Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-10870829-20130706015706/@comment-10209824-20130706225933

I'd say no, it's definitely the weakest of the TES games. The enemy scaling is proposterously bad and the combat isn't good enough to make up for it. Essentially all enemies anywhere in the game scale with you; eventually all bandits will run around with daedric armour and weapons and goblin caves will all be filled with Goblin Warlords. You might think that sounds fun and challenging but it's not, and I like challenge beat Dark Souls ng+++, it essentially means the stronger you get the weaker you become because enemies can gang up and flatten you and the sub-par combat doesn't really give you a chance to effectively fight back. It also makes you feel underpowered which provides a disconnect cause when you're the Champion of Cyrodiil and Head of the Fighters Guild AND Arch-Mage ad having trouble with one goblin it makes you feel like all your effort was useless.

Also, and this is largely personal opinion, the world is just not interesting. It's generic medieval fantasyscape which doesn't mesh with how Bethesda made the Imperial culture out to be. Someplaces make sense, Bruma to the North borders Skyrim and thus has Nordic influence and the Colovian cities are largely bordering High Rock and thus should have that medieval vibe, but the rest of them aren't interesting. Cyrodiil, and Imperial culture, was supposed to draw from Rome and its culture and to that end the game just doesn't and it's lacking because of it and it's really dissapointing. There are alot of Rome influences in games but very few that recreat the feeling of being in Rome, and Cyrodiil was there chance and to me they blew it. Even the Imperial City was kind of meh.

Final note, this is their first attempt with the radiant ai and it shows... alot. In skyrim you will hear repeat conversations but in Oblivion there are about 5 voice actors, and all the elves have the same voice actors minus the orcs who sound like the nords, and so it can get really really grating.

My advice enter at your own peril, don't expect Skyrim or Morrowind cause it's not. If you enjoy it great, I didn't. Although Shivering Isles expansion almost makes the game worth playing for me, seriously the location and characters are awesome in the Shivering Isles, but the enemy scaling still blows. Ignore the Knights of the Nine cause it sucks. Sorry this is so long.