TES IV: Oblivion Appreciation Thread

[silver wolf009]

Oblivion was one of the first games I ever actually role played in. I remember, after all was said and done, all the quests were completed, I bought a house in Skingrad, furnished it lavishly, and "retired." I would read books, talk with my house servant, and made a point to get up early and get a sweetroll from the bakery, every morning when they opened. It was great. It had great quests, like the quest to find the Tears of Garridan, the pirate ship abduction, and personally I think that psychedelic fight against Umaril the Unfettered is one of the coolest in the series.

I have nothing but fond memories of Oblivion, and even though it hasn't aged well, it'll always be close to my heart.

 

[norashepard]

I played Oblivion more than I've played any other game since, save for Skyrim. I used tons of mods, getting new ones almost weekly, so maybe that colored my experience, but even so it was just such a distinct game for me. You say Oblivion and I immediately feel like I'm back in Cheydinhal listening to an Orc gangster bad-mouth me. Very few other games have that. Plus acrobatics was the best.

I will say that I can't play it much any more, simply because I've been spoiled by certain things in Skyrim (sprint sprint sprint, plus the Requiem mod). I try to go back but things are just clunky and hard to enjoy when I know there's another game lurking elsewhere on my harddrive that fixes those issues. Even so, the amount of fun I had with Oblivion is overwhelming, so it is definitely my favorite of the series.

I will say that most of the armor in that game looked like a joke, though. I straight up wore townclothes the entire time just so I wouldn't look so ridiculous.

 

[Mikejames]

I'll agree with most critiques about the level scaling, copy-paste environments, and tedium of closing Oblivion Gates, but I will always remember the fun I had with the questlines.

Skyrim, could often be summarized with fetch quests and dragon hunting, but with Oblivion, I remember diversity. I woke up on a hijacked boat, recreated an Agatha Christie murder mystery in the Dark Brotherhood, entered a man's nightmares, uncovered and escaped a cult; and that's all before the wackiness of the Shivering Isles.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Vanilla Oblivion is, let's face it, pretty awful by modern standards. That didn't stop me enjoying it immensely though. It has tons of issues, but some things that still work great today.

1. The beginning. The beginning of Skyrim felt like it was trying too hard. All explosions and intesity and noise and destruction. Oblivion lead us through a maze with a dash of intrigue about why the emperor was there, but then just left us alone to go through the rest of it. I still think it's one of the best tutorials I've seen.

2. The variety of class builds, at least in comparison to Skyrim and other modern RPGs. I had a ton of fun thinking what kind of character I would try next. Maybe an axe-wielding illusionist with some alchemy on the side? Or a thieving brute who carries a warhammer? Coming up with names for custom classes was also fun.

3. The sights. Though Skyrim had more environmental variety, the drab coloud palette made them still look pretty similar, and the FOV effect tended to blur faraway places. In Oblivion I stopped far more often to wonder at the colourful scenery.

4. Quest complexity. For example, I never got to the Mages College, despite me sinking dozens of hours into Oblivion. It really felt that some places just were completely out of reach, and you had to really work to get there, instead of some guy coming up to you and going "I heard you're a really famous mage. Please come with me"

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Oblivion and I have a funny relationship.

On the one hand, I find it to be an absolutely terrible game in most technical senses. The character models are ugly fish-men, the voice acting is atrocious to the point of hilarity, the combat is the most floaty non-hitting dancing in the series and probably gaming as a whole, the magic is all variations on a weak ball colored whatever element you're throwing, the persuasion system is woefully broken, the leveling of monsters and items is utterly ridiculous, the game could be instantly won in a number of ways without much effort, the archery just didn't work, a lot of the quests are tedious to the point of pain (fuck [i/]Allies For Bruma[/i]), the game can't handle more than a few enemies at a time so the massive Daedra/Imperial/whoever army is like 4 guys, the fast travel system is very poorly implemented, and the whole thing is generally buggy as hell.

And yet I can't help but love it through and through. I'm honestly not 100% sure why I enjoy it so much, but I'll try to articulate it as best I can.

