The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360, 2006)

Ok This is a really great game. Lets start with the pros..

The story of this game is very invovled and just keeps getting better and better. I did not just do the main quest, which I am sure some people will do, but I hit up the thieves guild to start m journey. Now I have been playing this game for 20+ hours and Still have obly completed about three of the main quest in the game. So There is a whole bunch of things to do. You can pick from about 12 different races, and 4 major classes. Warrior, Thief, Mage, Cleric.. Of course you can cusomize a class to fit your needs. Some Melee and some magic. Some stealth and some magic. Pure Magic, Pure thief.. How ever you want to do it.. You can really get into the custmazation of your player.. I must say it took some time just to get the hang of certain things in the game.. For the most part though it goes along pretty smooth.

The graphics for this game are A+ they will not dissapoint..

Gameplay A All I can say is that My Wife plays this game and loves it.. So for all those guys trying to sell there wives on a game. this could be it.. Very Girl FRIENDLY

Cons

There is a lot to do in this game and there is even more things you can do with your player.. Keep on your toes. The 7 major skills is how you level so choose your class carefully.

Picking locks.. (xbox 360) Hit the tumbler up and when it reaches the top hit a.. if you get it, it stays up.. if you miss it breaks your lock pick.. BUY LOTS OF LOCK PICKS YOU WILL NEED THEM!!!!! I did not understand this at first so I had to do a little research...

When you start this game there is real no direction.. You can do whatever you want to.. You can do quest walk around the town, walk to other towns. Find caves.. Explore the map.. harvest fruit,vegetables,flowers to make potions.. It really is endless.. I just walked around and checked things out and mess around with some quest until I was familiar with the game.


OVERALL GRADE A Great game!! Worth the delay... I was surprised This is the first ElderScrolls I have played and I really enjoyed it. I like doing so many things in this game.. Fixing weapons, making potions, learning magic, stealing things.. Very Fun game..

If you like RPGs CHECK THIS GAME OUT!! It might overwhelm you ar first, but stick with it..

"One of the most revolutionary series ever created just got its playstation 3 debut"
GRAPHICS
The graphics in this game are amazing. From lush forests to tall mountain peaks, this game has it all. All of your weapons are shiny and pretty to look at and I just love to mess it up by smearing the blood of my enemies all over my sword. The physics are very good and the lipsyncing is practically lifelike. And the human faces do look pretty much like a real human which is definantly a step up from morrowind. And you wont just find the graphics at its prime in cities. Out in the wilderness there are tall trees, bright flowers, and flowing grass. Not to mention the occasional ruin. Compared to the 360 version though, the graphics made a slight improvement but nothing really to go crazy over.

GAMEPLAY
Well this is pretty much the only place where the game is slightly below perfect. I just am not fond of the whole enemies level up with you thing. I know it is just to keep the game interesting but still it just makes it seem like your not gaining anything from playing the game hours on end. Everything else is good though. Sneaking is now useful with the strategic critical damage system, and the unautomatic blocking again makes the game more strategic then just a polished up point and click. But what really gives the game its extreme awsomeness is how you can live the agme however you want. You actually have the ability to kill ANYBODY. But that doesnt mean you will just go slahing anybody you see. There are consiquences to every illegal action you do. Well that is if you are caught.

SOUND
This game really brings the section SOUND to a whole new level. There are litterally hundreds of hours of text read to you by half descent voice actors. And I dont just mean they say a few things and then you read the rest. Everything you see in words is read by an actual voice actor. Thats is not something you come across very often. And the music is nothing less than perfect. It really fits the medieval theme. It can go from peacful music while your walking in the forest to tense rugged music when you are fighting a tough enemy. And how can we forget the sound of metal clinging on metal or a helpless animals organs getting splatered eith a warhammer. It is all just realistic beyond belief. Sometimes you wonder what they had to do to get the realistic noises of death.

AI
Its great. Your opponent wont just randomly hit you, step back, hit you, athen step back again. They ready there sheild when its obviouse your about to do an attack, dont hit you when you blatently have your sheild up, and even use healing spells when their about to die. And the weaker people that your pick a fight with wont just stay there and die. If they know theyll get killed they will run away and go off to tell a guard. And even your animal enemies know what level you are and will stay away if they know theyll get slaughtered. Overall I was very impressed with the AI.

SHOULD I BUY THIS GAME
Oh god yes

This game is the reason to get Xbox 360, hours of gameplay keep you wanting to come back for more. A must for the Xbox 360 collection...

