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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered · The Long and Short of It

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Thanks for checking out the Long and Short of It podcast.
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You can find us on all good podcast platforms.
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We hope you enjoy the show. Hello and welcome to the Long
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and Short of It, the podcast where we discuss each of the
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games on the Open Critic Top 100 list.
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My name is Lawrence and I'm joined by.
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This is Dan, welcome to the podcast.
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Welcome back. It's been a few weeks.
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I can't what was the last game that we did the Crimson
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diamonds? So it's it's been a hot minutes.
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How are you? Are you well?
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I'm OK, yes. Yeah, been a long day as usual.
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It's always a hard day. The days don't get any shorter.
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They don't. They don't know they.
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Yeah. Long, long day.
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When was the last time you think we opened a podcast and didn't
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say long day? Tired.
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That's never, never. Yeah, 2019 before the podcast
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even started. That's that's the last time that
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happened. Yes, but no.
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No, I'm good. How are you?
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Wonderful yes I'm very well I going to be recording this I'm
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going to be editing it and then watching some football this
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evening so that's very exciting isn't it lovely yes it's a
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wonderful Wednesday Eve somewhat is it yes it is Wednesday yes
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but yeah it's been it's been a few weeks since we recorded we
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you've changed up the the order of games that we were going to
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be doing a couple of times and we decided to jump on this one
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it isn't actually in the open critic top 100 list but it's I
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suppose you call it predecessor was in the met critic top 100
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so. It's sort of a bonus game, isn't
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it? Yeah, to to some extent.
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So we're talking about a very, very new release.
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It actually came out at time of recording.
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It came out last month, so today we're going to be discussing
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Oblivion Remastered. Now to anyone that's been
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listening long enough or is familiar with the podcast, we
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actually covered Oblivion in the 1st 50 games when we when we
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started this podcast. So we discussed Oblivion in the
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29th of April 2021. So just over 4 years ago we
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talked about Oblivion. I was listening.
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Yes, that long ago. Wow.
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I was, I was actually listening to the episode earlier.
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Disbelief. Yeah, it is.
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It doesn't feel that long ago. And I mean, I, I tend to like
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when we put the episodes out, either you or me will edit them.
2:49
And then after the edit, it's rare that I go back to listen to
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episodes unless I go back. Ever done it?
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Yeah, unless I go back for a specific reason, I don't tend to
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go back. But I thought it would be
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interesting to go back and listen to this one.
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Yeah. Any revelations?
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No, not really. I think at the start of that
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episode we both mentioned that we were tired.
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So nothing's changed. Yes, nothing's changed in these
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these four years that have passed since then.
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But no. And I mean, this will kind of be
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a different tempo, I suppose, today because we've already
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talked about Oblivion. Yeah, we've already talked about
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the story. This is kind of a bit of an
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update, I suppose. And we're, funnily enough, we're
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actually going to be doing another one of these kind of
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episodes, I think, in the next month or so, aren't we?
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For another remaster. So we're going to kind of, are
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we? Well, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we
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are. Yeah, yeah.
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So. Just you forgot that, didn't
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you? What you're talking about?
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But yeah, so Oblivion Remastered, it was kind of
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shadow dropped like I said about a month ago at time of
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recording. So Oblivion, well, I'll give it
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its full title, The Elder Scrolls 4.
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Oblivion Remastered released on April 22nd, 2025 on PC, Xbox
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Series X/S and PlayStation 5. Now, on the open critic list, I
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mentioned that this game, it isn't in the top 100.
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It's kind of a bonus. So most of the top 100 games
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have an open critics score. I was about to say meta score,
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an open critics score of 92 to 90.
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That's the top 100 games. This one has an average critic
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review of 82. Three.
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Yeah, it's got 1.3, so it's quite far off the top 180. 2 did
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you say? Sorry.
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Yeah, 82, OK, which is a bit lower than I thought it would
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be, to be honest with you, but also it does make sense and
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we'll probably come on to that in a bit.
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So yeah, it was released last month and developed, but kind of
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joint developed by, obviously Bethesda, who developed the
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original Oblivion, but they also had help by a company called
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Virtuos who did the technical overhaul.
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So they rebuilt the game in Unreal Engine 5 to update the
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the visuals, the lighting, the animations, and Bethesda
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provided the direction and the oversight.
