Ummm...what can I say? I hope that's not all, because that was too short to call a review. Also, the XP system is almost identical to Morrowind's.

Oblivion has been a great disappointment for many people who played Morrowind, and hoped for a worthy successor. I don't usually use the term "dumbed down" (because people fling it around so often that it has become pretty much meaningless by now), but judge for yourself. Compared to Morrowind, Oblivion has ...

- less dialogue
- less quests
- less NPCs
- less settlements
- less guilds and factions
- less skills (e.g., axes and hammers have been merged into the category "blunt weapons" - yes, that's right, apparently axes in Oblivion are blunt)
- less armor and clothing slots
- less diverse landscape (mostly plains and forests instead of Morrowind's swamps, ashlands, giant fungi etc.)
- less dungeon sets

Also, Oblivion follows the questionable design strategy that a game must never, ever, ever, not even slightly, frustrate the player. To reach that goal, the devs removed anything from gameplay that could even remotely look like a challenge, or even (*gasp*) require you to think:

- Almost every enemy is scaled to your level. You'll never find an opponent that you can't beat. There is no area that you can go to when you want to have a challenge, because all enemies in all areas automagically adapt to your level, conveniently for you to beat them up. As a consequence, you can beat the main quest while still being on level 1 - actually, it's *easier* this way because you'll face the weakest opponents. Consequently, developing your character doesn't make much sense because the whole environment automagically develops with you. This includes creatures like goblins who become *ridiculously* strong over time just because *you* happen to have reached a pretty high level.

- All loot you'll find is scaled to your level too, and it's randomly placed. This means that exploration is utterly pointless in Oblivion. The ruin you haven't been to yet will have the same chances for the same loot as the ruin you've never seen. Treasure and monsters generally respawn within three days game time, so the game design actually encourages you to ignore 95% of all locations and just raid the same ones again and again. You'll never find any unique loot, no matter where you go (with a bare handful of exceptions)

- A convenient magical compass guides you through almost every quest, showing you exactly where you need to go. Some NPC sends you to a quest to retrieve a stolen item which has been hidden away? Don't worry, the arow will guide you first to the dungeon, then through the dungeon, then to the chest, exactly to the item, despite you never having seen it and never having been at this location. You're ordered to find a necromancer that is rumored to hide in the vicinity? Don't bother to look for clues, the magic arrow will lead you to the dungeon, through the dungeon, exactly to the necromancer. You never actually need to think, you just follow the arrow. If you actually *want* to thing, gameplay simply breaks down - NPCs never give you usable directions because they assume that you just follow the green arrow so that no directions are needed.

- You never have to meet any requirements to advance in any guild. Your orcish fighter can easily become archmage, and he doesn't even need to cast a single spell to do that. Great roleplaying experience.

- You never have to make any meaningful decision. Joining a guild doesn't have any consequences, your character can join all guilds there are. There is no rivalry between any two guild, actually guild members won't even notice that you're also a member of other guilds. The guilds basically *ignore* each other, as if they all lived in separate universes. Again, great roleplaying experience.

In short, Oblivion is pretty much the epitome of a design failure. It's fun for a while, if you like action games that come with a thin RPG veil. But as soon as you find out that developing your character is pointless, that you'll never meet a challenge, and that you can't actually make any meaningful decisions, you wonder why you actually enjoyed the first few hours.

If you buy Oblivion, I strongly suggest installing several mods. Personally, I use the whole FCOM package (OOO, MMM, Fran's, WarCry, etc.), plus dozens of mods that at least try to address the issues mentioned above. It's amazing what modders have done for this game - I couldn't bring myself to playing it again if it weren't for these mods.

I agree with all the above posts about the flaws but I still love this game to death. Played it on the 360 (which recently died) and now on the PS3. Quest-wise, the game is just too damn easy. The Morrowind way of quests was far more challenging and interesting. Oblivion's environment is also rather generic. Morrowind's environment is still far more beautiful and unique; I so remember having my breath taken away by the harsh and wild places I find. And every place found in Morrowind is truly a discovery, not because it popped up on the compass. Good times.

