izigame.me

Probably the best, quintessential, classic, high fantasy RPG. Magic, elves, great evil, knights in shining armour, castles and adventure. It has everything and its as fun as you can make it.

+ Music in this game is legendary. Instantly recognizable and unique for itself while fitting perfectly into the game.
+ Stories and quests are varied, fun, interesting and great to go through. Probably the best of all TES games out there.
Main quest is great. Oblivion gates mechanic is excellent, making you feel like you're truly fighting the evil. It is specifically designed to take you through majority of the content types there are.
+ I really liked how varied and creative the content is - not everything revolves around killing monsters and clearing dungeons - I would even argue those are the best quests Oblivion has to offer.
Guild quests especially hold a legendary status. The dark brotherhood and thieves guild are worth noting.
There are so many smaller factions and just random quests everywhere. There is so much to do in this charming game it is unbeliavable. Every city and every village has some quest bind to it.
+ There is just so many quests, locations and guilds to explore and interact with. The amount of content is ridiculous. So many spells, effects, plants, herbs, enchantments, hairstyles, horses, wines, foods, clothes, armour pieces, weapons, arrows, potions, poisons and random, seemingly useless items, that add to the immersive experience.
+ Cyrodiil looks great. Environments are varied and the game graphics are charming. Lush medieval forests, harsh northern mountains, cozy mediterranean coastal regions, dark swamps and many more. Overlooking the country with the majestic Imperial city in the middle is a great feeling.
+ Just how everything fits together to create the Oblivion aesthethic deserves a mention. The music, items, UI, the map, loading screens. spells, descriptions, buildings, clothes, notes and books. Everything just fits together so well. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
+ There are various paths, you can use a horse, there are inns on frequented roads. This world begs to be explored. Please do yourself a favour and dont use fast travel and take your time. Just riding a horse, listening to the beautiful music is worth experiencing.
+ Attention to detail and environmental story telling is top tier and the best Bethesda ever made and probably ever make. Environments themselves tell stories if you are keen enough to see them. Character names hold secrets as well - there are brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, fathers and sons. Some people you can meet are authors who have written books you can read.
+ Gameplay wise there is everything and you should try everything - Oblivion is best played as a hybrid class with how the magic works. Notably there was some streamlining done from Morrowind, some bad, some good. There is still a lot to be liked - many weapon and armour types that you can combine together to make something fun for you.
+ Magic system is amazing. Its harder to be a pure spellcaster now but its a ton of fun to be a multiclass. Various schools of magic offer interesting gameplay options instead of having just the usual elemental spells. Breathe underwater, walk on water, telekinesis, charming spell, invisibility, open locks, conjure daedric creatures you fight half the game against, conjure new weapons and armour, poison someone, steal their health and stats, cast enrage on enemies and see the battle unfold and many more.
Past a certain point in the game you can create your own spells and gear enchantments. This is a ton of fun in itself, make some unique spells and fun and powerful new gear that fit your fantasy or are just plain broken.
+ The amount of gameplay mechanics is great - you can make potions, poisons, hunt animals, collect herbs, eavesdrop and stalk people, pray at an altar, collect pearls, farm, steal, pickpocket, persuade, ride a horse, create spells, train, watch others to learn something, read all the books, place items wherever you want, trigger traps, become a vampire and drink peoples blood, place a poisoned apple on a table and see someone eat it, own a house(s) and decorate it and many more.
+ Shivering Isles DLC deserves a huge shoutout. Entirely new realm of Oblivion, completely new locations, three new tilesets, many more new enemies, tons of quests, dozen of villages and one big city. Shivering isles improved upon the base game in its weakest places and brought so much more. Probably the best DLC of any Bethesda game there is.
+ Modding scene itself holds a great nostalgia value to me. This game has a long history of modding. Even today it is pretty active and it can fix most of the issues i am about to talk about. This is what keeps the game alive to this day.
+ This game was a part of my childhood. Such a game with child's imagination the nostalgia itself holds a great value to me.
+- Itemization in this game is a mixed bag - on one hand, quest rewards are unique and really fun - daedric artifacts, weapons that look unique or have unique effects. On the other hand normal dungeon loot is boring and basic - you'll never find a cool weapon just lying around. Its all basic gear and levelled rewards. Nothing exciting.
- The single biggest flaw Oblivion has is its progression system. Everything is scaled to you in a terrible way.
You're low level and finish a dungeon? Nice! In the final "boss" chest you find 20 gold and maybe two flawed gems worth 10 gold each. Super dissapointing.
You're high level? Every bandit runs around in highest tier weapons and armour, every enemy is super beefed up so the challenge is the exact same as if you were low level. Either way every fight feels the same and rewards suck. This ruins the immersion as there is really no sense of progression. As a low level you will never meet a tough opponent and as a high level you will very rarely meet a weak opponent.
Everything is scaled, your rewards too. As a high level if you finish a quest you get a more powerful version of an item compared to when youre low level.
- Dungeons in this game suck. Plain, boring, everything has this muddy grey/brown tint. Layout of these dungeons is painful to navigate, terrible design. You cant expect environmental story telling in most of them so dont even bother trying to do random dungeons you find along the way. All except the quest ones are boring and uninspired. Honestly Skyrim and Morrowind both have much better dungeons. You've been to one dungeon type, you've seen them all.
- Ultimately Oblivion feels shallow in many places unless you're fantasy / roleplay can fill the place. Inns for example serve no purpose. You can travel around on your horse (and you should) but you might as well fast travel everywhere. Not using fast travel can be pain as quests are not designed around player moving around the map as they send you all over the map randomly from one corner to the other.
There are many cool things in this game that serve no gameplay purpose. Gameplay doesnt enhance the immersion and roleplay as it should. If this was implemented into the game i would call it a 10/10. Sadly it is not and mods mitigate this only to a degree.
- This game doesnt make use of its gameplay features. I dont remember single instance of where acrobatics, telekinesis or even its physics system where you can move items around, were useful. Its in the game but its not used for anything which is a shame.
- Oblivion is a buggy game with terrible voice acting and hilarious AI conversations. Mods fix it all but its worth mentioning.
- Compared to Morrowind there are some things missing and its a shame. Less weapon and armour variety, missing spells, travel system, you cant wear clothes under armour anymore.
Overall this is a 9/10 game for me. I really love this game but i can recognize its many flaws as well. Nowadays its cheap so might as well try it too?