I’m Going to Complain About The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

So, recently I’ve been playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and, for the most part, it’s great. I’m not the only one who thinks so, either, as the game appears to be very well received by most people. If you go online right now, you can see a hundred positive reviews and articles praising the Oblivion upgrade, aside from those weirdos who are mad about the whole “body type” thing. However, despite my enjoyment, I'm not here to praise it: I’m here to complain about some of the issues I’ve run into.  

The first is that the game still stealth-crashes more than I would like. I wouldn’t be that surprised if you’ve never heard of stealth crashing, it isn’t quite as common as it used to be. Essentially, it’s when it crashes on a loading screen, but there’s no indication of what has happened, and everything keeps acting as normal. So, in the case of the new Elder Scrolls, you’ll see the little spinning circle in the bottom corner, and the helpful notes will still appear, but the world will never load.

The original Oblivion was terrible for this, and you could be stuck waiting for ages before you finally loaded into the game. I had hoped that this would have been sorted out for the new release, but in my experience, it still occurs quite a lot. For instance, it happened to me twice in one playthrough, forcing me to close, then reopen the game.

On top of that, I also found some of the missions still bug out on occasion. For instance, when saving Kvatch, the guard captain just froze in the courtyard, yelling about needing to clear it. These are the kinds of things that were annoying in the original game, and they’re still annoying now. Thankfully, we live in a time where patches can solve a lot of this, including a recent one to fix the FPS issues, but they can’t solve some of my other problems.

Look, nostalgia is a hell of a thing, but there are times when it is more of a hindrance. I know that changing certain voices would be tantamount to heresy, but the compression on some of the older clips is just painful. The worst offender is Jauffre, whose dialogue sounds like he went through 10 compressors. This is an issue with a lot of the original takes; it’s really noticeable when you have both the old and new ones in a conversation. 

On the subject of nostalgia, I have to say, the Oblivion lockpicking is just bad. Here’s the thing: at the time, it was pretty great because we didn’t have many alternatives. However, the method introduced in the Fallout games, and used in subsequent Elder Scrolls titles, is miles better. I have Dyspraxia, and as such, hand-eye coordination is not my forte (many shooting titles can attest to that). So, having to perfectly time a lock pick bounce is just a nightmare for me. Granted, there are methods to get past this, but it isn’t ideal, and it takes away from the experience a little to just save, then hit attempt until you succeed.

Speaking of annoying mechanics, needing either silver or a magic weapon to kill ghosts is just annoying. I want to have the weapons I have; the series is all about role-playing at the end of the day, and forcing me to carry a certain type of sword or axe is just tedious. I know that you’ll have a magic weapon by the end of the game, but the constant need to recharge it makes it more annoying than anything.

Finally, there’s no getting past the fact that many of the dungeons look exactly the same. Now, all the Bethesda titles have this issue, but you would have thought they might have added a bit of variety. 

The same goes for the magic, with Oblivion featuring the least interesting-looking spells in the series. Here’s the thing, magic in the title was limited by the graphics and, as such, didn’t equate to much beyond different colored fireballs. Meanwhile, if you look at a title like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you have a massive variety of different elemental spells and effects that don’t just look like different colored fog.

With all that said, I still enjoy the game and am happily working my way through all the quests I loved. If you want a mystical adventure without the depression of Fallout (hope for a remaster of Fallout 3, Bethesda!), then this is one for you. I just needed to vent a bit. 

So let me know, is there anything annoying you in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, or do you think all the bugs and glitches are just the dressing on a perfect salad of adventure?