Ascension - Immersive Vanilla 'Overhaul'

The Glory of Cyrodiil

Requirements:

Shivering Isles

xOBSE

Introduction

This one has been a long time coming.

It may not appear so at first glance, but this is the culmination of about four years of work (on, but mostly off). This mod has been overhauled, renamed, and remade several times throughout these years, as I sought to create a definitive vanilla-inspired balance 'overhaul'. Many mods have been released during this time span which do similar things, but I found none of them really gave me what I was looking for. I want the game to still look and feel like the Oblivion I know and love—the Oblivion I first played over ten yours ago with a sense of wonder. I don't want fancy new items or heavily scripted features which change how the game fundamentally plays. I want something I can build onto with other mods if I want to, or can just use on its own perfectly fine.

Ascension aims to create the definitive, well-crafted, immersive vanilla Oblivion experience. Loot has been thoroughly overhauled so that rare equipment is actually rare, dungeons feel rewarding, enemies and loot no longer stop spawning at higher levels, underused gameplay aspects are made more worthwhile, and difficulty has been subtly increased overall. The sense of progression you receive from levelling up and journeying through Cyrodiil should feel much greater now (Shivering Isles is also fully supported). Heavy inspiration was taken from Morrowind‘s game balance, but every change was made to conform to the following three criteria:

• []Is it necessary?

  []Does it fit with the vanilla look, feel, and game systems?

• And, most importantly, is it fun to play?

  I have for the longest time been conflicted as to whether this mod was worth the effort to release, given its scope, the documentation I’d need to compile, and the age of the Oblivion modding scene. However, given that I’ll soon be starting a new career and life, and that my Oblivion modding campaign is drawing to an end, I thought it best that I release it at last to get some closure on the project.

  I hope you guys enjoy the mod as much as I have, and get at least one more good playthrough of Oblivion out of it.

  PushTheWinButton

  (Note: The name Ascension is taken from the exploration track in the game called "Auriel's Ascension". This track only plays on the PC version and, since I first played the game on an Xbox 360, it took me by surprise the first time I heard it. This melancholy tune has stuck with me ever since. The