Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition

10 Review to this product

• 

  waxc3
  September 13th, 2007 on 11:17 am

  Rating

  These statements are in response to previous qustions and reviews.

  This pack was designed for people that can not or do not have broadband service and wanted these two huge add ons for Oblivion. there ARE only the two included here yes. two others were available for FREE from Official Xbox Magazine in early 2007. The horse armor was never given for free and is not available on here. OR of course if you do not already have this game then this is the best option available.

  if you already own a copy of oblivion and purchase this, you will then have two full copies of the game. about a year ago when bethesda said they will in time release the downloadable content on disc it was known that it would be on its own disc! some hoped it would be a disc update like halo2s extra maps were, but microsoft did not like the ease of someone buying one copy and just giving it to all of their friends.
  
  that would still be possible with disc two in this set, yea but they made sure you are buying the full game along with the extra content. that was the deal made with microsoft.

  disc two WILL install all of the patches that were required to play the additional content. then it will ask you which items you want to install, all, one, or neither.
  
  my main character in oblivion is nearing the 300 hour mark. there is no fear of the game becoming “unplayable”. the reviewer “mean critic” makes no good points and gives very little facts.

  the game will then be played with disc one (a normal oblivion disc) while the other information is streamed from a hard drive or memory card. that is the way the downloadable content WAS PROGRAMMED to work. the information that is stored on the drive loads very fast compared to when loading from the disc.

  if you buy this and already own oblivion, you could trade it in at many video game stores if you dont want to own a second copy.
• 

  Erik Carson
  September 13th, 2007 on 2:58 pm

  Rating

  If you already own Oblivion, don’t buy this, that’s obvious. However, for all you late bloomers you still don’t have Oblivion, this is definitely worth the buy. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper than buying all the stuff off Live. Easily. Get this.
• 

  Alexander Alderman
  September 14th, 2007 on 4:57 am

  Rating

  This game is the chief selling point for the XBOX 360, and now it’s available with the two major expansions included.

  If you already own Oblivion (and especially if you’ve already bought Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles from XBOX Live), DO NOT BUY THIS ITEM. You will be filled with the righteous fanboy rage you see in the one star reviews below.

  But if you’re new to the 360, this game is a must have. Even the training mode/introduction is amazing, with Patrick Stewart as the voice of the dying King who sends you on your quest.

  Highlights of the game and expansions:

  OBLIVION:
  
  +The quest story lines are well written, and the tone of guild and side quests varies and makes for a lot of fun (especially Thieves’ and Assassins’ Guilds)
  
  +Great voice acting from the likes of Sean Bean (Boromir), Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), and Terence Stamp (General Zod/Jorel).
  
  +A more engaging combat system than turn based RPGS, and amazing graphics
  
  +Character customization is more detailed than you could hope for.
  
  +It’s a very materialistic game. Looting is great fun, especially at higher levels.
  
  +You get to battle demons in Hell, or whip thieves in caves. There are a lot of varieties of game play.
  
  +The game is absolutely huge.
  
  -You will find the leveling system infuriating about 20 hours into the game. All of your enemies level up with you; so, your best options are to avoid leveling up entirely (which limits your selection of weapons and armor), or to be obsessive about controlled leveling, which takes a lot of the fun out of the game.
  
  -There’s no clear sense of “fair play” in the game. You can create a set of chameleon armor that will let you walk through the whole game unnoticed and kill whomever you wish. Once you can do that, how much worse is duplicating items using inventory tricks? You really set your own level of difficulty in how you play, but I find that takes away more than it adds.
  
  -There are really no branching quest lines in the game, and nothing you do affects the story line. Why can’t I take control of the Mythic Dawn or Necromancers?
  
  -There aren’t really any race or gender specific quests in the game. Why isn’t there some sort of elf society in the game that affects the storyline for an elf character?

  While I have problems with it (comparing it to KOTOR, as I do all things), I haven’t found a better 360 game yet.

  KNIGHTS OF THE NINE
  
  +A new guild! They should release more expansions like this.
  
  +You can lower your infamy to 0 by making a pilgrimage.
  
  +If you have a crusader fantasy, this expansion is for you.
  
  +You get some cool items, if you’re willing to stay infamy free.
  
  -The quest line is pretty short.

  Basically, this is a good early game quest line to take on, but it’s not as big as the other guilds.

  SHIVERING ISLES
  
  +This takes place in the realm of the demonic prince of madness. Where Oblivion involves lush, realistic landscapes and scary forays into Hell, Shivering Isles has lots of bizarre, beautiful, surreal images. It’s a much different design concept, and worth it for a change of pace.
  
