In General Gaming

Oblivion is just around the corner. Why should we be excited for Oblivion? I'll tell you why I am.

1. Scope.

This game is huge. It's approximately 1.5 times the size of Morrowind and a lot less of the area is taken up by water. In real world scale, it is 16 square miles. How long does it take you to walk 4 miles? That's how long it would take to walk from one end of the map to the other. Assuming you walk in a straight line, and there are no mountains in your way, and you don't get attacked en route... you get the idea.

2. Open Convept Gaming.

This game is a testament to Oblivion. You don't have to save the world. It's your choice.

3. Gameplay.

Oblivion is a great mix of strategic and action oriented gameplay. You can choose to play as a warrior type and hack and slash your way through the game. You can choose a more stealthier route and sneak around, killing foes with a bow if the need arises. You can be a magic user. You can combine any skills you want, really.

4. Graphics.

This game looks good. It's basically like playing in a world much like Morrowind, but with graphics even better than Half-Life 2. If you have the machine to run it, this game will provide visuals that have never been paralleled in a game of this size. It also has some nifty physics and lighting to go along with those polygons. Soft shadows and swinging chains ahoy!

Here's a screenshot. And YES, that is in-game rendered.


5. Replay Value.

This game is long. It's long, and open. That means you can play through the game in any of multiple ways, and each time will take many hours. There are still many people who play Morrowind today and they find out new things all the time. This game spans into the hundreds of hours range if you so desire.

6. Mods.

This only applies to the PC version, but Oblivion will ship with the TES Construction Set. Modders are already very familiar with this environment and will be producing great mods for this game immediately. This means once you are finished with the regular game, you can download a total conversion mod, or maybe smaller mods that change how Oblivion works.

The Catch.

"What? There's a catch?" Yes, there is always a catch. The price of admission to Oblivion is not cheap. The recommended specs to play this game are as follows:

3Ghz P4 or Athlon 3000+ or greater
1GB of DDR Ram
256MB Video Card (Something in the Radeon x800, GeForce 6800 range but something a little lower on the scale may be fine)

The specs are significantly lower, but I don't imagine people will get decent performance with much below the recommended specs. This was definitely the case with Morrowind.

Or, if you are a new gen. console gamer, an Xbox 360. I will be playing this on my PC as I meet the requirements with my Athlon 64 3500+, 1GB of PC3200 RAM and Radeon x800Pro.

I can't wait for this to come out. I would pre-order it, but I have to wait for a solid release date, as I need to know which city's EB to order from, since I will be going back to school in May. Most people seem to think it will be out within the next few months, since Bethesda didn't release recommended specs for Morrowind until only a few months before it went gold. Who knows though.

Who else here will be getting this when it is released?

To tell you the truth, I haven't been wowed by graphics this much since I first played KOTOR.

Great Review! I usually don't like this type of game, but you have me on the fence....

I'm hoping it's a lot less clunky and bug ridden than Morrowind is/was.

I love the size, and open-ness of Morrowind, but it's just so awkward to play. and yes, I did give it an honest chance, I was over 20 hours in if I remember right (nowhere near accomplishing anything either... the game is MASSIVE)

I think i might buy an Xbox 360 just to play this game.

It sucks it didn't get released for launch of the 360 like originally planned, but its good that way, becasue I can spend time with my loved ones before they don't see me for 6 months

I saw a video of that game the day before and I'm really, really impressed.

I love games in which you can explore the world so freely.

Hopefully Zelda will be very "explorable", too.

and


Since I am currently playing through 'The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind' on XBOX, my interest for 'Oblivion' has greatly increased.
Trying to imagine what it's like traversing an even larger environment than in Morrowind is overwhelming (in a good way) and with better visuals to boot.

I would like to see some improvements over the game play though. First-person melee combat is usually poorly handled in games for some reason (and 'Morrowind' is no exception) so that is an area that needs work.
I would like to see some 'Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic' style "decision making". There's a little hint of that in the previous game, but not to the level where it could be a fantastic game-changing experience.
There needs to be a more robust character creation system as well. If I'm going to spend 500 hours playing as someone, I really want that character be to my utmost liking.
And the "journal". In the name of Bethesda - please fix the lousy, unnecessarily confusing journal.

Outside of that, yay!


Unfortunately I will probably not be playing 'Oblivion' until the year 2007. My PC is not worthy, and I still have a "wait-and-see" attitude towards the XBOX 360.
By then, I should be just about finished with 'Morrowind'.

I would like to see some 'Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic' style "decision making". There's a little hint of that in the previous game, but not to the level where it could be a fantastic game-changing experience.
There needs to be a more robust character creation system as well. If I'm going to spend 500 hours playing as someone, I really want that character be to my utmost liking.

Seconded to the utmost. This and Mass Effect may very well rock the rpg world, so it would be nice if you could completely define your character, through his actions and his looks.

I'm hoping it's a lot less clunky and bug ridden than Morrowind is/was.

I love the size, and open-ness of Morrowind, but it's just so awkward to play. and yes, I did give it an honest chance, I was over 20 hours in if I remember right (nowhere near accomplishing anything either... the game is MASSIVE)

I hear ya, I couldnt get into it that much. I was playing it going to all these places and I was thinking to myself..this is the biggest most opened ended game ive ever played in my life...BUT sadly the combat and the fun level is just poor IMO.

Well, improving the combat system was the absolute top priority for the Oblivion team. I'm hoping they were successful.

Also, many Goal oriented gamers will have a hard time enjoying the game, I think. You have to deal with the fact that you aren't always going to have a certain path to take that will bring you closer to completing the game. That was the case with me when I first started playing Morrowind. If you can get past that though, it really is enjoyable.

Oblivion Collectors Edition on the Xbox 360 is gonna cost $70

Oh. Of course, it . Damn it all to hell.

For maybe the first 7 months, then they will release 'Oblivion - Game of the Decade Edition' with extra stuff.

As for 'Morrowind' being "not so fun", I thought that at first. However, after training my character's skills, learning how to enchant items/weapons, and mastering the "levitate" spell, it was !

Well, I got the Collector's edition for PC today. This is one spiffy game. It's running really well too. It looks amazing on the new 19" widescreen LCD.

If you liked Morrowind, you will love this. It's like Morrowind on steroids or some such thing.

Is it playable, unlike Morrowind?

'Gunstar Heroes' sucks.

You realize dat dis means war.

'Gunstar Heroes' sucks.



He's right you know...

But on the topic of Morrowind. You can't deny that the combat in that game is mighty busted... I love the whole concept of the game. Hell, I love everything about it other than the fact that it is one clunky, busted game.

Speaking of modding...

But on the topic of Morrowind. You can't deny that the combat in that game is mighty busted... I love the whole concept of the game. Hell, I love everything about it other than the fact that it is one clunky, busted game.

Oblivion's combat is completely different than Morrowind's. And by completely different, I mean great and a lot of fun.

If you even slightly liked Morrowind, you will love this.

We need more games like this on consoles.
Cosmetics and scope aside.....
it is the non linear aspect that makes this franchise.