Customer Reviews

Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Collector's Edition

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

By now, you have heard the hype surrounding Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. I am here to tell you that the hype is real. The game is fantastic. The graphics are unreal-they really took them to the next level. The play mechanics are straight forward for the average PC RPG fan, but there is enough depth to make any hard core gamer happy! I think the designers hit a perfect balance for any type of fan.

As computer owners, we are constantly reminded that it is expensive to upgrade hardware. Every once and a while, a game comes out that justifies those expenses. I think this is the game that should make people upgrade. And, if you do it now, you won't have to worry about upgrading for the next generation of games. My computer is plenty powerful enough to run it (Alienware Area-51 5500 with 1Gig Ram, ATI x850 256megs Ram, S-ATA 80 gig HD, Viewsonic VX924 Monitor).

However, if my computer was too slow, I know I would upgrade in order to play this game, it is that good. Even after a few hours of playing, I am confident in saying that this game is fantastic! Any money you spend on your computer will be well worth it!

The beginning level acts as a tutorial. Instead of being ordered how to do things, the game starts open ended (a clue that the entire game will be this open ended as well). It gives suggestions on things, such as how to use the bow and how to cast spells. But if you choose to not be an archer or a magician, you can still proceed. You customize your character at different points based on how you were playing. I think that is an original design for character creation, as opposed to creating a character from scratch before ever playing the game.

I have walked through several large cities, talked to citizens, obtained quests, finished quests, bartered at the shops, changed my equipment, leveled-up some skills, used swords, hammers, bows, magic, etc.-that was all in the first few hours. I am taking my time walking through the game. Yes, the graphics are that good, and you may want to take the time to admire the world that you are walking through. Personally, I sometimes rush through games and forget to look around at the world. This game makes you want to look around, to see what is around the corner, to explore the areas and see what is next.

Oblivion is going to be huge! I have read that the main quest is about 25 hours. If you explore the entire island, and attempt the side quests, the game is hundreds and hundreds of hours. I still know people playing Morrowind-I expect Oblivion to last as long, if not longer.

Yes, my computer is setup for games and the gaming experience. So far, Oblivion has proved to be a worthwhile experience. Even for those computers with lower setting should still enjoy this game-the designers made sure that the game was just more than graphics. How it looks should not stop you from buying this game-it is the game experience you should come for. The fact that it is possibly the best computer RPG ever should make you want to play it no matter what.

The bottom line is: combat is fun, and I look forward to unlocking skills that let me target with my bow, roll out of the way of combat, and summon creatures to help me fight. The game play is deep and accessible. There are more items, weapons, magic combinations, character types, NPCs, quests etc. than you know what to do with! The graphics are outstanding. The voice acting is some of the best in any game. The game wants you, the player, to be involved. You play however you want and whoever you want to be.

And truthfully, the game is just fun. What more can you ask for in a computer game?
Note: The Collectors Edition is the same game, but this box comes with a collector's coin and a book that give you detailed background of the world of Oblivion, incuding characters, places, and story.

UPDATE: Someone wrote earlier (in other reviews) that you can only play in 1st person. This is not true. Use the mouse wheel to scoll back and you can set the distance you want to view your character in 3rd person. Also, you can hot key 8 items (both on the PC and XBox 360) with keys 1-8. I wish there were more, but it seems to be a strategy type thing set by the designers. What is important to you? Well, you get 8 things to hot key. The keys F1-F4 call up your charater page, inventory, spells, and map/journal. This should make inventory management a snap. Hopefully, those who are making comments about these things either read their manauls or try things out before making it a negative complaint about the game.

I started a new character already and I am enjoying the game so much more with this custome Battle Mage! This game is great because it encourages experimentation and exploration. Enjoy!

This game is amazing. It delivers on all levels for me and is a leap ahead from Morrowind. I could go into detail about the graphics or A.I. but by now most of us have seen videos exemplifying these things, the real beauty in Oblivion comes with behind the scenes improvements. The biggest of these for me is real time physics. Now when I crush somebody sideways with my mace they lift off the ground and follow the arc of my blow, and proceed to land in the appropriate way a real body would. Any item that is equipped in their hand does not drop with the body and becomes its own item following the force of the blow as well but on its own. The first time I hurled a fireball past its intended target it slammed into a table cluttered with stuff and everything flew. As for the problems alluded to by others about button mapping issues there are plenty of hotkeys and quick menu buttons so it is really a non-issue. Also I want to say that I love the collector's edition if for nothing more than the pocket guide to the empire. However I love flavor text and was one of those guys who spent more time reading his magic cards than playing with them. All in all great game by my count and I would encourage others to give it a try.

