The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Review
An amazing RPG that makes some unnecessary accommodations for the Xbox 360
by jdarksun
reviewed on PC
Hardships of a fighter
Oblivion is also much, much more difficult that Morrowind. The godlike characters that were easy to create in Morrowind quickly gained the ability to surpass any foe the game could throw at you - Oblivion has fixed this in a way that hurts, but made me crave for more. There are also monster types that do particularly well against specialists, forcing you to adapt your play style to the types of opponents you face. This is a refreshing change for the better, even though I've been brutally punished by it on two or three occasions.
Melee combat has become vastly more complex and rewarding, and as such the learning curve is fairly long and steep. Instead of simply choosing the best method to swing your weapon, you have to learn to block or dodge enemy attacks, and counterattack at the right time so as not to get blocked yourself. Getting the timing right takes practice, which increases your weapon (and block) skills, which leads to additional combat maneuvers - like disarming your opponent or knocking them down. Fighting multiple opponents is also more challenging because you can easily get surrounded and staggered with power attacks. The one complaint about this system that I have is that over clicking causes an attack to queue up, so you might be in the middle of a swing when you want to bring up your shield - and you can't interrupt your attack to do so. That's probably more realistic, but you should be able to cancel that queued up attack before it happens - sometimes you'll get staggered in the middle of an attack sequence, and when you come out of it your character will then execute that attack. It's an annoyance when you're trying to defend yourself, but has caused me to be a lot more careful in combat - it discourages you from just pressing the attack key repeatedly, and makes you think about the combat instead.
Stealth and magic
Magic in the Elder Scrolls series hasn't changed much over time - the spell list varies, but it functions in basically the same way. Select a spell, press the cast button, and watch as fire launches from your hand, lightning arcs out towards the enemy, or a protective barrier forms around you. Vendor-purchased spells still tend to be more mana-efficient than those created in spell making, and higher-yield spells tend to be less efficient than weak ones. The one big change is the rate of mana regeneration - it's significantly faster than before, and your character doesn't need to rest for its spell pool to refill. That's a nice change - it makes being a pure mage much more manageable.
Stealth also hasn't changed much, with the caveat of sneak attacks. Attacking from stealth always gave a damage multiplier, but now if you kill something in one shot while hiding, you aren't revealed unless your actions were witnessed. Coupled with a "zoom" feature available to mid-level marksman makes playing a sniper more effective. With the right combination of Stealth and Magic (or Alchemy), I think you could make an effective character that could assassinate one creature in a group and be able to get away almost unnoticed. It's a compelling concept, and the focus of my next play through of the game.
Worldly improvements
The world is still huge - bigger than Morrowind. And, of course, there is a staggering amount of quests, intrigue, and exploration opportunities - yet there are fewer factions than in Morrowind. There are four regular factions - the Fighters Guild, the Mage's Guild, the Thieves Guild, and the Dark Brotherhood (which makes a return from Daggerfall) - but that's a fraction of the vast array presented to you in Morrowind, which basically had all those present in Oblivion (save the Dark Brotherhood, which was replaced by the government-sponsored Morag Tong) and six more. To me, that translates to fewer replays out of the box, and you'll invariably wind up completing the Mage's Guild intro quests every time to get access to either spell crafting or enchanting services.
9.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
