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. DarkEnergon
    Jan 19, 2012
    10
    The sheer scope of Oblivion is nearly incomprehensible, both in the size of the world itself (Cyrodil or Tamriel? Never quite found out) and in the number of side quests and detailed characters on offer everywhere you go, it's the type of game where you can just march off into the sunset and simply stumble upon adventure, of course your successful free-lance adventuring depends upon you'reThe sheer scope of Oblivion is nearly incomprehensible, both in the size of the world itself (Cyrodil or Tamriel? Never quite found out) and in the number of side quests and detailed characters on offer everywhere you go, it's the type of game where you can just march off into the sunset and simply stumble upon adventure, of course your successful free-lance adventuring depends upon you're character being strong enough to deal with the foes you encounter, but that's the same with every RPG, only, they have the sense to fence off areas you aren't ready for, nonetheless I appreciate the unencumbered freedom Oblivion provides. Two flaws to address: 1) The ratio of becoming stronger : main story progression is nowhere near 1:1, and once I reached the point of going around and closing every oblivion gate in the game, I found I had to save before every armoured enemy because I was obliterated at almost every encounter without fail, and this is even including the vast amount of side quests i'd achieved, you'd think that much grinding would give me at least some advantage over my average foe. I'm not saying challenge is a bad thing, you just need to look at games like Pokemon where you can raise six pokemon through the entire game keeping them at equal levels the entire time and still not loose a single match, but coming from that to dying every time I so much as make eye contact with a fireman was too much of a jump. 2) The six different voice actors Bethesda hired to distribute amongst hundreds of npcs really destroy any sense of immersion, oh, and the speech-craft mini-game? I'd rather eat my own dick.
    Regardless, this is an incredible, one-of-a-kind game, and were it not for the fact that I'm a busy guy with a lot of **** to do, i'm sure that I would've reached the end of the main quest, but considering the point where I quit was 68 hours in, this game has to be doing something...in fact, several things right    … Expand
  2. gonorrheahd
    Jan 11, 2012
    10
    This game is a revolution to the RPG community, yeah it had some glitches an bugs but most of those were funny and didnt stop you from playing. This game took 500+ hours away from my life because I love this game, it immerses you and makes you feel like your in your characters shoes, yes oblivion was dumbed down a bit from morrowind but morrowind doesnt grasp you the same way, the uniqeThis game is a revolution to the RPG community, yeah it had some glitches an bugs but most of those were funny and didnt stop you from playing. This game took 500+ hours away from my life because I love this game, it immerses you and makes you feel like your in your characters shoes, yes oblivion was dumbed down a bit from morrowind but morrowind doesnt grasp you the same way, the uniqe land design and just the way the world has such history it is great. I thought I was done playing this game after 500+ hours, but I found myself going back to it today, I bought it again for PC and I started a new account and I still haven't lost the lore that this game provided me the day I discovered it, and yes I still remember my first time playing it was AMAZING. This game is an oldy but a goody if you haven't tried it I would recommend you give it a shot its worth throwing 25 bucks out on steam for all the expansions because this game will keep you sated for months to come, now back to Cyrodiil!… Expand
  3. Ztride
    Dec 21, 2011
    8
    Today (2011) this is essentially a lesser version of Skyrim, altough the story of certain questlines are much more interesting and far longer in terms of content. When it came 2006 is was a huge step from Morrowind, and while Oblivion has a lot of content, as with any bethesda game, the general gameplay (combat) is quite dull.
  4. Loffruin
    Feb 10, 2012
    10
    This game is one of the best RPG games I have ever played. Although it's age may seem a bit of a put down, don't let it turn you away from one of the best games on steam. At a average price of $25 you can get your hands on the original game plus all of the DLC including, The Shivering Isles. With hundreds of hours of entertaining gameplay you can go anywhere, do almost anything, and evenThis game is one of the best RPG games I have ever played. Although it's age may seem a bit of a put down, don't let it turn you away from one of the best games on steam. At a average price of $25 you can get your hands on the original game plus all of the DLC including, The Shivering Isles. With hundreds of hours of entertaining gameplay you can go anywhere, do almost anything, and even get the advantage of using the console to use some hacks. I don't recommend this unless you are just doing it for fun, as it takes away from the rich story line. Even if you don't do the main story line, you can still level up fairly often and have fun doing fun side quests. You could join the Dark Brotherhood, join a fighter's or mage's guild or just explore this vast land that Bethesda has made for us to enjoy. Every game has a downside though although this one doesn't have many. There aren't many glitches, but sometimes the NPCs will have a strange reaction to something you do, and say something that isn't even relevant or the music might awkwardly change to a fight song. These are very excusable and don't take too much from the game. Another pet peve of mine is the zoom on the face. When you engage in a conversation, the camera zooms in just so you can see the person's face, none of the surronding items which I don't like. Overall, this game should get a 99/100. That one point is from the face zoom. Other than that, this game could easily compete with Skyrim or any other popular RPG game. Buy this game today and enjoy it. NOTE: The only reason this game is rated M for mature is because of some user-made mods. This game should be rated T for teen in my opinion. : )… Expand
  5. spartan-117
    Sep 28, 2010
    10
    Unique.It opened a new rpg era.Precursor of Fallout 3 and The Precursors.Huge.Masive game play options.Free world.You can do whatever you like.Huge array of items.Many NPC's.To short main story.But Brilliant.There's much..much more to say but i have to write down about 70 pages to finish it.Wonderfull.10+
  6. Dethstar
    May 17, 2011
    9
    This was the game that made me finally drop my xbox and buy a decent pc some years ago. I have been modding and enjoying Oblivion ever since and still manage to add fresh new content. This was the ultimate world builder and gaming experience. Since then its costs me thousands in constantly buying and upgrading my PC but if I consider the entertainment I have had out of it and theThis was the game that made me finally drop my xbox and buy a decent pc some years ago. I have been modding and enjoying Oblivion ever since and still manage to add fresh new content. This was the ultimate world builder and gaming experience. Since then its costs me thousands in constantly buying and upgrading my PC but if I consider the entertainment I have had out of it and the hours of fun I have had in Cyrodil. Its been money well spent.… Expand
  7. 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
  8. J.S.
    Mar 30, 2006
    10
    If I could give it an 11 then I would. I would then subtract a point for Bethesda not fronting these guys some more testers. Awesome job can't wait for the patch!
  9. JonG.
    May 28, 2009
    10
    As I write this, Oblivion has an average user rating of 7.5. That in and of itself is an absolute travisty. This is a great game. What more do you low raters want? You want the game designers to come to your house and stand on their heads for you? An enormous amount of great content was packed into this game. Also, it has an excellent modding community that is constantly changing every As I write this, Oblivion has an average user rating of 7.5. That in and of itself is an absolute travisty. This is a great game. What more do you low raters want? You want the game designers to come to your house and stand on their heads for you? An enormous amount of great content was packed into this game. Also, it has an excellent modding community that is constantly changing every aspect of the game - keeping it fresh (for free!). You can get this game for $20 now and have $2000 worth of content after a few hours online.… Expand
  10. GabrieleAccurso
    Dec 23, 2008
    10
    AH Oblivion! The best rpg of all time (i havn't played with morrowind) come out in year 2006 i have played it all year 2007 (all 1 year) the best graphics before crysis. Simply immense, freedom and fantasy style incredible, kinds and kinds of everything... the next generation of RPG!
  11. SuperMan
    Dec 24, 2009
    10
    Severely underrated game. Graphics and physics and still fast and responsive.
