The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Windows

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main skills, you will have a magicka bar, for example. However, there will always be a weakness in your character that will be exploited by certain foes due to the fact that even though the game encourages a multi-skilled character, thanks to the leveling system with its attribute modifiers it is quite tedious to grind out skills to achieve it. If you are a tank character (heavy armor and melee oriented) you will be frustrated by chasing down fleeing enemies and summoners as their creatures beat on you and they deftly pepper you with spells and arrows. Also, in general the character movement is very rigid and mechanical, and enemies lead you with inhuman precision with their ranged attacks.

Stealth can be fun, especially mixed with alchemy and illusion. You will most likely be using a bow and not be wearing heavy armors though, which will make you very vulnerable to warrior-type enemies, and makes fighting multiple melee enemies a huge chore. Aim, shoot, run away, aim, shoot. Its not much fun.

The magic system has a lot of potential, and making your own spells is extremely fun! However, the one thing that completely killed the magic-using experience in this game was the interface, which is obviously very console-oriented. 8 quick slots. That is all you get. And you blindly select the item by pressing the corresponding keys on the keyboard... how fun. Otherwise you will be pausing to bring up the menu, navigating to a spell, selecting it and unpausing, casting and repeating. It completely kills the immersive flow of the game. Also, compared to the beauty of the rest of the game, the spell effects (sound and graphics) were just plain bland and not at all impressive.

Another thing that this game lacks is direction and purpose. There are a relatively limited number of quests available, and the main quest is so brief it is almost shocking. When it ended, that was it. There was nothing left to do but wander around aimlessly, going through random dungeons for no reason besides hoping to find some interesting or useful loot, and thanks to the utterly ridiculous level scaling, bandits will be in full deadric armors, and you will not feel much of a sense of becoming more powerful within the game world.

Overall, there is just a certain tacked on shallowness to the feeling of all the elements - magic, stealth and combat. Fans of RPGs will likely find it shallow and pointless, action fans will likely find it boring and simply not much fun to play. Oblivion sits in the grey neutral area, trying to lure you with its beauty.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Windows

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Morrowind you had to run everywhere. I can see fast travel in Daggerfall, but the world in Daggerfall was mega-massive. MEGA-MASSIVE.

Periodically, over the small map, you'll see "Imperial Forts" and "Caves." For God's sake, every fort is the same as the next, and same with the caves. In Morrowind, you could enjoy yourself exploring caves, but they were different. In Oblivion,I've seen one cool cave. Thats it.

Everybody remember how there was one set of Daedric armor in Morrowind? NOT IN OBIVION!! Since theres LEVELED MONSTERS...you can get DAEDRIC ARMOR off of a MARAUDER! Come on. Seriously. Daedric weapons? Armor? That stuff should be rare, or at least mega expensive. And if you gant Glass armor(Alien Green UFO suit.) All you have to do is kill a few bandits. It really makes me sick.

I could ramble on and on about this.
It's way overrated.
So if you enjoy actual storyline instead of hack n' slash, avoid this.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Windows

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to play the game: I don't get all of the pretty details, can't see to the maximum distance, and no matter what settings I use, certain vistas and battles always lower the frame rate noticeably. It's just not very fun to play a game that suffocates itself from time to time. I imagine I would like Oblivion much better on a console rather than on the PC, where the frame rate is more consistent and the graphics are much, much higher and cleaner.

Oblivion really is quite an achievement in gaming--the graphics, sound, voice acting, writing, and especially the music are all fantastic--but consider that it does suck large blocks of time out of your life. That kind of gaming isn't for me anymore. When I was a kid, time was unlimited, but as I have aged, I've become much more selective about the games I play. Oblivion is a serious game, and I'm no longer a serious gamer. I play for stupid fun, not immersion. Before you buy Oblivion, ask yourself what kind of gamer you are. The answer will be a more significant factor in how much you will enjoy the game than the high quality of the game itself.