Maybe I missed something, but this sure isn't the next great RPG evolution; it's a mediocre first person shooter.
I didn't buy Oblivion to ogle at the beauty of 3D worlds; I came to play an RPG with a story, direction, and things that happen. Instead, I get a mediorce first person shooter without guns (which is what makes it entertaining in the first place).
I tried my best to like it; I really did. Seeing that bright yellow glow of "Editor's Choice Award" from Gamespot gave me high hopes. To wit, I may as well go about the many positive aspects of this game. Truely, those graphics are absolutely marvelous; crank those settings up if you have a high end graphics card, and watch your jaw drop to the floor in the wonder of highly detailed and carefully crafted environments. People have wrinkles on their face, sheep look wooly, and even the zombies look absolutely disgustine. Light shines into rooms and off building in the most realistic way possible. The outside world can be seen from quite a distance, and it look REAL, which can't be said for many RPGs of any type. It is just like they threw magical elements into the real Medieval times, and the whole presentation is just superb.
The sound is also quite good. Every thwack, bow string, and flowing stream is full audio splendor. The orchestrated score adds alot of character, and never overwhelms the on screen action too much. There's some ambient stuff as well, which make the dungeons all the more creepy. Each character you meet up with is fully voiced (and it's good voice acting, not the drivel gamers usually have to put up with). They are real people; they go about their daily business and do what they please. and look great while doing it. Really, the graphics and sound combine to make this one of the best looking games that has every been released, bar none.
As well, this is extremely long (to admit, I didn't get very far; 20 hours or so was enough) game, for those who enjoy it, it sure is a fantastic values. There are lots of sidequests to enjoy, as well as the various caverns, castles, and abandoned places where loot can be found. That's more than $50 can buy you nowadays, and the recent expansion pack only adds to this aspect.
Of course, then we hit a speed bump that forces us to stop and think for a second. "How does it play?" you might ask, hoping that the glorious visual automatically translate to great game. Well...not exactly. You see, somewhere along the line someone thought this game should be played in the first person perspective. I realize that Elder Scrolls games have always been in first person for an "immersive experience". Hey, YOU get to be the character, you're immersed in the game. Cool beans. So, how's character development? Well, you just sorta "pick" what you want to do during the long beginning sequence (in the sewers). Lovely. Personally, I never felt attached; if anything, the random screens that pop up to make you choose your path felt a little jarring to the experience. You develop your skills by learning them; but why ever choose magic? Melee weapons are KING in Oblivion; magic is there for healing and nothing more. And then, how do you hit stuff? Well, there's a block, and a attack button, and a charge foward move - and that's it. Any stats? NO. You never know how many hits points an enemy has left, nor how much you're taking out. For goodness sake, this is an RPG; people buy these to LOOK at the numbers and determine how effective we are. Indeed, I felt like I was playing Rune all over again; only instead of a viking, I can look really weird. And don't zoom the camera angle out to see your character; it's an awkward experience to be sure. The people are interesting to talk to, but I couldn't kill anyone; for being such a free form game, I can whack a person with a sledge hammer 50,000 times, and get the message "so and so is unconscious". And stealth is completely useless; no matter how much you build your skill, enemies just suddenly run up to you and attack. Bow and arrows are just as useless as magic because they take way too long to repair. And the default walking speed is horrendous. Someone may want to call this realistic - and in response, I call it a "video game". I want it to be fun. If it was supposed to be realistic, one shot from my hammer should down most enemies (and they me), and this game would be really hard core then, and it wouldn't have such high ratings.
This lead into my next point: the world is free to explore...perhaps a bit too much so. For example, as soon as the intro sequence is done, BAM. Where do I go? What do I do? No, Oblivion feels fit to throw you into its world and then not explain what's going on. A red arrow on the compass leads to your next destination. That's fine and dandy, but when it takes me a while to get there (an hour, maybe?) I don't see the fun in it. Sure, I can use the map to teleport there, and there we have defeated the purpose of exploration. Sure, you might be able to find a new item after a long search, but why bother when the actually exploring is SO DULL? And it really is, and those items just are not worth the trouble. What does exploring amount to? Whack Enemy A, Whack Enemy B, etx... There's never a pervading sense of danger to the realm or anything, like the world is going to end; take your time, life is apparently very long, or time doesn't exist, in Tamriel. In addition, the whole leveling up thing has been thrown out the window in favor of dynamic enemies - which in turn promotes this feeling of no progress at all. It doesn't matter what kind of enemy you face, as they will always be as powerful as you (hence the "very easy" choice I assigned to the game).
So, to recap: Whack enemy, whack next enemy, get item, talk to person, etc... Except this game isn't roleplaying; it's your common life with swords and magic. Which is to say, not so exciting. The combat is just like a clunky FPS game, and this permeates the entire experience, really detracting from everything else. This is the perfect example of graphics over gameplay. Advertised as an RPG, it's really for people who like to kill things in a big world in a leisurely way. 10 hours in, I just couldn't stand the non direction (and the aformentioned whacking of things) and went and played Metal Slug. That should tell you enough. If you like grinding, I guess, go ahead and dive into this one. If you want something more like a pure RPG or pure FPS game, look elsewhere; Oblivion is not the answer.
It not neccesarily that I don't like to explore a big open world; it's the fact it isn't worth exploring. Sadly, this is the case of Oblivion - a game with lots of promise, but a dissapointin experience unless you like to whack things with a big weapon.