The version of the game I'm using comes with a few additional extra pets and items, which are delivered by mail. I don't feel filled with confidence by this early dip in TESO's production value. It's a small point, ultimately, but a strong first impression is important in a game this hotly anticipated. But I'm genuinely taken aback by how different it sounds, given that I'd been listening to the character only minutes earlier. It could be him, I suppose-the difference could be down to recording the dialogue at a later time. It was obviously necessary to record some new dialogue to reflect the change in starting location, and whoever does the voice of the prophet for this particular conversation really, really doesn't sound like Michael Gambon. When you wake, you're visited by the prophet who appears to tell you what to do next. I understand this decision on paper, but its execution causes problems. Bethesda have tweaked the system to speed up TESO's pace: now, you begin in a house in your faction's capital city with the option to go and do those beginning quests if you desire. In the beta, leaving Coldharbour deposited you on one of three starting islands depending on your choice of faction. I'm glad to get to the portal that leads to Tamriel proper. It's supposed to be Tamriel's dark mirror, but there's little to differentiate it from any other gothic fantasy dungeon. You're told that you're taking part in a mass slave uprising but most everybody else you see is hovering around like it's no big deal. There's something off about the pace-you're asked to believe that you're the key to solving a world-ending crisis but given no sense of what that really means. I never thought I'd say this about the game, but Oblivion had more convincing people. This isn't helped by very rudimentary facial animation, which traps acting talent behind a looping range of unblinking gurns. Bethesda's casting budget carpet-bombs the sequence in a way that is honestly very distracting: rather than be drawn into this world and its characters, I find myself wondering instead about how much it all must have cost. There's an early cameo by John Cleese, too, playing a quote-unquote "wacky" prisoner of Coldharbour who serves to direct you from one corridor to another. In this sequence you are introduced to a nord warrior called Lyris, played by Jennifer Hale, and a mysterious prophet played by Michael Gambon. I zoom out to an over-the-shoulder view and stay there. There's very little sense of connection, and the red shapes used to telegraph enemy attacks are much easier to see with the camera pulled back. ![]() That said, I remain pretty unconvinced by the game's first-person mode. It's still weak compared to Skyrim, but it's better than it was. Fighting has been improved since the beta: weapon blows seem to be emphasised more in the audio mix, and you can no longer clip freely through any other characters. ![]() After collecting my weapons of choice-a sword and shield-I'm taught combat by battering a few skeletons. TESO's tutorial section has you escape from prison in Coldharbour, a very very grey plane of Oblivion presided over by Molag Bal, the game's daedric antagonist.
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