To keep it short and simple, if you had free time before this game, you will not after you own it. There are endless amounts of features that you can add to design your character. This is truely the next generation of RPG, and the best RPG on Xbox 360. The number of different quests that you can play are endless, and Xbox Live is constantly releasing content to download to keep the game fresh. It is recommended that you buy the strategy guide, as it is very useful when navigating through the large area.

Some detail about the game: Do not waste your time fighting the guards, they are usually about 10 time stronger than you, and will continue to call for help, even if you are not in a city. Your best bet is to run away or bribe the guards if you get caught stealing. Be sure to save often, you never know when something bad may happen, and you do not want to have to go to jail and lose any items you have stolen or earned.

Only negative I saw about this game is that it is not available for a massive online RPG, but it is still worthy to invest a few hundred hours of gameplay in.

The best RPG Of All Time?
This is my first Elder Scrolls Game, and boy was I impressed. There is SO much to do in this game, that alone blew me away, I have the freedom to be and do whatever I want! If some guy walks up to me and says something I don't like I can just shoot an arrow through his head! its amazing.

Graphics: The graphics off the start amazed me, but as I played for a bit I started to notice the flaws, such as texture tiling, but with a few texture mods that was quickly fixed,the detail in the weapons and characters was great, I spent an hour or so just admiring the scenery, the starts, the sky, the grass,the plants,simply amazing

Sound: The music was.... extremely suitable for all of the situations, you get dramatic battle music when your under attack, and peaceful semi cheerful music when your in town.

Gameplay: Clearly meant for first person, but again this can be fixed with mods! The gameplay was great, with a few AI flaws I encountered, such as lions running into boulders, It takes strategy to beat the monsters alot of the time, and theres pretty much everything you can imagine, from simple rats & crabs to Minotaur lords and Daedroth(Giant alligator things :).

If I were you I would go out and buy this game....now.

I loved this! THe best game yet. It is very open ended - you can follow tons of different story lines, drop them any time and pick them up later in your play with no penalty (except for a one or two quests.) Book has detailed maps. Hint: There are so many places to visit, I've made photo-copies of the world maps and crossed off any dungeons/forts etc. that I've aalready cleared. Book is very detailed, but is only needed to make sure you';ve not missed anything and to give inside informatoin. It is very possible to follow the quests without the book - but the book helps :)

I'm a videogame fanatic, and I found Oblivion the Best GDR Ever Made.
As good (if not better) as kotor, fable and final fantasy! (Trust me!)

Good Music, never too repetitive
Exellent Graphics, expecially people and mouths moving.
Really Big Choice of Weapons, Objects etc.
Time to finish it all with 1 character the first time: About 110 hours
which is really a lot.
There are scores of Missions!
You can became various characters at the same time! A mage, a thief, a warrior, whatever you want.
People over the empire will recognise you for what you do in the empire!
Each character in the game follows a own lifestyle!!!

A suggestion for new players:
The Mage is the best character, with a lot of magicka you can cast the strongest spells even at level 10! Choose Evocation and Destruction as main abilities.

What guild is better to begin with?
The thief guild, cause the final prize of it (I won't say what it is) it's really the greatest.

Buy it, you won't regret it.

Im not a PRG guy, but when i saw this game come out i thought id give it a shot. The first thing i noticed was the killer graphics and thought the game was cool, but then i started traveling and roaming and couldnt believe how big and creative the world is. The game is very in depth and it takes forever to actually get through everything the game has to offer. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and gets you hooked. This is a great game!

this game takes 200+ hrs to beat, great gameplay, and tons of replay value. best 60$ you'll ever spend

A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Good

* Huge, lavishly detailed world offers tremendous amount of action and adventure
* Main mechanics like combat, stealth, and magic are fun and well designed
* Impressive artificial intelligence and hundreds of believable characters
* Outstanding symphonic score, as well as excellent voice acting and sound effects
* Tremendous replay value, plus gorgeous graphics to make it easy on the eyes.

The Bad

* Frequent though fairly brief loading times
* You might run into some technical issues with performance.

This is a rare and remarkable achievement--a huge, open-ended, complex, detailed role-playing game that's fun to play and a pleasure to behold. Oblivion not only delivers everything that earned the Elder Scrolls series the devoted loyalty of a huge following of fans, but also significantly improves on the weaknesses of its 2002 predecessor, Morrowind. Morrowind earned recognition for being one of the best role-playing games in years, but the immersive and long-lasting experience it provided wasn't for everyone. Oblivion is hands-down better, so much so that even those who'd normally have no interest in a role-playing game should find it hard to resist getting swept up in this big, beautiful, meticulously crafted world.