Pros:
Awesome Character creation: Very detailed. A bit cumbersome, but you can pretty much make your character look however you want.

Beautiful Graphics: I play on a 1505 notebook w/ a 1.66GHz duo core processor, 1gig ram, and a 256mb ATI mobility radeon x1400 card. I can run the game at 20-60 fps, depending on what I have enabled. The graphics look very nice w/ 2x HDR or Bloom & 25-50% distance rendering. As a side note, 10fps is playable, 25fps is quite smooth. If you have a high, low end card, you should be able to run it fine, with good graphics.

Great real life physics simulation: Blood spatters, logs roll, arrows bounce. You can pick items up, move em around, or just knock em over.

Cool Items: Unlike Morrowind, with its largely fiction based items, Oblivion has things like apples, potatoes, mutton, paintbrushes, gold, etc. They are much more realistic - especially the ingredients (aka - food).

Great Faction System: This time around, the factions are a bit more realistic. For instance, instead of the Theives guild being merely about odd jobs, its a place where you can sell your fenced goods and pick up some trainig. Specific 'jobs' are still available, but their not handed out like candy, as in Morrowind. You need to independently thieve for a while and sell a set amount of fenced goods in order to get them.

Good fame rating system: You'll have a seperate fame and infamy rating. Good deeds make fame higher, bad hightens infamy - realistic.

The Lusty Argonian Maid: Remember good o'l Uncle Crassius from Morrowind and his tale of the Lifts-Her-Tail? The story continues.... :)

Cons:
Mini Games: Whoever created the lockpicking and ESPECIALLY the persuasion mini 'game' should be taken out to a daedric ruin and repeadetedly floged, shot, and fed to the wolves. Seriously, the mini 'games' are more of a headache then anything. To persuade someone, you must tell the person a joke, admire them, coerce them, and boast (can't just choose one) in the correct order. Then you have to do it again, and maybe again, and maybe again in order to raise disposition. Very annoying and unrealistic.

Console like Interface: Yes, as I'm sure you've heard before, the interface is just what you would expect on a console, not a pc. You have to click through a number of tabs to get what you need. You will get used to it, but it is still annoying, especially since your buying the game for PC, not 360.

Really hard to find training NPCs: Because the NPCs have free will, they tend to move around, making it very hard to find them, especially the trainers. Also, the whole training system is really confusing.

Selling Items: Instead of just being able to click all the items you want to sell or buy, haggle for the bulk price, and seal the deal, you now have to go through every single item. Click. "Are you sure you want to sell X for X?" "Yes"...Next Item...do it again. Really makes selling much more tedious. Also, you can only haggle for what you generally buy/sell goods for. So, when you click the seller, you have to set a 'haggle' level, and that is that for EVERY transaction with him/her until you change it. (Another annoying derivative of Bethesda creating the game with 360 in mind, I'm sure).

Hard to distinguish races: Sure, you can tell an Orc from an Argonian and an Elf from a Human...but can you distinguish a Breton from an Imperial or a Nord...Maybe, but its difficult, as there aren't any really distictive facial feature for the various human/elf races.

Lack of dialog options: Dialog options are MUCH more general. For instance, asking someone about "Imperial City" will get you responses that have nothing to do with the Imperial City, merely some random goings-on. Its all very odd.

Either Or
Fast Travel: This feature allows you to click on any major city and be instantly zapped there. Once you've found a settlement or other 'hidden' area, you can fast travel there as well. Yes, its easier...but...its easier. It kinda takes away from the RPG elements of the game.

Map: If you played Morrowind, you'll remeber the map that 'colored in' the areas you'd visited...thats not in Oblivion. Personally, I liked that feature, much better than this one.

