Oblivion: The Orrery and Wizards Tower
April 13th, 2006
Well if you were a bit disappointed with Bethesda’s first Oblivion Mod (horsey Armor) fear not. Over on the
Bethesda forums there are details about the upcoming Orrery, and Wizards tower mods. the best thing about these mods is they will cost LESS than the horse armor (price point of: $1.89 or 150 xbox points).
Here are the high points:
The Orrery allows you to help the Mages Guild of Cyrodiil repair the Imperial Orrery, an ancient dwarven machine with mystical properties. Bandits have stolen a shipment of parts destined for the Arcane University; if you can return them, the Orrery will function once more.
Features
* A new, full-featured quest, including dialogue, journals, and rewards
* Access to the Imperial Orrery in the Arcane University, an incredible mechanical marvel
* New powers available for your character based on the phases of the moons
The Wizards Tower
Located high in the Jeral Mountains of Cyrodiil away from prying eyes, this Wizard’s Tower, Frostcrag Spire, will become available. Packed with numerous useful enhancements, this structure will prove invaluable to magic-oriented characters.
Features
* A fully detailed tower for you to explore
* A breathtaking view of Cyrodiil from the highest point in the land
* Simple furnishings including a bed for leveling up
* An indoor botanical garden with over 130 specimens… including Oblivion-native herbs!
* Summon Atronach Familiars that obey your commands
* Instant teleports to every Mages Guild in Cyrodiil
* New Spell and Recharge vendor in the Imperial City
* Fully upgrade the furnishings in your lair to suit your needs
* Upgrade to a fully functional Enchanting and Spellmaking station with no need to join Mages Guild
* Upgrade to a laboratory that buffs your Alchemy skill
New content such as this, in my opinion is worth the money or “points” and I hope Bethesda keeps it up. Considering I am 20hours into Oblivion and going to the main quest only when i have time, it appears that Bethesda will be keeping us busy for a long time to come.
Will this be available for the PC too?
Comment by Russell — April 13, 2006 @ 10:36 am
Of course!
That’s the “$1.89 or 150 xbox points” part. Xbox’ers pay in Disney Dollars, PC Gamers pay in hard US currency.
Comment by Della Bitta — April 13, 2006 @ 10:41 am
These mods will be available for both the PC and xbox next week.
Yup we xbox’ers pay in “Disney Dollars” because its like real money, just fun’er!
Comment by Chris — April 13, 2006 @ 10:47 am
Quick update the Orrery is now available on xbox live. Not sure if its ready for the PC players but its a good chance it is.
Comment by Chris — April 17, 2006 @ 3:10 pm
***SPOILER***
Kotaku has a review of the Orrey content, and lets jsut say it seems to be as big a let down as charging for the mount armor:
“Looks like we spoke too soon about Bethesda learning a lesson from the Horse Mod debacle. Word is that the Orrery mod really sucks.
We’re just going to spoil it for you, so skimmers, beware! This is the quest you get for two dollars, from Oblivion’s forums:
I got a note saying about lost dwemer machinery which told me to go kill bandits at diferrent camps. After about 5 mins of bashing bandits ( which was easy as hell) i was told to go back to the arcane university, talk to a mage woman, then come back in 1 day. Ok so i waited a day went into te orrery seen a giant glowing blue machine ( reminded me of tribunal for some reason) pressed a button on the panal *POOF* i got a spell.
And that’s it. Time from start to finish? Ten minutes. Granted, maybe ten minutes of content is worth two dollars to you. It’s what a cheeseburger costs. But gamers already have an expectation of free, high-quality mod content in Bethesda games and Bethesda charging at all for its embarassing efforts has taken on all of the allure of a gouging in many gamers minds.”
Comment by Chris — April 18, 2006 @ 11:38 am