The original release of Oblivion is the reason I bought an Xbox 360. Of course, it didn’t quite work out at the time as nowhere had a copy of the game in stock even though I had the console in my hand as I trudged round the local video game shops (remember those?) searching for one. I ended up ordering a copy of the special edition with the map and a coin from someone in Australia and made do with Hexic HD and some XBLA games until it made its way around the world. Anyway, it arrived and it was great and after 200 hours or so on it I didn’t play it again. Not because I didn’t like it, just because it was done. Why would I?
Well, because there’s now a remastered version with faster loading and more invisible frames per second and more pixels and stuff on the PS5! And I got it for Christmas and now here we are – at the completion of it again, almost 20 years later.
The first thing I want to say, is it’s the same game. “But you just said all that about more pixels and stuff!” I hear you cry. Well, sure, but it looks as great as I remember it looking all those years ago even though it clearly is objectively better looking now. I just recall how beautiful and vibrant and full of grass and flowers and mushrooms it was back then and how it was clearly impossible to do it on any console before the 360, and it feels now as it did then. Does that make sense?
The second thing I want to say is also that it’s the same game. As in, it’s the same game. The same locations, quests, characters, and even the same audio as before. They’ve not re-recorded or recast, they’ve not “reimagined” the world of Cyrodiil, they’ve not introduced any new areas or quests. They’ve just made it prettier and tweaked how levelling up works a bit.
The third thing I want to say is, actually, once again, that it’s the same game. The same bugs. The same UI slowdown issue the longer you play. The same repetitive soundbites from NPCs saying how strong I look or how I, somehow, “look like I have illusionist’s hands” even though I’m wearing gauntlets. The same random crashes to the home screen.
The fourth thing I want to say, is, unsurprisingly, that it’s the same game. Somehow, even though I had a vague memory of the race and class of my character on my original play through and I endeavoured to choose something different, I once again ended up with a Breton and somehow once again ended up with a spellsword build. Again.
However, the original Oblivion is one of my favourite games ever, so did I really want it to be different? Sure, actually fixing some of the bugs (for which there have been unofficial fixes written a decade or more ago) would have been nice but no, I just wanted faster loading and prettier graphics. And that’s what I’ve got.
Other than the main quest, I’ve made a start of most of the other questlines in the game. I’ve actually completed The Arena, which was laughably easy by the time I got to it, as I seemed very much over-levelled. I’m up to the bit in the Mage’s Guild where I have to steal back a book I’ve already given to someone else, I’m only a little way into the Fighter’s Guild and Thieves Guild, but I’m (if I remember correctly) almost done with the Dark Brotherhood.