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So it was kind of a joint venture, but Virtuos are the
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company that did Dark Souls Remastered when the PS5
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originally came out. So they've got experience in
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this kind of thing. And I think it was probably the
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right decision by Bethesda to not pass it all to Virtuos, but
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to still have the creative control.
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Because as we've seen, when games just get remastered or
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redeveloped by another company that has no ties to the original
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game, you get stuff like the Grand Theft Auto Remastered
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trilogy, which obviously Grove St games somewhat butchered.
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So yeah, it it's a joint venture, I suppose, on this one.
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So First off, did you have any inkling that this game was
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coming or that it was coming out?
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I. Think, I think a couple of
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weeks, maybe to a month before it happened, there were
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rumblings on the video game websites.
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There are rumblings on YouTube of an Oblivion remaster.
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And I believe we we may have been aware that something was
6:53
coming for even longer. But yeah, these sort of
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rumblings started to gain traction in the last couple of
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months. So, and I believe that a day or
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so before it was announced, it was leaked, as in the
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information was leaked that this was coming on this day at this
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time. So yeah, I knew it was coming.
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Didn't know what form it was going to take.
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Had no, yeah. I mean, how do you remaster
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Oblivion? It's it's quite a tough question
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really. And in that way, I suppose I had
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no idea what to expect. Was it going to be a full blown
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thing in terms of gameplay? Was it going to be graphical
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remaster or was it going to be something different?
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And obviously we know what we've got.
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And yeah, I'd say it's quite a safe remaster.
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Yeah, I mean, I I'd heard a couple of things as well, and
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you'd mentioned it to me once or twice, but it wasn't anything
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that I was really keeping tabs on.
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And then I think you sent me a message basically saying that
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Oblivion Remaster had come out just completely out of the blue.
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Yeah, I think I sent you that trailer, didn't I?
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Yeah, which is very unusual for games these days.
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And you do see companies releasing bits and bobs when
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things get leaked. Obviously the first trailer for
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GTA 6 was dropped ahead of time because it was leaked and
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Rockstar wanted to get ahead of it.
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So you do see this kind of thing happening sometimes, but it
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isn't very common. And for a game from a company
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like Bethesda, from a series like The Elder Scrolls to just
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kind of be shadow dropped, I think it's quite maybe shocking
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isn't the correct word, but it very unexpected, you know, like.
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I think it shows a level of confidence and I also think
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there was obviously GTA 6 was supposed to be released this
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year, yeah. And push back a year, hasn't it?
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And it has been pushed back. And there were kind of rumours
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that developers were steering clear of the GTA6 launch.
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So maybe it was that Bethesda felt that this was the best way
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to just drop it in quite quiet period and let it kind of grow
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on its own. And I think it did.
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For a good few weeks after this game came out, maybe even
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arguably until now, people were talking about Oblivion again as
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if it was the year 2004. Yeah, so it was a it was a bold
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move. It showed a level of confidence,
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but I'm sure it paid off in dividends for them.
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Yeah, I think that it's made a lot of money and.
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On that horse armour. On that damn horse armour, the
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the first ever little but what they bloody called add-ons, DLC,
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microtransactions, DLC, yeah, horse armour, which luckily
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comes as a standard in in this version.
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But one of the things that Bethesda hasn't done at this
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time is I don't think they've released a physical copy of this
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game at the moment. It is just digital.
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So one of our features is obviously the back of the box
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that we implemented a few months ago.
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So there isn't a back of the box here, but there is the the the
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little bio from the what would be on the back of the box that I
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can get off the PlayStation Store.
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So back of the box in this case or the bottom of the website.
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The Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion Remastered modernises the 2006
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game of the year with all new stunning visuals and refined
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gameplay. Explore the vast landscape of
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Cyrodill like never before and stop the forces of of Oblivion
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from overtaking the land in one of the greatest RPGs ever.
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From the award-winning Bethesda Game Studios.
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Rediscover Cyridal and journey through the rich world of
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Tamriel and battle across the plains of Oblivion, where
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handcrafted details have been meticulously recreated to ensure
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each moment of exploration is awe inspiring.
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From the noble warrior to the sinister assassin, wizard,
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sorcerer or scrappy blacksmith. Forge your path and play the way
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that you want. And then it goes on to complete
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story, DLC stuff, blah blah blah.
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So it raises a good point here that this is a completely
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remastered modernisation of the game of the year from 2006.
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Yeah, 2006, not 2004, apologies. It's alright.
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When you said 2004, I thought you might have meant maybe that
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was when it was announced. Perhaps.