  12. TheMitherer
    Sep 30, 2011
    8
    I can really do without a game telling me on screen that I've reached the entrance to a cave when I'm stood 1 foot away from said entrance. A game where levelling up seems more than a bit pointless. A game where I'm thinking 'why don't they get the guards to do this quest - they're obviously more capable'. A game which threw away many of the great things that its predecessor had. But II can really do without a game telling me on screen that I've reached the entrance to a cave when I'm stood 1 foot away from said entrance. A game where levelling up seems more than a bit pointless. A game where I'm thinking 'why don't they get the guards to do this quest - they're obviously more capable'. A game which threw away many of the great things that its predecessor had. But I can't honestly give this game less than an 8. It's entertaining, engaging and has some replayability and if it grabs you, you will probably spend a lot of time with it. Personally, I found it a lot more enjoyable when I finished the game at level 8 as opposed to level 24., which says it all about the levelling system. Still, at today's prices I would consider it a great buy.… Expand
  13. DanMan3395
    Jul 4, 2011
    10
    revolutionary game that sets the bar so high for open world RPG's that it probably wont be beat by any game except its own sequel. A HUGE open world that has a life of its own. You can take almost any action you can think of. Combat is VASTLY improved compared to morrowind and is much more fun. This is as close to the perfect game as it gets.
  14. Zoronii
    Jul 13, 2011
    9
    Oblivion is a great game, but has some sizable setbacks. Gameplay is solid and something you can get easily hooked on. The quests, while moderately unoriginal, are presented in a unique way. Unfortunately, combat is smooth but almost too hard, and the leveling system is flawed and may level you faster than you can keep up. In addition to the flawed leveling system, most new players willOblivion is a great game, but has some sizable setbacks. Gameplay is solid and something you can get easily hooked on. The quests, while moderately unoriginal, are presented in a unique way. Unfortunately, combat is smooth but almost too hard, and the leveling system is flawed and may level you faster than you can keep up. In addition to the flawed leveling system, most new players will have no idea what they're doing, as it doesn't tell you what specializing in a skill will do. Overall, the minor flaws can be overlooked by great overall gameplay, and this is a worthwhile game.… Expand
  15. Schlafanzug
    Oct 13, 2011
    10
    First, I felt Bethesda improved greatly on the flow of the game. In Morrowind the combat was boring and for a long time (until you leveled your weapon skills) you would miss about 75% of attacks. Oblivion has the Dual combat system to where you can cast spells and melee with out pressing a button to switch between modes. Dialog is this game isn't the best but if you get past the similarFirst, I felt Bethesda improved greatly on the flow of the game. In Morrowind the combat was boring and for a long time (until you leveled your weapon skills) you would miss about 75% of attacks. Oblivion has the Dual combat system to where you can cast spells and melee with out pressing a button to switch between modes. Dialog is this game isn't the best but if you get past the similar voice acting, bethesda gives characters interresting and unique phrases and comments. With a 16 sq Mile map, Hundreds upon Hundreds of side quests, a Fun and intence storyline, Great DLC, Huge cities, Beautiful Environments, Diverse and Rewarding Areas ( Dungeons, caves, Keeps, Ruins, and Oblivion gates), and Tons of fun activities to do (arena, Make spells, enchant, and make potions). This game has everything a RPG play wants. Oblivion dishes out hundreds of hours of gameplay and Is one of those games you play when you're bored of everything else. THIS GAME IS Probably if not the best RPG out there. And yes i have played Morrowind ( lots of time on it ) and dozen of other RPGs and MMOs This the best your going to find out there. btw Looking forward to Skyrim ( hope its not a disappointment like Fallout New Vegas was(Fallout 3 is sooooooo much better)).… Expand
  16. Luke
    Mar 10, 2006
    10
    Are you kidding me if anyone gave this game a lower score then at 10 out of 10 they r nuts its just like morowind with a major graphicall over-hall. This game actualy has a physics engine and its over 100 hrs of gameplay which means ill never finish this one just like i never finished morrowind but at least ill have the time of my life plain it
  17. RaghaB.
    Mar 29, 2010
    7
    I love this argument in the PC community about how games are "dumbed down for consoles." Now i'm sure that this argument works for other games, i dont know im relatively new to PC gaming. What I do know is that it does not work for TES games. Remember Morrowind guys? Yeah it came out on the X-box also. On to Oblivion. Being a huge Morrowind fan i was disappointed with Oblivion. While I love this argument in the PC community about how games are "dumbed down for consoles." Now i'm sure that this argument works for other games, i dont know im relatively new to PC gaming. What I do know is that it does not work for TES games. Remember Morrowind guys? Yeah it came out on the X-box also. On to Oblivion. Being a huge Morrowind fan i was disappointed with Oblivion. While the graphics are better (even on my lower end PC) The addition of the Quick Jump makes the world seem MUCH smaller than that of Morrowind. And the main story line is very repetitive. After what felt like the twentieth Oblivion Gate I said forget it and moved on...until i caught Vampirism and gave up all together. I can still pick up morrowind and play for hours but Oblivion was barely aboe to hold my attension for more than a few hours. The combat system upgrades (spell button FTW!!) and the shinnier graphics do not make up for the fact that Oblivion is not as good as its predecessor. If only Bethesda wold release a patch moving Morrowind into Oblivion's graphics and controls. That would be the perfect game. But hey dreamers can only Dream. Overall its a good game, There are just a few things missing from it that should have been kept in the game. Hopefully Bethesda learns from their mistakes and delvers an epic TES:V.… Expand
  18. JudgeMental
    Sep 4, 2010
    8
    I wrote one review for this on the 360 already, but tragicly forgot to mention one of the reasons I love this game so much. The expansion Shivering Isles is the single most enjoyable DLC I have ever played. Period. It's a wonderful, twisted, gripping expansion. I could take or leave Knights of the Nine, but the Shivering Isle was epic.
  19. DrCola
    Nov 19, 2011
    8
    So long as you dont know about the level scaling system untill youve poured your life into this thing you will be fine. Its true. The elder scrolls provide a universe that makes you forget the bugs, forget the level scaling issues, forget what small problems persist, its all an amazing expierience, but oblivion is probablly the worst elder scrolls game by far.
  20. Seamus25
    Dec 15, 2010
    9
    Fantastic Game. The freedom we have to mount classes , magics and our own alternative paths and quests in the game are really unique. Plus , instead of other famous RPG like games, it brings us the experience of good first person combat.
  21. 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
  22. Tarkin
    Dec 16, 2011
    9
    A bit overhyped, but actually quite good in my opinion. Yes it has its flaws - level scaling, UI, animations are silly, main story is quite cheap, atmosphere still not as good as Morrowind etc. Yet still the world is unbelievably huge and very well made. It requires a special approach to this game to fully enjoy it, but it is worth it.
  23. Athandel
    Nov 21, 2011
    9
    The world of Oblivion is a seemingly live one. Mountains, caves, and a copious amount of missions would keep anyone busy for hours on end. The sheer beauty of this game is sometimes overshadowed by repetitive voice acting and boring level design; there is no denying the brilliance that comes from looking at the night sky while Jeremy Soule's soundtrack plays in your headphones.
  24. TexasGamer
    Nov 30, 2011
    9
    Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is what an RPG should be - compelling story plot, tons of side quest and a large open world to explore. The automatic leveling system leaves something to be desired. But then again, the more you use certain skills, the better you should get at those skills. The graphics leave something to be desired, but eye candy does not make a game great.
  25. Biokiipper
    Sep 9, 2012
    10
    Amazing game. The plot is nice, nothing we didn't see before, but the freedom of gameplay is something inredible. Your actions really matter and the consequences of yours actions cannot go away. A failed quest iss a failed quest and got its repercussions. Somethings you just can't do, because of class limits. Graphics are outdated, but still very beautiful, and they can be upgraded withAmazing game. The plot is nice, nothing we didn't see before, but the freedom of gameplay is something inredible. Your actions really matter and the consequences of yours actions cannot go away. A failed quest iss a failed quest and got its repercussions. Somethings you just can't do, because of class limits. Graphics are outdated, but still very beautiful, and they can be upgraded with mods. Talking about mods, find some you like from the tons available and that will make you play it for an entire year without repetition. Good deal indeed.… Expand
  26. Sunfire
    May 24, 2014
    10
    Really awesome,unique RPG game with interesting stories and quests.
