How do you play oblivion?

[Hunter22]

Im sure its been asked a million times before but which do you prefere?
Personally i edge towards the roleplaying side because looking around this forum many people get uptight about really efficeint levelling and it seems silly
Just my opinion...

[chromalfean]

I'm a bit at a loss on this one, so I voted for a mix because I try to strike some semblance of balance. oblivion makes it hard though because I think I tend to find one avenue insufficient and the other insignificant. I don't particulary like the leveling system in oblivion, and the roleplay strikes me more as minor "filler" and "fluff" material. none of the dialogue is particularly rich or intriguing, and redundant, to say the least.

[Dlarsh]

I guess I prefer a balance. I frequently start a game and immediately power level my character to insane levels (45-50) before doing any quests. This then makes my rp experience much more entertaining since I've got much tougher enemies to fight and much better rewards for the quests I decide to take on. Once I've maxed my attributes, I don't worry about levelling at all, I simply wander the countryside as the hero/villain I want to be.

[King Acunasti]

I roleplay - 100%
I've done just about everything you can do in vanilla Oblivion. Roleplaying is the only thing left to do, and it's pretty darn fun if I do say so myself.

[neo3006]

Personally a little bit of both, i am on a lvl 25 but i got some of skills almost maxed lol, and I enjoy doing it all, trying to get everything out of the game and I love seeing new sites to explore and I am happy about it.

[Bode]

I generally go for role-playing, but it's hard to say I don't play at least a little bit for the levelling. Obviously it factors into your game a huge amount, enemy levels revolve around yours and as you progress you can generally do more, which gives you a little incentive to level. That said, it's a single player game, so I've never quite understood why some people focus so much on getting the most kick butt character when all it's going to be doing is killing NPCs.

[Mattbott]

role play

even when i played d&d with other players (which meant there was 'competition' and a very good reason to toughen yourself up in their company) i never power gamed / efficiently levelled. it's hard to break the habit of a lifetime's rpg-ing

It's an interesting question tho, do you lead your characters development by making an executive decision and altering your behaviour to follow it?
Or does your character and their actions in the various encounters lead your decisions about how your attributes develop? Ultimately it's still your decision because you decide from moment to moment how to deal with a situation and there may or may not be consistency there.

I like to think of efficient levellers as being a bit like monks or some sort of fanatic, devoted to one path, sacrificing all else to attain that perfection, when i role play i enjoy characters with weaknesses as well as strenghts. When your life depends on your weakness, that's where the game gets interesting imo

[Hunter22]

Efficeint levelling just seems silly to me...
People seem to get up tight about getting +5+5+5, and picking the perfect set of major and minor skills...
I pick what i think my character will use and mainly concentrate on these how i think he would and i still get around +3's everytime a level up...
But then again how far do people take there roleplaying?
As on this wiki it even suggests walking (literally) everywhere...
Now that would just annoy me...

[Pavouk106]

I just play and don't care about level and/or attributes. Sometimes I just need (want) to level up, so I just look at my skills and practice the one, which is near its level-up.

I don't care about attributes, skills, health, magicka, fatique - but I care about what I'm wearing, what enchantment it would have and where to go next

EDIT: I don't roleplay as described in wiki, although I have some rules - no fast travel, no assasinations (playing on the good side), try to help in the best way, ... My mage has apprentice robe, relies only on spells, secondary weapon is silver dagger. I'm pleased with her, because she is my first truly mage.

I pick my major skills not for +5+5+5 but to help me and to have at least small control of levelling (not to level very fast). I have +5 INT and +5 WIL almost everytime (due to heavy use of magic). One spare point goes to luck everytime.

[shadow_of_sithis]

Most of the times clever combination but i have my characters meant for roleplaying

[Hex Link]

I chose "A clever combination"

I always plan my characters leveling, BUT I always plan him to the personality I want.
If I want somebody, for example, who is known to be a nice person, but whos actually a thief I plan on getting +5 +5 +1/+5 on Personality, speed and Luck/Agility.

