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Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Oblivion At Day Five

Since I picked Oblivion out of my mailbox after work on Friday I've played nothing else (hell, I've almost done nothing else!) and the disc has not left my drive. I was pretty clued up on what to expect and I was maintaining a high level of expectation whilst not setting my sights too high. To hell with that, it's been fantastic so far. I'm about twenty-five hours into this beast with the end still nowhere in sight. It began with an underground journey (one that was perhaps a smidgen too long) that acted as a delightful showcase for the game. However emerging into the light unleashed all my exploration instincts and I spent the next fifteen hours (not in a row!) exploring the countryside around the Imperial City and investigating the large city itself. I cured an invisible village, hunted down some fish for a crippled man looking to retire, shopped a corrupt city guard, established the source of some disturbingly cheap goods and generally chatted, walked, bought, sold and fought. Quick travel? Not a chance.

It was only after those first fifteen hours that I decided to engage in the first part of the main quest, not least because I'd read you get a free horse. That was excellent, a very well put to together sequence I won't spoil at the moment. After death, destruction and ultimately victory I guided my charge back across miles of countryside to what should have been his safety, only to leave their with a third traveller as we all trotted off (everyone on horseback) up deep into the snowy mountains. Since that long journey I've returned to my own exploration, visiting towns and sacking dungeons and ruins for treasure. I'm back in the Imperial City now, with my own shack to store non-essential clutter and my eyes on the Arena for my next challenge.

Combat is weighty and enjoyable, the scenery is magnificent under the eyes of HDR lighting and the game has completely captured me. I cannot stop chronicling it through screenshots or reading about the damn thing at work. More, more!

Posted by Alex Hopkinson @ 11:14 PM

6 Comments:

At 2:39 PM, March 30, 2006, Anonymous said...

what kind of character are you playing. Why?

I'm playing a Mage/Fighter/Stealth. Not sure that's a good way to go. Even after reading the guide book.

 

At 3:32 PM, March 30, 2006, Alex Hopkinson said...

For some reason I can never break myself out of the fighter mold in RPGs. It doesn't matter how much cool stuff I hear about alternatives like sneaky thief/assasin types, I always go for the security of big weapons and big armour! :)

That said, Oblivion seems admirable (so far) at letting you diversify. My major skills include the obvious blades, block and heavy armour for my fighting ways but also speechcraft and armourer (both I make plenty of use of), athletics (no idea why I took this one as a major but at least I recharge fatigue faster) and light armour (a complete waste of a major skill but I prefer to live with my mistakes!).

I've still made plenty of use of the Cure minor wound and Flare magic I began with, as well as lock picking and a bit of sneaking. I think the problem is likely to be "where best to put your stat increase points" at each level that could hamper you.

 

At 9:25 AM, April 07, 2006, Anonymous said...

Hello Alexande! Guess who?

 

At 1:16 PM, April 12, 2006, Alex Hopkinson said...

Hmmmmmmm, surely not AlexS? That's far too unlikely! Certainly someone who would recognise this photo I found on flickr last week - http://www.flickr.com/photos/benfo/124776015/

 

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