Elder Scrolls, 60 hours later, what are my overall impressions?

Well, I have been playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for rougly 2 weeks now, and I have logged around 60-70 hours on my character, which is now currently level 31. So how am I enjoying the graphically rich, world of Cyrodill? Its amazing. As many of you have heard this game does so many great things on so many different levels. It has been praised to the skies, over and over by numourous reviewers, and gamers alike.

When I created my character, I went to create a blend of two fighting techniques. Magic and a warrior type, so thats exactly what I did. I would like to share my character build, so here it is:

Race:
Dark Elf

Bonuses for class:
Attributes (base 40):

+10 Speed
-10 Willpower and Personality

Skills:

+10 Blade and Destruction
+5 Athletics, Blunt, Light Armor, Marksman, and Mysticism

Traits:

- Summon Ghost (daily: for 1 min.)
- Resist Fire (constant: 75 pt. Self)

Specialization:
Mage

Birthsign:
The Mage

Major Attributes:
Strength
Willpower

Major Skills:
Blade
Heavy Armor
Block
Destruction
Conjuration
Restoration
Illusion

I loved playing this character, although I only had one other character which was similar in build. The other character had a major in intellect which was noticeable worse than the willpower major this guy contains. The combat system is so good, no matter what character you create. Wether it be magic, warrior, or theif or all these things in a blended mix, or other different combinations, its just spectacular. For instance, I used conjuration as one of my main magic's. What I do, is simply summon a creature and use it to aid me in battle. There are various creatures to summon through out the game, some that can be found roaming the planes of Oblivion whilst others are well acquainted with the realm of the dead. Necromancy is not something that is praised in the world of province of Cyrodill, infact the Mages Guild does not allow the use of undead. Thats not to say you cannot join the Mages Guild if you use conjuration, or the undead to aid you in battle. Simply don't display your skill of the dark arts in the preseance of the guild. You should be fine. I also use a more long range magic, Destruction. Destruction is a wonderful magic, a deadly one at that. Its damage is unmatched to any other from of magic in Elder Scrolls. There are three elements fire, frost, and shock. All have similar spells;however, there will come a time when you must use each form of element, seeing certain creatures are weak or have strong resistance to certain elements. Well, as for Illusion, it is not overly useful;however, illumination an area and charming a NPC (Non-playable character) can come in handy. Wether you need to illuminate a dark cavern that you are conquesting through, or trying to squeeze some information out of a NPC with a charm (Charming raises the dispostion or attitude you). Last but not least my last major magic I use is Restoration, which is extremly useful. As the title implys it is used for healing after a exhausting and stranious battle. Not only does it heal, but it also temporarily fortifies stats and drains them from the opposing enemy. There are also other schools of magic that I did not decide to major in, some include Alteration. Which is used to do such things as water breath, or walk on water, to opening locked doors. You can also use spells that feather your load that you are bearing. Mysticism contains spell that absorb, reflect , and dispel magic, move objects, and bind souls (Soul trap).

So thats the magic side of things what about the close combat? It is also designed flawlessly. Basically you have several means of beating your enemy to a pulp. You can use Blades (Daggers, Two-Handed Swords, One-Handed Swords, etc..), Blunt weapons (Maces, Mauls, Hammers, etc..), and Hand to Hand. Each one has a distinct playing style, but currently I am playing with Blades. You can also tack on a shield to your character when using a one handed weapon, which enables you to block most of an enemies blow. Without a shield equipped you can use your weapon to block the foe, sometimes sending him backwards from recoil. Both have perks, and downsides. Last but not least we have the two different sets of armor that are available, Light Armor (Fur, Leather, Chainmail, Mithril, Eleven, and Glass armors) and Heavy Armor (Iron, Steel, Dwarven, Orchish, Ebony, and Daedric armors). The armors listed are listed from worse to greatest. Light armors are more applicable to thieves, and archers seeing speed is essential. Whilst, heavy armors are more applicable to warriors, that are built to plough through the enemy and take immense amounts of damage.

Although, I do not major in any theif type skills I can comment on the lock picking, and other mechanics associated with the gameplay of this class. First off the lock picking is quite good, you have to options when approached by a locked door (Note: Some doors require a key to entire, lock picks cannot be used on these doors). You can auto-attempt, or you can manually try to pick the lock, which requires you to place the lock pins upwards into the lock mechanism. This can be hard at times, seeing the locks vary in difficulty from very easy, to very hard. Sneaking is another skill associated with the thief class. As the name implys, sneaking is simply moving while crouched in a slow motion. This slow, sneaky state, is used to bypass NPC's to steal, pass a enemy or simply to gain enterance into an area which under normal circumstances would be quite difficult. Sneaky is also an excellent idea when trying to kill a foe, seeing if you contain a higher level of sneak (Journeyman) you can tac on a 3X damage multiplier when using a ranged weapon, and a 6X multiplier when using a melee weapon. This accounts for a lot of damage. There are also two other skills that are considered to be a part of a thiefs being, this being speechcraft and mercantile. Speechcraft is excellent to use to converse with NPC's, seeing you have a increased chance of succesfully persuading them to do something in your favor. Mercantile is somewhat similar, in the since that this skill does to deal with NPC's, this time in a bartering since. Mercantile allows you to get better deals when buying or selling your goods. One of the reasons this is a useful skill to major in, or train, is the fact that you can sell your stolen goods at a higher price to someone in the Thieves Guild. (Note: Honest barterers will not buy stolen goods, this is one of the reasons why the Thieves Guild is a useful endevor to pursue).

Seeing, I have laid down the basics for the basic classes, I will explain other components that make this game so great. First off the graphics. They are simply amazing. Sure there are those loading times, that some complain about, but once you have played previous Elder Scrolls games, it will improve your appreciation a lot more. The loading times were much longer. The graphics set the mood, and atmosphere of the world of Cyrodill, perfectly. It actually pulls you in, and makes you feel like you are a part of the world. There are weather effects, such as rain and fog, which look realistic. And the forests, the forests, boy are these beautiful. They are scattered throughout the world, in masses, with lush folliage that surrounds. It all looks so natural. The weapons, the armor, the lighting effects, everything looks spectacular.

Then you have the radiant A.I, which is just awesome. AI that can learn about the world they are living in, and events that proceed through time. This is truly an innovational invention, that I have not seen before in any game, nothing that comes close. The NPC's learn new topics through out time, and you can learn from the NPC's. This sometimes can lead to a quest, which leads to splendid treasure, and wealth.

The audio is just spectacular, both the music and the slashing of the sword, the picking up of armor, and the galloping of the hourse. Not to mention the voice acting, which feature legendary Patrick Stewart (Played Captain Jean-Luc Picard). The voice acting is literally the best I have heard in a game to date. Its just amazing. Filled with emotion, and a nostalgic feel. And then you have the amazing score ( The written form of a composition for orchestral or vocal parts) that is played magnificantly. The songs fit the persona of the game perfectly. A sample of the soundtrack can be heard [here].

If your looking for a great game, and one that contains lots and lots of replay value, this would be a top tier choice. Not only is it near endless hours of fun, but the game is almost one of a kind. It takes many different aspects of the RPG and actually allows you to role play, instead of being forced to spectate a storyline in a linear RPG. This game is ultimatly one of the best games ever crafted, and possible the best. Please consider picking up this excellent title.

Gameplay ------9.5
Graphics -------9.0
Sound----------9.5
Controls--------10.0
Replay Value---10.0
-------------------------
9.6 Exceptional