The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the second best Role Playing Game ever made. Period.
Role playing has been deluded from it's original intentions, playing a ficticious character in a fantastical world with all the perks and hardships associated with it. Previous ventures (anything Diablo, Dungeon Siege, Everquest) have all been experiments in one of the fundamentals of Role Playing, character development. With Baldur's Gate, a cohesive, player-centric universe was created and a flimsy story along with it to increase immersion. Not until the advent of the best Role Playing Game of all time, Planescape: Torment, had a game captured the player with a beautiful, tragic story, colorful, detailed characters, and a fluid, easy to use interface.
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is the only game since Planescape: Torment to grab my attention and make me actively participate in it's story. In Dungeon Siege the plot was based on leveling up to defeat the main guy, all well and good, but in Morrowind my goal is anything I want it to be.
I remember playing a level 4 mage in Daggerfall for months, just because there was so much to see and do that I never got around to the main quest. In Morrowind, you can either not follow the main quest at all, follow it, or follow it once in a while and explore the rest of the time. The amount of open-endedness in this game is only surpassed by it's feeling of soul, for some reason this game feels alive moreso than any other game I've played (sans Planescape: Torment).
Casual gamers will not be able to play this, they'll get confused, frustrated, lost and stop playing, claiming "it's too non-linear!" Die hard pen and paper RPGers will not be able to play this, "you have to use the mouse to see things!" But any computer game player with half a brain, half a memory and at least 100 hours to play this game will find an experience they will never forget.
Reno, layeroffrost.com

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Product Description:
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is an epic, open-ended single-player game where you create and play any kind of character you can imagine. Be the hero embarking on an epic quest or a thief rising to leadership of his guild. Be a sorcerer developing the ultimate spell of destruction or a healer searching for the cure to a plague. Your actions define your character, and your gameplay changes and evolves in response to your actions. The Collector's Edition comes in an exclusive black box and includes a Morrowind soundtrack CD, an Ordinator figurine by Rawcliffe, and a 48-page book called The Art of Morrowind.
Players can choose to follow the intriguing main story line or set off to explore the province of Morrowind and the many interesting people and exotic locations it contains. Vast cities and remote villages dot the landscape, each with its own unique look and feel. Hundreds of quests and adventures await as you interact with characters and learn more. Regardless of whether you play a murdering assassin or a noble knight, the game holds endless possibilities and allows you to revisit the main story line at any time.
With Morrowind, the Elder Scrolls character system is coupled with an increase in the world's richness of detail. Utilizing the advanced 3-D technology, Morrowind features hyperrealistic textures and polygon counts, real-time shadows, vast landscapes, skeletal-based animation, and a complete weather system. Gameplay is further extended with the inclusion of The Elder Scrolls Construction Set, which allows players to modify and add to Morrowind in any way they see fit. Change character or creature attributes and skills, introduce new weapons or dungeons into the game, or create entire new worlds to explore.

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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

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(More customer reviews)Simply put: this game is incredible.I've played RPGs for years, but I've never had a more seamless experience than I've had playing this game.

First, the training mission.I didn't even realize it was a training mission because the events happening around me were directly related to the overall plot of the game.The only notion I had that the game was actually training me was the occasional on-screen message to press this or that button, but those messages didn't appear until I really wanted to do the action they taught me.

Second, the graphics.This world is gorgeous.I've found mysef just wandering through fields looking at the sights because of the level of detail and beauty -- the EFFORT -- that was put into the game.The sun rises and sets, the clouds pass by overhead, birds and animals react to my presence.It's a joy just taking it all in.

Finally, however, the gameplay.This game is fun.I can advance in whatever skill set I want simply based on whatever I use.If I want to become skilled at using a bow, then I just use the bow all the time, and I get better at it.If I want to be a powerful mage, I just keep casting magic, and I'll get better at it.The NPCs lead their own lives, talking and wandering around whether I interact with them or not.I can just stand around in a pub and listen in on the conversations around me, and I'll learn so much about what's going on in the realm.

