Month: July 2008

Fallout 3
Developer(s)	Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher(s)	Bethesda Softworks
Director(s)	Todd Howard
Producer(s)	Ashley Cheng Gavin Carter
Designer(s)	Emil Pagliarulo
Programmer(s)	Guy Carver Steve Meister
Artist(s)	Istvan Pely
Writer(s)	Emil Pagliarulo
Composer(s)	Inon Zur
Series	Fallout
Engine	Gamebryo
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 Xbox 360
Release	NA: October 28, 2008 PAL: October 31, 2008 JP: December 4, 2008
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Fallout 3 is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the Fallout series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring the rights to the franchise from Interplay Entertainment. The game marks a major shift in the series by using 3D graphics and real-time combat, replacing the 2D isometric graphics and turn-based combat of previous installments. It was released worldwide in October 2008 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

The game is set within a post-apocalyptic open world environment that encompasses a scaled region consisting of the ruins of Washington, D.C., and much of the countryside to the north and west of it in Maryland and Virginia, collectively referred to as the Capital Wasteland. Downloadable content is set in Pennsylvania, pre-War Alaska and outer space. It takes place within Fallout's usual setting of a world that deviated into an alternate timeline thanks to atomic age technology, which eventually led to its devastation by a nuclear apocalypse in the year 2077 (referred to as the Great War), caused by a major international conflict between the United States and China over natural resources. The main story takes place in the year 2277. Players take control of an inhabitant of Vault 101, one of several underground shelters created before the Great War to protect around 1,000 humans from the nuclear fallout, who is forced to venture out into the Capital Wasteland to find their father after he disappears from the Vault under mysterious circumstances. They find themselves seeking to complete their father's work while fighting against the Enclave, the corrupt remnants of the former US government that seeks to use it for their own purposes.

Fallout 3 received a number of Game of the Year awards, praising the game's open-ended gameplay and flexible character-leveling system, and is considered one of the best video games ever made. Fallout 3 shipped almost five million copies in its first week. The game received post-launch support, with Bethesda releasing five downloadable add-ons. The game was met with controversy upon release in Australia, for the recreational drug use and the ability to be addicted to alcohol and other drugs; in India, for cultural and religious sentiments over the mutated cattle in the game being called Brahmin, a varna (class) in Hinduism; and in Japan, where a questline involving the potential detonation of a nuclear bomb in a prominent town was heavily altered. The game was followed by a spin-off, Fallout: New Vegas, developed by Obsidian Entertainment in 2010. The fourth major installment in the Fallout series, Fallout 4, was released in 2015.

Gameplay[edit]

Fallout 3 is an action role-playing game that can be played from either a first-person or third-person perspective.^[1] It is set in the Washington metropolitan area, years after a nuclear war left much of the United States decimated.^[2] The player controls a 19 year old character who grew up in a fallout shelter called Vault 101.^[2] The goal of the game is to complete a series of quests to find the character's father, who unexpectedly left Vault 101.^[3]: 57 In addition to the main quests, the player can participate in optional unrelated quests known as side quests.^[2] GamesRadar+ critic Andy Kelly estimates there are over 100 hours of content in Fallout 3.^[2]

At the beginning of the game, the player can customize their character's physical appearance by choosing their gender and race.^[4][5] They can then allocate points into seven primary attributes: strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility, and luck.^[5] These attributes are known as S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats, and range from 1 to 10.^[3]: 4 Additionally, there are 13 secondary attributes whose point totals are affected by S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats: barter, big guns, energy weapons, explosives, lockpick, medicine, melee weapons, repair, science, small guns, sneak, speech, and unarmed.^[3]: 10 If the player has a high charisma stat for example, then they will be more proficient with the barter and speech skills at the beginning of the game.^[3]: 6 The player can add more points into skill stats whenever they earn enough experience points to level up.^[5] Experience points can be earned through several methods, such as killing an enemy or completing a quest.^[6] When the player reaches a new level, they can select a perk, which is a permanent beneficial upgrade.^[5] For example, the perk Master Trader reduces the price of items sold by vendors by 25 percent.^[3]: 18

Fallout 3 features an open world map that the player can freely explore.^[7] Locations the player can discover range from small settlements and abandoned buildings, to larger locations like the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument.^[8] The player is equipped with a wearable computer called the Pip-Boy 3000.^[5] The device serves as a menu, and allows the player to access items they have acquired, view detailed character statistics and active quests, and look at the map.^[4][5] The player can use the Pip-Boy 3000 map to fast travel to previously discovered locations.^[3]: 32 The player can also use the Pip-Boy 3000 as a radio, and listen songs from the 1940s and 1950s on makeshift radio broadcasts.^[5] While exploring, the player can recruit some non-playable characters as companions, who will accompany the player and assist them in combat.^[3]: 38 There a variety of weapons in the game, including standard guns, energy-based guns, melee weapons, and explosives.^{[3]: 33–34} While in combat, the player can utilize a gameplay mechanic known as V.A.T.S., which pauses the game and allows the player to target specific body parts of an enemy.^[9] V.A.T.S. is dictated by a statistic known as Action Points.^[9] Each attack while in V.A.T.S. costs Action Points, and when the player runs out of Action Points they must wait a short period of time before they can use it again.^[2]