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But yeah, the original, yeah, same.
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But yeah, Oblivion originally came out in O 6, followed up
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then by Skyrim in 2011. And we, we made a joke in our
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Oblivion episode that you could play Oblivion now wherever you
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could play it on a scientific calculator, I think you said, on
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pen and paper on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360.
12:14
And funnily enough, in that episode, we talk about where we
12:18
played this game. And I mentioned that I played
12:21
when we went back to play Oblivion four years ago, I
12:24
played it on the Xbox because to me, that's where it feels most
12:27
normal to play a Bethesda game, because that's where I think I
12:31
played it for the first time on my Xbox 360 Arcade.
12:36
And I, I made a, a comment in that episode saying when the
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next Elder Scrolls game comes out, whenever that is, I'll
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probably play that on the Xbox as well because that feels like
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the most normal. And Fast forward to now, I'm
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pretty sure that when we played Skyrim for the podcast, I played
12:51
that on the PlayStation. I played Oblivion remastered on
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the PlayStation and it's rare that I turn my Xbox on anymore.
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But where did you play this? I.
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Played this on Xbox. SO I suppose the back story here
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is that you had bought the game and suggested that we do it as
13:13
the next episode. And I said, OK, yeah, I'm
13:17
willing to dive in with that. But what I was not willing to do
13:20
was pay through the year when I do pay for Game Pass.
13:26
And I wanted to get my value from that.
13:28
So I, I played it on my Series X downloaded, it took quite a
13:33
while to download. And yes, that's where I played
13:37
it. There were, there were a couple
13:40
of of freezes or not freezes, but it kind of booted me back to
13:46
the menu a couple of times. So there's a, there's a few
13:49
stability issues with this game when when we played it, but they
13:53
may have been ironed out now. But yeah, it was a good way to
13:57
play. Yeah, I, like I said, I played
14:00
this on the PS5 just because that's my my console of choice
14:03
these days really. And obviously we'll we'll talk a
14:07
lot about the visuals and the upgrades to this game because
14:12
like we say, virtuos have rebuilt this game and Unreal
14:15
Engine 5. So it does look night and day
14:18
compared to the original. And I think that one of my big
14:21
complaints when we played Skyrim for the podcast, the thing that
14:26
put me off the most about it is how poorly that game is aged in
14:29
terms of its visuals, particularly the characters.
14:33
And that now has mostly been kind of remedied.
14:38
And I think the thing I was quite harsh on Oblivion when we
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played it four years ago. Yeah.
14:45
And I think that the thing that's nice about this remaster
14:50
and this release is that for people that maybe played Skyrim
14:55
when they were quite young, I mean, when Skyrim came out, you
14:58
and me were in our our early 20s.
15:00
In fact, I think I'd only just turned 20 when Skyrim came out.
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But a lot of people that are younger than us, that would have
15:08
been their first Elder Scrolls game, they wouldn't have played
15:11
Oblivion. And I feel that the gate to get
15:16
into Oblivion, if you'll pardon the Oblivion gate pun there, but
15:20
the gate to get into oblivion for those players was probably
15:24
maybe a bit much because it hasn't aged well and it does
15:28
look quite bad these days in comparison to other games from
15:30
2006. And I think the good thing about
15:34
this release is that it does make it very accessible and
15:37
quite appealing to people who've maybe never played this game
15:40
before. Because like I said, I was harsh
15:43
to Oblivion in our 2021 episode. But kind of looking back on it
15:49
now and playing it again, it is a good game and there's a lot to
15:53
really like in it. And I think that I was very much
15:57
put off just by how aged Oblivion.
16:03
Yeah. And that's the thing, isn't it?
16:05
That's the real thing. Yeah.
16:08
So like we said, we're not going to kind of delve too much into
16:12
the story in this episode if if you want a bit more info on
16:15
that, might be worth going back four years to listen to us when
16:18
we were younger and full of beans talking about oblivion and
16:23
for me, slagging off a bit. But do you want to give us a
16:27
very, very basic rundown of what the story is in this game just
16:30
so that we've got it here for for record?
16:33
Yeah, so. You are unnamed prisoner and you
16:40
get to create your own character and you are in the Imperial City
16:45
Prisons prison and the emperor comes down to visit you.
16:52
And good old Patrick. Stewart's good old Patrick
16:55
Stewart. Yep, friend of the podcast he
16:58
is. Along with Sean Bean.
