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Sets the bar too high, ruins all other games

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 18
Date: October 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

OK, I've been ruined so badly that all other games seem less appealing now. Guess I'll have to wait for Elder Scrolls V now :)

This is the best game I've ever played, period.

It was hard to stop. The flexiblity of gameplay it provides is phenomenal. Great graphics, non-repetitive actions, non-linear flow, awesome soundtrack, numerous challenges...I can keep going. I spent 5 months playing this game at least 2-3 days out of a week, lasting about 2 hours at least. It is so vast, engaging and challenging enough to keep it interesting. No wonder it's the game of the year.

Great Game - now how do I get to the expansion games?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 10
Date: October 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Ok - I give up - How do you load the Shivering Isles and/or Knights of The Nine? Like a previous reviewer, I've already played Oblivion through and plunked the $60 down just for the addon games, but there doesn't seem to be any option to load these other games. Someone HELP!

The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 9
Date: October 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have not played the game of the year edition however the origional PS3 version includes the Knigts of the Nine expantion and it is included in the main body of the game not as a seperate game. You don't have to lode up Knights of the Nineor the Shivering Isles they are just part of the game. I hope that answers your question

Is Too Much Ever Enough?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: January 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Oblivion is EXACTLY how I imagined an RPG should be like back in the 80's, while playing Ultimas on Commodore 64s and Atari STs.

Oblivion has weather. While there is no wind other than a constant, gentle breeze, you do get rain/thunderstorms, fog, snow (no blizzards though, because there's not much wind). You don't slip and fall on ice but the sound of your steps is different whether you walk on the road, on grass, on snow or on ice.

The world of Cyrodill is not exactly continent-size, maybe some 20-30 miles in any direction from downtown Imperial City but... what a world this is. Cities, settlements, camps, estates, roadside inns, ruins, caves, dungeons, mines, shrines. The landscape is made up of plains, hard-to-climb mountains, rivers, swamps, waterfalls, seas. You can travel on foot or you can ride a horse. You can fight your way into fame and fortune while doing good or you can sneak into other people's houses or pickpocket the unsuspecting. The guards will chase you and throw you in jail if you do illegal things but, if they like you enough, maybe they will look the other way sometimes. Powerful gods or humble people will ask you do 'little things' for them and, if you can make them happy, they will reward you according to their abilities. You can raise to the top of your profession, as a fighter, as a mage, as a thief or as an assassin or you can assemble your own little gang of dreamy crusaders so that you can fight evil and recover the relics of a legendary knight. Or you can do them all and become all, in sequence or make progress in all paths more or less simultaneously while moonlighting as a gladiator as well and, if still bored, how about helping a lady take care of the rats in her basement (that's NOT what you think) or some drunk guy at the inn get rid of the Trolls that took over his daddy's country estate? Oh and, I forgot, there's a world to save or... wait... there's TWO worlds, thanks to the Shivering Isles extension.

This game is so huge, I can't see how you could really 'finish' it. After more than 2 months of almost daily playing, I am maybe 75-80% into the main quest, half a way through the Knights of the Nine, only started the Shivering Isles adventures. I did become the realm's Chief Mage (and the titles earns me no respect from the scholar mages) and the grand master at the Fighters league, got myself 350,000 gold coins in my pocket, 2 comfortable houses and 2 nice offices, completed close to 100 quests, slaughtered 2000 creatures and hundreds of humans, murdered 4 or 5 and all but one by mistake (friendly fire), didn't even come close to the Thieves guild and, foolishly, made it impossible for me to ever join the Dark Brotherhood (these are the assassins). Also, I've never been a vampire and didn't yet start my career as a professional gladiator. I did massacre the peaceful dwellers of a small village but I did that under the influence of some drugs that made them look to me like bloody Orcs - that was the price to pay for infiltrating and destroying the source of that scourge. Oh, and while briefly in the land of Dementia - or was it Mania? - I did, willingly, push buttons that caused a few careless adventurers to go insane and I watched as they were becoming so. I humiliated a lovely princess - or was it a duchess? - and I killed so many fearsome monsters, I lost count myself but the game does keep a count so it's easy to know. In fact, the game keeps track of so many things... I could easily find out how many jokes I told, how many potions I made, how many horses I've stolen (one), how many hours I slept or how many books I read.

