Oblivion Joys

I picked up Oblivion a couple of weeks ago for 15 dollars. It was a killer deal and I had the credit so I couldn't pass it up. This was the single reason I was upset that I didn't have a 360 long ago. The last Elder Scrolls game, Morrowind, is not only one of my favorite games of all time, but I think it is the only single player experience since Final Fantasy Tactics that I found so addictive that I could blaze through 10 hours of play in one sitting.

Oblivion is bringing back a lot of the things I loved about Morrowind as well as remind me of the troublesome start I had with the series in the past. I gave Morrowind 2 or 3 tries before I finally got started actually playing it. The series is notorious for having a very steep draw factor. You need to spend hours with this game series before you can even begin to understand what it is all about. It's not very often that a game overwhelms the player with so many things to do right from the start. But once you get into your groove, the game becomes insanely addictive.

Freedom is what I truly love about Oblivion. As I finally escaped the prison and sewers of the first chapter of the game and stepped out into the vast open world, I began to remember just why I loved Morrowind so much, and why I will probably love this game even more. Everything in the world is right in front of you. The world is MMO-like in size and the only thing keeping you from going ANYWHERE on the giant continent is that there is just so much stuff to see and do along the way.

For example, I stumbled across nearly a dozen towns, caves, dungeons, castles, forts, etc, on the way to my first main quest destination. I could only curb my curiosity for so long, so I decided to visit a small little village to rest and sell some of my good I picked up in the first part of the game. What seemed like a simple stop suddenly became an epic quest as I discovered the unwelcoming town was more than just that. I became curious about the locked trap doors in each of the buildings in the town. I knew that it wasn't simply a coincidence. I picked one and it lead me to the underground cave system where apparently a bunch of occult activity was taking place. They all started to attack and after I killed the first wave I decided to get the hell out of there. The rest of the town had started to come after me as well so I grabbed my horse rode off into the wilderness. Not only was this encounter unexpected, but none of it was part of the main quest. All of this was optional, and I could have gone through this entire game never having seen this little town. I still don't know what was going on there, but when I level up... and man up some, I will gladly revisit that bastard village.

Brilliant game design. Expect more impressions at a later date.