This game raises RPGs to a whole new level -- a level that, as an old-school D&D player, I've been waiting to experience within a computer game for years.

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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion X360

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Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind Expansion Pack: Bloodmoon Review

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(More customer reviews)This game should have been the first expansion pack. It makes Tribunal look like a joke. True, the game is a little buggy, but not as much as Morrowind was when it first came out. A good gamer saves often. It has lots of new enemies, weapons and armor. You can even influence the growth of a large mining settlement while you watch it grow from the ground up, and get your own estate there.
Graphics: They haven't changed much, but the addition of snowfall is a nice. It isn't like the ash storms, the snow can be blizzard-like or it can be big slow falling flakes, which makes the scenery look great. Some of the Nordic armor looks very sharp also.
Sound: Well, no great changes here. I haven't noticed any bugs either.
Story: In this expansion pack you can work for the enemy for a while, or stay with the good guys. The story has a point where you are infected with the werewolf disease automatically (instead of trying to become a vampire in Vvardenfell by fighting them and getting lucky), then given a choice to either become a werewolf or become one of the "Skaal".
Being a werewolf is different than being a vampire because people will treat you normally as a human, but at night you turn into a werewolf and people will try to kill you wherever you go. After 6 hours you will become a human again. A nice twist to this "infection" is that if anyone sees you turning into a werewolf, you will be known by everyone as the beast and attacked whether you are in human form or not.
This expansion is a great buy for fans of Morrowind.

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Product Description:
Will you stand against the werewolves or becomeone?Product Information[Requires The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind to Play]Bloodmoon takes you to the frozen Island of Solstheim where the Empire isestablishing a new mining colony - a venture being threatened by the prophecy ofthe Bloodmoon and rumors of werewolves. You will find an untamedwilderness to explore populated by dangerous creatures and new dungeons likeice caves and Nordic burial tombs.Your journey north from Vvardenfell by ship will bring you to a whole new worldwhere the ashlands and rainy coasts of Morrowind give way to forests and hillscovered with snow and ice. In the huge wilderness of Solstheim you'll experiencesnow blizzards and new creatures including frost trolls ice minions andwolves...just to name a few. You will have a choice of stories to followand have the opportunity to defend the colony take control over how the colonyis built up and eliminate the werewolves. Or you can decide to join thewerewolves and become one of them opening up a whole new style of gameplay.Product FeaturesBecome a werewolf and indulge your thirst for the huntExplore the forests caves and snow-covered wastelands of the island ofSolstheimFight new creatures including wolves bears ice minions and spriggansDirect the construction of a mining colonyExperience new weather types including snow and blizzardsCan be experienced by any player at any point during Morrowind andTribunalWindows RequirementsRequires The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind to PlayWindows 98 Me 2000 XP500 MHz Intel Pentium III Celeron or AMD Athlon processor256 MB of RAM1 GB free Hard Drive space8X CD-ROM / DVD-ROM driveWindows swapfile32 MB Direct3D compatible Video Card with 32-bit color support and DirectX8.1 compatible driverDirectX 8.1 compatible Sound CardDirectX 8.1 (included on disc)KeyboardMouse

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Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

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(More customer reviews)Simply put, Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion is not only the best RPG of the year, but arguably the next step of the RPG's evolution.Think of it this way: 25 years ago Wizardry I was state of the art in all parts of the RPG - graphics, game design, and character build (stolen straight from D&D).That one game changed the way others were built.Today, Oblivion not only has state of the art graphics but also state of the art game design and character build - essentially, the culmination of 25 years of electronic RPG design.The competition has a lot of work to do to catch up, and it is likely many of the features here will be borrowed for other games.This is a clear 5 stars overall, with the only two flaws being like its predecessors the game is simply massive and the controls can be a bit awkward.

For those who never played it, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was a great game and major advancement in the genre.(In a sign of how good it was, 3 years after its release the original collector's edition still sells for near its original cost in the secondary market versus other games which might go for 10% of what you paid for them.Incredible.)More specifically, it really reinvented the RPG genre with skill-based advancement - if you want to be a fighter, kill something with a sword - and open-ended quests.

