whitemithrandir
Erudite
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2004
- Messages
- 1,116
Got the expansion yesterday Finished the main quest this morning. It's hard to review an expansion based solely on the merits of the expansion alone, but here we go. By the way, I beat it in 7 hours.
The tagline for the expansion should have been "If you liked Oblivion, you'll like Shivering Isles". The expansion offers a new land mass, approximately 1/4 the size of Cyrodil, and provides the player with a good variety of questing, exploring, and fighting, and you will do much of that during your stay at the Shivering Isles. First, let's talk about presentation. The Shivering Isles looks nothing short of spectacular, with a much more stylized presentation than the comparatively tolkien-esque landscaping and architecture of Cyrodil. Some players have commented that the Shivering Isles remind them of Morrowind, and for good reason. The local flora and fauna feel absolutely alien in comparison to Cyrodil's sublunary forests and terrestrial animals.
There are no deer in Shivering Isles.
The change in scenery is a refreshing one - and rewards players who are patient with exploring, despite the implemented fast travel. You'll never know what's around the next bend of the road. There are no horses in Shivering Isles, or any sort of mount, but you won't really find yourself wishing you had one, either, as the scenery is varied and stylized enough that you can travel on foot and still find yourself enjoying the scenery.
One of the greatest improvements over Oblivion are the quests. Okay, you're still stuck on a rail when it comes to the main mission, but there's a divergent fork in the rail a few quests down the line. Even though the fork eventually reconverges for the one possible ending, it's still a refresing change of pace and actually makes the player feel like he's more than just an interactive plot advancement device. Some quests even have multiple solutions! The quest narrative are also much improved, with much more detailed presentation of all the elements involved. Unfortunately, even the more potentially complex quests become watered down chug fests thanks to the infamous green arrow. The Shivering Isles makes the player think even LESS by providing an ingame represenative of gamefaq.com. Not to spoil the plot for you, but there's a certain someone you can summon to walk you through each quest in the main quest line, whenever you get stuck and can't seem to locate the green arrow on your compass. It's a nice touch, and it's always good to know that Bethesda took the time and money to implement something to help out those customers who suffer from severe mental retardation.
Another major roleplaying improvement provided in the expansion is to provide the player with some benefits and extra benefits and stuff to do after the completion of the main quest, pertaining to the rank the player achieves by the end of it. It gives the player a sense of accomplishment, and some additional gameplay elements regarding his newfound office. It's a nice touch, and is certainly a step towards the green arrow on the compass of questing for a better roleplaying experience. On the other hand, Shivering Isles has its own share of bad, bland, and sometimes downright horrid quests. There are more than a few instances, especially in the main quest line, where the entire quest is just about you going down to some dungeon, committing genocide, and finding something or some one at the dark end of it all. Sure, Oblivion was filled with those kinds of quests also, and they're fun once in a while, but sometimes it get repetitive. FAST. The expansion does come with a good dose of cool new weapons and armor, which all add quite a refreshing change of pace.
All and all, in the end, Shivering Isles feels like an extra large DLC. It really didn't change or even try to improve the core gameplay elements. It didn't add anything new in terms of new weapon types, mounted combat, or even less horrid looking elf chicks, but hey... If you like Oblivion, you'll like Shivering Isles, and that's that. If you were hoping for some new gameplay elements or an expansion that featured something MORE than just a new landmass, you're going to be disappointed. If you suffer severely from a case of stupidity and find yourself stuck despite the green compass arrow, then you'll be real glad Bethsoft will hold your hand through it all with Mr. summonable walkthrough, which, by the way, I still find damn hilarious.
The tagline for the expansion should have been "If you liked Oblivion, you'll like Shivering Isles". The expansion offers a new land mass, approximately 1/4 the size of Cyrodil, and provides the player with a good variety of questing, exploring, and fighting, and you will do much of that during your stay at the Shivering Isles. First, let's talk about presentation. The Shivering Isles looks nothing short of spectacular, with a much more stylized presentation than the comparatively tolkien-esque landscaping and architecture of Cyrodil. Some players have commented that the Shivering Isles remind them of Morrowind, and for good reason. The local flora and fauna feel absolutely alien in comparison to Cyrodil's sublunary forests and terrestrial animals.
There are no deer in Shivering Isles.
The change in scenery is a refreshing one - and rewards players who are patient with exploring, despite the implemented fast travel. You'll never know what's around the next bend of the road. There are no horses in Shivering Isles, or any sort of mount, but you won't really find yourself wishing you had one, either, as the scenery is varied and stylized enough that you can travel on foot and still find yourself enjoying the scenery.
One of the greatest improvements over Oblivion are the quests. Okay, you're still stuck on a rail when it comes to the main mission, but there's a divergent fork in the rail a few quests down the line. Even though the fork eventually reconverges for the one possible ending, it's still a refresing change of pace and actually makes the player feel like he's more than just an interactive plot advancement device. Some quests even have multiple solutions! The quest narrative are also much improved, with much more detailed presentation of all the elements involved. Unfortunately, even the more potentially complex quests become watered down chug fests thanks to the infamous green arrow. The Shivering Isles makes the player think even LESS by providing an ingame represenative of gamefaq.com. Not to spoil the plot for you, but there's a certain someone you can summon to walk you through each quest in the main quest line, whenever you get stuck and can't seem to locate the green arrow on your compass. It's a nice touch, and it's always good to know that Bethesda took the time and money to implement something to help out those customers who suffer from severe mental retardation.
Another major roleplaying improvement provided in the expansion is to provide the player with some benefits and extra benefits and stuff to do after the completion of the main quest, pertaining to the rank the player achieves by the end of it. It gives the player a sense of accomplishment, and some additional gameplay elements regarding his newfound office. It's a nice touch, and is certainly a step towards the green arrow on the compass of questing for a better roleplaying experience. On the other hand, Shivering Isles has its own share of bad, bland, and sometimes downright horrid quests. There are more than a few instances, especially in the main quest line, where the entire quest is just about you going down to some dungeon, committing genocide, and finding something or some one at the dark end of it all. Sure, Oblivion was filled with those kinds of quests also, and they're fun once in a while, but sometimes it get repetitive. FAST. The expansion does come with a good dose of cool new weapons and armor, which all add quite a refreshing change of pace.
All and all, in the end, Shivering Isles feels like an extra large DLC. It really didn't change or even try to improve the core gameplay elements. It didn't add anything new in terms of new weapon types, mounted combat, or even less horrid looking elf chicks, but hey... If you like Oblivion, you'll like Shivering Isles, and that's that. If you were hoping for some new gameplay elements or an expansion that featured something MORE than just a new landmass, you're going to be disappointed. If you suffer severely from a case of stupidity and find yourself stuck despite the green compass arrow, then you'll be real glad Bethsoft will hold your hand through it all with Mr. summonable walkthrough, which, by the way, I still find damn hilarious.
. 
