Vampiric delights for Oblivion

By Paul Loughrey Published 12 July, 2006

Vile Lair expansion announced.

Bethesda is throwing more content into the world of Oblivion this week, this time focusing on the night walker community with a secret underwater lair for those afflicted with vampirism.

A safe haven for the victims of porphyric haemophilia, the Vile Lair will include a human cattle pen to allow players to satiate their thirst for the red stuff, as well as a botanical bounty of dark flora such as the notorious Chokeberry.

The multi-level cavern, apparently once the home of one of the most notorious vampires of olden time, Greywyn Blenwyth, also includes a shrine to Sithis which will heal your diseases and afflictions. If you fancy, you can also hire a Dark Minion, who will head out and find you some cash in what Bethesda describes as "a most unseemly manner".

If you're tired of chewing on necks and avoiding the sun's glare, there's also something known as the "font of renewal", promising the ability to purge yourself of vampirism without the need to undertake that enormously lengthy quest to find rare ingredients and dark soul gems. If only they'd released this sooner...

Like the majority of early add-ons for the game, Vile Lair will roll out at US$ 1.89 or 150 Microsoft Points for the Xbox 360 version. All being well, it should be available on both platforms from tomorrow. May the shadows hide you, etc, etc.

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About Paul Loughrey

Read more articles from Paul by visiting the Paul Loughrey archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bauhaus #1 6 years ago

    Milk it

  • Nebularhaze #2 6 years ago

    How about the patch for Spain Bethesda!!?!?!?!!

    /really pissed off about this

  • Thamuhacha #3 6 years ago

    To be honest, the "Posh hideout" mod is wearing a bit thin now

    I'd take a major new campaign / big quest (and no, the Orrery thing didn't count)

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #4 6 years ago

    Sounds like a nice patch, if YOU'RE EVIL.

  • GamerAddict #5 6 years ago

    I've not bought a single one of these add-ons, I think its an absolute OUTRAGE for the same reasons as everyone else has stated. I was good enough to fork out £50 of my hard earned money for what is turning out to be an incomplete game by all accounts!!!!

    If I'd bought all these extras would it not have cost me in the region of £70 now?! Unacceptable..........and I'm afraid M$ are partly to blame for this for allowing this premium content nonsence on their marketplace in the first place!!!

  • IAmBatman #6 6 years ago

    Ha ha, it's like a Daily Mail letter.

  • bigbadbeasty #7 6 years ago

    I hate to say it.

    But if you do not like it, do not buy it. Nobody is forcing you to purchase these add-ons.

    You cannot say Oblivion was an unfinished game, it is fantastic, and a joy to play.

  • mattigan #8 6 years ago

    GamerAddict, how long have you spent playing Oblivion so far? I'll wager that you've allready played it for far longer than may other £50 games out there, if you don't want to fork out any more cash then thats all well and good, you can sell the game on Ebay or leave it sitting on the shelf gathering dust. Personally I don't own a 360 or Oblivion for PC, but I think that being given the option to extend the gaming experience past the norm is a good thing, and devs shouldn't be expected to do this for nothing.

    I wouldn't go to a restaurant, pay for my main course then expect to order something else on the menu and get it for free!

  • 2099net #9 6 years ago

    Are they going to do anything about the disc scratching? Three copies of mine have been scratched by the 360.

  • Ryuken #10 6 years ago

    "I wouldn't go to a restaurant, pay for my main course then expect to order something else on the menu and get it for free! "

    What would that something else be then? Imo asking for some more sauce/french fries (which should be free) next to the main menu is 'comparable' with this kind of mini-content for Oblivion.

    Sure, we have the choice of not buying it and Oblivion is already gigantic (although bugged and deeply flawed without the necessary mods) but that counts for Morrowind too. Some years back Bethesda could afford it to make small free plugins for that game, why not now for Oblivion which seems to have even more success because of the hype/mainstream feel to it. This kind of 'splitting up the payed content' is a bit ridiculous and damned shameful. The only 'free' thing we got was the patch which didn't solve too much either.

  • yagisencho #11 6 years ago

    Out of curiosity, are your 360s standing vertically or laying horizontally when the disc scratching occurs?

    (I don't have a 360 yet, but have heard similar woes from users of all vertically-mounted consoles.)

  • Aria #12 6 years ago

    "Are they going to do anything about the disc scratching? Three copies of mine have been scratched by the 360."

    When you move the Xbox 360 from a vertical position to a horizontal position, or vice-versa, while the system is on, the inserted disc may brush against the drive's pickup-assembly and incur scratches to its reflective coating. The Xbox 360's user manual specifically warns against moving the system while it is powered on. Microsoft doesn't replace scratched game discs, because they do not own the rights to some games. However they do offer a free copy of a Microsoft Game Studios Xbox 360 as a replacement for scratched disks. Also consoles equipped with the Toshiba-Samsung manufactured drive may experience dislodging of the disc when the console is tilted with a game inserted. This could damage your disc as well as your drive. Users with drives manufactured by Hitachi-LG have only reported damaged discs. The most sensible advice is to not risk it and simply not move the console while it is in a powered-up state, or with a disc inserted.
    OK???!!!
    Edited by 2 at 12/07/06 @ 20:48

  • immateriaux #13 6 years ago

    I have never bought any of the official mods but it continually does amaze me the wailing and gnashing of teeth that goes with the announcement of these small, cheap mods. Perhaps my willpower exceeds the average and thus I do not feel the compulsion to go buy them all, though if they do pack them all up later and sell them cheaply I might then be drawn alright.