What is most noticable about Oblivion besides the eye-popping but system straining graphics (anything lower than a high end PC from last year will likely have problems, but the upside is this screams to be played on a 45" LCD monitor at 1920x1080p) is that Bethesda improved upon Morrowind rather than reinventing the wheel.Advancement is still skill-based but in general seems more balanced than before as powerleveling only a few skills will generally just get you fighting stronger mobs.Exploring the world through quests and NPCs remains the focus as it should be, but it also doesn't feel like you have to constantly grind FedEx quests to advance.In other words, the open-ended gameplay - arguably the one weak spot of Morrowind - remains open-ended but more managable.Don't fear, however, as with several hundred quests it's easy to lose yourself.If you're willing to put in the game time towards the rumored 1000 hours, the adding on of some long guild quests and other miscellaneous ones can get you a very, very powerful character, or you can simply try to solve the main quest quickly.It's up to you.

The two downsides are the game is massive in all respects and that while simultaneously designed for Xbox and PC several parts of it feel tilted towards the console. First, the size and lack of direction feel a bit daunting, but more importantly there is a tough learning ramp to figure out the game.For instance, your first couple of characters will probably be rerolled as it's hard to understand how useful all but the most obvious skills work until you use them extensively.Figuring out how to build a character around this based on an hour's worth of gameplay (since you do at least get to rechoose everything after the introduction quest) is asking too much.The open-ended aspect can be scary too; even as early as the the newbie quest there's not a lot of linear direction and the hint levels just drop from there.Walkthroughs for this will be immensely helpful, and in a once-in-a-generation event the Prima Guide is actually worth the money.(One note: given how much Amazon has discounted the Prima Guide, if you're looking to save money, consider combining it along with the non-collector's edition of the game and bypassing the collector's edition entirely. For only a couple of dollars more, you'll substitute the immense help of the Guide over the pretty but not hugely important book included in the latter, and while you're giving up a 'making of' DVD you'll save multiple hours of character design even if you choose to ignore the spoiler walkthroughs.)

Second, the game does feel at times like it was designed for a console.This isn't as bad as something that's a console conversion like GTA:SA where a gamepad is mandatory and the graphics are limited by the conversion.However, numerous features like spell selection, inventory management, and NPC interaction all are console-friendly to such an extent where those used to playing on a PC will probably grumble a bit.(It's a bit odd that this got through beta testing on the PC without someone requesting more than the current 8 programmable hotkeys in total that groan under supporting several hundred spells and abilities.)Far more annoying is that while third-person mode is included and playable, it is essentially impossible to use for ranged combat as only the first-person mode has a crosshair to aim spells and weapons.These are minor but noticable nuisances, especially for a game that is otherwise supremely polished.

Still, it's the best of the genre.Bethesda is to be commended for the design, the production (little things like hiring Patrick Stewart for a brief role as Emperor show the quality), and the difficult decision to delay the game for several months to fix things, where so many companies now push out beta editions as gold just to get the game on the market.5 stars, and there will be a lot of people who don't get much work done for the next month.

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Product Description:
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is single-player role-playing action in the world of the popular Elder Scrolls game. The Emperor of Tamriel has been assassinated and the killer still runs loose. Meanwhile, no heir sits on the throne. With no Emperor upon the throne, the gates of Oblivion open wide and demons invade. Your quest is to find the lost heir and place him on the throne, before demons destroy the land. Next-generation graphics with pixel-shader effects for high-definition TVs, creating lifelike towns & dungeons and the most realistic forests

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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

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(More customer reviews)By now, you have heard the hype surrounding Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion.I am here to tell you that the hype is real.The game is fantastic.The graphics are unreal-they really took them to the next level.The play mechanics are straight forward for the average PC RPG fan, but there is enough depth to make any hard core gamer happy!I think the designers hit a perfect balance for any type of fan.

