This weekend I finished Oblivion. Well, I didn't really finish it. I finished the main storyline.
And the Mages' Guild storyline.
And the Knights of the Nine storyline.
And I think that's enough.
I've finished many other stories while traveling through Cyrodiil. I've solved problems large and small. I've met vampires and kings, bandits and prostitutes, beggars and ghosts. There's a lot there. I could start a different character and play the game over, avoiding everything I've done, playing a different way, and still see all new content. With my current character could rise to the head of the fighter's guild (I'm already over halfway there), the King's Armorers are making me a set of kickass plate mail (and they don't do that for just anyone) that won't be ready for another two weeks of gametime. Hell, there's an expansion out.
I've been playing Oblivion as my "main game" since September. Sure, I've had forays into Defcon, A Force More Powerful, City of Heroes, Wii Sports, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Rayman and the Raving Rabbids, and a whole raft of DS games, but they were either taking time away from Oblivion or played simply because I couldn't be at my home computer. That's eight months of serious gaming. Good times.
But for the last month or so it hasn't really been a challenge. My guy is too uber for any monster to pose a serious threat. I ran through the quests to see the stories, not really playing the game as I had been playing it. It was never a question of whether I could do the quest, it was only how long it would take. My character had outlevelled the world, and it was time to finish up and move on to something else.
So on Sunday morning I sat down to finish the main storyline and call it. I finished the quest, and the next thing I know the Chancellor is telling me my armor will be ready in two weeks. Okay, well, may as well wrap up the mages' guild storyline. So I did, but there was still a week and a half to go. Well, might as well go tell the other Knights of the Nine that I had all the holy relics and we can now go take on that Big Bad. So I did. Still a week before the armor's ready, and what if it's not as good as the armor I have? After all, the armor I'm wearing is a holy relic (and part of an add-on), so it should be better than mere royal armor. Should I go on and finish the fighters' guild storyline?
And then I noticed it was getting dark. Shit. Oblivion takes another day.
I went to the Arch-Mage's Sanctuary (now mine), took one last look around, and shut it down.
That's the weird thing about Oblivion. Normally in an RPG, when you finish the main quest, you get a cutscene, you've saved the world, and yay, your life here in this world is over, watch the credits, see who made the game, and see some bloopery stuff as a reward for sitting through the credits (Warcraft III is great for this). In Oblivion the world of Cyrodiil just keeps going. Sure you're now champion of the realm, but you can just add that to the list of your accomplishments and go see who else needs help.
You have to decide to leave. You have to decide everyday to do something else, because it's still there, you can go back. You can pick up where you left off. There are no guildmates to say, "Where have you been? Why did you leave?" They don't know you've been gone. Their world is in stasis.
Jesus, I'm way overthinking this.
Anyway, it's a little depressing to have to leave Oblivion instead of being given a pat on the back and kicked out. I'm used to getting kicked out of my gameworlds. That's why I avoided MMO's for so long-- I like games that end. I like to say, "I finished -----."
So did I finish Oblivion? People tell me that the assassins' guild storyline is the best part, and I didn't touch it. Other people tell me the same thing about the thieves' guild. I know I'm finished with Oblivion for the time being. I've got to work on the backlog.
But I'll probably be back. Shivering Isles, y'know.
No comments:
Post a Comment