The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

aka: TES4
Moby ID: 21735
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

A lowly prisoner has been cast into the depths of the dungeon in the Imperial capital of the province Cyrodiil. The fate of this prisoner suddenly changed when Emperor Uriel Septim descended into the prison with his guards, fleeing from unknown assassins who have already slaughtered his children. But even an emperor cannot escape his destiny. Before the last assassin delivered the lethal strike, the old emperor entrusted the prisoner with the Amulet of Kings and asked him to find his illegitimate son, the last of the Septim bloodline. The Septims and the Amulet are the last barrier between the continent Tamriel and the dark dimension of Oblivion, and the delicate balance is threatened by the Daedra Prince of Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon, the prisoner being Tamriel's only hope.

Oblivion is the fourth title in Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series. The game sticks to the style of its predecessors featuring action-based combat, first-person and third-person views, and vast free-roaming environments. The player's chosen race and class determine the abilities the protagonist has in the beginning. The game allows the player to develop multiple types of characters without being limited to a specific role.

The advancement system, as was the case in previous games, is based on skill usage. When the player repeatedly uses one of the skills, it improves. NPCs offer training (for a price) to help in advancing to the next stage. In time the protagonist can become an Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, and Master and gain certain bonuses for the skill. The skills of the foes are "leveled" to be approximately equal to or slightly above those of the main character.

There are numerous side quests that help the hero advance his or her abilities as well as gain fame. The player is free to roam the world without a particular goal, exploring towns, forts, caves, mines, and old temple ruins. Visiting shrines scattered around Tamriel grants the protagonist specialized skills, some permanent and some temporary.

Weapons and armor wear out with use and need to be repaired either with the help of special non-playable characters or by using an appropriately trained Armorer skill. Enhanced items (weapons, armor, clothing, rings, amulets) abound in the game for protection, resistance, reflection, and special activities like walking on water, exploring underwater, becoming invisible, or lightening the load. It is possible to open the gates to the Oblivion realm to grab their sigil stones, which can be used to make enhanced items. Higher-level mages can create their own spells and enchant weapons, armor, and clothing using filled soul gems in addition to sigil stones.

As opposed to Morrowind, mana points gradually regenerate over time, without the need to rest to replenish them. Active blocking has been added to melee combat. The game features full voice acting for all the NPCs. Dialogues typically contain fewer topics than in Morrowind, but more responses unique to different characters. In addition, the so-called "radiant AI" system makes characters follow their own schedules, engage in various activities, or talk to each other regardless of the player's input. The game features fast traveling, allowing the player to instantly visit Cyrodiil's major cities or previously explored areas.

Spellings

  • 上古卷轴IV:忘却之地 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 上古捲軸4:遺忘之都 - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

285 People (239 developers, 46 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 93% (based on 175 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 296 ratings with 13 reviews)

Clear your calendar...

The Good
1. Extended Gameplay. Yes, the main storyline is on the short side (esp. when compared to RPG classics such as FFVII). However, the side quests and faction quests provide 100+ hours of extended game play. As well, purchasing the 'Game of the Year Edition' provides the Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles extensions to further propel the main quest.

  1. Graphics. Simply stated, the graphics are beautiful. It is no longer a monotonous burden to wander through the gaming wilderness.

  2. Customization. The character customization is ridiculously expansive. If you don't fall under a pre-made design, simply create your own character.

  3. Sound. The score is amazing.

    The Bad
    1. Leveling. If you use (and abuse) the character's main skill sets, your character will level insanely fast...and so will the monsters. Good luck to those who prefer to use pure-magic characters.

  4. Bugs. Yes, the 360 will lock up if played for 5+ hours. Save often. It is possible to jumble the quest lines. For instance, I forgot to ask for advancement following every quest in the fighter's guild story line and ended up not being able to be promoted to Master rank because of it. Tip: Buy the Prima Guide.

  5. Addiction. This game is ridiculously addictive.

  6. Oblivion Gates. There are too many of them and conquering them becomes a chore after closing 2 or 3.

    The Bottom Line
    I'm a graduate student who recently purchased an XBOX 360 "for fun." Thus, I own the system to play games like Halo 3, Call of Duty 3 & 4, and NCAA Football. However, this game caught my eye in Best Buy one day, so I started flipping through the Prima Guide. I really enjoyed the Final Fantasy series for Playstation 10 years ago, so I thought I'd give Oblivion a shot. What I didn't realize is how immersed one can get in the game. You start on the main quest line, but is so, oh so easy to get off track with one of the Guilds or Misc. quests. A great game, but make sure you clear your social calendar for a while.

Xbox 360 · by John Marquart (2) · 2008

Greatest game on the consoles

The Good
This is the best RPG I have ever played, and I am an RPG nut. The expanse covered in Oblivion, while not as big as the world in Morrowind, is still quite sizable, and the game developers used the space assigned to them to the maximum. This means that, while there is less land, there is more to do, and more to have fun with. Also, you can spend hours just trying to customize your character and his house - I spent an hour and a half trying to put my armor on display the right way! I used to be a Morrowind fan, but Oblivion definitely puts it to shame, not only expanding character customization, but allowing for a world that completely immerses the gamer. One could sit down and start a game at nine A.M., and the next time they look up, they will see it's night time. A surefire way to enjoy your PC or 360.

The Bad
...? not... like... oblivion???

The only problem was that it froze a few times, and that is not a problem if you save a lot.

The Bottom Line
This game is possibly THE best game I have ever played. It has consumed my life, and will continue to do so until they make an Elder Scrolls V.