Its sometimes hard to raise a level "perfectly", but I fell bad if I always had a "perfect" level up 10 times in row and then just get a +2 +3 +1

[Sonixboom]

I play my charactor

im currently a shaman, I carry light armor

lots of potions and many many nirnroots (cause ther cool)

But i also level up when im doing quests... so i picked a combination

-Sonix

[Orcishslacker]

I'm a combo. I used to efficient level, until I admitted it was extreamly boring. I knew it was boring but, you know, I wouldn't admit it.

Anyways, I now roleplay mostly, but if I want an easy to train +5 (say, getting +5 speed by training Acrobatics and Athletics) or know I'm close to a +5 naturally, I have my character do a little 'intensive training' (HA, roleplaying!) before leveling up.

[JimmyEX]

I just play the game and enjoy it.
When it's time to level up I choose what I think I'll use.
Whats the point of playing the game just to level up? Don't you think you're missing most of the good stuff if you just concentrate on your stats??

[Hunter22]

I understand what you mean totally but have you never got to about level 20 and just found everything destroys you?
And it gets worse as you get a better level i want to find i can kill the majority of things quicker, as per usual RPG's i kinda like the whole god character thing

[H8Ball]

I answered "A clever combination". My original intention was to answer with flawless Vulcan logic but, due to typical illogical human behaviour, the option "With a mouse and keyboard" was not included... <raises eyebrow>

[mptrj]

I roleplay and don't usually care about leveling. For example, my current RP has 100 in 5 skills, but I never really noticed until now.

[Sein]

I also prefer a balance in between.

But I find leveling much more fun, I also try to limit what I do.
I also try to do higher difficulty once in awhile for more of a challange.

^^

[Hunter22]

As i dont level i usually find that to turn up the difficulty can be suicidal...
Damn that zombie...

[Taters]

I answered "A clever combination". My original intention was to answer with flawless Vulcan logic but, due to typical illogical human behaviour, the option "With a mouse and keyboard" was not included... <raises eyebrow>

Dissapointment is an emotion, and illogical. -raises eyebrow and tents fingertips-

I usually do a mix. I mean, if I was really one of my chars, and I faced certain death at every turn, I think I'd want to make the most of my abilities and skills, wouldn't you?

[Stahlbrand]

I have done both over the years, but my best memories come from a role playing character, the first time I played after installing OOO. I walked -everywhere- with no FT or horse riding, and focused on sidequests and the daedra shrines. I tried to eat and sleep regularly, and had to run from a few scary OOO enemies that significantly out-levelled me. It was a wonderful time spent exploring the wide world, diving into treasure holes, and experiencing the many changes and additions of OOO after having spent so much time with Vanilla Oblivion.

[Jakarius321]

I used to be concerned if I hadn't got my 5/5/5 efficient level up but I soon realised that Oblivion is a game not of numbers but of imagination. Once I had finished all the quests I roleplayed the life out of the game but there's so much stuff to do I don't know if i'll ever get bored. Although it is fun to see your weak character evolve into an ultimate ownage lvl 50 after carefully monitoring your level ups, surely its better to just play the game like a game and enjoy yourself. the last thing i need after double maths at school is predicting whether or not my Oblivion character is going to work in the future.

[Hunter22]

Try quad statistics
And yeah in the end i actually enjoy the oblivion game, but dont you think they could have just put in a better leveling system and so stopped all this worry?

[Neekerisanni]

A clever combination is my choice. I roleplay as my fictional character, a dragon-humanoid hybrid named Shadow. =)

[Tom]

I tend to play however I wish. Sometimes I work on leveling up, and other times I make an attempt at roleplaying (but it always seems to fail miserably). So, I suppose I use "a clever combination" when playing with my main character, Tom. My other newer character, Kendelith, is another story though. I haven't played enough as that character to make a final decision, though.