The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks and the Take-Two Interactive subsidiary 2K Games. It is the fourth installment in The Elder Scrolls action fantasy video game series, following The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and preceding The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Oblivion was first released in March 2006 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. A mobile phone version of the game was released in May 2006, and a PlayStation 3 version was shipped in March 2007. After a number of smaller content releases, a major expansion pack, Shivering Isles, was distributed. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition (a package including both Shivering Isles and the official expansion pack Knights of the Nine) was released in 2007 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. A fifth anniversary edition was shipped in 2011.
Oblivion's main story revolves around the player character's efforts to thwart a fanatical cult known as the "Mythic Dawn" that plans to open the gates to a realm called "Oblivion". The game continues the open world tradition of its predecessors by allowing the player to travel anywhere in the game world at any time and to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely. A perpetual objective for players is to improve their character's skills, which are numerical representations of certain abilities. Seven skills are selected early in the game as major skills, with the remainder termed minor. Developers opted for tighter pacing in gameplay and greater plot focus than in past titles.
Gameplay
Oblivion is a role-playing game (RPG) that incorporates open-ended gameplay. The player is free to postpone or ignore the game's main quest indefinitely and explore the expansive game world. The player can follow side-quests, interact with NPCs, dispatch monsters, develop their character, and travel anywhere in the realm of Cyrodiil at any time while playing the game. The game never ends, and the player can continue playing after completing the main quest. The gameplay includes a "fast travel" system, in which an icon appears on the game world map every time the player visits a new location. This excludes the game world's main cities which are already unlocked for fast travel from the start of the game. The player can arrive at a desired location instantaneously by selecting the icon on the map.
Character development is a primary element of Oblivion. At the beginning of the game, the player selects one of many human or anthropomorphic races, each of which has different natural abilities, and customizes their character's appearance. A perpetual objective for players is to improve their character's skills, which are numerical representations of their ability in certain areas. Seven skills are selected early in the game as major skills, with the remainder termed minor. The player levels up each time they improve their major skills by a total of ten points; this provides the opportunity to improve their attributes. Attributes are more broad character qualities, such as "speed" and "endurance", while skills are more specific, such as "armorer" or "athletics". When the player reaches either 25, 50, 75 or 100 points in a single skill, he or she unlocks new abilities related to the skill. The game's 21 skills fall evenly under the categories of combat, magic, and stealth, and many skills complement more than one area. Combat skills are used primarily for battle and incorporate armor and heavy weapons like blades, axes, maces, and hammers. Magic skills rely on the use of spells to alter the physical world, to affect the minds of others, to injure and debilitate enemies, to summon monsters to help fight, and to heal wounds. Stealth skills allow the player to crack locks, haggle for goods, use speech to manipulate people, and apply cunning in combat (through the use of a bow or with a sneak attack). The spells, weapons, and other tools such as lockpicks that a player needs to employ and enhance these skills can be purchased in shops, stolen from NPCs, or found as loot on the bodies of foes or in dungeons.
Plot
Oblivion is set after the events of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, though it is not a direct sequel to it or any other game. The game is set in Cyrodiil—a province of Tamriel, the continent on which all the games in the series have so far taken place.
The story begins with the player imprisoned in a cell for an unnamed crime and the arrival of Emperor Uriel Septim VII, accompanied by Imperial bodyguards known as "the Blades" at the Imperial City prison. They are fleeing from the assassins of the Mythic Dawn, a Daedric cult, who have murdered the Emperor's three sons. The bodyguards opt to kill the player but the Emperor prevents them because he had seen the player in a dream. The Emperor, the Blades, and the player head to a sewer that leads out of the city, using a secret entrance that is located in the player's cell. Once in the sewer, the group is attacked by the Mythic Dawn. Uriel Septim entrusts the player with the Amulet of Kings, worn by the Septim emperors of Tamriel, and orders the player to take it to a man named Jauffre, who is the grand master of the Blades. Immediately afterward one of the assassins kills the Emperor. The player then proceeds to the open world of Cyrodiil.
The lack of an heir for Uriel Septim has broken an old covenant—the barrier to the realm of Oblivion: a dangerous realm that is in another dimension. Multiple gates to Oblivion open, and an invasion of Tamriel begins by magical creatures known as Daedra. Jauffre tells the player that the only way to close the gates permanently is to find someone of the royal bloodline to retake the throne and relight the Dragonfires—with the Amulet of Kings—in the Imperial City. Fortunately, there is an illegitimate son named Martin, who is a priest in the city of Kvatch. Upon arriving at Kvatch, the player finds that the Daedra are destroying the city. A massive Oblivion Gate is obstructing the main city entrance, and the player must venture into the Planes of Oblivion before searching for Martin. After closing the gate, the player enters Kvatch and persuades Martin to come to Weynon Priory.
Upon returning, the player finds that Weynon Priory is under attack by Mythic Dawn cult members and that the Amulet of Kings has been stolen. The player escorts Jauffre and Martin to Cloud Ruler Temple, the stronghold of the Blades. Martin is there recognized as the emperor and is given command of the Blades, while the player sets off in search of the amulet. After gathering information, the player attempts to infiltrate the secret meeting place of the Mythic Dawn. When the player does so, their leader, Mankar Camoran, escapes through a portal, taking the amulet with him. The player takes the book that had opened the portal to Martin, who deduces a way to reopen the portal. The player seeks out three key artifacts necessary to recreate the portal: a Daedric artifact, the armor of the first Septim emperor, and a Great Welkynd Stone. With all three retrieved, Martin reveals that a final ingredient is needed: a Great Sigil Stone from inside a Great Gate similar to the one that devastated Kvatch. Martin and Jauffre decide to allow the city of Bruma to be attacked by Daedra so that a Great Gate will be opened. Once it is, the player obtains the Stone and closes the Gate.
A portal is created at Cloud Ruler Temple and the player is sent through. After bypassing monsters and obstacles, the player confronts Camoran and kills him. The player returns the Amulet of Kings to Martin Septim, and the Blades travel to the Imperial City to relight the Dragonfires and end the Daedric invasion. They find the city under attack by Daedra and the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon. The player and Martin fight their way to the Dragonfires, where Martin shatters the Amulet of Kings to merge himself with the spirit of Akatosh, the Dragon-God of Time, and become his avatar. After a battle, the Avatar casts Dagon back into Oblivion before turning to stone. Martin disappears, the gates of Oblivion are shut forever, the Amulet of Kings is destroyed, and the throne of the Empire again lies empty. In a final monologue, Martin Septim describes the events in an optimistic light and states that the future of Tamriel is now in the player's hands.
Minimum System Requirements
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, or 7
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, or 7
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2000+
Memory: 512MB RAM
Hard Disk Drive space: 4.6 GB
Graphics Hardware: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 128 MB or ATi Radeon 9500 128 MB
Sound Hardware: DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
Sound Hardware: DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
Network: Broadband required for downloads
Recommended System Requirements
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, or 7
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 3000+
Memory: 1GB RAM
Hard Disk Drive space: 4.6 GB
Graphics Hardware: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 128 MB or ATi Radeon X800 128 MB
Sound Hardware: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Sound Hardware: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
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