Right.
So I’ve got well over 30 hours into the game so far, and I have to say, it’s fantastic.
My previous gripes remain, but like everything else in life, people tend to remember the fond memories and suppress the ugly ones (luckily for me, that’s worked on the wifee as well :D ). So it’s still irritating to see the “Loading area” message, but it’s rare when you’re in towns and interacting w/ people — it mostly shows up when you run across vast, open fields. When you’re on horseback, it’s downright annoying. Having said that, and stated that I’d get on w/ the positive aspects, I’ll do just that.
Before I begin, I think it’s worth noting that this is my absolute first Elder Scrolls game. As a fan of the genre, that’s a bit surprising to me now, but it is what it is. Entering the Elder Scrolls world for the first time, I have no predisposed ideas of what it’s supposed to be, nor what any of the shortcomings of the previous iterations were. My first impression of the game is of course centered upon the character generation engine, which I took my time on. The image I’ve included here is what my character looks like, which took about an hour to create. Sadly, the third-person perspective is woefully disappointing, and spending all of your time in first person means you don’t identify w/ your on-screen toon all that much. You ARE that person, but you I’d really love to see a more WoW-styled character model next-time around.
After I created my character, I immediately started punching things (more out of the “let’s see what I can do” mindset than the “I hate the world” ilk). Since you start the game in a jail cell, I was a little limited in what I could toy w/, but when I punched the shackles hanging by a chain from the roof, they swung w/ convincing physics. VERY COOL! Turning around, I went to the table and found that the food and dishes on the table were all independent items, and so were the individual pieces of silverware. Not only can you take individual items, but you can pick them up and even toss them if you want.
Wow. Very cool.
As I progressed, I found that every person’s face was created w/ the same meticulous character creation tool I used, and they all spoke to me in w/ very convincing voice-overs. Wow. Towns all have their own feel to them, they each have their own schedules, and NPCs all live their own lives. Wow. There’s an amazing amount of detail fleshed out in this game.
Quests are really, really well thought-out. On a recommendation, I went on a quest to find a painter. I’ll save the spoilers, but I’ve never been on a quest like this. It was original, well thought-out and CHALLENGING. The monsters in the game all adjust to your current level, so no matter when you get to a quest, you’ll have to work for it. Most of the quests that I’ve done have all been pretty creative — not too many of the standard get-an-object or escort-this-person quests — they all seem to have some kind of distinguishing twist to them, and it’s that extra thought that keeps me from being taken out of the game and reminded that I’m just playing in someone else’s world.
In the interest of getting this published, I’ll say that w/ 30+ hours in, I feel like I’m only just beginning the game. The main quest line is definitely intriguing, though I’m just realizing that I’ve kind of screwed myself by spending so much time on the auxiliary skills my character has. His sneak skill is roughly twice as high (at about 90 now) as the other skills (including blades, much to my dismay), and as such, is a terrible melee character. At level 16, that makes things like the arena pretty difficult. For now, I’ll concentrate on getting those skills powered up.
If you’re any kind of fan of RPGs, I most highly recommend getting Oblivion. If you’re not a fan, I don’t think this is one of those universal games that everyone will love, so… there ya have it!