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Oct 13th, 2006 at 00:21:30 - Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360) |
Continuing the fighters guild quests, I helped a few more people and got promoted. What I do has little effect on the world or my character however, It only lets you move on in the guild. As powerful and well known as my character is (I've already finished the main quest with him) nobody finds it odd that I'm doing odd jobs for random citizens. This points out probably the biggest hole in Oblivion's amazing experience.
The only characterization of the main character comes from the player himself. How you act is the only way you determine his or her characteristics. You can be good, evil, benevolent, or malicous, but your actions are all you have because you have no dialogue and the freeform system limits your possibilities for backstory or character motivation. The game provides an interesting story to play through, but your character seems faceless throughout.
I enjoy this game immensely, but one critisism that could be made is in fact its lack of character depth. Characters are believable but shallow, especially the main character. I often find myself picturing the scene I'm in in-game, but with the drama and excitement it sometimes lacks. I suppose the depth and customizeability of this game along with its varied and excellent story paths are its main draw. A hollow feeling character is but a small sacrifice.
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Oct 12th, 2006 at 21:48:35 - Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360) |
I've taken another series of quests with the fighters guild, and am continuing to enjoy them. Oblivion is a gorgeous, huge, and lovingly detailed game; I have trouble being bored by it no matter what I do. I helped a fellow guildie this time, taking fall for a mission he thought was to dangerous. I enjoyed his and the guild leaders reactions when I performed this unexpected act of kindness; like I said, the scripts are well written and acted, but the AI rarely blows you away with its ingenuity.
Don't get me wrong, the fighting is tough, the enemies are often skilled and dangerous. But to really appreciate the AI you would have to follow random townspeople around to realize that each and every one of them actually has a life. Interestingly enough, many quests have you shadow townsfolk, and you can watch them go about there lives eating, sleeping, doing business, visiting friends, and so on. What makes this impressive, is that none of it is scirpted, each character has needs and takes actions to fill them, in a simple yet effective system. There are occasional holes in the system, characters have pointless conversations and rarely take into account your fame (or infamy) in the world.
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Oct 12th, 2006 at 20:56:23 - Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360) |
For my first 30min session with Oblivion, I began the fighters guild quests with my already massively powerful character, a lvl 37 plate wearing mage/warrior. I've never played through the fighters guild, so it's kind of cool. I started in Anvil, and got my first contract. I have to help this woman with... rats. Apparently, she has a whole family of rats and somthing is killing them; I'm supposed to find out what's killing them and stop it. Turns out, its a mountain lion, and her neighbor has been leaving rotting meat to try and lure out the gross rats so they could be killed. Instead, she got mountain lions. So I told the crazy rat lady that it was taken care of and stopped the neighbor, leaving both parties satisfied, and me 600g richer.
The scripted character sequences are all well written and acted, but so far I have had little interaction with the AI of the people, other than overhearing a humorous conversation on the horrors of mudcrabs. Apparently, this is a popular topic in Cyrodil.
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Shihaku has been with GameLog for 17 years, 6 months, and 14 days |
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