Oblivion Release Night Impressions
I spent about four or five hours with Oblivion last night. I’m hesitant to say much, because so far, I’ve done very little exploring. Instead, I’ve stuck strictly to the main quest line, and avoided the huge, explorable world that is arguably the game’s main attraction. I’m also still reconciling pre-release hype with reality, and it’s going to take a little while for me to accept the game on its own terms.
I could make a long list of nitpicky complaints, mostly the result of the way the game’s impressive realism makes its less-than-perfect aspects stick out like a sore thumb. I could also make an equally long list of features that I adore. At this point, though, I’ll simply say that last night, there were a handful of moments where I was absolutely enraptured by the game, where I was completely taken by what I could see and do. Whether Oblivion can continue to deliver these experiences on a regular basis remains to be seeen.
There appear to be more than enough character creation options, at least for an RPG dabbler such as myself. There’s nothing really new or surprising for a fantasy RPG—standard race and class choices are represented, for the most part, in one form or another—but there’s no lack of choices either. The entire character creation process, which is woven into the game’s opening scenes, probably took me at least an hour. From a visual standpoint, there aren’t any choices for customizing character bodies, but the options for faces are quite impressive. There are literally dozens of sliders to play with, each of which changes some aspect of the character’s face, hair, or skin. The end result is that it can get a bit complicated if you depart very far from the default settings. I found that there was a fine line between creating a face that looked suitably unique and one that was just plain grotesque.
I settled on a Breton Mage, customized with some blade skills and enhanced thieving/stealth attributes. He ended up looking a bit like Keanu Reeves—not my original intention, but I guess it will do. I’m looking forward to seeing how he handles himself.