I've been playing the game for a couple days now, and decided I might as well post my own review of it too. I agree with a lot of what Quigs and EvoG posted. Gaming-wise, my tastes are also pretty similar to Evo's; I love old school games. You guys introduced me to Fallout back when I registered a couple years ago and it was great. I played Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 prior to discovering the Codex, and they're two of my favourite games. I went on a binge of older games when you guys told me about Underdogs - Darklands, Betrayal at Krondor, etc. At the same time, I've been playing Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Source since 2000, so I'm not a stranger to FPS's. Lastly, hated Morrowind. Shit, what the hell did I just type? My gaming credentials? Anyway, that's me.
First off, Oblivion turned out to be a lot more fun than I first expected. No, it's not an RPG intensive game - but hey, you all knew that. For what it is, it's a lot of fun. And you know what? It's one of the better games to come out in the past couple years and I'm definitely going to sink a lot of hours into it.
1) The engine is superb. Really, I was stunned with the performance I managed to get on my rig. You don't need a 7800 GTX to enjoy it at all. Being familiar with the Source engine, I'd have to say that Oblivion makes use of my resources FAR, FAR better than Source does. Turning HDR on in Source makes my FPS plummet to about 20. In Oblivion, everything runs smooth as butter with HDR enabled.
2) Graphics. They're sweet. Maybe not the greatest graphics ever - F.E.A.R. beats that - but they're not a pile of crap either. The textures in the distance blur up noticeably, but you can alter that in your settings at a performance cost. Also, you only really notice it while outside and looking at hills and mountains that stretch out into the horizon.
3) Dialogue is still Wiki, which is bad, but it has improved from Morrowind, which is good. I have a list of pertinent questions specific to the NPC and don't have a list that stretches into infinity with crap like "Profession" and "Morrowind" and "Blah-blah region".
4) The NPCs engage in dialogue between themselves and it's pretty interesting to hear. On a bad note, sometimes there's chaos when you're walking down a street and there are pairs of people around you, each talking to one another. Too much talking going on at once. It's good, but unpolished; sometimes the same pair of people will have a little exchange like:
Guy 1 "Hello! Did you hear about..."
Guy 2 "Yes, terrible. I couldn't believe..."
Guy 1 "Well goodbye."
[pause]
Guy 2 "Did you notice..."
Guy 1 "Definitely..."
Guy 2 "Be seeing you!"
Repeat.
5) I love the schedules. When I first came into the city, I saw a trio of Khajit walking on the streets just as the sun was coming over the horizon. Since it was just turning daylight, they were some of the few people out who weren't guards. I approached one of the brothers, had a nice chat, and he handed me a scroll/newspaper. While exploring a few minutes later, I came across the printing shop where they work from. I went in and was surprised to find it empty. While stealing a few things, the brothers came in from their rounds and caught me in the act.
6) Another great experience I had was during a certain quest where you're competing against two other thieves to retrieve a certain item. I followed the girl thief, since she seemed to know what she was doing. Eventually, she came to the door to enter another district. I followed through, honestly expecting her to be missing on the other side - but she wasn't! I followed her more and saw her lockpick the door to a certain house. I went in behind her. When the interior of the house loaded, the girl was creeping about in crouched/sneaking mode, ransacking the place. I loved it. I found the item before she did, she told me off, and I had a good laugh.
7) Interface. Clunky at first and obviously made for a console. After a while you get used to it, though. It also teaches you to manage your inventory better. Unlike Morrowind, I only keep what I need in order to minimize the scrolling.
8) Clothing is extremely detailed and half the time I'm in the city, I'm wearing my "city" outfit instead of armour. I like that - I didn't do it in Morrowind, but I remember having certain clothes I used in Daggerfall. In a way, it helps the RPG a little - I dress my part.
9) Sneaking has been greatly improved. I can no longer steal something out from under the nose of a shopkeep, nor can I raid their private quarters since they follow you around when you start acting suspicious. When I first came to the Imperial City, it was about 2 or 3 am. I got lucky and lockpicked into an axe shop on my first try without breaking a single lockpick and raided the place. (only later did I learn you can't sell stolen items to regular shopkeepers. It definitely helps keep you from getting ridiculously rich since I'm only stealing what I want to use.) I snooped around, went upstairs and was shocked to see the shopkeeper lying in his bed. I pickpocked him for the key into the shop, so now I can go in there whenever I like.
10) Combat is fluid. Sure, you can hack a rat to death without really using your shield, but fighting a tough opponent really makes it more challenging - his shields goes down, you attack, pull back a little...it's really a matter of timing. Putting difficulty up high makes it more fun since a couple hits can do you in. The only problem I've seen so far involves pathfinding - for instance, I met a mage goblin inthe first dungeon. Clearly weak in melee, he ran away from me and tried to put as much distance between us. I leaped behind a rock when he casted fireball and lightning, and the rock soaked it up. I kept doing that, circling the rock and shooting fireballs until it died.
11) FaceGen is awesome for making your character but looks silly on some NPCs. It really loves making people look black and giving them nigger lips. A little bit of tweaking, and you can pull of a pansy half-man, half-woman character like mine though. Basically, whatever you can think up you can make as long as it's vaguely humanoid..
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/N ... Roland.jpg
Alright, my fingers hurt now.
