In my childhood, buying a game in our region was tough. At least, if we're talking about licensed copies. However,
there was a store not far from my house that sold pirated discs from all over Eastern Europe. Of course, there was no
talk of decent translation or proper box design. My native language is Russian, and back in those days (2005-2006),
pirate studios like Fargus, 7Wolf, Akella, and others were churning out game translations. Because of that, we still
have memes in our area about the funny translations of San Andreas and similar games.
When I was about 10 or 11 (the same 2005-2006), everyone was playing Need for Speed and GTA.
There were also classics like WoW, CS, and FlatOut. Some rare gems like Splinter Cell had their own respect...
I borrowed the disc of “Elder Scrolls III” from the neighborhood kids, but my 10-year-old brain couldn’t get past the first location,
and sometimes it was hard to even leave the "customs" area. The translation was so bad that you
literally couldn't understand what the NPC was saying at times, and I didn’t know English by the age of 10!
That was where my acquaintance with Morrowind baldly ended. I tried to return to it later, but the hit chance system ruined all my attempts.
“Nice scar, I bet it has a good story to it.”
So, back to that little store with the pirated discs. Sometimes, there were special occasions when 1-2 licensed discs would show up.
One of those was the legendary Elder Scrolls: Oblivion GOTY, which came with Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine right away.
Let’s put in the CD (two of them actually)!
I don’t remember my exact experience too clearly anymore, but I can still relive the emotions.
After launching the game, setting everything to “low” on grapgics, I watched the cutscene with the emperor’s speech, which,
as I later found out, was voiced by one of my favorite actors from the Star Trek series (Patrick Stewart). To say the intro
blew my mind is an understatement. A massive hellish machine, giant forests, a huge city with a central tower.
I couldn't even imagine at the time that I would get to explore all of these places on my own!
The first location - the prison, was fun. I got a sense of what you could do in the game, and of course, I was surprised by the sudden monologue
of the prisoner across from me prior to fighting rats. The tutorial wasn’t too hard or confusing. I chose the sign of the Shadow and followed
the path out after the initial events. It’s hard to say which class I picked, but it was probably somethings stealth-ish.
What I saw after the sewer doors completely blew my mind. I hadn’t seen anything like it, even in GTA.
After the usual underground dungeons, to suddenly see incredible nature, lighting, a lake, ruins in the distance,
wooded hills—oh my Gosh. I will remember that moment for the rest of my life!
This was followed by a playthrough that lasted about 300 hours. I explored everything I could, unlocked every location I could find,
and completed so many quests that it would be hard to count. It took me a loooong time because I couldn’t always spend as much time
as I wanted on the computer during that years (school and all that stuff you know).
I still also remember many experiences as if these happened yesterday. Here are some of my favorites:
Exiting the tutorial dungeon!
Velkind ruins ahead, Imperial City right behind, with it’s huge walls, towers and white-gold tower as well. Lake around, the wooden old pier…
The first ruins after the dungeon with Welkynd stones (Vilverin)
The location was good, because there was a book with Skill point, bow (not the rusty one),
basic leather armor and an Altar with energy. Inside I first have seen the Welkynd stones which was also very cool.
My first march to save Kvatch
It was a very warm-ish day. 2-3pm maximum. Mom just finished laundry so the whole home smelled like fresh new.
I was accompanied by a terrifying storm outside IRL also, with rain and thunder, it was spring closer to summer.
I was drinking tea, heading to my first encounter with the Gates of Oblivion.
The Bloated Float Inn
In the Imperial City harbor tavern quest also blew my mind—I loved the events that unfolded
after falling asleep in the floating inn. It seemed so real. I expected the great adventure which
in the wasn’t so good, but the quest is still one of my favourites.
And there were hundreds of such moments. Not to mention the Dark Brotherhood questline, shrouded in mystery.
Back then, it felt like I had discovered some kind of secret in the game that not everyone would manage to find.
So, why Oblivion?
I should say a few words about why I consider Oblivion the best of the series. As we already discussed,
I didn’t really play Morrowind, I spent half my childhood in Oblivion, and Skyrim is another story
altogether—worthy of its own post. Spoiler: I definitely spent a few hundred hours in Skyrim as well.
There are tons of YouTube videos about the endless debates over which game in the series is better,
but I try to avoid them because objectivity doesn’t work for me as well as these games were released in different tech. eras.
So… I don’t want to make a competition out of these amazing games that, while different, are still quite similar at their core.
It’s also tough to draw a clear line because the lore is unified across the series. I’m personally not an expert in many game universes,
but I’ve yet to find a better one for myself than the Elder Scrolls.
I’m a huge fan of Star Trek, but even after watching every season of every series, I can’t confidently say I know and love its lore better than the Elder Scrolls.
In conclusion, I want to add: my feelings and love for Oblivion, including the phrase my friends often hear, “Oblivion is the best part of the series,”
are purely subjective. It’s the best for me because I grew up with this game, not Morrowind or Skyrim. It brings back all those memories of endless
after-school gaming sessions, often instead of school itself.
Oh, and yeah, I just really love forest landscapes way more than deserts and mountains :3
This game will forever hold a place in my heart. To this day, its soundtrack is my number one music choice for any time of year or day.
Nothing calms me down or brings me back into harmony with myself like this music. Last.fm won’t lie, haha.
“Nice scar, I bet it has a good story to it.”