Morrowind was a tough act to follow, but Oblivion isn't just better--it's a lot better.

The Elder Scrolls series is known for its sheer size and depth. These are games that you could lose yourself in, spending hours exploring a fantasy world, traveling for miles, or just looking for minutiae, such as rare plants or hidden treasure. Oblivion lives up to this pedigree, putting you into a massive, cohesive, highly immersive world. You get to create your own character--the possibilities for customization seem limitless--and then explore the world as you will. There's a compelling main quest for you to follow, which takes about 40 hours to finish the first time through, but the majority of the game's content is peripheral to that main quest. You can root out evil in hidden dungeons, join and climb the ranks in a number of different guilds, visit all the different towns and try to solve everybody's problems, compete in a long series of gladiatorial battles to the death, break into someone's home and rob them in their sleep, get caught and face the consequences, contract a disease that leads to vampirism and then try to find a cure, buy a house, steal a horse, invest in your favorite shop, and, if you can believe it, there's much more.

So the breadth of content is as remarkable as ever, but the most important thing is this: The many types of gameplay in Oblivion are well-designed and deeply satisfying, even when taken on their own. That's the main difference between this game and Morrowind. This may be a role-playing game, but you could play it like a pure action game, or like a stealth game, or like an adventure game, and it'd still be at least as good as, if not better than, games that are specialized in these regards.

Oblivion does a great job of quickly introducing you to all these different aspects of play, successfully engaging you rather than overwhelming you. You see the world through your character's eyes, but a behind-the-back perspective is also available. Initially you just pick a name, race, and gender for your character, and the game opens with you stuck in a dungeon cell, being taunted by a fellow inmate.

Overall Rating: An 11/10

Ok This is a really great game. Lets start with the pros..

The story of this game is very invovled and just keeps getting better and better. I did not just do the main quest, which I am sure some people will do, but I hit up the thieves guild to start m journey. Now I have been playing this game for 20+ hours and Still have obly completed about three of the main quest in the game. So There is a whole bunch of things to do. You can pick from about 12 different races, and 4 major classes. Warrior, Thief, Mage, Cleric.. Of course you can cusomize a class to fit your needs. Some Melee and some magic. Some stealth and some magic. Pure Magic, Pure thief.. How ever you want to do it.. You can really get into the custmazation of your player.. I must say it took some time just to get the hang of certain things in the game.. For the most part though it goes along pretty smooth.

The graphics for this game are A+ they will not dissapoint..

Gameplay A All I can say is that My Wife plays this game and loves it.. So for all those guys trying to sell there wives on a game. this could be it.. Very Girl FRIENDLY

Cons

There is a lot to do in this game and there is even more things you can do with your player.. Keep on your toes. The 7 major skills is how you level so choose your class carefully.

Picking locks.. (xbox 360) Hit the tumbler up and when it reaches the top hit a.. if you get it, it stays up.. if you miss it breaks your lock pick.. BUY LOTS OF LOCK PICKS YOU WILL NEED THEM!!!!! I did not understand this at first so I had to do a little research...

When you start this game there is real no direction.. You can do whatever you want to.. You can do quest walk around the town, walk to other towns. Find caves.. Explore the map.. harvest fruit,vegetables,flowers to make potions.. It really is endless.. I just walked around and checked things out and mess around with some quest until I was familiar with the game.


OVERALL GRADE A Great game!! Worth the delay... I was surprised This is the first ElderScrolls I have played and I really enjoyed it. I like doing so many things in this game.. Fixing weapons, making potions, learning magic, stealing things.. Very Fun game..

If you like RPGs CHECK THIS GAME OUT!! It might overwhelm you ar first, but stick with it..

It's an unfair trade, but we can't have it all. Some in the east call it "Yin and Yang". Everyone else calls it "give and take". Unfortunately Oblivion follows both rules regardless. As glorious and magnificent as Oblivion looks and plays, it still has it's faults. For starters the voice work is seriously lacking, badly. All NPCs sound rediculously the same. You'd swear they got just 3 people doing all the voice overs.

