This game is the chief selling point for the XBOX 360, and now it's available with the two major expansions included.
If you already own Oblivion (and especially if you've already bought Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles from XBOX Live), DO NOT BUY THIS ITEM. You will be filled with the righteous fanboy rage you see in the one star reviews below.
But if you're new to the 360, this game is a must have. Even the training mode/introduction is amazing, with Patrick Stewart as the voice of the dying King who sends you on your quest.
Highlights of the game and expansions:
OBLIVION:
+The quest story lines are well written, and the tone of guild and side quests varies and makes for a lot of fun (especially Thieves' and Assassins' Guilds)
+Great voice acting from the likes of Sean Bean (Boromir), Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), and Terence Stamp (General Zod/Jorel).
+A more engaging combat system than turn based RPGS, and amazing graphics
+Character customization is more detailed than you could hope for.
+It's a very materialistic game. Looting is great fun, especially at higher levels.
+You get to battle demons in Hell, or whip thieves in caves. There are a lot of varieties of game play.
+The game is absolutely huge.
-You will find the leveling system infuriating about 20 hours into the game. All of your enemies level up with you; so, your best options are to avoid leveling up entirely (which limits your selection of weapons and armor), or to be obsessive about controlled leveling, which takes a lot of the fun out of the game.
-There's no clear sense of "fair play" in the game. You can create a set of chameleon armor that will let you walk through the whole game unnoticed and kill whomever you wish. Once you can do that, how much worse is duplicating items using inventory tricks? You really set your own level of difficulty in how you play, but I find that takes away more than it adds.
-There are really no branching quest lines in the game, and nothing you do affects the story line. Why can't I take control of the Mythic Dawn or Necromancers?
-There aren't really any race or gender specific quests in the game. Why isn't there some sort of elf society in the game that affects the storyline for an elf character?
While I have problems with it (comparing it to KOTOR, as I do all things), I haven't found a better 360 game yet.
KNIGHTS OF THE NINE
+A new guild! They should release more expansions like this.
+You can lower your infamy to 0 by making a pilgrimage.
+If you have a crusader fantasy, this expansion is for you.
+You get some cool items, if you're willing to stay infamy free.
-The quest line is pretty short.
Basically, this is a good early game quest line to take on, but it's not as big as the other guilds.
SHIVERING ISLES
+This takes place in the realm of the demonic prince of madness. Where Oblivion involves lush, realistic landscapes and scary forays into Hell, Shivering Isles has lots of bizarre, beautiful, surreal images. It's a much different design concept, and worth it for a change of pace.
+The quests are especially ingenious.
+The quest line is long enough to make it interesting.
-Despite what you may see advertised, there's still very little in way of branching quest lines. Really, the only things that differ are when you get certain items and what greater powers you have access to.
This is a really great expansion, and can help you build skills early in the game. And you can become the demon prince of madness, so that's cool.
In short, this is the best game for 360, and one of the best RPG's on the market. It does have its limitations and frustrations, but it will give you about 80 more hours of fun than Bioshock (which is also really cool).
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These statements are in response to previous qustions and reviews.
This pack was designed for people that can not or do not have broadband service and wanted these two huge add ons for Oblivion. there ARE only the two included here yes. two others were available for FREE from Official Xbox Magazine in early 2007. The horse armor was never given for free and is not available on here. OR of course if you do not already have this game then this is the best option available.
if you already own a copy of oblivion and purchase this, you will then have two full copies of the game. about a year ago when bethesda said they will in time release the downloadable content on disc it was known that it would be on its own disc! some hoped it would be a disc update like halo2s extra maps were, but microsoft did not like the ease of someone buying one copy and just giving it to all of their friends.
that would still be possible with disc two in this set, yea but they made sure you are buying the full game along with the extra content. that was the deal made with microsoft.
disc two WILL install all of the patches that were required to play the additional content. then it will ask you which items you want to install, all, one, or neither.
my main character in oblivion is nearing the 300 hour mark. there is no fear of the game becoming "unplayable". the reviewer "mean critic" makes no good points and gives very little facts.
the game will then be played with disc one (a normal oblivion disc) while the other information is streamed from a hard drive or memory card. that is the way the downloadable content WAS PROGRAMMED to work. the information that is stored on the drive loads very fast compared to when loading from the disc.
if you buy this and already own oblivion, you could trade it in at many video game stores if you dont want to own a second copy.
