Good lord. Five topics on Skyrim under the hot topics section thing.
Anywho, Bethesda games Oblivion and Fallout, for me, are huge open world choose-your-own-adventure-with-a-few-set-pieces games that let you explore the wilderness of either a sprawling fantasy forest world or a sprawling nuclear wasteland.
...and that's pretty much it. Aside from being very huge, I just can't find much captivating in either of them.
Some Good:
- Generic objects that clutter the world can be manipulated; picked up, dropped, moved around and placed exactly where you want them to be--I spent hours in Oblivion decorating my house in-game, even though I had the Construction Set running in the background.
- Open Environment lets you go where you want to.
- Lots of realistic foliage and world objects like rocks and stuff litter the landscape, giving it a sense of depth.
Some Bad:
- Clutter objects generally don't have a use; you can't fill and drink from cups in Oblivion for example; though the construction opportunities in Fallout 3 are much improved (but that might have been a mod, I don't know).
- Though it's an open environment, there isn't much to do other than be attacked by either bandits or dogs (or their mutant variety, in the case of Fallout 3).
- While the world is filled with natural objects that give it a realistic look such as trees, shrubs, flowers, rocks, water, etcetera, when you find a high point in the landscape and take a look around, you realize it's just a gigantic terrain height-map with copy/pasted objects dotting the ground. In short, despite all their efforts, it's painfully transparent as to just how flat the world really is.
Some More Bad:
- Not being able to climb chest-high ledges and rocks is very irritating, as is the inability to climb steeper terrain. Oblivion would be one gigantic step closer to perfection if you could hoist yourself up to higher objects, rather than spam your jump button trying to find a way to get up onto that balcony.
- More movement issues: you slide down surfaces too steep for you to climb, unless you're running against the slope; this leads to the situation where you're running diagonally uphill just to reach the next climbable angle. Not very fun, nor in-character.
- NPCs and animals know exactly where you are the instant combat is initiated, even when you break their line of sight. Foliage does nothing for concealment, making the world all the more 'flat', when you're forced to take cover behind rocks and static objects rather than bushes and such.
- You're a floating camera with no legs or arms, yet are some how able to manipulate world objects through telekinesis. A mod for Oblivion where you can actually see your legs significantly enhances the immersion factor thankfully--however it's buggy stage makes it a little irksome to deal with--which leads me to the biggest point...
- Bugs and Glitches. Instability seems to be a theme in both Oblivion and Fallout 3. The number of crash screens and such are usually due to mods, yet those mods significantly improve the game. So you're left with either a somewhat dull adventure game with various set pieces, but moderate stability; or an exciting RPG with unique add-ons and enhanced levels of creativity and customization, but with an average of one "Program has encountered a problem and needs to close" screen per hour.
I like Oblivion and Fallout 3. I want to love Oblivion and Fallout 3. But every time I think about how much fun it would be to play it, I'm instantly reminded of the significant decrease in fun levels I'll encounter once I actually start playing it. I like Immersion in my RPGs--and Oblivion and Fallout, despite how close they are to open-world perfection, keeps taking a step back every time they take a step forward.
