The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

 PC
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3846 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,010 out of 3846
  2. Mixed: 542 out of 3846
  3. Negative: 294 out of 3846
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  1. Necrotaur
    Nov 11, 2012
    7
    When Oblivion first came out, I, and pretty much every other gamer out there, was blown away by the improvements in TES graphics and physics. I must have spent hours watching the guy shoot that bucket with an arrow. Oblivion was THE game to test your PCs capability on. Apart from that, though, the only thing it really improved on over Morrowind was the combat - you could now activelyWhen Oblivion first came out, I, and pretty much every other gamer out there, was blown away by the improvements in TES graphics and physics. I must have spent hours watching the guy shoot that bucket with an arrow. Oblivion was THE game to test your PCs capability on. Apart from that, though, the only thing it really improved on over Morrowind was the combat - you could now actively swing and block instead of having to wait for the stars to align. Questing more or less remained the same, but the setting and certain aspects of the leveling process were huge steps backward. For one, the unique, jungle environment that Cyrodiil originally had was traded in for Generic European Fantasy World #64. Levelled loot and enemies were also a huge problem. The higher level you got, the tougher (read: bullet sponge-y) your enemies got - a case could be made that the game is easier to complete the lower level you are. Radiant AI was also not what it was cracked up to be. Still, Oblivion is a decent RPG and worth a look if you enjoy TES series or RPGs in general.… Expand
  2. tangency
    Jun 11, 2012
    7
    Oblivion is a great place to start in Elder Scrolls if you are newer to RPGs or if you want a more laid-back approach. I only gave it a seven because of how much potential it threw away. If you are a fan to the Elder Scrolls series, you know what I am talking about. The graphical changes also kind of annoyed me. I am not one of the people who thinks graphics is the most important in gamingOblivion is a great place to start in Elder Scrolls if you are newer to RPGs or if you want a more laid-back approach. I only gave it a seven because of how much potential it threw away. If you are a fan to the Elder Scrolls series, you know what I am talking about. The graphical changes also kind of annoyed me. I am not one of the people who thinks graphics is the most important in gaming (I still play Mario for the NES) but I think when you go through a drastic change from what they used to be, it kind of ruins a lot. It's like when you change an actor for the same character in a movie. The graphics became cartoony, which made it harder for me to immerse myself into the game. It's a pretty good game in the beginning, and the questline isn't too short. It is annoying to level, however, because of the Major Skill restriction. There aren't minor and miscellaneous skills that you can pull a little bit of level experience off of, like in Morrowind, and you can't pull level experience from every skill, like in Skyrim. The questing system isn't very rounded, either, and some of the questlines can really piss you off because of their restrictions. Like others before me, I would say that it had great bones but started going the wrong way. It lacks relative long term value unless you try every race and every class (but then you are just repeating everything). There are also a lot fewer side-quests to Oblivion than the other Elder Scrolls games.
    Another CON that I have is the fact that they ripped out a lot of good stuff, like Dwemer. Ayleid ruins are nowhere near the same as Dwemer ruins, and there aren't any artifacts based around them.
    Onto the PROS:
    The game is good to be immersed in or just to play as long as you can get by the cons.
    There is actually fast traveling.
    It isn't too easy or too hard to beat and creatures are all leveled with you to some extent (they will replace rats with wolves, and wolves with hogs and bears and trolls and such).
    There is quite a few things to go through and explore even though there aren't as many as the other games.

    All in all, Oblivion is a more laid-back RPG system that is great to play if you haven't played the other Elder Scrolls installments (kinda the same with Skyrim players who are new to the Elder Scrolls universe, I hate them with the burning passion of a thousand lemmings!, although it would help if you played Morrowind before Skyrim and possibly even Oblivion).
    And if you haven't played the other games you won't get the suckerpunch to the kidneys showing that Oblivion is a hell of a difference.    … Expand
  3. Dremord
    Aug 16, 2012
    7
    The main storyline wasn't the best for me, but the side quests had me playing until I've finished them all. Great graphics (if you ignore the humanoid characters). Not as great as Morrowind or Skyrim, though for obvious reasons.
  4. gracjanski
    Apr 28, 2018
    7
    This game has so many mistakes. I wouldnt play it without mods: The level up system is so stupid, if you want to play it somehow effectively: the attribute condition is important and to raise it, you need to use 3 skills: armour, heavy armour and block...as a mage? In addition you need to take care, which skills you use to control the bonuses you get at level up. It is killing a lot ofThis game has so many mistakes. I wouldnt play it without mods: The level up system is so stupid, if you want to play it somehow effectively: the attribute condition is important and to raise it, you need to use 3 skills: armour, heavy armour and block...as a mage? In addition you need to take care, which skills you use to control the bonuses you get at level up. It is killing a lot of fun, but there is a mod that changes the XP system. There is another point with the key word leveling...everyone knows and only few understand that stupid system, where every mob is leveling with the character, so it means you re fighting with lvl 5 against a skeleton and it is a hard fight, later on you are lvl 40 and you will have another hard fight against a skeleton -> LOL. Maybe Bethesda is simply to lazy to implement a better system.
    Technically this game is a nightmare: still so many bugs, although it is so old. It is so obvious, that Bethesda / Zenimax simply dont care about it and know, that users will work for them. In addition this game works so bad with new computers, it is like they convert it from console to PC and dont care about the possibilities with PCs. !"%$%$"§&/()&$§" I needed so much time and needed to install the mods for this game so often, it was frustrating. And yes, dont play this game without mods.
    Controling and Interface...download mods ! so frustrating without.
    Sound: Yes, there are few voice actors, yes they are even changing with the same NPC (wtf?) and what I dislike, they have such a strong american accent. I cant hear it anymore. Music is very good great.

    What is good? Yes, The Elder Scrolls again, this means: a free free free world :) A lot of discoveries, hidden content, very good immersion. Like in Morrowind and Fallout 3, Bethesda is simply the master in it.
    NPCs have finally a life, in Morrowind they ve been a bit static. In the woods you see NPCs hunting animals, mobs fighting and so on. Bethesda learned from a little weakness in Morrowind and put life in the world.
    I like the story and the quests, the beginning is very nice. But on the other side the quests could have more possibilities and ways to solve, especially the dialogs are so linear. Look at Neverwinter Nights or Baldurs Gate.

    Overall: 10 points? 9 points? never, this game humiliates us players. 8 is a maximum. If you survive the pain of modding the game, it gets 10/10.    … Expand
  5. BigDegs29
    Nov 12, 2014
    7
    This is my least favorite Elder Scrolls game. I find it somewhat boring and repetitive, with no significant improvements to the series.

    It's a good game, but its got nothing on Skyrim, and frankly I enjoyed Morrowwind more.
  6. PurpPeopleEater
    Nov 20, 2018
    7
    This score is a bit of an aggregate.
    In its vanilla form, I'd give Oblivion a 5/10. However, once you add in mods that revamp the console-ported UI, address the atrocious level scaling issues, remove the constant hand holding popup messages, and deal with the hideous potato heads... the game becomes rather good, and deserves something like an 8.5/10.
    Even though the main quest is...    This score is a bit of an aggregate.
    In its vanilla form, I'd give Oblivion a 5/10. However, once you add in mods that revamp the console-ported UI, address the atrocious level scaling issues, remove the constant hand holding popup messages, and deal with the hideous potato heads... the game becomes rather good, and deserves something like an 8.5/10.
    Even though the main quest is... lacking... it probably has the best faction and miscellaneous quests in the series, and with some good visual mods, exploring the countryside is a beautiful experience. Moreover, once you've managed to explore everything the base game has to offer... Shivering Isles is probably the best expansion I've ever seen in the series, and beyond that, there are numerous excellent quest mods.

    In sum, I like the 'modern, modded version' of Oblivion MUCH more than the vanilla version that was released in 2006, and I'd happily recommend it to anyone, with the caveat that it needs mods to truly shine.    … Expand
  7. SvaD
    Jul 9, 2023
    7
    1. I kinda love the whole Tolkien-ish aesthetic of Oblivion, and it was in fact one of the first RPG ever for me.

    2. Melee combat is fine (but could be better, if not that freaking amount of enemy HP on high levels), the same goes for magic (not actually played with it that much, just some more common stuff like Destruction and Restoration) and bows (great damage, when playing as a    1. I kinda love the whole Tolkien-ish aesthetic of Oblivion, and it was in fact one of the first RPG ever for me.

    2. Melee combat is fine (but could be better, if not that freaking amount of enemy HP on high levels), the same goes for magic (not actually played with it that much, just some more common stuff like Destruction and Restoration) and bows (great damage, when playing as a sneaky boy AKA thief), overall - not that bad, especially after the Morrowind combat. And I LOVE, how faster and more responsive it is in comparison with the Skyrim combat.

    3. Main quest is just boring, not really that stupid, but more... repetitive. But the side quests and guilds on the other hand are G R E A T, the best in the series IMO. Shivering Isles DLC is a fresh air, it contrasts from the main game really well and gives you the whole new, bizarre world to engage yourself in. Never touched the second one major DLC, Knights of the Nine, have no idea if it's a good or a bad one.

    And, in the first glance, my score should be at least 8 or higher, HOWEVER!
    - Those BORING, COPYPASTED dungeons are A LARGE AND SMELLING ROCK OF GARBAGE. I HATE those lazy made caves with useless loot and no personality whatsoever, HATE those Oblivion gates with the same 6-7 worlds, HATE forts and even HATE (but not that hard, maybe) those ayleid ruins.
    - You can feel, that the world is mostly generated. Outside of miserable dungeons there is nothing to do here - just beat some stupid bandits with monsters, look at different biomes and just use fast travel to save yourself some time.
    - Levelling. Oh. My. God. It is just broken and contrintuitive, even grindish in some places.

    When the RPG with open WORLD, where most of the time you are fighting, doing some quests and clearing DUNGEONS fails with some of the key elements of the genre - this is definitely a core game design problem. On the other hand, side quests and SI DLC are well made - you just have to make it through objective flaws of the gameplay to make fun of this part of Oblivion.    … Expand
  8. Denis94
    Jun 16, 2022
    7
    Después de casi 70 horas puedo decir que terminé Oblivion con un final épico y a la altura del título, de entrada el juego es tosco y más hoy en día, la interfaz es primitiva y hace falta bastante paciencia con el juego en general, sus bugs y crasheos son orden del día y no todo el mundo quiere pasar por esa tortura (por otro lado entendible).

    Pero vamos directos al grano, es buen juego    Después de casi 70 horas puedo decir que terminé Oblivion con un final épico y a la altura del título, de entrada el juego es tosco y más hoy en día, la interfaz es primitiva y hace falta bastante paciencia con el juego en general, sus bugs y crasheos son orden del día y no todo el mundo quiere pasar por esa tortura (por otro lado entendible).

    Pero vamos directos al grano, es buen juego la cuarta entrega de Elder Scrolls? la respuesta corta es un SI rotundo, la larga por otra parte sería que fue en su día un título bueno, hoy en día su quinta entrega es bastante más superior y aunque en ciertos apartados puedan asemejarse lo cierto y por mucho que duela Oblivion se queda muy atrás hoy en día.

    Por otro lado tiene cosas muy buenas como el diseño de los gremios que los sabe explotar muy bien y los hace importantes y toda una aventura en muchos casos, las expansiones cumple una mejor que la otra o por lo menos a mí la historia de Pelinal me pareció más bonita que la de Shivering Isles.

