User blog comment:SaintOfAwesomeness/Should I Get 'Oblivion'?/@comment-5046408-20130218231904

I personally think the story is much more intriguing than that of Skyrim, contrary to what two of the below commenters claim. In Skyrim (and somewhat in Morrowind) the main character is immediately given the title of "superhero savior of the world" after some progress is made in the main quest, basically, and thus is by definition more powerful than the average human/elf/beast simply because they were chosen by some deity/deities.

In Oblivion, the player character has no claim to fame. They're not marked by some divine prophecy, they're not necessarily destined to save the world from evil. They're a clean slate whom the Emperor saw in a dream the day before he is horribly assassinated. As soon as you escape the Imperial Prison in the introduction (in which you witness the assassination of the Emperor and are with him in his final moments), the choice is yours. You can follow up with the main quest from there, or carve your own path from there. You give YOURSELF a reason to be respected and/or feared instead of being handed the badge of "reincarnated god" or "prophesied warrior" after a few main quests. You're no different than any other mortal being, and yet in your indifference you manage your way to do extraordinary things, including stepping into a plane of Oblivion itself, battling hundreds of Daedra, and living to tell the tale. In my opinion, it makes for an overall better and more player-oriented experience, and the main quest and faction quests are interesting to boot. (some like the Mages Guild and Dark Brotherhood are even more interesting than their Skyrim counterparts, in my opinion)

In addition, the game actually tracks your "fame" and "infamy" (to an extent) based on quests you complete. So in other words you can't stably be in all four Guilds (two of whom are "evil") and expect to get away with it, and the Divine's shrines will not confer blessings to "evil" characters.

The only real flaw I see with the game is the limited list of voice actors--even more than Skyrim. Just about every male NPC Nord and Orc has the same annoyingly-hearty-voiced VA, and plenty of women (primarily the older ones) have this very annoying VA who in some cases is terribly assigned (she voices one of the Dark Brotherhood's Black Hand members, for example. It really doesn't fit. At all)

Other than that, it's a solid game. Oh, and that's not even counting the Shivering Isles DLC, which in my opinion is the best TES DLC that I've payed. Though, I recommend putting that off until you get tired of Cyrodiil's caves and ruins, so that it's a refreshing change and thus even more awesome. And thus concludes my opinion on Oblivion =P