Best Deals for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition -Xbox 360
I've had Oblivion scince I first got my 360 and loved every minute of it, but I felt left out when the expansions started coming out on Xbox live. I don't have the cables necessary to support XBL at my house so when I saw that Oblivion GOTY edition had hit the shelves, I grabbed it up. I know that at least one other reveiver gave the game a 1 star for its $60 price tag, but keep in mind, Oblivion just went down to $30 while Knights of the Nine is still sitting at about $10 to download, and Shivering Isles is at $24. Total, thats $64 before tax. If you don't have Oblivion yet, or are about to pick it up because you just got a 360, GET THIS VERSION. It has the 2 big expansions, plus an update patch that fixes some of the bugs in the game (like the item multiplication arrow trick). You will still have to go online to get the small stuff like wizard's tower or Vile lair, but they cast about 2 or 3 dollars in MS points. Its a good deal for Oblivion first timers, or anyone without XBL.
Honest reviews on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition -Xbox 360
simply put, this game is amazing. it will consume you. it will own you. i finished the main campaign, and theres still TONS to do. even without the extra content, there are 4 guilds you can join, each with their own massive quest line. with the extra content, you're looking at 200+ hours of gameplay. im about 90 hours in now, and still feel like ive barely scratched the surface. everything is nearly perfect. the world is huge. its filled with many cities and smaller villages. countless caves and dungeons are scattered throughout the land for you to explore.
you could spend 50 hours playing this game and not even touch the main quest. when you emerge from the initial sewer area, the gloves are off. you are free to go anywhere and do anything. the world is simply beautifful, with an amazing view from some spots spanning half the continent.
there are thousands of different non-player-characters. unfortunately they only got a handful of voice actors. Patrick Steward is perfect as the emperor, they couldnt have chosen anyone better.
the graphics, while not on par with the likes of Gears of War, are still fantastic 2 years after its initial release. especially if you take the size into consideration. this is one of the biggest console games ever made, maybe second only to Morrowind. to me, Oblivion is like a slightly streamlined, much more well made version of that.
gameplay is vastly improved from Oblivion. left trigger activates shield, right trigger swings sword. there are countless magicka spells from standard fire balls and summoning monsters to invisibility and nightvision.
honestly, i cant say all that needs to be said in a single review. this is the most epic, beautiful, fully realized role playing game on the console market today. its the best game on the 360, and the plateau set by this game is not likely to be matched any time soon.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition -Xbox 360
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an epic, wide-open 'go anywhere, do anything' action Role Playing Game (RPG), and probably one of the best RPG's on the Xbox 360. In the context of open-ended 'go anywhere, do anything' games, Oblivion certainly takes the cake. With a whole continent at your disposal, a plethora of towns, cities, villages, dungeons, caves, and the expansive wilderness and mountains Oblivion is truly a massive world. And the best part is you can explore it all.
In keeping with the 'go anywhere, do anything' mythos, developer Bethesda crafted a totally non-linear game with hundreds of quests, missions and other distrations in additon to a main plot arc. If you so desire you could put off the main story and get lost in the myriad of side quests located in the game; and believe me there are tons of side quests, missions and distractions available to you. As far as the main story arc goes, its your basic generic 'save the world' story. It would have been nice to get a truly original story line, especially since the game is so huge and you can literally do what you wish.
