This article is from my handy-dandy GameInformer. ---------- The Opening Ceremoney: The Avatar Oblivion could very well amaze you before the story even begins with an extensive character generator unequaled in any console game to date. After choosing from 10 races (such as elves, orcs, and the cat-likie Khajiit), the player can customize the hero's miniscule facial details using a series of sliders. These tools don't merely cycle you through a selection of pre-set options, though. The entire system is actually a simplified version of the methods the developers used to created the game's NPC's. This means that even the slightest contout can be adjusted; we came across three seperate sliders that moved the chin forward and backward, yet each one did it a in a distinctly different way. It would be easy to spend an hour in the character generator alone, but there is a world out there that needs saving. After tweaking the appearance of out Breton (a human, magic-using race), our adventure finally began. Hour One: The Escape The hero woke up in the darkness of the Imperial prison, with a fellow inmate across the hall shouting various impolite phrases at him directed specially at his Breton heritage. Soon, an unexpected visitor approached the hero's cell door: Emperor Uriel Septim, accompanied by his bodyguards. As they opened the door and shuffled inside, the hero learned that his cell was the entrance to a secret escape route out of the castle, which the Emperor needed to use to evade pursuing assassins. As Septim and his entourage filed through the narrow passage, the hero took the oppurtunity to punch one of the guards in the back of the head. Thankfully, the guard was surprisingly tolerant of this indiscretion, though he warned the hero of repeating this action. The hero complied, instead following the group through the forgotten caves underneath the Imperial City. With a fire spell as his primary defense, the hero fought off the goblins and rats that attacked him, though he did stop casting spells long enough to punch an advancing goblin into a swinging spike trap, sending the creature flying through the air and landing in a hilariously humiliating position. Eventually, when the hero caught up to the Emperor once again, the assassins were closing in and time was running out. Before being slaughtered, Septim gave the hero a special amulaet, charging him with seeing it safely to a man named Jauffre at Weynon Priory. With his Emperor dead and a mysterious quest to complete, the hero emerged fromthe sewers and out into the open world. Hour Two: Exploration Looking up ino the night sky, the hero took a moment to find the constellation for his birth sign. He located it among the other stars, then swam through a small lake to reach dry land. A dungeon called Vilverin was on a small island ahead of him, but he decided to continue to the Imperial City to rest and sell some excess equipment from the sewers. After a short walk, he found himself within the city gates, greeted by a guard. The hero struck up a conversation, though everything he said seemed to upset the guard until his opinion of the hero couldn't get any lower. Whether it was stress, frustration, or pure malice is hard to say, but at that point the hero gave the guard a taste of his fist, and subsequently rediscovered the comforts of the Imperial Prison. Even though he had smuggled in a lock pick, he was unskilled with its use, and the hero was unable to break out of his cell and attempt escape. Instead, he was forced to serve out his time peacefully, though once released he was dismayed to learn that his lack of practice in confinement had decreased his skill in blocking attacks. Eavesdropping on conversations and exploring the many lively streets and shops of the town eventually led the hero to take his meager bankroll to a shop called Edgar's Discount Magic, where "You don't want the best. You want cheap." Still it wasn't cheap enough, and the heor could afford no new spells. He was, however, fascinated by an orb on the table, and picked it up and moved it around. Though he had no intention of stealing it, Edgar saw things differently. The guards were called, and the hero was arrested again, this time for attempted theft. Hour Three: Deliveries On the streets again after sercing more time in jail, the hero was approached by a pecuiar dark elf. She handed him a note saying that his criminal record indicated he might be qualified to join the Thieves Guild. While it was an intriguing proposition, the covert meeting to determine if he could join was not until midnight, and the sun was just coming up. Instead, the hero decided that it was probably time to get cracking on the sacred quest the Emperor had imparted with his dying words. The journey to Weynon Priory was not a long one; in fact, it felt as though the hero had been teleported there instantly. Inside, two men were in the middle of a philisophical discussion, but when interrupted, told the hero that he could find Jauffre upstairs in the library. Despite being a clever man, the conversation with Jauffre was not terribly enlightening. He knew what the amulet was, but didn't know exactly what to do with it. To complete the Emperor's quest, the hero would have to bring the amulet to Martic - a citizen of Kvatch. Delivering the artifact to Kvatch proved to be problematic. A swirling gate to Oblivion (the realm where ancient beasts and demons were sealed away) had just opened in front of town, turning the surrounding sky blood red and flooding the town with terrible monsters from the other world. A wizened warrior pleaded with the hero to go enter the ethereal gate and close it from the inside so Kvatch could be saved, but then the hero realized that it was nearly midnight, and he had some thieves to meet. Martin would probably be fine. On the way back to the Imperial City, he came across a kindly old man walking