The Elder Scrolls IV is nothing but a step forward towards perfection in this very open-ended experience. In development since Morrowind's release and beyond, Oblivion delivered nothing short of what was expected. When I purchased my copy, I was worried of how the game would run on my system but it wasn't so bad. In fact, I can play the game on high settings at a reasonable 1024x768 resolution. The machine I played on had a AMD Athlon 64 3200+ , 1.5 gigs of ram, an Sapphire ATI Radeon X800 XT 256 mb AGP and a 200gb Seagate HD. Saddly, I can't specify the frame rate it was but it lagged a little depending on the number of characters on screen but it's mostly just when you load the game for the first time.
I'll begin with the presentation of the game. It is has you would expect from a game of the series but clearer. Scrolling through the menus is quick and easy. One thing that bothered me is that items or effects don't have definitions or something to explain but you will understand what most of them do except sometimes they use heavy terms that I don't feel like opening my dictionary for.
Once you're all set (you can change the challenge level), the game begins with you in the Imperial jail and you are visited by the Emperor himself. From there on, it's the training part, where you'll get use to the basic controls. The Emperor, the guards and you will walk in a secret passage which was hidden in your own cell. Every now and then the emperor will ask you questions which will make you decide your class, birth sign and things. I forgot to mention that you choose your race and customize your look before starting the game. As soon as you complete the training dungeon you will be given a mission. The main quest. I haven't completed the game yet so I won't give specific details on the story because there are surprises..well that depends what missions you do since it's so open ended.
Just like in The Elder Scrolls III (I haven't played the older ones), the armors are split in three classes; Light, Medium and Heavy. Although most of them have the same names like Ebony, Glass, Orcish and Leather, they don't look the same..well maybe it's just the superior graphics that make the difference. Who knows?. Anyway, they've added new ones to the collection which makes it more diverse. Same goes for the weapons and the other items. You can enchant them with soul gems gotten for dungeons, ruins, etc.
Overall, Oblivion and Morrowind aren't very different except for a new environment and pretty much new everything thing in terms of look, the gameplay remains the same but that's not a bad thing, I mean, don't fix what isn't broken. What adds to the fun is the physics engine which is realistic because it isn't fully ragdoll "ą la Deus Ex: Invisible War, Chaos Theory and Rainbow Six 3". They seem to have bones which keep them from twisting in odd directions. Other than that, the blood is there and you'll notice that when you're attacked, you can bleed to.
NPCs are numerous and everything that they say is done by voice which is good because in Morrowind, you had to sometimes read long long paragraphs of dialogue. Also, they all have their own schedules. Let's take one for exemple: A man in Bruma is at home or outside during the day and speaks with other NPCs. At night, he goes to the INN. It's all like this, some will go out of the city to take care of gardens. It's a lot more diverse though, some will do three, four or even five things. It depends on the quest you're on or the time or the date or etc.
New guilds have been added in Oblivion such as the Dark Brotherhood which are murderers and makes the Thief's guild sound like the nearest daycare center. I'm a good boy in Oblivion so I haven't done much with the D.B. but some will join every single guild, nothing keeps you.
Something that must of caught your attention in the first pics of Oblivion was the horses. Yes, you can ride horses but the sad thing is that you can't fight while riding but that's just a small detail. Be carefull, you must purchase your horse because it doesn't take long to get caught stealing one, although, you will be given a horse near the beginning, just make sure it doesn't die. Speaking of purchasing, you can also get yourself a house! You can store your beloved items there because you'll get overweight very often.
Graphics [8.5/10]
Surprised? If you are well it's normal because they aren't so special when you play it. The faces are a little stretched, sometimes more than a little. What makes me lower the score to 8.5 is the shadow problems, especially on faces. Maybe I should of lowered it to 8 but there is an artistic side to it all and it remains beautiful. (Edit: Maybe it's a problem with ATI cards)
Sounds [8.5/10]
The music fits well with the atmosphere, the weapons sounds clear and superb voice acting. Nothing to be impressed about though.
Gameplay [9.5/10]
I love it!
Value [10/10]
People sometimes ask theirselve's why are games so expensive. Well, sometimes it's right to ask that question but for games like this, with so much attention put to them and with over 200+ hours of gameplay (make multiple characters). It's quite clear, people work hard and go through depressing times doing games like this for their pleasure as much as yours. Pay the games. Don't pirate.
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