17:00
Yeah, yeah, Friends of the podcast.
17:03
Yep, we know them. Yeah.
17:05
So, so they come through yourself because they, the,
17:08
basically there's been an attack on the emperor that that
17:12
threatens his life. So he comes down through the
17:16
prison to use a passageway to escape the area which lies in
17:22
your cell. So by virtue, you kind of,
17:28
you're able to escape alongside the prisoner, the Emperor and
17:32
his guards about, I don't know, 20 minutes in, the Emperor is
17:39
killed by an assassin, but he gives you the Amulet of Kings
17:45
and he tells you to go see Joffrey in Wayne on Priory.
17:50
So you go to Wayne on Priory after you leave the dungeons and
17:55
you see Joffrey, and then he tells you about an heir to the
17:58
throne that no one knows about, called Martin, played by the
18:02
lovely Sean Bean. Then you go find Sean Bean.
18:07
And then really the rest of the game is about how you are trying
18:11
to prevent the end of the world, which really was why the emperor
18:18
was killed, and prevent the rise of or, or the return of a, a
18:24
demon or a God to the the world. And you're also trying to bring
18:31
Martin back to the throne and yeah, defeat the threats of the
18:36
Oblivion Gates and Meriden's day gone.
18:41
Yes, some might say that you're you're attempting to to make the
18:46
return of the king. Yes.
18:49
But I suppose I'm emperor in this, this, this LMBA.
18:53
It's, it's a, it's a save the world story, isn't it?
18:57
And it's, it's the same with all of the The Elder Scrolls game.
19:02
You're special and it's your job to fix everything.
19:07
Really. Yeah.
19:09
When I, when I was kind of reading off that very quick
19:14
summary kind of reminded me, we've watched Game of Thrones
19:17
not too long ago. And obviously there's certain
19:20
character name is Joffrey that are in common between those two
19:24
things. But there's also the whole thing
19:27
of heirs to the throne that have not been or are not officially
19:32
heirs to the throne. So yeah, different bloodlines.
19:35
And it's it's well trodden fantasy territory, isn't it?
19:40
Yeah, it is. And you know, I think for the
19:45
people that are well into your Game of Thrones and search and
19:48
Sean. Bean too.
19:49
And, and people that are into Sean Bean too, of course, this
19:54
really is a game that I think is designed for people that are
19:57
like into those like the whole fantasy thing that people like
20:01
about Skyrim, etcetera. But this does feel like very
20:04
much oh, if you like Game of Thrones, you'll probably like
20:07
Oblivion. Generic sort of fantasy, isn't
20:11
it? High fantasy stuff.
20:13
It is, and yeah, I feel that now that it's a lot more accessible,
20:20
so many more people are going to be able to enjoy this because
20:23
the story isn't really where it's at with this game.
20:24
I think the story is average, and I think that, to be honest,
20:30
the story in Skyrim is relatively average as well.
20:33
They're OK, but it's all the stuff that you decide to do
20:37
between the main story that really makes these games and the
20:41
side quests and the different guilds that you can join, or if
20:44
you want to go in the Dark Brotherhood or the Fighters
20:47
Guild, or kind of making up your own thing as you go along.
20:52
But that brings us quite nicely onto gameplay as King.
20:55
So do you think that Oblivion Remastered is fun to play?
21:01
I suppose this is where I kind of reveal my hand in terms of
21:05
this game. Now, when you said that we
21:08
played this four years ago, I was surprised.
21:10
And I feel like we played this two years ago.
21:13
Yeah, I know that's how it feels.
21:15
And I said to you that when we played it last, I did a Really.
21:20
You were very thorough. Weren't you?
21:21
Yeah, a really deep play through.
21:23
So I did most if not all the guilds, maybe with the exception
21:27
of the majors Guild, and I did lots of side quests and
21:33
obviously the main story and I really kind of dabbled with the
21:37
stories and the systems available within the game.
21:40
Yeah, it was. I suppose in a way it was sort
21:43
of like a farewell to oblivion that I did in that.
21:47
Yeah, you weren't expecting to play it again, were you?
21:50
No. And, and when, when, when I
21:54
started playing this, I think once the initial novelty of it
21:57
having a new coat of paint wore off, it was, it felt too
22:04
familiar. And I, I think we've had a bit
22:10
of a role reversal here because I, I struggled to get through
22:13
this and I was really trying to get through the main story and I
22:17
did, but I found it to be a chore and I didn't want to be
22:22
playing it. And I've got a lot of history
22:25
with Oblivion and. You prefer Oblivion to Skyrim as
22:28
well? Don't.