    En definitiva un juego que sigue cumpliendo pero la inestabilidad del tiempo le pasa demasiada factura aún así sigue siendo historia de los videojuegos.    … Expand
  9. Yaav13
    Apr 7, 2022
    7
    My truthful honorable incorruptible conclusive rating of this considered game: 7.
  10. Hyperfailure
    Nov 27, 2022
    7
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  11. Lezzly
    May 31, 2023
    7
    Przyjemna do przeżycia historia oraz sympatyczne postacie pozwalające nam poznać ten (nie zawsze) spokojny świat. Miejscami nieco powtarzalna mechanika misji, aczkolwiek na czas w jaki przyszło mi przejść tę grę czuję, że bawiłem się od początku do końca wyśmienicie.
  12. JohnR
    Jun 9, 2008
    6
    Like its predecessor "Morrowind" Oblivion is deeply flawed in a whole host ways and absolutely brilliant in a few. The game world itself is stunning to look at, truly huge (though perhaps not as huge as Morrowind's) and full of imaginative locations. It's such a pity that, just as is the case with Morrowind, it's populated by perhaps the dullest NPCs in computer gaming Like its predecessor "Morrowind" Oblivion is deeply flawed in a whole host ways and absolutely brilliant in a few. The game world itself is stunning to look at, truly huge (though perhaps not as huge as Morrowind's) and full of imaginative locations. It's such a pity that, just as is the case with Morrowind, it's populated by perhaps the dullest NPCs in computer gaming history. It seems that "speaking to people" in Tamriel consists in selecting from the same unbearably dull list of questions no matter whom you're addressing. It's honestly no more fun than navigating the telephone menu options when trying to find out your bank balance - and in fact that's what it reminds me of. I can't believe Bethesda didn't address this woeful shortcoming after Morrowind was panned for it. Bethesda simply have no idea how to give any personality or individuality to their NPCs and could learn a thing or two from all-round better games such as Baldur's Gate and Planescape : Torment in this respect. But even if this problem were resolved there's also the unbelievably generic location types : e.g every Oblivion Gate is the same, every Aeleid Ruin or Fort is virtually the same. Locations in general are as generic as are the NPCs : when you've seen one Aeleid Ruin, Oblivion Gate etc., you've seen them all. This isn't where the shortcomings end : what, for instance, is the point in my hacking my way through to the deepest reaches of a large dungeon only to find a best haul of a mere 250 gold pieces, a silver dagger and a couple of potatoes in the seventeenth barrel I (wearily by now) search, when I've already got 25000 gold pieces, much better weapons and all the food and herbs I could want ? I could also go on about the "improved" but still absolutely awful interface, the laughable voice-acting etc. but it wouldn't be fair. Oblivion is, strangely, quite enjoyable in some ways, mostly for the visual splendor of the distant landscapes ; but quests are in general dull, repetitive and unrewarding and the best thing you can do in this game - and what a game it COULD have been - is pick flowers and gape at the scenery. Disappointing and overhyped. Bethesda are developing Fallout 3 : RIP the Fallout series.… Expand
  13. AnonymousMC
    Feb 10, 2007
    6
    WAY too much hype. The main storyline is terrible, very linear and also short, the main quests are too repetitive. There is hardly any nice stuff to get and not nearly enough armor to choose from. The autoadjustment of levels does more bad than good. The graphics need a lot of hardware power, the setting is too common for my tastes and everything looks too similar. What remains isWAY too much hype. The main storyline is terrible, very linear and also short, the main quests are too repetitive. There is hardly any nice stuff to get and not nearly enough armor to choose from. The autoadjustment of levels does more bad than good. The graphics need a lot of hardware power, the setting is too common for my tastes and everything looks too similar. What remains is exploring the world, many nice sidequests and good combat. But if both story and setting are simply boring as hell, what's the point?… Expand
  14. ErraticCommunist
    Sep 3, 2007
    6
    Oblivion is a game that tries to hide all of its faults under the surface. It actually gained such fame only because of success of its predecessor. The leveling system, the Radiant AI, the copy/pasted locations, unoptimized engine, STILL lots of bugs, frequent crashes, mediocre PC port, unplayable classes (esp. those that have, for example, Speechcraft as their primary attribute), plus Oblivion is a game that tries to hide all of its faults under the surface. It actually gained such fame only because of success of its predecessor. The leveling system, the Radiant AI, the copy/pasted locations, unoptimized engine, STILL lots of bugs, frequent crashes, mediocre PC port, unplayable classes (esp. those that have, for example, Speechcraft as their primary attribute), plus this game demands old video card sacrifices to run properly. And it tries to hide all these flaws under pretty graphics. If TES V goes the same way, it'll be deathbashed the moment it's released. The next game after the failure gets the punches. And yet though flaws are horrible, Oblivion is still a fun game to play. There is pretty neat gameplay, but it would've been much better if not for the tons of flaws hindering it.… Expand
  15. TheChosenOne
    Jan 15, 2010
    6
    Lets get one thing straight; Oblivion has clearly been dumbed down for the consoles, and IS easily inferior in every way but graphics to its predeccessors. The plot is simple, dull, repetetive and stinks of a certain well-known film Franchise down to the voice actors, most of the loot is randomised(so stupid its hard to believe), most NPC's have 5 dialog options at best, and the Lets get one thing straight; Oblivion has clearly been dumbed down for the consoles, and IS easily inferior in every way but graphics to its predeccessors. The plot is simple, dull, repetetive and stinks of a certain well-known film Franchise down to the voice actors, most of the loot is randomised(so stupid its hard to believe), most NPC's have 5 dialog options at best, and the combat has been reduced to the depth of a Turded Salt Ayre. The most annoying thing though by far, is the content thats been removed. An RPG without Spears? Come on Bethesda, theres no excuse, its pathetic. Another brilliant series down the drain because of console gamers inert brains. Great.… Expand
  16. MattiM.
    May 18, 2007
    6
    CS:S Rocks.
  17. AndrewC
    Feb 28, 2010
    6
    A tragically flawed game, saved only by a lovingly obsessive modding community. The real tragedy of Oblivion is not it's instability, the stupid main quest, the non-existent AI, the horrendously flawed leveling system, the annoying voice acting, the merely adequate combat system or even the ugly interface. It's none of these. Its that if you take the effort to download about 10 A tragically flawed game, saved only by a lovingly obsessive modding community. The real tragedy of Oblivion is not it's instability, the stupid main quest, the non-existent AI, the horrendously flawed leveling system, the annoying voice acting, the merely adequate combat system or even the ugly interface. It's none of these. Its that if you take the effort to download about 10 Gigabytes of 3rd party mods, from bug fixes, to complete overhauls that totally change almost every system in the game, you can see what this game could have been if Bethesda had just taken the effort. Then you understand why so many, me included love this game.… Expand
  18. MarioB.
    May 5, 2006
    6
    I loved Morrowind. And the only things that sucked in Morrowind are improved here, but... It just doesn't feel like an rpg, I enjoy places that I cannot enter becouse I'm weak, ie. I can enter it, but I don't stand a chance, and then, a few levels later, I kick ass... You can NOT experience that in Oblivion, the game adapts itself according to your level, so, there's I loved Morrowind. And the only things that sucked in Morrowind are improved here, but... It just doesn't feel like an rpg, I enjoy places that I cannot enter becouse I'm weak, ie. I can enter it, but I don't stand a chance, and then, a few levels later, I kick ass... You can NOT experience that in Oblivion, the game adapts itself according to your level, so, there's not any challenge, my friend finished the game (main quest) at level 5.... Disaster, this is NOT a rpg experience… Expand
  19. JohnI.
    Jun 4, 2006
    6
    It only deserves a 10 if you have the highest PC and video card system in the world. I have more than min. specs but can hardly run it. Do not trust the specs bethesda gives! My Morrowind looks almost as good and is a lot better game despite no speech or "radiant AI". The swamp area feels like a swamp area and the wildenerness feels like a wilderness. Not so Oblivion, even if Morrowind It only deserves a 10 if you have the highest PC and video card system in the world. I have more than min. specs but can hardly run it. Do not trust the specs bethesda gives! My Morrowind looks almost as good and is a lot better game despite no speech or "radiant AI". The swamp area feels like a swamp area and the wildenerness feels like a wilderness. Not so Oblivion, even if Morrowind doesn't look as good. More proof that graphics isn't everything!… Expand
  20. AnonymousMC
    Aug 23, 2006
    6
    Considering how hyped this game has been, it would have to be the best game ever made (and 20 times as good as the second best) not to be incredibly overrated.

    It's a good game in a lot of ways. There is a ton of opportunity to play the game in different ways. The range of characters you can develop feels almost limitless and the span of the world is huge. I have three main    Considering how hyped this game has been, it would have to be the best game ever made (and 20 times as good as the second best) not to be incredibly overrated.

    It's a good game in a lot of ways. There is a ton of opportunity to play the game in different ways. The range of characters you can develop feels almost limitless and the span of the world is huge.

    I have three main beefs: instability, quest fragility, and NPC lameness. Instability doesn't affect everyone, but it affects people across a wide range of computing power. On the PC it crashes at minimal settings even with reccommended hardware. It crashes overclockers and non-overclockers, patched and unpatched versions alike. It's even been known to crash the console! nothing ruins a high immersion game like frequent crashes.

    Quest fragility is another problem. A lot of quests can be broken if you do things slightly out of order. It's not all that common, but this isn't some half-assed budget game like KOTOR II. It's oblivion. Things should just sort of work. On a related note, the way horses work sucks.

    The NPCs are my last complaint. Their facial expressions are totally wrong all the time. When people are flipped out, their eyes are supposed to get bigger, not smaller. This is not rocket science. All that work went into making faces life-like and varried, but the expressions are creepily unnatural. How is it that the most touted RPG of all time has NPCs that look so much worse than the ones in HL2 - a first person shooter?!

    This is an almost great game and if I hadn't experienced so much instability, I might let the other complaints go. Still maybe we can all stop pretending that this is the best game since Sliced Bread Challenge Ultra (remember that game?) and get real.    … Expand
  21. XX
    Mar 21, 2008
    6
    Though it starts off superbly, it actually commits a RPG cardinal sin which is an extremely poor character level design. In other words, you won't be stronger than your enemy -- they all level at the same time that you are. Still, one could close his eyes on this major flaw if you would still be able to complete your missions -- but that's where the problem lies: your friendly Though it starts off superbly, it actually commits a RPG cardinal sin which is an extremely poor character level design. In other words, you won't be stronger than your enemy -- they all level at the same time that you are. Still, one could close his eyes on this major flaw if you would still be able to complete your missions -- but that's where the problem lies: your friendly NPCs do not level like your enemies, so you won't be able to progress into the story if you do all the side quests before moving on. Can't believe it received 9s and 10s... avoid it.… Expand
  22. TomVt
    Nov 5, 2009
    6
    The beauty of this game does not make up for it's obvious flaws. While it is very fun to pick up once in a while, I never find myself playing through the game. Sure, it's not a linear game in the sense that you must follow a specific path - it is a very open ended game, but far from the open ended gameplay in for example Fallout 2. The scenery is wonderful, and the atmosphere is The beauty of this game does not make up for it's obvious flaws. While it is very fun to pick up once in a while, I never find myself playing through the game. Sure, it's not a linear game in the sense that you must follow a specific path - it is a very open ended game, but far from the open ended gameplay in for example Fallout 2. The scenery is wonderful, and the atmosphere is relaxing. I found myself picking flowers for an hour and making potions to poison my weapons. The close combat can be fun sometimes, but it feels wrong hitting a skeleton several times with a large hammer before it crumbles under it's feet. What I can't really forgive is the "big world" which is Oblivion. You walk into a town, and you overhear people taløking about some really evil demons that invaded a nearby town yesterday. (say, 1 or 2 miles away) The immersion really drops to a point of being hilariously implausible. What? So some demon lord have invaded a town nearby and doesn't move outside a radius of some hundred meters. I just don't get it. And don't forget the "randomized" interactions between npc's. Sometimes it works, but since it's "random" you can hear some pretty strange interactions. No doubt, I will pick it up again, just to sneak around castles and assassinating mayors and stealing their hidden treasures, but no way I'm gonna follow the main story. The pretentious boasting of it's scale coupled with it's serious flaws make it a potential victim for jokes. I recommend trying this game, but don't expect something big. It's a fun little game, nowhere as "big" as others say. The world is NOT big. Say, 25 square kilometres or something. And there are many towns at the size of a pack of farms.… Expand
  23. AeliusS.
    Mar 21, 2006
    6
    A step back. The hype was just that. Doom3 and HL2 were both superior games technically speaking. Many of the hyped aspects are poor. The game cannot scale back like D3. The NPCs talk with each othe in non-sequitors, just like the NPCs in Kingping or Postal2. The voice work often sounds like a mod, complete with differing room verb. Some NPCs even speak using a mix-n-match of voices A step back. The hype was just that. Doom3 and HL2 were both superior games technically speaking. Many of the hyped aspects are poor. The game cannot scale back like D3. The NPCs talk with each othe in non-sequitors, just like the NPCs in Kingping or Postal2. The voice work often sounds like a mod, complete with differing room verb. Some NPCs even speak using a mix-n-match of voices depending on the topic. I am so upset that Bethesda would do this to us. Especially after the dissapointing FPS point and click Call Of Cthulu.… Expand
  24. Toomuchhype
    Nov 10, 2007
    6
    I rented it, then modded it to a six, which means playable, unfortunatley you can't mod the boring storyline, and dialogue. The gameplay out of the box without modding is poor, inferior to Morrowind, not a game for longtime pc rpg fans.
  25. Phlakes
    Aug 15, 2010
    6
    This game is not the best game of all time. In fact, it probably isn't in the top 20. For some reason, even though the game is filled with bugs and terrible design, people just overlook all its problems because the side quests are fun. I would like to list some of the major problems with the game that make it a 6 instead of a 9 or 10.

    1. The main story. This should have been the best part    This game is not the best game of all time. In fact, it probably isn't in the top 20. For some reason, even though the game is filled with bugs and terrible design, people just overlook all its problems because the side quests are fun. I would like to list some of the major problems with the game that make it a 6 instead of a 9 or 10.

    1. The main story. This should have been the best part of the game, and it should have been long and involving. It wasn't. All the story missions felt exactly the same as any side quest, but sometimes involving an Oblivion gate. It was boring and very disappointing, especially for an RPG.

    2. The entire engine. Moving feels like your gliding above the ground, and when you're in the air it feels like you're above the surface of the moon moving yourself with a fan. Picking something up off a table causes all the other objects on it to jump, And when and the ragdoll physics make creatures and people look like broken piñatas.

    3. The animations. When you hit something a 20 pound metal rod, you expect it to feel powerful. The animations make you feel like you're swinging a piece of hollow plastic. Facial expressions unfortunately fall right into the bottom of the uncanny valley, and one of the worst problems, Bethesda was too lazy to put in animations for running diagonally. People also just disappear when entering buildings.

    4. The voice acting. The worst problem here is that there are, according to the Credits.txt file that came with the game, 9 voice actors, not including the unique characters. For a game where every single character can be interacted with, only having 9 voice actors is a massive issue. Not to mention that some characters, especially beggars, switch accents mid-dialogue. They greet you the same drawl as all the other beggars, then after you choose an option, they start talking with the same voice as the guards, and then back again during their next line. Another problem is that every single infinitely-spawning guard has the same voice actor. If they just had one other voice, it would have made a huge difference, but there's only one. Most of the dialogue is terribly generic, too.

    There are very many other problems, such as the uninspired music, the ludicrous frequency of load screens, and the copy-pasted caves and dungeons, but I'll stop here.