An important mechanic in Fallout 3 is the player's karma.^[10] Whenever the player commits an action that is deemed either good or bad, their karma will change accordingly.^[10] For example, if the player provides water to a beggar, their karma increases.^[10] Likewise, if the player breaks into a home, their karma decreases.^[10] The player's karma effects how other characters perceive them.^[3]: 30 Some companions can only be recruited if the player meets the companion's karmic expectation.^[3]: 30 Some non-recruitable characters will be more accepting of the player depending on their karma level.^[3]: 30 For example, slaver characters will be more accepting to players with negative karma, and provide services that would not be available to players with neutral or positive karma.^[3]: 30

Plot[edit]

Fallout 3 takes place in the year 2277, 200 years after a nuclear war between the United States and China. Some survivors of the war took refuge in high tech fallout shelters known as Vaults. The player character, nicknamed the Lone Wanderer, grew up in Vault 101, located near Washington, D.C. After the Lone Wanderer's 19th birthday, their father, a scientist named James, leaves the Vault without explanation. The Vault Dweller decides to track down their father, and journeys the region in and around Washington, D.C., now known as the Capital Wasteland. Along the way, the Lone Wanderer learns about their father's background from other characters, including residents of the nearby settlement Megaton, radio DJ Three Dog, and scientist Madison Li. Before the Lone Wanderer's birth, James and his wife Catherine had been working on Project Purity, in which a water purifier built in the Jefferson Memorial would have purified the irradiated water in the Tidal Basin and Potomac River. However, Catherine died during childbirth, and James abandoned the project to raise his child in Vault 101.

The Lone Wanderer finds and rescues James from a virtual reality program in Vault 112. James reveals that he wanted to revive Project Purity, and left Vault 101 to seek the Garden of Eden Creation Kit (G.E.C.K.), a powerful piece of technology intended to assist in rebuilding civilization after a nuclear war. When work on Project Purity resumes, the remnants of the United States government, known as the Enclave, intervene. Its leader, President John Henry Eden, wants to inject the purifier with a deadly virus that will kill any mutated organisms who drink the water, including humans. James sacrifices himself to protect the purifier. In response, the Lone Wanderer enlists the help of the Brotherhood of Steel, a military organization that protects the residents of the Capital Wasteland. The Lone Wanderer finds the G.E.C.K. in Vault 87, but is captured by the Enclave and held in Raven Rock. They escape imprisonment and meet President Eden, who is revealed to be an artificial intelligence program. Eden gives them a vial containing the virus and asks them to insert it into Project Purity. Afterwards, the Lone Wanderer leaves and optionally causes Eden to self destruct.

Together with the Brotherhood of Steel, the Lone Wanderer retakes the Jefferson Memorial, and learns the water purifier needs to be manually activated, or else it will shortly explode. Before James died, he flooded the control room with lethal amounts of radiation. The player is presented with three potential endings: the Lone Wanderer sacrifices themself to initiate Project Purity, optionally inserting the virus into the purifier; the Lone Wanderer instructs a Brotherhood of Steel member or - if the Broken Steel downloadable content is installed - a radiation-resistant companion to activate the purifier; or the Lone Wanderer does nothing and lets the purifier blow up.

Development[edit]

The origins of Fallout 3 date back to the cancellation of Van Buren, which was intended to be the third game in the mainline Fallout series.^[11][12] Under the development of Black Isle Studios, Van Buren was to be set in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah, and would have included a mixture of real-time and turn-based combat.^[12][13] Black Isle Studios' publisher Interplay Entertainment was struggling financially, and in December 2003 Van Buren was cancelled.^[14] In 2004, Bethesda Softworks purchased the rights to develop their own rendition of Fallout 3 from Interplay for $1,175,000 minimum guaranteed advance against royalties.^[15] At the time, Bethesda was known for their work with The Elder Scrolls series, but wanted to expand their catalogue with another project.^[13] According to developer Joel Burgess, Bethesda's holding company ZeniMax Media turned down multiple offers from other companies who wanted to work on the game.^[11] Burgess remarked, "The sense was we had to make our own game."^[11]

Development on Fallout 3 began in late 2004 with a small team of around 10 people, as most of Bethesda's staff was busy working on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.^[16] After the release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in 2006, the size of the team drastically increased.^[16] Programmer Jean Simonet estimates that when development concluded, there were around 75 team members.^[11] Lead designer and writer Emil Pagliarulo wrote the majority of the main story early in development, and when the team expanded, he allowed other designers to make rewrites and suggestions.^[11][17] This process exemplified Bethesda's decision to foster a more collaborative approach and allow developers to voice their opinions on various aspects of the game.^[11][18] Pagliarulo notes this approach differed from the rigid and "unhealthy" development of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, in which the developers had to follow the outline of the original design document regardless of their opinions.^[18]

