The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion



Coming back again from the swamps of Morrowind, Elder Scrolls 4 gives you another chance to battle against the forces of evil and play as the good (or bad) hero. Picking this game up a set amount of time ago, I couldn't help but enjoy the lot of side-quests and storylines written in the game. Although there are some minor things that could have been worked, the experience had still been good.



The story starts out simple. You play as prisoner who, for unknown reasons, had been held there for a supposed crime. Then come Emperor Uriel Septim VII and his bodyguards. They enter your cell and open a passageway. Then they tell you not to follow. This becomes rather pointless as there isn't anything else to do and would make for a rather boring game if you just sat in the cell. There you meet up with the king again and after going with them a bit, they get ambushed by men in red robes. In trusted with the amulet that is suppose to hold great power and to have it sent to the next heir, you make your way out of the sewers to glories freedom. During this whole trip from the cell to the freedom outside the sewers, you have given choices to customize your character according to race and type of skills you would like to use over the course of the game. Although once you leave the sewers, the choices are permanent. So after you leave the sewers, you find out that the gates of a hellish place called Oblivion has opened up due to the lack of an emperor. So now you must journey onward and hone your body to face against the enemies you are bound to face in your quest to save Cyrodiil form certain doom. Along the way, you get caught up with a multitude of other storylines and characters that will help you either become more powerful or richer.


Hate to be the guy who stole from that thing

The gameplay aspect is fairly straight forward. At the beginning, you choose the appearance and type of character you want. Then you build him or her up however you want. You have an attack button, jump button, action button, block, shoot, and targeting. Despite the standard actions, there are a few things new to the game. You can pickpocket, picklocks, cast spells, wear any kind of armor, buy housing, and many more. You increase your skills and attributes by leveling up which can choose when to when you gain enough experience. You also gain mastery over certain skills when you do them enough times. Such as swords, if you use them long enough, you can gain special skills that allow you to give more powerful attacks. You also have the choice of either traveling by foot or using the map to travel to places you've already visited as well as adjusting the difficulty to however you want. There are also different ways you can earn cash to buy the equipment you require. You can even steal it if you don't feel up to wasting money. You also have the choice to be a good guy or the bad anti-hero by killing people, stealing or many other bad things.


With this sword, I shall rule the world!

Visually, this game is vast. Very vast. It can take you days just to find every nook and cranny of the world and you would still have more secrets to find. The environment is detailed, although you'll start to see a pattern in which the land is placed, you can't help but enjoy riding around the place. The characters are also well made, although their voices are often poor quality. One minute a beggar is speaking rather raggedy like you you would expect... then suddenly she is speaking in a clear, intelligent manner. It doesn't help that most of the voices done are the same on almost every other character except the main characters. An interesting visual extra is that if you steal their clothing they normal wear during the night, they come out with just simple rags and clothing. A nice touch by the developers as you can not only change your own clothing, but to a extent, others as well.

Overall, the game is something that is worth looking into if like to spend long hours leveling up and large open spaces. I recommend renting it in case you done have a taste for the this but would like to try it out. The only other problem I have with the game is the vampire glitch. To which you turn into a vampire by a disease but can't return to normal when you try to get ingredients to turn back. So other then that, it's a game worth checking out. Good morrow everyone.