"It's Fallout with elves!"
I'm not really sure why Oblivion, the 4th game in the Elder Scrolls series, didn't click with me the first time (or the 5th, for that matter). Fallout 3, the game Bethesda made afterwards, is one of my top 5 games ever and that's not something I throw around lightly either so Oblivion, with its roughly similar gameplay should be a perfect fit, no? After all, the "it's Oblivion with guns" description was often thrown around for Fallout so might as well reverse it for this game. Unfortunately, there was so many aspects to the game that started to wear thin after awhile and it didn't have the more addicting nature Fallout 3 had for me but eventually, I "got it"...I think. I get the feeling if I played the PC version, I can add so many mods and make it a more personalized experience but playing the Xbox version has me involved with so many gameplay quirks that it's one of those games I have to forget or tolerate in order for me to truly enjoy it.
The basic plot for Oblivion is pretty much as simple as they come but the Elder Scrolls games were usually like that anyway. You start off as a prisoner in the Imperial sewers defending the Emperor against assassins but when before he's struck down, he tells you of the evil from the land of Oblivion that has begun invading Cyrodiil and the way to close the gateways permanently. But like many Bethesda games, that's just the basic plot has there is many sidequests found in the world as well as quests specific to various factions such as the Thieves Guild and the mysterious Dark Brotherhood. If there's one you can't say about Oblivion is short as in order to do and see everything in the game, it's going to take you a long time.
If you've played Fallout 3 or New Vegas or even ES 3: Morrowind, you'll know what to expect but for newcomers, the basic premise of Oblivion is : you're free to do anything and everything you want right from the word go. Want to do some quests? Loot some dungeons or just find a bunch of locations and see what's there? In fact, you don't even have to touch the main quest soon as you exit the sewers which is where it might lose interest from some gamers. Unlike most RPG's where there tends to be a major thrust in the narrative, it's so easy to get sidetracked in this game that you might not feel compelled to actually do the main story and creates less urgency in it as a result.
Getting new gear, new spells and attack weapons is pretty much the standard in RPG's but here it's slightly different in that enemies will start to level with you, as will the quest rewards. What used to be a fairly simple quest with weak enemies might now have more challenging foes. The idea behind it is understandable: because of it's non-linearity, you want an ever present challenge but the problem comes by having rewards and dungeon loot also be levelled so a trip through a dungeon might yield daggers you've seen upgraded beyond or clothing you'll never have use for but gain some levels and now there's useful armor pieces or more expensive items you can sell. This creates a weird issue in that you might actually not want to do anything in the game since you don't want to get screwed out of something awesome by visiting it too early or find yourself ill-prepared for any enemy encounter because you didn't level up properly or get the best gear.
Graphically, the game is quite stunning with some incredibly beautiful night skylines, some realistic weather and storm effects, some huge vistas and draw distances and finally some color in our next-gen consoles. However, that also means some frequent stutterings in the framerate or outright pauses, the occasional "Loading area" and textures that disappear or fade into view regularly. Not to mention it's so hard to create a decent looking character in the creator, much less find one in the world itself (I found 3 so far). The music however is gorgeous as the "walking the countryside" music is very tranquil and peaceful compared to the almost, eerie and depressing Fallout 3 score and the battle themes have more symphonic edge to them. Voice acting however is slightly laughable as the list of voice actors is surprisingly slim for an NPC count this size and don't be alarmed when an NPC is talking to themselves in a shop owned by a quest giver you've just met. In conjunction with the stiff animations during conversations, having a character cry or start yelling while their face remains absolutely rigid is awkward to say the least.
So what brings people back to Oblivion for so many hours? It's got to be the almost addicting nature of its game design: pick a direction and just go, see what you find. From generating money through selling fatigue potions or in the Arena to doing sidequests, joining the Thieves Guild or just looting some dungeons in hopes you find something awesome, you always get the feeling something better or something exciting is just waiting to be found. Granted, the leveling system can get in the way and the frequent immersion-shattering bits are quite annoying so while I still hold Fallout 3 in a higher praise, for a game that sells for 20 to 30$ now with or without the 2 added expansions, you're going to get more than your money's worth.