As computer owners, we are constantly reminded that it is expensive to upgrade hardware.Every once and a while, a game comes out that justifies those expenses.I think this is the game that should make people upgrade.And, if you do it now, you won't have to worry about upgrading for the next generation of games.My computer is plenty powerful enough to run it (Alienware Area-51 5500 with 1Gig Ram, ATI x850 256megs Ram, S-ATA 80 gig HD, Viewsonic VX924 Monitor).

However, if my computer was too slow, I know I would upgrade in order to play this game, it is that good.Even after a few hours of playing, I am confident in saying that this game is fantastic!Any money you spend on your computer will be well worth it!

The beginning level acts as a tutorial. Instead of being ordered how to do things, the game starts open ended (a clue that the entire game will be this open ended as well).It gives suggestions on things, such as how to use the bow and how to cast spells.But if you choose to not be an archer or a magician, you can still proceed.You customize your character at different points based on how you were playing.I think that is an original design for character creation, as opposed to creating a character from scratch before ever playing the game.

I have walked through several large cities, talked to citizens, obtained quests, finished quests, bartered at the shops, changed my equipment, leveled-up some skills, used swords, hammers, bows, magic, etc.-that was all in the first few hours.I am taking my time walking through the game. Yes, the graphics are that good, and you may want to take the time to admire the world that you are walking through.Personally, I sometimes rush through games and forget to look around at the world.This game makes you want to look around, to see what is around the corner, to explore the areas and see what is next.

Oblivion is going to be huge!I have read that the main quest is about 25 hours.If you explore the entire island, and attempt the side quests, the game is hundreds and hundreds of hours.I still know people playing Morrowind-I expect Oblivion to last as long, if not longer.

Yes, my computer is setup for games and the gaming experience. So far, Oblivion has proved to be a worthwhile experience.Even for those computers with lower setting should still enjoy this game-the designers made sure that the game was just more than graphics. How it looks should not stop you from buying this game-it is the game experience you should come for.The fact that it is possibly the best computer RPG ever should make you want to play it no matter what.

The bottom line is: combat is fun, and I look forward to unlocking skills that let me target with my bow, roll out of the way of combat, and summon creatures to help me fight.The game play is deep and accessible.There are more items, weapons, magic combinations, character types, NPCs, quests etc. than you know what to do with!The graphics are outstanding.The voice acting is some of the best in any game.The game wants you, the player, to be involved.You play however you want and whoever you want to be.

And truthfully, the game is just fun.What more can you ask for in a computer game?
Note: The Collectors Edition is the same game, but this box comes with a collector's coin and a book that give you detailed background of the world of Oblivion, incuding characters, places, and story.

UPDATE: Someone wrote earlier (in other reviews) that you can only play in 1st person. This is not true. Use the mouse wheel to scoll back and you can set the distance you want to view your character in 3rd person. Also, you can hot key 8 items (both on the PC and XBox 360) with keys 1-8. I wish there were more, but it seems to be a strategy type thing set by the designers. What is important to you? Well, you get 8 things to hot key. The keys F1-F4 call up your charater page, inventory, spells, and map/journal. This should make inventory management a snap. Hopefully, those who are making comments about these things either read their manauls or try things out before making it a negative complaint about the game.

I started a new character already and I am enjoying the game so much more with this custome Battle Mage! This game is great because it encourages experimentation and exploration. Enjoy!

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Product Description:
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the most richly detailed and vibrant game-world ever created. This new chapter uses next-generation technologies to create a fully immersive gaming adventure. The Emperor of Tamriel has been assassinated and the killer still runs loose; meanwhile, no heir sits on the throne. With no Emperor upon the throne, the gates of Oblivion open wide and demons invade. Your quest is to find the lost heir and place him on the throne, before demons destroy the land. Special Collector's Edition includes: Pocket Guide to the Empire, "Making of Oblivion" Documentary and a Septim Gold Coin. Next-generation graphics with pixel-shader effects for high-definition TVs, creating lifelike towns & dungeons, and the most realistic forests

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Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind Expansion Pack: Tribunal Review

