Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition

I've always wanted to just dive into the PC RPG experience, but every time I have (usually with the "Ultima" series, but there have been a few others), I've left with a lukewarm feeling. I had hoped that "Oblivion" would finally be the game that got me over the hump. But alas, while "Elder Scrolls IV" is a very fun and engrossing game, it still suffers from many of the pitfalls of its PC predecessors, and also has one more wrinkle to boot. But let's begin with:

The Good:
Story: Non-existent. Now, why is that good? Because the player isn't forced to follow some silly linear quest for the duration of the game. Yes, "Oblivion" has a sort of main focus, but it really can be pushed to the sidelines, sue to the incredible amount of other things to do. I mean, seriously, one can
1) Join a Mage's/Fighter's/Thief's/Assassin's guild
2) Run around as a hero-for-hire
3) Attempt to make money to buy houses and the like
4) Hunt in one of the uncountably infinite number of ruins/forts/caves/mines/dungeons to be found in the game
5) Become a gladiator
etc. etc.

This game is HUGE. And I love it for that.

2) Battle mechanics: I've rarely been a fan of the first person slash game, but "Oblivion" gets it right. Enemies move fast, and while some enemies act remarkably stupidly, others will fight well. You can devise your own style of play as well. Are you one that likes to run into the fray screaming? Do you like to fire off spells or arrows from afar? Do you prefer to stalk your prey and slash in the darkness? Take your pick.

3) Character development: I spent an hour just designing my character's physical appearance. Yet "Oblivion" allows you to also develop their traits, their race, their skills - heck, even their birthsign is a big deal. And the game allows you to expand on their abilities, creating a very personalized character. I myself prefer slinking around in the night, and killing my prey up close. Thus, instead of using one of the many pre-made character classes, I instead created the "skulk". You can do whatever you want. Want to be a reptile that breathes underwater, is an incredibly wizard, and can wield a mace? be my guest. Want to be an elf who fights with a sword? No one's stopping you. Want to be a vampire? You can even do THAT in time.

Sounds great, right? In short, the world of "Oblivion" is huge and varied. You can play for days without ever touching the main quest. Heck, I haven't even bothered with the expansions.

Unfortunately, not all that glitters is gold. Here's the bad:

1) The levelling system: Without a doubt, this has taken the most heat, and it is ALL deserved. Mostly, the reviewers here have complained that whenever you level, so too does the world around you. But really, this doesn't fully explain the trouble here. So, instead, I choose to give an example (apologies: I will expose one small end to a large quest).

While advancing in the mage's guild, I noticed that I hadn't been levelling up. Not a big deal, as my character was an assassin mostly, and so level should matter that much (if a child sneaks up on you and cuts your throat, you're still going to die). However, I was faced with the so-called King of Worms, and lord of all necromancers. He saw me, and there was no way my level 1 character was going to win. Right? Ummm, no - he brandished a dagger, I sported a sword, and the battle lasted a little over 30 seconds. I had vanquished arguably one of the most powerful denizens of the world, and was rewarded greatly.

This in and of itself is really unbelievable, but it gets worse. Afterward, I decided, "What the hey?" and leveled myself to level 10. And as it turns out, I couldn't even beat the guardians of the king, let alone the master himself. That's right - leveling my character actually made me WEAKER in the end.

And that is the rub. "Oblivion" is simply broken. Keep your character at level one, and you will ensure that you clear pretty much any quest in the game. Level your character normally, and expect a real challenge. It's not as bad as some have mentioned, but it certainly makes for a longer and more tedious game, as you must recollect armor, weaponry, etc. This is a MAJOR weakness. It is silly that a level one character can defeat anything thrown at him. It is even sillier that a level 10 character suddenly cannot.

2) Graphics: It's like looking in a funhouse mirror. I despise the creepy figures with which I am accosted in every town. It is obvious that the developers spent a lot of time and effort in designing the most realistic-looking people they could find. It is also apparent that we have a LONG way to go. I would have preferred more canned people to the horrors in the game.

3) Voice acting: Ugh. Painful. There are like 5 voices used for the plethora of characters you will see throughout the game. It is a horror. Moreover, because of one particular skill (speechcraft), you can bet that you'll hear these voices saying the SAME lines, over and over again. How many times I've heard "Blah blah blah - what a bore" from some incredibly lame voice, I can't even count. And the nonsense they blather - you would think that americans would write better conversation. It would seem that they spent their time writing tomes and tomes of useless books rather than spending quality time developing the characterization of the NPCs inhabiting "Oblivion".

4) Glitches: Bad ones. One time, the load screen appeared, and the PS3 simply froze. I actually had to unplug the system to unfreeze it. That's really bad.Clipping issues abound, particularly when swimming in caves, but this is to be expected. Sometimes, weird stuff happens (a soldier walking on air attacked and killed me, because I couldn't guard from his attacks). This is expected somewhat - I've never found a PC game without such glitches, and in the end, mostly nonfatal. However, I don't like anything that freezes up my entire system.

