I had read a review of this game at IGN and decided to purchase it from a local Gamestop. I came home and slid it into my laptop and began the installation. From the teaser photos revealed during the installation, I could tell that the graphics of this game are something to be admired. I was unprepared for the game would turn out to be.
Oblivion is, in short, everything I ever wanted in a video game but thought could never happen. As soon as I stepped out into the outside world, I was at a lose of where to start. The world is massive, with beautiful landscapes and highly realistic weather patterns. Luckily, the quest screen allowed me to stay on track, but I found that even though I knew what to do and where to go, exploring this world and it's cities was far more entertaining. Each of the countless characters of this world are doing something, shopping, sleeping, conversing in the street, hunting, farming, you name it. And they are all on their own schedule. The streets are filled with people going about their own lives, adding to the big picture: that you are not the center of this game, merely a cog in the machine.
I could be walking along a city street and overhear two NPCs sharing rumors with each other, and soon my investigation slowly unfolds into a quest. My favorite was when I heard two NPCs in the imperial city. "They say that when you murder someone, the Dark Brotherhood visits you in your sleep." The quest that followed was one of the coolest and darkest series of events that I have ever seen. The Dark Brotherhood quests alone are worth the value of the game. But there are hundreds of quests. No matter where you go, there is always something going on. You can choose to be a good guy, or you can be viciously evil, or perhaps a nice mixture of the two. Either way, there is a legal system and the long arm of the law will be after you . . . if you're spotted.
I have previously played Morrowind, and my biggest issues with the game are that characters stood stationary almost the entire time. There was almost no dialogue, quest locations were difficult to get to, and the combat system was absurd. Don't get me wrong, I love the romps through the countryside, but sometimes I'd rather skip the long walk and just get on with the game. Oblivion addressed all of these concerns. The combat feels more like a FPS than an RPG, almost reminiscent of FFVII:DOC. There is an autolocate feature that allows you to instantly transport yourself to any city in the game, and all locations that you have previously been to.
For all of it's great highlights, after playing it through three times I do have several complaints.
The voice acting is redundant. Though there is a lot of dialogue, many of the NPCs sound exactly the same.
Though you can choose what quests to focus on, even ignoring the main quest altogether, the outcomes are nearly always the same, no matter how the quest is completed. As far as replay value, this is huge downer. The only way that each gaming experience is different is how you decide to use your character. But make no mistake, whether you run in and kill everything, or sneak your way around undetected, the result will nearly always be the same.
It's not a huge concern, but I feel that when I shoot an enemy as full of arrows as a hedgehog, he should die. Marksmen may have to shoot twenty arrows into an enemy before it releases it's bowels. I understand why the combat system is styled this way, but it takes away some of the realism for me.
All in all, this is the best game I have ever played. Whether you want the graphic power of the Xbox 360, or the expansive creative capabilities of the PC, Oblivion is a must have for RPG lovers everywhere.
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