Zero Punctuation: Oblivion

[TheeSpongeman]

Ok, I'm not sure, but the Marrowind version of the game I had was on Xbox. I don't know if this makes a difference, but if so PLEASE tell me. Because, when I played Marrowind..... IT SUCKED ASS! Seriously! I would get so lost! As soon as you start the game, enemies are too strong pretty much everywhere you go! Nothing ever made sense, usually I'd end up walking mindlessly through the land, not really sure what the hell to do! And every time I thought I found something, it would bring me eventually back to the same damn landscape! Please, somebody tell me what went wrong?!

 

[Yokorose]

Yahtzee You Hand Some Devil. Love the video really good hope your going to do one on Mgs4 when its out.

 

[Rappletek]

I don't often reply in a thread about Yhatzee's cartoon reviews, well in fact I never do, this is the first.

Ok so the series is top notch, each episode a laugh riot of observational opinions.

However this particular was somewhat lacking, it was funny yes, it was an overview of the game yes, all for the points made were right on the mark, but for some reason I slightly lacked that tingly feeling in my testicles from amusement.

Sorry Y no Cigar.

 

[K.A.Z]

Another great review by yatzee. (cough,,,cough,,,HAZE REVIEW,,, cough,,,cough)

 

[Thediscoducky]

I actually agree with him on the whole "lack of immersion" the telling moment for me was when I actually got REALLY caught up in the game and came across a group of guards desperately fighting for their lives against a suddenly opened Oblivion Gate, there was only one survivor standing heroicly on the bodies of his fallen comrades, desperately trying to hold back the tide of demonic invasion. So I charge in, kill the demons, then go to talk to the guard and he promptly responds with...

"Good day citizen"

As if nothing had happened... that just broke the immersion factor right then and there.

Haha that's friggin' hilarious

 

[ReepNeep]

Most of these point's made only apply to the 360 version of Oblivion.

The PC version was made in such a way that people are encouraged to add there content, that's always been what TES is all about. The blanks in the story are there to be filled in by imagination. This allows players to add there own content to fill in the blanks, if TES told everyone everything, then people would complain the game had to much content (speech), and was linear as hell.

On the other hand they could just have lousy writers and that this was just a superficial, empty shell of a game. With that explanation you don't even have to bend over backwards rationalizing. He was far too kind to it in my not so humble opinion. It seems like I only disagree with him when he reviews a PCRPG.

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

That... was... Orgasmic. I've been waiting, waiting beyond all hope, lost in a mirky sea of lost hope, hopeless like a hope berieved hopeless misanthrope, for you to review Oblivion. So therfor I thank you. Thank you for letting me finally die happy. This was a fantastic review, witty, amusing, constantly on topic and makes valid points. I still love Oblivion dont get me wrong, and if Immersion isnt thinking your the Breton youve been leveling for the past 2 weeks without sleep, food or toilet breaks, then trying to fry your best friend for his clothes, I dont know what is. But points made were valid, amusing and excellently well put. Oblivion can be bloody stupid at times, and (also the bit that made me laugh the most), you do see NPCs talking in identical voices about a shop an identical voiced NPc owns Never seen the "fine moustache" shop persay but it was hellishly funny. Only criticism, 1 tiny tiny flaw, I didn't think you made a very good analogy with Assassins creed, and could have worded that better, there may have been a couple of lost 1 liners that could have made it, but maybe thats just me. Thats all I ahve to say negatively. Otherwise BRAVO! Excellent, just bloomin spot on! Way your loins never give you a rash and may your manly reviewer beard of grunting and axes grow ever manlier. (Nord was my first character, about tha same as yours, but with sneaking abilities.)

Again, THANK YOU (We're trying everything to get to Melbourne to come see you. The cheapest return flight we can get is £800ish Per Person. Damn you England being so far away and such! I blame God on this one XD)

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

Most of these point's made only apply to the 360 version of Oblivion.

The PC version was made in such a way that people are encouraged to add there content, that's always been what TES is all about. The blanks in the story are there to be filled in by imagination. This allows players to add there own content to fill in the blanks, if TES told everyone everything, then people would complain the game had to much content (speech), and was linear as hell.

The only point I have seen that I agree with is the immersion quality. In the story, you aren't saving the land. You're just helping the guy who will save the land to do it. You're the side kick. Which is boring and not something most people would play.

Quick point, I believe he reviewed the PC version He states so at the beginning in passing.

