Early in the morning of the final day of E3, I was ushered in to a full room to be shown the latest chapter in Bethesda Softworks' now classic RPG series, Elder Scrolls. The latest chapter of this is titled Oblivion and takes place in the Empire of Tamriel. It is here as the story unfolds we find that the Emperor is dead, the throne now empty and the empire collapsing around them, demons from Oblivion (the Tamriel version of Hell) have flooded the land and are laying waste to it. It is in to this world that you find yourself thrust and here you must answer a dying emperor's wish and save the world.
As with Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, character generation is done much the same with your actions determining the type of character you will play. If you act like a warrior you will be a warrior. If you act like a sneaky thief you will end up being a thief. And any combination will allow you to be what you want, so you can be a warrior with stealthy skills and magic skills. There is no experience. Instead players gain in skills as they use them so the more you use that sword the more skill you will have with it. This system has been successful and fun in the past and there is no reason to change it in this the latest iteration of the game.
It was in this crowded room that we all had the opportunity to get a first look at this new chapter in the series, the demo started with the main character in a dungeon. Here we were shown the first of the many things that just made us go, Wow! As the demo continued, we were treated to various objects in the cell being picked up and moved in any direction, but most spectacular of all was that as the objects moved the shadows followed them around. If that was it, I would have still been impressed but then they picked up a ribcage and showed how not only was it showing the shadows of the individual ribs but it had the light sparkling though when held in front of a light source. Their attentions to details like these that truly impressed me and made me feel drawn to this game and its impressive graphics and physics engines.
As they continued the demo we were shown out of the cell and into the best looking forest I have seen in a video game environment. It is here we had the opportunity to see the new navigation system using a compass in the top center of the screen that helps you identify a variety of locations. In the case of this demo we were shown to the entrance of one of the more then 200 dungeons. As we entered the dungeon the developer pulled out his bow and slipped in to the shadows and started to kill the hoards of goblins that make this particular dungeon home. Deeper in the dungeon we encountered a trap set by the goblins who were silly enough to be standing right below it. Creeping closer, the developer grabbed a piece of food from the goblins own campsite and throwing it at the trip wire, the trap is sprung on the goblins themselves. The stealth system in Oblivion is fairly simple as you slip in to stealth mode an eye appears on the screen telling you whether or not you have been spotted.
Leaving the dungeon behind, we headed into town. Here we were introduced to the games new Radiant AI. This system allows the more then 1000 non-player characters to have lives and to eat, sleep, and act toward their own goals. Added to this impressive new AI is a whole host of additions to make these NPCs more realistic from facial animations, lip-synching and more then 50 hours of voice acting goes a long way toward accomplishing this goal. As we entered town we were shown into the house of a lonely old widow who after a short conversation invites us upstairs. This is where we truly saw the Radiant AI in action as we sat back and watched her feed her dog, read and take a nap as the day progresses. As we left the widow's house we overheard two citizens talking about a rumor of Oblivion breaching a city nearby and the Emperor's Forces having trouble dealing with it. This is one of the cooler new features in Oblivion where quests can be picked up from eavesdropping on conversations of the NPCs around you not just by approaching an NPC standing around. This feature is sure to add flavor that has long been missing from this type of game, to be able to overhear the conversation and find a quests adds something previously only seen in pen and paper. It's touches like these that make this series one of the most creative and pre-eminent RPG game released.
Oblivion was one of the most spectacular games I had the pleasure of seeing at E3, with its open ended game play, fantastic graphics and physics engines, Radiant AI, and amazing character system. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion should prove to be one of the Finest RPGs of 2005.
Raised in Massachusetts and made move to south of the Mason/Dixon line to the lovely state of MD. I have been working Desktop support for the last 2 years for Games Workshop. When not working for the Galactic Toy Company I am playing any one of 8 MMOs or Numerous console games.