    Imagine if any other game had all these problems. It definitely wouldn't get reviews like this. If Mass Effect 3 came out with only 9 voice actors, a short and boring main story, no diagonal running animations, loading screens at every door, floaty controls, and planets like Mass Effect 1, I'm sure users would give it something like a 6. But because Oblivion as so much hype behind it, people automatically give it 10s. Now I still like the game. I've spent about 150 hours on it, but it really isn't as good as people think, and it is definitely not even close to perfect.    … Expand
  26. PithHelmet
    Mar 9, 2011
    6
    Oblivion is a great introduction into the Elder Scrolls. I loved it so much when I first played it. However, after you play Morrowind you realize how much potential Oblivion threw away. Oblivion is an example of the terrible direction the game industry is starting to go into: Games that are worth buying, and are extremely great in the beginning, but lack the long term value that is veryOblivion is a great introduction into the Elder Scrolls. I loved it so much when I first played it. However, after you play Morrowind you realize how much potential Oblivion threw away. Oblivion is an example of the terrible direction the game industry is starting to go into: Games that are worth buying, and are extremely great in the beginning, but lack the long term value that is very key to have to prevent boredom in the future again. When you finish up all the quests (Which are a lot, but still has significantly less compared to Morrowind) there is no point to play anymore. The dungeons feel prefabricated just like Daggerfall and there is nothing really "new" to explore. The vast majority of them are just filled with common monsters and loot that becomes worthless after you get the best armor and weapons (Which can be gotten fairly easily at higher levels). Oblivion is worth the money, but in the long run is no where near as RPG satisfying Morrowind was. That is what we play RPGs for, the satisfaction of completing quests or completing leveling goals or finding special items. Oblivion denies that ability of satisfaction way too early compared to its predecessors. If you are reading these reviews though you are probably considering buying it. In a simple answer, of course. Well worth the money it costs now.… Expand
  27. AuraxMark
    Jan 7, 2011
    6
    Oblivion is not as cut out as it seems to be, none the less, it has highly sophisticated game-play, but that's it.Nearly every aspect in the game seems rushed.1.There are less then 10 voices in the game and beggars change accents mid-dialogue.Usual drawly voice at the start then after clicking on an option, the accent changes to a guard voice.2.Main story too short.Granted, the quest hadOblivion is not as cut out as it seems to be, none the less, it has highly sophisticated game-play, but that's it.Nearly every aspect in the game seems rushed.1.There are less then 10 voices in the game and beggars change accents mid-dialogue.Usual drawly voice at the start then after clicking on an option, the accent changes to a guard voice.2.Main story too short.Granted, the quest had an urgency attached to it that encouraged people to continue with it but the main quest itself is only about 5 hours long on normal difficulty.3. Too many loading screens. Every time you go into a building,a loading screen appears and even to have a mini one like in Dragon Age Origins would be better.And, the loading is about less then 5 seconds so it just gets annoying after a while.4.Dupes.I closed about 20 Oblivion gates in my game and there are only about 4 different wastes or planes of Oblivion.I'm not sure as I don't like dungeons, but I heard that dungeons are the same, dupes.5. Rag-doll physics. When you throw someone off a cliff you expect them to speed down it, not glide down as it seem. It seems,when you die or a NPC or anything dies, the carcass of that thing loses most of the gravitational pull on it. It literally glides down at less then a quarter of the speed it should be going at.Also, when you kill something, the carcass seems to lose all bones in it's body, it literally turns into a rag-doll which is not good. It looks sloppy and un-realistic.6. Leveling system. I have NEVER heard of a leveling system like this before. Advancing levels by advancing skills?That seems theoretical sound,but some quick math, and you see, if you can only gain experience from your main skills until they reach 100, and for every main skill it starts at 25 and you level up every time you gain 10 skill points, you can only level up 52.5 times without cheats and ,which is most stupid of Bethesda, they put the level cap at 225!Why?No-one knows.7. Interface. When you are walking,you feel like you a gliding effortlessly a few centimeters off the ground and when you jump, you feel like a feather caught in the wind. Only when you change to third-person camera, does it feel normal but even the third person camera is not excellent.8. The world. The world is green or white usually, and that's ok, but that's all it is, ok. On a rating of 1 to 10, I would give the world a 4, as it is monotonous except for the snow in the upper regions.9.The people. There is too little settlements that you can actually run into and are useful. They are pretty shallow people in personality as I already mentioned, limited voices. I mean, I once ran into an old lady with the voice of a mature female dark-elf that lives in Chorrol. In conclusion, I would say Oblivion is rushed and un-interesting. The world is a bleak, life-less area with a dull touch to the cities.But there is potential for the game,as I'm hoping Bethesda won't make such a **** game as Oblivion again.And P.S, I would re-think getting The Elder Scrolls V:Skyrim as the games are too close together to be any good but I might be wrong and Bethesda might surprise even me with Skyrim.… Expand
  28. roboticsun
    Oct 8, 2011
    6
    Still do not understand why this game is so well received. It may be good for newcomers of this series, but it is neither as massive as daggerfall nor as fun as morrowind. The setting in this game is painfully average. The leveling system is broken unless you use mods to fix it. Quests are quite repetitive and there is not much story associated with those quests, so you end up with doingStill do not understand why this game is so well received. It may be good for newcomers of this series, but it is neither as massive as daggerfall nor as fun as morrowind. The setting in this game is painfully average. The leveling system is broken unless you use mods to fix it. Quests are quite repetitive and there is not much story associated with those quests, so you end up with doing the same things over and over again. The setting for the factions in this game is just terrible comparing to morrowind. In morriwind, you can establish social relations with different factions, and you can be smooth and slick with them to achieve a lot of benefits which is tons of fun. The factions in oblivion are just like a bunch of quest generating machines to extend the game time. Overall it's a good entry to elder scroll series but probably the worst elder scroll game.… Expand
  29. Eddyward
    Mar 11, 2011
    6
    Well, it's nothing compared to Morrowind. The world felt very small in comparison. The quests were very short, with the exception of the mains toryline, which couldn't have been more tedious. Oblivion feels rushed and they really could've brought a lot more things from Morrowind forwards. I was also disappointed to find the Imperial City was actually quite small, and was miniscule comparedWell, it's nothing compared to Morrowind. The world felt very small in comparison. The quests were very short, with the exception of the mains toryline, which couldn't have been more tedious. Oblivion feels rushed and they really could've brought a lot more things from Morrowind forwards. I was also disappointed to find the Imperial City was actually quite small, and was miniscule compared to some of the cities in Morrowind.… Expand
  30. Willybach
    Apr 20, 2011
    6
    Man, I've had a funny relationship with this game over the years. Really really wanted to love it. In fact practically upgraded my PC once just to try to play it as my initial set up could barely get 12 fps with distance drawing off. Downloaded hundreds of mods - all in an attempt to make the most immersive, in-depth fantasy world I possibly could. Ultimately this game is just anMan, I've had a funny relationship with this game over the years. Really really wanted to love it. In fact practically upgraded my PC once just to try to play it as my initial set up could barely get 12 fps with distance drawing off. Downloaded hundreds of mods - all in an attempt to make the most immersive, in-depth fantasy world I possibly could. Ultimately this game is just an unfortunate let down. Even years later after upgrading my PC for a second time, when checking out the game once more, I found myself strangely not enjoying the experience. I mean, I love fantasy, love the idea of an open world. Love RPGs. So why is this game so disappointing? Well, even with pretty good PCs this game will stutter and struggle. The world is very repetitive. Dungeons, extremely so. Combats simplistic. NPCs mostly boring. Plot, okayish. Spells and animations just not good enough. If people like this game, it's almost certainly down to the mods. The community is what made this game in truth. Let's hope they learn from this one (and the modders) and turn out a more polished game for Elder Scrolls V. (And a bigger, more interesting world please). I found myself trying Morrowind because of this game and then strangely hovering in limbo between the two, unable to really get into either - there's Morrowind with it's far more detailed and engaging world, its better systems and story-line - but after Oblivion's combat it's pretty hard fighting in Morrowind. Then after Morrowind it's likewise pretty hard to get into Oblivion's shallow world. Even with the quite outstanding mods out there like OOO, MMM and so many others... nice try, here's hoping someone makes the game I'm waiting for soon ....… Expand
  31. Antimateria
    May 12, 2011
    6
    Pretty good. Not so great at first but when modded with own taste. Then the game is awesome. The world is so big.. dungeons get a bit repetitive. And better put some own music choices in folders. Buth with games original merits.. It's good, clearly above average, though leveling system is too fast and kinda sucks. But when you ride with a horse trough the fields at early morning none ofPretty good. Not so great at first but when modded with own taste. Then the game is awesome. The world is so big.. dungeons get a bit repetitive. And better put some own music choices in folders. Buth with games original merits.. It's good, clearly above average, though leveling system is too fast and kinda sucks. But when you ride with a horse trough the fields at early morning none of that really matters. It's heavenly. And then bear attacks your horse, you must dismount the horse and you throw a fireball at it and slash it with sword ten times and run and go back continue your attack finally defeating it. Then you start to think where is my horse and why do I use it. I can run faster but if I do, my furry armors will perish in the wind, cos that's how fast everything wears out. Then you search inventory for repair hammers and you'll find two of them. they both break when you are just repairing your shoes. then a deer comes to your attention, drawing your trusty long bow you aim carefully and release the arrow.. and watch it fly like a old wooden bucket. never hitting the deer. then the game crashes.
    Truly it's not perfect.    … Expand
  32. Pomornik
    Jun 3, 2011
    6
    Lets see; Graphics, they was good back in the days, but now you need mods to make it look decent. NPC faces are creepy and ugly, and thats a big deal since you get zoom in at them every time you talk with them. Luckily it has a great character creation, lets you customize your character any way you want. Story, the main plot is horrible, i would use the console to close the oblivion gates,Lets see; Graphics, they was good back in the days, but now you need mods to make it look decent. NPC faces are creepy and ugly, and thats a big deal since you get zoom in at them every time you talk with them. Luckily it has a great character creation, lets you customize your character any way you want. Story, the main plot is horrible, i would use the console to close the oblivion gates, since it was extremely boring to do it the normal way, over and over again (they were all identical). But it had alot of great side quests, especially the Assassins guild. Class and combat system are almost identical as in Morrowind, which means they are good, but got "simplified" a litte (or dumbed down if you prefer). I really hate how every house, cave and even cities are instanced, doesnt make it feel like a free open world at all. Also no fun skills like levitation, and hearing the same voiceactors all the time is kinda awkward (theres only like few voice actors). I dont really see a point buying this game today, just wait for Skyrim.… Expand
  33. spadenx
    Jan 13, 2012
    6
    The story for the main quest was pathetic at best, Though the side missions had a lot better stories but none were truely great. A ton of bugs and glitches as well as lag, It doesnt help that the game has only 4 patches that dont even fix a majority of the problems the game suffers from.

    What saves the game is that it can be modded to add a ton of user created, Which is suprisingly    The story for the main quest was pathetic at best, Though the side missions had a lot better stories but none were truely great. A ton of bugs and glitches as well as lag, It doesnt help that the game has only 4 patches that dont even fix a majority of the problems the game suffers from.

    What saves the game is that it can be modded to add a ton of user created, Which is suprisingly better then most of the content in the game.    … Expand
  34. PrimalHunter70
    Mar 13, 2012
    6
    I honestly couldn't get into this game after I had played Skyrim. Its dialogue is weird and irritating, the inventory is annoying, the map is also very annoying. The graphics are poor, and I have to say that Doom 3 (a game from 2004) had far better visuals. The combat is fun, but very clunky as it is in the Elder Scrolls games. An okay game, and I admit I would have enjoyed it much more ifI honestly couldn't get into this game after I had played Skyrim. Its dialogue is weird and irritating, the inventory is annoying, the map is also very annoying. The graphics are poor, and I have to say that Doom 3 (a game from 2004) had far better visuals. The combat is fun, but very clunky as it is in the Elder Scrolls games. An okay game, and I admit I would have enjoyed it much more if I hadn't played Skyrim first.… Expand
  35. Budget_Security
    Jan 16, 2013
    6
    A good game if not for the bugs, crashes, mod setup difficulties, and many mediocre quests. Flaws aside, this is a big immersive game. Its the first fantasy/magic RPG I have played, and not a bad introduction to fantasy RPGs. I liked the music and little things like the ingame books and collecting alchemy ingredients. Get it to play Nehrim, a german super-mod, better than Oblivion, and oneA good game if not for the bugs, crashes, mod setup difficulties, and many mediocre quests. Flaws aside, this is a big immersive game. Its the first fantasy/magic RPG I have played, and not a bad introduction to fantasy RPGs. I liked the music and little things like the ingame books and collecting alchemy ingredients. Get it to play Nehrim, a german super-mod, better than Oblivion, and one of the best mods ever made.
    5/10 for Oblivion
    8/10 for Nehrim    … Expand
  36. gerbils99
    Sep 7, 2013
    6
    Almost every single mechanic in this game was done better partly in Morrowind and then later partly in Skyrim making it seem very dated and irrelevant. They took a step back from Morrowind.
  37. HCTristesse
    Oct 4, 2012
    6
    In comparison to Morrowind, the only things that became better are those that HAD to for the next generation: graphics and gameplay. Combat is much more interesting. However, the story is dull, especially when compared to Morrowind, there are close to no hidden special quests and the like, and it doesn't feel as "free" as in Morrowind. The enemies become stronger along with you, soIn comparison to Morrowind, the only things that became better are those that HAD to for the next generation: graphics and gameplay. Combat is much more interesting. However, the story is dull, especially when compared to Morrowind, there are close to no hidden special quests and the like, and it doesn't feel as "free" as in Morrowind. The enemies become stronger along with you, so leveling up doesn't really serve a purpose. Quests are boring and repetitive. Lots of skills were abandoned, the whole game is more straightforward. Exploring caves, ruins etc. is no more fun because they are filled just with generic enemies and treasures - there is no hope you'll find anything special if you're not there for a quest. Still, it's an Elder Scrolls game and therefore worth playing, even with these downsides.… Expand
  38. Zahrada
    Feb 24, 2014
    6
    The game felt epic in the beginning, truly great. Story telling, questing, graphics and atmosphere were the strongest parts of it. Though later I found major flaws in this game too. I did not like the combat system at all. I hated the fact, that the creatures level with me as I do level up. That was quite an immersion breaker for me. Also the way faces of the people and the character wereThe game felt epic in the beginning, truly great. Story telling, questing, graphics and atmosphere were the strongest parts of it. Though later I found major flaws in this game too. I did not like the combat system at all. I hated the fact, that the creatures level with me as I do level up. That was quite an immersion breaker for me. Also the way faces of the people and the character were made was very unconvincing. Some of the UI elements were rather mind-boggling for me. The game was fine overall, but it didn't really delivered what I expected it to deliver.… Expand
  39. marc5477
    Dec 28, 2014
    6
    Objectively, I score this game a solid 6 due to its many unavoidable annoyances. It would score at 7 if the annoyances were eliminated but it is nothing like its predecessor and not as good as its successor. Oblivion had a lot of hype during development. We were promised all star voice acting, real intelligent AI behavior, and a larger landmass... well, it turns out that they were all halfObjectively, I score this game a solid 6 due to its many unavoidable annoyances. It would score at 7 if the annoyances were eliminated but it is nothing like its predecessor and not as good as its successor. Oblivion had a lot of hype during development. We were promised all star voice acting, real intelligent AI behavior, and a larger landmass... well, it turns out that they were all half truths and half lies.

