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jrboone2's Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360)
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| [September 28, 2009 12:19:14 PM]
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Entry 1:
SUMMARY
Oblivion is an open world RPG where the player creates their own avatar that they will control in the massive world in which Oblivion takes place. After a helpful tutorial and a bit of story development, the player is thrown into the world, free to choose to do anything they want. Oblivion could be considered more a toy than a game; the player has no obligation to follow the main quest, and may explore the world in any way they see fit.
GAMEPLAY
I initially played this game a number of years ago on the PC, before any of the expansions had been released. I was recently walking through Best Buy and saw this version of the game on sale, which included the two expansions that had been released for it. I decided that I would give it another try, but this time on the XBox 360.
In the beginning of the game, the player is forced through a somewhat lengthy story and tutorial section, where they learn the story behind the main quest as well as how to control their character in the world. After learning the controls, which were not too difficult to become comfortable with, I couldn't help but compare them with the PC version. The PC version allows for greater accuracy; however the 360 version feels much smoother.
The story draws the play in almost as soon as they start playing. At the end of the tutorial/story section, the player is released into the world and presented with the choice to continue the main story, or go on their own path. I really like this choice since it allows the player to make their own story and explore the world as they see fit, following the main quest when they choose to.
There are also a large number of characters in the world, almost all of which have their own dialogue. Many of the more unique characters such as the ones that give you quests or shop owners, tend to have their own unique personality and story. In many of the events that take place in the game, the player finds himself accompanied by any number of NPCs fighting alongside him. All of these elements add up to create a very enveloping experience that can draw the player in for hours at a time.
Entry 2:
GAMEPLAY
My second session picked up just after I had finished the first bit of the story line and the tutorial. I was now free to do whatever I wanted. I soon realized that for some people that this might not be such a virtue, especially if they enjoy a fairly linear game. But lucky for them, they can just as easily follow the main quest and do nothing else. I, however, choose to play as a thief in order to increase my wealth early in the game. By following this path, I was able to break into other NPCs houses and steal and valuable goods that I could see. One of the nice features is that when you look at an item you are shown its base value, allowing the player to quickly discern what is valuable and what is not. I found this to be quite enjoyable and satisfying; breaking into a rich persons abode, stealing anything I could carry, and returning to a merchant to sell it.
I would occasionally complete a quest for the main story line here and there to see what options it might open up for me. Most of the time however, I enjoyed going to the various cities found in the world, and completing small tasks. Since the world is so large, the designers decided to add in a useful feature where the player could automatically travel from location to location, only having to wait for the extent of the loading time. This is an excellent time saver; whereas running from one town to another could take 10 minutes or more.
Oblivion has way too much to do to be able to cover a lot in a single hour game session, which I guess shows how much work actually went into the game to create a quality product and great gameplay experience.
DESIGN
As I have stated many times before, Oblivion is a massive game with many many things for the player to do, and many ways to do these things, creating one of the most emergent games ever. These methods range from using brute force strength to plow through a group of enemies to stealthily taking them out one by one with a bow and arrows. I personally enjoy the more stealthy methods; however if I ever wanted to change it up and start being more direct in my attacks, I could very well do that. The player is not locked into a single way of playing the game at any point. You can even leave a quest right in the middle of it and go do something else, picking up the other quest at any time. This all allows for a great amount of flexibility in gameplay.
Oblivion could be considered a social game in the sense that the player’s character has to continually interact with other NPCs in a social like manner in order to progress the game, but there is not social interaction outside the game itself. There is no multiplayer capability in the game, limiting it to a purely single player experience. While interacting with various NPCs the player is constantly have to make choices as to the path they wish to follow. This greatly furthers the number of way the game can be played.
Level design in Oblivion is an interesting concept to tackle. The concept is more about areas rather than levels. An area will have specific characteristics, and these will be shared with any finer grained areas found within the encompassing area. The characteristics could be things such as tree or building types, a coastal, mountainous or swampy region, or the kinds of enemies found in the area. Other areas such as caves or elvin ruins also have their own characteristics.
I feel that one of the more notable features is the effort that was put into the sound for the game. The music seems to wonderfully set the scene when the player is wandering around the country side, or in a battle or dire situation. The voice acting is very well done, and most of the time, the characters are quite believable, even if there are some glitches in the tone of voice that a character uses ever once in a while.
Over all Oblivion is an extremely well designed game, even with the few flaws that it actually has. But since it is so massive, I think giving it the benefit of the doubt and letting these slide is the least a critic can do.
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jrboone2's Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Sunday 27 September, 2009
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