The absolute key for me is the sincerity of the game. Skyrim vs Oblivion is sort of like Watchmen vs Captain America in that sense. The first is all dark and broody. Everything is happening [i/]after[/i] whatever great adventures took place. The world has gone to shit, the Dark Brotherhood has abandoned their code, the Thieves Guild is thugs, etc. It's all in the aftermath of the grand fantasy adventure. Oblivion IS the grand fantasy adventure. The Thieves Guild are ultra honorable Robin Hood types who champion the poor, the kingdom is a happy, wonderful place besieged by dark forces. No civil war, no darkness or grittiness, no Nordic racism, no Paarthanax dilemma, no moral quandaries or ambiguity, just [b/]fantasy[/b]. You're the hero, you're destined to help save the world and then you totally do it. This is partly thanks to the graphical aesthetics. Everything is covered in such vibrant, lively colors rather than Skyrim's drab and depressing snow.

The second major thing in Oblivion that was done highly well were the guilds. Each of the storylines was very interesting and almost every quest was unique and fun. This is true of most of the side missions as well as several other people mentioned. The mechanics used to complete the missions actually felt neat instead of just killing the shit out of everything.

The other part of Oblivion that was awesome as OP mentioned was the soundtrack. The tunes were just so well done and so atmospheric. The soundtrack is one of the primary reason that Oblivion is not just fun, but so damn comfy. Playing it just feels like relaxing as a little kid without a care in the world.

The final thing I want to bring up is kind of cheating, but it deserves mentioning. Shivering Isles is one of the best DLCs ever. Just sayin.

So yeah. I dislike almost every aspect of Oblivion and yet I love it and played it for ten times the amount I played Skyrim. Go figure.

Spoiler: MOAR MUSIC

 

[Basst Woefatt]

Oblivion was my first ES game. At the time it was a blast to play through, I hadn't had as good of a time playing an RPG since Ultima 7. I think it was simply the fact that I could wander throughout the world and explore an interesting and striking place. I had issues with the leveling system and the voice acting was really bad sometimes. Still, one of the better RPGs I've ever played.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Ah Oblivion, such an awesome game.

It has the single greatest quest ever (Whodunnit?)
The Thieves Guild made you feel appropriately sneaky -gotta love the secret passages in the game and the final heist was fantastic.
It had Boromir.
It had the best music of the series IMO. Here's one of my favourites from the soundtrack:

Spoiler: Super relaxing music

That piece always made me feel safe while I was out adventuring.
The guards were better than Skyrim's: I'll take telepathic "STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM", to "arrow to the knee" any day.
A lot of the random side quests were interesting and a lot of fun.
There were some truly insane quests: Arkved's Tower is one of the most disturbingly fascinating places I've ever been to in a video game.
You could melt Dagon if you were too powerful (I had 100% reflect damage so when he went to stomp on me, he melted to the ground).
You got to kill the adoring fan.
It has the greatest expansion of all time.

 

[Scow2]

Jingle Fett (I can't directly quote for some odd reason): That's how I feel as well. In terms of "generic fantasy world" I would say that Skyrim is perhaps even more simplistic in its presentation, whereas Oblivion at least had its art style to give a sense of distinction. Skyrim is certainly better on a technical level, and it's definitely better at providing landmarks to make exploration less same-y, but even that superiority feels somewhat minor. Unlike Skyrim, every region of Oblivion was exciting to explore because of how unique it was- the golden Colovian grasses are totally different from the swamps around Bravil, for instance.

When it comes to recent Bethesda video games, however, I would say that none of them provide a variety of distinct locales quite like Fallout 3 does...aside from the sewers and metro stations, that is. Though I don't enjoy it nearly as much as Oblivion or Obsidian's New Vegas.

This doesn't follow at all... Skyrim has a lot more unique art direction going for it, from the Forsworn redoubts in the absolutely beautiful, bright green Reach and all its craggy, mountainous and canyony glory (So many paths and so much greenery!), the murky swamps of Morthal, the hot springs and fens of Eastmarch, the supervolcano caldera of the Rift, the incredible mountain passes, the forests of Falkreath and Lake Ilmata, and the frozen wastes of Eastmarch, and the shore's expanse... and the grassy tundra of Whiterun. Can't forget that!

