Alright Bethesda. I give up. Despite how much I hated Oblivion at first…I’m hooked. Part of it is that I really love the engine; I gave it one last chance because I was having so much fun with Fallout 3, but have beaten the game so many times that I was starting to falter. 3rd time is a charm apparently, as I cannot get enough Oblivion.
I normally hate games set in medieval times. The outfits are ugly, the technology is horrid, society is rather barbaric, and don’t even get me started on that Ye Olde English crap. All that said, Oblivion is making me want to make my own game in a similar time frame. Perhaps with some modifications to the time line so that I may add some aspects of technology and allow them to speak normally (including normal-sounding town names), but swords, shields, magic, horses, etc would still remain prominent.
I think part of it was the fact that I learned all the ins and outs of the engine from my extensive time (literally hundreds of hours) playing Fallout 3. I was able to jump right in and play well from the beginning this time. I knew which skills would help me, what buttons to press, etc etc. Another part of it is that I set up certain parameters to make the game more challenging, such as not using Chameleon spells. Lastly, I’ve been trying to make my character like Link from the Zelda games. Enchanting my items (now that I’m Arch-Mage of the Mages Guild) has made that more achievable, what with my Zora Tunic that actually lets you breathe underwater ^_^
But then there are the few things that even I must admit Oblivion does BETTER than Fallout. Blocking isn’t useless. You can interact more with factions. You can interact more with the environment (by doing things like harvesting). Said environment is (understandably) more lush…and while I totally get why, it DOES allow for a little more variety than Fallout 3 had. Also, using magic is fun, and the ability to enchant items is great. I am more than ok with Fallout not utilizing magic, but being able to modify items to your liking would have been nice (though that is apparently a feature in New Vegas =D)
All in all, Oblivion has had a similar impact on me as that of Fallout 3: sit down to play a single quest before bed and before you know it, it’s been 4 hours and I’m still up. Wasn’t quite as long tonight, but that’s because I’m exhausted from work. So with that…I bid you goodnight.
Cognitive Chaos
Month