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(More customer reviews)When I first went to Mournhold, site of the Tribunal expansion, I was a bit disappointed. After all, it appears to just be a single city, roughly the size of Balmora and arguably less interesting! Suffice to say that this is NOT all there is to it. A bit of patience and a few quests will go a long way to fulfilling your every desire in regards to exploration, enemies, and rewards.
The expansion largely takes place in the city of Mournhold, but if you are journeying in normal Morrowind you will also see Dark Brotherhood assassins that will trigger the expansion plot. A bit of a warning- they do come quite early and can get pretty tough, so be careful where you rest. The expansion is definitely geared for higher level characters. There is a mercenary you can hire to tag along and help, but you'll need to be upwards of level 30 if you expect to play straight through the new areas. Of course, you don't have to do it all at once, and you can return to Morrowind at any time.
The lack of new items in the early part of the expansion can be disappointing. All I can say is to be patient, because there's certainly some VERY nice ones to be had. Mournhold also has some useful things for sale, such as adamantium weapons, glass armor, and a smith that will make glass, adamantium, or ebony armor if you bring him raw materials. There is also a museum where you can sell artifacts for up to 30k gold (if you aren't patient enough to use Creeper or Drunken Mudcrab) and a mage that sells unlimited quantities of grand, greater, and common soul gems.
The expansion includes at least 7 completely new creatures, as well as some very tough unique opponents. There are a lot of extremely cool new areas and puzzles, and dungeons that make the biggest ones in Morrowind look drab and puny. If you've liked the main game, then this expansion is a sure-fire buy. It adds a great deal of extra play, and is definitely worth your money.

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Product Description:
In Tribunal a ruthless new king has taken the throne of Morrowind while an aging god drifts deeper into madness. Into this chaos you are thrust with deadly assassins close behind you and Morrowind's uncertain future ahead. Your journey will lead you to Mournhold capital city of Morrowind to the Clockwork City of Sotha Sil and through massive epic-sized dungeons.Strange and deadly creatures await you in Tribunal including goblins lich lords and the mysterious Fabricants. Powerful new armor and weapons will aid you in your survival and your adventures will be documented in the improved journal system and an annotatable map. The fate of Morrowind is in your hands...again.System Requirements:Elder Scrolls Morrowind IIIMinimum System Requirements:Windows Me/98 128 MB RAM 500 MHz Intel Pentium III Celeron or AMD Athlon processor 8x CD/DVD-ROM Drive 1 GB free hard disk space Windows swapfile DirectX 8.1 (included) 32 MB Direct3D Compatible video card and DirectX 8.1 compatible driver DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card Keyboard Mouse NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS or ATI Radeon 7500 or faster video card.Recommended:Windows XP/2000 256 MB RAM 800 MHz or faster Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor 8x CD/DVD-ROM Drive 1 GB free hard disk space Windows swapfile DirectX 8.1 (included) 32 MB Direct3D Compatible video card and DirectX 8.1 compatible driver DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card Keyboard Mouse NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS or ATI Radeon 7500 or faster video card.Supported Video Card Chipsets:NVIDIA GeForce4 NVIDIA GeForce3 NVIDIA GeForce2 NVIDIA GeForce 256 NVIDIA TNT2 ATI Radeon 8500 ATI Radeon 7500 ATI Radeon 7200 ATI Radeon ATI Rage 128 Matrox G550 Matrox G450 Matrox G400Format: WIN 9598 Genre:ENTERTAINMENT Rating:UPC:093155117501

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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

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(More customer reviews)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).

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Product Description:
Oblivion Game of the Year edition presents one of the best RPGs of all time like never before. Step inside the most richly detailed and vibrant game-world ever created. With a powerful combination of freeform gameplay and unprecedented graphics, you can unravel the main quest at your own pace or explore the vast world and find your own challenges. Also included in the Game of the Year edition are Knights of the Nine and the Shivering Isles expansion, adding new and unique quests and content to the already massive world of Oblivion. See why critics called Oblivion the Best Game of 2006.

