The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC)

I found The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion hugely over-rated (Cf good/bad points). May be good for a young player (under 16) who is not going to look for too much depth or originality in a game. It basically keeps the major flaws in Morrowind and removes the qualities.

Overall, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion PC game is highly addictive and intense. The graphics are amazing, and there are thousands of opportunities. In the game you may decide to destroy or explore the world of Thamriel using your own customized character. There are several races you can choose from in the game, such as: an Imperial, a Dark Elf, a High Elf, a Argonian, a Nord and a Breton. All these races have their own special abilities, advantages and disadvantages. You may decide not to participate in the main quest and wander the world on your own adventure. In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion it gives you a world of opportunity to explore the world like you would do in the real world. I highly recommend this game to people.

I really enjoyed The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It is a very fun, exciting game. I would definitely recommend this game.

Oblivion is here, and ironically that is where our social lives are going to end up as a result. Offering a veritable universe to explore (or wreck, depending on how you play), Oblivion will suck up our lives for months (if not years) to come. We've been waiting patiently for a long time, ever since the awesome and flawed Morrowind, and we have been rewarded.

First off, I am pleased that Oblivion was launched fairly bug-free, at least in comparison to Morrowind. I have experienced very few crashes, and so far I am yet to encounter any bugged quests. This is a good start, though I really shouldn't be expecting bugs at all when I have paid £35 for the privilege.

I purchased the Collector's Edition. This comes in a nice, embossed box that folds out to reveal two DVDs, two books, a map and a replica coin. The coin is a high quality reproduction of the 'septims' used as currency in the game, and a nice novelty if nothing else. One of the books is the standard manual, which I recommend you read as it includes some tips that you may not catch on to on your own. The second book is an Imperial guidebook of sorts, written as lore (in-character, if you will). It's a good read and sheds some light on the Elder Scrolls universe, but if you're not really interested in the lore then you probably won't give it much thought. And finally, the map -- a nice, large, glossy map of Cyrodill, perfect for finding your way around or just pinning on your wall. Finally, the two DVDs. One is the game itself, obviously, and one is an interesting documentary about how Oblivion was made and the rush to get it ready for a demonstration. Again, not much use if you're just interested in getting into the hacking 'n slashing, but I enjoyed it.

The game, then. As soon as you start, you are presented with the character creation window. This is one of the most advanced (and tricky) character creation systems I've seen for a long time. You can adjust literally *everything*, from the height, shape and size of the cheekbones to the exact tone of your skin. There are thankfully a larger variety of hairstyles available this time around too, and you can also change the length. It is very tricky to get the character you really want, and sometimes you'll find that certain options are linked, and changing one thing alters another. But you should get there in the end, and no character will ever look alike. Unfortunately you have no options to change the body, which is disappointing, especially as most of the character bodies in Oblivion are quite poor. You also have the standard collection of races available, each with their own look and skills. Whether you want to be a reptile, the obligatory cat-person, a massive Orc or Nord, or just your average Imperial or Redguard human, you'll be at home.

Once you've done all this, you find yourself in an Imperial prison, and the game begins. After admiring the way that the stone walls and floor actually look wet, basking in the wondrous light that steams into the cell from outside, and listening to a rather obnoxious prisoner in the cell opposite tell you that you are going to die in here, you are rather abruptly greeted by the Emperor himself as his guards tell you to get out of the way. He is escorted through a secret passageway that just happens to be in your cell, as he escapes from assassins, and you can follow him to your freedom.

Thus begins the training section. Helpful tooltips pop up as you progress through a maze of dingy dungeons and filthy sewers, killing simple rats and goblins as you progress. If you could smell it, you would think it was real. The training section really helps you learn about a few of the features in the game, ranging from basic combat to the lockpicking mini-game (development of this was helped by the 'Thief' creators, by the way). After you've learned a few of the basics and the story progresses a little more, you are given the option to choose your birthsign and class. Your birthsign will bestow bonus attributes and even special powers upon your character, and your class determines your major skills and abilities -- you can either choose a pre-built class, or even build your own, which is a feature I very much like. You then get a short time to try out your new class, and upon exiting the training section you can opt to change your choices if you wish.

When you finally leave the training section, you emerge outside. Squinting in the natural sunlight, you may be forgiven for thinking that you had stopped playing on your computer and awoken outside somewhere, because the environmental graphics are *stunning*. Water ripples below you, lapping up on the shores. Trees, all around you, sway in the wind and cast shadows on the ground, each with a full set of leaves. Long grass surrounds your feet, also moving slightly in the wind. The sunlight is as close as you can get to the real thing, and it highlights the awesome use of bump-mapping and shadows. It really is the most beautiful game around at the moment, and on the PC version you get to enjoy crisper textures and higher resolutions to boot. Even the dungeons are beautiful in their own way.

The unfortunate price of this awesome presentation, however, is power. You need bucket-loads of power. If your computer isn't at least a mid-range machine, don't think about running this game. I use a GeForce 6800 Ultra 256mb graphics card, accompanied by an Athlon64 FX55 processor and 2gb of RAM. Though I run the game at a fairly high setting, it is not at maximum and the frame-rate does dwindle below 20 quite often, especially in outdoor areas and especially while on a horse. From what I hear, the X-Box version also suffers, though the PC version does not experience the same long load times as far as I can tell. The graphical user interface is also a big disappointment -- it is clearly console-orientated, and offers no adjustments, big, chunky icons and an unwieldy text size. It's nothing like the big deal that some people make it out to be, and there are already mods out there to change it, but it is a pain.

Even if you can't view the graphics in all their glory, you can enjoy the classical music that sets the scene. It is quite quiet, but it is a peaceful tone that changes to a more ominous one if you are engaged in combat.

