back to index
				Graphics: 8.5 Gameplay: 10.0 Sound: 9.5 Control: 9.0 Replay Value: 9.5 Rating: 9.5 Publisher:  2K Games Developer:  Bethesda Softworks Number Of Players:  1 Cheats Screenshots
			Print This Article

  INTRO

  I did not grow up a fan of RPG or fantasy style games. My first experience with D&D was on the school bus when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. Some kid had a bag full of these crazy looking dice. Curious, I asked if it would be acceptable for me to take a gander at them. The only thing I managed to understand about D&D after that was the pyramid shaped die apparently caused more pain than the 12-sided die when thrown into the back of little Jenny Harvey’s head.

  Along came college and the chance to meet lots of interesting folks. A neighbor of mine was a huge D&D fantasy game buff, and I one day finally agreed to attend what he called his ‘gatherings’. About the only thing I had in common with the room full of people was that we all breathed oxygen. I was given a low-level barbarian to play with, but was having difficulty understanding the rules. In every battle, the guy running the game would announce that the “Barbarian was paralyzed for 3 turns by such and such spell.” What the hell. Everyone seemed to think that this was just hilarious. What did I learn? If you put the guy calling himself ‘Dungeon Master’ into a cradle hold long enough, your character is suddenly immune to certain spells for the rest of the game.

  Fast forward to the present…

  I’ve been a console gamer now for a few years. I’ve started to follow games and keep up with the latest and greatest. I’ve dabbled in some RPG games, but nothing serious or devoted. I hear about this new Elder Scrolls game…and it wasn’t too high on the radar for me. But then I saw the intro video from E3. And then I read some more about the game. And then I pre-ordered and tried to get my hands on any and all information. And I couldn’t be any more thrilled. If you read no further (and that is a distinct possibility) understand this one fact – Bethesda has done a wonderful job capturing the feeling of being in another world and living out an adventure. Would I recommend this game to RPG enthusiasts? Absolutely. Would I recommend it to general gamers? Yep. Did I ask my wife more than once to stand and watch me shoot arrows at a goblin? Yes, and she actually commented that it was ‘pretty cool.’

  WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?

  Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion takes place in a world called Tamriel and the province of Cyrodiil. I don’t know how you pronounce those, but I say “Tam-Rye-L” and “Sigh-Row-Deel”. I was worried that my lack of experience in the previous game for Xbox would give me the sense that I was missing something. That is not the case at all. In fact, each of the games in this series delves into new story lines and new characters.

  So the main story line is pretty standard fare for fantasy games. In fact, if you picked up the game and read the back description, you’d have a good sense for what is going on. The Emperor is assassinated. There is a prophecy about you saving the world. These gates to another world/dimension (Oblivion) have opened (like a horror movie...with a gate of fire that acts like a portal). It’s up to you to restore order and peace to the world. Seems simple enough right? It’s not simple though…the story is wonderfully told by Bethesda and you’ll find yourself eager to find out what happens next. But here is the beauty of this game…you don’t necessarily have to save the world right away!

  LET’S GET STARTED

  The very first thing you do in this game is create your character. I wasn’t expecting much here but I was pleasantly surprised by how much customization you can actually do. I spent an hour adjusting my cheek bones, ear placements, etc. It’s not on par with something like Tiger Woods: PGA Tour 2006, but it’s pretty close. And that’s not a complaint…it’s a compliment!

  Start by picking your race. The choices are Argonian, Breton, Dark Elf, High Elf, Imperial, Khajiit, Nord, Orc, Redguard, and Wood Elf. Although I’ve seen Lord of the Rings, I maybe recognized 3 of those. A few of them look like humans, but some are like lizards or cats. I stuck with the human non-green character. It really doesn’t matter what you pick in a sense that any of these choices can ‘win’ the game, but you really have to pick wisely for how you want to PLAY the game. Each race is tied to certain skills that more or less help you solve situations in different ways. Some are more adept at fighting, others at magic, and others at stealing things and sneaking around.

