The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Preview

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"It's a big fantasy sandbox. It's a big huge open-ended world where we create all of these stories and characters and plotlines going on and then let you create whatever kind of character you want to be in that world, and jump in and really figure out what your role is going to be. We really try and define as much as possible what's going on, but not define who you are in the world."

That's the world of The Elder Scrolls in a nutshell, from the mouth of Bethesda Softworks' Pete Hines. "It's up to you to decide how much of the main quest you want to do," he continued. "Do you want to become a thief or an assassin, or both? Do you want to live this dual life of being an up and up mage but at the same time you're a member of the Dark Brotherhood and you're assassinating people for money? It's entirely up to you how you want to play in that world." I recently got a chance to play for several hours in that world, as well as chat it up with Pete to see how the highly anticipated The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (X360, PC) is shaping up. Oblivion is of course one of the most anticipated titles of the year for both PC and Xbox 360. It's following up on the success of the third game in the series, Morrowind, which introduced The Elder Scrolls and its world of Tamriel to a console for the first time and greatly expanded the series' player base. That gives Oblivion a lot to live up to, especially as it's also arriving fairly early in the lifespan of the Xbox 360 and is expected to be one of the system's premiere showcases.

One of the big reasons for the heavy anticipation facing the game is its visual achievement. The game looks very impressive. In games, it can be difficult to pursue a "realistic" visual style that still manages to come off as unique and evocative. Oblivion pulls it off quite well. The game is lush and detailed, and though it includes just about every modern graphical trick under the sun, one doesn't get the impression that anything was stuck in there simply to be able to add another tech term to a feature list. Really, in a game like this, that might get to be a bit much. Oblivion's world is so huge that a lack of graphical restraint would quickly become overbearing. As Hines notes, the world is some sixteen square miles in area; for reference, that's about the size of Manhattan. It's very, very big. The game is obviously graphically advanced, but not so showy that effects wear out their welcome. For example, there's HDR lighting, so you''ll some nice bloom and overexposure in certain bright areas, but you're not wandering out in a blown-out uber-high-contrast world.

Oblivion begins with an opening cutscene and narration by Emperor Uriel Septim, played with great gusto by Patrick Stewart; the emperor explains that the end of his life is drawing near. Much of the game's plot revolves around the hellish demonic realm of Oblivion, and gates to Oblivion have been opening throughout the world. During the narration, the player is presented with visions of the forces of Oblivion spilling over into Tamriel, evocative of some of the scenes of Mordor from the Lord of the Rings films. The perspective soon changes to a breathtaking bird's eye view of the game's Imperial City and surrounding areas, accompanied by an understated score of piano, winds, and strings. For those of you who keep up with the game music scene, composer Jeremy Soule is back for Oblivion after working on Morrowind.

You'll then find yourself creating a character, which is a fairly straightforward affair. The available races are Imperials, the "standard" human race; Khajiit, nimble catlike humanoids who can see in the dark; the Nord, a tough and industrious race; Orcs, which are, you know, Orcs; Redguard, dark-skinned naturally talented warriors; Wood Elves, aka Bosmer, competent scouts and archers; Argonians, lizardlike creatures with the ability to breathe underwater; Bretons, humans with a natural resistance to magic; Dark Elves, aka Dunmer, able to summon an ancestral ghost for aid; and High Elves, aka Altmer, masters of the arcane arts. You'll then choose your visual attributes such as hair, eyes, complexion, and so on. There are a variety of hair styles and colors, as well as a "length" slider. This allowed me to choose a curly hair style and end up with an afro, so I approve. There's also a slider for age, which adds more wrinkles and sags as you turn it up.

The game itself begins in prison, with an annoying inmate in another cell firing off a barrage of insults. As an example of one way the experience of the game differs from player to player, I first created a Redguard and had to suffer taunts about having no seas to sail or weapons to use. When I created an Imperial character later, my whole race was derided for being worthless, and I in particular deserve mockery for being imprisoned by my own kinsmen. If you play a female character, on the other hand, he's likely to hit on you. This is something that persists throughout the game; characters will speak to you differently depending on your race and gender. Anyway, whatever that guy says, he can't say it for long because soon enough the emperor himself comes to the cell with several Blades, his personal bodyguards. It turns out your very cell is in fact the location of a secret escape route, and the emperor for some reason needs to escape. Upon seeing your face, he recognizes you from a series of recurring dreams he's been having, and suffice it to say, you find yourself escaping as well.

