A Brief Foreword

Ah, at last, my grand project begins. Here I go again with my guides. This time I intend to do a complete guide of Oblivion, Knights of the Nine,  and Shivering Isles. Now that my time is free up, I can do this. Let's begin with the first full expansion for one of the best games ever made.

The Shivering Isles expansion is something special. It is almost as if you play a new game, a completely new game within the same universe. If you  dare step into the mouth of Madness, be prepared to succumb to the strange  new world.    There's little to say about the game if you've played Oblivion. It's the same gameplay and the same graphics, only the setting has changed to what can either be a lush landscape of color, or a macabre swampland, you will play in both. That is the main theme of the game, light or dark, but in the case of the Isles, it is which form of insanity you hail from. Do you prefer to torture someone with images of their death until they go mad, or do you wish that they take the plunge through eternal and never ending bliss? It's your choice, all I'm here to do is help you either way.    Great game, a must play, now let's jump in.

See you on the otherside,

TheGum

Kinda pointless, but it's traditions 'round here.

+++++++++++ PC Controls +++++++++++

Well, for the PC you can't go wrong with any kind of setup.

Here is mine:

	Action PC Control Xbox 360 Control Activate E  A Journal Tab  B Ready Weapon F  X Jump Space  Y Cast Q  RB Attack Left Mouse  RT Block Right Mouse  LT Grab Z  LB Sneak C  Clisk LS Third Person Middle Mouse  Click RS Wait T  Back Pause Esc  Start Move WASD keys  LS Look Mouse  RS Hotkeys  1: sword, 2: bow, 3: destruction spell, 4: heal spell, 5: summon,  etc..  Whatever works for you

To make hotkeys, have your mouse over the item in your menu and then press   the number.

Caps Lock switches slow and fast moving.

General Starter Tips

Some advice for playing Oblivion in general, and some helpful tips for  entering the Isles.

• I like to have Armorer, Blade, Conjuration, Destruction, (your favorite)   Armor, Marksman, and Sneak, all as my major skills.
• Armorer because as you progress through the game you will pick up magic items,  and until you reach 50 skill points for Armorer you will not be able to  repair them on your own; you can just take them to a local smith, but  the Isles tend to send you on long quests.
• Blade, Heavy/Light Armor, and Marksman because all three are skills you need.
• Conjuration and Destruction because those are tools you must take advantage of  in this game. Conjuration gives you an extra buddy in every fight, and  Destruction because you will always want magic as a weapon.
• I am always partial to Sneak, mainly because it will often get you a free   attack worth X3 the damage; and then you stand up and start fighting  with your sword and whatever. Also, you can avoid some encounters and  you need to sneak in some quests anyway.
• You level up by furthering these (or whatever) major skills you choose.
• Each time you level up, your health increase is relative to your Endurance   stat. Basically, get your Endurance high early and the health will rise  faster.
• Intelligence and Willpower contribute to your Magicka, so increase those as  well.
• Breton is a good starter race, and The Lady is a solid starter birthsign;   whatever you do as a new player, don't choose the Atronach!
• It matters a little which gender you choose, but don't worry, it's okay if you  want to watch a little girl run around fighting orcs, at least   someone's years of fantasy fiction will come to life...
• When taking on any of the numerous dungeons, you don't really want to explore  the whole thing, there is little need to. You only need to get the   quest done as quickly as possible and retreat. The rewards for all the  time and fighting you spend will be small. Just finish quests as   quickly as possible if you want to move onto more, and this game is  pumped full of plenty of quests.
• Make sure to repair your things with Repair Hammers often, and consider making  it a habit after every decent battle.
• Save often no matter what. The computer game glitches up a lot for me, and the  only solution I've found is to save often and when a save doesn't load,  I just keep going back in my saves until one works. Also, I find it  best to save in four blocks for each game, and just overwrite the   oldest ones first. If you run into the game freezing up a lot, start  using about ten or so saves and save after you complete quests.
• You can (by default) press the T button to fast-forward time.
• For you PC players out there, don't play for too long or you might run into  crashes like I did. Learn to limit gameplay to avoid messups.
• Pressing F5 after completing missions is a good habit, but be sure to save in  normal slots as well.

Expansion Tips --------------

• It would be a good idea to save your game right before you step into the   door, and then never overwrite it; just in case something happens  with glitches and what not.
• It may be best to work your character up to at least level ten or so before  you take on the Isles. Run around the cities, take on the main quest,  and then enter the door when you have the ability to repair your   equipment and whatnot. There is no perfect level, and you can enter  the Isles at level one, but it's all on you.
• Whatever you do, do not enter the Isles with magic equipment and not have a  50 Armorer rating (so don't do the Knights of the Nine quest first).
• Basically, I played the KotN quest and then went into the door, and it was not  fun having to rely on the smiths to repair all my stuff.
• If you play it safe and you ever run into Flawless Pearls along the way, keep  them for one side quest.
• Not much sense in stealing stuff in the Isles, unless you want to constantly  leave and come back. Or, go ahead so long as you don't commit any  crimes (crimes are when you get caught), or you don't mind the dead  weight.
• Don't forget to visit the magic shop of Crucible to get some stuff that you  can't find anywhere else. Like some unique spells and some summons.
• When you get Dawnfang/Duskfang, kill 12 creatures to power the thing up.

Walkthrough Notes

This is for the main quest only, on default difficulty settings.

I can't stress it enough, you need to get some meat on your bones, get some dirt on your shoes, break in that new couch... whatever you call it, just  don't say I didn't warn you if you have no fun while visiting the Shivering Isles.

For all the quests, I will assume you have the quest selected as your active quest. Those arrows pointing you along makes my job possible.

It's not my intention to spoil the game, and if I can I'll try to avoid it altogether, but I might slip up here and there.

For now, the first draft will be my only known way to get through the main  story quests. I don't give proper attention to the differences in the two sides to choose from, but I did pretty good.

<< Back to the Articles

Page 1 of 16 1 : A Brief Foreword 2 : Finding the Portal 3 : A Better Mousetrap 4 : Understanding Madness 5 : The Cold Flame of Agnon 6 : Retaking the Fringe 7 : Rebuilding the Gatekeeper 8 : The Helpless Army 9 : Symbols of Office 10 : The Roots of Madness 11 : Side Quests: Bliss 12 : Side Quests: Crucible 13 : Side Quests: Fellmoor & Hale 14 : Side Quests: Split, Vitharn 15 : Enemies 16 : Credits

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