You start off as a basic, generic character and the emphasis on leveling up and honing your skills is very high. Like most action RPG's the more you use a skill the better you get with it, and Oblivion tracks all your stats by the typical RPG means. When you start the game out you get to do quite a bit of character customization including how you want your character to look, what stats you want to start out with, what skills you want to focus on etc. The level of customization is very high. Following the whole 'do anything' theme you can literally create any character you desire, from the epic warrior, the powerful mage, the sneaky thief, assassin, wanderer, knight, the sorcerer etc. There are so many variations on each type that the options are limitless. As such, even if you do choose one class or character type eventually you can learn the traits and skills of every other class, which pretty much destroys any replay value and kind of breaks the realism of the game.
In addition to being able to be any type of character you desire, you can literally do anything you want. If you choose you could wander the world collecting various items and weapons, be a world class thief and see how much loot you can gather, be a traveling merchant, you can be an evil character and kill everything in sight. In addition to being any character you want, you can even choose to be an outlaw (which will happen if you get caught stealing or killing innocent people). If so, you will be constantly hunted by town and city guards and any official in the game. If caught you can either pay a fine, resist arrest or go to jail (where you can literally sit there and live out your sentence or choose to serve your time and get out). This adds to the overall realism of the game world.
Virtually every NPC is killable (save for important quest giving NPCs). There are hundreds of items and weapons to find, some rare and some not so rare. You can wield any weapon you desire, however depending on your current skill with the weapon you may or may not be good with it. This can easily be remedied by either practicing with the weapon or paying of training from the various NPCs that offer the training. The same goes for all the magic stats and skills, of which there are plenty to keep you busy. Alchemy is also an option which offers up plenty of time wasting quests and options. You can spend your time hunting down various ingredients to create potions, spells, enchanted weapons etc. You can create your own recipes for these, or you can search the world and find already created recipes; the choice is yours. There are also various books and bookstores scattered about the world, and from these you can learn the history of the game world and learn some skills, recipes and hidden locations as well.
Scouring the world in search of treausre is very fun, and it can take you to some really interesting places.Everything has a stat and everything has a skill that you can level up. There is literally hours upon hours of things to do in Oblivion.
As most RPG gamers know a good chunk of time is spent interacting with the various townsfolk and non-playable characters (NPCs) scattered about the game world, and Oblivion does not deviate from this formula. You will spend a lot of time talking to NPCs, as they hold much info in regards various aspects of the game. Plus they are usually the ones who hand out the quests and side quests. All of the dialogue is spoken, so you don't have to wade through lengthy pages of text each time you talk to an NPC. There is however one major flaw in the NPCs and enemies that is worth mentioning: Their Artifical Intelligence (AI) is rather shoddy. This is really nothing new since most video games have lame AI, but in an open ended game like this it really stands out, especially since during development Bethesda promised gamers a truly unique experience called 'Radiant AI' which basically meant that every NPC character would have their own lives with their own daily routines and wants/needs. The final product is far from 'radiant' as not all the NPCs have routines and wants/needs, and the ones that do are very repetitive. It was a promise that in my opinion is not possible in the gaming world yet. Also, NPCs will randomly talk to each other as well, however their conversations are usually worthless and very repetitive. Even still it is quite fun interacting with the various NPCs and their interesting personalities. In a change from previous Elder Scrolls games all of the dialogue in the game is spoken by real voice actors, but again this feature falls a little short, as spoken dialogue gets really old, as do the character voices. It seems Bethesda only used 4 or 5 different voice actors for hundreds of NPCs, and it gets really stale to hear the same voice over and over again.
The quests you will embark on in your journey through this amazing world are plentiful, however they all fall under either a 'fetch' quest (go here and get this) or a 'kill' quest (kill x NPC etc). This is a big problem in my opinion as the quests can get very boring and sometimes tedious. Some NPCs will have you going back and forth across the continent just to talk to some other NPC or to gather some item to bring back to them. This is made easy with the 'fast travel' system (any place you been before you can easily teleport to with the click of a button), however this also breaks the immersion factor. Alternatively you can choose to walk everywhere or buy a horse and take the long route (I prefer this way because it allows you to explore at the same time). You are also given a map and a compass with which to aid you in your adventures, however the developers designed them so that they basically 'hold your hand' the whole time. Important places and NPCs are easily found via the compass, which has red and green arrows to mark where you need to go. Coupled with the fast travel things start to get very easy and simple, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you want to play.
