In 2006, Bethesda Softworks (Elder Scrolls series, Fallout 3) and 2K Games (Prey, Bioshock, The Darkness) released The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the fourth game in the Elder Scrolls series (shock). It opened to highly positive reviews and sold over 3 million copies in less than a year.
The game starts with you making a character. You have a choice of several different races, which have various strengths and weaknesses, and male or female. The main complaint there, for me, is that I have found it nearly impossible to make a non-Breton female look attractive. You have facial sliders for every conceivable facial feature, so I suppose it is technically possible to pull it off, but I haven't been able to do it with anything but a Breton. Also, they have you choose from several hair colors, which is nice, but at the same time, a color grid where you choose the exact shade of hair you want, ala Soul Calibur III, would have been nice.
After you make your character you are placed in a cell in the Imperial Prison for an unknown reason (cliche 1). Upon approaching the cell door, you are insulted by the Dunmer, or Dark Elf, in the cell across from you. These jeers/hit-ons change depending on your race and gender. After he concludes by telling you you're going to die (cliche 2), three Imperial guards named Baurus (voiced by Michael Black, who also does the voice for all Redguard males), Glenroy, and Captain Renault approach your cell, escorting Emperor Uriel Septim (voiced by Patrick Stewart). Captain Renault asks what the hell you are doing in there, and Baurus replies with a lame excuse. After they enter the cell, the Emperor says he recognizes you from his dreams (cliche 3) and when asked, makes a vague reference to your future (cliche 4). The guards then open a secret passage in your cell (cliche 5) and walk in after telling you not to follow them. After you follow them anyways (cliche 6), you eventually have to go an alternate route for an arbitary reason (cliche 7). You eventually reunite with Baurus, Glenroy, and the Emperor, the Captain having died earlier, providing you with a weapon (cliche 8). You follow them after the Emperor tells you that he has seen his fate (cliche 9). Eventually, you come to a chamber and Glenroy goes ahead to take a closer look (cliche 10). After they find the gate they are supposed to go through barred (cliche 11), they check out a convenient side passage (cliche 12). It is a dead end (cliche 13). Eventually the guards run out hearing assassins in the room, leaving you alone with the Emperor (cliche 14). He gives you his amulet and tells you he has a son that no one knows is related to him (cliche 15). After a bit of other stuff happens, you hunt down this son, whose name is Brother Martin (voiced by Sean Bean).
I apologize for that overly long plot summary, but what I intended to show from it is that the script is nothing original and that there are no shockers. I mean, in the first hour of the game, I spotted 16 cliches, one of which was not mentioned in the plot summary. That is not originality.
The voice work in the game is very well done. However, most of the money was spent on an actor who spent about 20 minutes doing dialogue (Capt. Jean-Luc Picard). Because of this, each race and gender has one voice. That is, all Redguard males sound the same, all Argonian females sound the same, etc. But still, the game gets so much credit for getting Sean Bean that I will forgive nearly anything voice wise. Plus, Wes Johnson (who voices, among others, Sheogorath and Lucien Lachance) is a hell of a voice actor.
The game itself is very graphically advanced. My first time playing the game, I literally gasped when I saw the outside world. Beautiful hardly does the game justice. I cannot think of one graphical flaw. Wait, that was a lie. The draw distance sucks. You can be standing on the shore of a lake, and the other side is flat green until you swim over. I barely notice though, because I'm too busy dragging a body into the shimmering water. Also, the scenery is a bit repetitive, with there being six textures: inside, dungeon, street, snow, forest, and Oblivion. This is a minor problem if you have not played Morrowind, but it is still a bit irking.
The quests are fairly good for most games, but after Morrowind, you will probably be disappointed in the unoriginality of quests. Another problem is that there are five guilds...and you can lead them all. Seriously, even Bill Gates couldn't pull off this big of a monopoly. Compare this to Morrowind, where joining some guilds prevents you from joining others. No, in this one you can be a righteous fighter, a sneaky, but honorable, thief, and a contract killer at the same time. It's a minor quibble, but it is quite annoying at the same time.
The combat system is very much improved over Morrowind. Here, if you swing a sword, you will hit the enemy no matter what, which makes fights end much more quickly. Also, your magic is a viable fighting choice, where you can walk into a place unarmed, and walk out with the sweet smell of charring flesh and sound of crackling electricity following you. Try that in Morrowind. Seriously, try it so I can laugh at your idiocy. Unfortunately, they took a giant step backwards by making the enemies level with you, and by making you level after you level your major skills by 10 total. This means if you have a major skill being alchemy and you level up a lot in alchemy, you're screwed unless you turn down the difficulty, because your fighting skills will be woefully underpowered. Besides, I didn't work my ass off to get that glass armor just so I could fight enemies also wearing it.
The AI is fairly good. The enemies aren't too hard, but they do put up a fight if they are humans. My main beef here is in the psychic guards. No, do not tell me I'm over-exaggerating. If you kill one citizen, leaving town turns into a bizarre version of a Benny Hill chase scene, with the entire Imperial army chasing you. Of course, any crime you commit can be paid off with gold, but that doesn't change the fact that the guard AI is omniscent, which slightly ruins the whole "go anywhere, do anything" feel of the game.
Overall, this game is a very well done WRPG. However, while it makes some major strides over Morrowind, it also takes some giant steps back. Basically, if you tried to get into Morrowind, but couldn't because of the broken combat and graphics, buy Oblivion. However, if you enjoyed the wide variety of options available in Morrowind and the impressive storyline, I would suggest borrowing this from a friend.