    It has great story,graphics,this game can kep you entertained for many many hours.
    And of course,the Expansions,and the moddability launches the game in the sky!
  27. 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
  28. Heroixx
    Jul 16, 2015
    10
    Don't compare this game to Skyrim. It's unique, especially for the time it was released. Magnificent world, great storyline, absolutely fantastic soundtrack: this game has it all.
  29. 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
  30. EsquireIII
    May 15, 2011
    7
    This game stole what little life I already had. It's incredibly fun. Randomly exploring caves and ruins never gets boring, though I do admit, I had to start using console commands to close down Oblivion Gates because I just couldn't take doing the same map I had already done a million times before. Another small complaint I have and that I've heard a lot of is that Oblivion doesn't captureThis game stole what little life I already had. It's incredibly fun. Randomly exploring caves and ruins never gets boring, though I do admit, I had to start using console commands to close down Oblivion Gates because I just couldn't take doing the same map I had already done a million times before. Another small complaint I have and that I've heard a lot of is that Oblivion doesn't capture Morrowind's atmosphere. I haven't played Morrowind much yet, but after playing hours upon hours of Oblivion and stepping of the boat in the very beginning to see a massive insect that, come to find out, was used for transportation made the game feel very alien. Oblivion's atmosphere is indeed more of a generic sort of feel, but there are definitely improvements over a few problems I noticed with Morrowind despite how little I played of it. First of all, combat feels much more smooth, and when you hit an enemy, you actually hit them, rather than using stats to determine your hit chance. In addition, the combat just feels smoother, with the ability to block at will rather than using the block skill to determine the chance of blocking. My biggest Morrowind annoyance is how slowly you moved at the beginning of the game. Being a rather impatient person, that gets kind of old. Oblivion definitely fixed this problem. A change from Morrowind that I think is for the worse is the horrible leveling system. Enemies level up with you, and subsequently, so does their loot. It tends to ruin the realism quite a bit (how do so many bandits find full sets of Daedric armor?) and generally makes the game get harder as you level up, unless you micromanage your skill growth to obtain the maximum boost from each level, which is incredibly annoying and just plain tiresome. On the good side of the game, the world is massive. There are hundreds of locations to discover, many of which have a quest assigned to them. There are also quite a lot of joinable factions. Not as many as Morrowind, I've heard, but still a good amount, ranging from the magic oriented Mages Guild, to the combat oriented Fighters Guild, and the stealth oriented Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood. Each offers a very different experience and all are worth joining, even if you don't really focus on that particular stat (heck, I was a thief and I still became one of the top ranking members of the Mage's Guild). Spell casting tends to be a bit on the weak side when it comes to buffs, many lasting as little as 10 seconds before needing to be recast and the spell making is more limited that many would like it to be. The spell animations tend to be a bit bland after a while, using the same effects for each spell for the most part (for example, a strong fire spell will look the exact same as a weak fire spell. At least prior to impact). I personally do not like the music in Oblivion, though the songs can easily be changed by replacing the files in your music folder. The main story quest is fairly interesting, though I find it hard to play more than once. Even if you don't enjoy the story, the lore still provides an interesting feel to the world you Overall, Oblivion is a huge game with a very nice combat system, a huge world for you to explore, many NPCs to populate it. Finally, though I'm not counting this towards the score of my review, it is definitely worth mentioning that there are a HUGE number of modifications available for Oblivion, improving upon many problems I've mentioned here (like the shoddy magic system and broken leveling) as well as a few I didn't. There are many to improve performance and stability of your game if your computer can't handle the graphics, while others add in various content (homes, weapons, armor, the things you might expect). As a last word. whether or not you use a few mods or a lot of mods or just avoid mods altogether, Oblivion is definitely a game you should pick up regardless of what console you want it for (though if you want mods, the PC is the best console to go with).… Expand
  31. B1C_BO1
    Nov 23, 2011
    10
    I am serious gamer, and for me to have spent 7200+ hours on one game, it must mean that this game is completely perfect. The voice acting is spot on, with all 12 voice actors for the entire game performing perfectly. The animations like combat, speaking and running are all so lifleike, it felt like i was actually in the world of Cyrodill. I recommend this game for casual gamers, seriousI am serious gamer, and for me to have spent 7200+ hours on one game, it must mean that this game is completely perfect. The voice acting is spot on, with all 12 voice actors for the entire game performing perfectly. The animations like combat, speaking and running are all so lifleike, it felt like i was actually in the world of Cyrodill. I recommend this game for casual gamers, serious gamers, posers, people posing to be a poser, kids and beginners, 10/10… Expand
  32. StephenS.
    Dec 9, 2009
    10
    I can honestly say that this is my favorite game possibly created. Amazing graphics and game play, so many possibilities of character creation and everything is reflected on what you do in the game play world. If this was Co-op there would be no other game that could compete with this...
  33. NikitaG
    Jun 19, 2009
    10
    This game is arguably the best game I have ever played in my life. The graphics are amazing, there are many revolutionary features, such as the voice overs, but the thing that really won me over was the depth. I bought this game in 2006, and I still play it today. Unmodded, the game has so much content its just mind blowing, and with along with mods, this game could easily last you This game is arguably the best game I have ever played in my life. The graphics are amazing, there are many revolutionary features, such as the voice overs, but the thing that really won me over was the depth. I bought this game in 2006, and I still play it today. Unmodded, the game has so much content its just mind blowing, and with along with mods, this game could easily last you several years. I have noticed that most people either love this game, or hate it. Oblivion's nonlinear and lack of 'in your face' action makes it boring for some people. But you owe it to yourself, give it a try if you have not.… Expand
  34. DavidM
    Jun 23, 2009
    10
    Unmodded the game became tedious with the scaling levling system and I quickly put it down. Months later I modded out the scaling and over 100 hours of play.
  35. EthanKunz
    Jul 28, 2009
    10
    This is probably the best game I've ever played, and I've played them all. While it has some minor flaws in npcs, it makes up for this in almost every other way. What really added to the game for me were the mods that hardcore gamers have been coming up with. I'm still playing it!
  36. MikeM
    Jul 6, 2009
    10
    Amazing game. In order to fully appreciate it though you must have the game for the PC. The mod community is enormous and some mod creators are awesomely talented. 10 out of 10.
  37. LeviA.
    Sep 22, 2009
    10
    This is the best game I have ever played. Ignore the whiny little kids with poor grammar skills that rated it low. They probably played it for about 20 minutes before stopping. The game may also require somewhat of an imagination too play. I have had this game for 4 years and still haven't completed the main quest and I still play it once every week. It is the best game ever made.
  38. BrandonL
    Jan 17, 2010
    10
    The game is simply amazing from start to beginning. Most of the people that rated this game a 0 had never beat the game. People say the leveling system is flawed, It makes it so you don't have to worry about running into a highend area or a lowend area. you are access new gear at higher levels and New weapons. If you never level in this game you will be missing out on everything in The game is simply amazing from start to beginning. Most of the people that rated this game a 0 had never beat the game. People say the leveling system is flawed, It makes it so you don't have to worry about running into a highend area or a lowend area. you are access new gear at higher levels and New weapons. If you never level in this game you will be missing out on everything in the game, well just about..... The combat system is very simple, you can learn new melee moves and spells are a breeze to use. Character customization is very large and creating your own class is a very interesting thing to use. Basically the sky is the limit in this game. Make your own spells and weapons with special abilites. Monsters play very much like you and everything they wear u can take which i really dig that. Quests are very very deep and not just a simple kill this and kill that. the AI plays very well and play similar to you. There is no shortage of things to do. I mean you can beat the game and hundreds and hundreds of quests. Difficulty can be adjusted. The game is user friendly and isn't difficult at all. Works perfectly on a console. It plays unlike any other RPG out there right now, besides fallout of course. PEOPLE WHO GIVE THIS GAME A 0/10 REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT MAKES A GOOD RPG A GOOD RPG!!! this game is amazing, graphics, voice acting, enviroment, combat system are all perfected and are amazing.… Expand
  39. EE
    Nov 18, 2009
    10
    Oblivion is an amazing game that lives up to the expectations set down by bethesda's other games such as morrowind and Fallout 3. Amazing graphics, wonderful performance, and hours of great fun. And when you finish with the game, just install a few mods and it is new again! Completely worth $50.
