Playtime: 100+ Hours
Score: 10/10
Easily one of my favourite games of all time! This was my first ever RPG as a teen as I remember my friends bringing this game to school to show it off. With the leaks about an Oblivion Remake/Remaster plus the Skyblivion mod coming out, I thought it would be a great time to review the original game! Many of Oblivion's aspects can be viewed as outdated to its dungeon design, potato looking character models and its levelling system. Do I care? Not really no. Oblivion is honestly magic and there's no game that has made me want it to explore its world more then this one! But I will dive into these aspects and critique them.
Firstly we have the dungeon design that felt interesting to revisit after Starfield pretty much copy and pasted all of its dungeons imo. This was back when Bethesda was still really small and they only had one developer to make all of the dungeons. Exploring them, I could definitely feel the repetitive nature but again it felt more varied then a certain other game I have already mentioned. That said, the dungeons are definitely one of the weaker aspects. The world exploration is fantastic though as the draw distances look beautiful despite the texture pop in. When you first step out of the dungeon and see the small dock along with the Ayelid ruins in the background. That will always be iconic to me! One quest that also relates to that is "The Collector" quest-line which sees you diving into the ruins to find statues for a rich benefactor. I honestly thought that was great and it gives you a reason to dive into them so you can get rich quick!
The levelling system is another thing to critique as it can be broken at times in how you build you're character. I also go for skills like Athletics, no matter what kind of character I'm making since its easy to level up since all you have to do is run around which you will be doing a lot of. Enemies also level with you which can be annoying, when you see a bandit in full ebony armour attack you on the road for 100 gold. That man should be retired at this point! If they do remake oblivion and not just remaster it, like the leak suggests, I feel like this is an aspect they will have to fix!
The music is absolutely amazing and its something I listen to almost every day since it always makes me feel relaxed and calm. The battle music can get a little repetitive, especially when you sink as many hours as I have into this game. The sound design overall is decent but you can definitely see the small team size and not big budget like they would have now. The voice acting also is great, even if they have a small cast voicing all of the NPCs. Me and my sister would always laugh when we would speak to a beggar as they asked us for a coin with an old, tired voice. But then when you asked them rumors their voice would suddenly change and be normal lol
That's a good segue into the dialogue system, which Bethesda took inspiration from for Starfield. It has the infamous zoom into an NPC while the world in the background freezes as you talk to them. I have never really minded that style of interaction and in many ways I prefer that to the more dynamic interaction of Skyrim and Fallout 4, mainly in that you don't get attacked or interrupted mid conversation like the after mentioned games do. The persuasion mechanic would be laughed at today as you basically just recycle a bunch of options like compliment, intimidate etc until the the relationship meter with that NPC is as full as it can get. Me, I have a lot of nostalgia for this mechanic as it again always seemed funny to me how the NPCs reacted to whatever I said to them. In any other game, I would hate this but in Oblivion, I am blissfully happy with it!
Second to last, I wanted to talk about gameplay. The combat is very much just as bad as Skyrim was as Bethesda has just never been good with FPS melee combat. I don't mind it again, but replaying this game made me see how its very bland in how you basically block and then swing to hit, rinse and repeat. I also hate how some enemies can just keep swinging at you even though your hitting them, like theirs no stagger or visual feedback from your hits. This is especially bad in the goblins and also some of the enemies from the Shivering Isles expansion which I will rant about, when I review that. Its also just annoying because you have a stamina bar that runs out, but the enemies just seem to have unlimited stamina. The spells are a cool addition though and I love the enchantments that you can put on your weapons in this game. I just wish their was a way to enchant weapons other then doing the Oblivion gates which get repetitive very quickly. If I were to give a pass on the dungeon design, I will not on the Oblivion Gates, as they are always just confusing to explore and feel very thrown together last minute.
Lastly, the story. The main story is decent in its execution as I like the tale of the Blades trying to protect the emperor against a cult that worship the daedra. It is however still the most forgettable part and it is epic to hear the voices of both Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean as the Emperor and prince respectively. Where the writing does shine though, is in the faction and side quests that are really well done in this game. It definitely made the tedium of dealing with all of the previously mentioned mechanics much more durable. I feel like developers have just put less effort these days into side quests in games and replaying this made me see how much they can add to an open world game. The Fighters Guild and Dark Brotherhood will always be my favourites!
Overall, this review may have read as very jumbled but its just because its hard for me to express how much I love this game! It introduced me to the RPG genre, and it always provided an amazing level of escapism, whenever things IRL became hard for me. I owe a lot to Oblivion and I will happily replay this and any remake, mod or remaster that we get in the future!
