Retro Game Friday: Oblivion

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering an entry in a series I love. It’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion!

Plot Synopsis:  The story begins with the player imprisoned in a cell for an unknown crime. Emperor Uriel Septim VII, accompanied by Imperial bodyguards known as “the Blades”, arrive in the prison, fleeing from assassins who have murdered the emperor’s three sons and are now targeting him. The emperor and the Blades reveal that the player’s jail cell contains a secret entrance to a part of the city’s sewer that functions as an escape route. Pardoned by the emperor, the player follows the group into the sewer, where they come under attack by assassins. All but one of the Blades are cut down in the fighting that ensues. Knowing he is destined to die by the hands of the assassins, Uriel Septim entrusts the player with the Amulet of Kings, worn by the Septim emperors of Tamriel, and orders the player to take it to a man named Jauffre, the grand master of the Blades, at Weynon Priory. Immediately afterward, one of the assassins kills the emperor. The player escapes the sewer and heads out into the open world of Cyrodiil.

Plot: The plot of the game is pretty decent, but it’s also not anything super great either. There are some really interesting sidequests, particularly the Sheogorath DLC, but the main story falls short in my opinion.

Characters: There are plenty of interesting NPCs, M’aiq the Liar for instance, but again most of them aren’t super impressive. To be honest I’ve never felt the same level of affection for the NPCs in Oblivion or Skyrim quite like I did in Morrowind. Granted that in Morrowind you could kill any and all NPCs if you so chose, other than the always present guards, but even then it was a choice….

Gameplay: However that choice was removed starting in Oblivion, which is a real shame, because I actually enjoyed the heck out of learning who I can dispatch and who I couldn’t. It also removed the ability to use the levitate spell from the repertoire of available spells, which again was a massive let down.

Art: The art is very badly aged, and the faces in the game look horrible. Especially the eyes.

Music: Decent, but not as catchy as Morrowind or Skyrim’s music.

Overall: An easily skippable entry in the series, it removed most of what I loved about Morrowind and added DLC Horse Armor instead.

 

Video Game Tuesday: The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim

This week we are going over the latest in one of my favorite western RPG series, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim!

Plot Synopsis: Skyrim‘s main story revolves around the player character‘s efforts to defeat Alduin, a Dragon who is prophesied to destroy the world. Set two hundred years after Oblivion, the game takes place in the fictional province of Skyrim.

Plot: It was pretty good, and I enjoyed it immensely, although I felt the side stories were lacking. I don’t know why I really feel that way, except I just do. The civil war aspect of the game was underwhelming to me, and I ended up hating both sides equally. I’d kill every one of each sides non named characters I could when traveling.

Gameplay: I’ve always loved the stealth systems in Elder Scrolls games, and I enjoyed it even more in this game than in previous ones. Probably because sniping was super easy and I could move really quickly to get from sniping spots in order take out entire camps of people without anyone ever noticing I was there. My main character mixed it up occasionally and would use Mehrune’s Razor, best weapon in the game in my opinion, and a Daedric dagger to destroy anyone who got close to me on the off chance I missed sniping someone while my dragon breath power for life sense was down. I’d also use the occasional healing magic to top off my health and illusion magic to make it easier to sneak around.

Art: The art in this game is amazing even on the console versions, although if you have the computer for it I’d recommend playing this game on the PC as you can upgrade the graphics with mods.

Music: I really enjoyed the music in this game, while I’ve enjoyed the themes from previous games, I didn’t really enjoy the rest of the music nearly as much as I did for Skyrim.

Overall: If you are one of the few people who haven’t played this game, go play it.

For those who like: Open World RPGs, The Elder Scrolls, The ability to do anything on the PC version.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.