Released: March 20th, 2006 (360, and PC) and March 20th, 2007 (PS3)
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Publishers: 2K Games
Genre: RPG
You...I've seen you...
Aside from the boring ass cover, this single-player RPG isn't bad. It's not needed to have played the previous Elder Scroll games to understand this one. This takes place in an entirely different land. You start out in a jail, and get to choose your class and race and such. The Emperor gets escorted in your cell by some guards, your cell happens to have a secret entrance in it, the guards escort him through, and you're allowed in. The Emporer gets assassinated, you're told to go find Martin (the last of the Emperor's sons) then your off on the wondrous world of Cyrodiil. Like all RPG's, Oblivion revolves around the characters and questing. Oblivion allows you to switch to 1st or 3rd person camera mode. It's very handy. I play 3rd person when I'm fancy, then 1st when I'm in combat. Anyway, the combat is simple. A click to swing your sword/cast a spell. When you pick your class, (or make your own class) you get to pick a certain number of skills to have. Sword, alchemy, athletics, light armor, ect, ect. In order to level, you have to level the certain skills. (to level sword, use swords. to level light armor, wear it and get hit...) Once you level enough skills, (or one skill a billion times) your character levels.
There are 3 main character class, then various spin-offs. The warrior, ranger, and spell-caster obviously. Then there's other classes, like the thief, assassin, witch, knight, barbarian, ect, ect. Out of all the classes, they're also many races to be. The Orc, Dark Elf, Wood Elf, High Elf, Nord, Khajit, Argonian, Imperial, Brenton, and Redgard. Although it doesn't really matter which race you pick. One your skills cap at 100, you can't level anymore; so it's not worth picking the race that fits your class perfectly.Playing the classes is exactly the same. Bring out melee weapon, poke, poke, spell maybe, poke, poke, poke, then the monster dies. If you like same, hack n' slash combat, then hooray. If you don't, not hooray. I personally don't mind the same combat, but that isn't for everyone. Speaking of the same, Oblivion only has..maybe 4 songs or so. It's the exact same music. Great music, but it's the same. Once again, I don't mind the repetition, as it is very good music. It matches the atmosphere perfectly. Besides on the PC, you can put in your own music. It's super simple as well. I'd recommend putting in Baldur's Gate 2 music. Kick ass.
Anyway. The quests are unique in the way they are presented. Each NPC is different (except the guards) and has a different back story. The quests fit with the character's personality. Although the AI is dumb as rocks (hirelings won't follow properly, they get stuck in doors), at least the way the NPC's are presented is fun. They'll even communicate to each other about topics (sometimes relating to past games) even though it sounds very robotic and poorly written. You can talk to the NPC's for topics as well, normally relating to the lore of Cyrodiil, or giving you a quest. They mostly involve fetching an item or fighting.Along the journey to get Martin back to the throne, and doing side-quests, many other things can be done as well. There are many caves and castles that you can explore. Oblivion, refers to...Oblivion. Portals have opened up across the world, and you can go in them, into Oblivion, and shut them down. You are only required to shut down 2 or 3 for the main quest, all other 60 of them are extras. Aside from that, you can buy a house(s), buy a horse, join a guild, steal people's property, make items, add enchantments to items, ect. There's much to do, mainly with improving your character. There is also the whole system of sneaking. A eye will light up if you're spotted. NPC's attempt to be smart and not leave you alone in a room so you can steal whatever.
Guards are also on your tail. If you steal somebody crap or murder and get caught, the guards get on you. You can either resist, pay a fine, or go to jail. If you go to jail, you may also breakout. The variety makes things exciting for a thief.
The game is really beautiful. It's pretty awesome being able to stand on a mountain far to the north, and seeing the capital city in the distance. Just the mood of the game is so good. It's wonderful, traveling the forest with calm, yet epic music in the background...riding peacefully on your horse. You're level 16, you're king of the world. Not a thing can touch you. You are the GODD, of the land........Then a monster attacks you, and a half of your health is gone. The game scales. When you level, so do the monsters. Even if the game is on medium, it does this. It's extremely annoying and done unfairly. How are you suppose to feel powerful? That sucks that every single monster you meet will be a struggle to kill. The only ways around this is to lower the difficulty to a range below normal difficulty and higher than easy. It shouldn't be necessary to do this.
But good for you, Oblivion has wonderful mod support. The game comes with an editor, so if you're into that, get to work. The mods can really change the game, and Bethesda supports it. So that's awesome but bad for console users who are stuck with the basic game and it's flaws.
Unfortunately, this does not live up to the prequels. Many skills were cut down (there used to be long sword and short sword in prequels, light, medium, and heavy armor, ect) The main story is pretty boring, you want to rush to get through it. Although the last missions of the story are awesome, everything else isn't. The beginning especially. Make sure you keep a save BEFORE you exit the sewer, or you'll be see the happy face of the Emperor and the newbie dungeon every single time you make a character. It's unnecessary and time-consuming. Turning into a vampire is seemingly a waste. You gain more stats and bonuses, but it is bugged on console versions. There is nothing you can do with it. Unlike Morrowind, there are no vampire clans or join or vampires to talk to.
As with ....all Bethesda games, nobody decided to beta test this. It's riddled with bugs. I haven't heard of horrible deadly ones, like it deleting your game, but it comes close. Sometimes sleeping NPC's will walk around, sometimes the geometry hates life and makes your character fly into the air, then drop your character to it's doom (I've seen this. It was very random, and very horrifying. I did not survive the fall), other times enemies will attack you, then just run away. There are many, many, many bugs. The game is amazingly buggy. I mean, randomly flying in the air? Wow. Fun bug, but that really sucks if you haven't saved and you unfairly die.
Oblivion is worth a purchase. True it's buggy, true it's copy pasta game, true all the classes feel the same, but it has it's moments that shine. The enchanting NPC's, the large mod support, the beautiful atmosphere, the many many options of questing... It's a toss but I'd recommend it. The style of the game is just awesome. It's just very majestic, and the charming NPC's make you dive deeper despite it's flaws.
+ Concept of Oblivion
+ Great looking
+ Interesting NPC's
+ Things to discover in the wild
- Concept of Oblivion
- NPC's have 2 I.Q.
- Level Scaling
- Not many skill options
- The Console versions have very serious bugs (do your research before turning into a vampire)
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion gets a 4.
360 and PS3 versions get a -4 for horrible bugs.
Notable Console Differences: Does not have mod support. Does not have the construction set to edit the world. Does not have the console to cheat your way through. Some glitches are extremely bad and have no been fixed. The cure for vampirism is broken, and the vampire face is glitched so you stay ugly looking forever. There is a way around these both but it takes too much brain power. Keep this in mind if you are looking at the PS3 and 360 versions.
