The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

This has become my favourite single player game of all time. That's a big statement considering that I have been a gamer pretty much since video gaming began. Once I had played DooM though, that was me hooked on the FPS genre of games for good. I can still remember the day I ripped the 2 floppy disks containing the shareware version of DooM from the cover of PC Home magazine. I had to get rid of Coolspot to fit the game on the 128mb HDD of my old 486. My jaw hit the floor once I began playing and I have been in love with First Person Perspective games ever since.

Oblivion though. Christ where do I begin? Perhaps some of you have played this on a console but I can tell you that the PC version is a completely different experience due to one simple factor. Mods.

My Oblivion game is modded to the hilt with everything from a complete Hi-Res texture replacement pack, custom interface, custom character races, music.....the list goes on, The single most important mod for me though is OOO or Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul. It adds so many things to the game but the most important thing for me is the level structure. In vanilla Oblivion, all of your enemies are "levelled". What this means is basically if your character is say, level 14, then the enemies you fight against will be of a similar level no matter where you come across them, including the main quests BOSS!. Pretty lame huh? Well, OOO changes all of that meaning you had better watch your step. It really makes the game so much more dynamic.

The second thing that makes this my all time favourite game is the sandbox element. I have never come across a more free-roaming game than this. You can literally "be" whatever you want. The game begins with you in prison, as do all of the Elder Scrolls games. After creating the look of your character the story begins with the Emperor himself making his escape from deadly Mythic Dawn cult assasin's via a secret escape route which leads through your prison cell enabling your escape. On route through the Imperial City's tunnels and caverns you find yourself assisting the Emperor in his escape. This part of the game acts as a kind of tutorial and also acts to build your character through a series of questions from the NPC's like, "what birthsign are you?" etc. The whole process take roughly half an hour, after which you escape the tunnels and are free to do whatever you like in Oblivions massive world. You can follow the main quest line if you like, which involves restoring the Emperor to the throne whilst fighting off an invasion from the demonic realm of Oblivion (hell?) but nothing is set in stone. Want to be a baddass magician and zap folk with your lightning spell? Go ahead. Warrior? No problem. My latest character is a kind of charming rogue-ish stealth based thief assasin thingymajig(!) He is from a lore-based custom race, the ape-like Tang Mo.

The third thing I love about the game is the fact that everyone you come across is fully voiced. No more reading lines and lines of dull text for this rpg.

Lastly, and the reason for the title of this thread. This game is beautiful. By far the best looking game I have ever played including the likes of Crysis and Assasin's Creed. Grass and trees (and their shadows) sway in the breeze or thrash around during storms, Sunsets actually make you stop to watch. Dungeons are truly scary and special effects amazing to see. To get it looking REALLY great though, you have to use texture pack mods and also use a custom .ini file to enable or enhance the vanilla games appearance.

To finish off my phanboi-ish rant, here's a big buch of screenshots to show you what I mean. A few of these are third-person (which you can play the game in if you like) simply to show off my character Click them for full size.

Thanks for reading!

Cloud Ruler Temple. Home of "The Blades"


Out and about in Cryodiil


Just a nice view.


Outside a chapel.


The Chapel by night.


Inside an old ruined fort (shhhh!).


Imperial City Market District.


Castle in the valley below.


Alchemy (nothing beats a swift, silent, poisoned arrow)


Not only does that Mages tower look nice, you can own it too!


An Oblivion gate (minus a welcome mat)


In the realm of Oblivion (climb the tower, steal the stone, close the gate. Simple eh?)


Now where's that bloody door?


Easy does it now.


Inside the tower (gulp!)


Take the stone....


Eeeeeuuuuuuuw!


Me, about to spoil the Mythic Dawns sacrifice party.


One of many towns.


The Moons above Cryodiil


Illuminated windows at night (another mod)


Every book in the game can be read.


Once again in Oblivion sporting my Giger inspired armour complete with deadly wristblades (armour mod by AlienSlof)


Mods from here: http://www.tesnexus.com/

Tweaked .ini guide here: http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html

I also love Oblivion, bought it on PC as soon as I had the dosh as I heard critics raving about it. Never tried morrowind so it was a completely new experience to me.

I agree, truly one of the most beautifully epic games with freeform gameplay and that level of immersion that makes every character and interaction come alive.

I'm far from an RPG geek, and this was the first non-FPS game I had played in a while. The enjoyment from creating your character - in the truest sense - by defining them by their actions and experiences; choices and habits.

Oh, and it contains what is possibly the best story/quest line I have ever seen in a game - the epic Dark Brotherhood saga. I had only played the valiant white knight style character up to that point, I formed a new evil nemesis just to experience it

I had heard of OOO but before installing it had a few other things crop up and I played less and less. The high res pack was stunning, thankfully my rig could handle it

I would recommend this to anyone, even if you're not a fan of the genre. This is a must play for any PC gamer.

I did actually play Diablo II for a while, but the sort of quests in Oblivion are just unique - you never feel rushed, or bored, or as if you're just going to point x to fetch item y like so many other RPGs.

