The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition

"The most fantastic real-time game I've seen in years!"

Before I picked up this game, I've heard a lot of people talking about how great a game this is. I'm fairly picky in the types of adventure or RPG games I like; Diablo II was a great multiplayer game, and I really liked Dungeon Siege II as a single-player game. Usually, I prefer the single-player games, so I picked up the "Game of the Year Edition" AND the guide book (at 25 bucks, it's the most expensive "hint book" I've ever bought - but it is definitely worth it; I highly recommend it!) and started playing.

First, a bit of a warning. I had met the "minimum" requirements on the game, but did not meet the "recommended" requirements. The game was somewhat slow, it recommended about the lowest-quality graphics settings, and it still functioned slowly and would practically lock up at times. So I splurged and upgraded the video card to something that wasn't three or four years old, and put some more memory in my PC. (I was going to need to do this anyway.) And now, even with about the highest-quality graphics settings, this game SINGS!

A neat feature is that this game (like most of the recent games, like Diablo II and Dungeon Siege II) allows you to "customize" your character, first regarding starting abilities and skills, and second with how you "build" your character as the game goes on. This allows you to play the game many different ways. (Although I can certainly vouch that if you have a good fighter who is lucky enough to come across sneaking boots, a nighteye helmet, and chameleon armour, it sure makes the Theives Guild quests and a lot of the dungeons a lot easier!)

Once I was able to get into the game, I started working on the main quest. I was moving along at a pretty good rate, within a few days (since I don't get to play 24 hours a day - my wife and kids have made that very clear!), I had completed about 80% of the main quest. I noticed at that point that I was nearing the end of the quest when I looked ahead in the guide book; what are all these other pages for?

Let me tell you - these other pages detail the TRUE superior feature of the game - its incredible size and complexity! There are what are called "faction" quests (you can join guilds such as the Fighters, Mages, and Theives) which have many missions in each of them; you can wander around the coutnryside, finding locations; you can work on general quests (some of which can take quite a bit of time, like looking for Ninroot - I've found quite a few in places that aren't in the guide book, but maybe some of the locations are random), you can dig around the countryside trying to find all of the wilderness caches (not a lot of loot, but the fun is in trying to find them), and eventually, you can start back on the main quest again. (It took me over a month to do this, once I started working on the other areas of the game.)

To spice up the action, in various places of the game, it places "Oblivion Gates" - alternate-plane regions, some of which are detailed in the main quest or other side quests, and some of which appear to be configured (and located!) randomly - and many of which have a fairly tricky path to get to the "main" tower (and even within the main tower itself).

I've managed to "checkmark" most of the items and quests in the manual (there are a lot of areas that are devoid of marks, so I've still got a lot of work to do!) in order to keep track of which items I haven't completed/found/studied. I've also made a lot of notes - maybe I'll put together a simplified FAQ (just a checklist of quests and special items and locations) once I get done.

After this, I still have to do the Knights of the Nine... and the Shivering Isles... and that's only with one character "specialization"! If my wife doesn't throw away my computer, maybe I'll try the whole thing over again - with a spellcaster! :)

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/07/08

Game Release: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition (US, 09/10/07)