Review: Oblivion
Jul. 6th, 2008 02:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
4thofelevenSo now I’ve finally got an up-to-date computer, I’ve gone out and splurged on all the games I couldn’t run on my old system… most of which are now sitting unplayed, while I obsessively hunt down goblins and work my way up the Mage Guild’s ranks.
Oblivion, for those of you who, like me, are laughably behind when it comes to games, is the latest sandbox-style fantasy RPG in the Elder Scrolls series. There’s a main plot, but you can largely ignore it as you wander the world, exploring ruins and dungeons and other such areas filled with unsociable people who don’t appreciate you breaking in and taking their stuff.
First thoughts - my god, this is a beautiful game. There’s a fast travel system that lets you instantly travel from city to city, but it’s much more fun to walk and admire the landscape. One downside of the graphics quality - the massive view distance makes it a little too obvious how unrealistically small the game-world is; you’re never out of sight of the Imperial City. Still, it's wonderful to climb a mountain and be able to see all the way to the distant ocean...
I think I actually prefer Oblivion to Morrowind. Morrowind seemed to have as a design philosophy that you had to earn your fun; Oblivion lets you get straight into fun stuff from the beginning. Most skills are still useful even right from the start - brewing an alchemic potion now always works, they’re just not very powerful at low levels… spells always work, as long as you have enough mana to cast them.
The mini-game you play when you try and improve someone’s opinion of you is fun, though perhaps a little too easy. The lock picking mini-game on the other hand I just cannot get the hang of - I pretty much rely on unlocking magic.
The physics engine doesn’t really add much to gameplay, but it’s fun to watch clutter get thrown around when you throw fireball. I’ll never get tired of seeing a skeleton warrior’s skull go flying off after blasting it… on a related note, I must remember to learn a ‘light’ spell, rather than relying on fireballs to illuminate my way - sooner or later, one of these dungeons is going to have a friendly character in it.
Finally, an unintentionally amusing moment in the game’s tutorial. See, your character starts off in prison for unspecified crimes. Turns out though, that your cell just happens to contain the entrance to the Emperor’s top secret escape route out of the palace. So when assassins target the royal family, you find yourself tagging along with the Emperor’s bodyguards as they try to escort him to safety. You’re almost out of the sewers when BAM! An assassin comes out of nowhere and kills the Emperor while his guards are up ahead scouting out the area. Fortunately, the Emperor knew his time was short, and had the foresight to give you the Amulet of Kings and directions to his only surviving heir so you can give it to him. So his bodyguards come back too late, and see nothing suspicious whatsoever about an unknown criminal standing over the body of the Emperor holding the sacred symbol of leadership…
That’s not the funny bit - the funny bit was a few minutes later, when one of the guards tries to guess your profession - in other words, the game checks what skills you’ve been using so far, and suggests a class for you based around that. Now I’d been doing a lot of sneaking and sniping from the shadows with a bow. So the guard turns to me, smiles, and says “From what I’ve seen of you so far, I’ll bet you’re a highly trained assassin. Am I right?” He then wishes me luck on my quest, and lets me head off on my mission to find the last surviving member of the royal family.
With guards like that, it’s a wonder the Emperor survived as long as he did…
Oblivion, for those of you who, like me, are laughably behind when it comes to games, is the latest sandbox-style fantasy RPG in the Elder Scrolls series. There’s a main plot, but you can largely ignore it as you wander the world, exploring ruins and dungeons and other such areas filled with unsociable people who don’t appreciate you breaking in and taking their stuff.
First thoughts - my god, this is a beautiful game. There’s a fast travel system that lets you instantly travel from city to city, but it’s much more fun to walk and admire the landscape. One downside of the graphics quality - the massive view distance makes it a little too obvious how unrealistically small the game-world is; you’re never out of sight of the Imperial City. Still, it's wonderful to climb a mountain and be able to see all the way to the distant ocean...
I think I actually prefer Oblivion to Morrowind. Morrowind seemed to have as a design philosophy that you had to earn your fun; Oblivion lets you get straight into fun stuff from the beginning. Most skills are still useful even right from the start - brewing an alchemic potion now always works, they’re just not very powerful at low levels… spells always work, as long as you have enough mana to cast them.
The mini-game you play when you try and improve someone’s opinion of you is fun, though perhaps a little too easy. The lock picking mini-game on the other hand I just cannot get the hang of - I pretty much rely on unlocking magic.
The physics engine doesn’t really add much to gameplay, but it’s fun to watch clutter get thrown around when you throw fireball. I’ll never get tired of seeing a skeleton warrior’s skull go flying off after blasting it… on a related note, I must remember to learn a ‘light’ spell, rather than relying on fireballs to illuminate my way - sooner or later, one of these dungeons is going to have a friendly character in it.
Finally, an unintentionally amusing moment in the game’s tutorial. See, your character starts off in prison for unspecified crimes. Turns out though, that your cell just happens to contain the entrance to the Emperor’s top secret escape route out of the palace. So when assassins target the royal family, you find yourself tagging along with the Emperor’s bodyguards as they try to escort him to safety. You’re almost out of the sewers when BAM! An assassin comes out of nowhere and kills the Emperor while his guards are up ahead scouting out the area. Fortunately, the Emperor knew his time was short, and had the foresight to give you the Amulet of Kings and directions to his only surviving heir so you can give it to him. So his bodyguards come back too late, and see nothing suspicious whatsoever about an unknown criminal standing over the body of the Emperor holding the sacred symbol of leadership…
That’s not the funny bit - the funny bit was a few minutes later, when one of the guards tries to guess your profession - in other words, the game checks what skills you’ve been using so far, and suggests a class for you based around that. Now I’d been doing a lot of sneaking and sniping from the shadows with a bow. So the guard turns to me, smiles, and says “From what I’ve seen of you so far, I’ll bet you’re a highly trained assassin. Am I right?” He then wishes me luck on my quest, and lets me head off on my mission to find the last surviving member of the royal family.
With guards like that, it’s a wonder the Emperor survived as long as he did…