I reinstalled The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and I've been playing that since.

My major point of contention with the game before was the difficulty balancing system; everything in the game leveled with you, and if you focused on anything but combat, the game became impossible within an hour or so. In short, the game as it existed out of the box was not enjoyable. I needed to do something about it if I was going to enjoy this rich and beautiful game.

To fix the problem, I downloaded and installed a mod called Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul that completely redoes all the level lists and monster stats in the game. The enemy levels are now more or less fixed where they are... which is a blessing and a curse. The plus side is that the game is a little more realistic. The down side is that there are now many areas of the game that are downright brutal if you're a low-level character. But then again, all you have to do is level up a bit and these areas shouldn't be so tough.

Let me tell you, though, the game is so much more enjoyable this way. It feels more like Morrowind than vanilla Oblivion, which is a very good thing. There are caves and dungeons full of weak goblins, and clearing those dungeons out takes mere minutes. On the other hand, though, there are some caves with enemies that are FAR beyond me, and you only realize this after you've hit one of them with your best shot and they haven't flinched. In those cases, it's a race to run away before they get you, and it's an incredibly thrilling experience. Oh, and I definitely think twice before stumbling carelessly into a cave or dungeon.

I can't recommend this mod enough.

Aside from that mod, I also have a few other mods installed, but these are much smaller in scope:

The Harvest Flora mod makes the plants look and behave a little more realistically.

The Living Economy mod changes the vendor system such that each merchant has a set amount of money per day, rather than having a spending cap on how much they can purchase. You know, like it used to be in Morrowind. It also changes the prices of everything in the game so that the economy runs in more of a supply/demand cycle. If a vendor has 1000 Dwarven Gauntlets, he's not going to give you very much for the next pair you try to sell him. And if he has none, he'll offer you more money.

I'm using a bunch of the downloadable content provided by the Developers, also. The Mehrunes' Razor add-on, in particular, is pretty extensive. I spent literally hours playing in the new area it adds, and I still haven't finished it.

I'm also using a few of the visual mods that are available out there, to make the distance landscape look better, to colorize the world map, and to deconsolize the user interface. I don't remember what those mods are called, though.