The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was released in March 2006. It was a great success with huge sales, high ratings, and many awards. The fourth part of the TES series was even called one of the best RPGs ever created. We will tell you more about this game and whether it deserves its popularity.

Storyline

The action of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion takes place in the fictional province of Cyrodiil on the Tamriel mainland. The protagonist was imprisoned by mistake and placed in a cell with a secret exit from the city in case of a threat to the emperor's life. At that time, the Daedric cult called Mythic Dawn killed the three sons of Emperor Uriel Septim VII.

He was then forced to leave the Imperial City accompanied by his bodyguards known as Blades and travel to the Cloud Ruler Temple. This impregnable fortress could withstand many Sieges due to its location in the mountains. But assassins from the Mythic Dawn ambushed and killed Uriel. Before the emperor died, he gave the protagonist the Amulet of Kings, an ancient artifact that only the emperors of the Septim family could wear. The emperor asked him to give it to the man known as Jaufree. The last surviving bodyguard, Baurus reported that Jaufree spends most of his time in the Veyond monastery. This is where the most exciting events begin…

Gameplay

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an open-world role-playing game with first- and third-person perspectives. In addition to the main storyline, the player can complete side quests, interact with characters, develop their character, and travel anywhere in the province of Cyrodill.

The gameplay can continue even after the completion of the primary storyline. The game has a "fast travel" system where an icon appears on the game world map each time the player visits a new location. This eliminates the significant cities of the game world that are already unblocked for rapid movement from the beginning of the game. The player can arrive at the desired location instantly by selecting the icon on the map.

Character development is the central element of Oblivion. At the beginning of the game, gamers choose one of the many races with their natural abilities and customize the appearances of their heroes. An ongoing goal for every player is to improve the character's skills, a numerical representation of their abilities in certain areas.

Seven skills are chosen as primary skills at the beginning of the game. The others are marked as minor skills. Players increase their levels by only ten points each time they improve their basic skills. This feature allows them to improve their attributes. A character has general attributes, such as strength and stamina, as well as specialized attributes, such as clothing and blacksmithing.

Poisons and diseases can reduce attributes. You can buy and furnish houses, do blacksmithing and alchemy, enchant items, and cook to replenish your health.

Weapons and inventory

During the game, players can find many items, relics, treasures, ingredients for potions, and ammunition. All of them are stored in the inventory. Its size depends on the carrying capacity of the character. Some elements and food can be applied to the menu or through shortcut keys. Equipped armor, amulets, and rings add active and passive skills. The rest of the items in the inventory do not provide bonuses.

Combat system

The game has cold, crushing, and long-range weapons. Various bows represent the latter with the possibility of enchantment. Cold weapons are divided into one-handed and two-handed. One-handed weapons allow you to make quick attacks with medium damage. Two-handed swords deal more damage but take longer to swing. Shields can be worn with one-handed blades to block bows and counterattacks. Hammers, sticks, and more represent crushing weapons.

In close combat, a hero has two strike modes: regular and special. The second one is activated by striking and moving forward depending on the type of weapon, the style of the particular strike, and the damage inflicted on the enemy change. In stealth mode, you can sneak up on the enemy and cause critical damage. Strong blows have a deafening effect. Opponents will be inactive for a while, giving the player an advantage.

The protagonist has a vitality and power reserve indicator. If the first bar reaches zero, he will die. Depletion of the power reserve makes it impossible to run, attack, and repel shield blows for a while. The hero must take a breath, waiting for the strength reserve to be replenished. Lives and energy reserves can be restored with potions and magic.

The protagonist can also use magic in battle. Oblivion was the first part where the protagonist could simultaneously conjure and fight with a one-handed weapon. Magic is represented by different spells of direct damage, enemy depletion, submission, summoning illnesses, and magical pets: the higher the hero's skills, the longer and stronger the attacks work.

Freedom of choice

In this game, you can become anything you want: a merchant, a thief, an arena fighter, a cave explorer, an assassin, and even a vampire. There are also 9 races in the game: Imperial, Dark Elf, Orc, Nord, Argonian, High Elf, Breton, Wood Elf, and Redguard. Some of them are entirely different from others, but they all have special abilities unique to their races.

Another great advantage is the ability to continue to play and discover new sides of the game. You can also distract yourself and read a couple of in-game books to learn more about the history of Tamriel. There are also hidden bonuses in some books to improve the skills of the character or help them learn new things.

You can also get into alchemy by creating and combining different ingredients to make potions and use them in battle. In the Cyrodiil world, various weapons exist, from bows and arrows to the magic staff. The game also allows you to give magical properties to your hero's weapons. They will help you to do additional damage to enemies, accelerate the healing of wounds, etc.