Do any of these mods go beyond being an FPS with swords? I mean do any of them actually allow you to roleplay rather than just following a strict path and killing everything in your way?
Oblivion on its own allows you to do a few other things (especially with mods). Nehrim allows crafting and a bunch of other things. Ive not personally played these to any extent and threw this thread together because I wanted opinion/suggestions/comments etc.
Nehrim seems to have gone out of its way to avoid making you do the main story at any given time (Oblivion sorta forces you).
Ultimately they will still be a lot like Oblivion. They use the same engine and therefore will have many similarities but the quests/lore/lands and features will all be different.
Like I pointed out the Lord of the Rings conversion is trying to implement a mount and blade type combat system and they are doing a great job. The Mod DB site has a few small vids showing some horse combat, spear implementation (hardly shown) and formations.
Here is part of the Nehrim readme
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Content of Nehrim
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Nehrim offers you a completely new world to explore that has nothing in common with Oblivion. It
is a completely new game that can easily occupy 40-50 hours of game play and includes:
· a new continent that is as big as the world of Oblivion, completely constructed by hand,
· an extensive main quest that takes you to all parts of the country and beyond (or under it),
· a number of side quests, which will also lead you far and wide,
· professional sound recording throughout the game,
· a new, self-composition soundtrack,
· new videos,
· a new game play feeling due to an experience points based leveling system in place of the
Oblivion level scaling,
· new armor and weapons, some of which are specially designed for a particular class,
· new graphic effects.
How Nehrim is different from Oblivion
Nehrim makes some changes to the game mechanics. It is advisable to understand these changes
because this will give you a more enjoyable game playing experience.
· The difficulty slider is strongly defused and will cause only minimum changes.
· Bows do more damage than in Oblivion.
· Sneak attacks also cause more damage.
· Naturally, the player will also thereby receive more damage. Therefore dodge and blocking
are very important.
· Magic is now a more powerful tool. There are spells that you can use to easily keep
opponents at bay. Fire balls can knock down opponents and ice spells can freeze them. The
damage inflicted by spells is generally higher than in Oblivion.
· Blocking is more effective than in Oblivion because it absorbs more damage.
· There is no conjuration magic in Nehrim. It might still be included later.
· In Oblivion your skills increased based on how often you used them. In Nehrim they
increase very slowly with use, therefore you must raise skills with the help of trainers. This
training costs you learning points (each time you level up you gain some) and gold (where
you get that from is up to you). The teachers can only train your skill up to the level of 90,
after that you must raise them by use.
· You raise your level by gaining experience points. These you get by solving quests,
defeating enemies, discovering places, opening locks and crafting items or goods.
· There are fewer Quest markers than in Oblivion.
· You cannot use a fast travel system like that of Oblivion – to move quickly, you can ride a
donkey or horse or use various teleport spells.
· If you encounter a teacher, this will be noted in your journal so you can find them again
quickly.