"Oblivion is amazing"

[Parkillous]

Oblivion Review

 

To be perfectly honest, these reviews disgust me. Whilst Im not attempting to discredit bethesda, seeing as im such a fan of TES, this just makes me mad. All it does is provide false information to the masses of what I like to call, n00bs, and makes it even easier for bethesda to ignore the needs of the community. What I mean by this is, if bethesda is making plenty of sales to the uninformed consumer masses, then their need for the minority that knows what oblivion is REALLY LIKE (and thus complains) is thus... minor... so they can ignore us... so we continue to be dissapointed.

 

Now, what I wonder is whether or not bethesda bribe reviewers to say good things about them, or the reviewers themselves are ignorant n00bs who dont actually play the game through and assume:

 

While the main quest does come to an end, there are so many factions, areas and side-quests to undertake (as well as Oblivion Gates to close) that the journey is almost endless.

 

Is True. I mean, do they honestly believe that individually closing every single oblivion gate, despite its obvious addition to game time, is a varied and rewarding experience. Logically, I presume the latter, but the conspiracy theorist in me begs to differ.

 

Everything you knew about Morrowind has been bettered and perfected.

 

Even though I, myself, have never played the previous TES games... from what ive heard, this is somewhat incorrect :/.

 

 

EDIT:

After hundreds of hours playing Oblivion in one form or another, it's become quite clear to me that I will never see everything there is to see, but I will go back to it again and again regardless.

*throws up*

 

While Morrowind seemed immersive at first, there seemed to be something missing from it. Not so anymore. Oblivion feels alive in every way and even after countless hour of playing it, I am still surprised by what I see and hear. And starting new characters breathes even more life into how I play the title.

*throws up even more*

 

The audio presentation in Oblivion is not only fantastic, but staggering in scope. Every character speaks (and unlike Morrowind, everyone actually has something different to say), and every character has his own life to attend to, which also includes dialog. Add to this the fact that their lives will change depending on your actions and exploits and it becomes incredible to note that the audio never reverts to being generic. The soundtrack is Academy Award worthy and the voice-work (while sometimes a little uneven) is intelligent and exceptionally well done. The most humbling comment regarding the audio presentation I can make is that even after dozens of hours in the game, I never skipped a line of dialog and still found myself stopping on the side of the street to overhear NPCs have conversations about inane things.

 

WHO IS THIS GUY I WANT TO KILL HIM/HER!!!!

[Malchik]

Stephane is usually a man's name.

 

Obsequious springs to mind.

 

Hmm. One can only wonder at the kind of games the reviewer has played before.

 

But these over-inflated statements were common when the game first came out in 2006. (As indeed were some equally ott criticisms.) I'm not sure there is much to be gained in rehashing the arguments now.

 

Mind you, I had to laugh about the conversations. The off-beat asides in Bloodmoon were a lot funnier. And if I hear anyone mention mudcrabs again....

[elpiggo]

If the reviewer can sum up the game in the word amazing, I can sum up the reviewer in one word: Mental.

 

Sure, Oblivion's a good game, that's why half of us, including me are on the forums. (I don't think I even had broadband when I first saw Morrowind). But really, what a load of complete- "I ran into a couple of goblins the other day". Even comparing the immersiveness (is that a word?) of Morrowind to Oblivion in a positive way is impposible. And I just don't know how on earth that guy hasn't got bored of walking around Cyrodil. (I've noticed two things after a couple of years of Oblivion. Firstly, Cyrodil is too small, and secondly, the graphics really aren't that amazing).

 

*Throws up to add to the rapidly growing pile*

[ninja_lord666]

Hmm. One can only wonder at the kind of games the reviewer has played before.

I would say none! This seems more like an uncyclopedia review that an honest one...

 

@elpiggo: Cyrodiil may seem too small, but in truth it is larger than Morrowind was. The reason it seems smaller is faster movement. There are of course horses, but also character movement is faster. I remember in Morrowind, I moved like a slug. I 'ran' about as fast as a slow walk.

