The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Well, by now just about everyone has atleast heard of this game. It has done wonders at taking an almost cult like series and turning it into a pop hit. With success comes critisim and this game has certainly taken some hard hits, but is all this critisim deserved? I will take a neutral look into the game and try to anyalze all of its major advantages and disadvantages.
For any new player the most noticable feature of this game is the graphics. To put it short, this game is beautiful. Play it infront of your grandparents and there is a good chance they will think you watching a television show. Smaller scope games such as sports games may have better graphics, but for a game with such a wide scope this graphics are revolutionary and will be the goal everyone tries to beat in the comming months. I often find myself just wondering around the world admiring the craftsmenship that was put into this game. With the new graphics came character custumization like never before. Instead of picking pre-determined faces, the player has complete control over the characters face, whith completly customizable shapes and colors. For the first time you can walk around with a White Redgaurd, or a blue orc. The graphics make the game very immersing and takes the meaning of Role Playing to an all new level.
After the graphics you will most likely notice the revamped combat system. Weapon fighting is no longer blocky and unweildy. Noww the weapon movements are very smooth and it almost plays like an adventure game. A particular bonus is spell casting. With the hit of a button you can cast a spell, so no longer do you have to put your weapon away to cast a spell. This makes it much more pleasurable to be a battlemage. Again, the battle improvements made it much easier to get immursed in the game for me.
After these two amazing strengths the player will most likely come to realize Oblivion's greatest weakness, diversity. While compared to most games Oblivion is still rather strong in this department, but compared to Morrowind it is terrible. Skills such as short blade and long blade were merged into a singular blade class. This happend with several of the skills. In every other apsect of the game their were loses aswell. The weapon types of crosbows, spears, and throwing knives have all completly disapeared from the TES universe. Armor was simplified as well. Pauldrons and Breast plates were merged into a single piece of Armor, and in some cases the armor was so simplified to being a body piece and a head piece. On top of that the variety of armor and weapon materials also took a big hit. Short commings such as these can be noticed in all aspects of the game.
Guilds in Oblivion have their ups and downs. The main problem is simply the lack of Guilds. We lost the East Empire trading company, the Dunmer Houses, the Tribunal Temple, the Imperial Cult, the Imperial Legion, and the Mora Tang, while all that we gained were the Arena and Dark Brotherhood. There are several other quests that try to imitate guilds, but they are far from being the real thing( Knights of Thorn etc etc.). However, dispite the lack of Guilds, I do think the Guilds themselves have been improved. The quests just seem so much more real. The Arena was not a terribly long questline, but it certianly is very enjoyable playing in. The Dark Brotherhood is not only intresting, but very possibly the most enjoyable part of the game period. I think just about anyone will find it enjoyable to finish these guild quest, but once over the player will be begging for more.
Oblivion's biggest weakness in my mind is the leveling up system. As the character gets stronger the enemeies get stronger. At first this sounds like a great idea. The game will remain challenging. The problem is that the enemies get stronger when you level up. If you like to roleplay and choose to do a speed character for example you may very well ingore the strength stat. If you do this then you will soon find yourself in a world much stronger than yourself. This has lead to people cheating the system and playing the system to make sure they keep the upper edge. This feature is very damaging to the roleplay. Another problem is it actually makes the game easier. If you play as a strenght character as most do you will never find any problems and yo ucan go anywhere in the world and be the strongest. I much prefer having areas with harder creatures meant for higher level characters. It simply is more challanging and more true to the role play experience.
One of the more hidden aspects of the game that can greatly enhance its longevity is the lore. I am yet to find any other game that goes so in detail into the world it creates. Read some books in-game, you will be amazed at all the intresting things you will learn and how vast the TES universe really is.
There are many other aspects of the game, but those are simply I view as most important. I will tell you that this is a game of suprises. Explore and you are bound to find some little place of intrest. This game is one of the better RPG's I have played and dispite it's weakness's is certainly worth the money you have to pay for it. If you haven't go get it now, you won't regret it.
Regards,
Chormaqan
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