Latest news with #ElderScrolls4:OblivionRemastered
Metro
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Why I tried to beat Oblivion Remastered without ever using fast travel
A reader enjoys a return trip to the world of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion and explains why ignoring one of its key features made it even more fun. I sit here with a sense of accomplishment, pride, and somewhat of a headache. I have earned all 50 of Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered's base game achievements/trophies (not Shivering Isles… yet). I know, this is not much of an achievement in itself. The original Oblivion game came out just under two decades ago, on the Xbox 360, setting the world up for its younger protégé Skyrim to take over some six years later. Completing the main story quests, the four job guilds (fighter, mage, thief, and assassin) and the gladiatorial arena is pretty straightforward in the region of Tamriel known as Cyrodill. If anything, Oblivion is little more than a long checklist of fetch quests, battles, some mild stalking, and a not insignificant amount of murder. The expansive world with hundreds of dungeons, caves, and various points of interest has never looked better with the recent (not much of a) surprise release, but you'd be forgiven if you never actually see any of it. I chose, in this shiny new version, to roleplay as a Necromancer/Assassin Hunter (yes… I was Jinwoo from Solo Leveling, don't judge me). I could summon monsters from the planes of hell itself to fight for me, pull powerful daggers out of the air, and blink out of existence to swiftly dispatch my foes with stealth attacks. Speed, agility, and intelligence were key to my success, so I figured I'd make the most of one aspect I'd really ignored back in 2006: travel. The remaster retains one of the original version's overpowered methods of travel. Simply click on a point of the map that you have previously visited, or one of the major town/city hubs, and you are whisked away to you chosen destination in the time of a mere loading screen. If the target is within a stone's throw of a selectable point on the map you don't even have to walk for more than a couple of minutes to reach your destination. You travel the world by just warping door to door like some sort of Grim Reaper delivery service employee (Uber Reaps? Just Reap? DeReaperoo? OK, I'll stop). That is why I decided not to use fast travel via the world map, ever. I can spoil the story here by saying categorically it was a bad idea. A very bad idea. The game has zero, and I mean not a jot of, forethought to pathing and logical world exploration. At the start… oh at the start! Sure! Everyone has something to say, a cave to investigate, a missing family member to inevitably bring back a remnant of. By the time you've met everyone and monopolised the entire adventuring trade for yourself, you start to notice patterns in quests that, with the luxury of fast travel, are little more than an extra couple of loading screens and a quick chat. Without fast travel it's an hour long round trip for something that could've been an e-scroll Modyrn Oreyn! Eh hem… excuse me. Don't get me wrong, I got the absolute most out of my playthrough. The joy I got replaying old quests again, seeing old friends… and enemies. Rediscovering things I'd forgotten, like running along and finding an invisible sheep in the road before the 'Oh this is a quest not a bug!' penny dropped, was a wonderful dopamine drip directly into my rose-tinted veins. I hit the credits with: 125 in-game days passed 140 quests completed Level 100 in all major skills (without really trying) 336 places visited 1,500 potions made 59 Oblivion gates shut 121 nirnroot found The game unfortunately doesn't track distance travelled, nor does it specify the units of distance on the compass. To work it out roughly I had to reconcile this with the fact that the world map seems to be scaled down compared to maps and accounts in books of how large certain areas should be. So it's complicated to try to work out how far anything actually is relative to the next. The official lore says Tamriel (as in the entire continent) is roughly 80% the size of Australia. This could explain why everything is trying to kill me constantly but it doesn't help with my calculations. The little waypoint markers have a real-time counter of how far your goal is. This is measured with a 'footprints' symbol, which could be as simple as literal 'feet' or even just 'steps'. For the sake of staying somewhat true to the world I've gone with yards. If nothing else, it does feel more appropriate for somewhere with the 'Imperial' City at its centre. (Note: After some quick googling the majority of Elder Scrolls lore does indeed seem to reference inches/feet/yards/miles/leagues as the default, but the scale of the world size is vague at best.) Using the bridge between Imperial City and the settlement of Weye as my marker, my maxed out speed and athletics stats took me 100 'units' in just under nine seconds. If I translate that to yards it would put me close to Olympic athlete pace (around 23 miles per hour); not quite Usain Bolt, however I can keep that pace up indefinitely . At this point I effectively gave up trying to go any deeper into my potential travel time. Between speaking, sneaking, and spelunking I wouldn't even venture a guess as to how much of my time was spent standing around or moving at a snail's pace. That doesn't even begin to mention the pace increase as I levelled up my stats. (Oh… my headache is back again.) I did give myself one caveat. One beautifully, cruel moment of respite. I had Frostcrag Spire as my homebase. Settled way up north, at the top of Gnoll Mountain, was my little beacon of safety. Visible from miles away, I could see it towering above the world. Inside, my vault filled with millions of gold worth of loot, my flame atronach standing to attention inside the entrance and, most importantly, my mage guild warp points. Every time I was nearly over-encumbered with magical tat I began the trek up that mountain path. Over and over. Dodging bears, bandits and yet more bears I tipped my swag bag out into various chests and then I could make that