In multiple interviews, Bethesda developers noted the difficulty of working on a game from an established series they had no prior connections to.^[11][17][18] Product manager Pete Hines said Bethesda's mindset was to treat Fallout 3 as if they had worked on the original Fallout games.^[18] To this extent, they kept Fallout 3 an in-house production, and did not hire anyone who worked on the original games.^[19] Bethesda used the first Fallout game as a model while designing Fallout 3.^[17] Pagliarulo favored the oppressive and bleak atmosphere of the first Fallout game in contrast to the excessive and camp dialogue of Fallout 2.^[17][18] Pagliarulo wanted to instill a "rawness" to the dialogue, and included occasional profanity.^[17] Another goal was to instill a sense of moral ambiguity whenever the player made an important decision.^[19] According to lead producer Gavin Carter, the karma mechanic was designed to let the player know the immediate consequences of their actions, and make the player question whether they made the right choice.^[19] The player character's father, James, was created as a moral compass, and would react to the player's previous actions.^[19]

A common joke among fans and journalists before the release of Fallout 3 was to describe it as "Oblivion but with guns".^[8][20] Due to Bethesda's previous oeuvre with high fantasy role-playing games, some players questioned whether Fallout 3 would simply be an iteration of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.^[20] Bethesda sought to incorporate elements of first-person shooter games, while also allowing players to approach combat with a more tactical nuance commonly found in role-playing games.^[18] Executive producer Todd Howard wanted the combat to be a mix of real-time and turn-based combat, which led to the creation of the V.A.T.S. system.^[11] Howard emphasized "cinematic" combat, and Simonet accomplished this goal by adding slow-motion effects whenever the player used V.A.T.S.^[11] The inspiration for the slow motion effects while in V.A.T.S. came from the slow motion replays of car crashes from the Burnout series.^[18] Bethesda developers later discussed how they felt the shooting mechanics in Fallout 3 were one of the weaker elements of the game.^[11][21] Burgess remarked, "We didn't really have first-person shooter experts, we didn’t really know ... If nothing else, it speaks to some of the ways we were successful that the mediocrity of the shooting didn't matter."^[11]

The original setting for Fallout 3 was the West Coast of the United States, but early in development, the setting changed to the Washington metropolitan area.^[19] Pagliarulo said this decision stemmed from adage "write what you know", as Bethesda was based in Rockville, Maryland, a city close to Washington, D.C.^[18][19] Burgess wanted Washington, D.C. to be a difficult location to explore, with harder enemies and more radiation.^[11] Due to how the game engine worked, Washington, D.C. needed to be split into separate zones connected by the Washington Metro.^[11] Playtesters routinely struggled to navigate the city, and complained the increased difficulty made the area less enjoyable.^[11] Bethesda attempted to remove the dividers separating the zones, but Burgess said the initial test did not show promise, and the idea was dropped.^[11] Burgess claims a proper test could have yielded a different result, and describes the entire Washington, D.C. area as "the big mistake I feel I made on Fallout".^[11]

The original size of the Fallout 3 map was comparable to the size of the map in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.^[11] Bethesda incorporated various monuments from the Washington metropolitan area that would serve as visual landmarks to help the player navigate.^[18] For example, when the player leaves Vault 101 at the beginning of the game, they see the Washington Monument in the distance, which was meant to help the player determine where Washington, D.C. was in relation to Vault 101.^[18] About six months before release, Bethesda felt the map was too small.^[11] Whereas The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was able to hide the distance between locations with mountains and trees, Fallout 3's barren wasteland setting meant that players were discovering locations too quickly.^[11] As a result, Bethesda increased the map size by roughly 20%, and spread out locations.^[11] Another map related issue that was brought up late in development was that they had not modeled the White House.^[22] As there was not enough time to create a new significant location on the map, the decision was made to instead display the remnants of the White House amidst a giant crater, and reasoned it would be one of the locations targeted by nuclear attacks.^[22] Bethesda spread out enemy encounters so as to not inundate the player with excessive combat.^[20] In an attempt to keep the map unpredictable, they added random encounters the player can witness, such as a group of contract killers attacking a random character, or a giant scorpion attacking a robot.^[20]