22:29
You I do, and I still prefer the world of Oblivion to Skyrim.
22:33
And I I wasn't bowled over by Skyrim either.
22:38
But yeah, it just, I think if I was going to return to Oblivion,
22:44
I'd need a lot longer and and I think I've probably killed my
22:49
appetite to return to it ever again.
22:52
I have this thing where like when when we play games,
22:55
especially when you do repeat play throughs of games, like if
23:01
you play a game once every few years or longer, you're only
23:04
going to, this is really morbid. You're only going to play that
23:07
game like a handful of times again before you die.
23:12
Right. So things like, let's say some
23:15
of the best games that the game that you really love, Mesal Gear
23:19
Solid 3, you're only going to play that handful of times more
23:23
unless you do the old Christopher Lee thing of reading
23:26
The Lord of the Rings every single year.
23:30
You've only got that certain number of playthroughs left.
23:33
But I feel like with Oblivion, I, I don't want any more
23:37
playthroughs. That's it, I'm done.
23:39
You've done it now. There you go, That was a nice
23:41
tangent to go on. No, I, I get it.
23:44
And I mean, to be honest, I'd never played the any of the DLC.
23:49
So the fact that the Shivering Aisles is in here, I messed
23:53
about with that for a little bit.
23:54
I just kind of happened across the the entrance to the
23:57
Shivering Aisles and went in there and I didn't stand there
24:00
long. But there's some stuff in this
24:03
game this time around that I did that I've not done before.
24:08
I did the arena, yeah. So I always do the arena.
24:12
But previously, I've never done the the optional thing that you
24:16
can do for the the great Prince where you go to his family home
24:21
and find out he's a vampire and he killed his dad.
24:23
And then when you tell him that he just kind of submits to you
24:26
in the arena. I've not done that before.
24:29
And it's called. Yeah.
24:31
And I think that the fact that this is a lot more aesthetically
24:36
pleasing made me want to play it more.
24:39
Yeah, because I I do think this game is fun and I think you can
24:44
quite easily lose yourself in it, as did I.
24:46
And one of the big things that I am, I complained about four
24:49
years ago was the Oblivion Gates, and you mentioned as well
24:53
that you weren't a big fan of them.
24:56
Yeah, but I think this time they are quite samey, but because of
25:01
how good they look and I don't know, but it felt so.
25:09
Just just to cut in and in terms of the fun aspect, I think
25:15
probably my appraisal wasn't wasn't very fair there.
25:18
This game is better to play. So that may be partially the
25:22
reason why you enjoy doing the Oblivion Gates more, because the
25:25
combat has seen a decent overhaul, hasn't it?
25:29
Big time. Yeah.
25:31
And it feels less like the hits that you make feel like they're
25:36
less by chance if it's still got the old combat mechanisms that
25:41
had before. But it feels like it's updated a
25:43
bit more in line with a game like Skyrim, which is a lot
25:47
easier to pick up and play. So the next question in Gameplay
25:52
is King comes from. We have three or four options
25:57
usually. But what I'll ask this time is
25:59
if you could change one thing about the gameplay, what would
26:01
it be? Because they've made tweaks here
26:03
and there, but what would you change about the gameplay if you
26:05
could? It's a tough one.
26:13
What would you say? And then I will give an answer.
26:18
To be honest with you, I unhelpfully, I can't think of
26:23
anything that would need to be changed because I think they've
26:25
kept a lot of the the skeleton of what was there before, which
26:29
was fine and perfectly serviceable, but they've just
26:34
enhanced it slightly. One of the things that I will
26:36
say, though, that I feel that they could have done with this
26:39
remaster that they didn't, or at least the time of recording they
26:42
didn't. They might, you know, bring out
26:43
some updates or a patch or something later to do it.
26:46
But when the original came out in 2006, like this game came out
26:51
on the Xbox 360 in the in the PS3.
26:53
So it's not like it was super limited by the technology, but
26:57
in comparison to today, very limited.
27:00
And when you do the final kind of battle, I suppose with with
27:06
the the Daedra coming out of the Oblivion gates, it's supposed to
27:11
feel like it's really big epic war.
27:12
Similar to like when you storm Winterhold or something in
27:16
Skyrim and you're supposed to be surrounded by like an army of
27:19
people. But because the game came out in
27:21
2006, there's probably about 8 of you there, and it doesn't
27:26
really feel as epic in scale as they're trying to make it seem.
