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    The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

    Game » consists of 31 releases. Released Mar 20, 2006

    Travel the continent of Tamriel, defend the land against Oblivion's Daedra hordes, and help fill the empty throne of Cyrodiil in the fourth installment of the Elder Scrolls series.

    Bad idea to play Skyrim before Oblivion?

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    chw

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    #1  Edited By chw

    I have both Oblivion and Skyrim, and I haven't gotten a chance to really play either yet. I do want to finish both eventually.

    I'm concerned that Oblivion will feel obsolete after trying Skyrim. Should I hold off on Skyrim for now? Or is it okay to go back to Oblivion after Skyrim?

    Thoughts?

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    Akrid

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    #2  Edited By Akrid

    If you want to play both, definitely play Oblivion first.

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    laserbolts

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    #3  Edited By laserbolts

    Play oblivion first dude.

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    bkbroiler

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    #4  Edited By bkbroiler

    Play Oblivion first. But in my opinion, just don't play it. I don't think it is very good. Skyrim looks exactly the same but better in every way.

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    sjupp

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    #5  Edited By sjupp

    I'd say start with oblivion. You shouldn't feel obliged to play Oblivion but it was a good game and you'd probably appreciate Skyrim better when you see how it has progressed.

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    Slunks

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    #6  Edited By Slunks

    I would personally skip Oblivion. That game is amazing, but after Skyrim it is very outdated (which is a good thing).

    I think if you played Oblivion then moved onto Skyrim, you'd probably get worn out and not be able to enjoy Skyrim fully.

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    galiant

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    #7  Edited By galiant

    Skip Oblivion, please. Skyrim fixes all that's wrong with Oblivion.

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    Claude

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    #8  Edited By Claude

    Play Oblivion first, but skip the main story and do the thieves guild and the dark brotherhood quests. If you have shivering isles, play that part too.

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    Baal_Sagoth

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    #9  Edited By Baal_Sagoth

    Like everyone said: if you're keen on it absolutely play Oblivion first but do consider to dive right into Skyrim. Because that could easily last dozens if not hundreds of hours on its own should you so desire. Don't worry about story contingency and all that either. Apart from being a cohesive world throughout every TES episode they're pretty self-contained games with references to each other and little more.

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    FreakAche

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    #10  Edited By FreakAche

    At this point, it's a bad idea to play Oblivion in any context. Skyrim is in every way the game that Oblivion should have been, and is the sequel that Morrowind deserved.

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    Aetheldod

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    #11  Edited By Aetheldod

    Oblivion if you really need to , otherwise I would jump straight into Skyrim

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    Jimbo

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    #12  Edited By Jimbo

    Oblivion is pretty much obsolete at this point. I wouldn't bother with it.

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    Hizang

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    #13  Edited By Hizang

    I agree play Oblivion first, by the time your done with Oblivion there will be a patch out that fixes problems with Skyrim.

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    frenchdork

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    #14  Edited By frenchdork

    IF you really need to, just play the Dark Brotherhood quest line and jump into Skyrim.

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    mac_n_nina

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    #15  Edited By mac_n_nina

    oblivion had some epic quests such as the dark brotherhood and the thieves guild however oblivion is also a more outdated skyrim

    there is very little in the skyrim quests that has to do with what happened in oblivion so u won't miss out on much

    at this point id say just play skyrim even though oblivion was a hell of a game for its time

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    Red

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    #16  Edited By Red

    Skip Oblivion. Or, if you really do want to play Oblivion, just do Dark Brotherhood questline.

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    TentPole

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    #17  Edited By TentPole

    Skip it. There is more than enough to keep you busy in Skyrim that I doubt you will ever need to touch Oblivion. Also Oblivion is very similar and just not nearly as good. It is not like it gives you a different experience, but rather just gives you a worse one.

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    sanchopanza

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    #18  Edited By sanchopanza

    Play both man, don't listen to the fools bashing on Oblivion. At this point though play Skyrim first just to ride the wave with the rest of us, easier to share your experiences/get help when other people are playing the game. Personally I can still go back to Oblivion its aged really well, unlike many other games, though you can see the changes in Skyrim straight away.

    @mac_n_nina: There are plenty of references to Oblivion in Skyrim, but none of them are important so you can play the games in any order.

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    Potter9156

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    #19  Edited By Potter9156

    At this point, Oblivion isn't worth playing. Play Skyrim now, and if you care enough, play Mrrowind and Oblivion some other time.

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    iam3green

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    #20  Edited By iam3green

    play oblivion. i started playing that once skyrim was released. pretty good game that for some reason i didn't play it when it was first released.

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    krummey

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    #21  Edited By krummey

    I'm debating with myself as to whether or not to buy Oblivion now, as I've finished about half of Skyrim. Also considering giving Fallout 3 another shot.

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    Tomkang

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    #22  Edited By Tomkang

    If you play Oblivion second, you will be walking around thinking how much better oblivion is in terms of basic mechanics. The menus in oblivion and scaling enemies were the worst bits. Scaling enemies made it feel like you progressed in combat.

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    Justin258

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    #23  Edited By Justin258  Online

    I don't understand the hate for Oblivion. Of the three TES games made in this century, it's the worst. But that's not to say that it's bad - it's certainly still worth playing as far as I'm concerned. Skyrim is definitely a better game, but going back to Oblivion doesn't bother me. I still enjoy it.