There are a few guilds and factions available to join, from the Thieves guild, the fighters guild, the mages guild and The Dark Brotherhood (assassin guild). This is where the bulk of the quests and missions come from. In keeping with the whole freedom aspect of the game you can join every guild. While this opens up many options for gamers it breaks the replay value since you can join every guild in one playthrough. Also it breaks the realism of the game world since technically you shouldn't be able to join every guild with the same character. I personally would have enjoyed it more if you could only join one or the other. I mean, if you are in the Mages guild or the Fighters guild you shouldn't also be allowed to join the Thieves guild since their core values and goals are diametrically opposed.
In addition to all of this there are also houses and a castle that you can eventually purchase and fully furnish, giving you safe havens to store your items and places to hang out.
Oblivion is a truly next generation game, and the graphics are a testament to that, offering up some of the best looking visuals on the Xbox 360. Oblivion pushes the systems hardware to the limit and the result is some stunning graphics. Trees are wonderfully detailed and rendered, grass and weeds, flowers, rocks, water and wildlife are all wonderfully animated and living.
In keeping true to the 'go anywhere, do anything' theme of the game, anything you can see you can exlore. This includes mountains, caves, forests, towns, villages, cities...everything! You can spend hours just wandering the countryside and climbing the mountains if you so choose, and the amazing graphics will stun you the whole time. Oblivion is a true next generation experience that will please action fans, adventure and RPG fans with over 100 + hours of gaming. And with the two expansion packs available in this 'Game of the Year' edition, the hours of gameplay are extended by at least 20 + more hours or so.
One major fault worth mentioning is that, since the game allows you to do anything you should technically alter and affect the game world, however only certain quests and actions do this. For example, the main story line quests will resonate through the world, which NPCs either commenting on your feats or your failures. However other actions do not. If you rob a store owner blind (and they do not notice) they will never mention it, almost as if it never happened, and they will continue to stock their store as such. This breaks the immersion factor. A store owner should realize that they are constantly being cleaned out, right? Also if you kill NPCs without being caught, no one will miss their presence, which seems a little weird, don't you think?
Another glaring flaw is with the town and city guards. They somehow have this magic ability to hear and see what you are doing even if they are far away from you. In some instances when you are robbing a house or killing someone they will magically know you are doing this, even if they are nowhere in sight! This gets very frustrating, and shows the true flaws in the games' AI.
In Oblivion there are many enemies, wild animals and rogue NPCs that you will eventually have to fight, and the combat is very fun. The controls follow your typical action adventure game: Right Trigger attacks, Left Trigger blocks, Right Bumper is your spells, Y is jump, B opens up your menu etc. All of the combat is in real-time, which further adds to the fun of Oblivion. All of the enemies are scaled to your current level, so as you level up the creatures and enemies get harder, this can be both a good thing and a bad thing.
All in all, Oblivion is a fantastic game that truly shows off some of the next generation of video gamings best features. It offers up hundreds of hours of gameplay and will certainly keep you occupied. Oblivion allows you to live out your fantasies allowing you to do, see and explore everything. There are some faults, but these shouldn't keep you from having a blast.
The Good:
Some of the best graphics ever seen on the Xbox 360
A wide open 'do anything, go anywhere' gameplay
High level of character customization and level grinding
Hours upon hours of quests and gameplay
Virtually unlimited options. Be a hero, be a villain and everything in between.
Many things to do, many things to see, many things to kill.
Some very cool quests at times
The Bad:
Poor AI
The majority of quests are rather simple (kill this, fetch that)
The go anywhere, do anything mythos allows you to do everything in one play through thus killing much of the supposed replay-ability.
Much of your actions do not affect the game world.
NPC dialogue gets really annoying, and the lack of variety in character voices is all too lame.
