How would you rate The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion?

[JonIrenicus]

I haven't played this game nor have I voted on it. I must say that will you be playing this game 5 years from now, how about 10? Like if you still play bgII, you know it's a masterpiece because you still play it =p Only time can judge, right now I'm sure a lot of you have the "newest" factor.

Anyways on the 360 version = you have to pay to dress your horse up = not cool.

[FighterTundra]

I think its a very good game, excellent graphics and gameplay, but there are many bugs, so i voted on very good.

[Senwethe]

See, I'm an avid Final Fantasy fan. I've never even heard of Elder Scrolls... until a friend of mine got me hooked on it about four days ago.

I simply created a character because I wanted to play with the facial structures, hair styles, and tones. Then I started to play it.

Well, fifteen hours into it, I'm having a blast... and I can honestly say(though the games are complete opposites) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion trumps the Final Fantasy series.

And I don't know about the bugs. Is this just PC related, or is it on the 360 too? I've only had problems with the "loading area" sequence taking too long.

[nightspydk]

Hard to rate this one.

For a (well) hardcore crpg'er I would rate it average as I did, as it does not engage much in roleplaying in any way. This is as a PC gamer with the expectations attached and not delivered, except for the graphis. Review excellent, but hardly touches the shortcomings of the game. They show in all other aspects and yes I'ce played the TES series and this to me is the weakest addition to the series.
I agree 'artists' are not what springs to mind rather businessmen.

For a casual FPS freak, this would prolly make a nice experience.

Not that I do not recommend buying this considering what's on offer at the moment. A masterpiece it is not and a one time only experience for me.

[JonIrenicus]

Originally Posted by Senwethe

Well, fifteen hours into it, I'm having a blast... and I can honestly say(though the games are complete opposites) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion trumps the Final Fantasy series.

Have you played all the FF series cause that is a straight diss to FF.

[REal953]

Originally Posted by JonIrenicus

Have you played all the FF series cause that is a straight diss to FF.

I agree with him Oblivion is much better and yes I have played all the FF series

[Dragon Reborn]

Wow its empty in here *hears echo* must kinda suck for the unlucky mod that has to watch this area...

oh wait thats spam guess i gotta say somthin semi-inteligent about oblivion..

Oblivion is adicting and immersive but i dont think theres enough giuld you can finish all the guild quests quickly and easily. and that brings me to another point...you can do all the respective guild quests with little to no experence in the fields that guild covers. So concidering that i gave it a __. ( when ever i get around to auctually voting)

I wonder if anyone will auctually read that.

[fable]

Originally Posted by Dragon Reborn

I wonder if anyone will auctually read that.

Considering that GameBanshee gets thousands of visits a day and it's only a single keypress to bring up the new posts since a previous visit, I'd guess so. And we already had 107 votes before you arrived, so it isn't as if you've hit in peak season. Most interested folk have already had their say. You're just part of the sweep-up crew.

I'd say the reactions seen here don't mirror the game reviewers, which were almost uniformly "Wow, I must bow down and lick the shoes of Bethsoft, for I cannot raise the eyes of so lowly a personage as myself to spy their divinities!" Yes, many people find Oblivion excellent, but a very large number also found it simply very good, and a small but significant number were less impressed. I'm frankly more impressed with the spread of our membership base than the starry-eyed reviewer responses to Oblivion hype which appeared in print and Web-based publications.

[Dragon Reborn]

Yah, i read alot of those and thought: wow this game sounds awsome I better go out and buy it now! and was frankly less than impressed plus add the 2 dollar downloads and...well you've heard this all many times i know as i've read it and posted there as well...so im off for the night...bye fable, but i was wondering...i thought rav was moding this board...where'd he go?

[Ravager]

I'm around DR.

Originally Posted by fable

I'm frankly more impressed with the spread of our membership base than the starry-eyed reviewer responses to Oblivion hype which appeared in print and Web-based publications.

I agree. Many of these reviewers have some kind of bias and some can lose track of what kind of things are really important, it's nice to see the views of the ordinary people playing the games.