While a couple of the points might be nitpicky, the first is not. The leveling system is an abomination. I can't fault the developers too much for this - they were trying to make a truly non-linear experience, the holy grail of RPGs. But, the leveling system is a complete and total failure. The fact is, there is NO reason that my character should be weaker because he levels. None. And yet, here we are.

Long story short - this is a fine game, and one of the best for the PS3. But it isn't without its major problems. A player might become overwhelmed if he isn't careful with the leveling.

I just recently bought the Game of the Year Edition for PS3, and to answer the burning question, YES, YOUR SAVED GAME FROM ELDER SCROLLS OBLIVION WILL TRANSFER OVER TO THE GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION. The GOTY edition contains Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine. To play Shivering Isles, all you have to do is WAIT or SLEEP for 24 hours and a quest is updated and a marker on your map will appear. How easy is that! And Knights of the Nine, I'm told you are to talk to the prophet outside the chapel in Anvil. Sorry for all that, just trying to help out some of the Oblivion fans. As for my review of the game, AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE, AWESOME. This is the best game I've seen since Zelda Ocarina of Time, and YES, I have played GTA IV! Just pick this game up, although I reccommend getting the Game of the Year Edition for the extra content. AND PLEASE, get the game for PS3! I've played both versions, 360 and PS3, and the PS3 version just looks fantastic. The 360 version, alright, but pails in comparison to the PS3 version. 5 out of 5! GET IT!!!

This game is incredibly detailed, with lush visuals, atmospheres, and music. You can complete quests at your own whim, without any restrictive rules or measures that are usually a part of RPG-type games. This is probably the best game I have played besides Dragonquest VIII, which is a bit more fun and whimsical. It is easy to play this without realising how much time has actually passed by -- very addictive.

This game is vast with a huge array of characters to interact with and quests to undertake. I bought it for my husband as a birthday present but we try to share it equally in order to to maintain a stable marriage! I love this game, the detail is remarkable - in the variety of buildings, the scenery outdoors, the plants and the people/creatures along the way. My husband, who has been a Dungeon Master in D&D, is more interested in the stats than I am, I'm just in it for the ride and find it very entertaining and hugely enjoyable - I strongly recommend this game!

I know that I will be disagreed with from the start but i felt the need to do this review after rushing out to get this game from these 5 star Amazon reviews & being left disappointed. Here is why:
I need to start by saying that I am not an avid gamer who plays his ps3 all the time and hooks up to the internet. I just want a game I can play after i get home from work - that type of thing.
Oblivion seems to be anything but that. It is SO full of details and subplots that to even attempt to solve this game w/out having a FAQ or guide by you is a total joke. You have an overwhelming amount of mini-battles and other quests that the game prompts you to do as you stroll along but here is my question: how would you know what to accept or where to go with all this side stuff popping up and giving you the option to divert you? You are given so many options like pop-ups that you have a general idea of where to walk and who to talk to but once you get in that vicinity-good luck! I hope you plan on lots of trial and error and just plain being stuck. i abandoned this game when I got to point where it told me to get somewhere but when you bring up the map and scrolled over the city name it would not zap me there. Great, now a bug?
Just like when you are in the Oblivion relam and there are quests you can do inside depending on which door you choose. You have no idea how to solve this game w/out outside help.
And then there are the times you have to waste 15 min watching someones face change as you tell them jokes or lies just in hopes to barter (gee how fun) which may not work out anyways. Way too many options, way too many diferent outcomes. Those two things would be superb if you had any guidance as to how to solve the initial quest. Plus this GOTY edition is supposed to come with two bonus games. Guess what? You gotta play Oblivion anways just to try and access those games - one of which i never even got prompted to begin playing!

I personally enjoyed Assassins creed and Uncharted alot better than this game. Maybe die hard D&D fans or people who play online w/ others for guidance & help would enjoy this more than I did. I see no possible way to solve this on your own in any efficient matter of time and not too far into the game I needed to print out step by step FAQ just to figure out who to talk to, what door to walk thru, etc. Where is the fun in that? Even after playing around w/ the game for a while and getting familiar w/ it I was still just left confused.

Ps - I don't want to sound like a big whiner. The graphics are awesome, you can build your charcater however you want but that is another thing - if you have no idea what you are doing (like me) the way you build it from the start could severly limit what you can do during the game causing you to have to start over after a while due to your limitations w/ that build of charcter.
Many different voices which sound like pros and you can do things like wait-out time (you can 'sleep' within a 24 hr frame), change what your character is wearing or holding . Once again - if you have a game where you need to "sleep" till another time just to wait and interact with them.....this game is VERY detail oriented and time consuming with every little detail needing to be attended to.
The bottom line is that I had fun exploring for a bit but you need more than a compass to point you in the right direction. Having options is great and needed but if you are given too many and it decides how your game will end ...I just can't see how you would ever know that you stayed on a correct path w/out a Strategy guide or FAQ.

i really wish I rented this game before purchaing it. You even need a FAQ just to guide you how to initially build your own charcter! UUGGHH!
Give me Prince of Persia or God of War anyday!