Before We Begin
Though a fairly older game - granted, not extremely old - Oblivion will go down as one of my favorite games of all time, among the Deus Ex's and Paper Mario. Don't judge me, I said "Paper. Mario." This review may and most likely will contain some spoilers, so just hold onto that fact. I will try to persuade you in this review to see things my way, so without further stalling...
Jason Reviews: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (With Cookies!)
"You are the one from my dreams..."
Chances are, if you play video games, you know about "The Elder Scrolls" series, originating in 1994 with "The Elder Scrolls: Arena" to the current game in the franchise, "Oblivion" which was released early 2006(early 2007 for you PS3 owners). Most likely, you've played Morrowind - The Elder Scrolls III - and not the original two games, but if that's the case, you're probably fitting in with today's market. To be honest, I've only played Morrowind and Oblivion myself, but you don't need to play the original game to get the full experience out of the current releases.
Let me talk about Morrowind for a second, and relate it to Oblivion. Morrowind started out with you - nameless character-to-hero number one - on a "slave ship" of sorts, waking up to your other "slave" friend, whose name sadly escapes me. This is where you choose a name - mine being Arnold, for reasons unknown - and are sent on your adventure. You exit the ship, choose your race - Breton - and a class - Mage/Warrior Hybrid. It is here you are told a route that would be advisable to take, to follow the storyline, yet it doesn't force you to take that path. The only problem with this is that the world didn't truly feel... alive. Sure, there were NPC's everywhere, and each had a story to tell, but when I was wandering the countryside, I felt bored, and this occured very often. So much so that I felt the need to take on quests, like the storyline, the fighter's guild, the mage's guild, and the like.
When Oblivion came out, I bought it at the first chance I could. "Great," I said to myself, carrying the copy home with me, "It's a more expansive Morrowind with pretty graphics, better combat and a story to boot!" But that's where I was wrong: it is much more than that. Sure, the combat is better - not missing an enemy when you clearly hit him - and the story caught my interest fairly quickly, but it's just how the game goes about giving itself away to you that really caught my eye. You begin the game in prison for unknown reasons, and it is here that you create your character. Naturally, I created an exact, next-gen copy of Arnold and hit accept. The essential "tutorial" is a romp through the sewers underground the Imperial City, searching for an exit, for a safe haven, and through the Emperor, a new heir to the throne. Talking to one of the guards in the sewers lets you choose a class, which had been more "toned" this time around. There are plenty of classes readily available, yet the option to fully customize what you are is what I always choose. Warrior who can heal himself? Done. Mage who can wield claymores? Done. Thief who can shoot arrows, backstab enemies, leap high distances, travel miles...
You get the point. Once chosen, and once you exit the sewers, the game basically tells you, "You know how to play, so... play," and sends you on your way. Want to finish the story-quests? Fine, go ahead. Want to join and become the head of every guild? Go for it. Want to earn a fortune, purchase real-estate, trade your sword in for a mug of ale and gold coins? Seriously, do it. This is your game; do what you want.
"Men are but flesh and blood; they know their doom, but not the hour."
You are your character, and I couldn't stress that enough. You play the game how you want to play. Anyone who played the game can tell you, and I can, playing through multiple times with different class types, the way the game plays is totally up to you. If you want to run through caverns, collecting treasure, slashing through every dremora and skeleton that crosses your path, you should be a warrior, striking fear into your enemy's heart. If you'd rather sneak by enemies, picking them off from a distance with a bow, or possibly taking them down with one fatal blow to the back, stealing from the rich and hiding from the law, you should be a thief, hiding in the shadows and controlling towns from behind the curtains. If you want to summon creatures that will do your bidding, set enemies ablaze with fireballs, send them flying back with lightning, or casting beneficial spells upon yourself to make you faster, stronger or smarter, you should be a mage, spending nights learning new spells and using your magic prowess to amaze the masses.
But why stop there? Why not mix and match? Be a sneaky warrior, a Paladin, a Mage with a claymore, a thief with a broadsword, a ranger with magic abilities; the possibilities are endless, and the game never tells you what you can't do class-wise. Personally, I create a "Lifestealer", a warrior who can use medium armor, a broadsword, healing and destructive spells, and can sneak around, shoot arrows and pick locks.