Not open ended enough: As someone who loves RPing, I loved how Morrowind just kinda dropped you in the game and let you fend for yourself. Oblivion really kinda holds your hand throughout the game. Between fast travel, arrows that show you exactly where to go in quests and the gigantic, centralized cities, you get more of a strategy game sense than RPG.

Good or Evil only: I haven't played through the main quest yet, but just in how it starts, its pretty difficult to be a neutral character. You can be a good person and go about your mission. You can be evil and say to hell with that. But, its a strugle to role play a neutral character.

Collectors Edition Note:
Definatly buy the collectors edition if you have the extra $$. It comes with a great bonus features DVD, a very well made coin, an awesome case, a cool pocket guide to the emperor (lots of good lore stuff), and a very nice map. I've seen both the standard and the CE. The standard comes with a sub-par might-as-well-through-it-away map and a paper sleeve instead of a case *shudder*

Overall, its a very good game - you won't be dissapointed. The side quests are immersive, the character you create personal and very much your own. Its not Morrowind, some things in that were better than Oblivion, others worse. But still, the game was made for console - not PC - which is sure to annoy the PC gamer. Furthermore, theres more 'game' than 'role playing' in this RPG.

The game requires a very high end video-card in order to display correctly - even with a newly new 2.8 GHz HP desktop, I wasn't able to play the game without the purchase of a new video card - the CHEAPEST supported video card being just over $100.

Now that's not necessarily a negative - the graphics are amazing, and you can't render them on just any piece of hardware. But for someone like ME, who is not an avid and devoted "Gamer" - the requirement was restrictive and not clearly laid out on Amazon prior to purchase.

For those of you considering the game - please note the supported video cards, which I've listed directly from the package:
ATI X1900, x1800, X1600, X1300, X850, X800, X700 and X600 Series
ATI RADEON 9800, 9700, 9600 and 9500 series
NVIDIA GeForce 7000, 6000 and FX series

Once you've passed the hardware barrier, the game is absolutely lovely - a great number of characters to choose from and beautifully rendered.

Though it looks like logic and common sense isn't going to be too appreciated with the sort of "reviews" that have been posted so far, I'd like to first point out that the game Oblivion was made with neither the PC nor the XBOX 360 "first" in mind. It was made with the PLAYERS in mind, and to that end, the game shines.

Bethesda has listened to their fans and, to the best degree possible I think, has given us what we desired - a game that is not Morrowind, that is not Daggerfall nor Arena, but a brand new game with a brand new level of immersiveness and playability in the land of Tamriel. They seemed to have gone with a "majority rules" decision making process, which obviously has left some people feeling as if their own requests were not listened to. That is the unfortuante side effect of making decisions - only one can be made.

Personally, I think Bethesda went in a fantastic direction with this game, and though I have only played but a few hours of it, I can assure both fans and newcomers alike that though you are sure to find something about the game you dislike, your experience with Oblivion as a whole will be fantastic.

This was my most highly anticipated release (next to the Star Wars Prequel, but since that was a movie and not a game...) ever!

First of all. I love the interface. Whereas many people are whining and crying because they only have 8 quick keys, it doesn't bother me. I play a combat class. I have my sword on #1, my bow on #2, and I'm truckin. I don't have a large stack of potions, so I don't quick key that. If I ever need anything else, I hit the Tab key, scroll though my inventory and grab it. Even if I were playing a Mage type, I wouldn't see needing more than 8. A weapon, some spells, and you're good. If you have to map every item to a key, then go find another game. You hit the tab key and with some mouse clicks, you are all over the map, quests, inventory, attributes, skills, factions, etc. Very easy to getting use to and figuring out from playing Morrowind. Just like Morrowind, when you pull up the inventory or the spell list, time stops... so you can drink your potions, pick your spells, and choose your weapon and go to town.

I am running this game on a Dell Inspirion laptop at the High Quality video setting and I'm having no problems with anything. The graphics are beautiful. The scenery, the level of detail in your character and the NPCs around you. The sound is awesome. All characters speak thier parts and have facial expressions. The NPCs walk around town and talk to each other. Walk in and out of buildings, they have thier own agenda and their own life, they don't stay anchored to a room where you can go find them all the time (merchants do stay in their place of business from open to close). I know I am going to have to upgrade my home computer if I want to play this, but it is definately worth it.