Inon Zur composed the score for Fallout 3, which was intended to balance traditional American music like blues and folk, with the powerful cadence of military music.^[23] The goal was to showcase American life before the nuclear war while simultaneously emphasizing the theme of militant progress.^[23] Zur was influenced by post-apocalyptic films like Mad Max 2 as well as Vietnam War films like Full Metal Jacket.^[23] The music is fully electronic, with occasional samples of live instruments.^[23] When asked about the music, Zur said, "I wanted to create something that almost [sounds as if it] comes out of a boom box, rather than something that feels symphonic and heroic. Because all of the technology is sort of low-tech in Fallout, then the actual sound is representing and helping to represent this aspect, too."^[23] In addition to the original soundtrack, Fallout 3 features licensed music that the player can listen to via in-game radio stations.^[24] The licensed music includes songs from artists such as Roy Brown, Billie Holiday, Billy Munn, Cole Porter, and Bob Crosby.^[24]

Over 40,000 lines of dialogue were recorded for Fallout 3, which at the time, set a Guinness World Record for the most lines of dialogue in a single-player role-playing game.^[25] Some celebrity actors were brought on to provide voice work, including Liam Neeson and Malcolm McDowell.^[18] In an interview with Edge, Blindlight manager Lev Chapelsky noted that former president of the United States Bill Clinton was jokingly offered a voice role, but the offer was swiftly rejected.^[26] Hines later noted that even if Clinton had agreed, Bethesda would have not allowed him to provide voice work.^[27] Hines said, "In no way, shape or form, did we say is President Clinton is who we want for this role or [tell Blindlight to] go chase him."^[27]

Release[edit]

Fallout 3 was announced in July 2004, when Bethesda purchased the rights to the game from Interplay.^[28] For years, there was little new information about the game, although Tor Thorsen of GameSpot notes that interest in Fallout 3 rose significantly after the critical success of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.^[16][29] In April 2007, Bethesda published a teaser site for Fallout 3, and in June released the first trailer.^[30][31] The trailer zooms out from inside a bus to show the ruins of Washington, D.C., accompanied by the song "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" by the Ink Spots.^[31] To promote the game, Bethesda partnered with American Cinematheque and Geek Monthly to hold a film festival titled A Post-Apocalyptic Film Festival Presented by Fallout 3.^[32] The festival showcased six post-apocalyptic films: 12 Monkeys, A Boy and His Dog, Damnation Alley, The Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man, and Wizards.^[32]

Fallout 3 was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on October 28, 2008 in North America, October 30 in Europe and Australia, and December 4 in Japan.^[33][34] In its first week of release, Fallout 3 had sold 4.7 million copies worldwide, and grossed $300 million.^[34] Fallout 3 outsold every previous Fallout game combined, and sales were 57% stronger than The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in its first week of release.^[35] The market research firm Electronic Entertainment Design and Research estimated that by 2015, the game had sold 12.4 million copies worldwide.^[36]

Due to its content, some versions of Fallout 3 were subject to censorship.^[37] The initial Australian version was refused classification by the Australian Classification Board (ACB) due to its realistic depiction of drug use.^[38] As it is illegal to distribute or purchase an Australian game without an ACB classification, Bethesda replaced all instances of the drug morphine with a generic drug, and removed the drug injection animation.^[39][40] Bethesda further altered every version of Fallout 3 to accommodate for these changes.^[39] Another version of the game subject to censorship was the Japanese version, due to its depiction of nuclear weaponry.^[37] A quest that allowed the player to either defuse or detonate a nuclear warhead was altered so that it was impossible to detonate it, and the name of a weapon was changed.^[37] Excess blood and gore were removed from the German version by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons,^[41] and Microsoft chose not to release Fallout 3 in India due to perceived "cultural sensitivities.^[42][A]

In 2023, a leaked financial forecast presentation indicated that Bethesda was working on a remaster of Fallout 3.^[43] The presentation stated that the remaster was scheduled for a 2024 release, although PC Gamer notes that the release projection predated the COVID-19 pandemic, which has likely delayed development.^[43]

Downloadable content[edit]

Fallout 3 w

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Developer(s)	Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher(s)	Bethesda Softworks 2K (Xbox 360, Windows) Ubisoft (PS3, Europe)
Producer(s)	Ashley Cheng
Designer(s)	Ken Rolston
Programmer(s)	Guy Carver Craig Walton
Artist(s)	Matthew Carofano
Composer(s)	Jeremy Soule
Series	The Elder Scrolls
Engine	Gamebryo
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Xbox 360 PlayStation 3
Release	March 20, 2006 Windows, Xbox 360 NA: March 20, 2006 AU: March 23, 2006 EU: March 24, 2006 Game of the Year Edition NA: September 10, 2007 EU: September 21, 2007 AU: September 28, 2007 PlayStation 3 NA: March 20, 2007 AU: April 26, 2007 EU: April 27, 2007 Game of the Year Edition NA: October 16, 2007 AU: December 13, 2007 EU: December 14, 2007
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a 2006 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios, and co-published by Bethesda Softworks and 2K Games. It is the fourth installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following 2002's The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in 2006, followed by PlayStation 3 in 2007. Taking place within the fictional province of Cyrodiil, the game's main story focuses on the player character's efforts to thwart a fanatical cult known as the Mythic Dawn that plans to open portal gates to a demonic realm known as Oblivion.