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The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - Game of the Year Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)This edition of the game comes with all the expansion packs so it's definitely worth picking up. Also as soon as you have it, goto Bethesda's site because they have some free content to download which adds some new pieces to the game (this was before they started selling content).

Alright, now for the review, this has to be one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played. You take the role of a recently released prisoner (species, class, and sex of your choosing) and immerse yourself into an exciting storyline filled with plot twists and side quests to keep you busy for endless hours.

The game is much different than Oblivion (the next game in the Elder Scrolls series) so people who enjoyed that game may or may not like this one. A lot of the mainstream added content to Oblivion wasn't present in this game. This being that the auto leveling of enemies, horses to ride on, and a few other smaller changes were not present in the game.

So you'll spend a lot of time either running to your next location (and the flying birds are the most annoying thing in the world) or you'll take a ride from city to city using the instant travel public transportation available (boats and this animal that you ride).

The greatest thing about this game (besides the endless hours of quests) is also its worst quality for fans of Oblivion: the non-auto leveling will leave you in a state where the enemies become extremely easy to defeat. You often also run around for long periods of time without finding any. Why is this great? Well the thing is as you progress as your character what was once a dangerous road to travel on becomes a simple process. You really feel the effects of your leveling. Also weapons are often specialized and are not as generic as the ones found in Oblivion. While a sword is a sword you may be using a Holy Relic of the Church or you may be using just a plain sword you found off an enemy it really depends on your choices and the weapons you discover.

The thing is that once you reach a point, however, you find that all the enemies in the game are too easy to beat. Bosses on the main quest still are hard but this point is way too easy to get to, especially if you play a class like a thief where your main skills are often improved just by spending time in towns. There aren't too many forms of enemies either so it's very repetitive in that sense as well.

It's still a challenge though to attack a town (which you can do if you choose to) so even after you do reach that level you'll find things to do.

I liked not having the auto-leveling but it doesn't really match the needs of most mainstream console lovers so you may or may not like it. I'd say the only true drawback to the game I found was that even though I ignored the main quest it was possible to by mistake force the story forward by entering main quest areas (one for example I bumped into forced me to near the end of the game). It would have been nice if you had no met previous requirements not to have to load the last save to not put myself in that state.

A quick note on the expansions: they both are fun albeit Tribunal felt really short and you are isolated to the main town for the most part with a dungeon under the town --- there are new enemies as well including some new Dwarven constructs so it is fun just seemed quick. You do find lots of new items to add to your character, however, and some of the quests are really fun to do. All in all Bloodmoon felt more challenging and had a lot of new interesting enemies that made the combat more engaging.

Still the game is solid and you'll have fun. Some quests are outright goofy, other tedious, but all around enjoyable. Worth buying since it's so cheap these days and you can decide if you enjoy it as well.

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Product Description:
You arrive at the port of Seyda Neen in the waning years of the Third Era with nothing but the name of a contact in Balmora.

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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

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(More customer reviews)Oblivion most certainly lives up to its reputation as a Game of the Year for 2006/2007.

The interface is very easy to manipulate. The combat system is intuitive, and I found the regeneration of fatigue and magicka/mana to be quite unique to the RPG environment. I often found myself lugging around potions for regenerating mana and hitpoints in other games. This is not the case with Oblivion! My dark elf character regenerated fatique and magicka, while it was extremely easy to cast spells that restored health.

The game crashed to desktop only a handful of times out of the dozen or so days I spent playing, so I'd say it was above average in terms of reliability. The game runs smoothly at 800x600 with a P4 3.0 GHz CPU and an ATI Radeon X1950 GT 256MB AGP video card.

The most noteworthy aspect of this game is the sheer number of quests and the "sandbox" aspect of exploration and character development. I did not have to stick with the main quest, but I often found myself sidetracked with various quests that lead to additional quests! It is not uncommon to have a dozen or more active quests in your log!

The second most intriguing component of this game is the ability to manufacture potions, spells, and enchantments for your items. This is quite a unique feature! No longer is the player restricted to cookie cutter items and equipment. You can enchant armor to provide chameleon (invisibility), while you can enchant weapons to suck the life out of your opponents with each strike.