  Then you specialize your character by concentrating them towards combat (fighting), a mage (magic), or stealth (stealing and sneaking). There is a list of attributes that govern a character’s mental, physical, and magical abilities. They include Strength, Intelligence, Willpower, Agility, Speed, Endurance, Personality, and Luck. Furthermore, each of these attributes has a set of skills to them. You select 7 major skills for your character, and by increasing them during the game, your character levels up. And finally, you choose a birth sign that increases your starting attributes. There are pre-defined characters or you can customize in whatever fashion you like. Confused yet? I was…so let’s back up for a moment here. What you DON’T want to do is choose a character type and then give them skills that wouldn’t be effective for how you play. Example, I wouldn’t choose to be a mage and the pick skills that involve how proficient I am at heavy weapons and heavy armor. Instead, you’d want your skills to center around creating potions and magic or using destruction spells. I chose to play as a Nord that would concentrate on combat. But I also wanted to be able to sneak around and use a bow well. So I chose major skills that would best assist me (Block, Armorer, Heavy Armorer, Blade, Marksman, Sneak, and Light Armorer). It can be tricky getting the right combination. It bothered me that I had to make these types of choices before even playing. What if I change my mind? What if I am butt-stupid and mess up? I don’t have a good answer for you, but make sure you save right before you exit the initial section of the game. At least this saves you from doing the tutorial portion of the game again.

  Once you get your choices down, you spend your time trying to get better at your skills so your performance improves. You can do things repeatedly (sneak around all the time and your sneak skill increases), but that can be slow. You can also have characters in the game train you. The last way is to read books in the game that help you learn about a particular skill. (You don’t have to actually read them, just open them).Everyone starts at a level one. If you raise your major skills by a combination of 10, you move up a level. You must sleep for this to happen (something I found out the hard way!) which is indicated by an icon on your screen. You choose three out of the eight attributes to increase. It’s a great system and easy to understand, even if I made a mess out of explaining it.

  CONTROL THY SELF

  Controls seem very intuitive. Your left and right thumbsticks do what they do in most games – move your character (left) and look around (right). Clicking the left thumbstick puts you into sneak mode. When doing this you see an icon on the screen showing how ‘aware’ an enemy is of your presence. Clicking the right changes your view from 1st person to 3rd person. For 3rd person, you can control your view by clicking and holding the look stick then use the triggers to zoom in and out. Personally, I thought I would enjoy 3rd person more so I could see my character and get a better view of what was around me. In reality, it’s seems a little clunkier, especially when in a battle. The D-pad works as a quick selection and you can hotkey almost anything to the 8 spots. I’ve normally used the D-pad for 4 directions, and it took some getting used to (for this old man) to use the ‘diagonal’ slots. Right trigger is attack, right bumper casts spells, left trigger is block, and left bumper is grab. These were very easy to use.

  So here are the standard controls:

  • Left thumbstick – Move

  • Left thumbstick button – Sneak mode

  • Right thumbstick - Look around

  • Right thumbstick button – 1st/3rd person view

  • Left Bumper – Grab

  • Right Bumper - Attack

  • D-pad – Hotkeys

  • Left trigger – Block

  • Right trigger – Attack

  • A button – Activate

  • B button – Journal

  • X button – Ready weapon/torch

  • Y button – Jump

  Overall, the control scheme is perfect of a console game. I had no issues moving around the world and doing what I wanted to do. Occasionally the D-pad hotkey system gives me problems, but it’s not because of quality of design. My only complaint? I tend to suffer from motion sickness when I play some games. It’s not often and not that bad, but it’s annoying. I get it after a few hours of playing Oblivion. I’d love for someone to tell to me why this happens.

  Bethesda does a solid job explaining how to do things the first time you encounter them and all these hints and helps are saved for you to reference later. Control wise, this game doesn’t have much of a learning curve, but there are enough subtleties that it took me a little while to master all the control aspects to become proficient at them without having to pause and reference the instruction manual.

  PUT UP YER DUKES

  You will fight in this game…a lot! And thankfully the combat system in this game is an improvement over previous versions. It’s real-time, which means you can dodge a fireball by moving out of the way…not just by the luck of some random number generator. The left trigger blocks and the right trigger attacks. Get used to learning how to block – you will need it. You also can do more powerful attacks by holding down the right trigger, and as your skills improve this can be very effective. Some of the most fun I’ve had in combat so far is from a distance with my bow. I can sneak to some covering, arm my bow, and take down an unsuspecting enemy without them knowing I was there. Just pure fun. OR, I can walk right in and trade some blows. And this is where I think the game is brilliant. You can play however you like and be equally successful.