Also, the sheer quantity of literature in their must be enough for several full length novels in themselves! You have absolutely no obligation to read any of them but the depth to the Elder Scrolls universe is as rich as any.

Oh god dammit Mad you've got all your fanboy rubbed off on me!

"By Azura! By Azura! By Azura! It's the grand champion, I can't believe its you standing here next to me. "

^^ I loved killing him over and over in increasingly creative ways !

I love Oblivion! It's like fully moddable. I got the Shivering isles too.

My role is a Thief/Assassin. Dark Brotherhood and Thiefs Guild cleared. I love pickpocketing, picklocking and running away from guards who chase you like foreeever. That just gives me a funny feeling.
Raising money for the manor in Skingrad was difficult but fun.

After I got the Main Quest cleared I started modding. Few spells, armor, houses, NPC's etc. It's hell lot of fun. The unlimited amount of mods never let you get bored to Oblivion.

I never considered buying it coz my computer was too lame, but now that I upgraded it a bit, I might have a look at it. I played Morrowind, but got bored after a while because it seemed to repeat itself (find this person, talk to him/her, come back... Find 5 of this herbs, 5 of this ore etc)... The main quest was quite entertaining though. All in all, I felt like having a bit too much freedom on my hands, I need a soft push towards finishing the game... But now, u made me wanna go out and buy it immediately!

I wouldn't reccomend getting the Game of the Year Edition (sold by Game exclusively) because although you get the 2 expansion packs, you don't get the other plug-ins like the Vile Lair, Theives Den, Horse Armour, Frostcrag Spire etc. If you buy the game and expansions seperately you get all of those addons included.

Iv been playing TES games since daggerfall & to be honest oblivion was great but iv now over played it & dont see myself playing again. even with my recent addition of the shivering isles & knights of the nine iv found it hard to get back into.
Also mad said he liked the fact that npc's were all voice acted, so did i until you realise that 4 actors were used for like 200 npc's. ok ok thats a bit fussy sorry!
Also i wasent keen on the fact that monsters lvled at he same time as you so no matter whare you went at any point on the map anything you fight is the same lvl as you. i want to be able to walk into a cave & there be something in there thats stupidly hard to kill until iv lvled a bit.
Loot sucked too!
For me on a personal & nostalgic level i prefered morrowind.
Maybe after reading mads post ill go back with a few of the better mods & see what i think.
I hope Besthesda dont balls fallout 3 up & that its a free roming effort like the elderscrolls games.


Btw knights of the nine & all the official mods can be found on mininova at a discount price lol

That's where OOO comes in handy.

I have gone for realism in the extreme in my modded version of Oblivion. I use no HUD at all. No health bars, no location markers, no waypoints, not even a crosshair. It makes getting those distant kills with the bow on a moving target all the more satisfying. I also didn't like the "fast travel" option right from the off so I use a mod to disable that too. My map had no markers for any locations that I hadn't visited including the towns, which meant having to walk or ride everywhere. I'll post up my recommended mods in the next couple of days.

An epic game in the very truest sense of the word. For a game so big i think everyone was amazed at the level of detail over such a huge expanse of land. It's a shame I can only run this on my old rig or i'd be digging it up now too.

If you felt like you had too much freedom in morrowind then there's always a plot you can be following. Although equally you can just ride around looking for quests or trouble. Admittedly alot of the dialogue in cities is repeated, but it is all voiced and to pretty high standard.

I remember when the game first came out me and a friend pulled up our horse on a particuarly pretty hill, dismounted and just stopped there to have a beer and admire the veiw for half an hour. It really was groudbreaking. What a moment when you see the first oblivion portals and the whole mood of the area changes.

Also my console loving mate was drawn into Oblivion by the distinctly non-rpg combat. Your sword or weapon has stats, yes. It may be on fire or glowing with magical energy; but when you attack you swing in real-time, the thumps and bumps of blocking and parrying all expertly done. The detail on weapons and armor is especially good, with many different weapons and items all having an affect on your appearence.

After creating my first do-gooder Redgaurd and working as a Blade I made one of the reptilian characters to explore the Dark brotherhood and the theives guild. I remember searching in that area behind the docks for the Grey Wolf in the dead of night and thinking 'what a game' -It's such a shame Vista64 wont even recongise it for me.

The mods now are great and it's great fun to play around with yourself too. Things have moved on since the dire 'horse armor' official mod! Just saw the 'illumintaed windows at night' mod.... what an awesome idea, must add bunches to the game.

I really liked the tutorial for modding your own zombie in PCG a while back. Basically you program a super powered zombie to roam around cyrodil and prey upon people. It's purely for fun but you can even be looking for an NPC and find he's munched down on them unless you program him otherwise.... funny stuff.

Played it completed it, got bored of it due to the stupid leveling thing having to enchat me sword with every thing under the sun jsut to kill an enemy in less that 20 hits. Got to level 41 though as Dark Elf, daedric armour ftw

Ahh to complete Oblivion you musta loved it at some point!

Bloody darnsight further than I ever got!