One "mini-quest" even allows you to play as a vampire, whom must feed on sleeping victims or else you begin to lose hitpoints under the sun (complete with smoke rising off your skin).

I must say that Oblivion is one of THE most innovative games I have played in the recent years. This special GOTY edition includes Knights of the Nine and the Shivering Isles expansion, providing months upon months of playability. I have spent over 50 hours and have not even started the main quest.

Pros: Intuitive interface for exploration, enchanting items, and making spells. The combat interface is exceptional for a RPG. I recall the days of text-based RPGs and RPGs like Final Fantasy II for the SNES where you were always forced to take damage during turns. Oblivion is a mix of a first-person shooter and RPG. Godfather fans will probably see quite a resemblance, with the exception that Oblivion is far more fleshed out and involved than Godfather.

The GOTY edition includes the latest patch and I have not run into any problems with the quests that were previously found in earlier versions.

Cons: The voice acting gets repetitious since they keep recycling voice actors for the minor NPC's. This is also a pro because this allows for a bigger budget in developing the game itself. I find myself reading the text more than listening to the NPC's whining that someone stole their ring, or they need some special wine.

I found that not being able to fast travel to marked locations was annoying. Fast travel is useful because you can go from one location to another without being forced to ride a horse or run on foot. Unfortunately, fast travel only works if you have explored the region and found the location. In addition, fast travel only works if there aren't enemies attacking and if you are outside in an open area. You can't fast travel from the inside of a cave or inside of a building. This can be get rather boring at times.

While you can develop your character by improving his or her skills, there isn't much development in character interaction. For example, when you join the Dark Brotherhood, almost everyone is open and receptive. It felt like this was the friendliest faction. Antoinetta Marie seemed to have more than a friendly disposition towards your character, but it never developed any further than typical banter with NPCs. I feel this is a major flaw in many of the games today, but it is most likely a technical limitation more than anything.

Bottom line:
Oblivion Game of the Year Edition gets a 10/10 rating from me based on being an overall excellent game. Very rarely does a game get almost everything right, and still be able to run smoothly on budget PC hardware. There is simply so much to accomplish in this game.

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Product Description:
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition (GotY) for Windows is a compilation of this classic RPG game. Oblivion GotY will include the original version of the award-winning RPG Oblivion along with the official expansion, The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles, and the downloadable content, Knights of the Nine. This new product allows players who have never played the 2006 Game of the Year to experience Oblivion for the first time with additional content. In addition, gamers can continue their existing games of Oblivion and experience the new quests and areas offered by the expansion and downloadable content.
Oblivion features a powerful combination of free-form gameplay, unprecedented graphics, cutting edge AI, character voices by acting legends Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean, Terrance Stamp, and Lynda Carter, and an award-winning soundtrack. Gamers can choose to unravel Oblivion's epic narrative at their own pace or explore the vast world in search of their own unique challenges.
With more than 30 hours of new gameplay, Shivering Isles allows you to explore an entirely new plane of Oblivion - the realm of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides - Mania and Dementia -filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within.Sheogorath himself looks to you to be his champion and defend his realm and its inhabitants from destruction as you discover all new items, ingredients, spells, and much more. The Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides - Mania and Dementia -filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within. You'll encounter more than a dozen new creatures including hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibious Grummites. Throughout your adventure, you will discover all new items.
Knight

