If you don't know, I hated Morrowind and Oblivion and only had the urge to buy Skyrim after watching SEPHxFORxLIFE on YouTube. Anyway, I loved Skyrim, but never felt the urge to go back and try Morrowind and Oblivion a second time.

Well today I came across it for fairly cheap and bought the game. Skyrim is what actually pulled me into TES games, so I felt like I knew what I was doing. Instinctively I chose what I was in Skyrim: A Nordic Warrior with Light Armor with a Sword-Shield combo.

Fought my way out of that dungeon, and finally found myself outside the Imperial City. In other words, I am enjoying this game so far.



1. In Skyrim I earned money through completing dungeons and looting fallen bodies. How should I go about getting money in Oblivion?
2. Am I high enough level (level 1...) to start doing the main quest, or should I do some of the Guild's stuff first?
3. Where do I view my perks?
4. Is Cyrodil larger or smaller than Skyrim?
5. Any tips or advice you'd like to give me? Ways I should go about leveling, getting gold, when and where to buy better equipment, etc...

1. You get money in Oblivion by completing dungeons and looting fallen bodies, just like Skyrim.
2. You can start the main quest right away without much trouble if you want to, but I would encourage you to spend plenty of time in the guilds, as their quest lines are much longer and much more rewarding than in Skyrim.
3. Oblivion has no perk system. However, as your skills increase you will unlock a few special abilities automatically. You will be prompted when this happens.
4. Cyrodiil is roughly 50% larger than Skyrim.
5. Don't be afraid to turn down the difficulty as needed. Oblivion has a pretty broken leveling system which will make the game almost impossibly hard as you progress.

1. Same thing here, killing dudes and sellin' their stuff is the best way to get money
2. Unless you've got mods changing it, there is enemy level scaling. This means that the game attempts to have them fight you on an even level...meaning that level 1 is fine for doing anything.
3. There are no perks like in skyrim. You get special bonuses to most skills at every 25 levels...25,50,75, and 100.
4. I'm not really sure on the exact numbers. I enjoy cyrodiil more because it has more diverse terrain.
5. The best advice I can give is to get some mods. Oblivion is a wonderful game, but there are some issues I'd have with the vanilla game. For player leveling, I like oblivion xp, and OOO is the go-to overhaul that takes care of enemy scaling.

Glad to hear you are enjoying it. Maybe all you needed was a fresh perspective on the game. I know I LOVED this game for about month and a half, but then later on the leveling (the way the entire world of Cyrodiil tends to level up with the character) started to bug me. Oblivion's leveling is not as diverse as Skyrim's...

But I don't wanna go down that road. YOu'll see what I mean. Either you'll like it or you'll hate it.

1). You can still do all the things you did in Skyrim for cash. So that includes dungeon-diving, making potions for sale, and selling items for gold. The only thing you cannot do (off the top of my head) is work. No wood-chopping, no smithing, no mining, etc.

2). You can do the MQ whenever you like. I personally would wait a bit, explore the game and the world for a good while. There's no rush to get it done early.

3). There are no perks. This is an old-school RPG, my friend. There are skill advances, and at Apprentice (25) Journeyman (50), Expert (75) and Master (100) the game allows us new things our characters can do. We don't get a choice with these, though, like we do with Sky's perk system.

4). I've heard Skyrim is bigger and smaller. I dunno...they're pretty close in size.

5). DO NOT Fast-travel heavily. Explore on foot or horseback. There's LOTS to find out there. If you stick with this game for awhile, your character will wind up being so rich. In this respect, both Oblivion and Skyrim are the same.

....

1. Much the same way. Looting Ayleid Ruins and caves can make you very rich.
2. Of course! My character started it around level 2, and some folks here have started it at much higher levels. You can start it whenever you like.
3. There aren't any perks like in Skyrim. Instead, you automatically gain 'perks' when levelling up. For example, when you reach level 25 in a certain skill, a message will pop up saying '... You're now an apprentice in X skill!'
4. Larger from memory. It has a huge draw distance though, meaning you can basically see across the province. This makes it feel a little smaller ... Honestly, I'd say Skyrim FEELS bigger, but only just.
5. Take your time! Explore! Don't worry about being rich, powerful or anything like that. Just enjoy Cyrodiil, meet the people, explore the world and everything else will pretty much fall into place.

Welcome to Cyrodiil!

What the others said I mostly agree with.

