Going back to Cyrodiil

I just started to play Oblivion the anniversary edition this week on my PS3. I hadn't played TES in a while and despite being 5 year old game, I still think it kicks ass. There really aren't too many games that are this open, while being manageable and fun. I wanted to see how the ps3 version compared to the PC version. Overall it's not too bad, I probably still prefer playing it on a PC because I think a mouse does the job better in this UI. I also wanted to level my character carefully this time to optimize it as much as I can. So far I've learned a few things. Firstly that apparently you can't cure vampirism in Oblivion GotY edition (PS3), and since this version is basically the GotY game I had to restart my first game which is annoying.

I also started my first game by picking major skills choosing one from each attribute since I read people recommending that for balanced builds. I also tried to pick mostly things I didn't use much so I had better control of my leveling. Well it didn't work very well because I was still using some of those skills even if it wasn't a lot. I ended up picking a fairly different class the second time around. This is what I chose:

Armorer, hand to hand, alteration, illusion, acrobatics, light armor, speech

The alchemy was a good choice for me since this skill is fairly easy to raise and very controllable. Acrobatics was also a clever pick I think since I just have to avoid jumping all the time and when I do want those point I just have to hop around for a few minutes. Armorer is also easy to control but can be a bit slow to go up at times.

For those that don't know how efficient leveling works, all it is is that you try to get a +5 to 3 attributes every time you level. This ensures you build a strong character. In a perfect world that's done by raising 10 skill points in 3 attribute related skills being 10 in major skills and 20 in minors. However, it's almost impossible to do this and have fun, so try to do this as closely as you can without loosing your hair. The most important things to remember is to not ding before you get all the minor skills you need for the level. Don't level too many minor skills that you won't upgrade attribute, there should be enough skills anyway in the game but it is still a finite number. Lastly, stamina goes up by a %age every level so if you get the most HP early you will end with more stamina in the end, hence +5 endurance early is a good thing.

My hints: Getting +5 luck to begin with is not a bad gig... Luck can only go up 1 at a time when you level so getting +5 is equivalent to 5 dings. You don't need to max out Luck because you can always use potions and other consumables. Also, since I mentioned luck, remember to use luck boosters before entering dungeons for the first time. That's when the game rolls the loot and having more luck can be useful in those cases.

More hints: I like to do the mages guild initiation fairly early in my games, I just really like having the benefits of enchants and so forth which can be very handy.