wonderful choice: 'Which city's Mage Guild should I portal over to?' It was a rare treat to simply be able to skip the next 4,000+ yard sprint back to Leyawiin for the 18th time. One thing I can confidently say is that, by the end, a little part of me died every time I stepped out of a city and saw '3,721' units next to my next quest marker. The game has a horrible habit, during its faction quests, of the following: Meet your local contract vendor in City A. Meet the client in City B (3,000 yards away). Complete the quest in a nearby cave (if you are lucky). Return to the client. Return to City A (another 3,000 yards). Get told there's a new contract vendor with work for me in City C. Travel 2,000 yards to City C. Meet the client in City A ( I just came from there ) Complete quest… in City B?! for the client (that's another 3,000 yards). Return to City A (sure, OK pal). Return to the vendor in City C. Realise I'm over-encumbered, so travel to Frostcrag Spire. Teleport to City C (thank goodness my thumb is actually starting to hurt from holding forward). Get promoted! 'You should talk to the first vendor again in City A for more work' (…you're joking). Return to step 1. For a perfectly sane player, with the use of fast travel, this is a 15 minute burst of action-packed questing. For me, it was nearly two hours of swimming, sprinting, jumping back and forth… and back… and forth. This wasn't an isolated incident either, it happened again and again. I travelled hundreds of unnecessary miles (yes, I know almost all of the miles I travelled were unnecessary) for what could have just been a message left for me at the guild hall I'd just been to. It was rewarding, frustrating and easily the best way to experience Oblivion again after all these years. Catching details I'd missed way back when, meeting people I'd never met before, becoming an overpowered monster in my own right. I'd recommend that absolutely no one plays without ever using fast travel. It's really not worth it. More Trending Do it. You'll love it. By reader Jay Parry The reader's features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@ or use our Submit Stuff page and you won't need to send an email. MORE: GTA 6 and price rises are going to destroy gaming forever – Reader's Feature MORE: How Game Pass led me to abandon my PS5 – Reader's Feature MORE: 5 memorable gaming moments that no one ever talks about – Reader's Feature
Hindustan Times
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered first reviews out: Gameplay worth $50? All on graphics and more
Bethesda finally confirmed all rumors and announced Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered formally on Tuesday. The remaster of the 2006 action role-playing game was shadow dropped on PS5, Xbox and Steam and reviews immediately poured in on social media. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is priced at $49.99 for the standard edition and $59.99 for the Deluxe Edition. It is developed by Virtuos using Unreal Engine 5. Read More: Not able to see Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered on PlayStation 5? Here's what to do Oblivion Remastered strikes a balance between nostalgia and modern refinements. Combat Overhaul: The original Oblivion's combat was often criticized for feeling clunky, with 'floppy' controls and poor hit detection. The remaster introduces significant changes: Blocking: Inspired by action games and Soulslikes, blocking is now more dynamic, addressing the 'boring' and 'frustrating' original system. Stealth and Archery: Sneak mechanics include highlighted icons and revamped damage calculations, while archery has been modernized for both first- and third-person perspectives, improving responsiveness. Stamina and Hit Reactions: Stamina depletion is harder to trigger, and new hit reactions make combat feedback clearer. Core RPG Systems: The remaster retains Oblivion's open-world RPG depth, with over 200 hours of content across the main quest, guild quests, and side content like Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine. Leveling, character creation, and skill progression have been refined, though specifics are unclear. The HUD has been redesigned for clarity, addressing the original's cluttered interface. Quests and Exploration: The game preserves Oblivion's open-ended quest structure, where players must seek out side quests rather than rely on random triggers—a design some find 'tedious' compared to Skyrim. Read More: Elder Scrolls 4: How to buy Oblivion Remastered on PS5, Xbox, Steam and more - price and pass details Visual Upgrades: The remaster runs at 4K resolution and 60 FPS, with lush vegetation, moody lighting, and detailed character models. Side-by-side comparisons show a 'near entirely different game,' with Cyrodiil's landscapes evoking 'semi-realistic fantasy environments.' Iconic locations like the Imperial City and tutorial dungeon benefit from enhanced textures and lighting. Unreal Engine 5 Impact: Virtuos leveraged Unreal Engine 5 for immersive environments, with revamped enemies and flora adding to the atmosphere. However, some X users criticize 'bad modern RTX lighting' and an 'ESO-ified' aesthetic that feels less like Oblivion's distinct style. Character Models: NPC faces are a point of contention. While animations are smoother, some players find new models 'weird' or 'horrifying,' with characters like the Adoring Fan looking 'worse than before.' Others argue the models preserve Oblivion's quirky charm without turning NPCs into 'catwalk models.' File Size: At 119.2 GB (compared to the original's 4.6 GB), the remaster demands significant storage, reflecting its graphical ambition. "Oblivion Remastered is one of the biggest graphical leaps I have ever seen a Remaster make. It is priced at $50, I want every company pushing out crappy $60+ "remasters" that look more like ports to take NOTES," one person said on X, platform formerly known as Twitter. 'This isn't a simple Oblivion basically rebuilt everything from the ground up in Unreal,' another one added, attaching a video from the game. 'I'm not going to spoil YOUR experience by sharing any of the opening moments from the Oblivion Remaster, but ohhh boy, it's beautiful,' a third gamer wrote.
