A
game so incredible, that I had to come out of retirement
just to review it. by
StewXX
March
30, 2006 - If
you haven't played a PC-based RPG, you might not know
what you're missing. Traditionally these games are
huge and full of details - from the storyline to the
graphics. Console RPGs have to be a lot more restricted
due to processing limitations but with the Xbox 360,
that's all in the past. This Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
version surpasses many PC-based RPGs and blows away
virtually ever console version of the genre. This
is one seriously amazing game. And in case you're
wondering, it's also available for the computer.

Consider
this the definitive version of the Elder Scrolls series.
It's not a continuation, it's an evolution. Perhaps
even a revolution. It's an all-new adventure with
new characters and a new storyline. Prior knowledge
of the series is not important. You can jump right
in, create your own character and be up and running
in moments. You are given total freedom with your
character. You can choose to be good or evil, or perhaps
a mix of both. You are not restricted by skills. Combine
magic with your combat skills. You can use a variety
of different skills and choose to level-up only the
ones that you're interested in. You won't necessarily
receive experience points for combat, you'll get experience
points based on performances that favor the skills
that you use most often. You'll only get experience
points for combat if you become a warrior. If you're
into magic, you'll get experience points for the successful
use of magic. In this way the experience is much more
personal.
There
is so much to see and do in this game that you could
wind up playing it for months - and it's not as dry
as most lengthy RPGs. This game is loaded with action
and adventure. Even if you've never played an RPG
before this one won't bog you down unless you choose
to read all of the books that give you a back history
to the story. There's a natural flow to the gameplay
that makes it seem like real life. You can go straight
to the main quests or you can branch out into hundreds
of different paths and experience all that the game
has to offer.
Set
in a fantasyland of elves, orcs, monsters, myths and
magic, you become aware of a plot to overthrow the
present emperor when he recognizes you from a dream
and entrusts you with the search for his illegitimate
child. The kingdom is overrun by monsters from Hell
which are being transported to your dimension through
Oblivion Gates. To learn the secrets of closing the
gates you must first flee the Imperial City, being
careful not to come under attack by these loathsome
creatures.

You
have three main powers at your disposal: Stealth;
magic, and combat. You can employ ranged weapons such
as the bow and arrow as well as magic-generated projectiles
to kill the enemies. Melee weapons such as a club
or even your bare hands can also be employed to defend
yourself. If you prefer, you can run or sneak past
the enemies using your stealth skills. As in Splinter
Cell, there is an invisibility gauge that will indicate
the enemy's ability to spot you. The more skill you
develop in this area, the harder it will be for the
enemy to see you.
There
is plenty of combat in the game and while you can
choose to sneak or run past the enemy, there are times
when you're just going to have to get physical. Using
your weapons is relatively easy. It's a matter of
judging perspectives and pressing the action button
at the right time. You can dish out light and powerful
attacks by tapping or pressing on the action button
while at the same time using your shield to block
blows from the enemy. The AI is excellent and puts
up a good fight. They get cocky when they are gaining
the upper hand and will often slink away if they are
getting a bad beating.
Your
magic powers give you a lot of flexibility. You can
use it to launch fiery projectiles or enchant the
enemy into giving up their weapons and making them
totally vulnerable to the simplest of attacks. These
magic powers will even allow you to summon powerful
demons and various magical weapons.

It's
nice to have the option of playing the game in first
or third person perspective. For my money, I enjoy
the first-person. The action is much easier to see
but there are times when the third-person will give
you a much better view of your surroundings especially
in mountainous or maze-like environments. Don't forget
to toggle between them and use them to your advantage.
On
the various paths that lead from the main cities to
the various villages you will encounter many different
gameplay opportunities including dungeons that require
exploring, enemies that you must outwit or overpower
and characters that require your assistance which
results in numerous side-quests. You are not required
to travel these paths by foot if you don't feel like
it. You can go by horseback or even be teleported
to the next area in a flash. There is no extraneous
wandering if you choose not to do it. Even the side
quests that you choose to perform are well organized
in that you're given directions and instructions so
that you don't have to search around aimlessly for
such information.
The
towns and villages are loaded with non-playable, but
interactive, characters. There are hundreds of them
and all are fully voiced. They will give you clues
and offer you side-quests. These characters display
great animated facial features that are incredibly
expressive. Their reactions to you will depend on
the personality that you've cultivated.
The
game is narrated by Patrick Stewart. His voice is
so authoritative that he could read aloud an Archie
comic and make it sound like a Shakespearean tragedy.
The other voiceovers fall into the "good"
category with a few more natural sounding than others.
The
graphics are nothing short of incredible. All of the
environments, whether they be woodlands, cities or
a version of Hell, are highly imaginative and distinct.
I didn't detect any reuse of textures. Everything
appears to have been created fresh, from scratch.
This kind of visual depth would be impossible on the
PS2 considering how massive this world is.