  40. JohnB
    Oct 12, 2009
    7
    The game has a lot of content and enviroments are beautiful. Unfortunately there are some serious flaws. All the npc- characters in the game are ass ugly, generic and they act like robots. There are only adults in the game, and no one has a beard. I'm glad that they didn't include dwarves in this game since they too would propably be as tall as anyone and without beard. The The game has a lot of content and enviroments are beautiful. Unfortunately there are some serious flaws. All the npc- characters in the game are ass ugly, generic and they act like robots. There are only adults in the game, and no one has a beard. I'm glad that they didn't include dwarves in this game since they too would propably be as tall as anyone and without beard. The voice acting is mostly horrendous, and there are 2 or 3 music tracks in the whole game.… Expand
  41. RadekK
    Dec 20, 2009
    10
    A little easier and simpler than Morrowind, but I gave 10. I hope that next Elder Scrolls V will be even better.
  42. Valknaz
    Oct 28, 2010
    10
    An excellent game, my favorite RPG of all time and perhaps my favorite game.
    I'll try to keep this as short and to the point as possible:
    Pros -Vast and varied world. Those who say it is repetitive honestly have not played the game. There are Jungles, woods, plains and so on. An example of the vastness of the world is emerging from the sewers in the beginning of the game and seeing a    An excellent game, my favorite RPG of all time and perhaps my favorite game.
    I'll try to keep this as short and to the point as possible:
    Pros
    -Vast and varied world. Those who say it is repetitive honestly have not played the game. There are Jungles, woods, plains and so on. An example of the vastness of the world is emerging from the sewers in the beginning of the game and seeing a snow-peaked mountain far off in the distance. You can go to the top of this mountain. Along the way you may run into a wolf, an ogre, or a friendly Orc living in a well appointed manner.

    -The awesome questing system. There are literally hundreds of hours of quests to be found here, all interesting. Whether it's climbing the ranks in the sinister Dark Brotherhood, fighting Mehrunes Dagon, or sorting out a crooked merchant you will be entertained for hours.

    -Finally, the graphics and gameplay were amazing for its time. They still look very good unmodded, but modded (specifically with Qarl's texture pack) it looks absolutely amazing. The gameplay is fun, the swordplay is simple but not repetitive, and the magic is entertaining.

    Theres are several negatives to this, none of which prevent it from being a 10, but still are worth being mentioned.

    -Voice actors. They used (for some obtuse reason) a very small group of voice actors. The voices do become repetitive.

    -Dialog system is iffy. Kind of strange

    Overall an excellent game. Highly recommend the PC version to anyone who enjoys RPGs or who wants to try something other than Call of Duty.    … Expand
  43. 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
  44. hacko
    Dec 15, 2011
    10
    This is a rare and remarkable achievement--a huge, open-ended, complex, detailed role-playing game that's fun to play and a pleasure to behold. Oblivion not only delivers everything that earned the Elder Scrolls series the devoted loyalty of a huge following of fans, but also significantly improves on the weaknesses of its 2002 predecessor, Morrowind. Morrowind earned recognition for beingThis is a rare and remarkable achievement--a huge, open-ended, complex, detailed role-playing game that's fun to play and a pleasure to behold. Oblivion not only delivers everything that earned the Elder Scrolls series the devoted loyalty of a huge following of fans, but also significantly improves on the weaknesses of its 2002 predecessor, Morrowind. Morrowind earned recognition for being one of the best role-playing games in years, but the immersive and long-lasting experience it provided wasn't for everyone. Oblivion is hands-down better, so much so that even those who'd normally have no interest in a role-playing game should find it hard to resist getting swept up in this big, beautiful, meticulously crafted world.… Expand
  45. Kronox
    Dec 1, 2009
    10
    Not even gonna speak long on this game, its virtues are obvious. This is an instant classic and a must own on whatever platform you play. Anyone who thinks this is a bad game simply hasn't a clue as to what a good game is and their review is worthless.
  46. Brumbek
    Jul 2, 2011
    10
    Where to begin, Oblivion is one of the best games ever created. The joy of exploring a huge open fantasy world is just delicious indeed. Plus Oblivion is very accessible for all you "dumbed-down" types. Be sure to download the essential mods (50+ of those, 4 being my mods, hehe) to create the most awesome open-world RPG ever. Another must play. Don't talk to me about RPGs until you play this.
  47. snowshreder
    Jul 5, 2011
    10
    Well what can i say that everyone hasn't Morrowind (Oblivion) is One of the most complex games out there it may be outdated on Graphics but it surpasses most if not all other Role Playing Games on the market when it comes to a big world with almost endless quests and more gear then you can think of. Great game i cant wait until Skyrim comes out to set the new Standard on Role Playing Games.
  48. luveykat
    Aug 22, 2011
    10
    This is a fantastic game with so much replay value. It is a HUGE improvement over the previous ES game, compared to Morrowind it's 100% better. Amazing main storyline, great voice acting, amazing guild quests and many, many great side quests. This game has kept me entertained for literally hundreds of hours. I've had it bug out a few times but after I removed all my mods andThis is a fantastic game with so much replay value. It is a HUGE improvement over the previous ES game, compared to Morrowind it's 100% better. Amazing main storyline, great voice acting, amazing guild quests and many, many great side quests. This game has kept me entertained for literally hundreds of hours. I've had it bug out a few times but after I removed all my mods and reinstalled it played perfectly so i think it was the mods that were screwing it up (which makes me sad because there's a plethora of really cool mods for this game too). So far in playing the un-modded and officially patched game I've run across no bugs whatsoever so I'm not sure what all the complaining is about.… Expand
  49. 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
  50. Loler13gr
    Jul 9, 2012
    10
    My personal favourite... The best game I've ever played and I still play... Amazing felling and great gameplay despite the few bugs and glitches in it. After having played more than 100 houres of the game I still have things to do... A great advantage is also the MODING community which adds new cool stuf even now!! Simply AMAZING!!
  51. 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
  52. Kaizoku2793
    Mar 17, 2011
    10
    Oblivion is the greatest game I have ever played. The graphics increase the standards for all future games. It will be a long time till any game beats this and that game will probably be Elder Scrolls V.
  53. 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
  54. LordSeferoth
    Dec 30, 2011
    10
    One of the best games ever created. Massive world,massive amount of customization,amazing graphics, beautiful soundtrack and touching story makes Oblivion an experience of lifetime. Oblivion improves everything from Morrowind. Get ready to lose your social life!