The "price" as stated before is the glitches and loop holes. A game of this scale is bound to have them, its actually expected and it happens. More often than not, you'll find you can't complete certain quests because of a bad glitch. If you don't do a certain quest just right, you can pigeon-hole yourself into unescapable limbo. Thus forcing you to start all over again from an earlier save. Lesson #1 with this game...SAVE OFTEN! Anyone who's had to do the Vampire Cure quest will know exactly what I'm talking about.

Glitches aside, this game brings something awesome to the table. With 100+ hours of standard gameplay, not counting downloadable content. Right out of the box you'll be busy for weeks on end. If you're a casual gamer, months. I love the pure open ended gameplay, real freedom to do what you want when ever you want. Much like GTA3 gave us back in 01'. Only now it's next gen. Want to further the story by traveling to the next town you were directed to? Great, have at it! Don't feel like it? Even better, explore the country-side instead. It's all up to you. Either way, you'll notice how lush, detailed and beautiful the landscape is. Everything from the trees to rocks look insane. Than there are the native people and animals. They live everywhere. Often times you'll encounter grazing deer or bear, which you can hunt...yep, you can use their meat and hide. Other times you'll encounter bandits who'll want to bully you into paying a toll to cross a bridge or road they hang out at. You can pay it and move on peacefully or fight it out to save some gold. It's up to you! It's little things like this that separate this game from the others. Nicely implemented.

Nearly everything can be manipulated in the Oblivion Universe. Want to steal something off a shelf in a shop, take coins from an NPC's pocket?...go ahead, just don't get caught! Pick some flowers to make some medicine? Welcome to the world of Alchemy! Scavenge a fallen enemies personal effects, loot a bandits camp? It can be done! Again, that's the beauty of this game. Nearly anything can be done. All that aside, we can't forget about leveling up as a character. Through out the game you'll encounter guilds and Quests that will help you grow as a character. Take on a guild quest and level up in that guild skill. That simple. It'll be harder to change up your skills as you progress, but it can be done. Start out as a strong Melee character? Not a big deal, you can still do magic, but it'll come at a cost. You'll have to work twice as hard, but it can still be done. What ever you decide early on with your character, I suggest you stick with it, but you won't be forced into it.

Oblivion is probably the most fantastic RPG you'll play to date. There is no equal at this time, not even Final Fantasy can touch this when it comes to things to do. You won't get the amazing cinematic cut scenes like FF, but Oblivion makes up for it with huge content. I've already logged 118 hours and I'm barely into the Main Quest.

Outstanding graphics and smooth game play make this one a winner in my book. I guess the only problem that I can see is that this game is extremely time consuming. If you like a good adventure, and thrive on first person adventures, get this one, you will love it! 9.5 out of 10.

Great dventure game. It has many quests and many hours of play. I am still not finished with it after a month of play. The quests stay challenging no matter what level you are when you attempt them. The rewards increase depending on your level when you complete the quests. The graphics are incredible.

Slow loadtimes and random lag is only negative to the game.

Game is awesome! I have been playing it for over 100 hours now! You can play main quest line, and/or all four guild quests (Fighter, Mage, Thief, dark shadows). There hundreds of side quests! Game has unlimited capabilities, no no matter what your play style is.

I've played and beaten the other Elder Scroll games,but this by far is the best!The graphics are stunning,the sound is astonishing,the gameplay is amazing,and the fun is fulfilling.You will play for hours on end and never want to put down the controller.Simply the best RPG game since Morrowind.I will give this 2 tumbs up and congrats to Bethesda for another award winning game.

So you like magic, melee combat, realistic gameplay, smart AI, amazing graphics, soothing and motivating music, slicing, archery, murdering, stealing, in-game clans, swimming, persuading, working for money, hunting, looting, investing, getting drunk, and quests, do you? Well get your lazy bum off that seat and go out and buy Morrowind's amazing sequel, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Oblivion is probably the largest RPG ever designed, and is now playable for the Xbox 360 and PC. The storyline is Emperor Uriel Septim, emperor of the province of Cyrodill, was assasinated by a group of mysterious assasins known as the Daedra Cult. You start out as a prisoner within the Imperial City prison, who happens to be a man seen in the Emperor's dream about saving Cyrodill. He comes to get you along with his will to escape from Cyrodill to avoid his danger. Uriel is later murdered by the Daedric Cult and you are a witness of it. B4 his death, he tells you that even though everyone knows that the emperor's heirs have all been murdered too, he kept secret about one son who is still alive to inheiret the throne. He hands you the Amulet of Kings, which is an amulet that the emperors wear. He tells you to find his son, give him the amulet, and convince him to become emperor of Cyrodill before it decends into darkness. Ever since Uriel's death, the Dragonfires have dimmed and the Gates of Oblivion have opened, releasing hidious creatures all around Cyrodill. Until a new emperor is crowned and the Dragonfires are re-lit, Cyrodill is now under grave danger.
What do you do? You help Uriel's son throughout the process of becoming emperor.

