Initially I was kind of fustrated when it came to purchasing a Playstation 3 or a Xbox 360. I had to pick one last September of 2007. Honestly examining the two I decided to pick a Xbox 360; the price playing a big role in my decision. In fact the question was, how much money can I save to play EA's Skate? I wasn't thinking about Halo 3, Final Fantasy XIII, or any other RPG for that matter. And still, to this day Skate is the most played game for myself this generation.
At the time of my purchase I had little foresight into the realm of RPGs on the Xbox 360. I did know that North America and Europe were supplying the western style of roleplaying games to the Xbox 360 without a second thought. But I could never expect the Japanese development of several RPGs coming from the rising sun. Because of this a RPG game(including Final Fantasy XIII) wasn't going to persuade me in purchasing one console over the other(at least in September of 07).
Obviously, FFXIII coming to Microsoft's console is just more icing on the cake(I'm still considering purchasing a PS3 for FFXIII). But I wanted to talk about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion with a Xbox Live experience. Honestly, there is one thing that Live does so much better then PSN; it brings gamers together. Because of that, "online" is a native aspect to the console community and it is possibly gaining the highest priority amongst many.
Anyone who has me on their friends list on Live knows I've been play Oblivion a lot lately. I've gotten farther then I ever had in this game. The biggest reason is, I've been playing with another. Oblivion isn't a multiplayer game by any means, but with the voice chat feature in Live it sure does feel like it. About 90% of the time that I played Oblivion this week, a friend of mine was also adventuring in Tamriel. What was so fun about it? For one it is Oblivion, and two we were sharing out experience over voice chat through our entire session each day. In fact we completed the Arena together, and the first two quests for the Dark Brotherhood.
It was interesting to see how we both played the open-ended RPG differently. He became a aggressive Mage living off of combat and fame. I was more of a Ranger; strong but possessing some ability to remain hidden. As time passed he became a powerful user of Destruction magic, but with a focus on pure enjoyment through the experience of battle. Me, I evolved into a strong warrior gaining a healthy dose of stealth elements which now allows me to literally play the game in two different ways or even go hybrid in specific situations.
It was truely a unique experience. It was easy to share information and guide one another through Oblivion. Both of us talking about our high and low moments in the game. Or perhaps showing how we approached specific situations. For instance we both became vampires. With the way I play, I use a lot of brute force, but also giving a light touch. Becoming a vampire provided me some useful bonuses. With me working with the Dark Brotherhood in assassinations, plus being more active at night. I love being a vampire. On the other hand, my good Live friend could not stand being a nightwalker.
What makes the experience even more unique? His reason for choosing to play Oblivion. "I just rented the game because you and another person on my friends list were constantly playing it everytime I checked your profiles". I'm glad this time his curiosity got the best of him. And! It has resulted in him purchasing Oblivion!