Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

If you're an old veteran at the series, or have bought the game guide, these tips probably won't be anything spectacular.  For newbies at the series (like me), these are a couple of tips that might help you out in the long run.

I play the PC version - from everything I've seen the X-box 360 and PC versions are identical, but figured I'd mention that just in case...

Good stat boosts - The amount a stat goes up if you choose to increase it when you level is decided by the number of skill advances in your skills you've had that are tied to that stat.  I.E. - get a lot of blade increases, you'll have a bigger gain to your strength stat the next time you level.  The skills do NOT have to be your 7 primary skills.  So, just as an example , if you wanted to get your Willpower stat up because you're not regaining manna fast enough, you could buy a low-level Alteration spell (since Alteration is tied to Willpower) and cast that spell over and over.  If you've got a low Alteration skill (because it's not one of your primary skills), you'll level that skill very quickly (and it won't affect whether or not you advance a character level) and the next time you do level up you'll have a larger increase to Willpower.  Destruction spells must be cast at an enemy to level, so that's a bad one to try and 'spam' for a stat boost.

Easy gold - doing the mage guild quests to try and get into the University can be tedious, but it's very much worth doing (especially if you're a caster class).  Along the way, you've got to visit every Mage Guild in Cyrodiil.  With the exception of one of the guilds, you can loot anything within the guild to then go and sell for extra gold (handy, since you'll be wanting to buy some of the expensive spells in these places unless you're a totally non-magic character).  The best loot I've found so far are the 4 pieces of alchemy gear that you'll find scattered all over the place.  They have a market value of 50-100 gold each, so just go around until you're encumbered, sell, rinse and repeat.  Often you can even sell them in the same guild you stole them from.  Just make sure your hand icon isn't red and you're in the clear...

Just because a skill isn't one of your main 7 doesn't mean you can't use it.  A lot of the magic schools have low-level spells that are very handy to have (summon skeleton, a low-level conjuration spell, is great to have the first couple of levels; everyone starts with the minor heal spell; and you'll really get tired of having to use a torch all the time, so unless you're playing a kitty you'll want some kind of light spell eventually).  Take advantage of the fact that you can learn any skill, Apprentice level isn't that hard to get to with a little practice...

Poisons can be applied to your weapon for a one-shot dose.  Applying it to your bow makes your next shot poisoned.  Just select the poison like you'd select a beneficial potion.

Power Leveling can be deadly.  If you raise your level too quickly, without the loot to buy the good spells/equipment that reflects your level, you might find yourself getting outclassed by your opponents (as a lot of the enemies you face will scale with your level, and they don't have to pay for better stuff it seems).

Okay, those are my random notes for now.  Any others out there want to share some good tips with the rest of us?

Kev

Behold the Obliv-O-Map:

Overburdened by alchemy components?  Start making potions on the spot!  Almost always a potion weighs less that the components required to make it.  Start cranking out potions.  Even seemingly useless stuff like rat meat (found on dead rats) makes a great poision that can be sold for resonable gold, weighs next to nothing, and ups your alchemy skill as you make it.

Once you get to "Aprentice" alchemy, you'll be ready to create a very handy potion: Detect Life.  I didn't study the school of magic that has dectet life, and this poition proves VERY useful.  Not only can you see the glow of life through walls, but you can also see the glow of life from invisible creatures.  EXTREMLY handy.  The best part?  The ingredients are very common: bread, tomatos, oranges, and rat meat all work (secondary abilities).  As Kevin said, if you are a member of a guild, you can help yourself to ANYTHING in the guild halls.  The tables are always full of tasty food, which is great for components.

Combat tips:

My biggest mistake when I first started playing was standing still. I treated Oblivion as most other RPG's: I'll just stand here and swing and block and let the game roll the dice....

Survey says? Bizzt you die.

If you don't find yourself paying attention to your fatigue, you ain't using any fancy footwork. Jump, run away, circle, strike again, keep moving in combat. It really is an action game. Once you start doing this, you'll notice that your fatigue goes down more often than your health, and you'll save yourself a lot of money on armor repair.

Some of my most fun encounters have been ranged combat, dodging their spells and arrows while I return fire with mine. Use cover and keep moving.

Outnumbered?

Many adventures go along fine until they find themselves out numbered in combat...now what?  It's tough because the AI is good, and one guy will keep you busy facing him while the other will try to get behind to avoid your shield.

Tip 1: if you have the room, keep moving and fall back, keep them in front of you and use range weapons if you have them.  Arrows and splash damage spells (like fireball) are great.  Don't be afraid to try to run between to of them and fall back in the other direction.

Tip 2: Frenzy: Frenzy rocks, I was screwed on a quest until I pulled out a forgotten frenzy scroll.  It will make an enemy attack anyone near by.  Cast this on one of your opponents and run.  He'll start going at it with one of his friends.  If you turn and help him, you make take out one or two before the spell wears off.  Once it does, he'll be after you, but he's wounded now.

Tip 3: Command - Like frenzy, but better because the creature joins your side. 

Tip 4: Encumber - This spell adds weight to the targets items.  You crank it high enough and the guy can't move.  I've seen AI strip off it's armor to get light enough to come after you.  Clever, but at least you do more damage.

Tip 5: Use the environment - Terrain can be deadly.  I've killed guys by pushing them back into lava or knocking them from a bridge into a pond.  

Tip 6: Stealth - the classic 'agro pull' trick sometimes works, but not if the enemies can see each other.  Hide and wait until one of the guys is away from the pack, then shoot him with an arrow.  Sometimes he will come after you without his friends.  You can thin the herd before the big fight this way.

Good luck!

Fresh from the X-box forums:
----------------------------------------

As some of you might know you can use the LB to grab items in the oblivion world. This is fun for propping up bodies and decorating your house, but really not that useful. I have figured out a way to make it at least marginally helpful in playing the game.

When you're doing a dungeon crawl I'm sure you find more loot to sell/keep than your character can carry around, forcing you to leave pieces of gear strewn around the dungeon in various corpses/containers/on the ground. What I have been doing is dragging a body around the dungeon with me, and putting all the items i find into his inventory. When I'm done with the dungeon I drag the body right to the front door, load up as much as possible, exit and fast travel to the nearest town to sell/unload in a house. Then fast travel back to the dungeon, walk in the front door and the body will still be laying there with the rest of your loot. Just keep travelling back and forth until you unload it all (usually takes about 2-4 trips depending on your strength and amount of loot you find)

The body will stay there for about 3 game days until the dungeon rests. At higher character levels, you start finding a crazy amount of good gear and this can make each dungeon crawl worth 5-10k instead of the normal 2-4k leaving things behind.

Another from the Xbox forums, this one is the "Jedi Mind Trick":

Recently I found a video showing a guard who tried the usual arrest you and so on.  In the video the character resisted aest and cast a spell on the guard which made him your fiend and he looked the other way and cleared your fines/bounty.

I would like to bring this spell to everyone.  The first step is to join the mages guild by getting all required recomendations.  Then get a charm spell and head to the spell maker in the arcane university.  You can then create a charm spell with 100 power.  This can be made cheap and magic efficient by cutting the duration down.  I used about 4 seconds.

To test this I attacked the guard in the area. I followed the procedure and it worked splendidly.  Not only that but the rest of the mages guild attacked  him and I was able to take his armor and everything.