The game continues the open-world tradition of its predecessors by allowing the player to travel anywhere in the game world at any time and to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely. A perpetual objective for players is to improve their character's skills, which are numerical representations of certain abilities. Early in the game, seven skills are selected by the player as major skills for their character, with those remaining termed as minor skills.

Development for Oblivion began in 2002, directly after the release of Morrowind, opting for tighter pacing in gameplay and greater plot focus than in past titles. To design the graphics, Bethesda used an improved Havok physics engine, high-dynamic-range lighting, procedural content generation tools that allowed developers to quickly create detailed terrains, and the Radiant AI system, which enabled non-player characters (NPCs) to make choices and engage in behaviors more complex than in past titles. The game features fully voiced NPCs—a first for the series—and the music of composer Jeremy Soule.

Upon release, Oblivion was a critical and commercial success, winning a number of industry and publication awards. It was praised for its impressive graphics, expansive game world, and schedule-driven NPCs, and is considered one of the greatest games ever made. Following a number of smaller content releases, Bethesda released two expansion packs for the game—Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles—which were bundled with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition in 2007, and later re-released as a fifth-anniversary edition in 2011. Oblivion was followed by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in 2011.

Gameplay[edit]

Oblivion is an open world role-playing game (RPG) that incorporates open-ended gameplay.^[1] The player can follow side-quests, interact with NPCs, dispatch monsters, develop their character, and travel anywhere in the province of Cyrodiil at any time while playing the game, provided that the areas are not quest-specific and otherwise inaccessible when not questing.^[1] The game never ends, and the player can continue playing after completing the main quest.^[2] The gameplay includes a fast-travel system, in which an icon appears on the game world map every time the player visits a new location. This excludes the game world's main cities which are already unlocked for fast travel from the start of the game. The player can arrive at the desired location instantaneously by selecting the icon on the map.^[3]

Character development is a primary element of Oblivion. At the beginning of the game, players select one of ten humanoid or anthropomorphic races, each of which has different natural abilities, and customize their character's appearance.^[1][4] A perpetual objective for players is to improve their character's skills, which are numerical representations of their ability in certain areas. Seven skills are selected early in the game as major skills, with the remainder termed minor.^[1] The players level up each time they improve their major skills by a total of ten points; this provides the opportunity to improve their attributes.^[5] Attributes are more broad character qualities, such as speed and endurance, while skills are more specific, such as armorer or athletics. Afflictions such as disease and poison can reduce the player's attributes.^[6][7] When players reach 25, 50, 75, or 100 points in a single skill, they unlock new abilities related to the skill.^[7]

The game's 21 skills fall evenly under the categories of combat, magic, and stealth, and many skills complement more than one area.^[7][8] Combat skills are used primarily for battle and incorporate armor and heavy weapons like blades, axes, maces, and hammers.^[8][9] Magic skills rely on the use of spells to alter the physical world, to affect the minds of others, to injure and debilitate enemies, to summon monsters to help fight, and to heal wounds.^[8][10] Stealth skills allow the player to crack locks, haggle for goods, use speech to manipulate people, and apply cunning in combat through the use of a bow or with a sneak attack.^[8][11] The spells, weapons, and other tools such that a player needs to employ and enhance these skills, such as lockpicks, can be purchased in shops, stolen from NPCs, or found as loot on the bodies of foes or in dungeons.^[12]

Oblivion can be played in either a first- or third-person view,^[5] except in the mobile phone version, in which the game can only be played in isometric projection.^[13] The player may change the level of difficulty at any time, thereby weakening opponents and increasing the chance of success for particular actions.^[14] The screen constantly presents a heads-up display, which provides information about the character's health, magicka, and fatigue, all of which can be increased by leveling up.^[15] Health can be restored by spells, potions, or resting; the loss of all health results in death.^[16] Magicka enables and is depleted by the use of spells; it is rejuvenated naturally over time, but it can be restored similarly to health.^[16] Fatigue affects the character's effectiveness in combat and general efficiency, and can be alleviated by resting, potions, and spells.^[16]

Throughout the world are a variety of enemies, including standard fantasy monsters such as imps and goblins, and animals such as bears and wolves.^[17] Enemies become stronger, and weapons and armor more effective as the player levels up. This game mechanic of level-scaling was incorporated to maintain a constant and moderate aspect of difficulty.^[18] However, level-scaling combined with the leveling system has received criticism, as it has the potential to unbalance the game; characters with major skills that increase on an involuntary basis, such as athletics or armor, can find that they level too quickly, making the enemies proportionately harder than intended.^[18]

Plot[edit]

Oblivion is set during the Third Era, six years after the events of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, although it is not a direct sequel to it or any other game.^[19] The game is set in Cyrodiil—a province of Tamriel, the continent on which all the games in the series have so far taken place.^[20]

