Greatest Game This Generation Remains in Oblivion...

I challenge you to find a more believable game world than this.

As we approach November of this New Year, we will also be approaching the four year anniversary of this generation of consoles.  Yes, hard to believe, but it's almost already been four years since the debut of the Xbox 360.

Countless great titles have released of all different genres imaginable.  Yet three years after it's debut, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion still remains the single most outstanding, definitive, and complete game of this generation.

I know it may seem curious as to why I would be writing a blog about a game that's three years old.  Perhaps it is because while most of the gaming world saw 2008 as one of the greatest gaming years in a long time, I found it to be rather disappointing.  All the major titles that released with huge hype ended up falling well short of expectations.  GTA4 had clear story and gameplay inconsistencies, along with blatantly broken sandbox mechanics when it came to missions disabling you from completing the mission your own way.  Metal Gear Solid 4 was an example of how to take a great build up of grand story ideas and then run them through a meat grinder and see if people can still make any sense of it (that, and the game wasn't really a game).  Fallout 3 took everything that made the Elder Scrolls series great, and shaved off all the icing and toppings, leaving only the dry bread of the cake for us to have trouble swallowing.

The combat was terrible, it wasn't graphically spectacular then, and isn't now. The quests were linear, and it felt boring in general. Did I mention it was boring? I will give it the fact that it had alot of stuff to do, ranging from battling in the Arena to buying houses, but nothing revolutionary. Everything looked the same (face animation and character wise)

Morrowind was the best game last gen, Oblivion isn't best this gen.

Assassin's Creed looks much better with a far more realistic world.

"

I challenge you to find a more believable game world than this.

"

I have to very strongly disagree. Oblivion is loaded with problems. All I've gotten out of Oblivion is a headache and a whole lot of frustration. I wish I could like Oblivion, I really do. I'll probably start over from scratch within the next few months, since currently I'm screwed and pretty much can't play it. Kinda cute that it's supposed to be open-ended but if you turn bad straight from the outset, you're ultimately screwed.

I challenge you to find a more believable game world than this.

Grand Theft Auto 4 did not have as believable world as many give it credit for.  Yes, the city itself looked amazing, but when you really got into it, there wasn't a whole lot of substance to it, and very little interaction.  Even though it's a big city, you can only enter a handful of buildings, while the rest are just illusions.  As for the game world, it tries to be a sandbox, but the missions require you to complete them the way they were designed, and you can't deviate from that formula (ie block a doorway with a car, only to see the car disappear after the cutscene, or shooting the tires of the car you are chasing, but the tires won't pop until the mission deems that you have gone far enough in the chase).

I enjoyed Morrowind and the expansions, and I enjoyed the hell out of Oblivion too.  Bethesda actually puts effort into making their games amazing.

"hodkurtz said:

Grand Theft Auto 4. Done.

AreKarmum said:

"The combat was terrible, it wasn't graphically spectacular then, and isn't now. The quests were linear, and it felt boring in general. Did I mention it was boring? I will give it the fact that it had alot of stuff to do, ranging from battling in the Arena to buying houses, but nothing revolutionary. Everything looked the same (face animation and character wise)"

I agree. The Elder Scrolls IV is still my favorite game so far this gen.

"AreKarmum said:

"The combat was terrible, it wasn't graphically spectacular then, and isn't now. The quests were linear, and it felt boring in general. Did I mention it was boring? I will give it the fact that it had alot of stuff to do, ranging from battling in the Arena to buying houses, but nothing revolutionary. Everything looked the same (face animation and character wise)"

Are you kidding me?! The graphics weren't spectacular? What were you playing the game on a Pentium III (I know thats not possible)? The Xbox 360 game was a technological feat to say the least, and though some may see it as boring that is completely matter of opinion. So, I'm sorry you don't like it. Sucks for you, but Oblivion really was/is a great game. Not the best ever, but we can at least acknowledge that it looked spectacular in March of 2006."

It looks great, it's big, but it's also incredibly shallow.  Especially in comparison to Morrowind.  It was just far too streamlined for it's own good.

"mcrproductions said:

"AreKarmum said:

"The combat was terrible, it wasn't graphically spectacular then, and isn't now. The quests were linear, and it felt boring in general. Did I mention it was boring? I will give it the fact that it had alot of stuff to do, ranging from battling in the Arena to buying houses, but nothing revolutionary. Everything looked the same (face animation and character wise)"

Are you kidding me?! The graphics weren't spectacular? What were you playing the game on a Pentium III (I know thats not possible)? The Xbox 360 game was a technological feat to say the least, and though some may see it as boring that is completely matter of opinion. So, I'm sorry you don't like it. Sucks for you, but Oblivion really was/is a great game. Not the best ever, but we can at least acknowledge that it looked spectacular in March of 2006."

The engine was poorly optimized. My computer runs Fallout 3 smoothly, and Oblivion still stutters (after my recent upgrade). I hear the performance on the 360 is comparable. The bloom was overdone, the art was generic, and I can't stand the plastic wrap. Technically it was an achievement at the time, but stylistically it looks bad, in my view."

