In my review of Oblivion, I said that it was generally more dumbed down than its predecessor, Morrowind. Quests were less imaginative, opportunities for original thinking were completely glazed over, and the foreign realm of Morrowind was left behind in favor of Cyrodiil, the whitest, blandest place in the history of the Elder Scrolls series. There are shining knights and grassy hills and big bad demonic evil antagonists, and it’s all so fucking boring my ears have started bleeding just thinking about it.

I played through Oblivion almost entirely, including all of its DLC to date and both expansions, collecting every single achievement save one (which would require a new character entirely, so I’m more than happy enough forgetting about it). Do I like the game, though? Not really. Sorry. It’s so unlike Morrowind that it feels like an entirely new game burdened by its being tacked on to an existing franchise, kind of like how Pirates of the Caribbean was originally just a pirate game, and then the movie came out and someone demanded that they throw in a reference to the Black Pearl and a crew turning to skeletons in moonlight. Sure, there is a collection of lore here and there are all the races and monsters and the bits and pieces we remember from the older games, but while it is technically a successor, it retains none of the spirit the franchise previously possessed.

The most glaring example of this is through the writing, unfortunately. Its weaknesses are especially clear when compared to Morrowind’s. There, for example, we had the Morag Tong, a gathering of legally sanctioned killers dependent on the lawfully procured writs of execution. The Morag Tong operated within Morrowind’s system of government, serving as a kind of public executioner. How could Bethesda dumb this down for Oblivion? Surprise, motherfucker! They were removed entirely, and in their place we have the Dark Brotherhood, the evil progeny of the Morag Tong. These guys kill anyone for the right price, and are most assuredly an illegal organization. That’s not so much the issue though, as much as its repercussions on the development of that particular faction’s quests. In the Morag Tong, when you were asked to apply your deadly skills to those without any official writ of execution, it was a clandestine deed and the sense of accomplishment you had upon completing the kill behind the guards’ backs was enormous. But in the Dark Brotherhood, you already kill for money and pleasure, so when any of the later quests end in a death, it feels like any other job. The lack of effort toward any sense of player immersion is blindingly apparent.

This laziness comes through in so many other areas. Both games actually end similarly; your character must travel around the land, gathering support before facing the big bad guy. In Morrowind, it was political support. You actually had to fulfill prophecy before your player could reach the enemy and subdue him alone, and your attempts to do so were closely observed and commented on by the world around you. Yes, there were stupid fetch quests at some points, but it was not out of laziness in the writing; the people sending you on the less original journeys were doing so because they were mocking your aspirations as a hero incarnate. Try not feeling like an idiot telling a local tribal leader that you think you’re a god reborn and he demands that you fetch him a wife with shapely hips before he gives you his blessing. It was a humbling experience for both player and player character alike.

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