    There was all star voice acting but it was very limited to a hand full of characters. Everyone else was annoying as hell with repetitive comments and inappropriate tones that drove me mad 10 hours into the game. How many times did we run into a young girl with the voice of a raspy women on her death bed? Or an old man with a high pitch youngster voice? Voices were reused and assigned to characters randomly resulting in very strange combination which actually distracted from the game and immersion.

    Intelligent AI behavior? Jobs and economy? Yea right. This was a pure lie. AI behavior was all scripted and none of it was intelligent by any stretch of the word. AI did not have real jobs, they just followed a scripted schedule to open at x hour and close at y hour. At z hour they ate and w hour they slept. It was lame. It was not intelligent. It was no different than any other game made as far back as the NES. How unintelligent was the AI? Well, you could kill a guard next to another guard while sneaking, and the living guard will not care. He will make a comment about a dead person and even if you uncover yourself he will just stand there. You could even drag the dead guard in front of him and he will not care. Same with any other AI controlled character in the game (not just guards). At the same time, god help you if someone in a city sees you stealing because all hell will break loose and every guard in the entire city will instantly know you are a criminal and they will all come after you at once. Lame lame lame lame. This became a major problem sometimes because unless you use the PC console commands, it could break your game permanently. AI my backside.

    Larger landmass they tell us... well, the landmass was "larger" but it was mostly just the same damn environment copy and pasted over and over. The entire place looked the same. Morrowind had character and even Skyrim has some character but Oblivion was just plain and boring. It was the same no matter where you went and even ruins were just copy/pasted over and over (albeit Morrowind suffered from the same issue when it came to ruins). Bottom line, they may not have lied, but it was not as impressive as they wanted us to believe.

    Aside from the annoyances above, there were a few more problems.

    Level scaling... although this happens in a lot of games, in Oblivion is was not done well at all. The same enemy you faced at level will have 10x as many hit points when you are level 10 and they will look exactly the same and spawn in the same places. It killed immersion greatly because combat became mundane and unnecessarily long due to how many hip points each goblin, demon, or animal had as you leveled. The problem is that damage did not increase at the same pace as hit points so it made the player feel weaker. In Oblivion, you are much more powerful at level 5 than you are at level 20 and it killed any feeling of progression normally associated with RPG's. It clearly was not tested enough. They use similar systems in Morrowind and Skyrim but it was much better balanced. On top of that, unique weapons gained from god quests also level scaled... yes you read that right. If you do a quest at low level, you get a weak version of the rewarded weapon! And the weapon does not gain power as you level so it becomes obsolete almost instantly since they are all worse than enchanted weapons anyway. How lame is that.

    Next, enchanting, spell making and itemization were all "streamlined" which we all know means dumbed down for consoles and low IQ players. Everything was strictly controlled gone was a lot of the fun we had in Morrowind like levitating around the world to explore. You can still enchant powerful stuff but it was also made much easier almost to the point that it felt unearned whereas in Morriwind it felt awesome when you were able to trap a soul and enchant even the most basic of things. In Oblivion it was very easy and felt like cheating from the get go.

    Bottom line, a good game but it is no Morrowind. Too many annoyances keep it from being great but still it is better than most games you find on the shelf. It still is a fun open world game with plenty to do albeit without the sense of satisfaction associated with many RPG's.    … Expand
  40. CorbanDallas2
    Sep 4, 2014
    6
    Oblivion was ambitious.. and in my opinion, overly so.
    I found the storyline mundane and the game-play very repetitive, the animations clunky, the worst leveling up system in the history of gaming, annoying AI, and worst of all it didn't engage me.
    One of the strangest factors for me about all of the Elder Scrolls games is that you, as the protagonist, are a mute, and the manner of    Oblivion was ambitious.. and in my opinion, overly so.
    I found the storyline mundane and the game-play very repetitive, the animations clunky, the worst leveling up system in the history of gaming, annoying AI, and worst of all it didn't engage me.
    One of the strangest factors for me about all of the Elder Scrolls games is that you, as the protagonist, are a mute, and the manner of interaction between you and NPC's to be somewhat bizarre. Click on one word phrases and NPC's rattle off about that topic if you are lucky. Another criticism is that without actively taking time to examine your character, all the time and effort one puts into their character's appearance is wasted as all you see are hands and your weapon of choice.
    Many praise the size, scale and scope of the world, which in 2006 was bigger than most seen before, the open spaces and walking from one town to the next was only time-consuming, and vast wilderness' filled with occasional critters was not the rich experience that the game promised.
    Criticism aside though, I still enjoyed this game, and the Shivering Isles expansion was a vast improvement with regards to storyline.
    Ultimately, this game failed to keep me engaged    … Expand
  41. Gor1945
    Apr 8, 2017
    6
    По сравнению с великой Морровинд - просто провал - деградация и упрощения во всем - вырезано оружие, магические школы, мир - стал стандартно унылым (и это после шикарнейшего в своей небанальности Морровинда), основной сюжет банален донельзя - положение отчасти спасала шикарная графика (какой там лес был) и действительно интересные побочные квесты и линейки квестов за гильдии.По сравнению с великой Морровинд - просто провал - деградация и упрощения во всем - вырезано оружие, магические школы, мир - стал стандартно унылым (и это после шикарнейшего в своей небанальности Морровинда), основной сюжет банален донельзя - положение отчасти спасала шикарная графика (какой там лес был) и действительно интересные побочные квесты и линейки квестов за гильдии.
  42. TheRatMan
    Jun 25, 2017
    6
    Very good with the world building that Bethesda are known for. Even with the very samey, and very bland world and character design. The game itself is fun even though it has a few bugs, and the most "user friendly" (sarcastic air quotes) leveling system ever. I wouldn't recommend if you were looking to go through the Elder Scrolls older games if you feel you've missed something. Just findVery good with the world building that Bethesda are known for. Even with the very samey, and very bland world and character design. The game itself is fun even though it has a few bugs, and the most "user friendly" (sarcastic air quotes) leveling system ever. I wouldn't recommend if you were looking to go through the Elder Scrolls older games if you feel you've missed something. Just find one of the eight million books in Skyrim.… Expand
  43. MartinK.
    Jun 11, 2006
    5
    It really falls short of expectations. The whole game feels flat, not to mention the repetitive Oblivion planes. Level scaling TOTALLY ruins any kind of challenging gameplay, lucky that mods can fix that. There are,like, ten different armors in the game. C'mon. The graphics and the optimisitation is great. If you know how to handle an options menu, trust me, you won't have It really falls short of expectations. The whole game feels flat, not to mention the repetitive Oblivion planes. Level scaling TOTALLY ruins any kind of challenging gameplay, lucky that mods can fix that. There are,like, ten different armors in the game. C'mon. The graphics and the optimisitation is great. If you know how to handle an options menu, trust me, you won't have problems with a system barely above minimum specs. But any game that is unplayable without mods does not deserve more than 5 points.… Expand
  44. AsbjørnS.
    May 22, 2007
    5
    TES IV: Oblivion is a mainstreamed version of TES III: Morrowind. Most of what made Morrowind such a great game has been simplified in Oblivion and the "role" in this RPG is hardly visible. The beauty, the complexity, the political intrigue, the dialogues, the history/lore, the geographical regions and their unique history have all been removed and left is only a repetitive console TES IV: Oblivion is a mainstreamed version of TES III: Morrowind. Most of what made Morrowind such a great game has been simplified in Oblivion and the "role" in this RPG is hardly visible. The beauty, the complexity, the political intrigue, the dialogues, the history/lore, the geographical regions and their unique history have all been removed and left is only a repetitive console version of a PC RPG.… Expand
  45. ET
    Jun 9, 2009
    5
    I don't know why people love this game so much. The only good thing about it seems to be nice scenery. That's it. If you like green meadows, hellish landscape, and dungeons, buy this game. Mabye a few fun quests here and there too. They're rare. The copy-paste scenery, along with the copy paste weapons effects, along with the scaling level system and fast travel effectively I don't know why people love this game so much. The only good thing about it seems to be nice scenery. That's it. If you like green meadows, hellish landscape, and dungeons, buy this game. Mabye a few fun quests here and there too. They're rare. The copy-paste scenery, along with the copy paste weapons effects, along with the scaling level system and fast travel effectively means you're just playing the same 5 minutes of the game over and over again. All the spells of the same class look exactly the same. The realisim is completely borked too. What, throw a physics engine in and you get to call it realistic these days? You can fire 20 arrows into a guy's head and he'll lose 1/2 his health. Hrm, mabye make the arrows bounce off instead based on armor class? Or decrease their accuracy/power based on skill? No, let's just make them do less damage. Kudos, Bethesda.… Expand
  46. DaveO.
    Oct 1, 2006
    5
    I'm wasting little time here with more commentary on the game itself. It's already been done to death, dug up, and flogged repeatedly from every possible angle and point of game design philosphy that could be imagined. Clearly, under the light of any form of truly objective scrutiny, Oblivion (for the PC at least) is at best an average RPG. What has truly amazed and disappointed I'm wasting little time here with more commentary on the game itself. It's already been done to death, dug up, and flogged repeatedly from every possible angle and point of game design philosphy that could be imagined. Clearly, under the light of any form of truly objective scrutiny, Oblivion (for the PC at least) is at best an average RPG. What has truly amazed and disappointed me is the rabid fanboi-ism displayed by some of professional gaming press prior to, upon, and shortly after its release. I bought it, based on my experience with Morrowind, and partly because of the hype, and was bitterly dissapointed. I also happen to work in a large tech call centre (+150 people) mostly populated by insane gaming nutcases, (love 'em) and they have also largely panned this game. (and yes, I do have a VERY high-end PC, I am one of those gaming nutcases) Jebus guys, there is even one review in this list that spends most of it's time crying over the faults, and still comes up with a....90%! Get real, and respect your gaming public.… Expand
  47. patchman
    Mar 28, 2006
    5
    i will agree with all the other reviews that this is a great looking game BUT there are some serious issues regarding stability on some PCs. 60% of will play this game with no issues but the other 40% of us are have some mojor crashing problems that just makes the game unplayable. check out the various forums for this game to find out how bad these bugs are, untill oblivion is patched upi will agree with all the other reviews that this is a great looking game BUT there are some serious issues regarding stability on some PCs. 60% of will play this game with no issues but the other 40% of us are have some mojor crashing problems that just makes the game unplayable. check out the various forums for this game to find out how bad these bugs are, untill oblivion is patched up correctly with a proper patch then i can only give this game a 5/10 and thats being generious for a game that i am unable to play.… Expand
  48. Bia?yMi?piechur
    May 6, 2006
    5
    Great game ! best RPG ! my rating is 5 beacuse the game crash to the windows screen, not always but often ;(( and i dont see any patch for it ;d
  49. KameelE.
    Jun 28, 2006
    5
    Nice graphics, but the scaling levels are a bad idea. You never, ever feel strong. Not nearly enough armor and weapons to find that you can use. One can become the leader of all the guilds without even embarking on the main mission which consists of, uh what was it again? Areas and dungeons all look the same and even though you can wander all over the map, it never feels like you are Nice graphics, but the scaling levels are a bad idea. You never, ever feel strong. Not nearly enough armor and weapons to find that you can use. One can become the leader of all the guilds without even embarking on the main mission which consists of, uh what was it again? Areas and dungeons all look the same and even though you can wander all over the map, it never feels like you are visiting new areas. Great fun for a while, but it loses it's luster fairly quickly. Run around in Sneak mode all the time and you soon become so unnoticable, you can walk right by every enemy in the game and NEVER fight. Voice work is ridiculosly silly when you are talking to an NPC and all of a sudden his voice is from a different person! There really is no immersion, as you always feel like an outcast and a stranger, intruding into others lives. I was rather disappointed.… Expand
  50. HongW.
    Jul 12, 2006
    5
    TES 4: Oblivion is a game that really disappointed me. I played Morrowind for years an thought, Oblivion would also do that. But it doesn't. Well, the graphics and pyhsics are absolutely great. But the most important thing, gameplay, sucks. After 100 hours you played all quests and there is nothing more to discover. Morrowind was much better in that view. The second thing is, that i TES 4: Oblivion is a game that really disappointed me. I played Morrowind for years an thought, Oblivion would also do that. But it doesn't. Well, the graphics and pyhsics are absolutely great. But the most important thing, gameplay, sucks. After 100 hours you played all quests and there is nothing more to discover. Morrowind was much better in that view. The second thing is, that i own the german version. (bad english ^^) You cant count all the translation and layout bugs. After over 4 months finally the patch comes out. And what does this thing do? Nearly nothing! Translation and layout still sucks and no interface mods are working properly anymore. So, patch that fixes some unimprotant things, or user patches (mods) that fix nearly everything? I think the answer is clear, Bethesda has forgotten the community and i hope TES 5 is much more like Morrowind, not Oblivion..… Expand
  51. AC
    Nov 2, 2008
    5
    A decent attempt to create a open-beautiful-world game The graphics are great. Unfortunately, they made with old style thinking leading to a frustrating leveling system, 90% of the quests is go there and there and kill kill and come back for more. My opinion it is a good game when you have nothing else to do.
  52. MichaelU.
    Feb 19, 2008
    5
    This game had so much potential...but a few flaws ultimately broke it. First of all, the leveling system is broken. You have to pick 7 skills and get them up to level up. Therefore, some people will level by fighting, but some people will just run and jump around to get athletics and acrobatics up. Conjuration is overpowered, because you can summon pets and kill them for xp. by the time This game had so much potential...but a few flaws ultimately broke it. First of all, the leveling system is broken. You have to pick 7 skills and get them up to level up. Therefore, some people will level by fighting, but some people will just run and jump around to get athletics and acrobatics up. Conjuration is overpowered, because you can summon pets and kill them for xp. by the time they notice you are killing them they are dead. Another problem is how short it is. by the time i was about 40 hours into the game i had the second best armor. The main quest will only take a few hours to beat, with side-quests being the only thing supporting it. It seems they put very little work into the main quest and just randomly threw side-quests at you. But the side quests usually have little meaning and most are not that fun. The world is actually not that big...It seems even smaller due to fast travel. Fast travel eliminates the use of a horse and makes the game even shorter. The fact that you can simply skip time is useful, but sometimes it makes things too easy. The voice acting is pretty good, but i often see an old man talking and when i ask him something he completely changes his tone and sounds like a 24 year old. The characters all look old and artificial, and there expressions are simply messed up. One person was angry and i had a high disposition with him. The final flaw is the physics. The physics are poorly done and everyone does things slowly. I often hit a goblin with a fire spell and he doesn't even twitch. The second time i do it he flies several meters and then falls extremley slowly. There are very few types of armor and weapons. Overall, this game seemed genre defining, but now it is simply rpg filling. Its a huge shame, really. This might have been one of the best RPGs ever. Although it is very fun for awhile, it will eventually lose charm. I recommend Two worlds, Gothic, or morrowind once your bored with Oblivion.… Expand
  53. DavidL
    Aug 17, 2009
    5
    I give this game a 5 because it requires "Fan Made Content' to even make it enjoyable, even after having mods toppled over mods it still don't entertain me as much as my other games do. Morrowind was far better than this game. Morrowind kept you busy even if you where not playing the main plot. The problems with oblivion is every thing that they said was good about it. 1.I I give this game a 5 because it requires "Fan Made Content' to even make it enjoyable, even after having mods toppled over mods it still don't entertain me as much as my other games do. Morrowind was far better than this game. Morrowind kept you busy even if you where not playing the main plot. The problems with oblivion is every thing that they said was good about it. 1.I can't walk up "steep hills" when there really not all that steep. Why can't they have the character crawl up the hill at least with coded textures that make the character do stuff when they touch the texture or some thing that makes sense please. 2.You character can't climb up ledges and pull him/her self up. 3.The magic effects are boring. All i have seen was fire balls, thunder bolts and stuff alike etc. I have not seen any thing epic like a meteor shower or a fire storm or fire arrows or a huge shock wave that shakes the ground and makes cracks and stuff etc. 4.Combat is slow and boring. There is a mod that fixes this, but still with out good maneuverability combat will also fail. (Refer to 1) 5.The story line was great and i give them a 10 for it, but it lacked in game play so it was like watching a movie with a single ending. 6. Random encounters took for ever to re spawn or you won't even fight them because only 1-3 monsters spawn at a time. To get any action you had to look for quests and there hard as heck to find for such a big game. So even though you can go any where you still had to do quests to get any real action so technically the game was linear. 7. Why do you even level up? Why do you even have abilities? Why do you even have any thing for this game when you can beat it at level 1? 8. The character creation concept was awesome, but didn't work right because it takes mins to hours to make a good looking character. The facial hair was a complete rip off because it wasn't facial here it was just coloring. Games that are far older than this had beards and more maneuverability like prince of Persia or dungeon lords. 9.This game has some advantages like being huge (Why is there no MP support?) and the graphics. 10.This game is just a walk in the park. Nothing that caught my eye. I care about game play more than visuals all though i do admit that visuals are very very important for games. So even if a game has bad graphics it can still look nice if it has a lot of detail the objects plus the game play to back it up. Games should be great with many features from the start you shouldn't make your customers do all the work by having to mod the thing inside out. I do love modding i don' t mean to stop make modding tools, i mean make a game that is good enough so that we don't have to make overhauls. This is all my opinion of course. Excuse my typing i,am young and not perfect at English even though it is my own language.… Expand
  54. GabrielU
    Aug 28, 2009
    5
    This game is a LARGE step back. Everything nerfed, dumbed down, sick level scaling, plenty of choices, where we don't have any choice, destroyed lore (Cyrrodil is and tropical jungle and few things more, not a typical, european woods!). I felt deeply cheated after playing.
  55. M_Alex
    Mar 26, 2011
    5
    Ths game isn't bad. Some aspects, like the graphics, are very good. However, gameplay wise, this game falls behind. It begins very well, but it becomes monotonous with time. After about 30 hours of gameplay i was running away from any person who wanted to give me a quest, and some time later, I just ignored most of them. Regardless of what they said you are to do it always came down to "goThs game isn't bad. Some aspects, like the graphics, are very good. However, gameplay wise, this game falls behind. It begins very well, but it becomes monotonous with time. After about 30 hours of gameplay i was running away from any person who wanted to give me a quest, and some time later, I just ignored most of them. Regardless of what they said you are to do it always came down to "go there, kill everybody, find an object, come back." The main quest line also is not enthralling, and, moreover, nor original in any way. After gluing me to the screen for a long time, the game simply became tedious.… Expand
  56. DantheMan
    Mar 18, 2011
    5
    The phrase that is often used to described Bethesda's games are "free world". It's apt. It's correct. And either you like that aspect or you don't. I don't. To me, it's not an RPG. Playing a role by definition means there is some type of script. While there is technically a major thread in the game it very easy to lose it and never find it again. You can wonder aimlessly for hours.The phrase that is often used to described Bethesda's games are "free world". It's apt. It's correct. And either you like that aspect or you don't. I don't. To me, it's not an RPG. Playing a role by definition means there is some type of script. While there is technically a major thread in the game it very easy to lose it and never find it again. You can wonder aimlessly for hours. Is it fun? Kinda. But it never offers any real sense of accomplishment for me. I never feel like I'm making progress, like I make a difference in the world. I hate to give this game a five because I respect the quality of the work that went into it. But it's just not for me. If you are Bethesda fan-boy you will love this game like you loved all the others. But it's more of the same old boring crap as far as I am concerned.… Expand
  57. Duderoth
    Apr 15, 2011
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It might be a little late to be writing a review of this game, but I have been playing it on-and-off since practically its release day. To this day, I'm still not sure what all the hype was about.