The system of caves and passages under the prison essentially serves as both the "tutorial" for the game's mechanics as well as the rest of the character creation tool. You'll learn how to fight, cast spells, pick locks, harvest plants, perform basic alchemy, and so on. You also choose your birthsign from a list of thirteen possible choices; this will grant you a particular bonus ability or stat depending on which you choose; for example, you can choose a base increase to Strength, or you might choose the ability to become invisible for a certain period of time once per day. Finally, you must choose your character's class from a list of twenty-one, or even create your own. An NPC will suggest one based on how you've handled the situations so far; for reasons utterly beyond me, I came off as "a very experienced Bard."

When asked if that approach to gradual character creation was part of a deliberate attempt to make the game more accessible, Hines answered that greater accessibility wasn't so much a deliberate goal as a natural side effect of improving and refining how the game works. "Whenever you set out to do a new game, there are a number of things you're trying to achieve," he explained. "There are an awful lot of things we were trying to improve and do better, and inherently whenever you do something better and make it more fun you're opening yourself to a wider audience. It's not just a 'Hey, let's make this game accessible for people who have never played games before,' but if you do things that are smart and you make smart decisions, then by default it makes it easier for those people to pick up and play. It does reduce the learning curve." That's definitely important in Oblivion. Morrowind was already known as being overwhelming for some people and Oblivion layers on more and more, so a certain amount of easing the player into the world goes a long way.

Turn the page to learn about the combat system and the rest of the world!

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The combat system has been overhauled, and has a much more active feel to it now. Basically every combat action your character performs directly translates to a button press. There are two main kinds of melee attack, the standard attack and the power attack, which is a briefly "charged up" version of the regular attack. Blocking is done manually with the right mouse button rather than automatically, and you can always cast your currently selected spell by pressing the cast button, regardless of what other weapons you're holding. Up to eight weapons, spells, items, and so on can be assigned to number keys 1-8. This makes it easy to quickly swap between spells or weapon configurations without having to move your hand much or start worrying about menus in the middle of battle. There are seven skills each in the categories of combat, magic, and stealth. As in Morrowind, skills are improved by actually using them, and as you reach higher levels of mastery with particular skills you will receive special corresponding abilities.

Oblivion introduces an upgraded stealth system over the previous game's. When going into stealth mode, your targeting reticle becomes a glowing eye; the eye becomes brighter as enemies are more likely to detect you. This is based on a variety of factors, including the amount of light, the amount of noise you're making, and (mostly) your skill level. Enemies and NPCs will have various reactions when they realize you've been sneaking around then. Sometimes, of course, that includes trying to end your life. Lockpicking is essentially a simple minigame, in which you are presented with a cutaway diagram of the lock and must lock the internal pins into place such that the bolt can be withdrawn and the door or chest in question opened. It's easy to figure out once it's in front of you. As locks become more complex, there are more pins, but as your lockpicking skill is raised, the pins become easier to set.

At a certain point during the "tutorial" segment, the emperor is killed, and you are entrusted to find his lost illegitimate son, the only heir to the throne. Thus begins the main adventure. At that point it is possible to go back and revise any major elements of your character: race, class, and birthsign. Once you've confirmed your choices, you are sent out into the world. And, since this is an Elder Scrolls game, you are completely free at that point to do anything you want. Your compass always contains a directional arrow that point you to the location of your active quest, so it's certainly possible to play through the whole main storyline as you would a traditional RPG; complete one quest, get the next, and continue until the "end." Of course, at any time you can completely diverge from the quest and pursue any of the innumerable side quests and objectives of the world. The main quest will always be waiting for you when you decide to return. "It's definitely something you go back and forth to as you see fit," Hines said. "You can do the first five main quests, then decide you want to dedicate the next two weeks to being the best assassin and becoming the head of the Dark Brotherhood. The main quest will be there for you. You'll see the effects of [the main quest] as you go around, people will talk about it. You'll have these random Oblivion gates which will appear in different parts of the world, which again you can choose to ignore, or you can choose to go in and they're basically mini-dungeons. You can go in and explore and close the gate. It affects the world; the world is being invaded by demons and it doesn't stop just because you decided to go away and be an assassin." Still, he went on to explain, you'll never miss anything because you didn't do it in time or because you were off somewhere else. While the world is always operating, it's not "realtime" per se. It is possible, however unlikely, to complete every objective in the game at your own pace. That said, the main quest is about 20-25 hours in length, and Hines estimates that it comprises less than 10% of everything there is to do in the game. "It's this big grand thing that you accomplish, but in the grand scheme of the game you're just getting started," he said. "That's what The Elder Scrolls is about."

