The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the fourth installment of the series and one of the most known and loved fantasy RPG in gaming. Released in 2006 by Bethesda, the game is still very played to this day, and has a very active modding community, which is a testament of the life-span of a great game. Embark on a journey full of lore, quests and dungeon explorations in this masterpiece of a game.

• Enticing Gameplay - Oblivion is a game that really nails it when it comes to gameplay. You always find some new quest to do or a new dungeon to explore, people to gossip, barter or fight with. The large, open map provides many opportunities to explore and create your own adventure. Even if you already completed the game and know the majority of quests, it’s still fun to replay them. The quests are very well done, and much more diverse than one might expect, primarily due to the rich backstory they provide.
  
  
• Long Completion Time - Don’t worry about running out of things to do. There are over 200 quests and 400 locations to discover, explore and loot. Not to mention this is a Role-Playing Game. You can have multiple playthroughs, each with it’s own different approach on what and who you are, how you attack, and how you respond at moral decisions in quests.
  
  
• Beautiful Soundtrack - This game has, in my opinion, the best soundtrack in the history of gaming. The music is very well made for each situation. It is relaxing when wandering, thrilling when in battle. Jeremy Soule really hit the nail on its head on this one.
  
  
• Modding - Head on over to Oblivion Nexus to download and install a few of thousands of available mods, that fix most if not all problems vanilla oblivion has. Bug fixes, texture enhancements, ENBs, UI redesigns, quest mods, item mods, gameplay tweaks, and so much more are being offered by the modding community. This is one of Oblivions strongest points, and will definitely make the game several times more enjoyable. Just make sure you take your time to research, download and organise them before you start playing.
  
  
• Expansion Packs - We all know the famous “Horse Armor” DLC fiasco, but let’s not get in the way of its actual expansion packs, namely Knights of the Nine and The Shivering Isles. The latter is considered one of the best expansion packs that were ever released, and comes included in the Game of the Year version on Steam. It adds lots of new content, including maps, items, quests, characters and gameplay elements.

• Vanilla Version - This is just informing you that the vanilla game you get when you first download it is a bit underselling. The graphics are outdated(Duh! 2006 game) and there are quite a few (hundred) small bugs and other inconsistencies that may occur during gameplay, the faces of characters look… well, hideously ugly in some cases. All of these problems and many more are easily fixed with a few tweaks and mods and you can enjoy a better, prettier, and more stable version by installing them. There are loads of bits and pieces I could write long rants about, but there’s a mod for all of them, so I won’t bother. I will concentrate only on the things inherently bad about the game that cannot be fixed (in most cases)
  
  
• Voice Casting - Given that Patrik Steward voiced about 5 minutes of emperor Uriel’s lines, the budget was already out the window, so we are left with about… a few handfuls of voice actors, each representing their race. This makes it a little weird having every member of a gender and race sound the same, with a few exceptions. Albeit, in order to do this, each actor recorded the entirety of the dialogues, even ones that would never be used by their characters, for safe-proofing. A lot of work to be admired, however the problem of little to no diversity between characters’ voices is a little disappointing. Which isn’t to say they sound awful. The sound quality is good and the actors are talented. It’s just that everything sounds the same. Also, you may encounter beggars that change voices radically between different topics.
  
  
• Totalitarian Crime System - There is a running gag of the telepathic guards that roam Oblivion in search for you. Doing any murder, even in complete and utter stealth, even in the most devoid of any witnesses location, that crime will be recorded, a bounty will be placed on your head, and sometimes guards might leave the cities in search for you and they know exactly where you are. Not only this, but touching items is a crime. You are a guest in someone’s home. You see a misplaced fork on the table and just want to nudge it a bit to align it with the plate. Yup, you are going to be arrested. Or say you broke in someone’s house late at night, and you steal an apple. That apple is now known throughout the entire province of Cyrodill as being stolen and cannot be sold to anyone but thief guild fences. You can come to a merchant with 20 apples, but he will specifically know that only 18 of them are righteously yours. You can’t sell the other two. How!? Why!?
  
  
• Uneven Leveling System - (fixable by mods) The world seems to be leveling with you, which seems stupid. By about level 20, every common bandit you find will be equipped with the best grade weapons and armor, which breaks the immersion and unbalances the game. Also, attaining the perfect character (max stats) requires a deep understanding of the leveling system and painstakingly much micro-management.

It may seem the cons list is longer, but trust me, this game is amazing. It is one of my favorite games of all time, and have been rocking a lot more hours before I got it on Steam. If you like RPGs, then this is a must have. I recommend it with all my heart. Be sure to mod it and to try to find everything there is to do in it. To help you, here are some links:

UESP Wiki[www.uesp.net] - Huge Wiki of everything you need to know.
Modding Guide - List of my favorite mods, why and how to install them.