Without self imposed rpg-based restrictions, Oblivion soon becomes too easy and silly. I am guessing the devs simply want to let gamers do whatever they want. Such that if you don't think Orc warriors should be able to join Mage Guilds, then don't do it.

One of the things that bug me a lot with Oblivion is the psychic city guards. You can commit a crime in utmost secrecy and still as long as there's a guard somewhere within a certain radius, he'll come running. And all the guards in the world know what you did!

Regarding the lighting issue. I got so tired of it being so dark that priorty #1 when playing a race other than the Cat would br to make a ring enchanted with nightvision that I could hotkey to wear when needed. Haivng to do that just to SEE, is kinda lame

Now see, that's never been a problem to me. Unless the sun is shining right on the screen, I can see fine in the dark.
I actually think the game isn't dark enough - I hate the way you can walk through caves, dungeons and everything else without needing any light to see.

I do prefer Morrowind's more in-depth RPG feel. But I play roguelikes often enough.

Oblivion did seem way too easy, though I never messed around with alchemy. Too boring. I did use the "Eye of Sithis" amulet or something like that for 30' detect life. It was awesome.

I do hope Bethesda makes a sequel, with more depth!

The painting in I didn't even notice until just now. I never used notes anyways, I just used rings of flight.

Heard of Morroblivion? It suppossedly takes Morrowind into Oblivion. Having console Oblivion, I cannot say anything about it, though.

Yeah, I feel I made a mistake getting it on console. It's still worth the money, but it'd be better on PC.

Arena was pretty good depth wise, never played Daggerfall. Morrowind was far too easy after Arena,  but it's about as hard as a roguelike without saved death (or is my insistence on hand-to-hand increasing difficulty?), it's puzzles were terribly easy, and required no brain, but it did require a little strategy. I've had Oblivion moments like one I saw in GRAW 2. Stand on the wrong side of cover, thirty seconds later, your nerves are fried, but you're still alive.

I'm for easier games, because I played Oblivion and Morrowind more for art than naything else, and puzzles are for BG&E (which I refuse to use a walkthrough for, leaving me stuck 80% through), and Zelda, not an action RPG. It's fine to dumb it down, but keep the strategy.

Rogulikes excell in that aspect. They have few puzzles, but they require constant strategy to beat equal-level opponents.

Heck, I can make mods for Morrowind (I have, the only released one is Arg Domurg). That's how easy it is. I haven't tried with Oblivion 'cause I have it for console. Never having played Daggerfall, I didn't care for Arena so much because it was so darn hard. When my adventurer can spend 5 minutes in the dungeon, and he has to find three or four keys, it stinks.

I hope they return it to it's RPG roots. Anyone can make an action game, but Bethesda's good with depth.

Oblivion's a decent game. I play it more for its visuals than gameplay, though, though it can be enjoyed for actually playing it.

I hate full voiced. It has such wonderful music. So they burn 400 MB of disk space on lousy one-liners that I don't even care for in the worst voices possible. Spend it on the map, make it more scenic, include another province, more Oblivion, I don't care, but full voiced is more of a pain than a gain.

I didn't know they had a company employment shift. Wasn't paying attention. I'm interested in the other Rolston RPG.

GAAH! Thanks for making me feel bad about getting it for 360. Granted, my laptop rig wouldn't run it, so it doesn't matter anyways. Console or bust, I'd go console.

I played Morrowind for what must of been hundreds of hours. Waited anxiously for quite a while before picking up Oblivion. Turns out I should of just kept waiting and spent the money elsewhere. The game just felt like a step backward in so many areas. Think I only put about 10 or so hours into before shelving it. Flashy Graphics couldn't make up for all the things that were missing or wrong with it.