The story begins with the player imprisoned in a cell for an unknown crime. Emperor Uriel Septim VII (Patrick Stewart), accompanied by Imperial bodyguards known as the Blades, arrives in the prison, fleeing from assassins who have murdered the emperor's three sons and are now targeting him. The emperor and the Blades reveal that the player's jail cell contains a secret entrance to a part of the city's sewer that functions as an escape route. Pardoned by the emperor, the player follows the group into the sewer, where they come under attack by assassins. The Blades' captain is cut down during the fighting that ensues. Knowing he is destined to die by the hands of the assassins, Uriel Septim entrusts the player with the Amulet of Kings, worn by the Septim emperors of Tamriel, and orders the player to take it to a man named Jauffre (Ralph Cosham), the grandmaster of the Blades, at Weynon Priory. Immediately afterward, one of the assassins kills the emperor. The player escapes the sewer and heads out into the open world of Cyrodiil.^[20]

The lack of an heir for Uriel Septim has broken an old covenant—the barrier to Oblivion: a dangerous realm that is in another dimension. Multiple gates to Oblivion open, and an invasion of Tamriel begins by magical creatures known as Daedra, killing and destroying anything in their path. Jauffre tells the player that the only way to close the gates permanently is to find someone of the royal bloodline to retake the throne and relight the Dragonfires—with the Amulet of Kings—in the Imperial City. However, there is an illegitimate son named Martin (Sean Bean), who is a priest in the city of Kvatch. Upon arriving at Kvatch, the player finds that the Daedra have destroyed the city and very few survivors remain. A massive Oblivion Gate is obstructing the main city entrance, and the player must venture through the gate into the Deadlands—one of the planes of Oblivion—in order to close it from the inside and allow access to the city. After closing the gate, the player enters Kvatch and takes it back from the Daedra with the assistance of surviving guardsmen. Martin has survived, and the player persuades him to come to Weynon Priory.^[20]

The player, now recognized as the Hero of Kvatch, returns to Weynon Priory with Martin, finding that it has come under attack by assassins and that the Amulet of Kings has been stolen. The player escorts Jauffre and Martin to Cloud Ruler Temple, the stronghold of the Blades. There, Martin is recognized as the emperor and is given command of the Blades. The player is optionally entered into their ranks and sets off in search of the amulet. After gathering information, the player learns that the group responsible for Uriel Septim's assassination and the theft of the amulet are the Mythic Dawn, a cult dedicated to the worshiping of Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of Destruction. The cult believes Dagon is the true creator of the world and wish for him to "cleanse" it of all impurities. Killing the emperor and thus removing the barriers to Oblivion was the first step in realizing this idea. The player attempts to infiltrate the secret meeting place of the cult in the hopes of retrieving the amulet. When the player does so, the cult's leader, Mankar Camoran (Terence Stamp), escapes through a portal, taking the amulet with him. The player takes the book that had opened the portal to Martin, who deduces a way to reopen the portal. The player seeks out three key artifacts necessary to recreate the portal: a Daedric artifact, The Blood of the Divines (in this case, the armor of the first Septim emperor serves as a substitute), and a Great Welkynd Stone. With all three retrieved, Martin reveals that a final ingredient is needed: a Great Sigil Stone from inside a Great Gate similar to the one that devastated Kvatch. Martin and Jauffre decide to allow the city of Bruma to be attacked by Daedra so that a Great Gate will be opened. Once it is, the player obtains the Stone and closes the Gate, also saving Bruma.^[20]

A portal is created at Cloud Ruler Temple, and the player is sent through to Mankar Camoran's created realm of Paradise. After bypassing Daedra, Mythic Dawn members and obstacles, the player confronts Camoran and kills him. The player returns the Amulet of Kings to Martin, and they subsequently travel to the Imperial City with the Blades to relight the Dragonfires and end the Daedric invasion. They find the city under attack by Daedra and an enormous avatar of Mehrunes Dagon himself. The player and Martin fight their way to the Temple of the One. There, Martin laments that they are powerless against Dagon's avatar and explains that they can only defeat him one way. He bids farewell to the player and shatters the Amulet of Kings, merging himself with the spirit of Akatosh, the Dragon-God of Time, thus becoming Akatosh's avatar. After a battle, Akatosh casts Dagon back into Oblivion and lets out a mighty roar before turning to stone. Martin, whose soul was consumed by the amulet, enters the afterlife to join his forebears. In a telepathic monologue to the player, he sheds an optimistic light, explaining that while the Amulet of Kings is destroyed and the throne again lies empty, the gates of Oblivion are now shut forever, and the future of Tamriel now lies in the player's hands. The Empire's high chancellor sincerely thanks the player for their service during the crisis and proclaims them as the seventh Champion of Cyrodiil.^[20]

Development[edit]