I did stick with the main quest for a bit longer, and eventually made my way to the town of Kvatch, which had been utterly destroyed when an Oblivion gate opened up inside it and it became overrun with goblins and demons. It was there that I found Martin, the king's lost heir, who is a member of the priesthood and is completely unaware of his royal birth. Martin is voiced by Sean Bean, of Lord of the Rings fame, and brings to the role a competent blend of strength and resignation in the face of a seemingly unstoppable demonic invasion. In Oblivion, every NPC in the game is fully voiced; there will never be lines of dialogue you must read without an accompanying voice recording. In terms of other celebrity talent, Terrance Stamp (Superman's General Zod) plays the villain of the game, and Linda Carter (Wonder Woman) returns from Morrowind to voice various female characters. Bethesda always makes liberal use of veteran voice actors from their local Washington, D.C. area as well. For example, the announcer in the game's combat arena, at which you can bet on fights or participate in them yourself, is played by the official announcer for the NHL's Washington Capitals.

Oh, and that Oblivion gate I mentioned? I have no idea what's on the other side. Bethesda didn't let anybody go through. With so many fans trying to figure out every last detail of the game before it even hits shelves, the team has certain things they want to keep absolutely secret until players can discover them on their own.

There are various means to get around the world. For one thing, there are five types of horses available in various cities that you can acquire, either by honest or dishonest means, as mounts. They are for transportation only; there isn't any kind of horseback combat system. To make getting around even easier, there's a fast travel system allowing you to instantly travel to fixed points in areas you've already discovered. That is, once you've been to a given town, you can return there instantly by clicking an icon on your map. You'll start the game with a few fast travel waypoints ("If you're in prison in this world, then clearly you've been to a few places," Hines noted), but beyond that they must be discovered to be used. The quest log is integrated with the map as well. There is a page listing all of your currently available quests and a page listing all of your completed quests. One of your available quests is set as your active quest, and will have detailed information on exactly what you need to do to complete it; in almost all cases, the location of the quest's objective will be marked on the map.

In terms of the world itself, there's obviously a lot more of it. The game features over 1000 NPCs spread out through the various cities, and they all make use of Bethesda's Radiant AI system. This was developed to improve upon the NPCs of Morrowind. In that game, NPC behavior was entirely scripted. In Oblivion, on the other hand, manually scripting every action of every NPC would be an impossible task, due to the sheer size of the world. Instead, each NPC has goals he or she must accomplish; for example, a shopkeeper knows he must get up every morning and open up his shop. Rather than having a preset scripted path to accomplish this, the AI determines the best route to take. The overall effect of this is that NPCs respond to the events that are happening around them rather than ignoring them. If you drop a weapon, an NPC might pick it up. If you enter a bar, two NPCs might be in the middle of a completely unscripted bar fight, at which point guards will notice the violence taking place and will come to inflict painful justice.

"It just feels much more realistic," said Hines. The goal is to make it realistic enough that it seems like real cities are operating. "You go into a town and it's not like, 'Wow! Look at Radiant AI in action!' You go into a town and there are people walking around doing stuff, and they're having conversations, and they're going in and out of buildings. You go into a town at 6am and you can't get into a store anywhere because they're all locked and you walk around awhile until it's 9am and suddenly you see people walking around and opening their shops. We want it to be something that's almost not noticed, because it's natural and it feels right, as opposed to something that's noticed like it was in Morrowind. You know, where you think, 'Hey, all those people are just standing around, and they're standing in the same place they were last time I was in this town, and the last fifty times I was in this town.' We want it to be a more organic thing that makes the world seem alive." Those guards I mentioned will be perfectly happy to arrest you too, by the way, if they catch you stealing or murdering anybody in a town. I ended up in jail more than a few times; my video game instincts, complete with years of inventory-hoarding adventure game training, made it practically impossible to avoid stealing stuff left and right. Too bad my sneaking skill wasn't higher.