27:30
Yeah. And, and I think that they could
27:33
have done something with that. You're working on a console
27:37
that's two generations ahead of the one that it was originally
27:40
designed for, and you're making changes anyway.
27:42
Why not just do that little bit extra to make it feel as epic as
27:48
you originally wanted it to be? Because I don't think anyone
27:50
would have complained about changes in gameplay of that kind
27:52
of ilk. You know, yeah.
27:56
So I will answer the question in a moment, but I think it's
28:01
probably worth, I don't think we've actually detailed what
28:05
sort of remaster it is. So fundamentally what what has
28:10
changed and what hasn't. So it might be good to just
28:13
touch on that quickly and then I will answer the question.
28:16
Yeah, I mean, they've they've kind of changed some of the
28:21
gameplay and tweaked it to to make it better.
28:24
But I think a lot of what they've done with this remaster
28:28
is is is upscaled the the world. Like we say, Virtuoso have
28:36
redesigned this game to be an Unreal Engine 5.
28:39
So aesthetically it doesn't look like a completely different
28:43
game, but it looks like what Oblivion would look like if you
28:47
developed it and released it in 2020.
28:51
Two or three maybe. So it is primarily aesthetic,
28:56
but there are small changes in there as well.
28:59
Yeah, so one of the things they've tweaked, but not
29:03
completely overhauled is the the levelling system.
29:06
So now it is more akin to Skyrims, but you also have
29:11
levelling enemies in the same way that you always did.
29:15
So yeah, there's that. Now I'm going to answer the
29:18
question and it's also one that relates to what was inevitably A
29:25
technological limitation at the time.
29:28
And and it's quite probably quite a surprising one.
29:30
Really, one of the things that bothers me about Oblivion is do
29:36
one of the many things currently is this is basically the loading
29:43
between going indoors and outdoors and the fact that the
29:47
indoor environment. You mentioned that in the first
29:49
episode as well, the loading. Feel so disconnected from the
29:53
outside even now. So it's like when you go into
29:59
someone's house, so you're outside, you go into someone's
30:03
house, it feels like you're entering a like a different
30:05
realm, like you're not actually there's no sense of place.
30:09
And we know with with the capability of, of technology now
30:16
that we can that you can have interiors that look out onto
30:20
exteriors and far into the distance.
30:23
But in Oblivion, you go into a cave and it feels completely
30:29
disconnected, like it's on the other side of a map.
30:32
Same with the interiors. And then you change floors and
30:35
same again. And then you go back outside and
30:38
you're back into the the wide world again.
30:40
And then you go into a city and when you look at cities from
30:44
over the walls, you can't see people walking around inside the
30:47
city. But as soon as you enter the
30:50
city, you see people and it, it just feels like a funny jigsaw
30:57
of, or a patchwork of things. And you know what?
31:01
It's probably a bit of a harsh criticism because it's an old
31:04
game, but if if I could change one thing to make this space
31:10
feel alive, it would be that. Makes sense.
31:13
It, it does feel like we said, because this is primarily
31:18
visual, it still has elements of stuff that was put in 2006 and I
31:23
think that stuff could have been changed.
31:25
Yeah, you could have updated the.
31:27
I mean, I don't know anything about game development, but to
31:31
me, as someone who knows bugger all, it would suggest that you
31:37
could do something in terms of updating that because you
31:44
updated the engine. So just update the stuff that
31:48
you can't always see, or have it so that you don't need these big
31:52
loading times. Well, not big loading times, but
31:54
these loading times between areas.
31:55
Or do it per region so that it feels more seamless and alive.
32:01
Yeah. And that's exactly the way it
32:03
is. The word seamless it we are now
32:07
in a time where we expect things to be seamless and it's not.
32:12
And, and I imagine, I don't know the true story to this, but I
32:18
imagine the reason that it's not an easy fix is because those
32:23
spaces do exist in a in a different part of the game.
32:27
And when you go to them, you do go to this isolated place that
32:31
is separate and then you go back into the wide world.
32:34
And one thing they have eliminated is is on the on the
32:39
PS3. Definitely when I played it
32:41
there years and years ago, you used to get loading throughout
32:44
the world where the game would just like sort of hitch and then
32:48
loading on. Yeah.