Edit: I just got a message from Mel, stating that this review almost got 3'd. So, I want to use this opportunity to thank everyone who helped me through my earlier reviews and pointing out what needed fixing. This is my toast to you.
The game starts with you making a character. You have a choice of several different races, which have various strengths and weaknesses, and male or female. The main complaint there, for me, is that I have found it nearly impossible to make a non-Breton female look attractive. You have facial sliders for every conceivable facial feature, so I suppose it is technically possible to pull it off, but I haven't been able to do it with anything but a Breton. Also, they have you choose from several hair colors, which is nice, but at the same time, a color grid where you choose the exact shade of hair you want, ala Soul Calibur III, would have been nice.
After you make your character you are placed in a cell in the Imperial Prison for an unknown reason (cliche 1). Upon approaching the cell door, you are insulted by the Dunmer, or Dark Elf, in the cell across from you. These jeers/hit-ons change depending on your race and gender. After he concludes by telling you you're going to die (cliche 2), three Imperial guards named Baurus (voiced by Michael Black, who also does the voice for all Redguard males), Glenroy, and Captain Renault approach your cell, escorting Emperor Uriel Septim (voiced by Patrick Stewart). Captain Renault asks what the hell you are doing in there, and Baurus replies with a lame excuse. After they enter the cell, the Emperor says he recognizes you from his dreams (cliche 3) and when asked, makes a vague reference to your future (cliche 4). The guards then open a secret passage in your cell (cliche 5) and walk in after telling you not to follow them. After you follow them anyways (cliche 6), you eventually have to go an alternate route for an arbitary reason (cliche 7). You eventually reunite with Baurus, Glenroy, and the Emperor, the Captain having died earlier, providing you with a weapon (cliche 8). You follow them after the Emperor tells you that he has seen his fate (cliche 9). Eventually, you come to a chamber and Glenroy goes ahead to take a closer look (cliche 10). After they find the gate they are supposed to go through barred (cliche 11), they check out a convenient side passage (cliche 12). It is a dead end (cliche 13). Eventually the guards run out hearing assassins in the room, leaving you alone with the Emperor (cliche 14). He gives you his amulet and tells you he has a son that no one knows is related to him (cliche 15). After a bit of other stuff happens, you hunt down this son, whose name is Brother Martin (voiced by Sean Bean).
I apologize for that overly long plot summary, but what I intended to show from it is that the script is nothing original and that there are no shockers. I mean, in the first hour of the game, I spotted 16 cliches, one of which was not mentioned in the plot summary. That is not originality.
The voice work in the game is very well done. However, most of the money was spent on an actor who spent about 20 minutes doing dialogue (Capt. Jean-Luc Picard). Because of this, each race and gender has one voice. That is, all Redguard males sound the same, all Argonian females sound the same, etc. But still, the game gets so much credit for getting Sean Bean that I will forgive nearly anything voice wise. Plus, Wes Johnson (who voices, among others, Sheogorath and Lucien Lachance) is a hell of a voice actor.
The game itself is very graphically advanced. My first time playing the game, I literally gasped when I saw the outside world. Beautiful hardly does the game justice. I cannot think of one graphical flaw. Wait, that was a lie. The draw distance sucks. You can be standing on the shore of a lake, and the other side is flat green until you swim over. I barely notice though, because I'm too busy dragging a body into the shimmering water. Also, the scenery is a bit repetitive, with there being six textures: inside, dungeon, street, snow, forest, and Oblivion. This is a minor problem if you have not played Morrowind, but it is still a bit irking.
The quests are fairly good for most games, but after Morrowind, you will probably be disappointed in the unoriginality of quests. Another problem is that there are five guilds...and you can lead them all. Seriously, even Bill Gates couldn't pull off this big of a monopoly. Compare this to Morrowind, where joining some guilds prevents you from joining others. No, in this one you can be a righteous fighter, a sneaky, but honorable, thief, and a contract killer at the same time. It's a minor quibble, but it is quite annoying at the same time.
The combat system is very much improved over Morrowind. Here, if you swing a sword, you will hit the enemy no matter what, which makes fights end much more quickly. Also, your magic is a viable fighting choice, where you can walk into a place unarmed, and walk out with the sweet smell of charring flesh and sound of crackling electricity following you. Try that in Morrowind. Seriously, try it so I can laugh at your idiocy. Unfortunately, they took a giant step backwards by making the enemies level with you, and by making you level after you level your major skills by 10 total. This means if you have a major skill being alchemy and you level up a lot in alchemy, you're screwed unless you turn down the difficulty, because your fighting skills will be woefully underpowered. Besides, I didn't work my ass off to get that glass armor just so I could fight enemies also wearing it.
The AI is fairly good. The enemies aren't too hard, but they do put up a fight if they are humans. My main beef here is in the psychic guards. No, do not tell me I'm over-exaggerating. If you kill one citizen, leaving town turns into a bizarre version of a Benny Hill chase scene, with the entire Imperial army chasing you. Of course, any crime you commit can be paid off with gold, but that doesn't change the fact that the guard AI is omniscent, which slightly ruins the whole "go anywhere, do anything" feel of the game.
Overall, this game is a very well done WRPG. However, while it makes some major strides over Morrowind, it also takes some giant steps back. Basically, if you tried to get into Morrowind, but couldn't because of the broken combat and graphics, buy Oblivion. However, if you enjoyed the wide variety of options available in Morrowind and the impressive storyline, I would suggest borrowing this from a friend.
Edit: I just got a message from Mel, stating that this review almost got 3'd. So, I want to use this opportunity to thank everyone who helped me through my earlier reviews and pointing out what needed fixing. This is my toast to you.