Also I like how TES leaves things to your imagination. Thats I think, how it immerses you, if it does at all. Apparantly he didnt see that, maybe we're just looking into it too deeply, maybe I think I'm a breton. Who knows.

The main story does leave you feeling a bit like a side kick. I prefer the term hand of the emperor. Same thing really, but it makes me feel like my balls are much bigger than say "Emperors *****".

 

[llamar]

This review features hypocritical elements. In Yahtzee's Assassins's Creed review he was complaining about walking down mountains and roads. In this hes changed his views to mention the awesomeness of walking in creatively made environments where the beggars and others interact creatively(ex latching on to you and begging) still entertaing

 

[noelbear]

Given that you utterly loathed Oblivion, I rather hestitate to suggest this, because granted it is a bit like suggesting that you now attempt to copulate with the chainsaw which has just accidentally castrated you, but...

Did you get the chance to play the Shivering Isles expansion set? It's hard to describe how completely different from the original game it is. It's like a door into parallel universe opens and suddenly you are transported to a place where Oblivion doesn't suck (well, in fact, that is exactly what happens, but never mind)

Shivering Isles sports some truly weird and interesting visual design, a coherent and engrossing story line about a mad god badly in need of some lithium, actual things to do which are slightly more exciting than walking from here to there, interesting characters that actually interact with you, quests which are, dare I say, fun to complete like designing and building your own zombie henchman (morningstars or meathooks for hands? I just can't decide), and totally cool new abilities like the ability to change the weather in the whole world anytime you want.

Just a thought, in case those cosmic rays haven't quite worn off.

 

[Cowabungaa]

*claps* Good one, I once got this game for the 360, all pumped up because of all these "It's so amazing!!!" talks I got smacked in my face, but I ended up with a pile of rubbish! It's indeed 1 of the worst immersion experience I éver had. I can remember that this game was renowed by some people for it's incredibly AI and character graphics, but by the Lords of Kobol they suck áss. They don't just stare and talk to you like soul-less drones, but they act retarted as well. An example Yathzee didn't mention, you can just cause havoc in 1 of the many shops, running around on the counter like the local village loony scattering there wares all over the place, but no one gives a damn untill you pick something up. Then they'll cry for help without even looking slightly in distress, not even moving an inch. It's almost scary...
Another thing that totally kills immersion wich Yathzee did not mention, is the combat. Really, I've got a huge glowing sword and when I violently swing it at any random enemy it has the same effect as flinging an inflatable baseball bat at my little brother; it just makes it angry, and you'll just repeat that untill they apperantly get a heartattack.
I can't imagine why any reviewer would give this game a 9+ (see IGN for example).

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

It's nice to see someone who doesn't seem to think that Oblivion is everything it was hyped up to be. As someone who loved Morrowind to death, this game felt like Bethesda was taking warm shits in my mouth. It was barely even a fucking RPG.

I havent really enjoyed Morrowind so far :\ What Yahtzee suffered with Oblivion, where he feels the game is constantly trying to keep him out of being immersed in the game world, happens with Morrowind for me. I just cant see to give a flying shit about it, I find it horribly too easy to bare, and theres so much reading, its like travelling the world just to read the guide and then meander back home feeling empty, but full of info. Like when relatives come back off holiday, know bugger all about the place, but enjoyed it, apposed to learning every miniscule detail and returning home feeling a bit dejected. I know Morrowind in so many ways is "bigger" than Oblivion, but however many times I go back, Oblivion always seems a thousand times friendlier. I'm a sucker for the STUNNING scenery too Alchemy was one of my favourite skill choices, because wandering through forest was such a joy. Alternatly in Morrowind it was a bit drab. A cross of Morrowind and Oblivion would be great. I missed the unnarmoured skill in Oblivion, good for Barbarian warrior types.

Albeit I never really found any TES challenging since Arena. That as only because the fram rate was awful.

 

[miffywiffy]

You complain about immersion and then you complain the world isn't diverse......... Well the world isn't meant to be diverse it is meant to be a more realistic medieval setting fantasy game based on myths of the time it is set in. it's a small part of the map so take each English country for example and say Oblivion is like Bedfordshire, you don't see a volcano and then a few feet down the road a iceberg now do you? So really it keeps the immersion by doing so.

Also other faults you found with the game happen in all RPG's and the only difference Oblivion has is it's like GTA fantasy instead of the linear progression based most other RPG games are. Don't forget that back in the making of the game it was quite a impressive achievement and well to todays standards some things wouldn't be accepted back then there was more leg room for errors.

