The Oblivion Project, Part One

One of the editors over at Game Judgment has begun a new diary series, during which he’ll be chronicling his adventures through a mod-free The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in an attempt to determine if it’s “still a great game”. From part one:

Yeah, so the character models are decent-looking, but holy crap these animations are rough. People don’t walk like that in real life, at least as far as I know. I can’t say too many bad things about the texturing or lighting as they still look pretty good for a 2006 release. As for the tutorial level though, I can say a few things that are bothering me. First off, the dialogue sounds phoned-in, while my character’s responses are generic and uninspired. Honestly, this whole idea of a jailed person having the emperor tell them they are the vision from his dream is a bit strange.

Moving on to the aftermath when I’m left to escape on my own. This is a lot longer and a lot less fun than I remember it being on all my past play through experiences. I know my character has no skills or decent gear yet, but that still doesn’t make me feel any better about the combat mechanics. Sadly, running backwards after striking seems to be a standard Bethesda combat strategy. Slow and clunky is how I can describe melee combat, while sneaking around and sniping seems a lot more effective in the long run. I’m hoping that I just need to see the outside world again to fall in love with Oblivion, and to stop being such a negative nancy.