Fallout 3 always had the least environmental distinction as far as I could tell.

The guilds in Oblivion are much better than Skyrim's, but the Fighter's guild is plagued with "Provincial Ping-Pong" - Go from the Soutwest corner to the Northeast, then back, then to the Northwest corner, then southeast... then keep bouncing between all four corners one after another. It was... exhausting, and strained credibility (Especially since I didn't like fast travelling).

 

[schrodinger]

Oblivion still has better quest lines(dark brotherhood ftw) and a detailed leveling system, yet you can't deny it hasn't aged well, but at least it has aged better then Morrowind. The little varied dungeons, the same 5 voice actors, the tank like controls(god, trying to ride a horse feels like driving a tank), the HORRENDOUS character creator, the limited variety and number of enemies and the anti-climatic oblivion gates.
Even with it faults, it is a much more deeper game than Skyrim.
Skyrim is still fun though~

 

[The Random Critic]

For me, a lot of it has to do with the old stat system

It is flawed, by every mean it is flawed, and it can be complicated and punishing thanks to it's wonderful level scaling system. But the spell making, the variety, and some of the complexity in the game itself shine thanks it's much unchanging feature from Morrowind. (even though a lot of these are left without any consequences) With enough mods, Oblivion can and probably did for me at some point ascend above Skyrim in terms of game play.

Still though, Skyrim is given more care regarding it's setting and lore. The perk system, while isn't all that great in vanilla, does allow interesting variety in character development. (not to mention the developer left some whacky game abuse that almost feels like it's a nod towards the older elder scroll fans) O and there is dual wielding and blacksmithing, and a none reactivity implemented faction system.

The essence of this argument is almost the same as the ones I've heard between Morrowind and Daggerfall. With that begin said though, for me this is the line for a TES game. (it would still sell like hot cake though, and to be honest, as longs their world always gives me freedom in choosing my ways, I will probably buy it and play it for a long time)

As for which is better pure vanilla , Skyrim, mostly due to shouting and dual wielding. And stuff in the game making more sense (though far less sense then I would want), and re-playabilty. (I can typically play Oblivion with one character, but in Skyrim I always have the urge to try quite a few)

 

[Headsprouter]

Oblivion, my first game of the series. And I loved it to pieces, still do. I must have spent 1000s of hours playing it. It ruled my life for a while. And that was on Xbox, so I haven't even touched mods to any notable extent. Vanillawise, it always felt like it had more than Skyrim.

 

[lvramire]

I loved the quests of Oblivion but ABSOLUTELY HATED how it handled leveling and enemy-scaling. I remember starting a new game and right after escaping the prison, feeling compelled to immediately acquire the horse, turn difficulty up to the highest and hack at it with a dagger (while crouching) to level the stats I wanted. It's not that I wanted to game the system or min-max my stats exactly, it's just that I really hate the idea of a "wasted" stat-point or leveling-up with stupid stats because I jumped too much or something.

Also, the random thieves and their grandmothers walking around with high-level equipment. Yeaahhh....

 

[Voulan]

Oblivion was my first Elder Scrolls game, but more importantly it was my first western RPG. And I absolutely loved every minute of it - the exploration, the loot, the races and locations, the unique quest lines and story, and the different kinds of magic. When I joined discussions on the game and people hated it over Morrowind I couldn't understand it. Granted Oblivion is far more generic, but I knew nothing different and I found the Elder Scrolls universe to be surprisingly deep and complex.

Unfortunately now I well and truly prefer Skyrim, mostly because of graphical improvements and diverse dungeons. Oblivion holds a special place in my heart, though. And I miss some features that Skyrim changed, like being able to cast spells even when both hands are holding something, and a hotkey menu over the favourites one so you don't have to keep pausing combat.

 

[scorptatious]

Looking back, I kinda remember this one quest from the Shivering Isles expansion that I found very interesting. Basically, in order to advance in the main quest, you had to take a VERY addictive drug in order to enter this one area. This drug, from what I remember constantly drains your stats by a lot and pretty quickly too. And you need to race through the dungeon, collecting more samples of the drug to keep you from going through withdrawal for too long.