    So, play Skyrim first but make sure to give Oblivion a chance at some point. It is not bad at all.

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    RandomInternetUser

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    I would personally just skip Oblivion and go to Skyrim but if you are totally insistent upon playing Oblivion you'll definitely need to play it first to really enjoy it in my opinion.

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    UitDeToekomst

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    #25  Edited By UitDeToekomst

    i will agree with most who are saying skip Oblivion or, if you absolutely must play it, do so before Skyrim, because it is far inferior and will probably make you want to stop playing very early on. trust me, i did that very thing.

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    VisariLoyalist

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    #26  Edited By VisariLoyalist

    I think oblivion stands on its own even now. It has a distinct look and feel and the storytelling is often better.

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    President_Barackbar

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    @believer258 said:

    I don't understand the hate for Oblivion. Of the three TES games made in this century, it's the worst. But that's not to say that it's bad - it's certainly still worth playing as far as I'm concerned. Skyrim is definitely a better game, but going back to Oblivion doesn't bother me. I still enjoy it.

    So, play Skyrim first but make sure to give Oblivion a chance at some point. It is not bad at all.

    And I'd still disagree that Oblivion is the worst Elder Scrolls game of the three made this century. I think its impossible to properly take Elder Scrolls games in context once you are significantly distant from their release date. For example, there are so many people who say Morrowind is the best Elder Scrolls game ever made. After I played Oblivion, I went back and tried to play Morrowind, and I had no fun whatsoever. From my perspective, the gameplay was so backwards and unfun it was frustrating. Also, the lack of voice acting was really noticeable (not that it really matters that much to me, but I did notice it). When you consider the Radiant AI stuff done in Oblivion, it makes Morrowind look really static when NPCs stay in one place all day like MMO questgivers. Point is, I think that unless an Elder Scrolls game really fumbles in the future, the best TES game will always be the latest one released.
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    Justin258

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    #28  Edited By Justin258  Online

    @President_Barackbar said:

    @believer258 said:

    I don't understand the hate for Oblivion. Of the three TES games made in this century, it's the worst. But that's not to say that it's bad - it's certainly still worth playing as far as I'm concerned. Skyrim is definitely a better game, but going back to Oblivion doesn't bother me. I still enjoy it.

    So, play Skyrim first but make sure to give Oblivion a chance at some point. It is not bad at all.

    And I'd still disagree that Oblivion is the worst Elder Scrolls game of the three made this century. I think its impossible to properly take Elder Scrolls games in context once you are significantly distant from their release date. For example, there are so many people who say Morrowind is the best Elder Scrolls game ever made. After I played Oblivion, I went back and tried to play Morrowind, and I had no fun whatsoever. From my perspective, the gameplay was so backwards and unfun it was frustrating. Also, the lack of voice acting was really noticeable (not that it really matters that much to me, but I did notice it). When you consider the Radiant AI stuff done in Oblivion, it makes Morrowind look really static when NPCs stay in one place all day like MMO questgivers. Point is, I think that unless an Elder Scrolls game really fumbles in the future, the best TES game will always be the latest one released.

    You're right that Morrowind isn't as good as Oblivion mechanically, but the world of Morrowind (from what I played of it) seemed a lot more interesting than Oblivion's continuous forests, samey dungeons, and fucked up leveling system (referring to how the enemies level with you, making the game harder as you level up).

    Granted, I didn't have any fun with Morrowind until I'd modded it a bit to make sure that every swing was a hit. Also, everytime I start it I cheat my stamina to a very high number so that I don't have to stop running and walk at that slow ass pace. That game certainly hasn't aged very well, but I still think it has its merits and is worth looking into if you're willing to get used to its quirks.

    Finally, the lack of voice acting never bothered me. It was a bit refreshing to see detailed information on where to go, and I liked reading it at my own pace instead of waiting for an NPC to finish talking.

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    WinterSnowblind

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    #29  Edited By WinterSnowblind

    @President_Barackbar: The radiant AI helps a lot, like you said, Morrowind definitely feels static. I think the lack of voice acting works in its favour though. Sure, younger gamers may have a hard time comprehending the fact they have to read, but it allowed the game to have much more story, depth and development. Even although the world in Morrowind is smaller than either Oblivion or Skyrim's it still seems a lot bigger. Partly because the amount of depth and partly because of the lack of fast travelling at will. Hell, I can still boot up that game today and probably find entire quest lines that I've never seen before.

    Morrowind actually felt like an adventure. Quests were a lot more vague and you had to work things out for yourself, you didn't have a quest arrow pointing you in the exact direction of anything and not every quest resulted in beating something with your sword. I'm not one to cling to the past, but it's still by far the best game of the series. Oblivion was a huge step backwards and Skyrim didn't fix enough of the problems.

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    Dragon_Fire

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    #30  Edited By Dragon_Fire

    If you have Oblivion for the PC then get some mods, then you would be good to go.

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    President_Barackbar

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    @WinterSnowblind said:

    Sure, younger gamers may have a hard time comprehending the fact they have to read, but it allowed the game to have much more story, depth and development.

    That sounds a BIT condescending, but I think I understand what you mean. And the thing I like about Oblivion and Skyrim is I don't feel like that depth went away with the large amounts of books that were in both games which gave you good lore and developed the world more.

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