I have given up on this game after 9 hours of game time as it is by far the most tedious RPG I have ever played. One of the most over hyped games since Shenmue. In fact combine Shenmue with the equally overrated Zelda:Ocarina of Time (minus the fun) and throw in a bit of LotR 'homage' along with the bland button bashing game-play of Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit) and you pretty much have Oblivion, a horrible mish mash of a game. Sure it is huge and pretty but someone forgot to add the game-play! All the hype about it being open ended was exactly that, hype. It gets so tedious wondering about uninhabited wilderness that once you figure out you can just go from A to B with the click of a button, you will. Unless you are a sucker for nicely animated forests in a variety of weather conditions (complete with butterflies) and boring repetitive game-play.
EVERY town looks exactly like the next or last, every 2nd person you meet in the game world will have a familiar voice (they must have only had 3 voice actors), and will have exactly the same useless chat as everyone else in town (similar to Shenmue) and every ruin or castle will look pretty much like every other one you come across. The whole thing is very...generic. The story is the same old boring cliché crap about a big fiery portal opening to another world and the whole world is in danger and there are some orcs and a dead emperor etc - just think a duller version of LotR and you have a good idea how the story goes. That is before you even get to the game-play, what a SNORE FEST. While other RPGs (even Shenmue) with large gameworlds have interesting little sub quests, side games, new stuff to be had and interesting areas to explore Oblivion has the most simplistic "go here, do that" approach that it becomes dull after the first "sub quest". All you end up doing is going to some place to talk to a dude or kill a few goblins and go back to point A to get a pat on the back. How fun. The battle system is basically attack, block, magic. I'm not joking either! The combat system in Oblivion is very much (not so) good old hack and slash stuff with the odd block or spell casting for variety. No brain required. I thought games had evolved past this over the last decade??
There is nothing fun to obtain either, it's all generic crap that remains the same over pretty much the whole map, "ooh look at that mug I'll 'ave that" - and what exactly are you supposed to do with it? who knows. What I do know is that even though nobody was in the room when you stole said mug you will be (without fail) confronted by a big burly dude with a sword, who has a burning desire to chop your little thieving hands off! Kill an innocent onlooker in a dark alley or in a wood with not another soul in sight and you will be informed that your deed has been observed by unknown forces - yep, that big burley bloke will be hunting you down to chop your evil head off! If you happen to accidentally chop down an amazingly dumb AI ally in the heat of battle (very easily done) even when no other allies are around to catch you... sorry, witness it - then prepare to die! So what exactly is the point of having the "fredom" to do these things if you are being watched by invisible, all seeing forces? That is just one of the many flaws of this horrible, simplistic, Simon says game.
If dithering around in pretty forests, hearing the same virtual conversations over and over again (by the same voice actors) and CONSTANTLY picking locks (which is the most tedious feature in any game, ever!) and then getting chased by a big burley guard (or a whole army of them) is your idea of a fun game then Oblivion is the game for you.
EVERY town looks exactly like the next or last, every 2nd person you meet in the game world will have a familiar voice (they must have only had 3 voice actors), and will have exactly the same useless chat as everyone else in town (similar to Shenmue) and every ruin or castle will look pretty much like every other one you come across. The whole thing is very...generic. The story is the same old boring cliché crap about a big fiery portal opening to another world and the whole world is in danger and there are some orcs and a dead emperor etc - just think a duller version of LotR and you have a good idea how the story goes. That is before you even get to the game-play, what a SNORE FEST. While other RPGs (even Shenmue) with large gameworlds have interesting little sub quests, side games, new stuff to be had and interesting areas to explore Oblivion has the most simplistic "go here, do that" approach that it becomes dull after the first "sub quest". All you end up doing is going to some place to talk to a dude or kill a few goblins and go back to point A to get a pat on the back. How fun. The battle system is basically attack, block, magic. I'm not joking either! The combat system in Oblivion is very much (not so) good old hack and slash stuff with the odd block or spell casting for variety. No brain required. I thought games had evolved past this over the last decade??
There is nothing fun to obtain either, it's all generic crap that remains the same over pretty much the whole map, "ooh look at that mug I'll 'ave that" - and what exactly are you supposed to do with it? who knows. What I do know is that even though nobody was in the room when you stole said mug you will be (without fail) confronted by a big burly dude with a sword, who has a burning desire to chop your little thieving hands off! Kill an innocent onlooker in a dark alley or in a wood with not another soul in sight and you will be informed that your deed has been observed by unknown forces - yep, that big burley bloke will be hunting you down to chop your evil head off! If you happen to accidentally chop down an amazingly dumb AI ally in the heat of battle (very easily done) even when no other allies are around to catch you... sorry, witness it - then prepare to die! So what exactly is the point of having the "fredom" to do these things if you are being watched by invisible, all seeing forces? That is just one of the many flaws of this horrible, simplistic, Simon says game.
If dithering around in pretty forests, hearing the same virtual conversations over and over again (by the same voice actors) and CONSTANTLY picking locks (which is the most tedious feature in any game, ever!) and then getting chased by a big burley guard (or a whole army of them) is your idea of a fun game then Oblivion is the game for you.