Oblivion - this is one of those games that I really wanted to get into but failed miserably. I guess it goes to show that just because you love games - doesn't mean you love all games and all game types.
Oblivion is set in the olden days and is Western RPG. I say western RPG rather than Japanese RPG as I actually enjoy the occasional JRPG, mainly because they are quirky and remind me of some the RPGs I played on the master system / mega drive which I really enjoyed as a kid.. Anyway back to Oblivion.
Like I was saying it's a western RPG which means it takes its self seriously - there are no cutesy characters and there are no whacky gameplay mechanics . I'm not saying that this is a bad thing but it does make the game feel a bit staid and starchy like a having a conversation with young conservative in the late 70s.
Anyway, in this game you start of locked up in jail which is pretty cool - you managed to escape or you are let out - can't remember but the Emperor gets whacked pretty early on, from then on you are on a quest to find the new heir to the empire (a bloke called Martin - not the best name for a olden days bloke) and must travel the lands to complete this quest and close some gates. Before all this you get to create you character which is pretty cool - but in some ways I prefer to be given a character (like Link) and told - "this is who you are" and "this what you look like" but I can see how some people like this feature.
Anyway, there are loads of quests in the game - which you find out about by talking to the NPCs - you can talk to anyone in the game but the conversations tend to be very dull and everyone seems to talk like they have taken tampazipan i.e. very subdued and not that interesting. I prefer the punchy one liners from the JRPG like "we have lost our chickens" rather than going through 4 branches of a conversation tree to establish the same thing.
The problem with Oblivion is it gives you too much freedom, too early - it's great to have a choice but I ended up spending ages in the first city in case I was missing some (I wasn't) when I should have been given a few more exciting missions early on.
I also found the inventory system overly clunky - trying to manage the items in the inventory was difficult you also end up collecting so much tat (rats meat and old rusty swords etc) that it becomes difficult to see what's what after a short amount of time.
I think the main problem I have with this game is that it doesn't pull you in like it should do. There was one mission where you help some farmers protect a field from some raiders (goblins) which was cool - if there were more missions like this I might have stuck with it longer.. Alas it was not to be.
I even went back to this game and started again but still couldn't get into it.
Oh well - I hate having games on the shelf that I haven't completed - or given a good go - especially ones as highly rated as this but that's the way it is. I won't sell it - as it's worth nothing and I don't want to sell any more games. I also hope, like Shenmue 2, that I might go back one day and finish it - but somehow I doubt it!
This is the same way I feel about Morrowwind. I have tried to start the game 3 times but I always just end up wondering around aimlessly because there is to much freedom and I'm not sure where to go first and I don't want to miss anything.
I loved this game from the start. The Freedom to do anything and go anywhere let me play for 40 hours without even touching the main quest. This game took over 140 hours from me, and I don't miss them :-P
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