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E3 2005: Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion

	Author: Jim Zabek Article Type: PC Game Preview Publication Date: 6/1/2005 Developer: Bethesda Softworks Publisher: 2k Games Related Categories: Fantasy, Role-Playing

E3 2005 Impressions

The Elder Scrolls series is games is an icon in PC RPG gaming. The last version, Morrowind [review], was hugely popular – three years after its release copies can still sometimes be found on the shelves of software retailers, making it a virtual Methuselah in terms of gaming life cycles. The latest edition of the venerable Elder Scrolls series, Oblivion, has been three years in development. The development team started with a clean slate when they began creating Oblivion, and while we didn’t get to see much of its gameplay the developers explained that they tried to select as many of the elements that gamers love about RPGs as they created it. For instance the series of questions and answers that was used in Morrowind to create a character class will be seen again in Oblivion.

What was immediately obvious about our tour of Oblivion was the quality of the graphics. Designed to run on both a PC and Xbox 360, the game was designed to “push the hardware”. Surfaces reflect light in an extraordinarily impressive fashion. Also promising will be the voice acting. None other than Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation) is the voice of the Emperor. The game will hold over 50 hours of recorded dialog and is expected to take up full half of the game’s DVD space. Like Morrowind, Oblivion is expected to be a huge world. Players can also look forward to exploring 200 hand-created dungeons.

Outdoor scenes will be game-generated and not made by an artist. Terrain will be based on real-world geography and will experience elements of weather and erosion by a system of “procedurally generated” programs. Other changes include the integration of the melee, defense, and magic systems which have been combined into a single system. Another item of interest is the AI. NPCs will have a 24 hour schedule and will have the ability to make choices around them. We witnessed an NPC pick up a bow, practice shooting it (poorly), then drink a potion which improved her shooting, all of which was AI based. It has the potential to be quite impressive, though we witnessed some quirky behavior when that same NPC vaporized her dog with a spell when it began barking too much. Amusing as the encounter was, it was equally impressive of the potential of the AI, though it remains to be seen whether that incident was intentionally staged or potentially symptomatic of an Oblivion devoid of value judgments.

Visually Oblivion is impressive. The game is ambitious but that is hardly unexpected. With ambition comes both opportunity and challenge. Bethesda Softworks has an impressive record of successful RPG titles, with a team fully capable of tackling the challenges ahead, and Oblivion looks like it may eclipse Morrowind in scope, size, and gameplay.

About the Author

Jim Zabek is the Executive Editor for The Wargamer where he manages the content flow and publication dates for reviews and articles on the site. He has been a dedicated gamer since he was 10 years old. Beginning with Avalon Hill's Panzer Blitz and Starship Troopers, he quickly expanded his gaming scope to more complex games such as Dungeons & Dragons. He played early computer games on both Mac and PC platforms, though these days it's basically XP with the occasional boardgame thrown in to shake the cobwebs loose. Jim reads eclectically and occasionally even writes about some of the things he's reading or playing for The Wargamer.