Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

Game: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Year (s):  2006
Company:  dev.  Bethesda Game Studios
            pub.  2K Games, Bethesda SoftWorks
Engine:   GamEmbryo
Type:  First/Third-Person "Shooter" RPG, sandbox
What I Paid:  $20 used, at Game Stop (GOTY edition)
Game Time:  as long as you want to keep playing

Obligatory Trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXWYWfFqlSw


Plot


Early in the game, the emperor (voiced by Patrick Stewart) is assassinated.  The imperial bloodline, with a magic amulet, are the only thing that can stop the hellish might of the plane of Oblivion from invading.  With the emperor's death, portals unleash the fiery hordes.  You must recover the amulet, find the bastard heir, and see them safely to the capital, all whilst battling the forces of Oblivion. 

The main plot line is relatively short, and has some holes in it.


Graphics and Glitches

GamEmbryo Engine at it again... or maybe for the first time.  Like all games on the engine, it's buggy as hell and crashes often.  Compared to Fallout, the scenery is more interesting, as there's vegetation and standing structures.  The video link looks like crap; the graphics are actually equal to other games on the engine, just in a fantasy setting. 


Combat and Crime

You can shoot arrows and cast spells from afar, but most of the time you're going to be bashing things with an axe or sword.  In events when you have allies (unless you get a horse, there are no permanent sidekicks without a glitch or exploit) it's really easy to hit a friend in the fracas.  Then they attack you, and/or you get arrested for attacking them. 

If you trespass, lockpick doors, steal from, attack, or kill an NPC, you get a bounty put on you.  This is enforced by guards in every city.  They'll confiscate your stolen goods and then you either pay a fine or go to jail.  Time spent in jail permanently reduces stats.


SO... COMPLICATED...


Character building is quite complex, much as I would imagine it is for MMORPG's.  There are (loose guess) a dozen races and a dozen classes, and a dozen astrological birth signs, and all of these are unique.  Oh, and then you choose one of three specialties.  Your skills are major or minor.  Major ones level up faster but give you less points to put in to stats on a level up.  You gain levels by increasing major skills... ahhh!

Really, it's a mess.  I didn't know what I was doing the first time and made a terrible hodgepodge character.  Later, I tried making a straight-up wizard, but that's impossible to do.  I hate sneaking around.  The offered diversity mostly boils down to homogeny: bash crap and cast spells here and there.

The menu system is awful.  Instead of text, there are icons for everything.  A few are intuitive, like a compass for the map, a shield for armor.  Then... 5-6 tabs for spells, all with meaningless icons.  Ahhhhh!


So Much to Do!

I don't have gameplay clocks to back this up, but I'm pretty sure there is more to do in Oblivion than in Fallout 3.  The downside is, completing inconsequential side quests gets tedious.  Some locations are exactly the same as other locations, ESPECIALLY in the realm of Oblivion.  While I tried to do everything I could find to do in Fallout 3, I didn't bother with half the repetitious content of Oblivion. 


Expansions / DLC / Sequels


I have the Game of the Year Edition, which includes The Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine.  Knights of the Nine adds a few locations to the map, and sets you off to recover the relics of the holy paladin.  If you refrain from crimes, you can don the relics and battle a foe unique to the expansion.

The Shivering Isles is an entirely seperate area.  Once you start, you have to complete that area's lengthy quest line before you can return to the rest of the game.  The Isles are the realm of the mad god Sheogorath, who is funny for about a minute and then just annoying.  Both of these expansion offer quite a bit of additional gameplay and areas to explore. 

The Deluxe Edition of the game offers several additional expansions that are not otherwise available.  


Final Thoughts


I personally found this game overly complicated and horribly mindless, even frustrating.  Note: I think I would have liked it more if 1.  I'd played it before Fallout 3 and, 2.  I was a fan or WoW or similar games.  If you need a mindless game to play this wouldn't be my first suggestion, but it can't be beat for amount of content. 

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim comes out soon.  Bethesda made vast improvements between Oblivion and Fallout 3, and Skyrim is built upon a purportedly more stable engine.  The graphics look better, and the leveling/character building is simplified enough for the casual player to enjoy.  The plot for Skyrim is, "Oh shit, dragons!"  I'm actually looking forward to it.