    Let's just say Oblivion was a good game. Good, not great. If you actually play RPGs for the scope and story, probably the biggest drawback of the game is the story. I wouldn't go so far as to call it contrived, but it's not all that great anyways. Actually it's pretty dull, since what you become known for by the citizens of the empire is something you accomplish within the first couple of hours of the game, had no emotional impact or power behind it, and just established the next flaw with Oblivion.

    Oblivion gates. The first time I stepped through one, I thought to myself, "Oh wow, this is actually pretty cool." Then I went through another one. Then another one. Then several more. They all look the same. They all have the same mechanic. If there was one part of Oblivion that was uninspired, this was it. They all consist of getting to the top of the central tower, and pulling out a "Sigil Stone" to close the gate. Alright, now let's cycle that them through 9 maps that all look exactly the same, and you'll begin to dread going through any of these gates ever again.

    I had a few other issues with the game, such as horseback riding being pretty lame, some so-so dungeons (nothing especially hidden away or secret like there was in Morrowind) and the facial animation and voice acting being the crap they were. But the leveling with your character loot and enemies was insulting. In a game that's supposed to be about go anywhere, do anything, this is an atrocity. Limiting the types of enemies you fight and level of loot you can receive at any given level automatically turns this into an extremely structured game. Sure it prevents getting anything gamebreaking at an early level, but the whole point in adventuring is learning what your strengths and limits are. If, at level 1, you can find a way to beat a level 20 monster, I think you deserve some pretty epic loot for doing so. But this leveling also meant that dungeon crawling was pretty stupid, since there was no incentive to explore other than to "see the dungeon," and they all looked essentially the same within about 3 themes (Aleid ruins, old forts, and caverns/mines).

    Now this is not to say Oblivion was a crappy game. Far from it. If you want some excellent story telling and a much better RP experience, check out the... 4 factions. That's right only 4. Thankfully, each questline for the factions was much more enjoyable than the main questline, and each was quite long as well, which makes up for the fact that there are only 4. (I believe that in Morrowind there were upwards of 15, and many of them affected other factions.) And no, I am not counting the Arena. That was not a faction. You just kill people. You can finish it at level 1.

    The region of Cyrodiil was quite beautiful, but only some areas shined. According to lore, Cyrodiil is supposed to be a jungle/swamp type of area. In this fashion, I quite enjoyed the areas around Bravil and Leyawiin in the game (and the snowy mountains of Bruma to the north), and Anvil was very pretty, but the rest was more ho-hum classic fantasy affair, and the cities all looked very fabricated and themed. Overall it was not nearly as immersive as Morrwind's quite alien locale, setting, and culture.

    So overall, Oblivion was an average game. It definitely felt geared towards console players and much more casual gamers, as was obvious through the main storyline, generic hack'n'slash gameplay, and toned-down classic fantasy setting. But it had some obvious merits for those willing to delve deeper, with some pretty amazing faction questlines, along with some other specific side quests.

    I hope 2011's Skyrim shapes up to be more like Morrowind. But if Bethesda stays down the path of Fallout 3, I won't be too irked, since that game was incredibly fun as well. Give us TES fans something good this time, Bethesda!    … Expand
  58. mez
    Dec 17, 2011
    5
    This is a bland and soulless game. The world is huge, but there's little variation throughout and it all feels oddly empty (contrast with the fantastic weirdness and variety of Morrowind). The level scaling takes away any sense of danger. The badly animated characters are ugly beyond reason. The voice acting is truly, truly miserable (think Aribeth in Neverwinter Nights levels of bad). TheThis is a bland and soulless game. The world is huge, but there's little variation throughout and it all feels oddly empty (contrast with the fantastic weirdness and variety of Morrowind). The level scaling takes away any sense of danger. The badly animated characters are ugly beyond reason. The voice acting is truly, truly miserable (think Aribeth in Neverwinter Nights levels of bad). The developers clearly used their whole budget hiring Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart and then had to resort to getting random people in off the street. There's no emotional engagement at all because not one of characters has any personality - they're all just generic, interchangeable quest dispensers. The setting has potential though. I understand the modding community has done some great things, but for me the days of spending a whole weekend auditioning mods are long gone. I don't recommend the vanilla game.… Expand
  59. HenryCase
    Dec 25, 2012
    5
    The worst of all Elder Scrolls games. Badly designed boring world compared to morrowind or skyrim and an absolute broken level scale system made this game almost uplayable to me. I spent weeks to get a propper mod to get rid of the level scaling, but the mods crippled the game even more. It's unbelievable how Bethesda could release such a mess. For all fans of Skyrim who search anotherThe worst of all Elder Scrolls games. Badly designed boring world compared to morrowind or skyrim and an absolute broken level scale system made this game almost uplayable to me. I spent weeks to get a propper mod to get rid of the level scaling, but the mods crippled the game even more. It's unbelievable how Bethesda could release such a mess. For all fans of Skyrim who search another great elder scrolls expirience: simpyl grab the Morrowind Game Of The Year edition. It's Astronomic Units ahead of this broken moneymaker release called oblivion. Still a better game than most modern titles though.… Expand
  60. IcecreamSnowman
    Mar 11, 2014
    5
    Without extensive modding Oblivion gets to be very samey. Enemies all level with you so there's no difficulty curve and no feeling of progression. Environments are formulaic and get to feel routine and predictable, so even though the world is big, there's very little in it worth seeing. There's only one voice actor per race and far, far too much chit-chat. Most of your time is spent inWithout extensive modding Oblivion gets to be very samey. Enemies all level with you so there's no difficulty curve and no feeling of progression. Environments are formulaic and get to feel routine and predictable, so even though the world is big, there's very little in it worth seeing. There's only one voice actor per race and far, far too much chit-chat. Most of your time is spent in combat but as there are only four classes of melee weapon, this gets old fast if you're a warrior type. There is also the most idiotic trading system I've ever encountered: the richest merchant has 1200 gold so this is all you can ever get for any item but he never runs out; why then are there items worth many thousands of gold when they (at least should) know you can't get that much!? There are mods to fix most of these issues - the entire outdoor world can be changed, the whole leveling system removed so enemies are varied and challenging, the combat made unpredictable and deadly and the horrible trading system thrown out the window. It's still worth buying Oblivion just so you can play Nehrim, though.… Expand
  61. Steeldude
    Oct 13, 2014
    5
    I haven't played this game until last year and I have to say that I was disappointed. All I wanted was to have a great single player experience. But I didn't get it. After completing the first story quest, I immediately skipped to the place where the second one was in order to realize that I had absolutely no chance against the enemies present in the Demon Gate. The game wanted me toI haven't played this game until last year and I have to say that I was disappointed. All I wanted was to have a great single player experience. But I didn't get it. After completing the first story quest, I immediately skipped to the place where the second one was in order to realize that I had absolutely no chance against the enemies present in the Demon Gate. The game wanted me to endlessly grind and level up in order to be able to progress further.