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The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This game will redefine the computer role-playing game genre forever. If you have any interest inCRPGs then this is the game for you. I picked up the original two years ago and still play it to this day. The replay value is astounding. What Morrowind has that no other CRPG comes close to is open-endedness. You literally can wander anywhere your heart desires on the island (which is massive to say the least). The graphics are fantastic, the experience system is very realistic - you learn by doing - the more you do something (successfully), the better you get. The world created is so atmospherically saturating and immersive that you literally feel like you are walking through a swamp (or wherever). Almost every single shortcoming of this game has been overcome through the massive modding community that supports Morrowind. Thus the potential universe for you to explore is quite literally limitless. The original game promises over 200+ hours of gameplay to cover each and every possible quest (I honestly think this is conservative given that you cannot possibly do a all the quests with any particular PC). Each expansion adds at least 100+ hours of gameplay each. Then there is the mod community. Morrowind ships with a construction set that allows even the most novice of us to learn to create whatever worlds one desires. Some more clever people in the modding community have gone well beyond the initial scope of the construction set to enhance various aspects of the gameplay experience. Quite frankly, as you are playing the game, if their is something you think that should be improved, it has probably already been thought of and their probably is a mod out there that can do it. If not, pull up the construction set and go onto the chat bullentin boards to get some help. The mod community for Morrowind is second to none and supports people at all levels.
That being said, what kind of game is Morrowind? As I said before, it is extremely immersive, extremely detailed, extremely open-ended. What are the weak points?
Although it is possible to gun through the primary quests in much less time than the entire game encompasses, but why? If you want a game that can give you a fast fix (say 30 minutes of action) then this is NOT the game for you. The biggest hurdle most people face is getting familiar with the game. When I first played the game, I initially became quickly frustrated at the lethargic pace of progress my character was making. For people who like fast action-oriented games, they will likely abandon this game after 30 minutes because the pace is too slow and their character is too weak to even handle a rat. It will likely take hours of gameplay before your character has enough fortitude to wander through the wilderness at night and not get killed by even the most benign of critters. However, once you get past this initial hurdle, you will most likely be hooked for life.
The other limitation of the game is combat. Despite whatever weapon used, there are really only three different moves a character can make: chop, slash, and thrust. For fighter oriented characters, this gets quite boring after a couple of hundreds of hours. However, this also offers up a new opportunity. If you max out your fighting skills (say 100% with long swords) then why not take up a little bit of magic with the same character? Unlike other games, you are not restricted in any way in which skills you can pursue. Another limitation this game has is the repetitiveness of dialogue, voice acting and character graphics (I must remind you that what becomes boringly repetitive for Morrowind is not on the same scale of most other games as you will likely play the game several orders of magnitude longer, as a result even the most creative aspects of the game will seem a bit boring after, say 500+ hours of gameplay). However, as I mentioned before, there are mods out there that add a great deal of diversity to all of these constantly keeping the game fresh.
The other significant limitation to the game is a lack of multiplayer. The game was never designed with multiplayer in mind. Although some people have tried modding it to be multiplayer, none have been successfull. What makes Morrowind great: a completely immersive single-player experience, is what keeps it from becoming multiplayer.
All in all, a fantastic, unparalleled, single-player CRPG. A game that will redefine the genre. For people who are willing to become immersed in a limitless, unique world for hundreds of hours at a time. Not a game for people looking for quick, fast action. This game truly takes time and dedication to enjoy. It is addictive at some level, but you can also leave it for months, come back to it and enjoy it anew. Any when you finally think you have seen everything there is to see or would like to change something to your liking, just hop onto the bulletin boards and start downloading some mods. Quite limitless gameplay and probably the most entertainment bang for your buck in gaming. Morrowind will likely have replay value for years to come, since the mod community is still growing strong.
On a side note: picking up the strategy guide is a must for most fans of this game. If for nothing else than the maps that show exactly where certain quest tidbits can be found. It is far too easy to spend hours looking for the precise location of something in several acres of terrain. After spending 6 gameplay hours looking for a specific person in the vast city of Vivec, I gave up and bought the strategy guide and found them in 10 minutes. Plus the fact that there is SO much detail in the game that you can quite easily miss 90% of it just by rushing through certain areas. I have revisited some areas 10 times and found something completely new (to me) each time.

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Product Description:
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is the most detailed game world ever created, where you create and play any kind of character you can imagine. Morrowind sets a new standard in gaming with its incredible graphics, in-depth gameplay, and innovative character development. Experience the definitive version of this award-winning role-playing game. The definitive collection of the best RPG of 2002, including the original Morrowind plus both the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions and The Elder Scrolls Construction Set.

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