Anyway, my own view is posted a little on this thread...and that was before I had the fun experience of getting inexplicably trapped in a rock pillar.

[DesR85]

Originally Posted by Ravager

Many of these reviewers have some kind of bias and some can lose track of what kind of things are really important, it's nice to see the views of the ordinary people playing the games.

Sometimes its true but I read somewhere that reviewers are also given a time limit when reviewing games so, they couldn't play the game from begining to end and thus, might not be able to fully scrutinise the game. One example is Knights of the Old Republic 2 where reviewers gave it a good score but when people pick this game up, many were disappointed especially with the plot holes and cut content from the game. Most probably they didn't play up till the part where the problematic parts are.

EDIT: Shoot. How could I have overlooked some of the spelling mistakes here?

[fable]

Originally Posted by DesR85

Sometimes its true but I read somewhere that reviewers are also given a time limit when reviewing games so, they couldn't play the game from begining to end and thus, might not be able to fully scrutinise the game.

Speaking as a reviewer of nearly 20 years who has known quite a few, other reviewers, I can tell you that we aren't given time limits for playing individual games--rather, we're given deadlines for turning in reviews. Better reviewers, at least in the past, have made a point of putting in at least 30-50 hours on a long, involved game, and developers provided walkthroughs to make progress easier (especially, in graphical adventures).

Since the introduction of the Web, however, review standards have dipped greatly. Instead of reviewers coming from mainstream journalism freelancers, with prior experience in related review fields, now they're young interns grabbed fresh out of university journalism programs--much cheaper to hire, and willing to do all sorts of scut and gopher work. The majority are well-meaning, but they allow themselves to be easily influenced by quick game impressions acquired when game producers tour the magazines with alpha product. They spend perhaps 5-10 hours tops on a title, and start with exalted expectations rather than from ground 0.

That's why you're seeing 90-100% "superb" markings on reviews of products that have very noticeable flaws. And the same reviewers keep those reviews coming, because obviously the publishers aren't going to complain, and the reviewers are completely isolated from the gaming communities that could cause them to develop critical standards.

[Xandax]

Originally Posted by DesR85

Sometimes its true but I read somewhere that reviewers are also given a time limit when reviewing games so, they couldn't play the game from begining to end and thus, might not be able to fully scrutinise the game. One example is Knights of the Old Republic 2 where reviewers gave it a good score but when people pick this game up, many were dissapointed especially with the plot holes and cut content from the game. Most probably they didn't play up till the part where the problematic parts are.

Well - in retrospect, then quite a number of the "plotholes" people (players) complained about were because they didn't explore the dialogs fully. Naturally there are broken quests and cut content, but quite some complains revolved around Kreais place in the story which woudl be all but fully explained if people had talked to her.
BUt that's another discussion - carry on

(Oh, haven't played Oblivion yet, so haven't voted )

[DesR85]

Thank you for the in-depth information, Fable. Really clears things up about how reviewers do their job. Its a pity that they don't spend a long time when reviewing games.

Originally Posted by Fable

The majority are well-meaning, but they allow themselves to be easily influenced by quick game impressions acquired when game producers tour the magazines with alpha product. They spend perhaps 5-10 hours tops on a title, and start with exalted expectations rather than from ground 0.

That's why you're seeing 90-100% "superb" markings on reviews of products that have very noticeable flaws. And the same reviewers keep those reviews coming, because obviously the publishers aren't going to complain, and the reviewers are completely isolated from the gaming communities that could cause them to develop critical standards.

No wonder there are quite a number of games with high ratings. So far, in my opinion, most games with short hours (5-12 hours) tend to live up to both reviewer's and gamers' expectations (like Call of Duty) and but when it comes to games with longer hours (25 hours and above), both reviewer's and gamers' expectations tend to differ greatly.

Originally Posted by Xandax

(Oh, haven't played Oblivion yet, so haven't voted )

Same here but I did play the game but for only an hour and can't be bothered to continue playing as I very much dislike First Person RPGs.

[matthewd]

the game is nice but i am more into like fable kinda games