On the number 5 thing ("broken" leveling): It's true and it isn't. New players usually find that the game gets harder as they level up, because enemies are also leveling. This can be dealt with by turning down the difficulty gradually as needed, or by making sure you advance just those skills you actually need. In other words, don't try to level fast, and make sure that you keep upgrading your equipment. You can't run around in a rusty iron suit and expect to stand up to enemies who are using Dwarven axes.

As you get more experienced with the game, you will find that there really isn't any leveling problem at all. The game is rich with ways to deal with strong enemies, and you will know how to manage, so you start welcoming the challenge.

This is cool, but it doesn't address what I was talking about up above. Here, I'll put it in spoiler tags, just in case the OP wants it to be a surprise.

1. Same way. Dungeon crawling can be very lucrative.
2. I highly recommend delaying the main quest until at least level 18 or so, and maybe when you finish one or two guild questlines. Both from a role play and loot perspective
3. When you level up a skill to a new level (apprentice, journeyman, expert, master) the pop up tells you what perk you get. Or you can use the wiki.
4. I believe Skyrim is slightly smaller than Cyrodill (not counting DLC/Expansions/Planes of Oblivion). Skyrim is purported to "feel" larget because the mountains cause you to circle around alot vs a direct line. To me it feels smaller than Cyrodiil.
5. Tips: save often and keep several saves around. Like from before you start a quest or just after you start it. Also recommend keeping some older saves around just in case. In the character build recommend not putting all three skills of an attribute as majors, that can hurt leveling (though it is counter intuative). Also consider using mods like OOO, MMM, nGCD, retexture ( eg Quarls).

Of course it doesn't! Look at the time stamps on our posts. I was composing mine when you posted yours.

One huge new facet of Skyrim is work...it's something I'm missing as I'm returning to Cyrodiil tonight, gotta admit.

I've got a character in Skyrim who really enjoys menial, everyday work. He's a male nord, of course, and he's had several wood-chopping sessions, some of which last an entire day. it's possible to earn lots of money this way, if you don't mind activating a wood stump over and over.

I'm also missing smithing. Lady Saga would no-doubt enjoy making jewelery, I think.

Renee, I understand and respect what you are saying, but I’m okay with the new creatures and gear appearing for a couple reasons:

1. I level slowly enough (+20 hours per level) that it seems very gradual and therefore softens the changes a great deal.

2. I time our story so the bigger changes are in response to the OB Crisis. Stronger creatures are mostly Kynareth’s response to the what the crisis is doing to her forests. Her bears and minotaurs become bigger and she creates guardians of the forest (spriggans) to help defend the land. I chuckle as I imagine that land dreughs might be the perverse result of mudcrabs and daedroths somehow mating (Hee!). As far as bandits and marauders sporting better equipment, I attribute that to the larger number of rich adventurers roaming the lands closing gates for the generous bounty offered for each sigil stone (roleplaying of course). And bandits/marauders lying in wait to relieve them of their loot and fancy armors/weapons. I also stop leveling before glass and daedric become commonplace and am very happy with that.

I use mods but have never felt the need for any mods that change how the primary character or the world level up.

Glargg, I couldn’t agree more that how difficult the game becomes as you level depends on how wisely you level which, not surprisingly, can depend on one's experience. As the saying goes, ‘Learn the system and it will set you free’. As you well know, if you level smarter than your foes, you will grow stronger than they do. The converse is also true, which can frustrate new players. As discussed here on the forum many times, quite a few of us intentionally ‘gimp’ our characters to adjust our desired level of challenge. I find Oblivion stunningly flexible.

The other thing that makes the leveled world less "jarring" for me is the simple fact that I alternate among several active characters. Since the characters are at different levels, and living different "stories," it doesn't bother me to see Minotaur Lords in Etta's world, Trolls on the road for Barb-Ann, and rats for Randy (he's a cat anyway, so why would he complain about a few rats...?)

Acadian, I see it the same way. The bandits' fancy armor and weapons are obviously stolen, and I know exactly where it's all coming from. My character, and other similar Adventurers, are dragging this stuff out of ancient "holes" and selling it to merchants. Wealthy people are buying it from the merchants, thinking it will protect them from bandits and marauders. It doesn't; they die (I see their skeletons everywhere) and the bandits are better-dressed than before.

It's only "jarring" if I jump to the wrong conclusion that my character is the only person saluaging and selling high-level gear. I know that conclusion is wrong, because of several encounters with other Adventurers, dead and alive, in dungeons.