The game was developed by the United States software company Bethesda Game Studios. Ken Rolston, who was Morrowind's lead designer, oversaw the development team.^[21] The PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game were co-published by 2K Games and Bethesda Softworks, while the PlayStation 3 verison was co-published by Ubisoft in Europe alongside Bethesda.^[22] Work on Oblivion began shortly after the release of Morrowind in 2002.^[23] By mid-September 2004, Oblivion had been officially announced, and its title revealed.^[23][24]

During Oblivion's development, Bethesda concentrated on creating a system with a more realistic storyline, believable characters, and meaningful quests than had been done in the past. In comparison with previous titles in the series, the game features improved artificial intelligence thanks to the use of Bethesda proprietary Radiant AI software,^[25] and enhanced physics facilitated by the Havok physics engine.^[26] The graphics take advantage of advanced lighting and shader routines such as high-dynamic-range rendering (HDR) and specular mapping.^[27][28][29] Bethesda developed and implemented procedural content creation tools in the building of Oblivion's terrain, leading to the expedited creation of landscapes that are more complex and realistic than in past titles.^[30]

While designing Oblivion's landscape and architecture, developers worked from personal travel photographs, nature books, texture images, and reference photographs.^[29] Procedural content generation tools used in production allowed for the creation of realistic environments at much faster rates than was the case with Morrowind.^[30] Erosion algorithms incorporated in the landscape generation tools allowed for the creation of craggy terrain quickly and easily, replacing Morrowind's artificially smoothed-over terrain.^[30]

Oblivion's view distance is far greater than its predecessor's, extending player sightlines to the horizon and giving views of distant towns and mountain ranges.^[32] According to a Microsoft press release, Oblivion's game world is approximately 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in size.^[33] Wilderness quests, ruins, and dungeons were added to fill surplus space.^[30] Content in the dungeons is more densely packed than in dungeons in Morrowind, with an increase in the frequency of creature encounters, quest-related NPCs, and puzzles.^[30] However, the populations represented in Oblivion do not match the "thousands upon thousands" described in previous in-game literature. The development team decided to set the NPC populations at a level that would play well, rather than one that would match game lore, since the presence of a large number of NPCs on screen would have caused the game to slow down.^[34]

In response to the criticism that NPC behavior had been too simplistic in Morrowind, Bethesda developed the Radiant AI system for Oblivion.^[35] NPCs were designed to make choices, rather than complete scripted routines, to achieve predetermined goals. The manner in which goals such as eating, sleeping, reading, and speaking to others are fulfilled is dependent upon the environment, the choices of other NPCs, and programmed personality values. For example, an NPC whose goal is to find food may eventually resort to stealing from others, if they are given the opportunity and if it is in their character.^[36] These development mechanics allowed Bethesda to create NPCs who could engage in complex activities.^[25]

Audio[edit]

Oblivion features the voices of Patrick Stewart, Lynda Carter, Sean Bean, Terence Stamp, with celebrity acquisition and voice production being handled by Blindlight.^[37][38][39] The voice acting received mixed reviews in the gaming press. While many publications praised it as excellent,^[40][41] others found fault with its repetitiveness.^[42][43][44] The issue has been blamed on the small number of voice actors and the blandness of the dialogue itself.^[45] Lead designer Ken Rolston found the plan to fully voice the game "less flexible, less apt for user projection of his own tone, more constrained for branching, and more trouble for production and disk real estate" than Morrowind's partially recorded dialogue. Rolston tempered his criticism with the suggestion that voice acting "can be a powerful expressive tool" and can contribute significantly to the charm and ambiance of the game. He stated, "I prefer Morrowind's partially recorded dialogue, for many reasons. But I'm told that fully-voiced dialogue is what the kids want."^[46]

Oblivion's score was composed by series mainstay Jeremy Soule, a video game composer whose past scores had earned him a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award in the "Game Music Category" and two nominations for an Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) award for "Original Music Composition".^[47][48] The official soundtrack to Oblivion, featuring 26 tracks spanning 58 minutes, was released in March 2006, via Soule's digital distributor DirectSong.^[49][50] Soule had worked with Bethesda and Todd Howard during the creation of Morrowind, and, in a press release announcing his return for Oblivion, Soule repeated the words he had said during Morrowind's press release: "The stunning, epic quality of The Elder Scrolls series is particularly compatible with the grand, orchestral style of music I enjoy composing the most."^[47][48] As in his compositions for Morrowind, Soule chose to create a soft and minimalist score so as not to wear out users' ears.^[51] Soule stated that while composing the music, he did not imagine any specific characters or events; rather, he wanted it "to comment on the human condition and the beauty of life." In a 2006 interview, he related that this desire came as a result of a car accident that occurred during his composition of the score. He said, "I ended up rolling in my car several times on an interstate while flying headlong into oncoming traffic ... I felt no fear ... I simply just acknowledged to myself that I've had a good life and I would soon have to say goodbye to all of it in a matter of seconds." Soule sustained only minor injuries, but commented that his feeling during the crash—"that life is indeed precious"—remained with him throughout the rest of the composition.^[52]