Elder
Scrolls IV: Oblivion sets a new standard in RPGs.
There isn't a lot of difference between the PC and
360 version. Just make sure your PC is loaded or you
won't enjoy the same crisp, graphic resolution. There
is so much to do in this game and the interactivity
of the AI makes it seem like a massive online multi-player
experience. Expect months of fun and adventure.
Features:
- Live
Another Life in Another World. Create and play any
character you can imagine, from the noble warrior
to the sinister assassin to the wizened sorcerer.
- Next
Generation Graphics. Pixel-shader effects and high
definition televisions are fully supported to create
unprecedented visuals, including lifelike towns,
dungeons, and the most realistic forests ever created
in a game.
- First
Person Melee and Magic. An all-new combat and magic
system brings first person role-playing to a new
level of intensity where you feel every blow.
- Radiant
AI. This groundbreaking AI system gives Oblivion's
characters full 24/7 schedules and the ability to
make their own choices based on the world around
them. Non-player characters eat, sleep, and complete
goals all on their own.
- Realistic
Characters. Oblivion's features over 1,000 non-player
characters who come to life like never before with
facial animations, lip-synching, and full speech.
They even engage in unscripted conversations with
each other and you.
- Open-Ended
Game Play; Short Challenges. The enormous world
of Oblivion is open for you to explore at your own
pace, and shorter challenges such as fighting bandits,
mixing potions, creating magic items and persuading
friends keep the challenges coming.
By
StewXX
CCC
Retired Staff Writer
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Yet
again, Bethesda Softworks has shaken the pillars of
the RPG world with its Elder Scrolls series. With
its utilization of Half-Life 2s revolutionary middleware
Havok engine, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has been
given impressive environments in which every object
and weapon in the game will be interactive. From the
longest table, to the smallest copper coin, everything
will have a real, physical presence. You can even
retrieve your used arrows from fresh-made corpses.
But
the brilliance doesn't end with the environments.
The Havok engine also essentially eliminates the need
for the classic D&D-style Die-Roll combat system,
allowing Oblivion to move on to real-world-physics-based
attack-and-defend combat. If you intend to dodge your
opponents attack, youll have to actually move the
character out of the path of the weapon, instead of
just standing there, counting on a random variability
equation to determine a successful dodge-roll on an
8-sided die. This adds an entirely new level of realism
and immersion into the game.
The
second major innovation is Radiant AI, a new Artificial
Intelligence program that gives a genuine feel of
sentience among NPC denizens of the realm, and allows
the game to efficiently and accurately auto-scale
the intelligence and abilities of your opponents to
accommodate the players skill levels. Hopefully, this
will allow players (such as myself, admittedly) that
are proficient at certain areas of combat, yet significantly
lacking in others, to still be able to get through
the tougher parts of the game that they would otherwise
have been stuck on, allowing them to get the most
out of the game.
Of
course, the only major drawback to this game that
I've been able to spot is the fact that, with such
powerful graphics and the processor demands this game
will require, we will be forced to wait until the
release of the XBOX 2 before we can actually play
it on a home console, but something tells me that
this one will be worth the wait.
Press:
Bethesda
Softworks LLC, a ZeniMax Media company, today announced
that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is currently
in development for PC and future generation consoles.
In development since 2002, Oblivion is another leap
forward in role-playing with its combination of freeform
gameplay and cutting-edge graphics. Oblivion is the
sequel to the best-selling, award-winning role-playing
game, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind®, named
2002 RPG and Game of the Year for both PC and Xbox.
"Since
starting this project two years ago, our goal has
been to create the quintessential RPG of the next
generation," said Todd Howard, executive producer
of The Elder Scrolls® series. "We looked
back at what we had done with the series, and then
looked ahead to what the future of video games could
be, and we think this is it."
In
keeping with the Elder Scrolls tradition, players
will have the option to experience the main quest
at their own pace, and there will be plenty of opportunities
to explore the vast world and make your own way. Numerous
factions can be joined, such as the thieves or mages
guilds, and each contains its own complete storyline
and the chance to rise to the head of the faction
and reap further rewards.
Howard
commented, "Our games have always been about
great depth and variety in creating any kind of character
you want and going out and doing whatever you want."
He added, "With Oblivion, we're taking the idea
of a virtual fantasy world as far as it will go."
Oblivion
features a groundbreaking new AI system, called Radiant
AI, which gives non-player characters (NPCs) the ability
to make their own choices based on the world around
them. They'll decide where to eat or who to talk to
and what they'll say. They'll sleep, go to church,
and even steal items, all based on their individual
characteristics. Full facial animations and lip-synching,
combined with full speech for all dialog, allows NPCs
to come to life like never before.
Oblivion
is a single-player game that takes place in Tamriel's
capital province, Cyrodiil. You are given the task
of finding the hidden heir to a throne that sits empty,
the previous emperor having been killed by an unknown
assassin. With no true Emperor, the gates to Oblivion
(the equivalent of hell in the world of Tamriel) open,
and demons begin to invade Cyrodiil and attack its
people and towns. It's up to you to find the lost
heir to the throne and unravel the sinister plot that
threatens to destroy all of Tamriel.
Features:
- Return
of the Elder Scrolls. The sequel to the best-selling,
role-playing game, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
- Live
Another Life in Another World Gamers can create
and play any character they can imagine, from the
noble warrior to the sinister assassin to the wizened
sorcerer.
- Next
Generation Graphics Pixel-shader effects and high
definition televisions are fully supported to create
unprecedented visuals, including lifelike towns,
dungeons and the most realistic forests ever created
in a game.
- First
Person Melee and Magic An all-new combat and magic
system brings first person role-playing to a new
level of intensity where you feel every blow.
- Radiant
A Groundbreaking AI system gives Oblivion's characters
full 24/7 schedules and the ability to make their
own choices based on the world around them. Non-player
characters eat, sleep and complete goals all on
their own.
- Realistic
Characters Features over 1,000 non-player characters
who come to life like never before with facial animations,
lip-synching and full speech. They even engage in
unscripted conversations with each other.
- Open-Ended
Game Play; Short Challenges The enormous world of
Oblivion is open, allowing players to explore at
their own pace. Players will encounter shorter challenges
such as fighting bandits, mixing potions, and creating
magic along the way to unraveling the main quest.
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