Only so often does something so small impact your life so greatly. I'll never know what it was that caught my eye on that cold rainy day at the local Movie Gallery. I had seen it every week for months, a simple case with a lone symbol and just a list of controls on the back. I would have simply picked up another game on that cold day but alas fate brought us together. The only game left and a 3 day weekend on the horizon I made the brash choice of renting it. My friend and I sat down in front of my T.V and I watched as he failed to beat the 1st mission of Lost Planet, soon it would be my turn to play this mysterious game with the cryptic box.

I was met by the voice of Patrick Stewart but skipped over it after my friend declared, " Hunter, this games going to be gay". I nodded, secretly hoping that he was wrong. I created my beloved Redguard ( I had a fascination for creating my self as a black person, even in games like Madden) and set off. Damn! I thought as the walls seemed to close in around me, the game did not appear to allow the freedom I had craved . As I made my way through the dungeon I was sure to run fast and skip all of the dialogue, afterall I didn't want my friend to think that I enjoyed this game, also the first zombie sorta scared the pants of me and I decided I would never go into a dungeon again. I continued along and my hopes seemed to be pulling further and further away, this game truly was linear. I trod along with my dreams of grandeur dashed. But ahoy! A light at the end of the tunnel! I pushed the anolog stick up as fast as I could and at last I was greeted my sweet freedom. The world unfurled before my eyes and I may have begun to tear up if it weren't for the jarring, " C'mon dude" emanating from the chair next to me. I saved quickly and decided that this world was best explored alone. After ensuring I had a file to fall back on I stripped my character down to his skivvies and started leaping around the Imperial isle. I hopped with glee enjoying the scenery and the occasional deer before being killed by an invisible creature. That was it for now, but I was sure to return.

With my friend gone and hours of playtime freed up I started off on my quest. This proved difficult as I didn't know about the journal, how to equip items, how to use magic, what people were friendly and which people wanted to kill me, and last but not least I had a tremendous fear of caves,forts,ruins and Oblivion planes. I played for about 10 hours total over the next three days but the game never really immersed me and so on Monday I returned it to the store. It wasn't long before the call of Cyrodil reached my ears again, I was at Walmart and I purchased the game for 40$. It was in these next few months I became a recluse from my friends. They would attempt to lure me into BF2 matches or GoW co-op sessions but I ignored them . I spent my cold winter mornings and long winter nights drinking Sam's Club Rootbeer and saving the world in triumphant fashion on my way to becoming the head of the FG,MG,Champion of Cyrodil, Arena Grandmaster and many other titles and accolades. I lost interest for a while, but it perked up again with SI and then was pushed back to the middle section of my games rack. Then my Xbox got the RROD. I nearly cried as my heroic days were lost, but it was not time for tears as the adventure could start anew. It was around that time I became a forum member and was giddy with excitement at the ability to talk about the game I loved so dearly. I also was exposed to the style of play known as roleplaying and I used this method to create a new batch of heroes using a new set of rules.

I was adventuring through the mountains one evening ( something I rarely did on my first playthrough, due to having been a fast travel addict) and encountered a beautiful Ayleid ruin at the top that overlooked the IC. It had a huge arched entrance with stone steps leading up the front door. As I took the first step a family of deer scampered across the path and the exploration music of Oblivion started to play. The sun was hitting the ruins at the perfect angle and for the first time in my life I knew exactly what I wanted to do. No, not that. I wanted to create moments like this for others to enjoy. It was this encounter and my love of Oblivion that led me to purchase a powerful gaming PC. It was also this love that led me to spend many an hour sifting through CS tutorials, Blender guides and tailoring the game with hundreds of mods to suit my desires. And yes it was even this love that led me to where I am now, sitting in a dorm room in college where I am studying Game Design and Development, typing on the PC that I was influenced into buying.

I credit Oblivion with extending my gaming palette beyond the reaches of sports games and first person shooters. I credit it with being the first game to ever draw me in so deeply that it consumed my heart and soul. Never has a game had such a lasting impact on me but with Skyrim on the horizon I believe it is time for an honorable send off. It was truly a one of a kind game, one that many of use poured days into, whether we were using our time to create or just recreate it was time well spent. I know I will be proud to state the profound impact this game has had on me as I go into the future. It opened my eyes to the internet community, to artistic endeavors, to fantastic immersion and a gameplay experience like no other. But more importantly it showed me how magical it is when all of these things come together in perfect harmony. So on 11/10/11 I will still be playing Oblivion and a few months later I may return to Cyrodil, but I'll never forget the game that changed it all for me.



Okay as you can tell this is a bit romanticized, a lot of it is true but I also want to put up a disclaimer. That disclaimer is that if you take this too seriously then you shouldn't bother posting. If you've had a game that has impacted you in a similar way please feel free to share but mostly I'm interested in hearing other players respectful farewells to TES IV. Again DONT TAKE THIS AT FACE VALUE, all I'm saying is I've spent close to 1000 hours with the game and that It was a critical point in a long road that led me to wanting to be a game developer.

My first time paying Oblivion was with my cousin and he was already a fan of it. I played that game for hours on his xbox while I could, and then a few months later when I finally had enough money to buy one I got it. I played it on the 360 for hours exploring everything I could (except Ayleid Ruins, for the first hundred hours I played, I was always too chicken to go into one of them). I've played it on and off since late 2006. It wasn't until just this January that I bought it for the PC and it blew me away again with all the mods out for it.

