One of the delightful discoveries of Oblivion Remastered is that while some things have changed, like the characters’ faces, almost everything else has stayed the same, like an old door glitch that lets you finish the game in under 15 minutes. It’s great that even under the shiny new overhaul you’ll find most of the same exploits and bugs and charming quirks of the original Oblivion from 19 years ago.
That includes the appearance of a character voiced by none other than Todd Howard himself.
Unfortunately you won’t run into Todd walking the streets or lurking in a dungeon. He voices a character that was used for testing during the original development of Oblivion and is hidden away in the game files, so you need to use a console command to visit him. Along with all of the other oddities of the original game, this character is still there in the remaster, and not only can you talk to Todd, but you can get him to fall in love with you. Or call you names.
How to find Todd Howard in Oblivion Remastered
First, save your game if you haven’t done it in a while, then open the console by pressing the ~ key.
Then type:
coc toddtest
And press enter. The screen will slowly fade out and you’ll find yourself in a small house. This is a test cell, one of dozens in the RPG where developers of the original game would place characters or items from the game they wanted to test out.
In this small house you’ll find a man named Alban Corinis wearing a full set of Elven armor. Talk to him and he’ll say something a little unusual:
“I knew one day someone with unyielding virtue would heed my words and speed my release. You risked much to perform such a selfless act.”
“You are indeed a bastard.”
Todd Howard
That isn’t Todd Howard’s voice—I believe it’s Wes Johnson, reciting lines from an Oblivion quest called The Forlorn Watchman—but after this line you’ll get a choice of conversational topics that are emotional in nature: Angry, Fear, Happy, Neutral, Sad, and Surprise.
Click any of these discussion topics and you’ll hear Todd Howard’s voice saying lines that match those emotions, like “Oh no! What do we do? I’m so scared!” and “What? That really pisses me off!”
Here’s a clip, and you’ll need to click the volume icon below to turn the sound on:
Well. There’s nothing like a great acting performance… and this is nothing like a great acting performance. But cut the guy a break, he wasn’t auditioning for Hamlet, he was recording some test dialogue.
As you click these options you’re not just making Todd say stuff for your own amusement, you’re changing his character’s disposition, bypassing the Oblivion persuasion minigame. You can see the results when you choose the “Neutral” option.
So, if you make Todd happy by choosing “Happy” enough times to boost his disposition over 90, and then you choose “Neutral” again, he’ll profess his love:
“I can’t recall ever loving moments, like this moment, with you,” says Todd Howard.
Aw, that’s sweet. And extremely cringe. I regret teleporting into Todd Howard’s weird little house and seducing him by clicking on his happy button.
It works the other way, too. Ever wanted to hear Todd Howard call you a bastard? Make him angry by clicking “Angry” until his disposition is below 20, then choose “Neutral” again, and you can. “You are indeed a bastard,” Todd Howard will tell you. He’s right. You are.
There are other characters around this test cell, including more outside the house that Todd Howard’s electronic clone has been cruelly trapped in for the past two decades. Another version of Alban Corinis standing outside has Todd’s voice lines, the other two do not.
There’s also a horse (it doesn’t talk), an imposing Dremora, and a character named “Lynda Carter,” named after Oblivion voice actor and Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter. The whole weird gang is still there, just waiting around, after nearly 20 years. Why not drop by and pay them a visit?
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