

Would we pursue the Thieves Guild? Or maybe test our might in the arena? The thing about Oblivion is there's an abundance of choices, and not a single one is the wrong one. A typical morning would begin in the local tavern, deciding what quest line to push through today. I can honestly only imagine what the smell would have been like for an outsider.įor one whole week, the outside world ceased to be, and a daily routine would see us playing our own saves. What followed was a week of sleep, eat, Oblivion, repeat.

To make it possible, we brought the old TV from downstairs, which must have been about the size of a McDonald's Happy Meal, and had both TVs running Oblivion simultaneously. We made a pact to experience the game together, so we waited until the next available half-term during our school week, said no to homework, shrugged away any responsibilities, and locked ourselves in my room for an entire week. Much like how I was inspired by someone else, me booting up the game, stepping out of the prison tutorial, and soaking in the vast open-world encouraged my best friend to pick up the console and the game after just one sleepover. I'd seen a friend previously play Morrowind, and I was enamoured with it, so obviously I wanted the next entry in the franchise. It all begins not long after the Xbox 360 launch, when I got a console for my birthday along with Oblivion.

The results of this story are entirely my fault and I accept full responsibility - but I still hate you, Oblivion.

It was the first game that got me into the RPG genre and opened my eyes to games past Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. I'm going to throw this out there now before the comment sections become a public roasting - I love Oblivion. It's 15 years to the day that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion hit the Xbox 360, and 15 long years I've held a bitterness towards the game.