 

My opinion on the matter is: Oblivion is a good game, but there are many, many, many problems with it. It is NOT

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is, simply put, the most complete and most amazing experience to be had in videogame form, bar none, and everyone should be playing it rather than reading about it.

[SeasonDancer]

It's nothing new. Every game tries to convince that it's the best out there, and you should know that. It's somewhat boring to watch every, for example, Oblivion-hater post topic about how it is LAME and DISGUSTING, but, see, Morrowind is allmighty and pwnz other games in all possible ways - i mean, okay, you think that, but why do i care? I like Oblivion, though never played Morrowind, alas i don't think these type of posts could change my mind.

Keep your shouting and trowing to somewhere else.

[Povuholo]

Bah no comments section...

 

Every character speaks (and unlike Morrowind, everyone actually has something different to say), and every character has his own life to attend to, which also includes dialog.

The 'life' 9 out of 10 npc's has consists of eating, talking to people during the day about mudcrabs, walk around a bit and sleep.

 

While Oblivion's npc's all have (one or two lines of) their own dialogue, Morrowind had much more dialogue. Most wasn't specifically for that person, but it was much more.

 

The audio presentation in Oblivion is not only fantastic, but staggering in scope.

Yes those conversations are fantastic! They are all very realistic and smooth. I can listen to them forever! :rolleyes:

 

While there is a story-line to Oblivion, which can last you up to 40 hours to finish

40 hours? Only if you walk around and do other stuff in between...

 

Each object has its own physics, weight and innate properties.

The physics are the same for every object, and they are unrealistic.

 

Each body, sword and shield behaves differently based on size and weight. A

No it doesn't. Each body acts exactly the same. Only Khajiits and Argonians have a tail. Npc's have no actual weight. Weapons and shields don't behave differently based on size and weight either. It's not like they specified the size and the weight of a weapon, and the game determined how fast it moves. Shields... All the same.

 

Add to this the various architectural schemes found in every town and you can't help but be humbled again at the magnitude of effort and detail that went into Oblivion.

Besides the towns, Oblivion's landscape is boring. It's the same everywhere. Hills, grass, trees and rocks. A few rivers, and snow when you head north. There's nothing interesting in the houses either.

 

Add to this the fact that their lives will change depending on your actions and exploits and-

That barely happens. The quests barely make a difference in the area, besides that a few npc's related to that quests might have a lower or higher disposition towards you, or are dead.

 

Anyone not able to contend with Oblivion's RPG framework will find the game tedious.

Yeah, the RPG part of Oblivion is huge :rolleyes:

[Abramul]

I have a feeling that it's more a matter of catering to their reader-base. Can't say I know anything about that particular site, of course.

 

However, there are some blatant inaccuracies.

 

One I noticed in particular:

Oblivion begins, as expected, with a powerful monologue delivered by a King very much disillusioned by his fate. As he flees his own castle through the underground prisons, fate also binds him with our hero.

I think this speaks for itself.

[Rhydderch Hael]

@elpiggo: Cyrodiil may seem too small, but in truth it is larger than Morrowind was.

TES III was set on Vvardenfell, an island that happened to be but one part of Morrowind.

[Povuholo]

@elpiggo: Cyrodiil may seem too small, but in truth it is larger than Morrowind was.

But in Oblivion you walk much faster than in Morrowind, there's fast travel and you have the distant land. Because of that I think Morrowind looks larger.

[ninja_lord666]

But in Oblivion you walk much faster than in Morrowind, there's fast travel and you have the distant land. Because of that I think Morrowind looks larger.

...I said just that...

@elpiggo: Cyrodiil may seem too small, but in truth it is larger than Morrowind was. The reason it seems smaller is faster movement. There are of course horses, but also character movement is faster. I remember in Morrowind, I moved like a slug. I 'ran' about as fast as a slow walk.

 

@ Rhydderch Hael: I know that. I said "Morrowind" in reference to the game title.