  Now being new to this genre, I was very intimidated by using the magic. I had no idea what spell would be effective or where. There is a very deep magic system in this game, but not so much that I couldn’t understand what was going on. There are six magic schools in the land. They are Conjuration, Illusion, Destruction, Restoration, Mysticism, and Alteration. All the schools have spells that you can buy or earn during quests. And obviously, those spells correspond to the schools. To be honest, I only have dabbled in Restoration and Destruction. But they gave me the ability to heal myself, cure some diseases, shoot fire balls, etc. My second time through this game will be with a character very heavy into magic. Combat is cool, but the magic effects in this game are spectacular! Casting that first shock spell and seeing your enemy react to it was exhilarating!

  I should note that you don’t have to have a character that is an expert in magic to use it. There are plenty of scrolls and stones and such lying around to use. That being said, take a minute to know what you are doing with them though (the game gives brief descriptions in the menus for all items) because accidentally shooting a fireball into a crowd of guards is trouble.

  I’VE GOT A FAVOR TO ASK

  Here we are at the main crux of the game. Oblivion is full of what is called quests. These are basically tasks that you are given to complete. Some advance the main story line, some advance your membership in certain groups (guilds), some are for citizens that need help, and some are just random for fun. I found myself a little overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of what there is to do in this game. Not in a bad way, but in a way that made me want to stay up all night and play.

  As far as the main quest, I’ve already gone over the basic premise of the story. Parts seem predictable to say the least, but the way it plays out is fantastic. I’ve not been bored at all by the story, but I can’t speak for those that have played games like this before. You can tell Bethesda took enormous care to provide an experience that involves you completely into this world. You travel all over the map and run all kinds of situations along the main story line. The best part about that is you don’t even have to do it! This is where the side quests come in.

  Side quests come in varying forms. Most are far more involved than just retrieving an item. For example, I was given the standard quest of a ‘rat problem’ in someone’s basement. Yet it wasn’t as simple as just going in and killing the rats. The character enjoyed the rats in her basement and wanted help figuring out what was killing them. I won’t give anything away, but in the end you uncover a plot that you wouldn’t expect being involved, and get a nice reward. Ok, I’ll give away a little bit. At the end of the quest you can either tell the truth and get one reward, or choose to play dumb and get a different reward. Either way, it was a new twist that I had a great time figuring out.

  You also have side quests that assist you in your guild. Guilds in the game are memberships with privileges (you have a place to sleep, get training, supplies, etc.) Some of the guilds are easy to join, and others take a little more work. For example, the fighters guild is basically ask and you’re in. The DarkBrotherhood guild…well you have to murder someone first. In any case, you start off at the bottom of the barrel here and get quests in the form of contracts. Once complete, you move up in membership and can access the next quest. It’s possible to be the leader of a guild as well.

  Most other side quests come from interaction with non-playable characters (NPC’s) in the game. Bethesda has created this AI system called Radiant AI. What this means in a nutshell is that every character will live out their own existence along with you. They have jobs, go home at night, and talk amongst themselves. Most shops open in the morning and close in the evening. One of my early experiences that helped me love this game was arriving into a town around 5pm and seeing the shop owners lock their doors and head home. Some even headed for the local tavern! When you interact with an NPC, you are given a menu of topics. Usually the ‘Rumor’ topic provides you with the best info. I’ve taken on a few quests just because I was wandering by and heard some NPC’s talking about a problem, asked about the rumor, and then headed off to be the hero. I’ve also had NPC’s approach me and whisper ‘PSST’ to get my attention and ask me to do something for them. There is also a disposition meter that determines how friendly an NPC is with you. An entire ‘mini-game’ exists for you to try and improve how they will react to your presence. In short, the more they like you, the more ‘good’ information you will get from them. Hint – don’t accidentally draw your sword while walking up to an NPC…they don’t like that much I’ve found.

