Oblivion

I bought Oblivion back when it came out. 2006 I think it was. But, due to time spent crafting my Night Elf Rogue into an unstoppable killing machine it sat mostly on the shelf.

Well, I have now been WoW free for almost 5 months and so I was jonesing a bit for a video game to play, but not another MMO because of the time investment required. So, I popped in Oblivion. And I have to say it's been a lot of fun.

The game is totally open ended. Oh, you start with a quest to deliver the Amulet of Kings to this monk, but if you want to hunt deer, wolves and bear in the mountains the whole game you can do that too. Incidently, I shot myself a nice eight-point buck the other day near Blackmarsh. There are so many secrets to the game, some you just stumble on and some you really have to think to figure out. I mostly read some walk throughs...

The two guilds that are available for you to join at the beginning of the game are the Fighter's and Mage's Guilds. They're businesses that cater to helping people recover family heirlooms from crypts and finding lost loved ones in the mountains. I made the highest rank possible in the Fighter's Guild after a long quest line and alot of, well, fighting. Now the guild pays me about 1k gold a month and I pretty much assign how much the guild centers on recruiting and how much the guild centers on actual contracts. The Mage's Guild I've only dabbled in but once I get recommendations from all of the Mage's Guild leaders in the smaller cities I get to go study at the Arcane University in the Imperial City and perhaps even rise to the rank of Archmage! Whoopeee!

Anyway, the best guild I've joined so far is the Thieves Guild. It's the hardest one to get into. There are no guild halls, none of that. You gotta talk to certain people, bribe this guard, talk to this beggar, meet a guild member in a garden near the docks at midnight, steal some stuff to prove that you are awesome. Once in the guild you start sneaking into castles, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor all the while foiling the guards and selling all the Count of Leyawin's silverware to the fence you know down the street. I'm pretty sure the Count of Skingrad is a vampire and I am going to sneak into his castle later to find out. Oh, you can become a vampire as well and play the entire game as a vampire. You get bonuses and stuff but you have to suck blood. Eh, there's some give and take there.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of the game is the Create a Class feature. Yes, if you want to be a Bounty Hunter be one. A Jedi? A pirate? A ninja? A combination of the three? Yes. Go for it. Me, I created the Aiel Class. And yes, I can run down deer and kill them with my dagger. There has been just one hitch. There are no spears in the game, so I had to improvise a bit and my Aielman has become sort of an Aiel/Ninja.

Will the Dark Brotherhood come to you in your sleep if you murder someone? Yes. But I protest that Gaul, my Aiel/Ninja, murdered anyone. I was engaged in melee combat with a member of the Blackwood Company and I simply got the drop on him before he could take me out. And then this guy in this dark robe comes to me in my sleep and asks me to go kill some guy and become a member of a secret (and creepy) order of assassins known as the Dark Brotherhood. Well, let me tell ya, my Aiel/Ninja ain't no murderer so I have yet to take the DB up on their offer.

Mountain lions killed the bandits that were chasing me the other day. The cats just sprang out of the grass by the side of the road (much like the bandits) not far from the Imperial City and starting mauling. And then I killed the mountain lions.

Happy Gaming