What makes oblivion so great

For those unaware, all mainline Elder Scrolls titles before Skyrim allowed mages to craft their own spells, Oblivion included. Any character that completed the initiation quest for the Mages Guild could create their own spells and fine-tune their behavior, ranging from damage to how long the spell lasts.

This allowed mage characters to fine-tune their playstyle just as a melee character does with their choice of weapon. Characters that harness magic are much more interesting in Oblivion than Skyrim, mainly due to this mechanic. Combat was arguably the weakest part of every Elder Scrolls title until Skyrim brought many changes to the series. Oblivion might have made combat skill-based, but Skyrim put much more emphasis on combat feedback. Dual-Wielding is a big reason why Skyrim's combat feels so much better than past games.

In essence, players can equip one-handed weapons or spells in either hand and use those items asynchronously, something that was impossible to do in past games excluding sword and shield builds.

Spellcasters can shoot ice and fire simultaneously, or melee characters can use an axe and sword simultaneously. Melee characters got some much-needed variety while mages became even more versatile. Besides Dual-Wielding, Bethesda also took some lessons from Fallout 3 and focused on making combat feel visceral.

Kill moves were added to give a satisfying conclusion to an intense combat encounter. Bows were also overhauled to feel much more impactful; arrows now burrow into a target's body as they slump towards the ground. Mechanically, Skyrim's combat is hardly better than Oblivions.

In practice, Skyrim's combat has a level of visual flair that makes it much more satisfying than past installments. Since Oblivion takes place in Cyrodiil, the center of Tamriel, it has a little bit of every major province within its borders. The snowy mountains of Skyrim to the swamps of Black Marsh are all part of Oblivion to some degree. It might not be as detailed as Vvardenfell or Skyrim, but Oblivion does a good job of showing Cyrodiil as the heartland of Tamriel. Oblivion gates also did a good job of varying up swathes of the same biome, causing the sky to turn red while scorching the nearby landscape.

RPGs have handled experience points and leveling in different ways since their inception. Leveling up in Oblivion involved leveling attributes that would govern skills, but it was the other way around. Optimal play involved investing in skills that players had no interest in. Acrobatics was the main culprit of this. Many Oblivion fans would wrap a rubber band around their thumbstick and walk into a wall for hours to level their skills up just so they could receive optimal attributes when they leveled up.

Add to that Oblivion's strange scaling system, and players were left with a game that paradoxically made them weaker when leveling up. The combat system, while better than Morrowind 's, consisted of static hacking and slashing that was slightly improved upon in Skyrim.

One feature that meant to create an immersive world did the exact opposite. NPCs would have conversations with each other, and the result was nothing short of comical.

It did not help that the game had about one voice actor for each race and gender, making it seem like you were hearing the same people talk to each other. While Oblivion made it so we no longer had to stare at the boxy faces featured in Morrowind , it still had some work to do. Many of the NPC's in Oblivion , even the ones that were supposed to be attractive, were butt-ugly. Elves of any type sported exaggerated almond-shaped eyes pointed at a forty-five degree angle, and Khajiits had laughably exaggerated features that made them look like lion plush toys.

I may be so light on Oblivion because it was my first Elder Scrolls game, but for me the things that it did right outweigh what it did wrong. I actually think that some of the flaws enhance the experience. I remember many times where I would sit in cities and just eavesdrop on NPC conversations to get a laugh. While the Oblivion gates became tedious, I could easily avoid them, unlike Skyrim 's dragons that I encountered every five minutes even after the main questline was finished.

Oblivion also had a diverse variety of enemies. That being said, the many, many dungeons of Skyrim tend to fall into one of two categories: Nord gave site or dwemer ruin. With few exceptions, they all feel the same after a while, despite the puzzles involved in solving them. If you play mostly for the quests, Oblivion would be the game for you. Particularly when it comes to faction quests, like the mages college in Skyrim.

Oblivion had more variation to these storylines, as well as filling the world with interesting places. Towns in particular are not fleshed out very well in Skyrim. Oblivion had properly populated towns with dozens of NPCs going about their business.

The lack of l general activity and variety means that many Skyrim towns just feel flat in comparison to the rest of the world. When it comes to actual gameplay though, Skyrim has the upper hand: Controls, combat and freedom of movement are greatly improved compared to Oblivion.

This, again, makes it more appealing to newbies and casual gamers. The same improvement level goes for the skill trees. Some new gameplay features such as duel wielding and faster horses also come included. Mods such as these continue to breathe new life into this already-beautifully-alive classic, and fans are seemingly in no mood to put a stop to it any time soon.

Last but certainly not least, the game's cult status as being a fertile source of memes and overall hilarity of course must be mentioned. Whether we're talking about the game's ridiculous character creation tool, its infamously nonsensical NPC dialogues, or its somewhat lacking AI mechanics, Oblivion is rife with all kinds of glorious absurdities.

The great thing about these absurdities is that they actually just make us love it with that much more zeal, and even those who are ambivalent towards the game can surely appreciate the slew of "real-life Oblivion NPC conversation" videos which populate YouTube. For most of us, however, Oblivion is a classic, timeless, immensely flawed but utterly breathtaking masterpiece of a game that will no doubt stay nestled close to our hearts for the rest of our gaming lives.

As it should. If you think about it, it makes sense. If you think about it even more it'll give you a headache.