Well...? What do you think?

On the 'not so good' side, the game does slow down when you are fighting 4-5 monsters at the same time or when there are other things that keep the PS3 busy while you are fighting the baddies - like a fire burning. Loading/saving times are a bit too long but, while this is happening, you do get to read some randomly selected good advice on the screen.

The other thing that saddens me is that I don't believe the good people at Bethesda are working on the next chapter yet. I do hope that, as soon as they are done with Fallout-3, they are going to get busy with another adventure in Cyrodill or thereabouts.

My other problem is that I am now fighting with my kids over time on the PS3. We have a bunch of other games but, since Oblivion came into our house, I would say that 95%+ of our PS3 time was on Oblivion.

Believe the Hype

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: November 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

What can I possibly say about this revolutionary computer RPG that hasn't been said?
To me this is arguably the best computer game in the history of video game, period.

'Oblivion' is a non-linear, free-form, 1st-person RPG, colored with beautiful next generation graphic that enhances the immersive gameplay set in the gigantic gameworld, where you can do anything anywhere anytime you feel like it.

There are over 20 cities and settlements, 300 quests, 300 dungeons, caves, ruins, tunnels, and whatnots available in the game (combining 'Knights of the Nine', official DLCs, and 'Shivering Isles').
Then there is TES Construction Set. Using this amazing toolset used by Bethesda to create TES IV Oblivion, there are literally over 2000 mods made by gamers like you and I, available for free and still coming out on a daily basis.

I spent close to 200 hours with over 50 mods installed and I only covered less than 70 quests. I was too busy crawling underground, fighting monsters, retrieving loots, selling them for better equipments and houses, decorating.
To hell with saving the world. I only finished half of the main quest, and I have no intention to finish it in the foreseeable future.

The production value is simply stratospheric. From character design, character model, environment, grass, tree, flower, water, animal, item, monster, building, right down to single pebble and stone, Bethesda paid so much attention to details that it is breathtakingly marvelous.

Music by Jeremy Soule and sound effects are another praise-worthy achievements.

No other RPG in the history of video game gives the gamer so much freedom in gameplay as it is so evident from the very beginning in character creation.
If you spend enough time, you can virtually create any actual person's face both living or dead in uncanny resemblance.

Whether you like it or not, I think 'Oblivion' has set the standard by which all future CRPG, and even other genres to some extent, will be measured for a long time.

To Bethesda's credit, 'Oblivion' successfully streamlined the CRPG mechanics from its beloved franchise into more accessible mainstream game that became a runaway success; or dumbing down for console kiddies as many describe, depends on how you look at it. I know many of people were turned off by the changes made from older TES series, and 'Oblivion vs Morrowind: Which is better?' is still one of the most fiercely-debated topic in the official forum. Since I have fond memories of all previous TES series, I won't get into the flaming war. I just don't see any constructive point of insisting one game over another. They all have pros and cons, and no game is perfect.

I couldn't read single review of new CRPG called 'Two Worlds' without comparing it to 'Oblivion'. What a burden and curse it is for 'Two Worlds', which has been brutally trashed by critics and users alike. I really love that game, too. Although I really enjoyed that game, it was ultimately not enough to erase the memory of 'Oblivion'. If 'Fallout 3' becomes anything close to the success of 'Oblivion', Bethesda Softwork will become the next formidable RPG Giant like 'Blizzard' / 'Black Isle' / 'Bioware' trinity once achieved back in the days. You can be sure Bethesda will come out with TES V, and its success is pretty much guaranteed no matter which direction it will take.

Now I think far too many game mechanics from the past CRPGs such as 'Ultima', 'Baldur's Gate', 'Wizardry' or 'Diablo' series stemmed from the limitation of technology at the time rather than game design choice. I still have the original copies of 'Baldur's Gate' and 'Diablo' series along with 'Ultima' series, 'Wizardry 8', 'Planescape: Torment', 'Fallout 1, 2', and of course 'Daggerfall' and 'Morrowind'.
Except for 'Morrowind', I don't see myself playing and enjoying those game as I once used to anymore.
I tried them recently and was pleasantly surprised how pathetically they are outdated now. The vidio gaming asthetics have grown exponentially since those days.