    So, I decided to try some quests. One got my interest, in which a guy got robbed by some ladies while having "fun" with them. To my surprise, when I got to their hidden cottage, no one came and I got locked inside with no other way of getting out. I found out that it was a bug, so I tried this quest several other times and the girls remained at their original place - in the city. After killing them, the quest didn't progress, because they weren't in the location they were supposed to be in. How lame.

    To sum it up, when the first quest in the game you try is so bugged that it cannot even be completed - that says something about the overall quality of the game. If only I could follow the storyline without having to complete buggy quests beforehand ...    … Expand
  62. Smilingcookie
    Mar 26, 2015
    5
    Although I really enjoy Morrowind and Skyrim, I can't seem to get into this one. Art design is bland. Everything seems like a mediocre fairy tale. Interface and controls (or character reaction) are less clean and direct than previously mentioned games. It's big and for the time it had impressive visuals. Story and quests however cannot keep my attention. I always get bored and never feelAlthough I really enjoy Morrowind and Skyrim, I can't seem to get into this one. Art design is bland. Everything seems like a mediocre fairy tale. Interface and controls (or character reaction) are less clean and direct than previously mentioned games. It's big and for the time it had impressive visuals. Story and quests however cannot keep my attention. I always get bored and never feel like I want to keep playing this one.… Expand
  63. vova22379
    Dec 8, 2021
    5
    ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
  64. BasS.
    Jun 6, 2006
    4
    This game dont deserve all marks,it s so boring and his predecessor is really better than this.
  65. AdamC
    Sep 6, 2009
    4
    I wanted really, really badly to like this game. It's absolutely beautiful (if you can run it that way, of course), and it's got some nice IDEAS as far as leveling goes. It's great that the NPCs have conversations with each other, it's great that there are theoretically consequences to your actions, it's wonderful that there are so many places to explore and I wanted really, really badly to like this game. It's absolutely beautiful (if you can run it that way, of course), and it's got some nice IDEAS as far as leveling goes. It's great that the NPCs have conversations with each other, it's great that there are theoretically consequences to your actions, it's wonderful that there are so many places to explore and quest, and the twitch combat is a breath of fresh air for those of us who really don't like watching our characters swing once every five seconds based on a dice roll. Unfortunately, none of these things are well-executed. Leveling based on the skills you use is intuitive and engaging and even if it's not a brand new idea, should have been a really wonderful way to feel like your character was getting stronger. Yet Oblivion has probably the worst leveling system I've ever experienced. Each skill is connected to an attribute. When you level up a skill, you gain a bonus to its connected attribute when you level. That means that to get the max (or close to) bonus for each level, you're going to have to grind away at minor skills (otherwise you'll level too quickly and won't receive a bonus). And if you choose just to play your character without trying to achieve bonuses, then monsters -- which level at the same time as you -- will ultimately surpass you in power. It also means a level one character is potentially the strongest character you can ever create. There's not much incentive to level. Of course if you don't level at all, you won't be able to use any new weapons or armor, because those begin dropping based on your level. And yeah, the highwaymen uses the same kind of armor as that bandit warlord at the end of the dungeon. The storyline begins with wonderful urgency, but as soon as the tutorial is over, you can basically ignore it completely. There are Oblivion Gates opening everywhere, but you could just leave them for like 2 years if you want, go do other things. The invasion will wait until you're good and ready to confront it. I'm all for open-ended and ambiguous, but removing structure entirely means that I really never felt engaged with the world I was playing in. One more problem is with the game's "Radiant AI." It's awesome that they leave their houses and go about town and do various things, but if they're going to have conversations...well...the voice acting for the most part is bad, but most of the conversations sound like Public Service Announcements anywa. "How are things with you?" "The [armor shop] in town makes great armor." "Bye." Spellmaking is a great idea, but there are only about four different spell animations, and although there are an IMMENSE number of spells (because you can make your own), there really aren't very many effects, which means you're basically casting the same four or five spells the entire game long. This isn't so different from other games, but it seems like the system here was setup to be so much more interesting than it turned out to be. Making up your own class is great, especially because if you want to play a warrior, you can't pick any of the preset ones due to the aforementioned leveling system. So essentially there's only one class I'll ever pick: custom. The game is absolutely huge and tried to do so much, but, at least for me, failed to really engage me in any meaningful way. This was a really great engine for an Role-playing game, I just wish there'd been a roleplaying game to play.… Expand
  66. erichopmann
    Dec 15, 2006
    4
    Although it´s a good game it gets boring after a while. I´ve played it until lvl 16 and i think it´s always the same. play gothic or dark messiah
  67. Tobias
    Aug 31, 2007
    4
    As a game, Oblivion did allright. It's a good game for a person who has never played a RPG before. I was entertained for the first two weeks. After that, everything changed. I realised that I had just completed everything in the game. I was dissapointed, there's very little to do in oblivion, and everything there is is repetive, sure many of the quest are actually quite nice, As a game, Oblivion did allright. It's a good game for a person who has never played a RPG before. I was entertained for the first two weeks. After that, everything changed. I realised that I had just completed everything in the game. I was dissapointed, there's very little to do in oblivion, and everything there is is repetive, sure many of the quest are actually quite nice, but there's no many bad saides about it. The level scaling ruins everything, the design is very boring, there are very few guilds. You can actually completel the Mages guild without casting a single spell and the final boss is a character much loved my the Elder Scrolls community, and lore-wise extremely powerfull. just stap him with your spear and be done with it, oh wait, you can't since spears arn't in either. The lack of weapons dissapoint me. As a game, it's acceptable. As an elder scrolls game, it's a total disaster. If you're looking for an elder scrolls rpg, A real elder scrolls game, buy Morrowind witch delivers much much more. The game sucks, hopefully Bethesda will use the money to hire a better crew so they can make a better TES: V. 4/10… Expand
  68. Pantheon
    Sep 16, 2007
    4
    If you have played Morrowind - this is a huge disappointment - plays like a first person shooter not an RPG. There is no need to engage your brain playing thsi game - Beth took all intellectual challenge out and left only combat.
  69. Xslsn
    Feb 16, 2009
    4
    I really wanted to like this game, so it's a shame that it is so flawed that I found it unbearable to finish it. - The level system is widely been criticized and rightfully so. Not only does it kill the fun to have the bad guys level up with you, but it completely destroys the feeling of immersion that is so vital to all adventure games and RPGs. - The voice acting is nothing short I really wanted to like this game, so it's a shame that it is so flawed that I found it unbearable to finish it. - The level system is widely been criticized and rightfully so. Not only does it kill the fun to have the bad guys level up with you, but it completely destroys the feeling of immersion that is so vital to all adventure games and RPGs. - The voice acting is nothing short of a farce. The laughable decision to have 5 people record all the lines is only the start, but these 5 people doesn't even remotely try to resemble different people and you feel like you are talking to the same person over and over and over again. Absolutely horrible. - The game feel so repetitive that it feels more like work than a game. Not my idea of a good time… Expand
  70. JustinS.
    Nov 8, 2007
    4
    Dull, dull, dull. The game starts out as beautiful and immersive, but then you realize how cardboard everyone is, even with the so-called "radiant AI." AI can't give them personalities. Only a good writer could do that, and there are no good writers here, as evidenced by the extremely linear fetch-quests, including the main storyline. Not an RPG game for true role-players. Skip this Dull, dull, dull. The game starts out as beautiful and immersive, but then you realize how cardboard everyone is, even with the so-called "radiant AI." AI can't give them personalities. Only a good writer could do that, and there are no good writers here, as evidenced by the extremely linear fetch-quests, including the main storyline. Not an RPG game for true role-players. Skip this snore-a-thon.… Expand
  71. AnonymousMC
    Sep 15, 2007
    4
    Mediocre graphics for such a new game. Boring and predictable story line. Repetitive gameplay. Uninspired quests, mostly of the "fetch" and "kill" sort. Bad script writing, except for a very few risquee (but irrelevant) line. Fundamentally flawed character leveling mechanics. The background music wasn't so bad. The main thing I liked about this game was its world size, but evenMediocre graphics for such a new game. Boring and predictable story line. Repetitive gameplay. Uninspired quests, mostly of the "fetch" and "kill" sort. Bad script writing, except for a very few risquee (but irrelevant) line. Fundamentally flawed character leveling mechanics. The background music wasn't so bad. The main thing I liked about this game was its world size, but even that didn't hold my interest. Once I owned a couple of houses, not even the main quest was enough to keep me playing.… Expand
  72. JonathanR
    Jun 18, 2009
    4
    I'm confused again and again as to why this game is held to such vaulted heights. The biggest flaw are the economics of leveling. It's nearly impossible to raise a skill (or it's ridiculously simple, take your pick), which means you are either underdeveloped on stats or overdeveloped on an uncompetitive basis with the mobs that level alongside you. Magic is my favorite I'm confused again and again as to why this game is held to such vaulted heights. The biggest flaw are the economics of leveling. It's nearly impossible to raise a skill (or it's ridiculously simple, take your pick), which means you are either underdeveloped on stats or overdeveloped on an uncompetitive basis with the mobs that level alongside you. Magic is my favorite class, and without mods the magic system is so unrealistic as to be unusable.… Expand
  73. TimE
    Jul 22, 2009
    4
    The game is huge, but it does not give the proper avenues for allowing you to explore it completely, such as dull quests and the tedious searching for these quests. The game felt very clunky; like when trying to pick up something, I was constantly slowed down from carrying too much. Auto-loot even picks up your enemies 10-ton rusty iron breastplates. Combat was decent and simple, but was The game is huge, but it does not give the proper avenues for allowing you to explore it completely, such as dull quests and the tedious searching for these quests. The game felt very clunky; like when trying to pick up something, I was constantly slowed down from carrying too much. Auto-loot even picks up your enemies 10-ton rusty iron breastplates. Combat was decent and simple, but was also clunky, it felt just like an FPS with a knife. The story was linear, and all the side quests were very "unimportant" and time consuming. With all the hype that this game has got, I believe even with outdated games such as Fallout 2 and Baldur's Gate had a much better 'soul" than this game because I was not able to immerse myself into this world. I was not able to bring myself to finish this game completely, after 8 hours, I was too bored to continue.… Expand
  74. Conscience
    Mar 9, 2011
    4
    This game looks great, the world is vast and the world is open-ended and interactive. Lots of great potential, with a complex and technically impressive interactive world. The only problem is that there are no appealing characters to interact with and no emotional connection with the game. They made something awesome, but without much of a soul.

    I was soon bored with the game. Find a    This game looks great, the world is vast and the world is open-ended and interactive. Lots of great potential, with a complex and technically impressive interactive world. The only problem is that there are no appealing characters to interact with and no emotional connection with the game. They made something awesome, but without much of a soul.

    I was soon bored with the game. Find a new place off in the wilderness? Defeat the evil that lurks within? Nobody cares.