As a side note, the level of your character plays a large role in your surroundings. At level one, running through the forest gleefully and picking flowers, the occasional wolf would run up to me, to not smell me but to viciously attack me, and I'd dispose of him and get on my way. At close to level twenty-five, however, as I was gleefully running for my life through fields, ignoring flowers, large bears and even minotaurs were chasing after me. The little imps in Oblivion changed to demons with axes, and my girlfriend turned into an even greater beast... (Heh heh, get it? I thought it was funny...)
Let the record show you can't get girlfriends in the game, or realistically, a wife, though that probably would have raised sales in underage boys by a large portion. Anyway, moving on.
"You sleep rather soundly for a murderer."
The Fighter's Guild; The Mage's Guild; The Thieves Guild; The Dark Brotherhood; these are the four major guilds in the game, with the exception of the latter two who keep their whereabouts hush-hush. All guilds have their own stories about them, which you can take the time to perform the quests and eventually run each of the guilds, along with performing side-quests inside each of the guilds, from its members.
My personal favorites are the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood, the former with basic "Heat" quests - stealing a variety of items for the guild - and the latter a miniature form of the "Hitman" game, with its quests ranging from murdering this guy, murdering that guy, pretending to murder this guy so you can murder the guy coming to murder him; in a nutshell, think "murder" and you get the picture. The only problem with the Dark Brotherhood is that you can become the head of the guild, killing a great deal of people without wearing any facial protection, and once back on the street, you're Regular Joe - or Arnold - who wouldn't hurt a soul. Granted, the murders take place where no one would really SEE you, but there is the chance someone might, and it's interesting to murder someone in front of a citizen, come from jail and talk to the witness as if nothing happened. Is this a horrible design flaw? No, not at all, but it sometimes takes away from the game, although killing someone in public will result in witness calling out "Murderer! Someone's been murdered!" and running for the guards. At least THAT'S realistic.
Having said that, there is no real distinction between "being good" and "being evil". When you become head of the Dark Brotherhood, you'll feel pretty evil yourself, having murdered everyone in your path to succeed, but then, once completing the story-quests, or even the Mage's Guild quests, you're instantly transformed into Johnny (Arney) McGood... Guy... What I'm trying to say is similar to what Yahtzee said about Fable: While you're either extremely good or horrible bad, there is really no "in-between". What IS good is that, in performing some deeds or quests, some citizens will proclaim your name as a hero, most notably, the "Hero of Kvatch", which is part of the O-P-T-I-O-N-A-L storyline, yet is the first or second BIG quest in the line, and highly recommend you do. From that point on - murderer, thief, badass - I was still the Hero of Kvatch, which struck me as odd.
"I can go no further. You alone must stand against the Prince of Destruction and his Mortal Servants. He must not have the Amulet of Kings!"
One thing the game introduces as "new" is the gates leading to Oblivion, the equivalent to Hell, if hell was made of lava, demons, and towers, instead of cookies and milk, apparently. So much so that, some enemies shout out, "Oblivion take you!" when in combat(As opposed to "Hell take you", or in today's manner, "Go to Hell!"). It is necessary to travel to Oblivion if you want to progress through the story, but if you'd rather not, they begin to pop up everywhere, so if you aren't into the story, you can just pop your head into Oblivion, tackle some demons, grab the giant stone at the top of the main tower - "You win!" - and close the gate. Each Oblivion dimension is different and randomly generate, except for the ones in the story quests, which are preset. Again, the higher level you are - which is progressed by practicing the skills in the game, like Destructive spells, wearing heavy armor, creating potions, and even running, and then sleeping in a bed to level up - the harder the enemies are, so going through the story quests as a level one, or two, is the best bet to have the least amount of REAL trouble.
"These are the closing days of the third era, and the final hours of my life."
In closing, let me just say that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion should be a vital part of your game collection, right next to Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4: one of the greats.
Verdict: BUY IT!
Oblivion is just one of those games that you need to see to believe. It's expansive, running on forever if you're careful, and letting the player never run out of things to do or see. With recent expansion packs and extra content, the land of Tamriel has never been bigger, and it will continue to grow.
If you don't have the game, buy it. If you do have the game, love it. If you love the game, play it. If you're playing it now, you clearly aren't reading this review, so you've created a paradox; congratulations.
PS: I lied. There are no cookies. Well, I have cookies, but you do not. As part of a required review protocol, I will stop enhancing the truth in three... two...
