Ok, listen you yipper snappers, let me take you back to sweet 2006. A simple time when games like Oblivion were considered a masterpiece. Pinnacle of game design, character depth, RPG mechanics, and such freedom in an open world. Oblivion set the standards.
Granted, Skyrim sold the most, but people need to realize Oblivion's quest design, world-building, and characters were superior. Heck, this was around the same time games like Vampire: The Masquerade caught wind. RPGs started to take more advantage of the PC gaming scene, considering how behind consoles were due to the hardware limitations.
You'd pick any particular race, like dark elves, ogres, or lizards, you'd face a certain kind of discrimination. Various factions affect how certain quests become available to you on the journey. Granted, not as big as Skyrim, but the remaster complements this great classic.
You're given between a few races to choose, that pretty much includes Orcs, Elves, Khajits, Argonians, along with a few humans even outside from Cyrodiil. While, I can't say character creator is super robust. I think it's more pronounced and flexible than the original.
Right, so an evil is afoot, the emperor gave me the task to find his last remaining heir, stop the Daedra from destroying the world, and bring peace to the land of Tamriel. Awful lot of responsibilities for someone who just got out of a prison cell. I'm sure I have plenty of time to do all that. In the meanwhile, I'll just be a busy body, continuously hoarding stuff I usually can't carry.
This remaster is more than just a polish job, using the UE5 engine, the game not only looks better, but plays much smoother as well. Heck, this isn't full 1 on 1, a lot of things have been redesigned for modern aesthetics along with added background audio for immersion.
Even the jank feels almost non-existent, I haven't faced real issues with the sword swinging, shooting arrows to casting spells even. Though, the UI, and weapons wheel might seem simply designed, it just works without much fuzz. Ok, I know it's not deep into stats, but your weapons are mostly powered if they're enchanted. Which is where the other fun stuff comes.
That, and learning to be a better trader, bargaining deals after raising disposition levels with leaves room for selling items at higher price while buying at lower. The threshold goes further, the more my skills increase. Which, speaking of, only goes up based on what you practice in game. Like acrobatics, going up for running and jumping around. Learning to use swords through fighting multiple enemies, learning more spells and so on. Not that different from Skyrim.
Exploring dungeons, saving towns, rescuing people, joining guilds and maybe cults, becoming involved in espionage, you name it, they all got it. It's so varied, intrinsically with freedom to do anything. Almost as if you wish this was the game that got popular instead.
I even took a quest about helping a bunch of farmers, two of them siblings taking back their land from goblins, only to realize we were so vastly outnumbered, those guys died, so I took care of them alone but had to tell their dad the bad news. Wondering if I was more skilled with better weapons, I could have taken them out, the rewards weren't really worth it. But I did feel bad.
I had my fair share of RPGs, despite knowing that many just haven't come to the level that older games have. Funny enough, the majority of these games had talented developers who revived older ideas in the early 2D games era. There's a reason Fallout fans were disappointed with the third game, because it wasn't faithful to the bleak post-apocalyptic settings.
Yes, I'm aware Bethesda tried to streamline their games way back since the restructuring in 2001. Since then, they've strayed further from being ambitious, simplifying overtly complex game mechanics on a wide scale. Which explains why Starfield failed.
But I mean, come on, as much as naysayers would love to talk trash, they play games with their own set of flaws too. Also, how can you not enjoy trying to ask a guy to testify against a guard, do the persuasion game, and then just out of whim, change his mind? It's hilarious.
Oh, and some of the weird bugs and particular A.I. quirks from the early games have retained themselves. Almost as if they've even admit having bugs is a great feature to be had. I'm all for this redemption arc, heck, the game not only plays smooth, but even looks visually gorgeous, the audio is better thanks to contemporary enhances.
At one point I fought a vampire because an arena fighter asked me to find his lineage, I didn't realize I caught an illness that would've turned me into a vampire if I didn't treat it in 3 days game time. I had to do some lockpicking to find a merchant's distributor selling dead people's items for cheap. Constantly persuading NPCs, and picking locks, is like playing with yarn balls. I can't help it.
I got to Kvatch, saw the Daedra massacre with an oblivion gate open, and finally shut it down. Saved the heir, put him into the safe hands of the temple guards and Jauffre. If you're super into lore, might want to catch up, there's a whole conspiracy to get into.
Sure, the in-game economy is a bit much, over 10hrs in, and I can't buy a faster horse or a house in the Imperial city. But that's encouraging me to do more. I can learn to be a better barter, make potions to sell since I collect so much stuff, explore more dungeons and abandoned forts, there's like so many of those, more riveting of the adventures, more skills I learn.
This game took me back, to the days when games provided a fresh sense of discovery, when I was learning how to use the internet, and read better than what my school would usually teach. Though, one particular thing I wasn't really a fan of was how easily I'd be encumbered, I mean right from the start even. Inventory UI could've used some tweaks too. All in all, great remaster.