  55. 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
  56. kungfucat196
    Mar 21, 2010
    7
    My real vote would be 8.4 Ok lets get it started, the gra[hics were good for 2006, its alright. What makes the force of the game is the realism, EVERY but EVERY actions in the game will have an effect on the other AI surrounding you and there is a multitudes of ways to do the scenario, the world is deep and well made, a lot of efforts were put in, but it stops there. The AI is not good at My real vote would be 8.4 Ok lets get it started, the gra[hics were good for 2006, its alright. What makes the force of the game is the realism, EVERY but EVERY actions in the game will have an effect on the other AI surrounding you and there is a multitudes of ways to do the scenario, the world is deep and well made, a lot of efforts were put in, but it stops there. The AI is not good at all, a supplementary 3 month wouldn't have been too much for the game to fix the AI problems and the Glitches. Also, RTS games are my favorite, and i like wen im immerge in the story, like i was in Dragon age: origins or Kotor. The broken AI and universe dosen't help. You can do whatever you want, there is exacly NO LIMITS, a lot pf players are just playing this game for its mods, but i do not know some1 excepted me who alredy beated this game. too much limit is not good, but not enough too. All those facts dosen't immerse you in the story, well, it didn't for me. I had to force myself to finish this game. I didn't like this game, i gave a 7.5 for all the efforts they putted in and to respect those who liked that, but its not a game for amators of games like Kotor, mass effect and dragon age.… Expand
  57. ChristianS.
    Dec 1, 2007
    10
    The graphics of this game is outstanding. the quests is intense. the bugs bring it down, but the mods stand up for that mistake. this game has many of quests. there is 100s of hours of gameplay and you can roam around and get alot of good items.
  58. syrik
    Nov 20, 2011
    7
    Picked this up on a recent Steam sale. I had Morrowind on xbox when it came out but I never got into it. It seemed extremely boring and long to get into. Well, years later Oblivion is also extremely long to get into and boring at the beginning, but it sure is worth it. This game is detail on a scale that no other game even approaches much less achieves. From random books scatteredPicked this up on a recent Steam sale. I had Morrowind on xbox when it came out but I never got into it. It seemed extremely boring and long to get into. Well, years later Oblivion is also extremely long to get into and boring at the beginning, but it sure is worth it. This game is detail on a scale that no other game even approaches much less achieves. From random books scattered around the world (that are actually written and can all be read) to thousands of things, just things, strewn all over the place. Each one realized on a scale that makes it almost impossible not to get lost in this game. Imagine taking about a 50 mile square of land in the real world with all the trees, houses, roads, people, animals, water, weather, everything and sticking all of that into a game. That's Oblivion. Houses fully detailed inside and out, random junk that is actually relevant and non-repetitive like people really have. If you want to know what this place you're standing looks like from that mountain top over yonder, hike up the mountain and take a look. You can. In fact, you can basically do anything you want any way you want. It's the most freedom in a game, ever. Period. (notwithstanding other Elder Scrolls games of course) Want to be a spell casting rogue that pick pockets and hides in the shadows? OK. Wanna be a ranger that also swings a gigantic mace? OK. Wanna be a warrior but in leather armor and summoning undead? OK. Whatever you want, there's a way to do it. The game is huge, I'm talking HUGE. Think WoW without the subscription and they probably have about the same content (except this is one release with some xpac content and WoW is constantly updated for the last 7 years). There is a good enjoyable story packed in between all the other side quests and random places to explore also. It's the whole package. This game would easily warrant a perfect 10, except it's not perfect. Unfortunately Bethesda, in all their creative genius, weren't very good at squashing bugs. This game came out in 2006 and despite multiple official patches and DLC content for sale there are literally thousands of bugs in the game they never bothered to fix. The game is so popular that its very talented and committed fan base has created their own mods that patch the game for you correcting many of these bugs, but they shouldn't have to. Bethesda made the money off the game, not the fans, they should be the ones fixing it. So, 7/10 because buggy games deserve ZEROES, but this game really is awesome.… Expand
  59. Matseb2611
    May 22, 2011
    9
    Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is fun, engaging and consuming, but its main drawback is that it's pretty repetitive. The game takes place in a vast country, containing 9 cities, and many villages, caves, forts and other landmarks. The landscapes are stunning, eye-candy at its most (if you set the video options to high that is). The ambient music is beautiful too. It actually adds heavily toElder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is fun, engaging and consuming, but its main drawback is that it's pretty repetitive. The game takes place in a vast country, containing 9 cities, and many villages, caves, forts and other landmarks. The landscapes are stunning, eye-candy at its most (if you set the video options to high that is). The ambient music is beautiful too. It actually adds heavily to the atmosphere, making you feel like part of this enormous world. However majority of those locations I've mentioned are pretty repetitive. A lot of caves and other dungeons look the same. Hence the free-roaming does get boring eventually. The character creation feature however is phenomenal. First of all you get to choose one of 10 races (4 races of humans, 3 races of elves, and then also orcs, argonians and khajiit), each one with its own set of pros and cons. After you've chosen a race you customize the character's appearance, all of their facial features, etc. After that you pick a class. Best idea to perhaps customize your own class, because the way it works is that each class favours a certain set of skills and attributes, meaning you get bonuses to those at the start and they are the ones that would contribute to your levelling up. So getting to choose the attributes yourself is the best. The main story is not bad. It does have its good bits and also some boring bits, but all in all worth playing through at least once. The game has a huge amount of side quests too, as well as 4 different factions, all of which have their own story arcs as well - Fighter's guild, Mages' guild, Thieves' guild and The Dark Brotherhood (aka Assassins' guild). There is a good variety of various armors and weapons. However for the most part the better items only start appearing once you reach a certain level, and the levelling up is rather slow. Nevertheless, due to such a big variety of skills, the game can be played in many different ways - a sturdy paladin, a silent archer, a fierce spellcaster, a poison assassin, a hand-to-hand fighter, etc. However playing as the same character for long does get repetitive, and hence I'd say Oblivion is not one of those games you tend to come back to very quickly after completing it. Overall it's a beautiful and very atmospheric game. It's a consuming new world. That's what it is. When you play Oblivion, you find yourself feeling like you're part of it.… Expand
  60. ws5ev
    Oct 18, 2012
    8
    The game is nice to play, but you don't really feel that you have progressed when you level up, because enemies level up as well. Loot and rewards are leveled as well, so you may have to wait till you're at a greater level before starting some quests in order to better equipment. The leveling system ruins this otherwise beautiful game.
  61. 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.
  62. makeswell
    Oct 26, 2013
    8
    I love the setting of this game. You can be a vampire and enter people's homes and feast on their flesh. You also have to choose whether to be a vampire or not and if you do there are both advantages and disadvantages, like being stronger at night but weaker during the day. That is awesome. There is also a bunch else that's cool with the setting, like assassinating people and fiery worldsI love the setting of this game. You can be a vampire and enter people's homes and feast on their flesh. You also have to choose whether to be a vampire or not and if you do there are both advantages and disadvantages, like being stronger at night but weaker during the day. That is awesome. There is also a bunch else that's cool with the setting, like assassinating people and fiery worlds with goblins and stuff. It's really neat in that sense.

    The combat in this game is just lame. There is no combat. I would rather play a shooter, or Bioshock, or anything. Maybe I'm just a complainer, and yes I do tend to lean towards strategy anyways, but the combat is too much click too little think for me, but that's just my take on it.    … Expand
  63. mrpeip
    Jan 26, 2013
    9
    TES IV: Oblivion opened the door of a new kind of RPG playing, it's visuals and it's gameplay are wonderful but still, and as many Bethesda games, t's a bit buggy. Even though, I believe this is one of the best games Bethesda ever made.
  64. Ndi
    Jun 12, 2013
    10
    The game is great, superb graphics, well optimized, stable. But that gives it an 8.

    The 9 is because of immersion. No only is the game absolutely immersive, more so than any other TES games (Skyrim included) but it's so impressive that sometimes I just stop and look around, soaking the atmosphere. Sunset by the sea, with the sun making its reflection on water orange-red, storm in the    The game is great, superb graphics, well optimized, stable. But that gives it an 8.

    The 9 is because of immersion. No only is the game absolutely immersive, more so than any other TES games (Skyrim included) but it's so impressive that sometimes I just stop and look around, soaking the atmosphere. Sunset by the sea, with the sun making its reflection on water orange-red, storm in the woods, with an amazing sound and the trees swaying in the wind, grass shaking and animals running for cover. This makes the game more than a walk-talk-fight game if you take the time.