And combat in Oblivion puts Morrowind to shame. Now you are able to parry and block, engage in special moves, and fight against tactical and skilled opponents in often-epic battles to the death. Thanks to the smart idea of including level scaling -- enemies that also gain skills as you level up -- you will no longer find the game too easy as you become godly after a certain level. There is always a challenge, and the combat system allows you to enjoy that challenge to the full. Marksmanship requires you to use speed and agility to keep a distance between you and your opponent as you put arrows into him (arrows which remain impaled in bodies for a long time afterwards!). Magic can now be used alongside weapons, and the effects are impressive and varied, not to mention powerful at higher levels. And your enemies, though a bit daft when it comes to pathfinding, will be smart enough to block and attack themselves.

Though the level scaling is a welcome addition, it is the loot scaling which can sometimes cause problems. Although you will no longer gain the best loot at the start of the game, you will find that early dungeons do not yield much profit. Worse still, it can cause some contextual problems -- for example, bandits equipment levels up with you. Being stopped for a small amount of cash by a bandit wearing the best armour in the game is a little unbelievable at best.

The levelling system itself is unique and I like it. Instead of simply gaining 'experience points' like most games of this nature, you simply improve your major skills by... using them. For example, if you use a sword exclusively, your skill with a blade will gradually increase. If you block with your sword, or with a shield, your block skill increases. If you talk to people a lot (in the persuasion mini-game), your speechcraft skill improves. If you like to haggle a lot when buying and selling, your mercantile skill improves. Depending on your class you will have different major skills, and though only major skills will allow you to level up, you have access to all the minor skills and can improve them as well if you wish. When you improve enough of your major skills, you will gain a level, which also allows you to select an attribute to improve. This system is more realistic than most -- after all, if you used a sword all the time you WOULD improve with it, wouldn't you? You may also visit trainers, who will give you extra skill for a price.

The world you are placed in to use all these skills, is massive, and completely open. You will not have to unlock any areas, nor will you have to remain confined to a certain area for days on end because your level isn't high enough. You can go anywhere you want, do anything you want, whenever you want. If you do not wish to follow the main quest, you don't have to. You can take side quests, or explore one of hundreds of ruins, abandoned forts or caves. Alternatively you could visit one of the several major cities or small towns and talk with the locals, help them out around town or simply hear whatever rumours are going around. If this is not your cup of tea, you can join one of the several guilds and help them with missions to improve your guild rank, or you could even take on gladiatorial combat in the Imperial City arena, which is my particular favourite. Of course you can buy a horse to help you travel between all these places. The freedom is simply astounding.

Unfortunately, the freedom within quests is not so good. Quests are highly linear, offering only one way to complete them and always having the same consequences. There are a few quests that allow for some variation, but not a lot. The main quest in particular is very linear. Worst of all, there are no real consequences to completing certain quests. Your character is neither good or evil, people won't react to you very differently (except for occasionally mentioning a rumour involving something you have done). This brings into question the game's entire designation of 'RPG' -- your character doesn't really develop.

The main quest itself is a big let-down. Not only is it linear to the max, but it suffers from a fairly poor storyline and it can often get repetitive. 'Oblivion Gates', which you are often required to seal (and where the game gets its name -- without giving away too much of the story, Oblivion is this universe's equivalent of Hell, and Hell is trying to invade the mortal world through these gates which keep appearing all over), can become repetitive very quickly, as they all have the same objective and often the same scenery. As part of the main quest requires you to shut quite a lot of these, this can become irritating. Though, you can find some interesting items in Oblivion that you can not find elsewhere, so not all is lost.

NPCs themselves are rather hollow. You feel nothing for them, and their problems rarely illicit any sympathy. This probably isn't helped by the fact that they only seem to have used about four voice actors in the entire game, aside from the Emperor and the major villain. When two completely different people standing next to each other have the exact same voice, the atmosphere can break quite suddenly. The persuasion mini-game is somewhat flawed, in that it is very repetitive, makes little sense and doesn't really accomplish much anyway.

The unbelievable NPC problem is eased somewhat by the much-hyped Radiant AI though. Some people complain about this RAI, saying it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, but it is actually exactly what it says on the tin. Each and every NPC in the game has a non-scripted daily routine. Follow anyone you please around and you will see them do anything from working in a field to stopping for a bite to eat at midday, before going to bed at night. It really lends a feeling of a 'living world' to the game that has not been accomplished before.

These daily routines can form a core part of the game. If you opt to become a Thief, for example, you may rely on shopkeepers shutting up shop and going home each night to be able to rob their store without being spotted. When people are asleep in their homes you can creep past them and gut their house as they sleep. Theft is well implemented, thanks to the help of the 'Thief' development team. Stealth is a real option for the game, as you can now hide in the shadows and suchlike. The cunning sneak can proceed through a dungeon without needing to kill a single creature. Though if you do need to kill something, if you are still sneaking and have not been detected, you get a 'sneak attack bonus' for your first hit, which can often be decisive. The lockpicking mini-game is often an entertaining diversion, and you will quickly be reminded of the lockpicking system in the latest Thief game.

Best of all, the PC version comes with the construction set. This allows you to customise the game however you want, and the Oblivion community has already put out a good number of mods adding to and altering the game. As the years go by, expect thousands of mods to expand the game in many ways. Certainly this is the best aspect of the PC version.

Really, this game is a diamond in a sea of rocks. With so many low-quality, super-hyped games being marched out of super-publishing houses these days it is a relief to find such a quality title, and I am pleased that it has done so well in the charts. The game is not without its flaws, and I am disappointed by some of the linear quests, but this game will keep me entertained for many months to come. I would certainly recommend it to anybody.