(( Comments are welcome and needed, as well as criticism: Anything I left out? Did I ramble on? Information not entirely correct? Let me know! =D ))
Though a fairly older game - granted, not extremely old - Oblivion will go down as one of my favorite games of all time, among the Deus Ex's and Paper Mario. Don't judge me, I said "Paper. Mario." This review may and most likely will contain some spoilers, so just hold onto that fact. I will try to persuade you in this review to see things my way, so without further stalling...
Jason Reviews: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (With Cookies!)
"You are the one from my dreams..."
Chances are, if you play video games, you know about "The Elder Scrolls" series, originating in 1994 with "The Elder Scrolls: Arena" to the current game in the franchise, "Oblivion" which was released early 2006(early 2007 for you PS3 owners). Most likely, you've played Morrowind - The Elder Scrolls III - and not the original two games, but if that's the case, you're probably fitting in with today's market. To be honest, I've only played Morrowind and Oblivion myself, but you don't need to play the original game to get the full experience out of the current releases.
Let me talk about Morrowind for a second, and relate it to Oblivion. Morrowind started out with you - nameless character-to-hero number one - on a "slave ship" of sorts, waking up to your other "slave" friend, whose name sadly escapes me. This is where you choose a name - mine being Arnold, for reasons unknown - and are sent on your adventure. You exit the ship, choose your race - Breton - and a class - Mage/Warrior Hybrid. It is here you are told a route that would be advisable to take, to follow the storyline, yet it doesn't force you to take that path. The only problem with this is that the world didn't truly feel... alive. Sure, there were NPC's everywhere, and each had a story to tell, but when I was wandering the countryside, I felt bored, and this occured very often. So much so that I felt the need to take on quests, like the storyline, the fighter's guild, the mage's guild, and the like.
When Oblivion came out, I bought it at the first chance I could. "Great," I said to myself, carrying the copy home with me, "It's a more expansive Morrowind with pretty graphics, better combat and a story to boot!" But that's where I was wrong: it is much more than that. Sure, the combat is better - not missing an enemy when you clearly hit him - and the story caught my interest fairly quickly, but it's just how the game goes about giving itself away to you that really caught my eye. You begin the game in prison for unknown reasons, and it is here that you create your character. Naturally, I created an exact, next-gen copy of Arnold and hit accept. The essential "tutorial" is a romp through the sewers underground the Imperial City, searching for an exit, for a safe haven, and through the Emperor, a new heir to the throne. Talking to one of the guards in the sewers lets you choose a class, which had been more "toned" this time around. There are plenty of classes readily available, yet the option to fully customize what you are is what I always choose. Warrior who can heal himself? Done. Mage who can wield claymores? Done. Thief who can shoot arrows, backstab enemies, leap high distances, travel miles...
You get the point. Once chosen, and once you exit the sewers, the game basically tells you, "You know how to play, so... play," and sends you on your way. Want to finish the story-quests? Fine, go ahead. Want to join and become the head of every guild? Go for it. Want to earn a fortune, purchase real-estate, trade your sword in for a mug of ale and gold coins? Seriously, do it. This is your game; do what you want.
"Men are but flesh and blood; they know their doom, but not the hour."
You are your character, and I couldn't stress that enough. You play the game how you want to play. Anyone who played the game can tell you, and I can, playing through multiple times with different class types, the way the game plays is totally up to you. If you want to run through caverns, collecting treasure, slashing through every dremora and skeleton that crosses your path, you should be a warrior, striking fear into your enemy's heart. If you'd rather sneak by enemies, picking them off from a distance with a bow, or possibly taking them down with one fatal blow to the back, stealing from the rich and hiding from the law, you should be a thief, hiding in the shadows and controlling towns from behind the curtains. If you want to summon creatures that will do your bidding, set enemies ablaze with fireballs, send them flying back with lightning, or casting beneficial spells upon yourself to make you faster, stronger or smarter, you should be a mage, spending nights learning new spells and using your magic prowess to amaze the masses.
But why stop there? Why not mix and match? Be a sneaky warrior, a Paladin, a Mage with a claymore, a thief with a broadsword, a ranger with magic abilities; the possibilities are endless, and the game never tells you what you can't do class-wise. Personally, I create a "Lifestealer", a warrior who can use medium armor, a broadsword, healing and destructive spells, and can sneak around, shoot arrows and pick locks.