The only valid points you said were the dropping items cause I couldn't work out how to first of all... abit of trial and error until I found out how and the people of the streets changing voice halfway through talking to you although this only happened once or twice throughout the whole game.

your other point about fast travel well you don't have to use it, although if the world was amazingly diverse you'd still use it because noone enjoys running from point a to b for 15 mins hense why theres griffins in WOW which let you go make a cup of tea.


I just feel it's a weak review and I loved your past reviews but this one just felt like you had a few drinks and wanted to moan about a game you just didn't gel with.


Oblivion is a fantastic game that fixed all the flaws of the previous Elder Scrolls title and while people will say oh Daggerfall had a giant world.... well it was a giant boring mess where you'd see the same towns over and over again.

 

[SirCannonFodder]

Ok, I'm not sure, but the Marrowind version of the game I had was on Xbox. I don't know if this makes a difference, but if so PLEASE tell me. Because, when I played Marrowind..... IT SUCKED ASS! Seriously! I would get so lost! As soon as you start the game, enemies are too strong pretty much everywhere you go! Nothing ever made sense, usually I'd end up walking mindlessly through the land, not really sure what the hell to do! And every time I thought I found something, it would bring me eventually back to the same damn landscape! Please, somebody tell me what went wrong?!

Morrowind just isn't the right game for you, simple as that.

Anyway, one of the main things I disliked about Oblivion (besides complete lack of voice acting variety, the levelling, and the other points raised in the review) was how it pretty much took everything every previous game had said about Cyrodiil, and completely ignored it. Jungle? What jungle? Nope, it's *always* had a temperate climate. What about the news that there's mass unrest due to the emperor being on his death bed from illness and his sons being complete buffoons, with the empire's future looking bleak? Nope, everybody loves the empire, and everything was going absolutely fine before the daedra showed up. Racial tensions between the Nibenay and Colovian Cyrodiils? Nope, and I've never even heard of those two groups.

Or how about the fact that the whole basis of the Daedric invasion is that the bloodline is broken, when the bloodline was broken multiple times in the past with no repercussions whatsoever?

 

[ShwStppnActr]

Immersion is driving on the highway after watching the Transformers movie and waiting for all the cars to transform.

Immersion is walking down the street one night and wondering where you can shoot your portals so that you can get up the street faster.

 

[Hoodoo]

Oblivion blows ropy goat chunks. This review was too kind.

 

[Giddi]

I have Morrowind on the good ol' Xbox, and after playing it for a little over a week I realised my choice of species was really, really bad and that if I was to get anywhere I needed to start all over again... at which point I said "bugger that" and went back to Beyond Good and Evil.

The controls were difficult, the graphics horrible, every now and then my protagonist friend would get stuck trying to walk over rocks, and I had the feeling the map was so large because the whole point of the game was some sort of mundane treasure hunt where every new section has one hidden item or cave and you are expected to find it.

I think overall they needed a service pack which re-injected the "fun" they forgot to include when they released it /

p.s. Anybody want a copy of Morrowind? P

 

[FLWD2L8]

I was wondering when he would get around to reviewing this one ...
But for the sake of not getting killed ...
Im going to say that its JUST funny ...
*cough* AWESOME *cough*
Never saw the hype about this game in the first place ...
It really does try to hard ... For 360 and PC ...
But then again i kinda went off fantasy RPG's around the time
I could actually run around my local DnD and beat the absolute merciless crap out of everyone else (while they were doing the same mind you ^_^)

 

[Random Argument Man]

What I hated in Oblivion was the main quest. At first its fun, but later it gets worst.

I also hated the lack of guilds...Only 4. In Morrowind you had Fighters,Thieves,Mage, Morag Tong (Assasin) (I liked the contract that permitted you to kill someone), 3 House, Legion and others (If I forgetted some). Also what I liked about Morrowind is some guild had conflict. ( cant complete fighters and thieves.)

What I liked about Oblivion its easier to fight than Morrowind. And the Arena is more lively

All other complaint are already said by Yahtzee

 

[Vicioussama]

I agree with Oblivion, it's fun, the story is cool, but the environment looks alike all over the place and what really pissed me off is that every monster was just a humanoid pretty much. And not just humanoid but just felt the same to me.

I really wonder what you'd say about the Gothic Series. Personally I like the Gothic series far more than Elder Scrolls. Gothic 3 (after finally being fixed with some patches lol...) is a beautiful world, unique places, great story, free choices on how to progress the story. Good times.