I like the quest system. I like the map. I like how areas of interest show up on your compass. It's very organized and as a result won't send you on wild goose chases, some of which I experienced on Morrowind. These improvements on thier own make this game a whole lot better.

Also, I like the way they beefed up the skill system. You gain experience in skills from level 0 through level 100. At level 0-24 you are considered a novice, from 25-39 you are an apprentice, from 50-74 you are a journeyman, from 75-99 you are an expert, at and 100 you are a master. As you go through the different levels of mastery of a skill you gain special bonuses. For instance, take armorsmith, it helps you to repair your own armor and weapons. At the novice level of Armorsmith, you can't repair magical armor and shields... what do you expect, your a beginner. When you reach apprentice, although you still can't repair magical stuff, you use less components when repairing. When you reach Journeyman you can finally repair magical items. When you reach expert, you can make items even better (they last longer, weapons do more damage, and armor protects more), when you reach Master, you only need one component to repair with and it never is used up.

The versatility of the game is amazing. While there is an interesting story quest, you can ignore it and persue whatever you want to. You can buy house in a city and decorate it however you want. You can join a guild and try to rise their ranks to master.

You can also buy a horse and ride it around between your destinations.

All the improvements make it a lot better than Morrowind.

If you like Computer Role Playing Games (CRPG) I highly encourage you to buy this one. But keep in mind, if you computer is a few years old, you will probably have to upgade it. This game fully justifies the upgrade. You WILL NOT find a CRPG of this quality anywhere today.

After reading most of the reviews I couldn't help noticing a few interesting things. First, people who claim to have played less than ten hours say that the game is great and incredible and give it five stars out of five, but many of those that say they have invested more than ten hours in the game say that the game is not so fantastic after all. Second, those who are new to Bethesda games and the whole RPG genre tend to give the Oblivion the best ratings than those people who are the hardcore fans of role playing. Third, great amount of reviewers talk about graphics in both positive and negative ways, but it should be obvious that if someone is using old hardware/software, then there should be no complaints about graphics. After all, the game was made to run on the up-to-date ironware. Four, there is no clear opinion about whether Oblivion is overall the best, good, or an average game.

I, personally, would never call Oblivion the best game of the year/decade (I would rather call Deus Ex the best). The game, of course, has a lot of pluses and is definitely is worth trying, but I would like to mention a few negative aspects:
1) The most commonly agreed fact - the game becomes very boring after a while. You have a new quest, you go to a specific location (usually some sort of a cave; and all caves look very similar to one another), you grab an item or kill someone, then you return to your initial location and, whoalah, the quest is completed. Very dull*
2) If you want citizens to tell you some useful information, they have to like you (i.e. disposition has to be at a certain level) and to achieve this you have to play a very cheerless and time consuming mini-game called "persuade an AI." I will not get into details* Another time consuming and annoying operation is lock picking. You would be surprised to know how much time you'd waste trying to pick a lock or convince some pointless peasant to tell you some valuable info.
3) Combat problem - block doesn't really protect you and the time between a mouse click and the actual swing of a sword/hammer is considerable. Thus, I found out that when I and some other friendly soldiers attacked a group of goblins in the cave, I made more damage to my own allies than to the enemy because of that delay which resulted in imprecise blows.
4) Console menu is very inconvenient, difficult to navigate and very user un-friendly. People who've played would agree that it is more that hard to equip a torch, for example.
5) The quests that have nothing to do with the main quest do not affect you in any way, they are pointless in other words. Yes, you can earn some gold or find some magical items, but they are not fun, and after a while become extremely boring because they are repetitious.
6) Structured dialogues - what is the point of selecting one phrase to say if there is only one phrase to say? Wouldn't it be easier to just sit and listen to the whole question-answer dialogue (if, indeed, it can be called a dialogue) than to have a choice of saying one or two remarks that do not change the course of the conversation anyway?

Well, the game is huge (over 400 hours some say) and it has its positive and negative sides. All in all, I would say that even though the game has a lot of flaws that people do not sometimes notice, it is still worth of four stars and the title "one of the" finest RPG games of the year.

