Gameplay cont.

• Once set free in the game world you are allowed to do anything you want.
• As you choose your path and level up your character’s many skills, you’ll gain new gameplay options and advantages you didn’t previously have.
• For example, in the beginning of the game you will need to use torches to navigate the many dark caves and ruins in the game (unless you are Khajiit).
• You could buy some torches or find them in various boxes and barrels scattered throughout the towns.
• Or you could find a merchant that is selling either a light spell or night-eye spell (allows you to see in the dark).
• As you explore some caves and ruins you might find an item enchanted with magical abilities of light or night eye.
• Or if you have joined the mages guild, you can learn how to create spells or enchant items yourself so you can make the items you think you need.
• Doing so will require a certain skill level before making really powerful spells.
• Every choice in the game seems to have this kind of freedom.
• As you grow your character gains the ability to solve a problem in a different and usually easier way than they did previously, and new problems requiring new unique solutions will prevent themselves.
• Another unique aspect of Oblivion which greatly enhances your freedom of choice is that the game levels up with your character.
• This means that as soon as you set foot in Cyrodiil you can go anywhere you want.
• Any enemy you face will be balanced against the current level of your character.
• At first you will run into Imp’s, Wolfs, and low level Bandits on your explorations.
• As your character levels you will start seeing, Mountain Lions, Bears, Ogres, Vampires and much more.
• This means the combat is never too easy nor too hard and most certainly never dull.
• On occasion though you will still run into a creature a few levels above your ability forcing you to run or get creative in how you defeat it.
• This alone makes exploring very attractive since you never really know what you’ll encounter next.
• Luckily Oblivion has a very easy to use interface to manage all the information that is at your fingertips.
• When you pause the game there are four main menus to choose from via the left and right trigger buttons. Each has their own sub menus for easy navigation.
• The first set of menus are the character class menus.
• Here you can look at your level, attribute, and skill information.
• You can see how close you are to leveling up another skill.
• You can check what rank you are in the several guild factions you can join.
• And you can look at a summary of gameplay stats such as quests completed, current bounty, current fame and infamous levels and a load of other stats.
• The next menu is the equipment menu.
• Here you can equip your weapons and armor.
• Use or make potions.
• Use a variety of other objects that you might have on your person.
• The third menu is all about magic.
• Here you can assign eight spells to each direction of the D-Pad for quick use during gameplay.
• You can also see any effects of poison, spells or magical items to your character.
• The last menu is the most important, the quest menu.
• Here you can see the map of the world and all of the locations that have been discovered.
• If a quest is active there might be a marker on the map telling you where you need to go.
• There is also a more detailed map for a closer look of the immediate area than the world map.
• This will help navigate caves and other labyrinth like areas that you will find yourself in.
• You also have sub-menus for current, active and completed quests.
• You can only have one active quest at any time.
• The current quests are the list of quests that people have asked to do. You can choose to complete these at your leisure.
• Once completed the quest details get saved to the completed quests screen.
• The world of Cyrodiil is absolutely huge.
• You’ll begin the game with all the major cities on the map and a handful of other places known to you.
• As you walk across the landscape you will encounter new places like caves, mines, ruins, inns, farms and camps.
• Each can have its own story, treasure, enemies, or importance to a quest.
• You never know what you’re going to find.
• But there are hundreds of undiscovered places on the map, and finding them all will take many many hours.
• Walking all the way across the world and fighting any creatures you find can take almost an hour real time.
• Luckily once you have been to a location or a location was already on the map, you will be able to fast travel there.
• This greatly speeds up travel, but at the cost of not finding new locations to explore.
• Of course no RPG wouldn’t be any good without combat, and Oblivion delivers an intense action packed first person combat experience usually only found in the best first person shooters and adventure games.
• Once again the combat system is full of choices.
• First off, if you don’t like first person combat, you can change your view to third person and play the game that way.
• It works just as well, but brings you out of the experience a little by doing so.
• If you like shooters, then you might want to try playing the game as an archer or mage with destructive magic.
• These two choices for combat allow you to attack from afar.
• If you like strategic combat you might choose to use a blade and a shield and parry, and block your opponents attacks as you wait for an opening to deliver yours.
• Strong warriors like Orcs are good for an all out offensive attack by swinging large axes and hammers.
• You can also choose to use hand to hand combat if you prefer the ways of a monk.
• If you favor more of a slow paced stealth action then you can sneak up on your foes to deliver extra damage, or try to sneak right by your enemies if you can.
• Overall, Oblivion offers a plethora of ways to mold your character and play the game. Each is well balanced and full of fun.