What can you do? Alot of real-life things, like hunting, stealing, murdering, fighting, quests, alot more stuff. You can pray at shrines, close the numerous Oblivion gates that have spawned up, do tons of quests, join clans, the world of Elder Scrolls Oblivion opens up almost unlimited opportunities for players to experience. Many of the things you can do are based on experience for that particular skill. For example, you can train your sneak skill, which helps you sneak around unseen or unheard, pickpocket without no one noticing, picklock people's houses and rooms, etc. Or your Alchemy, which allows you to take the hundreds of ingriedients Oblivion has to offer and mix them together to make potions for disease cure, attribute restoration, etc. There are many other skills to experience. The graphics are absolutely incredible and the world of Cyrodill is GIGANTIC. Hundreds of locations to visit, few towns and cities to visit, tons of items to sell or use, horses to ride, houses to own, friends to make, training to be done, sightseeing, and many more. The AI is very realistic. They have good word-mouth sync, side-conversations that may lead you to treasure or quests, help you fighting or quests, and alot more.
So get up off that seat, grab $60, and go buy this amazing game to enjoy for centuries (if you live long enough, lol).

My rating: 20/10

this game goes way beyond any rpg on the market right now. Bethesda really outdone themselves this time. With almost endless replay value (800hours of gameplay) and next gen graphics this game takes video gaming to a whole new level, you can wonder around the enviroment and explore or you can go right into the main story line and try to shut the gates of oblivion, So get ready to immerse yourself in a world like no other and get every penny spent out of this legendary title.

This game is one of the most thorough and detailed games on the shelf. Its gigantic map and seemingly neverending possibilities will keep you busy for months! You can finish the storyline and still continue playing the sub plots for countless hours. Choose whether or not you want to be a noble knight or an evil vampire lurking in the night! It is ALL possible with this game!

The only downfall to this game is there is no multiplayer, but this game is good enough and entertaining enough to lose yourself in the single player game for a very very long time with no disappointment! GREAT GAME

GOOD AS IT CAN GET - THIS GAME IS ENDLESS - BEST GAME EVER IT IS LIKE YOU ARE LIVING TWO LIVES ONE IN THE GAME AND ONE IN THIS WORLD THE ONLY DIFFERENCE YOU CAN DO WHAT EVER YOU WANT IN THIS GAME

I bought oblivion and started playing it the first day i got it, i soon realized it was 11 o clock and had no idea.

This is the only RPG on xbox 360. You can switch from third to first person.

I myslef am about to by a house, im part of the fighters guild and own a horse.

The graphics are outstanding and so is sound. The AI are very smart and sometimes helpfull

i would suggest this game to most people that have a 360

To start out with the graphics are great.
In the begining of the game you will spend about an hour making your character because of all the little details of the character you can edit. You have so many races and skills to choose from. When you start out you have no guidence at all. It's like being 21 again. Ouy in the world able to do whatever. There are hndreds of quests to do that are not part of the main Quest. In the game there are alot of spells to learn, locks to be picked, people to be killed, caves to explore, and people to save, but once you get through the first cave in the game it all GOES a little DOWNHILL.

THE CONS

Even though the graphics are great, you will notice how difficult it is to travel through water. The lakes and rivers are absolutely dark, and seems to always come with a glitch. By glitch I mean that the water might dissapear when you look above you. Plus the main part of the game is going through caves and fighting the unknown, but all the caves, and castles were dark, and most looked the same. Now I thought my Tv settings were just dark, but I found out it was the game, lighting in this game is just off. To travel from town to own you must travel great distances, which takes about half an hoour by foot, and maybe 20 minutes on a horse, which shows you the scenery but unecesary.
Another problem I had was that all characters use the same old boring sword swing. Left to right, left to right. You will see no flshy moves, and no great cinematic clips.

This game takes hours and hours, to play, and with all the problems in the game I just couldn't play it. If you are an extrem rpg fan you might like this game, but I don't feel it lived up to the hype.