The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - A Guru's View of this Game
Recommended System Specs:
3 GHz Intel P4 or AMD Equivalent, 1 GB System Memory, ATI X800 or NVIDIA 6800 Series Video Card or higher, 4.6gb free HDD space, DirectX 8.1 Compatible Soundcard.
The Guru3D.Introduction
Sleep… need…. Sleep…. Must…write… Review… Sleep is an important part of life, certainly, but one that I have recently found isn’t necessarily essential. The day the package landed on my doorstep, my need for sleep seemingly disappeared. That night, after around 10hrs, I staggered bleary eyed to my bed at 5am. It wasn’t meant to be like this… I just had to get to Chorrol, and then I just had to close that Oblivion gate, and then I had to see what was at the top of that mountain, or indeed if I could actually get to the top of the mountain! Regret it as I may the following morning, it was the same story the next night. This is a game that will have you glued for hours upon end, despite your subconscious willing you to heed your physical needs or desires…
Guru3D.Gameplay
Cyrodiil is a dangerous place, enter it with caution as it is in a dimension all of its own, where 5 hours seems like 10 minutes and an unexpected adventure lies around every corner. Each of these adventures is so compelling as to deprive you of the comfort of your own bed, offering some new interest. What’s more, the freedom of this game is staggering. Go buy and sell, do a few quests, some treasure hunting in one of the many caves or mines, explore the wonders of the land. The list goes on, and that’s before you even touch on the main quest.
A hint at just how expansive this game is appears at the beginning with the fantastic character creation tools. I must have spent over half an hour or more playing around with every conceivable detail of my characters appearance and I’m sure many others could spend far longer. It is also here that the story begins. With you, as seems to be traditional in Elderscrolls games, starting your journey in a prison cell. As luck would have it, the Emperor happens to be passing through for reasons I won’t divulge here, and releases you from your captive state.
The following section, through dungeons and sewers guides you through certainly one of the more intuitive tutorials I have seen, where by the end you will eventually decide your character class and birth sign. These three things combine to define what skills your character is particularly good at, whether that’s sneaking, stealing, fighting, or spell casting. My advice is to choose carefully as your decisions here will have an impact on your style of play throughout the game. That isn’t to say you can’t improve on your lesser skills as/when you level up, this is an RPG after all. You can also define your own custom class to balance skills exactly as you see fit, should none of the provided classes particularly suit your tastes.
Through the tutorial, you will also be introduced to various weapons including swords, shields and archery. The combat in Elderscrolls is fantastic. All of the RPG based ‘dice rolling’ calculations have been cleverly disguised so that while your skill levels effect exactly how well you sword fight, block, or how accurate an archer you are you never feel disconnected from the action. Put basically, if you hit an opponent it will always damage them. How much it hurts and whether it stuns them or what kind of effect it has is governed by your skill levels in that discipline. This is a simple but brilliant solution to the old RPG problem whereby you can score a direct ‘hit’ on an opponent but fail to damage them in the slightest!
The feel of the weapons on offer is also very good. Huge two handed swords feel cumbersome and unwieldy, but give an opponent a good whack and they will know it! The bow and arrow is great too, with the physics system coming into play. When aiming take note of gravity and aim slightly above your targets head as the arrow dips towards the end of its trajectory. Arrows will also satisfyingly stick into wood, ping off of stone, or embed themselves into an enemy’s skull – of course, you can then go and retrieve them, saving your precious ammo.
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