    And the 10 is because Oblivion is one of the most expanded and modified game ever made. Thousands of skins, bodies, armors, weapons, locations, adventure, missions, even the books have content that can be added, effects, magic, textures, SFX, sound, music, everything.

    If you have the computing power, a high resolution pack makes this game a marvel even in 2013, 7 years after its release and the community keeps it fresh every day.

    This game deserves its place among the titans.    … Expand
  65. osostt2004
    Sep 6, 2014
    10
    Finally I'm looking into one of the best PC RPGs next to Diablo II, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion! And let me just say, I'm not disappointed. Before I dove into my painfully long review, I want to get something clear: This is a review of the vanilla game, as in how the people at Bethesda intended it to be played. So no mods whatsoever, just pure Oblivion.
    Oblivion came out almost 8 1/2    Finally I'm looking into one of the best PC RPGs next to Diablo II, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion! And let me just say, I'm not disappointed. Before I dove into my painfully long review, I want to get something clear: This is a review of the vanilla game, as in how the people at Bethesda intended it to be played. So no mods whatsoever, just pure Oblivion.
    Oblivion came out almost 8 1/2 yars ago, but I just picked it up 2 weeks ago. Since then, I've logged in over 140 hours into the game, playing it nonstop. The game is just WAAAY to fun to be overlooked. It is possibly the greatest game I've ever played.
    You start out Oblivion as a prisoner. Based on what I'm told from other people, this is Elder Scrolls tradition. And somehow you get tied up in this plot with a demonic cult trying to kill the Emperor of Tamriel opening the gates of Oblivion to what I can only assume is hell. But apparently the Emperor has a bastard son and he's the only one who can saved the doomed world from Oblivion. And really you're just a side character standing there watching all the action unfold and even though you're crowned champion of Cyrodiil, really you're just a side character. So it's not that appealing. On the more positive side of things. . .
    One of the most amazing things about Oblivion is the system it uses called radiant AI. It gives each NPC a schedule; they'll wake up, eat their breakfast, go to work, go to the pub, or even, on occasions travel to another city. They'll also talk to one another, usually discussing the lastest news or how much they hate mudcrabs. And all of this adds to the living-breathing world factor of Oblivion, it's immersive and fun.
    Another thing that totally stunned me about Oblivion was the environment of Cyrodiil; it is gorgeous. Each part of the map is varied and different; there are the grasslands of the Imperial City, to the snowy mounntains of Bruma, to the swampy lowlands of Leyawiin and so on. Nearly 400 locations ranging from forts to Ayleid Ruins make the world feel much bigger than 16 square miles, and they immerse you, once again, adding to the living, breathing world factor.
    I also really enjoyed the quests as well. The main quest was good, but the side quests and factional quests are really what took the cake for me. I'll never forget when I killed 5 people at a party, and they had no clue I was the killer. Or how about that time I stole a FREAKING Elder Scroll for the Gray Fox? Awesome. Or my personal favorite, doing some dirty work for Sanguine, and stripping the Countess and her dinner guests down to their panties? There are plenty of colorful NPCs who will give you quests like this.
    Oblivion also features a fast-travel system, allowing you to fast travel to any location you had previously discovered, which I personally like since it cuts out all that unnecessary walkingeven though you've already discoveredthe place and it's kind of pointless having to walk 3 miles just to get there. Select characters and enemies level up with you, in my opinion that's a fascinating concept becasue it sucks all the fun out of the game if you hit level 50 and become GOD. Voice talent in Oblivion is great as well. They use some of the famous actor from movies like Terence Stamp (Superman) and Patrick Stewart (Star Trek). There are alot of cheesy lines, but it's a good and funny kind of cheesy, so I let it slide. Like in any RPG, you have skills and you level up, obviously. If there's one thing bad I can say about Oblivion, is that I've encountered a few bugs. PCs aren't supposed to have that big a problem with bugs as consoles. . .oh dear, then just think about how much worse it'll be on Xbox 360.
    So that's my review. As you can see, I have super positive feelings on Oblivion. I'm dying to play Morrowind and Skyrim (it's coming in the mail tomorrow) and all the DLC and expansions, and see if they're just as good if not better than Oblivion. But for right now, me and my level 35 Imperial Assassin are going to go have some fun with the Mages Guild.
    P.S. I'm sorry if I mispelled anything, I turned off the spell check.    … Expand
  66. 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
  67. 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.
  68. 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
  69. 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
  70. 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
  71. FROZERCATAPILER
    Dec 9, 2011
    10
    A FREEEEKEN AWESOME GAME! I still play it now and it still brings fun...................................................................................................................................................................................................
  72. TiesTorN
    Nov 11, 2011
    0
    This game's level-scaling system is ruining everything... There no point in doing anything to raise your level because as you level up, creatures also level up with you simultaneously with all the benefits it brings (even the rats). And the funny part is you can finish the game easier at level 1. There is also an item problem where you fight your way and clean all the badass dungeons toThis game's level-scaling system is ruining everything... There no point in doing anything to raise your level because as you level up, creatures also level up with you simultaneously with all the benefits it brings (even the rats). And the funny part is you can finish the game easier at level 1. There is also an item problem where you fight your way and clean all the badass dungeons to the last level only to find a rusty sword... The game doesn't reward you for anything. Total ****… Expand
  73. 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
  74. hollowfication
    Jul 30, 2012
    10
    this was best game i loved xbox version ps3 version & pc version i love this game so much no glitches no nothing perfect only thing is if they re did this game i hope they make it with compatible with xbox controller
  75. jakefabo
    Nov 27, 2011
    1
    Like another reviewer said, I really tried to like this game. I came to it late however, and was never a fan of the Elder Scrolls series. My RPG experience comes from Baldur's Gate 1/2 and Neverwinter Nights 1/2. I love having free reign to do what I want, but I also need to care about the environment in order to immerse myself in it. In Oblivion I had no idea what to do, so I wandered...Like another reviewer said, I really tried to like this game. I came to it late however, and was never a fan of the Elder Scrolls series. My RPG experience comes from Baldur's Gate 1/2 and Neverwinter Nights 1/2. I love having free reign to do what I want, but I also need to care about the environment in order to immerse myself in it. In Oblivion I had no idea what to do, so I wandered... and nothing was intriguing about the land AT ALL. I was only able to play this game for about 30mins at a time because it just didn't hold my interest. Neverwinter Nights 2 probably has about 5% of the content but I have played it through about 20 times. Others have spent many hours on Oblivion though so I would suggest RPG fans at least try it... the game is quite cheap on steam now.… Expand
  76. Qis
    Oct 2, 2012
    0
    This game is broken
    1. leveling system is broken - you level up, you become weaker, not stronger while enemies become stronger and stronger. The game give you major skills that give you experience to level up but less attributes when used, minor skill give attributes but no experience to level up, so figure out how bad that is. It means to level up is by using major skills but the more    This game is broken
    1. leveling system is broken - you level up, you become weaker, not stronger while enemies become stronger and stronger. The game give you major skills that give you experience to level up but less attributes when used, minor skill give attributes but no experience to level up, so figure out how bad that is. It means to level up is by using major skills but the more you use minor skills the more attributes you get at level ups.
    2. AI is bad - NPC have no AI actually, they are programmed like robots, they just do what they are programmed to do and it is repetitive. Your ally NPC will attack enemies without AI, meaning they will chase the enemy into lava, river and they will likely be in front of you when you attack, in front of each other making friendly fire. And worse they will kill each other if there are too many friendly fire among them and turn on you in the middle of combat
    3. Anti-climax lame story - because of bad AI, big event in the game is like nothing happen to NPCs, right after the big event happen, they continue their program as usual. the story is also not worth to mention, no story to tell actually, just missions to do and these missions is not important as the whole. You can play without doing it anyway, so why bother?