  The quest system is simple but very effective. You can choose any quest, be it the main story line or other, to be your active quest. That means you get markers on your map for where to go. If you don’t feel like working on the main quest, make a different active and work on it. I should note, you can complete quests without them being active, but the active quest selection gives you extra helpers on your maps. My only complaint about the quests is sometimes they involve timing that is not that apparent. For instance, so-and-so will appear outside an area between 8:00pm and 9:00pm. I’ve figured out that the more people I talk to, the easier it is to figure this out. Overall though, the quest system is brilliant and easy to understand.

  FROM HERE TO THERE…AND BACK AGAIN

  It took me awhile, but when I finally got a sense for how big the world of Oblivion actually was, I was floored. It’s huge! I read an interview with one of the developers saying it was about 16 actual miles. I really can’t put that into perspective with other RPG’s, but I know it is one of the biggest and most detailed worlds I’ve ever seen. I started to walk from one corner of the world to the other…just to see how big it really was. After an hour, I had covered maybe 1/20th of the distance. Yes, it was a stupid thing to do.

  Thankfully, there is an incredibly useful way to navigate around. The major locations of the world are marked on your map. You can travel to them by just selecting them…and away you go. Bethesda calls this ‘fast traveling’ and along with your quest objectives being marked, makes playing the game not tedious at all. In fact, it has encouraged me to complete more of the side quests than I probably would have delved into. If I had been required to walk back and forth across this world, I’ve have given up on many of the cool side stories of the game. Instead, I can zip around and complete tasks and return to where I was instantly.

  Any place you discover is also marked on your map, so you can return whenever you would like. As I’ve said, the map shows the locations of your current active quests. These are in red. When you are in the same location as your objective, the marker turns green. A yellow triangle marks a character’s location in the world, and players can place a marker that is blue for their own personal use. Traveling around quickly is a breeze. In real time, it’s a few seconds (loading screen!). In game, time passes as if you actually traveled there. So often you’ll go from one area in the morning, and arrive the following night. Very cool. You have a world map view and a local map view. You can only fast travel on the world map. Here is my only complaint about the navigation system – I wish there was a way to zoom in and out of the world map view….so you can see more of the world at once. As it is, you scroll around quite a bit looking for things.

  You don’t have to use the fast travel system. You can go by foot which has its advantages too. Those on foot might discover more areas, caves, dungeons, etc. I’ve played nights where I rarely use the fast travel system, and others where I use it exclusively. When not fast traveling, you use the in-game compass to guide yourself. The same color markers appear in the compass (red, green, blue, etc.) Not only can you travel by foot, but you can use a horse as well. This seems like such a natural thing for RPGs, I was surprised to find that it hasn’t really existed that much before, at least not for the Elder Scrolls series. Jumping on a horse and taking off over a hillside is one of those ‘wow’ moments in gaming that you don’t forget. It’s a little hard to control at first, but once you get the hang of it you’ll love to travel in that manner.

  THE WOW FACTOR

  As good as the visuals are, you tend to get used to them after awhile. What I am continually impressed with in this game is the radiant AI. Example, after looting a dungeon I had too much ‘stuff’ and the game wouldn’t let me move. I decided to drop some things in a corner of the dungeon. My plan was to go to the city, take a nap, sell the stuff, then come back and get the rest. Everything was perfect until I returned. My stuff was gone! Someone did a five-finger discount while I was in the city. So I made my own quest…find the bastard that took me booty. I returned to the dungeon and left some more things. I then spent a few hours hiding in the corner (game time…not real time!). Sure enough, some bandits came along and started picking through the pile. I watched them for a bit, and then took my vengeance. No ‘skill completed’ message…no achievement…but I was a happy man that night!

  Another moment that left me very impressed with the radiant AI was after accepting a quest from an NPC. So and so went into a dungeon ‘East of Town’ and hadn’t come back…they have a family heirloom, please go see what happened…yadda yadda. Ok, it’s only 1:30 in the morning, I have time for this quick one. Without giving anything away, I get to the dungeon and see nothing but dead creatures. Huh? Finally I get to the back corner and see someone kneeling over a body. This must be the guy, so I walk up to him and he turns around to talk. It’s not the guy I’m looking for, but an NPC that was sent to find out what had happened as well…and he beat me to it! Of course I killed him and took the credit, but I was very impressed that you aren’t the only one NPC’s seek out for help.

