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Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Long-term relationships can breed familiarity, which is turn can cause one to take it for granted. Then, every once in a while, that special gal gets a fresh hairstyle or surprises you with a new outfit and suddenly everything is fresh again, you remember why you fell in love in the first place and the familiarity and “taking for granted” is banished. Sure, she’s the same person she’s always been, but you’re once again looking at her like she’s new. That’s kind of what it’s like firing up the PS3 version of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

The game is, essentially, the same. There are no huge graphical makeovers that will mark a clear difference between the 360 version of the game we’ve all spent 100s of hours with and the new PS3 version of the game. The differences are subtler than that. Like the texture filtering and lighting effects. Side-by-side, the 360 version of Oblivion can seem a bit more garish; the PS3 version can seem a bit more subtle and subdued. Which look is superior? It depends mostly on personal preference (Ed: it should be noted that Bethesda claims that a patch will be released for the Xbox 360 version that should make the two look identical).

On the downside, the PS3 version does not leverage the SixAxis controller’s motion-sensing capabilities. The PS3 version also does not currently, as of this writing, support downloading mods and expansion packs like the 360 does. Shivering Isles, for example, is not yet available for download on the PS3 Network. Those capabilities are scheduled loosely to be added sometime later this year, but for now, they’re not present.

What is present is the entire collection of pre-Shivering Isles added content, known in PC and 360-parlance as the “Knights of the Nine” expansion pack. However, that content unfolds differently on the PS3; since it’s not a download, it’s not made available to you immediately.

Those familiar with the game may be disappointed that they can’t go directly to Deepscorn Hallow and get their “evil HQ,” or have immediate access to the Wizard’s Tower so they can make their own magical items as Level 1 characters. No, you have to earn your way to those goodies, and they are uncovered in the game as all the original content was, through exploration and progression through the world.

Anyone who has spent hundreds of hours on Oblivion using the 360 controller will need to readjust their playing style once they pick up the SixAxis, but those for whom Oblivion is a first-time love affair will pick up the controls without such need for adjustments. The game plays essentially the same on both versions.

Well, that’s not quite true. For example, on the PS3 version, the opening dungeon you are given to explore seems notably briefer after the King Uriel Septum dies. Grand soul gems are also harder to find. And some monsters seem tougher to take down. So it seems that certain elements were rethought, retooled, rebalanced, and fine-tuned for the PS3 version.

However, while most of this is for the better, it’s not an extensive revision. The game’s inherent illogical flaws are still present and accounted for. For example, if you join the fighter’s guild or the magic guild, once you’re a “in,” you can basically take everything that’s not nailed down and resell it back to guild merchants, even if they’re watching you while you do this in their plain sight. I can’t imagine a person in any world that would watch you pocket their merchandise, walk up to them and sell it back to them, but it’s a money-making scam that worked through detail-oversight in the PC and 360 version of Oblivion, and it works on the PS3 version as well. Just be sure you’re an official guild member, though, or you’ll be branded a thief and jailed by the city guard.

Another oversight that still hasn’t been cleaned up is that invisibility is completely weird and throws off game balance, in all versions of the game. For example, if you gain the ability to enchant items and armor and have chameleon as an available enchantment, you can enchant enough items that you become completely invisible in the game. However, it’s not as much fun as it sounds. If you have 90 percent chameleon effects on you, you may as well be 100 percent visible because everyone can spot you like normal. However, enchant up to 100 or over on your chameleon effect and you can literally walk up to a city guard, swipe at him with a sword and although the entire city watch will be searching for you, they won’t see you and you can pick them off at your leisure. Get over 100 percent, and you’re basically invulnerable because no one has even a one percent chance of seeing you. Not even boss-level enemies.

It makes the game entirely too easy. Once you enchant enough items and armor with chameleon to reach 100 percent or more, you can kill anyone, be they beggar, citizen or enemy, and they won’t even fight back; they’ll look around for you, wondering who is hacking away at them, until they’re dead. But they won’t even lash out blindly. So, invisibility is just way too powerful and kills any fun it provides to the game, and that problem still hasn’t been addressed in the PS3 version.

On the upside, the soundtrack has enjoyed considerable expansion. More melodies have been added to provide some much-needed atmospheric variety, and there are even signs that some new voice work was added to inject some much-needed variety to the standard dialog responses in the game. The audio additions are a welcomed enhancement.

The game is, as it always has been, one of the most playable, free and open, enjoyable RPGs on the market. The graphical beauty is still beyond compare, and yes, that includes anything Square’s done recently, except perhaps for those trailers of Final Fantasy XIII. The new, subtler lighting effects, textures and filters freshen up the game’s excellent-yet-familiar-by-now look. The PS3 version is slightly better than the 360 version graphically, but not in any way that shows a clear separation in hardware power; it just seems more like a “director’s cut” version of the graphics.

I’ve nitpicked some of Oblivion’s minor flaws here, but let’s not lose sight of the obvious forest while gazing at some of the individual trees: Oblivion was Dignews.com’s first-ever game of the year for 2006 when it was on 360 and PC, and the PS3 version does nothing to shift that opinion. The game is a masterpiece and the only thing that can top it, so far, are the expansion packs that add on to the experience. Hopefully, Shivering Isles won’t be too far off for PS3 owners.

The minor differences between the 360 version and this PS3 release are inconsequential. If you already own the PC or 360 version, there’s no compelling reason to pick up the PS3 version as well. However, the game is a must-have for any self-respecting fan or RPGs or games in general. No matter how many pretenders call themselves “the first masterpiece of the next generation,” none come close to fulfilling that role the way Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion does, and the PS3 version lets Sony die-hards in on the fun as well. Mazel tov!

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Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Apr 13th, 2007 and is filed under PS3 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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