The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the fourth installment in The Elder Scrolls game series and takes place in the fourth era. It was released on March 20th, 2006. Only four years after Morrowind was released. Oblivion was available on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and of course PC. It takes place in Cyrodill which is the home to the Imperial race (As Morrowind is home for the Dunmer).
As you can see on this handy little map, it falls right smack in the middle of the countries:
Plot
Oblivion takes place six years after the events that took place in the third era (Fun fact: It isn't even a sequel to Morrowind). At the beginning of the game, the player starts off imprisoned as they did in Morrowind. After a couple minutes of sitting in the cell (and being teased by some mean dark elf), a couple of soldiers from The Blades arrive with Emperor Uriel Septim IIV. They conveniently arrive for the player after escaping assassins who killed Uriel's three sons and now targets him. The player is then allowed to accompany them as the Emperor insists- he talks to the player and claims that he had seen them in his dreams. He believes that the player will serve a purpose by finding his long lost heir, Martin Septim. Uriel Septim does not seem too bothered by his fate as he tells the player. The player then leaves with The Blades and the Emperor, going through the secret entrance that was hidden in the cell the player starts off in. Weaving in and out of corridors and fighting assassins that threaten the Emperor, they come to a dead end. The player is told over and over again to protect the Emperor- although this is impossible. Before the Emperor dies, he entrusts you with his necklace called The Amulet of Kings. It cannot be worn (and will not stay on) by anyone who does not have Septim blood running through their veins. The player is also encouraged to return the amulet to a man named Jaffure, who knew the Emporer. He plays an important role as he helps the player locate Martin Septim.
When the heir of Uriel Spetim is lacking (before Martin Septim is found) it breaks the line protecting the country from Oblivion- a dangerous realm belonging to the daedric prince Mehrunes Dagon. Oblivion gates open one after the other, and Tamriel is threatened with the invasion of Daedra and Mehrunes Dagon. The player who is also known as "The Champion" must close the gates by fetching a Sigil Stone which binds the Oblivion gate to Cyrodill and closes it. The heir must be found or there will no lighting of The Dragonfires, a tradition that takes place in the Imperial City.
Personal Thoughts
Plot
Unlike Morrowind, I didn't enjoy the story line as much. I didn't bother with side quests the first time so I didn't really get the full experience of the game. I rushed through the game because I was too excited to get started on Skyrim. Anyway, like I said.. it was nothing compared to Morrowind. You definitely weren't fulfilling your own prophecy. You had to help some bufoon of an Emperor follow in his father's footsteps. Why the heck would I want to do that? I feel like you were just used as a puppet with being expected to find Martin Septim and stopping this malicious Daedra. You had some help towards the end but once finished, the story line felt incomplete. I thought it was too short to be honest. There could have been more effort into the story. Perhaps it could have been that the player was heir and they had to prove themselves a hero by stopping the threat to Tamriel.
Gameplay
Along with the story, I didn't enjoy this either.
User Interface
Bethesda couldn't have been more lazy with this. The UI is horrible. The controls are confusing. I didn't like how you can't press escape when exiting a window whether it be your inventory, a container, or anything you have to close out in the game. Instead you have to press close window. If you press ESC the save/close game menu always pops up. You can press ESC for that, so how come you can't do it for the others? It should serve that purpose instead of making the player press a stupid button. It may not seem that much of a hassle, but it really is. Wielding a weapon is confusing because like I said, the controls are all jacked up. You have to set your ready weapon command as "R" because it is some stupid control I can't be bothered to remember. It's hard to tell if you are assigning keyboard, console or mouse buttons to a certain action. Those are jumbled together, too. I'd much rather have the keyboard and mouse options together and console action buttons in its own separate section of the Controls menu.
Secondly, you cannot view your stats, spells, the map or your journal separately. Instead everything is crammed together. I mean.. come on. Look at this:
It doesn't look pretty. Everything looks fake because apparently Bethesda was going for a crappy book theme. I like having my items look real. You can't even see what a weapon looks like unless you wield it. The icons are hard to figure out because they aren't very obvious. Since everything is thrown together you can't really figure out what you are clicking. If you want your spells menu, you might accidentally open your stats. Or if you want to view your inventory, you might accidentally open your spells. Like I said.. it's not even organized. it was really lazy and shows that this was just thrown together and no thought or effort put into it.
Battle System
The battle system actually isn't too bad. Once you assign the right controls it's pretty easy to use. The only thing it is lacking are better health bars for enemies. Instead you have a little round circle that shows the enemy's HP level when you aim your crosshairs and it gradually gets smaller as you defeat it. It's not really noticeable. I'd prefer it to be on the top of the screen. You also have no idea where an enemy is because you cannot see it in your compass. You have to locate it by sound and you only know it's there by the battle music.
Enemies aren't really anything out of the ordinary. I am just very thankful there aren't any god awful cliff racers in Cyrodill. Instead there are annoying imps, but those are easy to kill when you shoot an arrow in their ugly head.