At the same time, you need to keep away from the enemies, as they have an advantage over you because you're stats have been lowered due to withdrawal.

Eventually, you reach the end and acquire the cure for your addiction.

It was pretty nerve wracking, and it kinda helped me imagine what it must be like for actual addicts who are away from their fix for too long.

How is it that you could be the leader of the Fighter's Guild, Mages Guild, Thieves Guild AND Dark Brotherhood without anyone noticing?

You've never worked in a big company have you? How can someone be the head of the health and safety committee, the head of the spirit committee (we have one of those, fucked if I know what they do though, I believe necromancy is involved), and the team leader for production? By being "that guy" who says "i'll do that". In Oblivion, you're "that guy"

Happens in real life all the time.

I guess that makes sense. God, I can imagine the MC hiding in the shadows pulling a country wide conspiracy with all the guilds he has in his/her control.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

To be honest, by now, I'm so fucking fed up by Bethesda's games that I wouldn't be able to sit down and enjoy Oblivion at all.

However, what I will mention, are the hundreds of hours I put into it many years ago, when it was one of the only games I played. While I could hardly ever get the thing to actually work with mods, I still had a lot of fun with it. I got lost in the world, and was awed by it (back then I didn't play many games, and so Oblivion easily surprised me despite being mediocre in almost everything). While I look back on it now as a very average game, and the worst of the modern Elder Scrolls trilogy, it did provide me plenty of enjoyable hours after I returned from school when I was younger, and for that, I can certainly still appreciate it.

 

[PPB]

I feel exactly the same as SirBryghtside from the first page, in that I see Oblivion as that strange experiment between Morrowind and Skyrim. It lacks the depth of Morrowind's character advancement and setting, and doesn't quite reach Skyrim's better combat system and visual style. Bluntly put, if someone wants an RPG I will direct them to Morrowind, and if someone wants an action game I will direct them to Skyrim. You would think that Oblivion might enjoy the role of the compromise game between the two other extremes, but I think it ends up as a jack of all trades, master of none game.

With that being said, I did play it again a bit last year and enjoyed it. The soundtrack and forest scenery are very soothing and fun to wander around in.

 

[mortalsatsuma]

I absolutely love oblivion, easily one of my favourite games. Bought it on the 360 first and played the shit out of then, then bought it on pc and played the shit out of it again. It's easily my favourite elder scrolls game and honestly, i felt a bit dissapointed with skyrim in comparison. Skyrim just felt like it had all the fun and colour sucked out of it whereas oblivion just felt a hell of a lot more organic and a better game in general. in particular the faction quests were much better, i.e. the dark brotherhood, which in skyrim, was kinda shite. I never had a problem with the leveling system either tbh. I never even noticed it until people started bitching on the forums about it.

 

[flying_whimsy]

I love Oblivion and really enjoyed playing it, especially the Shimmering Isles expansion. My only gripe with the game is that it didn't have a lot of variety or color in its massive world map; which I didn't mind until I accidentally stumbled into the Shimmering Isles early on in my first play through. When I finished and went back to the main quest I sort of stopped caring about that boring little world with its dead king and demon invasion: I was the god of madness and ruled over a realm with a peacekeeping army of scantily clad amazons. I also really enjoyed the dark brotherhood and just how overwhelmingly powerful the stealth could be when combined with a bow and arrow.

Played it again before I got Skyrim during the holiday season and really enjoyed it, warts and all. There are some aspects of it I like better than its successor, but there are things Skyrim does better. Sometimes I can't figure which of the two I want to play. Also, I still feel like Skyrim's story was cut short (that game should have ended with you as the dragonborn ascending the throne and uniting the lands to kick the crap out of the dominion) and definitely prefer the events of Oblivion.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Honestly, there were three main things I hated about Oblivion:

1: The setting was just boring, if you ask me. Extremely generic medieval fantasy world, never played Morrowind but I know it had a fairly unique setting, and I loved the Viking theme of Skyrim.

2: The awful "conversation pie". Seriously, that thing was atrocious.

3: If I remember correctly, for no explainable reason at all, when you started invading the Daedric realms, you couldn't use their weapons and armor when you killed them, that bugged the hell out of me.

Besides that, it was decent.