All Games I've Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
My GOTY for Every Year I have been alive - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/my-favorite-games-for-every-year-i-have-been-alive/
Bethesda Game Studios Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/bethesda-game-studios-ranked/
Score: 10/10
Easily one of my favourite games of all time! This was my first ever RPG as a teen as I remember my friends bringing this game to school to show it off. With the leaks about an Oblivion Remake/Remaster plus the Skyblivion mod coming out, I thought it would be a great time to review the original game! Many of Oblivion's aspects can be viewed as outdated to its dungeon design, potato looking character models and its levelling system. Do I care? Not really no. Oblivion is honestly magic and there's no game that has made me want it to explore its world more then this one! But I will dive into these aspects and critique them.
Firstly we have the dungeon design that felt interesting to revisit after Starfield pretty much copy and pasted all of its dungeons imo. This was back when Bethesda was still really small and they only had one developer to make all of the dungeons. Exploring them, I could definitely feel the repetitive nature but again it felt more varied then a certain other game I have already mentioned. That said, the dungeons are definitely one of the weaker aspects. The world exploration is fantastic though as the draw distances look beautiful despite the texture pop in. When you first step out of the dungeon and see the small dock along with the Ayelid ruins in the background. That will always be iconic to me! One quest that also relates to that is "The Collector" quest-line which sees you diving into the ruins to find statues for a rich benefactor. I honestly thought that was great and it gives you a reason to dive into them so you can get rich quick!
The levelling system is another thing to critique as it can be broken at times in how you build you're character. I also go for skills like Athletics, no matter what kind of character I'm making since its easy to level up since all you have to do is run around which you will be doing a lot of. Enemies also level with you which can be annoying, when you see a bandit in full ebony armour attack you on the road for 100 gold. That man should be retired at this point! If they do remake oblivion and not just remaster it, like the leak suggests, I feel like this is an aspect they will have to fix!
The music is absolutely amazing and its something I listen to almost every day since it always makes me feel relaxed and calm. The battle music can get a little repetitive, especially when you sink as many hours as I have into this game. The sound design overall is decent but you can definitely see the small team size and not big budget like they would have now. The voice acting also is great, even if they have a small cast voicing all of the NPCs. Me and my sister would always laugh when we would speak to a beggar as they asked us for a coin with an old, tired voice. But then when you asked them rumors their voice would suddenly change and be normal lol
That's a good segue into the dialogue system, which Bethesda took inspiration from for Starfield. It has the infamous zoom into an NPC while the world in the background freezes as you talk to them. I have never really minded that style of interaction and in many ways I prefer that to the more dynamic interaction of Skyrim and Fallout 4, mainly in that you don't get attacked or interrupted mid conversation like the after mentioned games do. The persuasion mechanic would be laughed at today as you basically just recycle a bunch of options like compliment, intimidate etc until the the relationship meter with that NPC is as full as it can get. Me, I have a lot of nostalgia for this mechanic as it again always seemed funny to me how the NPCs reacted to whatever I said to them. In any other game, I would hate this but in Oblivion, I am blissfully happy with it!
Second to last, I wanted to talk about gameplay. The combat is very much just as bad as Skyrim was as Bethesda has just never been good with FPS melee combat. I don't mind it again, but replaying this game made me see how its very bland in how you basically block and then swing to hit, rinse and repeat. I also hate how some enemies can just keep swinging at you even though your hitting them, like theirs no stagger or visual feedback from your hits. This is especially bad in the goblins and also some of the enemies from the Shivering Isles expansion which I will rant about, when I review that. Its also just annoying because you have a stamina bar that runs out, but the enemies just seem to have unlimited stamina. The spells are a cool addition though and I love the enchantments that you can put on your weapons in this game. I just wish their was a way to enchant weapons other then doing the Oblivion gates which get repetitive very quickly. If I were to give a pass on the dungeon design, I will not on the Oblivion Gates, as they are always just confusing to explore and feel very thrown together last minute.
Lastly, the story. The main story is decent in its execution as I like the tale of the Blades trying to protect the emperor against a cult that worship the daedra. It is however still the most forgettable part and it is epic to hear the voices of both Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean as the Emperor and prince respectively. Where the writing does shine though, is in the faction and side quests that are really well done in this game. It definitely made the tedium of dealing with all of the previously mentioned mechanics much more durable. I feel like developers have just put less effort these days into side quests in games and replaying this made me see how much they can add to an open world game. The Fighters Guild and Dark Brotherhood will always be my favourites!
Overall, this review may have read as very jumbled but its just because its hard for me to express how much I love this game! It introduced me to the RPG genre, and it always provided an amazing level of escapism, whenever things IRL became hard for me. I owe a lot to Oblivion and I will happily replay this and any remake, mod or remaster that we get in the future!
All Games I've Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
My GOTY for Every Year I have been alive - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/my-favorite-games-for-every-year-i-have-been-alive/
Bethesda Game Studios Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/bethesda-game-studios-ranked/