The Perfect RPG

It’s a fact that RPGs have problems with traps. I’d always thought that the best system was the one employed by Baldur’s Gate (and its sequels). You’d press a button to begin passively searching for traps, and when you spotted one it would be highlighted in red. You’d then right click it and your character would run over and disarm the blighter.

That was until, ten minutes into playing Oblivion, I abruptly came to a halt having spotted a string stretched low across the ground. Tentatively, I poked the string with my foot. From the walls of the passage ahead, wicked looking spiked metal balls swung down and clattered impotently against each other.

This in many ways crystallizes the achievement Oblivion has made. The bar has been raised.

Setting

Oblivion is a high fantasy roleplaying game set in the rich world of the Elder Scrolls series, of which Oblivion is the fourth. For Oblivion, events take place in the Imperial heartland of Cyrodil; a green and pleasant land with a medieval flavour.

But all is not well. The Emperor has been assassinated and as such the barrier which prevents the Daedra (demons) from invading has collapsed. Gates are opening across the world, from which the minions of Oblivion (hell) are pouring fourth.

Sound and Graphics

Both the sound and graphics in Oblivion are almost perfect. The detail possible with a high end system makes Oblivion a gorgeous game to play. The screenshots should speak for themselves. But at the same time, they don’t do Oblivion justice. The game uses a physics engine which means that when you shoot a goblin on a bridge with an arrow, he falls off, his sword clattering to the ground.

Making your character look ‘right’ is pretty tough and the character models in general, while technically sound, didn’t appeal to me. However, Oblivion has such a strong modding community that this is a mere hitch.

The system specifications for all of this are pretty hefty. Oblivion will run on its minimum specifications, but you might have to do some advanced tweaking to make it bearably smooth.

Dungeon Crawling

In many ways, Oblivion is the ultimate dungeon crawl. Combat is fun. A slightly more advanced hack and slash, you have the ability to block attacks in real time and a few specialised attacks open up as you become more skilled. This might put less twitchy players on their guard, but you shouldn’t be worried. This isn’t Street Fighter 2. You don’t need fast reactions. You don’t need to furiously mash buttons in complex combinations. It’s just a few touches to make combat more interactive and more real.

Oblivion also has a robust stealth engine, much improved from Morrowind, which allows thiefly characters to really come into their own.

The rich and interactive environments and the Radiant AI (more about this later) make combat very immersive. However, it’s occasionally reminiscent of a first person shooter, particularly if you play an archer of some kind. I found myself strafe-dodging fireballs in hell and memories of Doom flashed across my subconscious.

Radiant World

The world of Oblivion is vast. It’s open ended and… well… it’s all there. A half a dozen or so towns and the Imperial City itself, with large tracts of open space in between dotted with ruins, shrines and dungeons.

Unlike other games of its ilk, the world of Oblivion doesn’t stand still. The NPCs are equipped with “Radiant AI”. They sleep at night, they wander around, they talk to one another, they eat, they read, they steal, they fight… It’s the closest thing to a dynamic world I’ve ever seen.

Oblivion is fairly astounding when it comes to immersion, that elusive holy grail of all roleplaying games. Unlike many modern RPGs, the designers behind Oblivion understand why it’s important for characters to be able to sit (and you can sit in Oblivion). Many things which, in other games, would be arbitrarily represented actually happen in Oblivion. When an NPC invites you to have a seat – you actually do so. And NPCs don’t hang back waiting for you to speak. If they have something to say, they’ll come over to you and say it.

Customary for the Elder Scrolls series, the world is filled with books, parchments and curious objects; some common, some rare; some incidental, some of immense importance. Because not every piece of information is directly relevant to a quest, the world feels less contrived than in many other games (Morrowind being the notable exception).

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Oblivion is not entirely without its faults.

Firstly, although the dialogue is fully speeched, there’s a lack of dialogue choices. That has to be taken in the context of your wider freedoms – you can kill people, you can steal – but it’s rare for you to be given real opportunity to change the course of events. Unlike its predecessor, Oblivion is a little short on content. Those familiar with Morrowind’s political intrigue and numerous factions will likely be disappointed at what’s on offer in Oblivion.

Secondly, the world sometimes lacks character. This is exacerbated by the level scaling employed. Most games have enemies that scale with you as you level but Oblivion takes this to an extreme. Very early on in the game, you are required to enter hell and close an Oblivion Gate. Having been fascinated by the Daedric ruins in Morrowind, I was excited at the prospect, but the dark spires and twisted passageways of Morrowind have been replaced by a very cliché lava filled hell. Gone were the traditional RPG traps, to be replaced with mines straight out of a Sci-Fi FPS, blood fountains (i.e. health restore points) and other facets that left me a little bemused. The last vestiges of tension evaporated when I discovered that, thanks to the extreme level scaling, the demons of hell were no match for my level one character. Even out in the wilderness, the swathes of beautiful flowers and lush meadows sometimes feel like you’re strolling through a town park. There’s a palpable deficiency of grit and sometimes I got the feelings that what I was looking at was an incredible Computer RPG engine with some showcase quests.

Thirdly, Oblivion was made as a console game – and it shows. You are walked through every quest. While this prevents the frustration of not knowing quite what to do or trying to find that particular NPC, I found myself clicking past the dialogues and playing on automatic. And, again, with the level scaling this was a game where I didn’t need to pay any kind of attention. So I didn’t. Oblivion also fails to find a happy medium between instant travel and exploration. Morrowind erred on the side of exploration and was sometimes tedious. Oblivion has swung the other way, with immediate travel to any significant location. As a result, you have to force yourself into the world rather than be drawn into it.

Finally, there’s no multiplayer, no party management and no complex relationships. It’s you and, perhaps, a few other NPCs over which you have no control. This isn’t a drawback as such – the game is enjoyable enough that you don’t miss company. But it’s a pity because Oblivion seems made for such things.

Fortunately Oblivion is very moddable and is inheriting the amateur modding teams from Morrowind, probably the best modding community around. This is no small post-script. The player mods for Morrowind were of such high quality that they sometimes put the designers to shame – and the same is likely to be true of Oblivion.

Overall

It’s difficult to judge Oblivion without reference to Morrowind. On its own merits, Oblivion is an amazing hack and slash game with many strong roleplaying entities and technological achievements. All of the tools are there for a mind blowing RPG. The engine is awe-inspiring and the content is competently designed. It’ll certainly hold your interest, although you may get the feeling that something’s missing. The hole will hopefully be filled either by mods or forthcoming expansions.

Final Grade: 93%

System Requirements:
-Operating System: Windows XP
-Processor: 2 GHz or greater
-RAM: 512 MB
-Video Card: DirectX 9 compatible, Direct 3D compatible, 128 MB

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