Remaster[edit]

An internal ZeniMax presentation, dated to 2020 and released as part of the FTC v. Microsoft case in 2023, indicated that an "Oblivion Remaster" was earmarked for a release in the 2022 fiscal year, among other unannounced titles. The document was produced prior to Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax in 2021, so it remains unclear whether the project is still in development.^[53]

Marketing and release[edit]

Oblivion's public debut occurred on May 18, 2005, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles.^[54] The version shown at E3 was substantially finished; most of the content was already in the game, lacking only the polish that the final months of development would bring.^[55] Most viewers were impressed by Oblivion's showing, and the game won a number of "best of" awards from a variety of game journalists, among them GameSpy's "RPG Game of Show",^[56] GameSpot's "Best Role-Playing Game",^[57] IGN's "Best PC RPG",^[58] RPGFan's "Overall Game of E3 2005",^[59] and the prestigious "Best Role Playing Game" in the 2005 E3 Game Critics Awards.^[60] A near-final build of Oblivion was shown at Microsoft's Consumer Electronics Show press tent in January 2006, showcasing the game's exteriors.^[61][62] In the months prior to release, anticipation for the game ran high, with critics describing Oblivion as "the first next-gen game" only heightening attention. Pete Hines, vice president of public relations and marketing for Bethesda, said: "People were expecting the game to cure blindness and heal the sick."^[63]

2K Games had aimed for a late 2005 publication so that the game could be an Xbox 360 launch title.^[64] The official release date for the PC and Xbox 360 versions was originally November 22, 2005, but developmental delays pushed it back to March 20, 2006.^[65][66][67] A mobile phone version of the game, developed by Superscape and published by Vir2L Studios, was released on May 2, 2006.^[13] The PlayStation 3 version of the game (ported by 4J Studios) was released on March 20, 2007, in North America^[68] and on April 27, 2007, in Europe.^[69][70] This version includes graphical improvements that had been made since the PC and Xbox 360 release, and was subsequently praised for its enhanced visual appeal.^[71][72] A PlayStation Portable version of the game was also in development before being canceled.^[73]

At the 2007 E3, the Game of the Year edition for Oblivion was announced.^[74] In North America and Europe, the game was released in September 2007, for the Xbox 360 and PC,^[75][76] and in October 2007, for the PS3;^[77] in Australia, it was released in September 2007, for the Xbox 360 and PC, and in December 2007, for the PS3.^[75][78][79] It was also released on Steam on June 16, 2009.^[80] A 5th-anniversary edition of Oblivion was announced and released in North America in July 2011 and in Europe two months later.^[81][82] Xbox 360 and PC versions of Fallout 3 and Oblivion double pack was announced for release in North America on April 3; however, it was not mentioned whether the bundled games include any of the downloadable content released for either game.^[83] Oblivion was also bundled with BioShock as a double pack on Xbox 360 and PC on July 7, 2009.^[84]

Rating change[edit]

On May 3, 2006, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in North America changed Oblivion's rating from T (Teen 13+) to M (Mature 17+), citing game content not considered in the ESRB review, i.e., "the presence in the PC version of the game of a locked-out art file that, if accessed by using an apparently unauthorized third party tool, allows the user to play the game with topless versions of female characters."^[85][86] In response to the new content, the ESRB conducted a review of Oblivion, showing to its reviewers the content originally submitted by Bethesda along with the newly disclosed content.^[87][88]

The ESRB reported that Bethesda Softworks would promptly notify all retailers of the change, issue stickers for retailers and distributors to affix on the product, display the new rating in all following product shipments and marketing, and create a downloadable patch rendering the topless skin inaccessible.^[87] Bethesda complied with the request but disagreed with the ESRB's rationale.^[89] Some retailers began to check for ID before selling Oblivion as a result,^[90] and one California Assemblyman used the event to criticize the ESRB's inefficiency.^[91] Michael Zenke, editor of Slashdot games, remarked on the change's chilling effect, which punished developers for content they did not produce.^[92]

Additional content[edit]

Starting in April 2006, Bethesda released small packages of additional downloadable content (DLC) for the game from their website and over the Xbox Live Marketplace. The first update came as a set of specialized armor for Oblivion's ridable horses; released on April 3, 2006.^[93][94][95] Although gamers generally displayed enthusiasm for the concept of micropayments for downloadable in-game content,^[93][96] many expressed their dissatisfaction at the price they had to pay for the relatively minor horse-armor package on the Internet and elsewhere.^[93] Hines assured the press that Bethesda was not going to respond rashly to customer criticism.^[96] New releases continued into late 2006, at lower prices with more substantial content,^[97][98] leading to a better reception in the gaming press.^[99]