    4. boring maps- The maps of caves, ruins and oblivion plane are repetitive, after few times playing you will see the very same thing over and over
    5. game breaking items and skill- Although the leveling system is broken you may carefully create a character that is in "god-mode" as soon as you have certain items and make your own spells. 120% invisibility, go figure out what is that?
    6. boring quests- all quests are boring and lost, A told you to go to B, b told to go to C, doing D or get E then return. Almost all quests are like this. These quests are lame and stupid. You become an errant boy/girl for someone. The background story of quests are also lame and not important.
    7. user interface is bad - everything are in tabs, tabs within tabs
    8. you can eat anything as long as you don't know the second effect could kill you, that is chemistry.
    9. you will end up using spells in the end even you planned to play as warrior or stealth
    10. too many to comment, just saying this game is BROKEN    … Expand
  77. Sirik_Matak
    Feb 6, 2015
    0
    The prime example why the next-gen was the biggest mistake in human entertainment history by lowering video games to lower and lower masses.
    Technically it was and especially still is a catastrophe (good luck running it on 64 bit), it really looked bad when it came out in 2006. It was mostly the lie, promising features that were not implemented (the bump mapping was only in the starting    The prime example why the next-gen was the biggest mistake in human entertainment history by lowering video games to lower and lower masses.
    Technically it was and especially still is a catastrophe (good luck running it on 64 bit), it really looked bad when it came out in 2006. It was mostly the lie, promising features that were not implemented (the bump mapping was only in the starting cell, now run the hype machine!).
    Level scalling basically ruined this game gameplay wise.
    The writing and world design was non existant. It's was just some **** put randomely in the world without any thought of reason. It was designed as a marketing product to promote Xbox and sell to masses expecting an easy, dumbed down ride in a disney land they can "enjoy".    … Expand
  78. SteephenD.
    Jul 6, 2006
    1
    Developers need to remember gameplay is the most important thing in a game. The graphics are only cool if they improve an already fun game. They don't make a game fun by themselves. No one will care about the graphics if they are too bored to ever star the game. Get it?
  79. 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.
  80. Marko
    Jun 20, 2006
    0
    The greatest dissapointment of all times and Iam not overreacting. I played all Elder Scroll games and as a great fan I could not wait for this game to come out. Great graphic is great but the whole world is repetitive, Oblivion is 50% bigger than Morrowind but all u have is forrests and hills in Morrowind u had swamps, deserts, islands and many more, dungeons and caves are every 100m and The greatest dissapointment of all times and Iam not overreacting. I played all Elder Scroll games and as a great fan I could not wait for this game to come out. Great graphic is great but the whole world is repetitive, Oblivion is 50% bigger than Morrowind but all u have is forrests and hills in Morrowind u had swamps, deserts, islands and many more, dungeons and caves are every 100m and they all look the same, physics are just for decoration, and level scaling is worst part of the game, why level when the enemy is always same strenght as you and its easier to finish game as level 1 than 30, a game that needs to have 2GB of mods installed to be playable does not deserve anyones attention. Dont play this better wait for Gothic 3 until than play Gothic 2, Arx Fatalis, Morrowind or anything.… Expand
  81. 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
  82. GordonP
    Jun 18, 2009
    1
    Worst RPG I ever played. Nice scenery, but....: 1) Huge motivation killer: All enemies are leveling up with you. So you dont have a motivation to level up and improve your character, in order to be able to travel to more diffiult regions, to fight more difficult enemies. => Even the opposite happens: In reality you you are relatively leveling DOWN with each level-"up" you gain, because Worst RPG I ever played. Nice scenery, but....: 1) Huge motivation killer: All enemies are leveling up with you. So you dont have a motivation to level up and improve your character, in order to be able to travel to more diffiult regions, to fight more difficult enemies. => Even the opposite happens: In reality you you are relatively leveling DOWN with each level-"up" you gain, because the monsters are better leveling-up than you (unless you are very very carefull, that you are leveling up only very very slowly). This is the most stupid motivation killing concept you could ever image. To be successfull in this game, you have to think extensive about the leveling-system and rouls. And thats definitely not what I want. If I like such stuff, then I go buying a strategy game. Because of this game mechanic I can not give more than two stars. 2) Small motivation killer for me:: A allways accessible difficulty slider in the game. Instead that improving your character is the only possibility to have a chance against very strong enemies, with that slider you can kill from the first second on the strongest enemies. Of course, I dont have to use this slider - but anyway, I dont like its presence. I like the old games, which were hard and with only one difficult-setting. So you know exactly what you have to do, if you want to succeed. No pain, no gain :-) For this difficulty-slider 1 point discount. Thats why I give a 1 .… Expand
  83. 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
  84. DerekL
    Aug 12, 2008
    9
    This gets 9.5 from me. It's an insanely good game, it lets a complete idiot modify the game making new levels, items, spells, etc. The first month or two is fun, adding Shivering Isles gives it about another 2 weeks to 1 month, small mods give about 35 more hours, and large mods give it another week or two (or three), and mods you make get about another couple hours to 3 weeks. But This gets 9.5 from me. It's an insanely good game, it lets a complete idiot modify the game making new levels, items, spells, etc. The first month or two is fun, adding Shivering Isles gives it about another 2 weeks to 1 month, small mods give about 35 more hours, and large mods give it another week or two (or three), and mods you make get about another couple hours to 3 weeks. But after that we get a repetitive game full of boring side quests and dungeons you've already searched. However, if you play a different game for a while Oblivion regains all 100% playability.… Expand
  85. BobC
    Jul 24, 2009
    2
    Just thinking of the sheer artistic talent and work that went into designing this game makes me very sad to see how lackluster the story, combat, and well, the entire game are. I have reinstalled Oblivion about 6 times now and tried to force myself to play it. Each time I do the Dark Brotherhood and Thieve's Guild quests and then quickly lose interest. I have never been able to stay Just thinking of the sheer artistic talent and work that went into designing this game makes me very sad to see how lackluster the story, combat, and well, the entire game are. I have reinstalled Oblivion about 6 times now and tried to force myself to play it. Each time I do the Dark Brotherhood and Thieve's Guild quests and then quickly lose interest. I have never been able to stay interested long enough to even finish the main story line but I hear it's about as long as some side quests in the game are. And when you're done you're left with a vast world of copy-pasted tunnels and villages and the same fields of grass over and over again occasionally interrupted by some ruins which rapidly become repetitive as well. Overall, I am giving this game a 2 merely out of how pretty it is. The combat is atrocious (mouse button 1 swing, mouse button 2 block - AMAZING FUN!), the voice acting is mediocre at best, and the UI is utter garbage and it is cumbersome to do anything with it. Oh, yeah - the NPCs are supposed to be extremely interesting with daily needs and things like that. They're still dry and boring, just like Morrowind! Only in this game, they have random impossible-to-believe conversations witih eachother such as follows: NPC 1: Did you hear about that Gray Fox thief? NPC 2: Yes NPC 3: Bye now Wow! Cool!… Expand
  86. JuliusB.
    Jul 26, 2007
    0
    An affront to the Elder Scrolls lore. I absolutely loved Morrowind, but Oblivion was a nightmare. Never have I seen a more sterile and apathic world with no personality in a game. The worst part was that it sold so well... I would bet too many people got disappointed.