Even with just the scant hours I played the game during my preview, I could go on with more details, but I think that's enough for now. Instead, let's move on to the Xbox 360 version.

Turn the page to learn about the Xbox 360 version!

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The Xbox 360 Version

First things first: the Xbox 360 version of Oblivion looks great. What I saw looked just as good as the PC build I was playing with the options cranked up. From an audiovisual presentation perspective, the game is essentially identical. Where it different most, of course, is in the controls. Much to my surprise (I've never played a "computer RPG" style of game on a console before), it controlled very well. The movement and aiming obviously use your standard dual analogue stick setup, with attacking and blocking controlled with the triggers and basic functions assigned to the face buttons. The PCs eight hotkeys translate into assigned to the eight directions (cardinal and diagonal) on the Xbox 360 controller's d-pad. Again, any spells, items, or weapons can be mapped to those eight slots.

Bethesda will be releasing additional content over time, and anything they release for the PC version will be made available for 360 as well through Xbox Live. Hines said the team is not prepared to detail exactly what sort of content there will be, as it's all still subject to change, but they plan to release it on a regular basis. One thing he did mention is that as soon as possible after launch there will be a horse armor plug-in allowing players to match their horses' barding to their characters' armor. Like most Live content, plug-ins will cost "a buck or two" and both versions of the game will follow the same cost structure.

Oblivion features 50 Achievements adding up to the usual 1,000 Gamerscore points. Only the first half dozen or so of those Achievements actually pertain to the main quests, which gives you some idea of how much else there is to do. Those other 40-some goals certain aren't high scores. Many of the goals deal with moving up in the ranks of the game's various guilds: Fighter's Guild, Thieves' Guild, Dark Brotherhood of Assassins, and Mage Guild.

I did notice the load times were better on the PC, which stands to reason. That said, I didn't feel they were particularly bothersome on either. When entering cities, the game usually cuts to a loading screen for several seconds. While traversing the world, there are brief loading messages that appear on the screen, but at least on the builds I played they did not interfere with gameplay.

One element the PC version will have that the 360 version will not share is the TES Construction Set, which allows users to create or modify content in the game. Oblivion's apparently works very similar to Morrowind's in terms of the plug-in system, though I didn't get the chance to try it out myself. A few weeks ago, Microsoft's J Allard mentioned wanting to bring a "the open-source model" to games in respect to player created content, so I asked Hines if he foresaw content created with the TES Construction Set ever coming to Xbox 360. He pointed out that one problem with that is simply how open-ended the construction set is, with the possibility of diligent hackers using it as a way to find back doors into the 360. The decision of whether to allow that sort of content onto the system is Microsoft's. Still, he said, "If there's a point when it becomes an available option in the future, then we will be there on day one to work with them on doing it."

Packaging

Both platform versions of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will ship in a regular edition and a Collector's Edition. Each of the four possible SKUs comes on one DVD, thankfully. So if you're somehow a hardcore PC gamer who plays games like The Elder Scrolls but doesn't have a DVD-ROM drive, then you probably don't deserve to play this game anyway. Go buy one. The game ships with a manual (surprise) and a nicely detailed map.

The Collector's Edition comes with all the regular components as well as a bonus DVD containing concept art, screenshots, and a behind the scenes documentary. The package also includes a replica of a Septim coin, the currency used in the world of Tamriel, and a 112-page "Pocket Guide to the Empire" containing backstory, history, and lore.

Fallout 3

I got nothing. Bethesda does not wish to spill any beans on Fallout 3 until they're good and ready, and they're not even spilling any beans about when that will be. The only thing even remotely close to a bean that I could get Hines to spill was that "I've seen it, and it looks awesome." You heard it here first, folks: Fallout 3 looks awesome.

The End

There were a few minor bugs I encountered during my playtime. The "combat music" that is initiated when an enemy sees you skipped almost every time it queued up for me. There were some odd cases of NPCs having body skin tone that didn't match up to their faces. Finally, there were two NPCs whose accents were entirely different depending on what sentence they were speaking.

Well, that was definitely one of the longest previews I've written. And yet I'm sure I left out the most crucial thing you needed to know, that one question you had about Oblivion that simply cannot wait until release day. Well, feel free to ask it in the comments and I'll try to answer it, but no promises.

And speaking of release dates, the game's release date is still "spring 2006," though most seem to be expecting it in late March. Bethesda plans to announce a solid date soon.

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