My wife may file for divorce.
Oblivion is this most recent alter-ego and although I'm only 15 hours in (actually more because I restarted with a new character but whatevs) I barely even know this guy. Most games you finish in 15 hours. I've yet to journey outside the main city. Actually I lied. I hopped on a horse (which I stole and eventually got thrown in the slammer) and rode for about 45 real life minutes. No real aim in sight just wanted to ride....and I rode...and I rode....it was my Forrest Gump "I was RUN-ing moment). I passed wolves, grazing deer, bands of thieves, alters, ramshackled buildings, etc. I hit the coast and rode back (another 15-20 minutes) This game is ginormous in the biggest sense of the word.
I really just want to touch on gameplay experiences. I've played RPGs in the past both real-time combat and turn-based. I've noticed a lot of people on forums bagging on the levelling system, glitches, overpriced downloads but IMO these aren't really detrimental to the overall experience. You'll always find flaws in anything you acquire in life. Your new car has a tick, there's a leaky faucet in your new bathroom, your new lover has a triple nipple. Imperfections are bountiful in all aspects of life...video games have bugs if you haven't figured that out by now then I apologize...Santa Claus isn't real and aliens didn't assassinate JFK, hate to break it to you.
So back to Oblivion. You can read about all the features anywhere let me just tell you about my 15 hours with this game. So I created a character. I always try and get them to look like me but I never come close. This guy ended up looking like Joey from Friends with down syndrome. I always tend to create a hack'n'slasher just because any time I create some skillful archer/mage type character I always die...such is life. I pick some skills blah blah and go through some secret passage way and get my first quest. Enter the sewers. So the sewers are really just a drawn out tutorial. You go around and hack up some crabs and rats and get familiar with the game mechanics. At the end of your sewer journey you get the option to change your character (this is really brilliant). I would recommend creating a new save right here so you can always create a new character without having to go through all that again.
So now I'm out in the "real" world. I was pretty freaked out because it was night (in real life and in game) and I had just set up my family room with surround sound etc. So I'm creeping around the woods near a lake and I see some wolves...I creep up behind them and BOOYAKASHOT! Hack them to pieces..."I am mighty...Wolf pwnage!!!! w000t!" etc. So now I'm pumping myself up, I'm a little bolder with my trek through the brush. I see something...off in the distance....let's investigate...I begin to become a little more cautious. "WTF is that?" I think to myself. I grab a sip of my beer (security blanket) and approach this thing with caution. It's right about now when wings sprout from this thing and it launches a friggin' fireball at me. I spew out some random gibberish a la those german kids playing Doom 3 and nearly piss myself.
It was funny because it shook me up to the point where I brought up my map and booked it to the shelter of the nearest town. This town happened to be the Imperial City. I've been hanging there ever since harvesting ingredients for potions, fighting in a Gladiator Arena, raiding sewers, breaking into homes, and just having a great time. I'm enjoying every minute of it and haven't even begun to attempt the main quest. 15 hours and counting...
In the past I've had no regulation on my game playing time. Now, I'm a husband and a father, I run my own company and time's more precious. So when my wife goes, "Your 360 had dust on it and now you play it every night...I hate that game," you know it's good.
Pick this up...I've got a slew of other 360 games but this one is the first must have of the system. Put your social life, personal hygiene, and to-do list on hold. You have a new world to take over...or have it take over you.