i never played oblivion until the 2020s, which is strange because i've played a lot of morrowind and skyrim. A LOT of morrowind and skyrim. i've never finished the main quests of either but they're still my very favorite open-world mushroom hunting simulators. i frequently find a nice vista in-game as a spot to burn one IRL. i mean to say i approach this series in an extremely laid-back manner. the mushroom hunting isn't a joke either as every single character i make ends up being an alchemist, usually making more money by selling homebrewed potions than by dungeon delving. when i (very recently) saved up for a computer that can run oblivion, i decided to finally give it try. glad i did.
it'll probably take me even longer than in elder scrolls 3 & 5 to complete the main quest because when i got it started, the monastery got wrecked! that's my home! the sleeping situation may be awkward but it's nice having a safe place to stay outside of the city walls. this is like if the gates of morder popped up just down the road from bag end. i reloaded an hours-older save with no regrets. see you later, sean eddard boromir bean.
the high elves in this game do not look like cate blanchett or orlando bloom. not at all. one of these jaundiced tubers with a mullet and a prominent widow's peak slurred out "helllooouuew" like a sloppy pass at my character and i laughed for at least 10 seconds (i had found a pleasant vista not long before). this game is so awkward i find it incredibly endearing. it's all fargoths here. everyone's fargoth. i know this was a huge blockbuster in the 2000s but my brain is having trouble accepting that fact. i mean this as a compliment to the game's idiosyncratic personality.
sure, i miss flying jellyfish and giant mushrooms and brutalist venice and all (guar in morrowind are much scarier than trolls and dragons in skyrim because of their alien unfamilarity) but the rolling hills are very tranquil. there may not be any more levitation spells but i'm having just as much fun jumping really really high while whipping my mouse across the mousepad to see how many spins i can do. i find oblivion's graphics, even today, extremely impressive (character faces and bloom aside). i don't know if i've ever played a game more suited to celtic music (both the traditional style and metal groups like heol telwen & eluveitie). the atmosphere is just so pleasant and i know i can always revisit vvarfendell (and i frequently do). i'm very much enjoying the mage's guild acceptance quest for my potioneer as a slow tour of cyrodil.
i think i appreciate oblivion more playing it after skyrim rather than when it was released, so i know that the future of elder scrolls isn't blinding bloom and extreme level scaling. instead of "the future of rpgs", oblivion is the awkward middle child of the 3d elder scrolls games and it is seriously growing on me more and more each time i play like a weird cousin. (another rpg i didn't play until after it was out for years was fallout: new vegas. i don't mind oblivion being so unlike morrowind knowing that morrowind did indeed get a sequel in f:nv)
final thought: holy shit holy shit holy shit the dialogue persuasion minigame is so completely unhinged. weird faces making weird faces. the obscure learning curve of the minigame. the responses too! wow. when will i stop thinking this is funny? not now, not later, not ever. this game is magic.