Xbox 360 · by lord of daedra (62) · 2007

You will play for hours. Say goodbye to the girl.

The Good
Everything about this game is lovable. Bethesda has kicked it up so much. The environments are as beautiful as the character's themselves. They cleared up the fog that was forever looming in Morrowind and now you can plop up on top of a mountain and just see what you can see. The combat system is wonderful. You can hit,block,fireball and hit again. The NPCs are now voiced, so your not just talking to a mute person with paper and pencil writing their conversations. And the new mastery of your skills is incredible. New moves to learn and skills to master make this game a perfect gaming experience. Also, the addition of a compass make traveling easy, so now your not running around in circles look for a cave that's miles away from you. And the ability to ride a horse does make traveling faster.

The Bad
The only things I didn't like about Oblivion are many common problems, I guess. First, all of the characters are voiced by the same people. So you talk to a guard with a really deep voice then you go talk to a midget with the same voice. Second, the story line could have been more plentiful. You play a few very simple missions and you win. These are the only problems I see.

The Bottom Line
A must have for any and every RPG fan boy/girl. Once again Bethesda knocks us dead.

Xbox 360 · by Lord Dayin (9) · 2007

[ View all 13 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Incorrect group “Gameplay feature: Fishing”? cawa Aug 2, 2023
Odd inclusion in game groups. Indra was here (20747) Sep 8, 2009
The Real Barenziah Unicorn Lynx (181664) Oct 8, 2008
Glowing faces? Daniel Saner (3515) Dec 28, 2007
Perspective DreinIX (10235) Dec 26, 2007

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Cancelled PSP version

A PSP version was in development and planned for release in the Spring of 2007, but it was eventually cancelled with no official word.

Development

The game had been in development since mid-2002. The long period of development was necessary due to the implementation of a new Radiant AI system and the graphics. A player may encounter while travelling the world of Tamriel: 35.544 shrubs and bushes, 67.730 plants and mushrooms, 94.013 trees and fallen logs, 395,696 rocks and about 1500 NPCs.

DLC

As a part of Xbox Live's Deal of The Week, Bethesda Softworks released all Oblivion downloadable content for half the price in April 2009. For the Horse Armor Pack however, the price was doubled, proving that Bethesda didn't take the criticism against their first DLC pricing too seriously.

ESRB

On 05/03/2006, the ESRB re-rated this game from T (Teen) to M (Mature) and added a "Nudity" attribute because of a secret topless skin that is present on the game media and because there is allegedly more blood and gore in the actual game than shown in the video footage that was originally presented to the ESRB for rating.

This is the second Take-Two game that has undergone an ESRB re-rating, the first one being Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

German version

One book found in the property of a killed necromancer, called "Wälzer des Unlebens" in the German version, contains just bloody drawings of symbols. In the German version, they were replaced a sentence describing the symbols.

References

The 'Shadow over Hackdirt' quest makes several references to one of the most famous novel by HP Lovecraft: The Shadow over Innsmouth. There are references to the 'Deep Ones', the Brethren, a whole town of suspicious people, caverns underneath the earth and so on.

References to the game

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was parodied in an episode of "Die Redaktion" (The Editorial Team), a monthly comedy video produced by the German gaming magazine GameStar. It was published on the DVD of issue 08/2006.

Title

By highlighting certain letters, it is made clear in the menu menu that it is no coincidence Bethesda chose the title "OblIVion" for the fourth main game in the Elder Scrolls series.

Awards

  • Computer Games Magazine
    • March 2007 - #2 Game of the Year 2006
  • GamePro (Germany)
    • February 01, 2007 - Best Console RPG in 2006 (Readers' Vote)
  • Games for Windows Magazine
    • March 2007 - Game of the Year 2006
  • GameSpy
    • 2006 – #8 Game of the Year
    • 2006 – PC Game of the Year (Gamers' Vote)
    • 2006 – #2 PC Game of the Year
    • 2006 – #10 Xbox 360 Game of the Year
    • 2006 – PC RPG of the Year
    • 2006 – PC RPG of the Year (Gamers' Vote)
    • 2006 – Xbox 360 RPG of the Year
    • 2006 – PC Mod of the Year (for Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul)
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • Issue 12/2008 - One of the "10 Coolest Levels" (for "A Brush with Death" because it connects simple technical variations with a big passion for stories. )
  • Golden Joystick Awards
    • 2006 - Ultimate Game of the Year
    • 2006 - PC Game of the Year
    • 2006 - Console Game of the Year
  • PC Powerplay (Germany)
    • Issue 02/2007 – Best RPG/Adventure in 2006
    • Issue 03/2007 – Best RPG/Adventure in 2006 (Readers' Vote)

Information also contributed by EboMike, karttu, Mad Griffith, MDMaster, PCGamer77, piltdown_man and tata_lu_stefan_cel_mare.

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Related Games

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Released 2002 on Windows, Xbox, 2018 on Xbox One
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The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal
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BioShock & The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Bundle
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Magic Scroll Tactics
Released 2018 on Windows, Nintendo Switch, 2020 on PlayStation 4
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - 5th Anniversary Edition
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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - The Orrery
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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Collector's Edition)
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Spartan_234.

Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox One added by Sciere. PlayStation 3 added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Sciere, UV, Aubustou, tata_lu_stefan_cel_mare, lord of daedra, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, Plok, FatherJack.

Game added March 22, 2006. Last modified November 7, 2024.