Even 'Morrowind' took some adjusting time to re-immerse myself. When I say technology, I am not just talking about graphic but the scope and possibilities that was just not feasible in the past. The improved technology doesn't always result in better game but it immensely helps to create immersive gaming world, and the technology lifted all the barriers for game developers to realize their vision into games. This will result in new convergent games that crossover the genres. Upcoming games such as 'Mass Effect' and 'Fallout 3' are the evidence of new gaming asthetics being formed right now.

What would you like to see in the future Bethesda RPGs in terms of game mechanics?

For me, one thing I really like to see is the interaction with NPCs improved. Radiant A.I. is the right direction for the NPC interaction, but I like to see more detailed implementation. In 'Gothic' series, NPCs actually perform various activities, which player character can also performs. NPCs react when weapons drawn upon or intruded by. I know these reactions in 'Gothic' are scripted events but the presentation makes them as if the NPCs were alive. NPCs in 'Oblivion', while acting on dynamic schedule, sometimes look like pantomiming. Many times I've witnessed the awesome NPCs interaction only possible with 'Radiant A.I', but many times NPCs walks around aimlessly in circle, too. The character deposition drops when weapon is drawn during conversation, but it would be nice to hear more distinctive reaction from NPCs about the fact. Daily routine could be more detailed in animation. Fishing, chopping woods, forging metals, making weapons, eating and drinking, the lists go on. I like to have more dialogue choices and right to refuse any quest. Many times you are given just one choice in 'Oblivion'.

Another thing is consequences of player character's action and its influence to the persistent world such as guilds. In 'Oblivion', your deeds, either good or evil, hardly create impact on the gaming world. Although there are more than one method to solve many individual task, and more than one result in outcome of the quest, it really doesn't change the grand scheme of the game. I heard 'Bethesda' is really working hard on this for the upcoming 'Fallout 3'. Multiple endings and various intricate political stands among different factions would be greatly appreciated.

Next thing is different combat mechanics for 3rd person perspective. 1st person perspective is outstanding in 'Oblivion' but it would be sweet to have the alternative combat mechanics in 'Vanity Mode' also. That way, gamers have choice between realistic 1st-person combat and more arcady 3rd-person combat. Accurate jumping mechanics like the one in 'Metroid Prime' would be awesome compared to the unrealistical moonwalking in the air in 'Oblivion'. More acrobatic combat moves like rolling and dodging would be fantastic additions.

Havoc engine is great, but I hope the object manipulation becomes more useful in the actual gaming world, quests, or combat in the next iteration.

And my pet peeve of the game, it's so difficult to fight the enemies while NPCs are around, especially the essential characters that you must protect.

These are merely the positive suggestions rather than pointing out the game's flaws.

New ideas to improve the immersion for too much open-endedness would be great idea to narrow the gap between linear RPG and non-linear RPG.

Making RPG and simulating more life-like world is the ultimate holy grail Bethesda has been working for since 'Arena', I am sure.
No matter which TES game you like the most, the pathetic reality is that the choice of CRPG is very scarce in the market right now, and we need more refined game like 'Oblivion' to embrace mainstream casual gamers without alienating the hardcore RPG gamers so that market will once be crowded with good CRPGs.

The newly released GOTY (Game of the year) edition of 'TES IV Oblivion' contains the original 'Oblivion' along with 'Knights of the Nine' and 'Shiverilg Isles'. Unfortunately, the rest of the official DLCs (Downloadable Contents) are not available in the package. But the new PSN is now up and running, and there's great chance that the DLCs will be available on PSN as many DLCs are for other games. I strongly recommend you to purchase the retail version of PS3 'Shivering Isles' if you own the previous version of PS3 'Oblivion' for it already contains 'Knights of the Nine'. If you decide to go with GOTY edition, then make sure you uninstall the entire older version before you reinstall with the newer version. And yes, you can use the older save game files, but they could potentially cause some stability issues for the console version as opposed to the PC version. If you never played 'Oblivion', GOTY edition is a terrific purchase with infinite value. The graphic is simply breathtaking, and loading time is almost as fast as most of PC. There's no shame in owning this excellent game on PS3 console. One downside of console version is the lack of access to thousands of user-created mods created by 'TES Construction Set'. They are only compatible for PC.