    Summary: a game with a lot of potential, but not much substance.    … Expand
  75. Mad_Diplomat
    Apr 16, 2011
    4
    This is one of those games that seem great at first. But the more you play it, the less you like it. Once the flash wears away, you start to realize that at it's core the game is broken. Without an engaging story and good gameplay mechanics there can be no lasting appeal for me.
  76. zupergozer
    Aug 24, 2011
    4
    the game seems to thing that quantity is better then quality, it has few really fun things to do and a LOT of repeating boring quests and the game has only 13 voice actors. the storytelling is terrible, the story could have been good but the story stopped being interesting after i murdered every member of the mythic dawn. the map is huge but all the space is wasted, you have a few dungeonsthe game seems to thing that quantity is better then quality, it has few really fun things to do and a LOT of repeating boring quests and the game has only 13 voice actors. the storytelling is terrible, the story could have been good but the story stopped being interesting after i murdered every member of the mythic dawn. the map is huge but all the space is wasted, you have a few dungeons around but they are boring and there is no point to go in there except for a couple of quests. in summary this game is wasted potential… Expand
  77. DAOuser
    Sep 24, 2013
    4
    Resulta aburrido, y el sistema de combate es una pesadez. Lo jugué hasta la mitad más o menos (por lo que pude saber) y luego lo borré para siempre de mi sistema. No lo considero bueno como rpg.
  78. GreenMenace
    Oct 13, 2022
    4
    In hindsight, Oblivion suffers from being sandwiched between two great games. On one hand, you have the newer, flashier Skyrim. On the other, you have its predecessor, Morrowind, which is a masterpiece. I did not make it far in Oblivion because it introduced a few mechanics I wasn’t fond of (namely, introducing how everyone knows whether something is stolen or not). Characters level likeIn hindsight, Oblivion suffers from being sandwiched between two great games. On one hand, you have the newer, flashier Skyrim. On the other, you have its predecessor, Morrowind, which is a masterpiece. I did not make it far in Oblivion because it introduced a few mechanics I wasn’t fond of (namely, introducing how everyone knows whether something is stolen or not). Characters level like they do in Morrowind, and the game looks a lot like Morrowind. But when you hear people talking about the Elder Scrolls, this entry gets glazed over.… Expand
  79. JakubTyszko
    Feb 14, 2021
    4
    The game looks very interesting but as soon as you play you get disappointed over and over until you die inside.
  80. Skevinger
    Mar 23, 2021
    4
    Why is this the all-time-reference for a RPG? I like the setting, the world and the soundtrack, but the level-scaling ruins it for me. So if I'm to week to fight a wolf and want to get better, I level up. But suddenly the wolves are now "Timberwolves" and are stronger. That happens with every enemy-type. But if choose alchemy and some other stuff I never use as my main skills, I canWhy is this the all-time-reference for a RPG? I like the setting, the world and the soundtrack, but the level-scaling ruins it for me. So if I'm to week to fight a wolf and want to get better, I level up. But suddenly the wolves are now "Timberwolves" and are stronger. That happens with every enemy-type. But if choose alchemy and some other stuff I never use as my main skills, I can improve my fighting skills without leveling up. So if I stay level 1 the game gets easier and easier.

    Also: The faces. Aside from the argonian and khajiit faces everyone looks ugly because of the weird game engine. And when the camera zooms in at the beginnig of a dialogue and the NPC smiles at me, I suddenly want to punch his face. Even Morrowind or other older games have better faces.

    If those factors don't matter to you, you get a world with a lot to do.    … Expand
  81. Gazownik
    Jun 8, 2022
    4
    As much as I love Elder Scroll games, this one was a terrible experience for me - played for around 10 hours > got pissed > uninstalled it.
  82. BakaD.
    Jun 22, 2007
    3
    Oblivion is Morrowind with hundreds of bugs fixed. The game also graphically declines, it has loads of the 'good stuff' but it doesn't use it properly leaving environments lackluster and dull. There are a few parts that have an epic 'appeal' but thats only due to the use of lighting. Now I played Morrowind and although the 'level by usage' idea is Oblivion is Morrowind with hundreds of bugs fixed. The game also graphically declines, it has loads of the 'good stuff' but it doesn't use it properly leaving environments lackluster and dull. There are a few parts that have an epic 'appeal' but thats only due to the use of lighting. Now I played Morrowind and although the 'level by usage' idea is innovative... it is very broken. Removing the skill leveling part fixes many problems (Either 5 5 5 level or get screwed. Then there's the problem with spells/magical things in the game. Not only do all things magical share the same animations, but all magical abilities transpher down to alchemy and enchanting... essentally making "gear farming" worthless, or even being a mage since alchemy effects are often more powerful than what you can cast. The game has a very limited selection of voices... most annoying is when I hear barius' voice. Now I don't care if a few civies share the same voice... but don't EVER use the same voice as a main story thingy. There are a few other problems (voices not matching with characters for one) with voices, but there are more pressing issues... like the limited interaction with the environment. use of physics without any USE of them. (Like dropping crates on enemies) infact, physics serves no use except to be there. Vampirism is one of the best things, but I really dislike the way it's done. Having to drink blood just to keep from 'changing' when wandering about, not beingable to sulk in dark corners durring daytime (infact, shade has no effect on health loss) The end result is Oblivion is what Morrowind 'should' have been... but not fully fixed. It's fun... for a while... till you realize that there's nothing else compelling you besides the nagging aspect of the storyline.… Expand
  83. AnonymousMC
    Jul 2, 2007
    3
    Truly a bad joke of a game. I don't think I can stand another "So, yeah - the current plot hook is [X], so you have to go to the next completely generic [cave/ruin/oblivion gate] [Y], [kill the foozles/retrieve the item [Z]/both]" quest - an this little template has basically described 75% of the quest content of Oblivion. If only the combat system was any good... Well, it's notTruly a bad joke of a game. I don't think I can stand another "So, yeah - the current plot hook is [X], so you have to go to the next completely generic [cave/ruin/oblivion gate] [Y], [kill the foozles/retrieve the item [Z]/both]" quest - an this little template has basically described 75% of the quest content of Oblivion. If only the combat system was any good... Well, it's not - think about your typical FPS, and remove all the fun and the challenge (even if, for some strange reason, you are losing you can always gulp on an unlimited number of healing potions - six every time you open your inventory, with closing and opening of it taking less than a second of game time, since the game pauses on inventory screen). Also, don't kid yourself that it's a good RPG, 'cause it has stats. They don't matter. In fact, the best thing you can do if you want to munchkinize your character is give him the exact opposite of the skills you want to use - that way you will still advance fairly quickly, but not in level. Why is this good? Well, thanks to the oh so brilliant level scaling, the world's monsters will stay in "noob mode", while you are getting more and more powerful. The downside of this is that the scaled random loot will be pretty pathetic, but given how easy it is to outclass the scaled monsters in damage dealt/damage received even with steel equipment, this doesn't matter very much.

    The game has LOTS of issues, like uninspired writing and soul destroying blandness and genericness of the towns (and ignoring previous TES lore to boot - wasn't Cyrodill supposed to be tropical jungle?), terrain and monsters, the supposedly great AI that makes the NPCs emergently admire walls (and it's pretty much all it does), the inconsistent voices of NPCs, the linearity (true, you can do a quest for most of the factions (except for those for which it was deemed you cannot - the Blackwood Company comes to mind as the most illogical of those) at any moment, the quest sequences of those factions are completely linear), the "become the head of the guild and be done with it" factor, the lack of conflict between joinable factions (it goes as far as allowing you to be the guildmaster of all) even though the death of the emperor with no known heir would be THE opportunity for power grabs, the "oh so there are Oblivion gates popping all over the place, but since they're not quest related we all ignore them", the inconsistent [Rumors]/"You are the hero of [town name]!"/[Other option]/"Who are you noob?" dialog, and the dumb minigames (I would nominate the persuasion minigame as a winner here)... I was going to finish this comment with "but I think the boring and repetitive are what killed it for me", but really, all those issues did their part in it - and there's STILL more that I don't care to describe. I'd say - avoid this game.    … Expand
  84. SK
    Jul 20, 2007
    3
    Household of four RPG gamers, who had played Morrowind for years. Eagerly snagged Oblivion copies the first week. But....After two months, no one cared to continue. Put aside, with only one person (the stubborn one) finishing the Main Quest. A game that looks great for awhile (hence all the great previews by the magazines) but really doesn't have much depth, just lots of repetition. Household of four RPG gamers, who had played Morrowind for years. Eagerly snagged Oblivion copies the first week. But....After two months, no one cared to continue. Put aside, with only one person (the stubborn one) finishing the Main Quest. A game that looks great for awhile (hence all the great previews by the magazines) but really doesn't have much depth, just lots of repetition. A vapid, showy failure. Perhaps player mods will make something of this. Or the expansion packs. But no one here has loaded the game again.… Expand
  85. EliasO.
    May 19, 2006
    3
    I gave it a 3, it's a good game, but I'm not only intrested in the visuals.. The conversations are very scripted, and in order to make someone happy it's a wierd gambling process, and the main story line was not intresting enough for me to keep playing the game... I recommend buying Arcanum instead, it's probloby left in SOME stores pretty cheap, or you can buy it from I gave it a 3, it's a good game, but I'm not only intrested in the visuals.. The conversations are very scripted, and in order to make someone happy it's a wierd gambling process, and the main story line was not intresting enough for me to keep playing the game... I recommend buying Arcanum instead, it's probloby left in SOME stores pretty cheap, or you can buy it from a internet shop.… Expand
  86. NateS.
    Jun 6, 2007
    3
    Awkward Textures, Boring Gameplay, and Unimaginative Quests make this game terrible (and i'm running on an AW m9700).
  87. Nugget
    Feb 27, 2009
    3
    Anyone who claims this is the best game they ever played is a console only gamer, under 14 years old, or most likely both. Even modded to the maximum its only 'good'. Vanilla its awful and I don't give scores for non-paid modders fixing bethesdas mistakes.
  88. JacobF
    Jul 26, 2009
    3
    Talk about overhyped, by a long shot. Graphically, it's pretty incredible. But all graphics do is sell a game and keep one from poking their eyes out. Anything to with the actual game content is severely lacking. The story is very bland, and honestly, just isn't very good, (which is funny, because it was praised for that). It feels more like a wild goose chase, whether you have Talk about overhyped, by a long shot. Graphically, it's pretty incredible. But all graphics do is sell a game and keep one from poking their eyes out. Anything to with the actual game content is severely lacking. The story is very bland, and honestly, just isn't very good, (which is funny, because it was praised for that). It feels more like a wild goose chase, whether you have to go find someone, or an item. Granted, there are tons of side quests, ruins, and a vast world to explore, which might redeem the problem with the issue, but it does not redeem the gameplay. The gameplay becomes severely repetitive. After you close the fifty-trillionth Oblivion gate, the game becomes very tedious, and is more like a chore than a fun game. In order to expect to go anywhere with success, you must be a spell caster. The incentive to level up is gone, because they scale the enemies to match your level. Yes, this means when you're level 35, with the best sword the game has to offer, you're still going to die trying to fight off a bandit. Also, you're stuck, for the most part, fighting the same lot of enemies the entire game. A couple bandits or wolves here... A few Mystic Dawn cult members there... A heck of a lot of Daedra everywhere... There is very little diversity in what you fight, unless you specifically go looking for something different to fight. The game partially fails in the sound department. Not to say the sounds were bad, by any means, but they were repetitive, and had a few inconsistencies. They used the same actors, over and over. Heck, the one actor they didn't repeat was killed off in the first half-hour of gameplay, and was the best one in the game (Patrick Stewart)! I mentioned some inconsistencies earlier. The conversations and voices often go against the nature of the character. If you talk to a beggar, and she sounds like an uneducated beggar (as she should) at first, wait. Ask her some stuff, and she'll suddenly sound like a well-educated noble. There wasn't a lot of music, but that doesn't bother me as much, since in games like Oblivion and Morrowind, I prefer something a little quiet, just ambience, if at all. Conclusion Overall, Oblivion is a major disappointment, and fails to live up to the hype and praise it's constantly given. The graphics are nice, so I won't deduct points there. The story is crummy, although there are lots of sidequests and things to explore and do. I'll deduct a point for the story anyway, because it can't fully redeem the poorly executed goose chase that Bethesda tried to pass off as a storyline. The gameplay is incredibly repetitive, and is incredibly difficult unless you're a spellcaster. Deduction of two points here. The leveling system is stupid, and has no incentive because of the scaling, so deduction of three points here. The sounds need a little bit of work, due to the inconsistency between conversations, and the overuse of certain actors, and under usage of others (Patrick Stewart, again). They weren't bad, but definitely not perfect. Point deducted here. The lack of tons of music didn't really bother me, so no points were deducted. In short, don't waste your money on this game. It is a blemish to the entire RPG genre, and a proof to the nearsightedness of the entire game critic industry.… Expand
  89. NeilB
    Aug 29, 2009
    3
    I've never voted on anything, but feel strongly that this game is not worth a grade higher than a three for the simple reason that it feels more like a chore than a game. You spend a tremendous amount of time juggling inventory, repairing weapons, opening locks creating potions and cleaning out bland fortresses and ruins. The monsters/enemies are all the same...fighting a skeleton is I've never voted on anything, but feel strongly that this game is not worth a grade higher than a three for the simple reason that it feels more like a chore than a game. You spend a tremendous amount of time juggling inventory, repairing weapons, opening locks creating potions and cleaning out bland fortresses and ruins. The monsters/enemies are all the same...fighting a skeleton is no different than fighting a bandit or a ghost...and the weapons and spells are also incredibly boring, especially compared with the Baldur's Gate series. Pick a weapon (e.g. sword, axe) add some kind of cold/fire/shock damage to it and that's all. Same for the spells...fire a projectile of heat/cold/shock and that's all (other than heal, which you will use constantly). The game offers an enormous number of spells, weapons, armor and potions, but there is nothing to get you excited or make you feel that the quest was worth it. It's an impressive game for the freedoms it offers, but it is extremely boring, repetitive and worst of all, NOT FUN.… Expand
  90. FranckD
    Jul 21, 2009
    3
    Mediocre. Beautifull but ordinary. Loosy combat system based on finger skill. You jaust have to press forward slash backward, sometime sidestep and bingo you ve gone trought all the game. The main quest is lousy and can be completed at lvl 2. Noone offer challenge due to the stupid system that let any of your ennemies ever your level. At least 50% of the classes are unplayable even going Mediocre. Beautifull but ordinary. Loosy combat system based on finger skill. You jaust have to press forward slash backward, sometime sidestep and bingo you ve gone trought all the game. The main quest is lousy and can be completed at lvl 2. Noone offer challenge due to the stupid system that let any of your ennemies ever your level. At least 50% of the classes are unplayable even going very slowly on combat since 90% of quests require bashing. Hail for the king Morrowind.… Expand
  91. AnonymousMC
    Nov 28, 2007
    3
    Do not believe the hype - Oblivion is an action game, NOT an RPG, and a rather poor one at that. The combat and the quests are boring, the writing is abysmal and the Radiant AI is completely retarded. The main quest will have you going from one corner to another of the world over and over again - you may enjoy the traveling for a while, but I'm sure you'll soon get bored andDo not believe the hype - Oblivion is an action game, NOT an RPG, and a rather poor one at that. The combat and the quests are boring, the writing is abysmal and the Radiant AI is completely retarded. The main quest will have you going from one corner to another of the world over and over again - you may enjoy the traveling for a while, but I'm sure you'll soon get bored and start using the fast travel option (which is also stupid - if the world were interesting enough, there would be no need for it). The side quests are mostly variants of Kill 10 Rats or Stalk a Boring NPC For Hours. I'm giving it a 3 for the pretty forests and modability (which, don't understand me wrong, can't save the game). You may enjoy this for a couple of days if you liked Diablo or Dark Messiah; if you're more of a Fallout/Torment or even Morrowind lover, stay the hell away from Oblivion.… Expand
  92. Malkiel
    Jun 23, 2011
    3
    Having Played Morrowind first and enjoying it a lot, I expected better from Oblivion. The game's killing flaws where 1) enemy scaling with the player making gaining levels pointless, because you do not see any increase in power and 2) lack of levitate (some storyline missions took a half hour longer to reach because I couldn't get up the bloody hill) When a particular bit of storylineHaving Played Morrowind first and enjoying it a lot, I expected better from Oblivion. The game's killing flaws where 1) enemy scaling with the player making gaining levels pointless, because you do not see any increase in power and 2) lack of levitate (some storyline missions took a half hour longer to reach because I couldn't get up the bloody hill) When a particular bit of storyline right by the end got repetitive, I said enough of this and decided I wasn't going back. (buddy playing on xbox at same time said I was ~2 hours from the end)
    Regarding the design choices about leveling: I read a number of things that suggest the true powergamer approach to this game is to stay _at level 1 or 2_ by never sleeping to avoid leveling up... this is not an ideal solution frankly.    … Expand
  93. Cauthon
    Dec 18, 2011
    3
    Oblivion offers a lot of good things on the surface; on the plus side theres a really big world to explore, the story is not linear, all the things we know and love from Morrowind or Fallout.

