The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review by: yoshirulez! - 10/10
I like killing peopleFor those who long for adventure, look no further. An adventure much more colorful and larger than the rest of the gaming industry, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion gives you many different gaming experiences, because it is as if it's a virtual life. Not in most traditional mundane styles such as the Sims, but instead a first-person open-world explorative adventure game with enough detail to give you a completely immersive experience that won't be outdone until the world of VR gaming advances a couple years. No longer do we have those boring NPCs who stand in the same spot saying the same generic phrases such as "I heard a rumor that monsters are coming back!", but instead we have full on in-depth conversations with the other NPCs. They act as if real humans do, and sometimes it's honestly hard to tell the difference between Oblivion and reality.
The Elder Scrolls series has been known for its outstanding quality in exploration, adventures, and atmosphere. From the classic Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind that many of you might have played back in the day, to the sensation known as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. But caught in the middle of these two is probably one of the best open world games one can get, and sadly it stands in its sequel's shadow. Nevertheless, its something that needs to be experiences by everyone at least once.
Graphics: 8/10. Now, I'd like you to remember something very important. This game is from 2006, and surprisingly the graphics have aged amazingly. The incredibly vast world is stunningly beautiful. Texture quality is at an alltime high for 2006 gaming and the model detail is streamlined all the way down to the wrinkles in people's faces. Not only this, but the animations are also well done. So much that there's even proper facial animations for what sort of mood the NPCs are in, talking animations for lipsyncing, for them reading a book, preparing potions, even the walking animation meets standards. Though it's not buttery smooth animation like a lot of things are nowadays, this is still good for 2006 and I can't help but stress that fact.
Sound: 9/10. Okay, so, I haven't ACTUALLY heard much music from the rest of the series, but I think it's pretty irrelevant because the music in this game is very easy to listen to. There's 9 tracks for exploration outside, 5 dungeon themes, 8 battle themes, and 5 town themes. All of the music sounds orchestrated and fits the medievil feel quite well. The exploration tracks in particular provide a very serene and enjoyable walk along the road, through the forest, or wherever your adventure takes you. The dungeon music is incredibly eerie, and makes some quite anxious when exploring a dangerous area. The battle themes, however, aren't entirely stellar. Luckily for me, the files are incredibly easy to edit. I just shove in a bunch of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure battle themes, rename them, and then I'm done. And although they're incredibly unfitting, I still think it sounds pretty good.The town themes are very peaceful and provide a nice shopping experience. I typically heard it while sneaking into people's houses to murder them, but that could be considered shopping in a different sense. There's also a theme for dying which I
replaced with the Pacman game over theme and
replaced the mission complete sound with the Final Fantasy VII win battle fanfare.
Addictiveness: 10/10. Let's just put some thought into this. A fantasy world you can explore in the comfort of your own home. A million paths to take, a million gold to make, and a million lives to take with the option of doing any or all of those. Naturally, since this is more entertaining than your actual life, it's conceivable that it would be incredibly addictive. I've spent countless hours digging through people's basements looking for valuables, exploring abandoned caves and forts, as well as sneaking back into prison to collect a few lives. If you're not interested in collecting lives, you can collect plants or something. I'd expand further in this, but I'm wanting to save the good stuff for the Depth category.
Story: 5/10. It's an average story. The Dragonfires are what keep the plains of Oblivion and the world of Tamriel from connecting, but when the Emperor is assassinated and no heir is in sight, the dragonfires go out and the thread of Oblivion is imminent. Before his death, the Emperor gave you the Amulet of Kings and told you to go find his son Martin. So then you sneak out of prison and go on an adventure. Unfortunately, Mehrunes Dagon has already broke through to the world of Tamriel and is constantly building Gates to Oblivion, and so you must also handle the threat and close shut the jaws of Oblivion. I didn't get too far but I wasn't entirely impressed.
Depth: 10/10. So we already know we have a world as vast as any other I've seen, but what else is there? Well, how about plenty of caves, forts, mines, and oblivion gates spread across that world? Or how about 9 entire cities full of unique citizens, structures, quests, events, news, and rumors? But let's take it a step further and say there's an entire array of plant life which you can harvest and mix into a potion or poison? More? There's a house you can buy and decorate in every city so you can become a legitimate citizen and live a normal life. With that in mind, there are several sidequests ranging from normal fetch quests to ones involving joining the Dark Brotherhood and slaying people in the name of the Night Mother, Sithis. Or maybe you want a robinhood-esque adventure and join the thieves guild to combat the imperial legion and their oppression and theft. Maybe even become a famous gladiator at the Arena. But we don't have to stop at the limits of the game, we can go a step further and get into mods. Modding the game is very easy, and there's thousands of mods at your disposal. Some that give you normal jobs such as working as a bartender, others to increase the immersion by adding hygiene and needs, or just a complete overhaul of the game's graphics to go even further. There is a lot to be had in this game as well as outside the game, and it's hard to get bored of it. The battle system has a lot of depth as well, allowing you access to various types of magic such as destruction, restoration, alteration, and the like. You also can choose between many bows, many swords, many axes and hammers and clubs, staves and such. It's a very custom experience. With these weapons you can also choose to do good or evil acts. Kill people, save people, you can also pick locks and steal things, pickpocket people and even steal from stores. And for once, a game that doesn't punish you if you can get away with it either. Nice guys don't finish last, and neither do bad guys.
Difficulty: 10/10. This is based off of the normal difficulty. There's a difficulty slider to make the game a little easier, or if you want, a little harder. On normal difficulty I constantly had to cheat using the console to kill things chasing me, and it was a rather painful experience. Then I turned the slider all the way down, and the game was boring with its one hit kills. Getting the slider just right is probably important in this game. Oh, and the hardest difficulty is supposedly impossible. Bethesda looked over this, and I'm uncertain if it was corrected in any patches. Nevertheless on the normal difficulty the forces of Oblivion are a very powerful foe and you'll need to put some serious thought into your class, race, and stats if you're wanting to complete this game.
Overall: 10/10. Even if it has its mistakes, it's hard to find a game more suitable for a 10/10 rating. There's too many pros to its cons and it might honestly be my favorite adventure game. I long for the day when I can run it on its full graphics settings, and even VR to truly experience it for myself. Even if I won't be able to control things using motions, the immersion from the headset will probably be the greatest gaming experience I've ever experienced. Not only this, but this game can also run on weaker computers as well because of the customization of the settings. Be warned though, you might need a higher clock speed opposed to more cores since this game can only run single core and not dual core or quad core and because of this you'll only be using one core of your CPU. All in all, a fantastic experience for everyone and my personal favorite among the adventure genre.
Graphics
8 Sound
9 Addictive
10 Depth
10 Story
5 Difficulty
10
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