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Skyrim vs Oblivion, Why Oblivion is a more fulfilling experience

    • 15 posts
    July 29, 2012 7:13 AM EDT

    Nostalgia hit me so hard playing Oblivion the other day, so I wish to share why it feels more... 'fulfilling' to play Oblivion. I'd really like to know what others think, this will be a bit of a long thing to read, so please sit tight. 

    First of all, its the scenery. God the colours and brightness can be too much, but nothing compares to entering the Imperial city, shopping in its mass market area, staying in the Tiber Septim for a night, seeing the white gold tower in all its glory. Then ofcourse there is the Arcane University, knowing you must get recommendations from all guild halls to one day enter this prestigious and historic place always gives me a sense of achievement once its done.
         Then its a matter of all the towns having a different feel and look to them. From Bruma to Cheydinhal, they all look unique and amazing, I just don't think anything in Skyrim (town wise) can compare to walking the bridge out of the Skingrad Castle, seeing the city below you.
       Exploring the lands of Cyrodiil, its just, i can stand and look at places and just feel like I'm there, but in Skyrim, I can't experience that, I just can't. I'm gonna wrap it up for scenery and such.


    Secondly, it's the quests. So much more satisfying than Skyrim's. For example, meeting Armand Cristoph in the Garden at midnight for the trial to see who gets into the thieves guild, or waking up to the cloaked and evil sounding Lucien Lachance for the first time seeking you to join the dark brotherhood.
        There's also the arena, yes the arena. It is basic and fun, but it adds so much when the Grand Champion learns he is part vampire (after doing the quest for him) because it alters the last fight, if he learns this, he begs for death, and awaits your strike, if he didn't know of his roots, he'd fight you fiercely.
      How could I forget The Order of the Virtuous Blood quest, where Seridur is forming a vampire hunting guild, though truly using it for a cover up as he himself is a vampire, the twists and turns of many quests are just amazing, but Skyrim isn't far behind on Oblivions tail. I'm going to leave it there.


    Thirdly, its honestly just a better sense of achievement within quests and guild quests. The ranking system for guilds was great, I loved having to work my way up from a low rank to the guildmaster him/her self. It added alot more roleplay aspects and was a generally longer experience for guild work, I especially favour having to get all the recommendations from Mage guild halls throughout Cyrodiil, there are some really unique quests there that I love.
       I also enjoy the way that DB members fear you once you are Listener, they get nervous and afraid at your sight, it just makes up for the questing and hard work, knowing you made it to be the leader of this Guild, and earning your well deserved respect.
     

    Lastly, it is the music. Oblivion's music is as beautiful as the land itself, nothing beats hearing the soothing sounds of this game whilst exploring around senselessly, then hearing the battle music, knowing you must fight. Ah and the amazing dark and eerie dungeon music, it really adds to the dark ambiance the dungeons have, (prefer the dungeons in Oblivion too due to them being darker/less fancy). It just can't be compared to any other soundtrack in any game.


    Conclusion time.

    All in all, i love Skyrim, I've played it for hundreds of hours, but Oblivion always sways me, maybe its  because it is the first TES game I played properly, maybe its the way it is, but Oblivion is an always will be one of the greatest RPG's, hell one of the greatest games ever made, it strikes something in me that is hard to compare to much else when it comes to gaming, something Skyrim didn't make me feel,

    Please share your thoughts on this.