  VISUAL AND AUDIO STIMULI

  Graphically speaking, Oblivion is top notch. The level of details in every aspect of the world is mind-numbing. Every character, weapon, building, monster, clothing item, etc. has been modeled. I was more enchanted by the architecture in the cities, and spent a few moments just looking around. It’s a stunningly beautiful game. I wouldn’t say it was the best looking game I’ve seen so far on the Xbox360, but it’s certainly right up there.

  It seems as if the indoor environments are a little sharper than the outdoor ones. Outdoors, you have incredible draw distances, but the textures get washed out a bit miles and miles away. It has zero effect on game play, but it’s something you notice more than you would indoors.

  I’m probably being a little too forgiving on the graphical side because (a) I love the game, and (b) it’s SO big, I can be lenient. With that being said, here are a few problems. Some of the animations are just off. Mostly I notice this with creatures. Rats in particular just seem to make odd movements at times. There are also framerate issues. You’ll notice this most often when riding a horse, but it also occurs when there are a lot of characters on the screen at once. Another thing you notice is ‘pop-ins’. As you move through the environment, often a tree, rock, or a bush will just pop up in front of you. Again, none of these precludes from the actual game play (at least so far for me), but it noticeable. And finally, you’ll see a ‘Loading Area’ message quite often as you travel the world. I expect it when entering a new town or building, but getting it when just walking around can be annoying. Overall, taken as a whole, the graphics in Oblivion are very impressive.

  In the sound department…well…it’s amazing as well. Music is effectively used to set the mood in the game. Ominous drum-type music previews a battle…and often is my only clue that I’m about to be attacked. There is a huge variety of songs, from simple little melodies to grand orchestra type theme music. What’s important is that it doesn’t overwhelm you. On the contrary, it’s worked into the game perfectly and only adds to the experience.

  The voice acting is very good in the game. All NPC’s use spoken dialogue, and you can choose to follow along with captions or not. Sometimes the dialogue is repetitive, but if I ask my wife the same question 10 times in a row, she’ll do the same thing. Some recognized talents are used in the game: Patrick Stewart (Star Trek); Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman); Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings); and Terence Stamp (Superman II) were the ones I could pick out.

  COLLECTOR’s EDITION

  In my enthusiasm for this game, I picked up the collector’s edition. Honestly, it’s $10 I didn’t need to spend. You get a nice map of the world, some nerdy coin, a book about the history of the land, and a bonus DVD. The map is kind of useless if you have the guide book. The coin, well I haven’t found a use for it besides as a reminder that I am now an RPG’er. The book gives a basic back story to the world and will be an entertaining read some day. And the DVD is interesting, but most of it covers a documentary on the making of a demo to be shown at E3. Unless you are really hardcore, it’s not worth it. I would recommend the guide book instead. It’s a little overwhelming and not something you can read cover to cover. I’ve found it to be a superb source for information as well as a tool to get out of tough jams. People will use it differently, but for me it’s been a perfect add-on to the game.

  OVERALL

  The best way to describe this game is to put it into perspective. I’m not a fantasy buff, nor am I used to playing RPG games. Yet I love it. It’s my favorite game for the Xbox360 right now. It’s the type of game that you sit down to play, then realize it’s 2am and you have to work the next day. Some good friends of mine got the game as well. We are all married and have kids. We are work during the day and play once in awhile at night. None of them were any more into this genre than I was. Yet I had three phone conversations with a buddy during the day that went something like this…

  ME: “I love it, but I’m not sure how to sell items at the merchant yet.”

  FRIEND: “Use your left trigger to scroll through the menus.”

  ME: “Ahhh….ok…that makes sense.”

  FRIEND: “In two more levels I can get the Bound Dead spell!”

  ME: “What the heck is that?”

  FRIEND: “I have no idea, but it sounds good.”

  ME: “Are you home playing right now?”

  FRIEND: “No, I’m driving to a meeting. But I have the guide book in the car with me.”

  Hooked, obsessed, infatuated, addicted, captivated...one of these will describe you once you start playing. Maybe that’s a little much - the game isn’t for everyone (no game is). I wouldn’t expect each and every person that plays this game to have the same enthusiasm for it that I have. I have no reservations saying it is one of the top games for the Xbox360 so far, and one of the top games of the year.

3/27/2006   John Yates