OblivionModReviews - Tamriel Immersion Experience

Introduction

The mod Tamriel Immersion Experience is different to other overhaul mods. Unlike mods such as OOO, T.I.E aims to enhance the theme of Vanilla Oblivion, rather then change it. It uses almost no new content, but is able to present a noticably different Cyrodiil nonetheless.

Gameplay

I'll be honest. T.I.E is very fun to play through. NPC's and enemies are generally much harder then in Vanilla (though not overly hard or impossible), so in the end, it favours stealth characters as well as encourages out-of-the-box tactics (there's even a book that instructs players on some useful tactics to use in certain situations), but I'll say here and now that with a little forethought, it is possible to get the most out of T.I.E using any character.

It heavily emphasises realism, as an example of what I mean, the weights of various items and weapons are changed, as well as the amount of weight you can carry. It is much more realistic then compared with Vanilla so it is unlikely your character will carry more then 1 full set of armor at a time. No more carrying handfuls of Claymores neither.
At the same time however, it does recognise limits to the enjoyment of "realism", so things like compulsory eating and sleeping are not included in the mod. I think that this is one of T.I.E's biggest strengths: that it has the ability to enhance the sense of realism through such simple measures, while at the same time, doesn't sacrifice enjoyment for it.

Variation is good

The mod adds various things to Cyrodiil's major cities, the most notable things being the influx of new NPC's. While they don't actually do much *for* the player, the way in which they have been added really gives the player the impression that their character is not the centre of the game world, but rather, just another person in this big and open land.

For example, I was travelling to Kvatch by foot and passed by several travellers and merchants, each of which, had their own personal bodyguard to protect them. Now I know what some will say, that's just Tamriel Travellers talking (it's incorporated into the mod) but once I actually reached Kvatch, the Daedra guarding the gate were already dead (making Salvian Matius look like an idiot) and standing idly infront of the Oblivion Gate, to my amazement, was a Wood Elf Sharpshooter and a Dark Elven Warrior. This duo of adventurers actually did something about the Oblivion Threat, on their own terms and by themselves.

A feature that is missing in the entirety of Vanilla Oblivion.

Another add to "realism" was the removal of level scaling, not just stat wise, but it also unlocked all creatures for all levels meaning that liches can be as easily found whether you're level 1 or 20. I always found it stupid, that only certain creatures would appear at certain levels.

Continuing with the Kvatch story, I entered the gate, expecting to fight off a total scamp fest until I reached the central tower (I was level 1 at the time), but within 10 seconds of entering the gate, I had attracted the attention of 2 Clanfears and more importantly, a Daedroth, despite firing 12 arrows into the damn thing, it only took 1 swipe of its huge arm to take me down. That was cool.

So many features!

While I could go on about the large amounts of other features that T.I.E brings to the table such as increased stealth bonuses, pickpockets and thieves that actually steal from other NPC's, realistic arrow trajectory, hordes of new ingredients, a fixed timescale, secret entrances to cities and castles, realistic animal AI, a "knockout" potion, realistic weapon weight, health and damage output; I wont.
In the end, I'd be writing more of a novel then a review.

However, if I ever did have to level a complaint about the mod, it would be about the new NPC's. They all have generic names, which is fine in itself, but they always use titles. "so & so the Virtuous, mr ordinary the landscaper". For some NPC's, it's perfectly fine, but having virtually every NPC named like that, it feels a little immersion breaking, despite immersion being the main focus of the mod.

Functionality

In the Realm of Overhaul functionality, T.I.E rules supreme. Other popular overhauls such as OOO and Francesco's tend to be troublesome to install, T.I.E on the other hand, is quite simple.

T.I.E runs on mostly on vanilla content, so activating it is a simple matter of switching the module on/off and because it uses vanilla content, it rarely has conflict issues.

Since it changes no landmass, it is compatible with UL and changes to the land, since it doesn't change the look of items, it is compatible with item rextures, since the ui is left alone, it is compatible with hud and ui changers, since it adds little new content of its own, the download size is minimal and ingame fps drop is virtually nil.

Couple that with the new Better Cities compatibility patch, and arguably, the only thing that would conflict and bug out the game with the T.I.E overhaul is...other overhauls. And even in the case of other overhauls, Veritas Secreto (the mod's creator) is working with Corepc and others to at least make T.I.E compatible with MMM.

Conclusion

I can tell that so far, I have been sounding like a total T.I.E fanboy, I won't deny it, I love this mod, but when looking at it from an objective standpoint, T.I.E offers no real negatives and lots of positives.

The thing about T.I.E is that nothing is particularly new or different, but everything is done better. At a miniscule 2mb (yes only 2mb), it is probably the best content for size mod around. It not only gives the impression of a polished and living Cyrodiil via minor tweaks, but since it's merged with TNR and Tamriel Travellers it means that NPC's even look better. While it's nowhere near as deep or filled to the brim with new content like OOO, it is still able to add considerable depth to the world of Oblivion.

Enjoyment via Immersion. Immersion via Realism. That's the message I believe T.I.E gives to the player, and it works. The NPC naming is a really just a shallow personal preferrence, and it shouldn't distract anybody from enjoying the mod.

I recommend this to anyone looking for an overhaul but mostly importantly, for people who are new to the Oblivion modding scene. While it is classed as an overhaul, it tries to stay true to the spirit of Vanilla Oblivion, and as a result, is easy to play and understand.

If you are interested in this mod, you can download it Here,

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