  +The quests are especially ingenious.
  
  +The quest line is long enough to make it interesting.
  
  -Despite what you may see advertised, there’s still very little in way of branching quest lines. Really, the only things that differ are when you get certain items and what greater powers you have access to.

  This is a really great expansion, and can help you build skills early in the game. And you can become the demon prince of madness, so that’s cool.

  In short, this is the best game for 360, and one of the best RPG’s on the market. It does have its limitations and frustrations, but it will give you about 80 more hours of fun than Bioshock (which is also really cool).
  
• 

  W. Newberry
  October 1st, 2007 on 3:03 am

  Rating

  I never owned a copy of Oblivion , I finished most of the quests in 2006 with a GamesPass rental from Blockbuster. So when Shivering Isles download came out I was sad that only those with XBOXLIVE access could download it. Back then the cost of Shivering Isles was $30 plus the cost of the game $60. So I heard that this disc was coming out . So I waited to get this version. (if youo don’t own Oblivion ,this is the version to get) Boy am I glad I did, This version runs much much smoother than the older version I had rented in 06 .I didn’t have any problems with this game it ran better than the older first print version ,I can tell they fixed some of the issues. The game runs very smooth compared to last years debut copy.
  
  Since Shivering Isles and Kinghts of the Nine cache to your Hard Drive , the load times are much better when in those areas.

  Ive been playing Oblivion now for over 200 hours! There’s so much to see and do in this game,its an epic adventure of massive proportions. I easily reloaded my old Oblivion save and took my level 30 character into Shivering Isles quests ,no problem.

  If you don’t have Xbox Live or don’t have Oblivion yet this is by far the best version to get.
  
  If you like adventure games in First or third Person perspective than Oblivion is the best RPG out for any console. Anybody who hasn’t played Oblivion yet in missing out on the longest adventure video game experience they may have ever tried.
  
  Count on losing allot of sleep , I know I did, I couldn’t put the controller down.With 200+ hours of playtime I still havent seen all the caves and dungeons. There’s so many things that you can do in Oblivion This review would be way too long to cover all the aspects of this game. Oblivion is truly an epic RPG.I highly ,highly recommend it.Anybody who already owns Oblivion will not need this version as you can download all of the xtra content on Xbox LIVE.This version is for people without XboxLive or people who have do not own Oblivion.
• 

  Fox in Socks
  December 12th, 2007 on 9:15 pm

  Rating

  I had this on my PC, but it was a bit buggy on my (decently) high end system so I never played it.

  We bought an X-box 360 this year so I thought I’d give the game another chance, and I find the game to be a pure delight. There are a few minor bugs here and there, and the load times are occasionally annoying, but otherwise it is a perfect RPG. There is tons of variety and you can spend your time doing whatever turns you on. It’s nice to know I have the expansion content waiting for me as I’m quickly burning through the original content, and so will you, if you have time to play it!

  This is a must own for new 360 owners, that’s for sure.
• 

  Anon Amos
  January 2nd, 2008 on 12:20 am

  Rating

  Dramaic opening sequency with narration by Patrick Stewart. Deep involving story line with hundreds of hours of game play and limitless replay value. If you have played Morrowind then you are familiar with the environment. The action is more fast paced and more graphic. The visuals are outstanding and the best part is so far with 100 hours of gameplay no freezing up or glitches like there was with Morrowind.
• 

  Geodon
  January 7th, 2008 on 12:29 pm

  Rating

  This game is excellent. I received it as a christmas gift from my lovely wife. The games graphics and physics engine are incredible. I loved Morrowind, and played it for around 400 hours. This game blows it away. If you are a fan of this genre, it is a must have. I have only logged a few hours on it at this point, but from what I’ve done so far I can’t wait to delve deeper into it. Even my wife commented on the graphics as she watched me playing it. My son, who is seven, commented that he can’t wait to play it. All in all I highly recommend it to anyone who has the time to play….
• 

  J.S. Knapp
  May 6th, 2008 on 6:27 pm

  Rating

  We all have our favorite movies, our favorite books, authors, etc.

  Some of us have favorite video games. Oblivion is all about sword-fighting and combat, magic and wizards and orcs and monsters… Now, normally I wouldn’t consider this my type of gaming – I’m more of a science fiction, action/adventure fan than science fantasy.