I have played "O" for about 100 hours now, using two different characters. I have found a few glitches, and a few things I wish were different, but overall, the game is VERY immersive, and SUPER FUN!

A few things to help those contemplating purchasing this game...

I have five PCs, all with different spechs, and I own two copys of Oblivion, which I tried on various machines before deciding which two to run the game on (for my wife and myself).
A word of advice. The game is NOT PLAYABLE on machines with the minimum stated spec. It runs, but it is not playable. It runs a about one frame every 3 seconds. even at the lowest graphics settings. The main problem is the graphics card. This game is VERY graphics card intensive. The processer spec is not so far off, and the ram spec is ok.

My advice: Consider a G-force 5900 the minimum spec graphics card, the minimum processor a 2600 mhz Pentium 4 or an Athlon 2600, and 1 gig of pc-2700 or faster DDR ram for the minimum ram, and you'll be happy at near min - mid graphics settings. Beths recomended computer specs are about perfect for running the game with all the trimmings.

I know this news will dissapoint some of you. I recomend upgrading your comp. As a previous poster said, the game is well worth it.

By the way, the game is still beautiful even at minimum graphics settings, so if you have at least a G-force 5900 graphics card or ATI equivelant, you will very much enjoy it. But playing with a G-force FX series graphics card is just not possible, no matter what the specs say. I have tried it on two machines which both had adequit processors and ram, and it was slow enough to cause operator death. ;)

So... upgrade your machines, buy "O", and have FUN, folks!

Elder Scrolls Oblivion is an incredible game. For those who have NOT played the Elder Scrolls series before, shall find this to be of particular interest, whether it be with the x-box 360, or PC.

With the advanced Radion AI, the NPC characters that you shall meet will blow your mind. Meeting the standards on PC, you will see the full beauty that Bethesda has put into this game.

For many, this game was indeed, a slight disappointment. However, if you feel like it, you can change all your keys, and even edit your characters and the world with the TES construction set which you can download with ease from the Bethesda: Oblivion website.

Oblivion is indeed the new breed of RPG in today's world. Many will find this game a new beginning in AI technology and graphics; others may not see it as such.

Go for it and try out the game. It is indeed one that is worth the try and the review. Right now, it is all opinion.

Happy gaming!

I've played Morrowind, and although I really enjoyed it, I always had a few problems with it. I'm happy to say that Bethesda has taken everything that was great about Morrowind and improved upon it with Oblivion.

My favorite new feature is the "target marker" arrow on your compass. One of the major flaws with Morrowind was that sometimes you simply didn't know where you were supposed to be going in order continue the story. Now there are little arrows that show up in your compass to guide you to the next important stop on your journey. No more wondering the countryside for hours looking for the one cave that you need to explore.

The combat has also been redone for the better. In Morrowind, you would swing your sword about 20 times just to score one hit. It made for some rather long "click-fest" fights. Gone is the behind the scenes dice rolling as Oblivion provides a much more realistic representation of sword combat. If you swing your sword and are in range, you're going to hit what you're swinging at. If you shoot an arrow and you see that arrow hit your target, then you scored a hit. It makes for much more rewarding combat. In Morrowind, I avoided fights. In Oblivion, I start them.

The graphics are amazing. It's very easy to get distracted in Oblivion by sightseeing. Climbing to the top of a hill and surveying the land around you is almost awe inspiring, and the sight of deer running through the fields or butterflys in the breeze really makes you stop and appreciate the amount of work that the developers put into this game.

The sound in Oblivion is terrific. The music has a sort of period film movie feel to it, and doesn't feel at all out of place. The voice acting is great and features several noteworthy actors including Patrick Stewart as the Emporer.

The only problem that I've had with the game so far is a few freezes and crashes, but that's my fault for not installing the patch before starting. And for as massive a game as Oblivion is, the developers should be commended for releasing it as relatively bug-free as it is. I've played much smaller games with far more bugs on release.

With the side quests reported to add hundreds of hours of playtime to Oblivion, as well as interesting fan mods that I'm sure will be plentiful, this game promises years of enjoyment. It definately is worth the price for any RPG fans, and I'm guessing that a lot of FPS fans would enjoy this game too. If you're a fan of deeply immersive gameplay in a sword and sorcery universe, you need to buy this game.