Like Sat said, autoleveling just sux. Instead of growing up powerful enough to achieve some quests that you wasn't able to previously, you're constantly faced with enemies that match your skill and level. A needless easing and a needless tension. Completely. I just consider Arx Fatalis a perfection from this point of view. I would love to see Oblivion without this.

Btw, I'm on my pause. Haven't played the game quite in a while.

Just to report briefly. In the meantime I did start the Mages Guild quest, and became an Arch-Mage in the end. What I cannot believe is how easy was it to complete it while barely using magic. Now, yeah, it's cool having an Arch-Mage whose magicka is under 100. And the ending was a total fiasco: Every single Wraith was more difficult to get rid of than Mannimarco, who literally fell down and died after few slashes. Faster than a dremora kynreeve, maybe even faster than a brown bear. I was just left to wonder: "is that all?". Junk.

However, there was lot of profit in all this, since I extracted and sold every single glass/silver/ebony/dremora weapon, armor and other stuff I was able to collect, which turned up to rise my finances to over 169k gold. I just decided to get the biggest house available - the one in Skingrad.

In the house, exploration spirit wanted me to accidentally find that note on the top floor and begin quest of finding the hidden treasure. The difficult part was that I have already searched the whole house from the bottom to the top before I found the note, and I didn't expect the hourglass will appear where it wasn't before. Hey, it's a hourglass, not a needle. Here I will again mention that such quests are more realistic in Arx Fatalis (tip: the one with the Rat-Goblin-Treasure). So I do consider it one more poor quest that does not require you to be vigilant or smart but just to presume the stupidest possible option.

Now to the ingame part: I've decided to keep the ring and the rest of things I've found I put in a showcase. I'd like to extend this quest by giving opportunity to the player to give some or all of these jewels to anyone related to the pair mentioned in the note. I'm a benefactor ingame, what can I do.

Oh, yes, there was one more odd thing. Apparently it is dangerous to have two soldiers attacking the same enemy at the same time, because if one hit another hard enough, they might not yield to each other and one will get killed in the end. See the image (61 - Two Imperial Soldiers fighting to death.jpg).

p.s.
Sat, sorry for the lack of cards. Necromancers ain't much better than zombies so the material to be shot was scarce. However, being abundant as shit, they still were good for increasing sneaking, marksman and blade skills. More luck with that some next time I suppose.

Ah yes, pretty weird was that girl, Julienne Fanis, confessing she does not know the reason for which the necromancy has been banned. In a moment I was about to backstab her without any further question, for everyone around was turning to be traitor. But I thought I will kill her anyway later, because at the moment, the only thing I want to do with the DB, is to kill them one by one. And that won't be justified if I behave like one of them.

At my (big) surprise, she didn't show up with the rest of necromantic crap that was to be cleansed, so she still lives. It might have been just a random conversation I could get from just anyone. I will consider it one more flaw of the game.

Questions:
1. Anyone else here completed the mages guild quest? Wanna know how deep shall I discuss some parts of it.
2. `Ox, is there possibility to get DB angry enough to come for you in a bigger pack? I guess these guys quite match what my character is, so as an assassin-on-assassin confrontation it would be most promising of fun. Jumping from roof to roof while shaking sabres in hands comes to mind. Sadly, without patched Oblivion I'm sure I won't have to run away from whatever could possibly come for me. Crap.

I don't think you can draw out the DB for you unless you join them, enter their sanctuary and kill them all.

The first contact for the DB - Lucien Lachance- lives in an abandoned tower somewhere in the forests, but he won't appear there unless you started the DB questline. Sorry.

Yea, yea, I got that finally. Great stuff. In the reality, if someone exist, you just can find him or her considering it might cost you more or less. In Oblivion, everything is so ... gas like. Now you see it, now you don't . Likewise, I wanted to offer a drink to that J'skar when I realized he's probably been removed from the game after completing the mages guild's quest. Nonsense. Why they don't remove some dummy pedestrians if they have to remove something.

If I try to comprehend it from Oblivion's point of view... I shall think of Oblivion as of an selectively open world. Everyone can get in and out, except the player.

I suppose it is the same with the Gray Wolf. That guy deserves having someone rob him to the very last penny. Still he's not to be found anywhere before joining the thieves guild (Infamy points: +1), I guess. Meh, I will have to let it go.

By the way, I finally stumbled on the Shrine of Nocturnal, whose quest seemed ok to me (item retrival, no murder, no nasty Sanguine-like things). I did not know in advance what I am going to get, but I realized I completed one more big step when I got it - the skeleton key. This secures my number of broken lockpicks will remain zero to the end.

By the way, my Infamy is zero too, and I'd like to keep it that way.

Question: is there some spell I can improve underwater sight with? It is really annoying to see three inches far from nose and nothing else.

Btw, a cheat would do fine. I actually started using a cheat frequently to make the game better for me. Guess what it is:

fov 120

I love having wide fov. Still there happens a bug I have to share (67 - Glitch with high FOV.jpg).

p.s.
I just found this one. Cute:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0WYaoTvggJg

Have I said that somehow I like plant very much? The first it is how it looks, the second it is its name and the third it is what it can be used for in Oblivion. See the potion (71 - a potion based on Foxglove.jpg).

By the way, I finally mastered blade weapons (72 - blade mastery.jpg).