PC Games March -- Article Summary

The march issue of the German PC Games magazine featured an 8 page preview of Oblivion, a two page Question&Answer feature and a 5:30 minutes video of Oblivion related material, some of which was already known from the trailer and the E3 demo, and some of which is new. We have written a summary of the video. This page contains a summary of the article and the Q&A. It is not a full translation of the article, but only a gathering of important facts.

System recommendations

The PC Games reviewers played the game on machine with an AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 processor with one GByte of RAM and a NVidia GeForec 7800 GT. They were suprised the game worked so well with "only" 1 GByte of RAM, remarking that loading times between areas were almost non-existant even with that amount.

We've already heard that there are supposed to be several ways to get the game to perform well on lower-end hardware. According to the article, there are controls to regulate the view distance for grass, trees and characters (not sure about that, wording in article is ambiguous), and shadows can be enabled or disabled.

In the Q&A, the reviewers also speculate on what might be required to play Oblivion, based on their experiences with the aforementioned machine:

Note: By now, Bethesda Softworks has published official System Requirements and Recommendations

Recommended (lower end):

• Video: GeForce 6800 GS or equivalent w/ 256 MB
• CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ or equivalent
• RAM: 1 GByte

Recommended (high end):

• Video: GeForce 7800 GTX or equivalent w/ 256 MB
• CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ or equivalent
• RAM: 2 GByte

Now, please keep in mind these recommendations are not official. Also, one Bethesda Softworks employee had this to say:

Pete might beat me up for posting here, but I will say this without giving out any real info....

I have one of the oldest systems here at work. Its about 4 years old and has only had minor upgrades since then. I tested today with EVERYTHING turned on and maxed out. I didnt think it would do it, but it worked. And yes, it was higher than 1024x768 on a fairly dated card. Extremely beautiful. I do recommend something better than what I have here for "complete" enjoyment, but by knocking down some of the bells and whistles (and there are MANY options to play with), it is still a great time while being pretty.

I would love to share my actual system specs with you all to compare, but that is a no go. Hopefully, you can take my word for it with what I COULD tell you, so that you know that you dont have to get a 2nd job flipping burgers just to buy new gear. New gear helps and allows Oblivion to shine in 100% of it's visual glamour, but lower specs dont mean you cant enjoy it and have a lot of goods at the same time.

Relax, you all will still be surprised. I am still in awe that it can run as well is it does and still look insanely beautiful.

Game stability

The two reviewers of PC Games write that they had various problems playing the game: one had the game crash right in the first dungeon, the other couldn't do a number of quests because going to a certain place made the game crash all the time. It would appear that Oblivion may stay true to the Elder Scrolls motto of "save often, save early".

On the other hand, the two were playing a build from December, and bugs are removed every day. So the game we will play at some point in the future may be a lot less buggy. Here's hoping it will :)

Screenshots

Page 1
#1. On the first page we see a large life-like Imperial, dressed in what appears to be a previously unseen type of armor. It's metallic, has a red, coppery shine to it (though that could be an effect) and has ornate decorations over the whole of it. If I were to compare it to anything, I'd say similar to ancient greek helmets and pauldrons, with the bottom of the helmet falling just over the top of the cuirass, and the shoulder sides of the pauldrons standing up.
#2. In the background we see a picture of what appears to be a small creek, surrounded by low hills, and the most striking of the picture is the sight of a small waterfall in the background. There are three flows of water to it, the first two ending in small basins and the third ending in the creek itself. Around it some trees, and at the very back we get a nice view of the distant trees - even the clouds and sun in the sky. If the distance in which we can see in the game proves to be anything like this, it will be amazing.

Page 2
#3. The first picture on this page shows us a scene that is possibly straight from Thief. A dark gloomy room, appearing to be inside a mausoleum or ruin or such judging by the mold growing on the stones and the state of disrepair it's in, with two braziers hanging from the ceiling, and the back of what appears to be a player character. I will not speculate about the race as it's really near impossible to make out. He's got a bow in his left hand, and on his back, he has a quiver full of arrows.
#4. Here we're looking through the eyes of the player character, watching as a painter sitting on a wharf, painting the view in the distance: a lighthouse with a small house beside it. We can actually see a detailed painting of the lighthouse and house as the painter draws them. To the left we see part of a ship in the wharf, and beyond it what appears to be a castle of sorts - pherhaps belonging to the lords of this town? We can also clearly see in the bottom left of our vision the three bars that determine your health, magicka and fatigue; beside it a fist which would indicate the weapon you have equipped; and next to it on the right side, the figure of a head. And right beside that the often critisized compass - and i can assure you, you'd almost need a magnifying glass to see anything on it; it's really not that large - the same size as the three stats bars combined.
#5. On the lower left we see a picture of an imperial soldier riding on horseback during the night. Rain is pouring down on him and he's carrying a torch. He's riding along a lake and beside him we can clearly see some waterplants (reeds) and two large trees.
#6. Below the rider, we have a city picture of an imperial lady standing in front of a building with a sign. The sign has a moon and three stars on it, indicating it might be an inn where one can rest. Behind it we see part of another building, this one showing at least three different types of ceilings, one is a green domed ceiling, the second a ceiling somewhat like the ones we had in the Mournhold mansions in Tribunal and the third a roof, round at the bottom and pointed at the end.

