Summary
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remasteredis largely the same game as the original, albeit a lot shinier. Its goofy conversations between NPCs,exploits that break the laws of physics,and charming jank are all there, but Bethesda has made some tweaks to certain things. A lot of the combat has been reworked, as well as the leveling system, meaning some perks have changed quite considerably.
Over the weekend, one such attribute that appears to have changed quite considerably is Sneaking,as a Reddit user called Voruvinoticed that you actually make a lot more noise in Oblivion Remastered while skulking around. They point out that in the original game, reaching Journeyman in Sneaking stopped the weight of your boots from affecting how much noise you make while walking, but this appears to no longer be the case.
Oblivion Remastered PSA: Take Your Shoes Off If You Want To Be Sneaky
Voruvi did some experimenting in the remaster to determine exactly how things have been tweaked, and they discovered that the weight of your boots will affect how much noise you make at any level Sneaking. Even with the boost after reaching 50 Sneaking, heavy boots “absolutely cripple your ability to sneak up on NPCs undetected”.
In fact, it appears as though the zero-encumbrance bonuses you get for Light Armor and Heavy Armor at 75 and 100 respectively don’t matter either. You will make more noise based on the weight of your footwear, and that’s that. You can mitigate it by getting a high Sneaking level, but you will still make a lot of noises clanking around inDaedric Boots. It applies to full-body armor sets too, as the weight of the whole armor is applied to your feet.
Thankfully, Voruvi does have a couple of ways to verify you may glide past people undetected, but it does involve getting your grippers out. Since going barefoot means no weight is applied to your feet, you can tiptoe past people as quietly as a mouse, regardless of any other armor you’re wearing.
If you consider yourself pretty good at spellslinging, you can also cast Conjure Boots - as these are apparently the only boots in the game with a weight of nothing - or you can cast Invisibility, as a user called Almainyny points out the spell muffles your footsteps too. Armed with this knowledge, you can now sneak around without a care in the world, and the whole of Cyrodiil will now have to be wary of the Barefoot Bandit.
