With my fondest TV, muzak, and gaming memories imbedded within the 80's, I have truly been waitin for that blog header. Only in 2006 did I really take time to play a first-person RPG.

Since the blog is the generally accepted place for initial impressions of games, I figured I'd drop a few bits on how my ESIV:O experience has been. I can say it is one thing . . . laborious.

After 12 hours of play, I am just starting to scratch the surface and begin to understand how the various functions operate. Alchemy? Combat? Crafting? Level grinding? Spousal annoyance?
Yeah, it's all there.

Another outlet has evidently compared NWN2 to Oblivion, but all I can think about while I play Oblivion is how much it reminds me of NWN (the original). I can't say it is bad, but I am simply left with an empty sense of deja vu. How many more times am I going to be faced with the necromantic enemies loyal to an evil entity from another plane? At this point, the idea has become a frustrating and rather lame contrivance for RPGs. Though I have yet to complete the entire game--but if I did I wouldn't get anything done between now and January--it certainly allows an enormous amount of exploration.

While NWN had loading screens between every tile set, Oblivion has been kind enough to provide more persistent gameplay in the wilderness despite some sometimes hefty loading screens between the interior locations. The time-specific activities are even oddly reminiscent of Animal Crossing . . . assuming the delightful neighborhood of Animal Crossing was not some vast empire perched in a position of impending destruction from an outside force.

Crazy.

For all of the hype, all of the gushing, I don't find the rendering of people to be particularly impressive. I see a lot of popping and seams and artificiality in the models. The plasticity of skin, walls, and other surfaces is reminiscent of the Doom 3 visuals. Personally, I don't really find that visual style altogether attractive. I suppose we need to pass through the plastic to get to the increased realism.

So far it just feels like Oblivion has a lot of content, but nothing really new. If I wasn't in it for the achievements, I suppose I would move on. But since I got it for almost nothing, I feel like I am getting more than I paid for.

I do have some appreciation for the darkly humorous insertion of the Prisoner classic. . . "Be seeing you!"