Page 3
#7. At the top left of this page we have a picture of two of the blades bodyguards of Uriel Septim, indicating this is a scene straight from the character creation sequence before getting out of the dungeon. Armed in Imperial armor, closely resembling that of ancient roman legionnairs, with golden buttons at the front - one carries a one handed blade and the second one, who appears to be speaking to you, has in his left hand a round, studded shield. The legionnair with the blade is walking between two large pillars and seems to be investigating some disturbance or another.
#8. At the center of the top of the page we see a long distance view of the Imperial city. On the left we see the actual city, with several large towers. And on the right is a smaller circular compound - perhaps a large entry way into the city?
#9. And on the top right, we see what appears to be the inside of a house; an imperial lady standing at the front looking at you; and behind her a numer of things, a stone fireplace, two chairs, a table and a cabinet filled with some books. The room appears to be lighted only by the fireplace and two candles standing on top of the table, casting a lifelike glow over the face of the woman.
#10. At the bottom left of the page we see one of the gates into Oblivion, casting it's now familair red light over the area surrounding it. Beside it several large pointed tusks pointing towards the gate and on the right side, a clannfear. It appears to be the same picture as this one: Oblivion Gate
#11. And on the bottom right picture we see the player weilding a spiked club, (note; we can actually see the hand weilding it) and facing him a Khajiit dressed in fur armor (no pun intended), weilding an axe. in the background on the left side we see some snow topped mountains, and on the right side a trail leading up to one of the Elven ruins discussed by the developers.

Page 4
#12. Here we see the player being assaulted by two creatures. It appears to be this picture: Player Assaulted
#13. On the top right of the page here we see a picture of a spriggan attacking the player, who in turn is weilding what appears to be an imperial broadsword. This scene takes place in the middle of a forest, and just beyond the spriggan you can clearly see some Elven ruins.
#14. Here we see another imperial male, up close - we can definitely make out his facial features which look more then a little lifelike. He's wearing what appears to be Imperial chainmail armor. In the background we see a low stone wall, as you would see surrounding an estate and poles - pherhaps used as ancient lanternposts?
#15. We find ourselves inside the ruined city of Kvatch, surrounded by torched and destroyed buildings, with a fire burning in the distance, and a daedroth coming at us, launching a fireball from it's mouth.

Page 5
#16. Across most of the page here is a large picture, of one of the squares inside the Imperial city of Cyrodiil. We can clearly see:
- An officer of the city watch
- Several citizens, either going somewhere or conversing with one another.
- The Tiber Septim Hotel, featuring a sign showing a half moon and two stars, described by the subscript on the page as the "sign for adventurers to find a bed inside"
- In the very center of the picture, a giant statue of Akatosh, Dragon god of time and one of the Nine divines, or Aedra.
- In the background on the right we see part of the white gold tower of Cyrodiil, being the biggest building in Cyrodiil and containing antiques of the ancient Ayleids.
- Above the scene we see one of the two moons of Tamriel; on the left side we see the top of a mountain, and a very nice view of the sky.
#17. Here we see this picture: Skeletons attack the player.
#18. And at the bottom right here we see the picture of an ideallic life, and to the left a wooden bridge across a lake, leading to several buildings, and in the background a large cathedral. Surrounding this we can see mountain ranges on all sides. And between the buildings and well, we see trees and plants - definitely a place I'd like to call home.

Page 6
#19. At the bottom left here we see a picture of a wharf. Two boats lying in dock, on the left another hostel and several people walking about. In the background a castle, shaped very much like the castle in Picture #4, making me wonder if this might not be the other side of what we saw in that picture.
#20. At the bottom right here we see a part of the character generation process up close. On the left side there is a menu, looking like a page from a book with several indicators. At the top the name of the character, below it the race, below that an option to change the face, below it an option to change the hair - or in this case the fins as the character is an Argonian. Beneath it, there's an option to change the eyes, and then two sliders - one for age and one for complexion. To the right of this is the up close face of an Argonian just created using this generation process.

Page 8
#21. The page opens to a view of an Ogre coming after the player. The player appears to be going after him with a small one handed axe - let's hope he makes it out of that alive shall we. The sub script of the picture notes by the way that the higher the level you are, the higher the level of the creatures facing you will be.
#22. And below our valiant Ogre slaying antics, we're looking up at the tallest side of a cathedral. This really puts the sizes into perspective as you really feel dwarved pearing up at the top which seems to be reaching straight into the heavens.

Page 9
#23. At the bottom left here we see a picture of a female Khajiit called Talasma, standing inside one of the many taverns in the world - this one called The Oak and Crosier. In the background some barrels which could contain one of many drinks available and some tables with mugs on them. On the wall even a picture of a cathedral, nicely framed and all.
#24. And next to our lovely Talasma we see another inventory shot of a character, similar to the ones we've already seen in Daedric, Dwemer and Ebony - the difference here however is that it shows an Orc in Orcish armor. The armor has undergone quite a makeover from it's Morrowind days, now looking more oriental styled then what it used to be. Don't worry, we're not talking about last of the samurai oriental here, but you'll understand when you see it.

Page 10
#25. At the bottom left here we see yet another small lake. Surrounded this time by lowland, and slowly becoming hills and even mountains are shown not too far away. (though I've got a feeling distances can be deceiving in this game.) Around the lake we see the usual types of plants, trees and rocks.
#26. The last picture of the article shows us the insides of some long lost catacombs - we can see quite a ways into the distance, and notice the entire room has an arched ceiling. Right in front of us though we see a man of some sort in black armor, swinging a nasty looking blade at us. He appears to be wearing a helmet, part of which is a metal mask.