We are celebrating the 15th anniversary of a unique game.
March 2006. Xbox 360 It had only been on the market for a few months, but it was about to receive one of the games that have marked the catalog of the new Microsoft console: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Of course, when it comes to a Bethesda RPG, it wasn’t going to be a game that would affect all fans the same. You first had to create a character and design it to enrich our journey. I have to admit the first time I played OblivionI had no idea what I was doing. Stealth, for example, has never been my strong suit in games, so I made it a minor skill. to which I did not pay much attention. I hadn’t realized that lockpicking was tied to a deeper skill tree than any other game before. This is how the learning and immersion experience began …
The story of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the real protagonist, although to be honest it is without a doubt strongest point of any Bethesda game. There is nothing I love more than getting lost in a game like this, completely skipping the main storyline to roam, explore, etc. However, the start of Oblivion is always the same no matter how many times you play it, but it’s still one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had in a game, even today.
We start in a dungeon, so the first 40 minutes of play is limited to hallways and walls. However, once we get out of it, that’s where the game leaves us with our mouths open, because when you leave the dungeon, you enter a living world, populated by characters, enemies, animals and creatures. I have never seen a game like this on the Xbox 360; a world where you can do what you want, when you want, unless you encounter an enemy you weren’t prepared for. For example, in my first game, I was wandering aimlessly and suddenly ran into a wizard in a tower. He was disturbed by my presence and killed me. Lesson learned. I avoided him when he reappeared, then came back when he was stronger and spanked him that I’ll never forget. Not me with games, Saroumane.
After all, it is absolutely necessary to follow the main argument, because takes us to different planes of existence, from the kingdom of Cyrodiil, where we are the bulk of the game, to the Deadlands, a plane of Oblivion where the enemies of the game live. And so far I will count, since, even if Oblivion has been on the market for 15 years, we must protect those who have not yet enjoyed this masterpiece.
Once the main story is over, you can imagine that I was led astray. Start over with a character A new, different structure was the perfect fit, so that’s what I did, as I guess a lot of others have. It’s very rare for me to do that, to directly replay a game that I just finished, but Oblivion made me do it.
So imagine my joy when Bethesda has created a DLC for the game. Well first it seemed like they were dragging their player base when releasing horse armor as DLC. Yes, armor for horses that can be mounted that added absolutely nothing to the game experience. However, Bethesda has come to life with two full adventure packs. Knights of the Nine was the first expansion in history, in which the player must collect relics to defeat a wizarding king called Umaril. It was the shorter of the two packs, but the next one was an absolute blast, and it’s still one of the best expansions on my personal list.
The story, llamada The Shivering Islands, is quite simple, since we are recruited to save a kingdom from impending doom, called The Greymarch. However, the realm we are visiting is the realm of madness and is ruled by Sheogorath, a Daedric prince. Sheogorath is everything you would expect from the Daedric Prince of Madness: in a nutshell, he is absolutely crazy and the missions we have to accomplish are just as strange. Totally recommended.
This title was one of the first to spark my love for open world games and especially the popular games that Bethesda does so well. Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4 and Skyrim, I played them all ad nauseum and loved every second, but it was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion the one who really started this fire.
This week has been 15 years since the launch of this great title, so with that I can only recommend that if you haven’t played Oblivion, please do so ASAP. As if that weren’t enough, the title is backwards compatible on Xbox One, so there’s no excuse for doing it. One of the best Xbox 360 games no arguments.