    However, either way, I can't see how not having an underwater vampire lair has lessened the impact, or general excellence, of the original game in any way and if Bethesda wish to try gain a steady trickle of income this way then it remains totally in the hands of the buyers whether that will be a successful strategy or not.

    (This particular one sounds kind of okay, in a wholesome, game playing, gruesome way...)

  • Krun #14 6 years ago

    another quest like the razor one would be nice. Played it twice though now.

  • ilmaestro #15 6 years ago

    This sounds like a fairly good idea for some extra content, ignoring the various arguments about whether or not it's worth actually paying for.

  • foxy2006 #16 6 years ago

    cure for vampirism...me like lots

  • Peew971 #17 6 years ago

    @ Ryuken. Some years back, Bethesda was offering free Morrowind plugins for the PC alone. If now they were giving free plugins to PC gamers while making console players pay for them, many people would be pissed. And don't talk about giving them for free to everyone, that would be awful business

  • smelly #18 6 years ago

    that would be awful business


    Dont talk crap. That'd be GREAT business. Looking after your customers is GOOD business, it ensures they come back.

    Edited by 1 at 13/07/06 @ 10:08

  • BettySwallocks #19 6 years ago

    It would be great business to offer free content... till they went bankrupt. Good business is the balancing point between the expectations of your customers and the needs of your business, and is often biased towards the business in order ensure it continues. If you want to play... expect to pay. The game stands on its own without any non-essential downloads and can be enjoyed without them, so if others want to pay... let them.

    I don't see this additional content as "Asking for some more sauce/french fries...", its more like asking for a side order of salad and onion rings, which you would pay for in any restaurant. But you do have a point about why charge now for things that you could get for free in the past...

    Easy answer is because they can now that the mechanism is in place for these transactions. If you want it you pay for it. Look at my water provider... I used to pay a flat montlhy fee for all the water I could use, regardless of how much I used. Now I'm on a meter so the more I use the more I pay.

    But... I used to pay the same as the family across the road who watered their garden every evening, had a paddling pool out every day and took 2 baths a day. Now that I don't use as much as they do I don't pay as much as they do. Would you rather pay the same but only use 50% of the content?

  • jlaakso #20 6 years ago

    These commercial add-ons do not "fix" the game in any way. They're entrirely optional. I'm thinking of buying the pirate-themed one, but probably not the others. Choice is good.

    Come to think of it, one day we may see a game which consists only of separate, cheap modules. "You want vehicles in it? That'll be $2." Don't care about stealth? Don't buy it. Etc. For instance, I wouldn't be too surprised to see some of the best Oblivion mods commercialized and made available on the Live Marketplace.

    All that said, it would be about time they cranked out some quests. I don't necessarily need new places to visit, merely new reasons to visit old ones.

  • Sko #21 6 years ago

    Add-ons like this one seem odd to me. The stuff they're offering (herbs, victims, cure) exist in the game already. This pack just seems to be for players too lazy to play the game - I mean, the game has been out long enough for people to find their own herbs, victims and the cure, surely?

    I think I prefer the quest addons over stuff like this, weight for weight.

  • cyber_nicco #22 6 years ago

    This particular debate never ceases to amaze me. As many have said, if you don't want it don't buy it. For one thing, we are talking about LESS THAN TWO DOLLARS. Jesus.

    I think bugs should be fixed for free. Sure, they could give aways some extra content, but the fact is if they charge something for it they have a reason to create MORE extra content.

    It really seems absurd to argue that they OWE anyone expansion material. Plain absurd.

  • cyber_nicco #23 6 years ago

    Furthermore, I have bought extra content for my xbox that I never even used (golf courses, Mechassault stuff), and I still support it. In fact, part of the reason I bought the expansion material was to ENCOURAGE developers to do this sort of thing by showing it was economically viable.

    So, if you are pissed about it, feel free to funnel that anger towards me - I went out of my way to make this type of thing happen...

  • Sko #24 6 years ago

    Umm, seems like you're the one with unresolved anger, mate :)

  • cyber_nicco #25 6 years ago

    Just meant to sound emphatic - not angry.

    :)

  • 2099net #26 6 years ago

    I've never moved my console while the game is on, I have it horizontal smooth solid surface (and well ventilated - not that that matters) and so far I have gone through three copies of the game and am on my fourth. When it scratches the disc, it makes an ungodly sound.

    I have 9 other 360 games, and none of these have been scratched at all. The disc scratching problem is a common one, and seems to be expecially common on Oblivion if you hunt around the net.

    Check this out on Eurogamer
    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_ posts.php?thread_id=51902&forum_id=1
    ]http://ww w.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_po...[/link]

    While I am aware of the moving while on situation, it is not a variable in my Oblivion disc scratching problem.

    How do I find out which DVD drive my Xbox has installed?
    Edited by 1 at 14/07/06 @ 09:24

  • immateriaux #27 6 years ago

    "Self scratching disks", ... what will they think of next ...