Graphics
This game came out in 2006 and you'd think there could have been at least a big improvement as game development and graphics had improved after four years. Apparently Bethesda was a little stuck in the past because the characters look like this:
It's not really fair that they are getting compared to Skyrim's character design because it came out five years after Oblivion did and of course there is a huge difference between the two. When it comes to character customization, there is little effort. You only have sliders to customize your character and when you slide one slider another one automatically changes a certain appearance, for example if you were choosing the Nord race and you were choosing the color for a beard another slider would change the face complexion. You can see what I am talking about in this image:
There are some mods that give you better character appearances but they don't really improve them by much. They don't change the slider issue, either.
When it comes to the environment graphics it's not too bad. It's definitely an upgrade from what the graphics looked like in Morrowind but the vanilla graphics in this game also could have been better. The things I enjoy most in TES games are the night skies. They are beautiful compared to everything else. So Oblivion at least takes the cake with its night sky.
When it comes to the appearance of armor, I don't care for it. It's gross looking. I haven't played enough to see what the Elven or Glass armor looks like, so I guess I can't really judge it too much. I will say that it could have been more pretty and I will leave it at that.
Quests/Locations
Thankfully, Oblivion has a lot to offer when it comes to side quests and places to explore. There are forts, ruins and caves a plenty. What I didn't like was that you cannot do Daedric quests unless you are a certain level. I actually started playing again yesterday so I could refresh my memory in order to write this review. My absolute favorite Daedric Prince in The Elder Scrolls is Hermaeus Mora. He is the Daedric prince of knowledge and his realm of Oblivion is filled with books, which is probably why I adore him so much. I find what he is depicted as is funny- he is just a mess of eyes and tentacles. Anyway, I went to pay my utmost respects to my tentacle god and I wasn't able to serve my lord because I had to finish all of the other Daedric quests and some stupid side quest. This made me mad. I wanted to show Herma-Mora how much I loved him. Anyway, I also tried to do Clavicus Vile's quest (the Daedric prince of wishes) but it told me he wanted a stronger champion. To be fair, I was only level one. But I remember I did try to do his quest in a previous game at a higher level and I still didn't meet his ridiculous standards.
V that spoiler is not an actual story spoiler so it is safe to read v
Conclusion
It is evident that I did not really like this game. Of out a 0 to 10 scale (0 being the most awful game in existence) I'd probably give it a 6. I noticed that it didn't have a lot of bugs with what little play time I have on it. It is a good game if you want to learn more about The Elder Scrolls and how everything is connected to each other in one way or another. I'd still recommend it. Perhaps someone else will like it more than I did.
As you can see on this handy little map, it falls right smack in the middle of the countries:
Plot
Oblivion takes place six years after the events that took place in the third era (Fun fact: It isn't even a sequel to Morrowind). At the beginning of the game, the player starts off imprisoned as they did in Morrowind. After a couple minutes of sitting in the cell (and being teased by some mean dark elf), a couple of soldiers from The Blades arrive with Emperor Uriel Septim IIV. They conveniently arrive for the player after escaping assassins who killed Uriel's three sons and now targets him. The player is then allowed to accompany them as the Emperor insists- he talks to the player and claims that he had seen them in his dreams. He believes that the player will serve a purpose by finding his long lost heir, Martin Septim. Uriel Septim does not seem too bothered by his fate as he tells the player. The player then leaves with The Blades and the Emperor, going through the secret entrance that was hidden in the cell the player starts off in. Weaving in and out of corridors and fighting assassins that threaten the Emperor, they come to a dead end. The player is told over and over again to protect the Emperor- although this is impossible. Before the Emperor dies, he entrusts you with his necklace called The Amulet of Kings. It cannot be worn (and will not stay on) by anyone who does not have Septim blood running through their veins. The player is also encouraged to return the amulet to a man named Jaffure, who knew the Emporer. He plays an important role as he helps the player locate Martin Septim.
When the heir of Uriel Spetim is lacking (before Martin Septim is found) it breaks the line protecting the country from Oblivion- a dangerous realm belonging to the daedric prince Mehrunes Dagon. Oblivion gates open one after the other, and Tamriel is threatened with the invasion of Daedra and Mehrunes Dagon. The player who is also known as "The Champion" must close the gates by fetching a Sigil Stone which binds the Oblivion gate to Cyrodill and closes it. The heir must be found or there will no lighting of The Dragonfires, a tradition that takes place in the Imperial City.
Personal Thoughts
Plot
Unlike Morrowind, I didn't enjoy the story line as much. I didn't bother with side quests the first time so I didn't really get the full experience of the game. I rushed through the game because I was too excited to get started on Skyrim. Anyway, like I said.. it was nothing compared to Morrowind. You definitely weren't fulfilling your own prophecy. You had to help some bufoon of an Emperor follow in his father's footsteps. Why the heck would I want to do that? I feel like you were just used as a puppet with being expected to find Martin Septim and stopping this malicious Daedra. You had some help towards the end but once finished, the story line felt incomplete. I thought it was too short to be honest. There could have been more effort into the story. Perhaps it could have been that the player was heir and they had to prove themselves a hero by stopping the threat to Tamriel.