[h1]Overview[/h1] [i]The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion[/i] is the fourth installment of the series and one of the most known and loved fantasy RPG in gaming. Released in 2006 by Bethesda, the game is still very played to this day, and has a very active modding community, which is a testament of the life-span of a great game. Embark on a journey full of lore, quests and dungeon explorations in this masterpiece of a game. [h1]The Pros[/h1] [list] [*][b]Enticing Gameplay[/b] - Oblivion is a game that really nails it when it comes to gameplay. You always find some new quest to do or a new dungeon to explore, people to gossip, barter or fight with. The large, open map provides many opportunities to explore and create your own adventure. Even if you already completed the game and know the majority of quests, it’s still fun to replay them. The quests are very well done, and much more diverse than one might expect, primarily due to the rich backstory they provide. [*][b]Long Completion Time[/b] - Don’t worry about running out of things to do. There are over 200 quests and 400 locations to discover, explore and loot. Not to mention this is a [u]Role-Playing[/u] Game. You can have multiple playthroughs, each with it’s own different approach on what and who you are, how you attack, and how you respond at moral decisions in quests. [*][b]Beautiful Soundtrack[/b] - This game has, in my opinion, the best soundtrack in the history of gaming. The music is very well made for each situation. It is relaxing when wandering, thrilling when in battle. Jeremy Soule really hit the nail on its head on this one. [*][b]Modding[/b] - Head on over to Oblivion Nexus to download and install a few of thousands of available mods, that fix most if not all problems vanilla oblivion has. Bug fixes, texture enhancements, ENBs, UI redesigns, quest mods, item mods, gameplay tweaks, and so much more are being offered by the modding community. This is one of Oblivions strongest points, and will definitely make the game several times more enjoyable. Just make sure you take your time to research, download and organise them before you start playing. [*][b]Expansion Packs[/b] - We all know the famous “Horse Armor” DLC fiasco, but let’s not get in the way of its actual expansion packs, namely Knights of the Nine and The Shivering Isles. The latter is considered one of the best expansion packs that were ever released, and comes included in the Game of the Year version on Steam. It adds lots of new content, including maps, items, quests, characters and gameplay elements. [/list] [h1]The Cons[/h1] [list] [*][b]Vanilla Version[/b] - This is just informing you that the vanilla game you get when you first download it is a bit underselling. The graphics are outdated(Duh! 2006 game) and there are quite a few (hundred) small bugs and other inconsistencies that may occur during gameplay, the faces of characters look… well, hideously ugly in some cases. All of these problems and many more are easily fixed with a few tweaks and mods and you can enjoy a better, prettier, and more stable version by installing them. There are loads of bits and pieces I could write long rants about, but there’s a mod for all of them, so I won’t bother. I will concentrate only on the things inherently bad about the game that cannot be fixed (in most cases) [*][b]Voice Casting[/b] - Given that Patrik Steward voiced about 5 minutes of emperor Uriel’s lines, the budget was already out the window, so we are left with about… a few handfuls of voice actors, each representing their race. This makes it a little weird having every member of a gender and race sound the same, with a few exceptions. Albeit, in order to do this, each actor recorded the entirety of the dialogues, even ones that would never be used by their characters, for safe-proofing. A lot of work to be admired, however the problem of little to no diversity between characters’ voices is a little disappointing. Which isn’t to say they sound awful. The sound quality is good and the actors are talented. It’s just that everything sounds the same. Also, you may encounter beggars that change voices radically between different topics. [*][b]Totalitarian Crime System[/b] - There is a running gag of the telepathic guards that roam Oblivion in search for you. Doing any murder, even in complete and utter stealth, even in the most devoid of any witnesses location, that crime will be recorded, a bounty will be placed on your head, and sometimes guards might leave the cities in search for you and they know exactly where you are. Not only this, but touching items is a crime. You are a guest in someone’s home. You see a misplaced fork on the table and just want to nudge it a bit to align it with the plate. Yup, you are going to be arrested. Or say you broke in someone’s house late at night, and you steal an apple. That apple is now known throughout the entire province of Cyrodill as being stolen and cannot be sold to anyone but thief guild fences. You can come to a merchant with 20 apples, but he will specifically know that only 18 of them are righteously yours. You can’t sell the other two. How!? Why!? [*][b]Uneven Leveling System[/b] - (fixable by mods) The world seems to be leveling with you, which seems stupid. By about level 20, every common bandit you find will be equipped with the best grade weapons and armor, which breaks the immersion and unbalances the game. Also, attaining the perfect character (max stats) requires a deep understanding of the leveling system and painstakingly much micro-management. [/list] [h1]Conclusion[/h1] It may seem the cons list is longer, but trust me, this game is amazing. It is one of my favorite games of all time, and have been rocking a lot more hours before I got it on Steam. If you like RPGs, then this is a [b]must[/b] have. I recommend it with all my heart. Be sure to mod it and to try to find everything there is to do in it. To help you, here are some links: [url=http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Oblivion]UESP Wiki[/url] - Huge Wiki of everything you need to know. [url=http://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=403031195]Modding Guide[/url] - List of my favorite mods, why and how to install them. [table][tr][td]If you enjoyed this review and want to see more of my work, [b]consider joining my group[/b] and [b]follow my curator[/b] page! Link to the right![/td][td][url=http://gtm.you1.cn/groups/jads_list]Jad's List - Curator Group[/url][/td][/tr][/table]