As a side note, the level of your character plays a large role in your surroundings. At level one, running through the forest gleefully and picking flowers, the occasional wolf would run up to me, to not smell me but to viciously attack me, and I'd dispose of him and get on my way. At close to level twenty-five, however, as I was gleefully running for my life through fields, ignoring flowers, large bears and even minotaurs were chasing after me. The little imps in Oblivion changed to demons with axes, and my girlfriend turned into an even greater beast... (Heh heh, get it? I thought it was funny...)
Let the record show you can't get girlfriends in the game, or realistically, a wife, though that probably would have raised sales in underage boys by a large portion. Anyway, moving on.
"You sleep rather soundly for a murderer."
The Fighter's Guild; The Mage's Guild; The Thieves Guild; The Dark Brotherhood; these are the four major guilds in the game, with the exception of the latter two who keep their whereabouts hush-hush. All guilds have their own stories about them, which you can take the time to perform the quests and eventually run each of the guilds, along with performing side-quests inside each of the guilds, from its members.
My personal favorites are the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood, the former with basic "Heat" quests - stealing a variety of items for the guild - and the latter a miniature form of the "Hitman" game, with its quests ranging from murdering this guy, murdering that guy, pretending to murder this guy so you can murder the guy coming to murder him; in a nutshell, think "murder" and you get the picture. The only problem with the Dark Brotherhood is that you can become the head of the guild, killing a great deal of people without wearing any facial protection, and once back on the street, you're Regular Joe - or Arnold - who wouldn't hurt a soul. Granted, the murders take place where no one would really SEE you, but there is the chance someone might, and it's interesting to murder someone in front of a citizen, come from jail and talk to the witness as if nothing happened. Is this a horrible design flaw? No, not at all, but it sometimes takes away from the game, although killing someone in public will result in witness calling out "Murderer! Someone's been murdered!" and running for the guards. At least THAT'S realistic.
Having said that, there is no real distinction between "being good" and "being evil". When you become head of the Dark Brotherhood, you'll feel pretty evil yourself, having murdered everyone in your path to succeed, but then, once completing the story-quests, or even the Mage's Guild quests, you're instantly transformed into Johnny (Arney) McGood... Guy... What I'm trying to say is similar to what Yahtzee said about Fable: While you're either extremely good or horrible bad, there is really no "in-between". What IS good is that, in performing some deeds or quests, some citizens will proclaim your name as a hero, most notably, the "Hero of Kvatch", which is part of the O-P-T-I-O-N-A-L storyline, yet is the first or second BIG quest in the line, and highly recommend you do. From that point on - murderer, thief, badass - I was still the Hero of Kvatch, which struck me as odd.
"I can go no further. You alone must stand against the Prince of Destruction and his Mortal Servants. He must not have the Amulet of Kings!"
One thing the game introduces as "new" is the gates leading to Oblivion, the equivalent to Hell, if hell was made of lava, demons, and towers, instead of cookies and milk, apparently. So much so that, some enemies shout out, "Oblivion take you!" when in combat(As opposed to "Hell take you", or in today's manner, "Go to Hell!"). It is necessary to travel to Oblivion if you want to progress through the story, but if you'd rather not, they begin to pop up everywhere, so if you aren't into the story, you can just pop your head into Oblivion, tackle some demons, grab the giant stone at the top of the main tower - "You win!" - and close the gate. Each Oblivion dimension is different and randomly generate, except for the ones in the story quests, which are preset. Again, the higher level you are - which is progressed by practicing the skills in the game, like Destructive spells, wearing heavy armor, creating potions, and even running, and then sleeping in a bed to level up - the harder the enemies are, so going through the story quests as a level one, or two, is the best bet to have the least amount of REAL trouble.
"These are the closing days of the third era, and the final hours of my life."
In closing, let me just say that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion should be a vital part of your game collection, right next to Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4: one of the greats.
Verdict: BUY IT!
Oblivion is just one of those games that you need to see to believe. It's expansive, running on forever if you're careful, and letting the player never run out of things to do or see. With recent expansion packs and extra content, the land of Tamriel has never been bigger, and it will continue to grow.
If you don't have the game, buy it. If you do have the game, love it. If you love the game, play it. If you're playing it now, you clearly aren't reading this review, so you've created a paradox; congratulations.
PS: I lied. There are no cookies. Well, I have cookies, but you do not. As part of a required review protocol, I will stop enhancing the truth in three... two...
(( Comments are welcome and needed, as well as criticism: Anything I left out? Did I ramble on? Information not entirely correct? Let me know! =D ))
I like my reviews lengthy and covering all bases.