After they patched the 360 version there is little slow down. I was playing it just the other day and it looks fine, better than some recent shitty RPG's (Dark Messiah comes to mind), it is also a huge help if you install it to your Hard Drive. Oblivion has little style, I agree, but I don't demand my world to have much style when it is the biggest universe I've ever played. Oblivion did have it's issues though and at times I did get bored with it. Still doesnt destroy the fact that when it was released it was technically speaking, gorgeous.

but I don't demand my world to have much style when it is the biggest universe I've ever played.

Best western role playing game easily :] 

Best game this generation? Definatly up there

"hodkurtz said:

"

I challenge you to find a more believable game world than this.

"

but I don't demand my world to have much style when it is the biggest universe I've ever played.

Daggerfall was many times bigger. The game was also crap, in my book, though it does have a small following that will disagree. Morrowind was slightly smaller, yet better. Far Cry 2, also huge, has better performance with better graphics, and it sucks much more cock than Oblivion could ever hope to achieve. The size of a game world does not equate to the quality of a game, in my opinion."

For any game to be considered as the best of a console generation, the game basically needs to be perfect. It can have no serious flaws, it has to be something you can sit down with and from start to finish just say, "Damn that was a phenomenally well made game from top to bottom."

Sadly you can't say that for Oblivion, no matter who you are. You can only assert that Oblivion's strengths are greater than its weaknesses, and that's not good enough. For my money the best overall console game this generation would be Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, with MGS4, Dead Space, and a few others coming close.

Replying to Sushbag:

First off, I would definitely say that if perfection is what you are after, Metal Gear Solid 4 would be the antithesis.  Being a longtime Metal Gear fan, there's no question that from a storytelling perspective, Guns of the Patriots was a complete failure, from top to bottom.  To accept its story means that you have to ignore every giant plothole, every character and story inconsistency, and every missed opportunity that Kojima did not take to his advantage.  Instead of writing a long blog about it, I will just list several of those moments:  Raiden is killed multiple times, but somehow is okay later (body parts quickly sewn back on).  Meryl saying she wants a classic wedding, then 2 mins later gets married on a runway.  Meryl and fiance get shot up in one of the final scenes, nearly to death, only to be without injury a few scenes later getting married.  Big Boss is still alive, and Snake does not kill himself.  Ocelot wasn't really partially Liquid, he just had trained himself to believe he was, for no significant reason.  Meryl has no love for Snake anymore, for no reason (doesn't care that he's dying, just leaves him off on his own while she gets married).

As for the other two games you mentioned, I would agree that both are solid titles, with nothing you could really point to as mechanical problems.  From technical standpoints, they're very polished.  However, what makes a game the greatest of its generation isn't if it's flawless technically, otherwise you could simply make a simple remake of Tetris and say "hey, it's flawless technically, therefore it's the best game of this generation."  The question of a games greatness comes in the way it moves the medium forward, and goes a step further in immersing the player, and creating a believeable, and organic game world, with believable characters and sense of place.  Most importantly, all of the elements of the game (story, graphics, sound, gameplay) all must come together to serve the greater purpose of the game.

A very close second to Oblivion would be Bioshock, which also melded gameplay, story, and art style into a singular purpose, and definitely broke new ground in the ways of first-person storytelling.

The question of a games greatness comes in the way it moves the medium forward, and goes a step further in immersing the player, and creating a believeable, and organic game world, with believable characters and sense of place.  Most importantly, all of the elements of the game (story, graphics, sound, gameplay) all must come together to serve the greater purpose of the game.

Opinions are like assholes: everyone has one, and some want to shove it into your face more then others.

Fact: There is no "greatest game ever". It's all opinion.

Fallacy: "Greatest Game This Generation Remains In Oblivion..."

everyone has one, and some want to shove it into your face more then others.

Meh.

"Best western role playing game easily :]

Patrick Stewart was awesome in Elder Scrolls.

I don't think Oblivion is anywhere near the "greatest" game of this generation. I don't even think Oblivion surpassed Morrowind in most cases. My personal favorite game of this generation has been Bioshock and I have a hard time believing another game will come along to change that...maybe Deus Ex 3 will surprise me beyond belief.

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Oh hang on, Oblivion had Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart in it didn't it?

Ok, greatest game ever.

Oblivion was an amazing game but I'll disagree on the basis of personal preference.

The greatest game of this generation is EA's Skate, IMO. 8 more days and we'll see if the sequel can't take the crown.

Oblivion was a great game, but Fallout 3 is better.  Fallout 3 isn't even the best fallout game in the franchise and it isn't the best of this current generation either.  Hope that helps.

I love Oblivion. I still play it. Damn good game.

Fallout 3 is better. Dead Space is better. The World Ends With You is better. Don't get me wrong - Oblivion is a great game, but nowhere near the best one this generation. At least not in my opinion.

Morrowind was better.

"Morrowind was the best game last gen, Oblivion isn't best this gen."

"

 

"

"Oh hang on, Oblivion had Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart in it didn't it?

Ok, greatest game ever."