Spoiler
Gameplay
Along with the story, I didn't enjoy this either.
User Interface
Bethesda couldn't have been more lazy with this. The UI is horrible. The controls are confusing. I didn't like how you can't press escape when exiting a window whether it be your inventory, a container, or anything you have to close out in the game. Instead you have to press close window. If you press ESC the save/close game menu always pops up. You can press ESC for that, so how come you can't do it for the others? It should serve that purpose instead of making the player press a stupid button. It may not seem that much of a hassle, but it really is. Wielding a weapon is confusing because like I said, the controls are all jacked up. You have to set your ready weapon command as "R" because it is some stupid control I can't be bothered to remember. It's hard to tell if you are assigning keyboard, console or mouse buttons to a certain action. Those are jumbled together, too. I'd much rather have the keyboard and mouse options together and console action buttons in its own separate section of the Controls menu.
Secondly, you cannot view your stats, spells, the map or your journal separately. Instead everything is crammed together. I mean.. come on. Look at this:
It doesn't look pretty. Everything looks fake because apparently Bethesda was going for a crappy book theme. I like having my items look real. You can't even see what a weapon looks like unless you wield it. The icons are hard to figure out because they aren't very obvious. Since everything is thrown together you can't really figure out what you are clicking. If you want your spells menu, you might accidentally open your stats. Or if you want to view your inventory, you might accidentally open your spells. Like I said.. it's not even organized. it was really lazy and shows that this was just thrown together and no thought or effort put into it.
Battle System
The battle system actually isn't too bad. Once you assign the right controls it's pretty easy to use. The only thing it is lacking are better health bars for enemies. Instead you have a little round circle that shows the enemy's HP level when you aim your crosshairs and it gradually gets smaller as you defeat it. It's not really noticeable. I'd prefer it to be on the top of the screen. You also have no idea where an enemy is because you cannot see it in your compass. You have to locate it by sound and you only know it's there by the battle music.
Enemies aren't really anything out of the ordinary. I am just very thankful there aren't any god awful cliff racers in Cyrodill. Instead there are annoying imps, but those are easy to kill when you shoot an arrow in their ugly head.
Graphics
This game came out in 2006 and you'd think there could have been at least a big improvement as game development and graphics had improved after four years. Apparently Bethesda was a little stuck in the past because the characters look like this:
Spoiler
It's not really fair that they are getting compared to Skyrim's character design because it came out five years after Oblivion did and of course there is a huge difference between the two. When it comes to character customization, there is little effort. You only have sliders to customize your character and when you slide one slider another one automatically changes a certain appearance, for example if you were choosing the Nord race and you were choosing the color for a beard another slider would change the face complexion. You can see what I am talking about in this image:
There are some mods that give you better character appearances but they don't really improve them by much. They don't change the slider issue, either.
When it comes to the environment graphics it's not too bad. It's definitely an upgrade from what the graphics looked like in Morrowind but the vanilla graphics in this game also could have been better. The things I enjoy most in TES games are the night skies. They are beautiful compared to everything else. So Oblivion at least takes the cake with its night sky.
When it comes to the appearance of armor, I don't care for it. It's gross looking. I haven't played enough to see what the Elven or Glass armor looks like, so I guess I can't really judge it too much. I will say that it could have been more pretty and I will leave it at that.
Quests/Locations
Thankfully, Oblivion has a lot to offer when it comes to side quests and places to explore. There are forts, ruins and caves a plenty. What I didn't like was that you cannot do Daedric quests unless you are a certain level. I actually started playing again yesterday so I could refresh my memory in order to write this review. My absolute favorite Daedric Prince in The Elder Scrolls is Hermaeus Mora. He is the Daedric prince of knowledge and his realm of Oblivion is filled with books, which is probably why I adore him so much. I find what he is depicted as is funny- he is just a mess of eyes and tentacles. Anyway, I went to pay my utmost respects to my tentacle god and I wasn't able to serve my lord because I had to finish all of the other Daedric quests and some stupid side quest. This made me mad. I wanted to show Herma-Mora how much I loved him. Anyway, I also tried to do Clavicus Vile's quest (the Daedric prince of wishes) but it told me he wanted a stronger champion. To be fair, I was only level one. But I remember I did try to do his quest in a previous game at a higher level and I still didn't meet his ridiculous standards.
V that spoiler is not an actual story spoiler so it is safe to read v
Spoiler
Conclusion
It is evident that I did not really like this game. Of out a 0 to 10 scale (0 being the most awful game in existence) I'd probably give it a 6. I noticed that it didn't have a lot of bugs with what little play time I have on it. It is a good game if you want to learn more about The Elder Scrolls and how everything is connected to each other in one way or another. I'd still recommend it. Perhaps someone else will like it more than I did.
Lurker Wrote:"Wine, Elton John, and Fumbo" basically covers everything you said at that time