Oh god, if only you could see the look on my face as I read this. I know EXACTLY, precisely what you mean and how you feel. I could have written virtually the same thing (and sadly for the short attention span generation of the internet have the same overly wordy tendency). I am a programmer who has had no luck getting into my industry but who also always knew my dream job would be working in games.

I have always loved games, computer role playing games in particular, since I saw my first computer game, Ultima II on my father's first computer. I was a boy of about 12 in West Germany (father in the Army) and the computer was an old Atari 520 ST that I still have (still works too). I have found and loved many games over the years. All of us have our favored forms of entertainment. Some are movie buffs and have vast collections of movies. My brother is like that. Some enjoy sports. I am a for life gamer. But I also love programming, which is why such a job would be the last I needed.

When I finally returned to college in 2006, I bought my first modern up to date computer in over 12 years (last one was from 96 if I recall correctly). Computer games outrun the current power of each generation of computers in a couple years, even less, so I had lost touch with a decade worth of computer games. My first up to date game was Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach. The first up to date computer game I had played in near on a decade, the first and only MMO I ever played, and a role playing game based on my favorite fantasy world genre all in one. It held me for three years.

I later bought an XBox 360. For a Christmas gift three years ago, I went looking for some XBox games I might be interested in for my family to get as gifts. I saw Oblivion and after realizing that it was that rarity in the fps/sports game dominated console world, an actual deep and open world RPG, I knew it would be on the short list. When I got it and read the manual (I'm one of those), I fell instantly in love with it's character definement and leveling system. It's direct connection to the skills a character uses seemed very precisely definitive and thus much more capable of defining weird or unusual class concepts.

Oddly enough, I was at first put off by of all things the dual thumbstick control system. I played it a while, but only while out in the country where with no internet options, I was unable to play my DDO. This led me to shelve it for most of the following year until sometime a few months before that next Christmas, I got it out after I hit a level with my new concept of a shadow mage character in DDO that the game's run away stat flation and inane hitpoint bell curve really begins to cater primarily to the hack it and slash it dps, dps, more dps crowd that it no longer offered as much fun. They also had little incentive to do more than a semi poor stealth system. I played again and fell head over heels in love with it. I couldn't remember why the seperaion of turning left and right from movement forward and back on different sticks had seemed so offputting.

Well, forums (not this one) and a friend at work all praised this other one I'd never seen, Morrowind, and so as the last year's Christmas gift idea, I had them get me that. I made the mistake of actually tracking down the old XBox (not 360) version though I later wound up buying the PC version anyway. I took a hiatus from Oblivion for a good long while and learned the power of mods. I'm not sure when I came back to Oblivion, but it's been many months, and I had mulled over the idea of buying the PC version solely to get the construction set and learn to use it. I never have used Morrowinds construction set yet, though I might later return to that. I did in the end, and want to get into programming my own mods in a game I can safely say I'm addicted too.

I have no idea how to get in the game industry, but I feel like a very good start is offered by the construction set and the opportunity to try my hand at making my own mods. I am a very good programmer and doubt I'll find it any more difficult to understand than C++ or assembly languages, and in the process will see what elements make up typical game content and how they go together. So yes, absolutely without a doubt, this game has moved me in that sort of major way. As for bidding it farewell, never. I will be spending a lot of time looking under the hood of a beautifully done game that has such amazing potential and loving every minute of it.

That was beautifully written, OP.

I don't feel like I have a farewell for Oblivion but I did pick it up again recently in anticipation of Skyrim because I know I won't be going to back to OB anytime soon once that's out. Having been completely drawn into Morrowind I had high hopes for Oblivion and for the most part it didn't disappoint. I still recall a shiver running down my spine while the camera flew around the IC Tower in the opening sequence and I knew this was going to be something amazing. Little things are still very vivid in my memories like when my little bosmer archer emerged from the sewers sometime in the middle of the night and stared up at the night sky with the twin moons in wonder. Campfires were lit across the lake on the shore so she swam over to see if anyone wanted to be friends. They didn't. She died.

The first Ayleid ruin I was in felt cold and creepy. It was very dark and I could barely see anything. I was sneaking around and out of nowhere something hit me. My heart was pounding and I think I was holding my breath while my character flailed around wildly with a sword, trying to figure out where the unseen enemy was, but hitting nothing. After determining that it was a trap and there were no real monsters, I found a quiet corner and was about to start healing up. Suddenly out of the darkness a skeleton came charging and was closing fast. Already backed up against a wall with nowhere to run and almost no health, my elf flung a small fireball at him hoping it would be enough. The skeleton didn't just die, he didn't just fade away to wherever dead undead things go; no, he exploded in a spectacular fashion, flaming bones flying in every direction and his sword dropped just inches from where my panicked character was waiting for the blow that never came.

So much of the scenery and atmosphere makes me take a moment to just stop and appreciate it. I've spent much time down at the very southern tip of Blackwood watching the sun set or pausing to watch deer go bounding across the road and the sparkly things in Shivering Isles always make me smile. Cheydinhal is my favorite city and for a while I had a character who would go to her home there when it was time to stop gaming for the night, change out of her dungeon raiding gear and into a pretty dress and relax in front of the fire with a bottle of wine. That's where I would save it so when I came back the next day she'd be waiting for me, all rested and ready to go adventuring again. For a while she moved to Shivering Isles and would take a quick swim in the pond outside of the city before going home to host a dinner to some NPCs who came over every evening.

My latest character probably won't have time to be as fully developed as I would have liked, as 11/11 is coming a lot faster than I thought it would, but I expect I'll come back to her at some point. So it's not really farewell, but more like, see you in a while.