Boogle said:
I've tried and tried to work out why a few PC gamers have this feeling that its a console RPG. Its not all that different from Morrowind.
It has those 'interesting' mini games, that could be for the console. But they're not paticularly consoley. The leveling system is diabolical, but thats certainly not developed for the console, its developed for the mass market and to address the complaints about Morrowind.
Its nice to be egotisical and say you like facts and figures in your RPG and therefore you like 'real RPGs', aka. strict Dungeons and Dragons ruleset on PC. Well, very few commercial RPGs are strict D&D.
Games are moving to the mass market because of rising dev costs. Look at all the support the Wii is getting.
But if it makes you feel better to blame the Xbox 360 for the stuff you didn't like about Oblivion, carry on ahead.
Its not a matter of blaming a console for the game, but more a statement of fact. Oblivion is console orientated in every way. Look at the UI, etc, etc
Bethesda marketed this game as the RPG to end all RPGs on both platforms....yeah right
The hype was ridiculous. I'd even go so far as to say its no more than a fancy tech demo for the 360 but they couldn't even get that right. They had framerate issues and delayed the game several months to keep Microsoft happy by giving them a better performing console version. Not to mention its heavily dependant on middleware. Beth made a big song and dance about the RAI, soil erosion, Speedtree, Facegen etc, which is all very well...but I think they forgot about the actual depth and gameplay, which is what marks a good RPG.
In my house I have 3 consoles and 2 PCs. So I'm no anti-console crusader. Consoles are fun for certain types of games but when it comes to in-depth gaming I play on the PC. And RPGs are where the PC shines. So Oblivion is a missed opportunity imo, a real shame. Not that its a RPG anyway. I consider it an action/adventure game with some token RPG elements thrown in...So you see, many like me are dissapointed they have marketed this game as something it is quite clearly not.
Having said all that though, its still an okay game with a good selection of user made mods, but as previously mentioned it should have been that and a lot more straight out of the box.