  87. 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
  88. xZippy
    Jan 5, 2013
    8
    Oblivion is no doubt an excellent game. My review might be a bit judgement-clouded because I've played Skyrim and waited too long to do a review on this game. On one hand, the storytelling, character development, spells and variety of weapons/skills/potions are all done with brilliance. On the other hand, some parts of the game seem insanely rushed and unpolished. The caves are copy andOblivion is no doubt an excellent game. My review might be a bit judgement-clouded because I've played Skyrim and waited too long to do a review on this game. On one hand, the storytelling, character development, spells and variety of weapons/skills/potions are all done with brilliance. On the other hand, some parts of the game seem insanely rushed and unpolished. The caves are copy and pastes. The time-freezing when talking to NPC's is very stupid and sucks away the atmosphere. The level up system is pretty bad, but tolerable... Somewhat. Some NPC's will change the pitch of their voice out of nowhere. The sneaking is done well, but can be very unpredictable and frustrating because you can still be detected no matter how quiet or far away you were. No diagonal running, ugh. The dialogue between NPC's is as bad as a Tommy Wiseau movie. Some potions found in the game have hardly any reason to exist, because potions like "Restore 1 Luck Point" is beyond trivial. Overall, the game is great, but the many glitches and laziness of the game is there too.… Expand
  89. 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
  90. 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
  91. fateappointed
    Feb 3, 2014
    8
    Story: 7 out of 10, Graphics: 10 out of 10, Fun: 8 out of 10, Controls: 6 out of 10, Difficulty: 8 out of 10, Length: 10 out of 10, Re-play: 6 out of 10, Value: 8 out of 10
  92. KeithB
    Mar 3, 2009
    2
    Am I crazy? Or is this game 10 years behind a game like Ultima 7? Horrible, broken character leveling system with all monsters and loot leveling up with you? Lame, discount-fantasy-novel story and unmemorable characters and dialogue? This game is even a huge step down from Morrowind and even farther step down from Daggerfall! What is going on here?
  93. 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
  94. Orctownorc
    Oct 5, 2012
    10
    The advantage of Oblivion over Skyrim is that game takes itself less seriously and has a MUCH better character devlopment system. Strangely enough, the best way to build the character is to place all the most useless skills as your major talents and then deliberately level up as slowly as possible. By doing so you character gains powers acoss all skill areas, and will not be troubled withThe advantage of Oblivion over Skyrim is that game takes itself less seriously and has a MUCH better character devlopment system. Strangely enough, the best way to build the character is to place all the most useless skills as your major talents and then deliberately level up as slowly as possible. By doing so you character gains powers acoss all skill areas, and will not be troubled with difficulty spikes at all. Rather you will need to bump up the game difficulty as you progress to a demi-god mastering all skill areas. Except for superficial graphics, EVERYTHING in Oblivion is better and more fun than Skyrim. Especially the guild quests, but also such things as the NPC's despite the ridculous encounter interface and the use of only 5 voice actors. Yet the core reason it is MUCH better, is that the player can build their character as they like and can master all fields with no penalty. Crafting and magic in this game is far more potent, interesting and worthwhile than in Skyrim. The Elven Ruins have a far better mood than the Dwarven ones. When you consider how perfect the keybingings and the UI are in this game to how poor they are in Skyrim its clear that it is Oblivion, not Morrowind that marks the highpoint of Bethesda fantasy RPG design. Before they start anything else the team owes it to their fans to spend 12 months making a massive patch to bring all that fails so bad in Skyrim back up to the level they had yet lost with Oblivion.… Expand
  95. WTF
    Jul 11, 2008
    1
    Maybe I kill slef. I didn't really give this game that much of a chance, I admit this, but I just could not get into it. I tried so hard to enjoy it, mainly because a friend of mine said it was good, but this was to no avail. The only moment I enjoyed was creating my character, but even that seemed lacking. I apologize to the people who like this type of game, but I think I'dMaybe I kill slef. I didn't really give this game that much of a chance, I admit this, but I just could not get into it. I tried so hard to enjoy it, mainly because a friend of mine said it was good, but this was to no avail. The only moment I enjoyed was creating my character, but even that seemed lacking. I apologize to the people who like this type of game, but I think I'd rather go play in traffic.… Expand
  96. Dakimaz
    Sep 10, 2010
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. How Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion got 94 score, I simply do not understand. When I read the reviews and saw the score, I thought "hey this might be kinda like Dragon age: Origins, just much cheaper", but no.
    As stated by other reviews, I too really wanted to like this game, but unfortunately those little super frustrating events like "lock picking" and various other annoying factors just ruined the feeling of a good game entirely.
    To elaborate: In the Lock picking sequences you have to continuously move your mouse upwards and then click with the left mouse button in order to make the pin "stay in it's slot", however, you have to click the pin when it is at the top, and stays there for half a second - otherwise your lock pick will break. This happens completely random and there's no way what so ever to predict whether it stays in the top or not, there's no pattern, no little noise that goes off, nothing. That in it self is not an issue (annoying, but you can just walk away... or?) the thing is, you can't cancel the sequence, so if you have 100 lock picks, you'll just have to stay there, breaking them all, before the game let's you go. Oh sure fine, there are options in the bottom that says "auto try" and "close".. but you go ahead a try click those buttons with a none existent mouse (and you can't use the arrow keys... not anything to hit them). So last in total frustration i hit escape on the keyboard, causing the game to freeze. *sigh*
    Now that we're talking about the key bindings. In comparison to most other games, where you for example have a key for you map, menu, inventory, quests, reputation, spells, abilities etc. - in oblivion you have 1 - yup, EVERYTHING is wrapped up in one damn tap, that in it self wouldn't be a problem if it had tool tips when you moused over the different items - but it doesn't, you'll have to figure it out yourself.
    Weight is apparently symbolized with a feather, money with the head of a random guy - and after 8 hours of playtime, i still do not know, where to see the quests. And the map is too small (in comparison to the actual size of the game world), and you can't zoom out to locate where you have to go. The worst part is, the feeling of "a big game" disappears with the "fast travel" system - and you already have all the locations from the beginning.
    But the worst part of the entire game is the story telling, it's done so poorly, that you really have to drink 8 cans of redbull to stay awake while the NPC's talk, because the story just isn't compelling at all. You start out in a cell (in jail presumably - though you're never told why), some guy rushes into you cell claiming he's the emperor, (if it's legoland or china - you're never told either) - about 5 mins later he's dead. The voice acting is terrible and the animation is so stiff (sure they have, mad or happy faces, but this is split up in either EXTREME ANGER or SUPER HAPPY, that you can't help but thinking either the guy is a psychopath or a rapist), you can't connect with any characters in the game, 95% of the time I was playing I just went "hmm I wonder what happens if I kill this guy", and finally got bored with it and stopped playing the game.
    The AI is also somewhat ridiculous, they all seemed to have this "Leeroy Jenkins" syndrome in them, charging forward to slay enemies even though they are greatly outnumbered and go down after 2 blows.
    Was hilarious at first, but when the peeps you have to protect from getting killed does the same thing, it just gets annoying.

    So to put it short
    The game play is repetitive, The story telling is **** The AI is suicidal (this only tends to work for the enemy, not so much your allies.)
    Here's a tip, if you liked Dragon Age: Origins, or just good storytelling - go play that instead, there's nothing to be seen here.
    However, if you like Fallout 3, this is probably the game for you, this game pretty much has the same issues. Just replace laser rifle with a bow, aliens with demons, and nuclear bomb with magic.    … Expand
  97. 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
  98. 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.
  99. SteveH.
    May 13, 2006
    0
    Way to boring to play for an extended time.
  100. GLCarpinter
    Apr 7, 2007
    2
    I can't believe all the fellatio for this game. I played this game for some time, and yes, I had fun. There were a few good points such as: some inspired side-quests, graphics, combat and horses. However, the lack of gameplay started to set in and I'm not going to touch this game again, ever. The things that ruined it for me were: the voice acting (Patrick Stewart being theI can't believe all the fellatio for this game. I played this game for some time, and yes, I had fun. There were a few good points such as: some inspired side-quests, graphics, combat and horses. However, the lack of gameplay started to set in and I'm not going to touch this game again, ever. The things that ruined it for me were: the voice acting (Patrick Stewart being the exception here), a crappy main plot, levelled loot, levelled enemies and a lack of books. It doesn't matter how pants-creamingly awesome your graphics are if the actual game sucks moose dick. If you want to play an awesome RPG, play Baldur's Gate 2 or Planescape: Torment.… Expand
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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

All reviews »
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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