This game literally never ends. You'll spends hundreds of hours and one day, you'll simply quit at your own device. 'Oblivion' is the one game truly non-linear, free-form, open-ended to the bitter end, indeed.

Elder Scrolls Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition for the PS3

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: November 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For anyone who is an an RPG fan and has a Play Station 3, look no further. In my opinion it is easily one of the Best, if not THE best game for the PS3 thus far.

The GOTY Edition is basically the Oblivion main game with Oblivion's 2 largest Expansion packs bundled in with it, "The Knights of the Nine" and the "Shivering Isles Expansion" pack.

The "leveled system" isn't perfect, as it is way too easy to level up an underpowered character while the in-game mobs/adversaries automatically get stronger so there is no going back to the newbie sewer dungeon as the rats and easy goblins have leveled up to minotaurs and goblin lords.

Thankfully, for casual gamers you can pretty much follow and beat the main quest at level 1 and for those who have underpowered characters, you can adjust the difficulty slider to an easier level.

For the more hardcore RPG gamers, you can easily get much more involved and with careful balancing and leveling of stats and skills you can build a character that is more than a match for the mobs on the default "medium" level and perhaps even hold your own at the "hardest" level on the difficulty slider. gamefaqs.com has some really good guides that can help you along with all that.

Anyway, the bottom line is that if you have a PS3 and you are into RPGs this game is definitley recommended.

Kiss your life goodbye.....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: December 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

...because you'll be stuck in Cyrodil for a LONG time! This game has over 200 hours of gameplay! It is an absolute must have. I bought this game back in October. It's now close to December, and I'm still not even %50 completed yet! This game is fantastic.

First off, let me say if you're not into the Dungeons & Dragons type of game, this isn't for you. However, if you are a fan of D&D, or ever were, this game is tailor made for you.

And the attention to details is astonishing. From creating a character, to growing as an adventurer, you can pick absolutely any path you want. Wanna be a divine knight? ok.
Wanna be an assassin? can do.
Wanna be a vampire? step on up.
A mage? got that covered too.
Oh, an archer you say? yup.
A thief? sure why not.
How about a warrior? absolutely.

And as far as races go, you can be man or woman, and many different races, from part lizard, to part cat, to orc, to man, to a few different types of elf, the options are endless.

And you can even custom build your class. Say you want to be a warrior mage, or a Mage thief. It's all possible.

You even pick your zodiac, and what sign you were born under directly influences your attribute bonuses.

AND THAT'S JUST THE BEGINNING!

You adventure all over the country of Cyrodil, visiting the many cities. And nearly every single resident of the cities, including the counts & countesses, the shop owners, and the police have tasks for you to take on, earning yourself status, gold, magic weapons & armor, etc.

There are also many things hidden off the beaten path, from long abandoned mines and caves, full of monsters, riches, and adventures, to towns that are never outlined on the map, with their own set of residents with adventures to undertake!

There is also the main task - Save the world from the Daemons of Oblivion, who have assassinated the king and are trying to destroy the world of mankind!

It's absolutely the most fun I've ever had with a video game, and it just never ends! Some games, you pay $60 for and play for 8 hours and it's over. This game, you pay $60, and you won't need another game for a year!!!

Overall, the best game I've ever owned. I'd give it more stars if I could.

Hard to beat

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I purchased this game on the word of a friend that i wouldn't be able to put it down. I started off slow but within two days I couldn't stop playing. From being a gladiator to a pickpocket this game has it all. If you are looking for a way to escape the everyday then look no further. Oblivion will remove you from the ordinary and place you in to a world so realistic you won't want to return.

Most addictive game ever.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

You can kiss your social life good-bye. You will spend every free moment playing this game. You will ignore friends and family members to the point where they will start to be concerned for you.

Man, this game's addictive

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I don't know whether to be completely psyched that I own this game or stressed that it just consumes so much free time. Whatever the case may be, after playing this game all other RPGs just seem kinda lame. Here, there's so much to do it can be overwhelming, but it's all up to the gamer where to go, what to do, who to be, even how hard the enemies are to kill, it's all completely customizable. It's just an amazing experience, just don't let it suck out your social life. Look at it this way, if played just for bits and pieces at a time there will still be new things to discover in Oblivion well over a year from now. That's just amazing. This is a must-own, even for non-RPG junkies.

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