    Very unfortunately theres a lot of really big bummers especially for people who have been around the genre for a long time. At first glance the levelling system looks great, major skills leading to    Oblivion offers a lot of good things on the surface; on the plus side theres a really big world to explore, the story is not linear, all the things we know and love from Morrowind or Fallout.

    Very unfortunately theres a lot of really big bummers especially for people who have been around the genre for a long time. At first glance the levelling system looks great, major skills leading to increase of levelling in your chosen class? Damnit that´s awesome -> unfortunately they made the system broken in a way that attributes increase way slower for people who actually stick to their class and mainly use their major skills / chose their major skills and attributes according to their class and thusly giving advantages to people who deliberatly make their most important skills minor skills -> yeah way to go game designers: give the power gamers all the cookies and to hell with people who like to chose a character and actually "roleplay" it.
    This could have been easily avoided by just limiting everyones attribute increase while levelling to the same amount. (for people who haven´t played many RPGs so far: it means by chosing a warrior you should definetly not label any of your combat-oriented as major skills...otherwise you will level very quickly and your attributes increase way slower) This already hit me quite hard...but not hard enough to just deinstall ...

    well yeah...it´s not linear...all the very "creative" side-Quests and dungeons are just totally similar and offer no variation.

    Very disappointing. Could have been a really good one.
    Save your money if you liked the depth of Fallout and older games...go buy it if you like to show of really well-designed boosted chars and pretty shiny items achieved by bizarre and boring game-rape.    … Expand
  94. Belus
    Nov 13, 2013
    3
    Morrowind was very good, so I had great hopes for Oblivion.

    Unfortunately I was very disappointed. It is a dumbed down game, with less customization options and more an "action" feel than an "RPG" feel. It is very repetitive and there is very little atmosphere too. I enjoyed the game only until I understood that leveling up serves no purpose whatsoever. Level-scaling makes all the    Morrowind was very good, so I had great hopes for Oblivion.

    Unfortunately I was very disappointed. It is a dumbed down game, with less customization options and more an "action" feel than an "RPG" feel. It is very repetitive and there is very little atmosphere too.

    I enjoyed the game only until I understood that leveling up serves no purpose whatsoever. Level-scaling makes all the creatures in the game level up along with you. This is absolutely idiotic. It makes no sense whatsoever. Still trying to like it, I played more, and more, and more, but finally gave up trying to like it.

    After a wholehearted attempt to like this I have to say I didn't. This game is bad, and seems to be made not our of passion and love for RPGs, but out of love for money. Buy Morrowind instead.

    I am not even going to try Skyrim.    … Expand
  95. Stefan24601
    Sep 10, 2013
    3
    A big step down from Morrowind, its predecessor. Customization is limited--there is only one "best" armor, one "best" weapon, etc, so you ccan't choose yr character's look. Many doors can't be opened, many characters can't be killed, limiting the actual role-playing aspect of the game. The worst part is that everything in the game levels with you, enemies getting stronger and moreA big step down from Morrowind, its predecessor. Customization is limited--there is only one "best" armor, one "best" weapon, etc, so you ccan't choose yr character's look. Many doors can't be opened, many characters can't be killed, limiting the actual role-playing aspect of the game. The worst part is that everything in the game levels with you, enemies getting stronger and more numerous, and weapons getting better, so there is no sense of mystery in any of the dungeons, no hope of finding that powerful sword or item as there was in Morrowind. There is no incentive to level up at all. The plots are predictable (HINT: someone is going to betray and attack you at the end), and the characters ugly. There is little good to say except that the stealth/assassination aspect of the game is somewhat entertaining and the spell-making is fun.… Expand
  96. Anonymous_1
    Sep 12, 2014
    3
    Pros: N/A

    Cons: Hideously ugly faces on the people in the game; mediocre graphics by modern standards; terrible leveling system where all the enemies level with you; horrible and boring combat system. Score Breakdown: Game Stability 9/10, Background Story 5/10, Loading Screens and Frame Rate 5/10, Sound Effects and Music 4/10, Voice Acting 3/10, Graphics 3/10, Plot Development 2/10,    Pros: N/A

    Cons: Hideously ugly faces on the people in the game; mediocre graphics by modern standards; terrible leveling system where all the enemies level with you; horrible and boring combat system.

    Score Breakdown: Game Stability 9/10, Background Story 5/10, Loading Screens and Frame Rate 5/10, Sound Effects and Music 4/10, Voice Acting 3/10, Graphics 3/10, Plot Development 2/10, Realism 1/10, Gameplay 1/10, Replay Value 0/10, Total Score 3.3/10

    Conclusion: Skip Oblivion and play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim instead.    … Expand
  97. Voyou
    Jan 14, 2016
    3
    For a lively RPG world, play Gothic instead (the 2nd being my favourite). Or keep playing Morrowind if you like Morrowind: the exploration of the scenery was way cooler and surprising in Elder Scrolls 3.

    I'm not kidding. Oblivion continues the trend of quantity over quality. Of big is beautiful, when it so obviously is not. Just look at the ugliness of the massive imperial city, clearly    For a lively RPG world, play Gothic instead (the 2nd being my favourite). Or keep playing Morrowind if you like Morrowind: the exploration of the scenery was way cooler and surprising in Elder Scrolls 3.

    I'm not kidding. Oblivion continues the trend of quantity over quality. Of big is beautiful, when it so obviously is not. Just look at the ugliness of the massive imperial city, clearly designed by people who didn't grow up surrounded by ancient ruins and monuments. Nothing looks real about these walls. Nothing.

    There is some good in Oblivion, but largely outweighed by the bad, the worse and the pathetic. The excellent covers 2 things:
    - Character creation is well open; you can create and name your own class, based on the skills of your choice, which incidentally is exactly what I needed.
    - NPCs have their own conversations. It's basic but very effective.

    The good section isn't more crowded:
    - Pickpocketing is pleasant (despite the randomness and the save/load routine.)
    - NPCs give geographical indications. Again, it's basic but agreeable. It makes for a promising future.

    Let's adequately put the average in the middle section:
    - The world is vast, but pretty much empty and lifeless.Travelling is not dangerous like in other games. Villages have no charm and no soul. Ruins are nice the first time, until you realise it's all about cut n' paste. And then... there are loading screens between zones.
    - Automatic travel. I can't put it in the bad section since I'm not forced to use it, but it does remove the thrill of being lost and alone in the wilderness. Every other game does the teleportation thing much better by requiring an activation.
    - Touch 1 apple and every other object around will jump and roll. This would be in the bad section if the physics engine had any impact on the game.

    The bad section is by far the most populated:
    - The interface is ludicrous. As the top offender, the Escape key doesn't close windows. It doesn't affect the GUI and instead brings forth the game menu.
    - Quick Load isn't directly accessible when the game is paused. Oh, you do have the possibility to load... by calling the menu, but the quick key doesn't function and is specifically programmed to tell you that you can't quick load. Now rate that level of ridiculous on a scale of 0 to 10.
    - You can improve your skills in game by keeping a key pressed. Just wow.
    - There is no AI. What. So. E. Ver.
    - The map is tiny and virtually useless. No enlargement, no zoom, no markers, no common sense...
    - The bartering system is inane. It is also advantageous to sell your 250 arrows 1 by 1. I'm not kidding.
    - You have to play a childish mini-game before each NPC interaction to make sure you'll get all dialogue options and the best bargains. I'm still not kidding.
    - Everybody is the same. No, not kidding. Apart from their race, everybody has a similar ugly face, has a similar boring long name that won't stick, and speaks with 1 out of 3 or 4 voices. I can't identify anyone. Absolutely nobody is memorable.
    - Everything is randomised. Therefore, every action calls for a save/try/reload routine.
    - Seriously, even picking up a plant or a mushroom is randomised and can fail, who knows why. As a bonus if you will, a picked up plant doesn't disappear. That's how good the visual clues are.

    Don't think I'm done yet. Now comes the section of the truly pathetic:
    - Behold the worst lock-picking system of all times. Here, playing a thief is an ordeal. Or a deal-breaker.
    - There are no fences to sell your stolen goods to, therefore there is no point in thieving. I'm slightly exaggerating, since you'll have access to fences if you go to the one place in the so-called immense world to do the one thing that will connect you with the so ever-present, so American, and so absurd concept of a thieves guild, but I would argue that this forced path makes it even worse.
    - Level scaling. I think that's what it's called. It's the retarded notion that the world improves every time you improve, so as to remove any sense of immersion, emotion, strategy, accomplishment, fun, motivation, and whatnot.
    - Somehow in the same vein, here is yet another example of how dreadfully the game is designed: Improving your alchemy adds negative effects to your ingredients. As a corollary, a poisonous plant will kill you when ingested, but only if you know it's poisonous, otherwise it is harmless. For the last time, I am not kidding.    … Expand
  98. DanielO.
    Jul 6, 2006
    2
    Atrociously bad game. i was real disappointed.
  99. g
    Sep 10, 2008
    2
    I can't understand all the 10/10 ratings here. Quests and caves are more interesting than that of Morrowind, but that's where the good parts end. Boring samey world, boring characters, boring story, boring combat and utterly terrible levelling system. Graphics are ok but I suspect they were toned down for actual release to run better on lower end PCs - it takes a while to edit I can't understand all the 10/10 ratings here. Quests and caves are more interesting than that of Morrowind, but that's where the good parts end. Boring samey world, boring characters, boring story, boring combat and utterly terrible levelling system. Graphics are ok but I suspect they were toned down for actual release to run better on lower end PCs - it takes a while to edit the various files and install mods to get it looking great again. Radiant AI is hilariously broken and basically offers the only entertainment this game has to offer, apart from maybe the Dark Brotherhood missions. It's bizarre that they hired Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean to do voices (although both are underused and mostly uninteresting) then hired about three more to do every other voice in the game. Despite all the assurances I'm pretty sure Fallout 3 is gonna end up a massive disappointment for pretty much the same reasons - Bethesda just haven't a clue on how to make a truly engaging and interesting RPG.… Expand
  100. SHODAN
    Nov 10, 2007
    2
    Big, blunt vapid world inhabited by simple and shallow characters. Cliche, repetitive plot with no deep or subtle meaning. The game is shiny, but the actual design is poor. Once the bloom fades it can be seen for what it really is: totally uninspiring fast food for the masses.
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best PC Game of 2006
2
#2 Most Discussed PC Game of 2006
2
#2 Most Shared PC Game of 2006

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
94

Universal acclaim - based on 54 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 54
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 54
  3. Negative: 0 out of 54
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    100
    It’s just so damned big. That’s what you’ll say after playing Oblivion for more than an hour. Or, for that matter, 50 hours.
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  2. Game Over Online
    96
    Oblivion is by far the closest I have come to playing D&D Sunday afternoons with my friends (yes, I did that, though I’m on medication now), all wrapped up in a stunning package with tens of thousands of lines of spoken dialog and good music.
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  3. Quandary
    100
    I honestly have to say that I am in favour of most of the changes and I think Oblivion is an awesome achievement from Bethesda.
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