'The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion' Review

To begin this review off properly, I want to start by saying, I was never fond of the Elder Scrolls series. I don't really have a deep history with it, aside from playing a tiny bit of Morrowind when it came out, and not really liking it. Similar things happened with today's subject, Oblivion. It wasn't until the fifth game in the series, Skyrim, came out, that I started buying the games.

Something about Morrowind and Oblivion's ugly visuals, horrible performance, and lack of focus and direction turned me off. At the time, I was used to games like Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda, which both had a great deal of focus, and didn't really allow the player to veer too far off the beaten path the developers had set aside for them. Elder Scrolls was something new, something unique, and I wasn't quite yet ready for it at that time.

Now, having played Skyrim for the past six years (picked it up on a whim on day one), I've gone back and replayed some of the older games. I still can't tolerate Morrowind, and going as far back to Daggerfall is nearly impossible with just how archaic it is.

But Oblivion is somewhere in the middle-ground. As the games went on, they got progressively less complex; eventually leading to Skyrim being what many fans dub as, "baby's first Elder Scrolls," which is undeniably true. Oblivion on the other hand, is simple enough to grasp, yet complex enough to be a compelling, immersive role-playing experience.

The game begins with your character (who takes on the facial features and race of the player's choosing), is in a prison cell which just so happens to be the only means of escape for the emperor Uriel Septim VII (voiced by THE Sir Patrick Stewart, might I add), who's being led to safety by his guards. The player follows the emperor and his guards through a hidden passageway, when eventually the emperor is assassinated, and the player is entrusted to find his bastard son to hand him an amulet that will allow him to shut the gates of the underworld and prevent all of the world from going to hell in a handbasket.

The plot itself is quite simple, and I like that. Simplicity is something that's often overlooked, especially in RPGs (anyone who's tried playing DnD should know that RPGs are not usually easy things to get into).

After leaving the prison, the player is let loose into the world, and at first it's pretty damn daunting as to just how big it all is. I stepped out, and thought, "what the heck am I supposed to do now?" The answer to that question, is a shockingly simple one: whatever you want.

So, I set off to find a purpose. I decided I'd make my character a fighter, so I joined with the Fighter's Guild. My character specialized in swordplay, blocking, and acrobatics, so I figured why not. If the shoe fits, right? I did a few quests for them, but then I got bored of being a goody two-shoes, and decided to pick the pocket of a fellow guild member. This, uh... did not go well. I was kicked out, and had to find 20 bear pelts to get back in. Instead of hunting bears, I just camped out in a store, and bought them off the shop keeper.

That's the kind of game Oblivion is. You can either go and prevent the forces of hell from taking over the world, or pick a guy's pockets, get fired from your job, and then camp out in a store annoying the pants off the poor clerk who just wishes you'd buy something.

It's also got a huge amount of replayability. I've finished the main quest already, and I'm not only still playing, but thinking of making another character (maybe one who lies, and cheats and steals) to experience the game all over again. I think the last time I got this sort of feeling of grandeur and wonder from a game...it was Breath of the Wild (sorry Oblivion; as good as you are, you're not even close to being as great as Breath of the Wild), but even before that, it was Ocarina of Time. Oblivion really does bring me back to the days of exploring dark dungeons, and having to prepare myself for upcoming battles. It feels like a great big sandbox, just ripe for me to go adventuring in, and it always feels like I'm on the verge of finding something new.

While being a damn fine game, Oblivion certainly is not without its flaws (and we'll talk a tiny bit about the glitches later on). For one, the character designs are just...hideous. All the people look like freakish abominations. Not a single creature in this looks right.

Another problem is the dialogue. Not the quality of it, that's fine. But you'll often be roaming around a city, and you'll come to two NPCs talking to each other, with the exact same voice, about how they like shopping at the exact same store run by themselves. Another issue I had, is that guards would give me a stern warning, and then when I went to talk to them, they were chipper and jolly. It's not a HUGE deal, but it's jarring to say the least.

The game also has several performance issues. Now, I'm playing this on the Xbox 360 (yeah, yeah, PeeSee Mustard Race, and all that jazz), and I've noticed massive pop-in, fog so thick it makes me feel like I'm in Silent Hill, and a framerate that stutters more often than Porky Pig.

I think my last issue, and it is a big one, that I have with the game, is how the player levels up. In most RPGs, you get EXP after fighting, and you level up on the spot. But Oblivion does things differently. You get EXP for each stat individually. So if you jump, that gives you EXP for acrobatics. If you run, you get EXP for athletics. When one of your major skills gets a level up, you have to find a bed to sleep in, in order to reap the rewards of a level up proper. This causes you to have to stop whatever you're doing, and find a spot to sleep. They did fix this in Skyrim, where you could level up on the spot, but Oblivion forces you to stop your adventuring, and sleep.

Often, this would create moments where I was in the middle of a dungeon, would get a level up, but couldn't apply it to my character because there were no beds nearby to sleep in.

Those flaws do not ruin the game, but do slightly hinder the overall experience. They keep the game from being truly amazing. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a great game, and I'm ashamed I didn't play it much sooner. It's 11 years old as of the moment of my writing this review, but despite that it still feels fresh and fun. If for whatever reason, you're like me and got into the series with Skyrim, and haven't yet played Oblivion, I highly suggest you remedy that. The game is far more in-depth than its sequel. This is among one of the five RPGs you MUST play at some point in your life (might do more on the other four at a later date). I feel like I just cannot recommend this game enough. I highly recommend either the PC or Xbox 360 versions (360 version is compatible with the Xbox One, for those who own one. I have the 360 version, but the PC version has mods, console commands, and generally performs and looks better, which is pretty standard for games on PC, really). Steer VEEEERY clear of the Playstation 3 port.

I didn't talk about the glitches. I experienced some (such as important NPCs not spawning, causing me to lose hours of progress, or wolves appearing tens of feet above me, only to plummet to their deaths), but I feel that dead horse has been bludgeoned so hard, that there's not even dust from the bones left.