  But Oblivion… …oh my, Oblivion…

  There is more content, more creativity, more bang-for-your-buck entertainment in this game than frankly any other game I’ve ever played before. Period. The sheer scope of what this game lets you do is more than I’ll ever experience. From enchanting your own weapons and armor to creating your own potions or magical spells, buying and improving houses, managing inventory and treasures. There are so many hidden features and items… …it’s mind boggling.

  You take the roll of a character (which you completely design and name) destined to save the land of Cyrodiil from the evil clutches of Mehrunes Dagon and the parallel universe that is Oblivion. However long it takes is entirely up to you, as along your path to complete the core quests of the game you will encounter simply countless “side jobs” and hidden quests to complete, dungeons to plunder and insuremountable quantities of loot to collect. With epic battles to fight, wild and imaginitive creates to save or slaughter, and a massive landscape to explore, there seems to be no end to Oblivion.

  Complaints? Well, the game seems to crash occasionally. Save often and it won’t cause much heartache. This game presents enough data to keep these modern gaming consoles working pretty hard. This game would be phenominal online, however no such option exists. Oblivion could very easily be the next World of Warcraft. Other than that, I have no complaints – I played this game to completion on both the Playstation 3 AND the Xbox 360. Again, as a non-enthusiast of Science Fantasy games, that HAS to say something for Oblivion.

  Buy it – buy it on Xbox or PC so that you can add some of the downloadable content not available on the Playstation. Buy it, then set aside a LOT of free time to enjoy all it has to offer. I also strongly suggest getting the game guide – read my review on that before buying, though.

  And Bethesda, quite frankly I would be relieved if you just made every game that ever comes out from here until the end of time.
• 

  Raul Duke
  May 19th, 2008 on 6:53 am

  Rating

  simply put, this game is amazing. it will consume you. it will own you. i finished the main campaign, and theres still TONS to do. even without the extra content, there are 4 guilds you can join, each with their own massive quest line. with the extra content, you’re looking at 200+ hours of gameplay. im about 90 hours in now, and still feel like ive barely scratched the surface. everything is nearly perfect. the world is huge. its filled with many cities and smaller villages. countless caves and dungeons are scattered throughout the land for you to explore.

  you could spend 50 hours playing this game and not even touch the main quest. when you emerge from the initial sewer area, the gloves are off. you are free to go anywhere and do anything. the world is simply beautifful, with an amazing view from some spots spanning half the continent.

  there are thousands of different non-player-characters. unfortunately they only got a handful of voice actors. Patrick Steward is perfect as the emperor, they couldnt have chosen anyone better.

  the graphics, while not on par with the likes of Gears of War, are still fantastic 2 years after its initial release. especially if you take the size into consideration. this is one of the biggest console games ever made, maybe second only to Morrowind. to me, Oblivion is like a slightly streamlined, much more well made version of that.

  gameplay is vastly improved from Oblivion. left trigger activates shield, right trigger swings sword. there are countless magicka spells from standard fire balls and summoning monsters to invisibility and nightvision.

  honestly, i cant say all that needs to be said in a single review. this is the most epic, beautiful, fully realized role playing game on the console market today. its the best game on the 360, and the plateau set by this game is not likely to be matched any time soon.
• 

  Deimos
  July 20th, 2008 on 11:40 am

  Rating

  The realism, the open world, the real time effects, the graphics are beautiful. The quests are great and there are so many of them that this game has infinate replay value, I could beat this game with every class and still love it. This is like the amazing Baulders Gate and Icewind games but on a whole new even more realistic level with infinate possabilites. I could just walk threw the woods in this game for hours a look at the lush enviroments because it’s so breathtaking and real looking. Game play is great, the classes, character building and multi-classing as well as naming your own class and created weapons etc is great and adds that much more realism to this great game. I will be playing this game for a long long time, I have haulted playing GOW, Dark Messiah, Quake Wars, Manhunt, WWE, Viking and many other recently bought titles to play and explore this wonderful game. The even better thing is with this version of the game you get the two add ons as well for even more gaming which goes deeper into this magical world. I hope we get more of these amazing games, we need a Forgotten Realms game like this one an Icewind Dale with create your own party. The open world concept is amazing, real time, and real encounters with open enviroments. I never thought the writings of R.A. Salvadore or J.R. Tolkien would ever come to life better than Baulders Gate 1/2 or Icewind Dale 1/2 but Elder Scrolls Obilivion surpasses them all by miles. Best game ever made from an fantasy RPG standpoint. This gets better as you play it, and with each class, multi-class or created class of character there are whole news avenues to explore. I will play this for years to come. Multi-player in this would have been amazing too.