on an isolated path. The hero decided to test the age-old question: "If an innocent man is killed from repeated fireballs to the face, but there are no guards nearby to arrest the murderer, does he still go to jail?" Fortunately, the answer was no. Hour Four: The Guilds Two other prostective Thieves guild members (a female Wood Elf and a male Argonian) showed up to the meeting, and all three recruits were given a task: retrieve a particular diary without being detected or resorting to violence. As a sorcerer, the hero wasn't incredibly sneaky, so while his opponents rushed off, he took a moment to speak with a nearby beggar who (for a small price) informed him of the exact location where the diary was kept. Upon picking the lock and entering the home, the hero discovered that the Wood Elf had beaten him there! Remaining hidden, he observed his opponent, and when he realized that she was heading for a nearby desk, the hero burst from hiding, got to the desk first, and quickly escaped with the diary. He turned in his trophy, and as a full-fledged member of the Thieves Guild, was given the ability to use the guild's fences to sell various ill-gotten goods. In the future, he would have the oppurtunity to go on special missions as an agent of the guild, but since the manuscript was the first thing he had successfuly stolen, he wasn't quite qualified for the elite jobs yet. Still, satisfied with his victory, he found a bed and slept until morning. At least, he tried to. He was awakened by a man dressed in black named Lucien Lachance. Lucien was a member of the Dark Brotherhood - the Assassins Guild. He had murdered an innocent man (the poor old guy on the isolated path), and Lucien liked it. He gave the hero an assignment to kill a man for the Brotherhood as a kind of inauguration into their secret society. However, the hero was beginning to feel that his deeds were becoming less heroic by the day, and that he wouldn't murder anyone else... for a while, at least. Hour Five: Vilverin Wandering through the woods making his way to Vilverin (the dungeon he had seen when he first left the sewers), the hero noticed a pack of deer bounding through the trees. Momentarily putting aside his destination, he spent several minutes tracking them, slowly sneaking uyp and firing with his bow. Once he was successful, he approached the body to retrieve his arrows, but ws immediately distracted by a nearby unicorn. ONly one of these majestic creatures is rumored to exist in Tamriel, and the hero made use of his good fortune. Hopping on the unicorn's back, he galloped through the forests and over the plains until he reached Vilverin. Though the pasages of Vilverin were in ruins, they were far from lifeless. After contending with dark tombs, deadly traps, and waves of zombies and rats (which infected him with a disease called Bloodlung) the hero descended to the central chamber where he came face-to-face with an exiled necromancer named Jalbert. After defeating the evil sorcerer and his undead minions, the hero rifled through his journals and learned the man's tragic story - how his dark deeds were discovered by a friend and how he had been forced out of his community. Among the journals and diaries was a rusty key, which opened a gate that led to the exit of the ancient dungeon. Having traveled back to the Imperial City seeking some rest and relaxation, the hero wanted to celebrate his triumph at Vilverin. He walked into a bar/inn located on a small ship anchored at the docks. He slept peacefully for a while, but his slumber was interrupted in the middle of the night by the realization that the ship had been hijacked by pirates - and no one else on board could save the passengers but him. At this point, the hero knew that even though his life may not always be easy or predictable, at least it would have plenty of excitement. He readied his spells and strolled out into the galley, ready for anything. -------------- THERE IT IS. I'll let you make your own impressions.
Looks good to me. It's going to be a great game and I can't wait. As for the character I play in RPG's, I play mages. So I will play a Breton Mage in this game.
Noooo got soo many games to buy need more money, need another job march 24th - elder scroll: Oblivion - £25 April 28th - FFXII - £30 Grrrrr going to be very poor soon... Daz
Sweet! I can't wait for this game... *trembles with excitement* I'm going to be a combination Thief/Mage/Fighter character. Just a well rounded Imperial Adventurer.
Probably going to end up as a Wood Elf athletic / acrobatic sneaky archer type, like in my last play through Morrowind. Especially since archery seems more interesting this time round
There is so much for this game that it can't be contained in a single post. I'll share just one thing, though. You know how the AI in Morrowind just walked around and did nothing else? Well, every single character in Oblivion has a shedule. They might have to walk a pet, go to work, talk to neighbors, etc., and their schedule varies from day to day. All of the conversations are voice-overs, ALL OF THEM, so you can simply eavesdrop on some. But when some people have a sneaky conversation, you'll have to be extra sneaky to listen to them. Each character has a personality, and they age in real time as well. In fact, in the map editor, there is a tool for changing an NPC's age, and the older they are, the more wrinkles and such they have. It will be a great game.
i really want this game as for im normally a dark elf, att/mag/arcer lol cant wait for it its going to be better then ES III
Is play.com lying to me all of a sudden, I seem to be pre-ording games, that ppl have no idea when they are coming out. ff - april es: march my life is screwed Daz
G/l getting it by march, they say now it'll be either end of yr or next yr.. jerks. and you can see awesome trailers at elderscrolls.com, showing combat system etc.