32:50
So that's that's gone, which is good, but it's just that
32:53
disconnect that I I think it would have been a real challenge
32:56
and it would have needed more than this remaster to to fix.
33:01
So yeah. No fairpoint.
33:07
OK, so we now have a. Did you know?
33:10
However, because this game is quite new, I struggled to find
33:14
anything that wasn't kind of. Quite.
33:17
You had also quite. Old yes, quite new and quite
33:19
old, but I couldn't find anything specifically for this
33:22
remaster that was worthy of oh, did you know this or this is an
33:25
interesting fact, so I'm just going to give you a a did you
33:28
know of? Did you know that we actually
33:30
got Oblivion remastered before we got GTA6?
33:34
Did you know that? Thank you for that.
33:37
I appreciate it. That's very helpful.
33:40
Did you know that they went back and added voice lines for to
33:44
replace the the five voices? See, this is a proper, did you
33:48
know? So go on.
33:50
Yeah, so obviously due to limitations at the time, they
33:53
had a handful of voices. So you you get the the dulcet
33:57
tones of Patrick Stewart and and Sean Bean, but you also get like
34:02
three other people that they stop.
34:05
You violated the law. Yeah.
34:07
And, and, and seemingly those same three people did every
34:10
other voice without attempting to disguise their their voice.
34:15
But what they have done this time, I mean, I mean, you still
34:18
hear those those three to four to five people when you do this
34:22
playthrough. But you'll also hear a few other
34:25
voices that you don't recognise. But those original voices are
34:28
so, so iconic, so quintessentially Oblivion.
34:33
But it is nice to hear a bit of variety in the voice work this
34:38
time around. In fact, I, I've, I've also got
34:41
one about the voice work. So apparently in this version,
34:46
so in, in the original Oblivion, there's a very famous gaffe that
34:51
was in it where a voice actor is recording her lines and she
34:55
completely fluffs it and says, oh, let's try that again.
34:57
And they kept it in the game. They didn't take it out and
34:59
they've actually kept it in the remaster, which I think that
35:04
that have obviously known about that and they haven't messed
35:06
around with a lot of the Mimi kind of stuff, which I'm glad
35:09
about. And literally just before we
35:11
were recording, I was talking to you while messaging you saying,
35:15
you know, record at half 5 or whatever.
35:17
And I was listening to the episode and it made me laugh
35:20
because you were talking about the Radiant AI from the original
35:25
and how it just led to hilarity and just chaos.
35:30
And you, you bring up one thing where like you can put a spell
35:35
on someone so that they, they start attacking the guards.
35:39
And you're talking about this one where this person goes
35:43
crazy, attacks the guards, the guards kill them.
35:46
And then 20 seconds later the same guard comes up.
35:48
She goes, Oh my God, he's dead. Like it's, you know, I was, I
35:54
was walking down the street and I actually was like laughing
35:57
because like, it's just such a stupid game.
36:00
Was was was that one that I'd experienced or was that one?
36:03
I think it's one that you just see it online or something, but
36:06
you bought it. But it's just like, oh God, he's
36:08
dead after he killed him. But but This is why Bethesda
36:14
games are great, because they are just so buggy and it's just
36:18
they're just such a mess. Yeah.
36:21
Can you give me a word to sum up this game?
36:27
Diamond in the rough. I'm going to give you a phrase.
36:30
OK, Yeah, yeah, I'll get that. I think, yeah, the phrase that
36:37
came to mind was polishing it. Polishing a turd.
36:43
I'm going to readily say this now, I think have my appetite
36:46
for playing this game have. Had it been more, I would have
36:50
delved a bit more and I would have experimented a bit more
36:53
like I did four years ago. But I didn't have that and I
36:58
couldn't conjure that up. But yeah, oblivion is oblivion
37:05
and it always had that potential.
37:09
That potential never changed. It was, it was always kind of
37:14
that refinement that it needed. And now it's got the new lick of
37:18
paint. But I think I said to you when
37:21
we were kind of sending voice notes backwards and forwards,
37:25
it's still oblivion and it's still very much feels like
37:29
oblivion. And that's for better or worse,
37:32
really in in your case, with the new lick of paint, it was
37:37
probably for the better that it's still oblivion.
37:38
In my case, having done a very thorough play through, I was
37:43
like, oh, it's still oblivion and I wanted something fresh
37:47
from it. But it is a, it is a diamond in
37:50
the rough. And I feel, I feel like there's
37:57
something there. There's a charm that is uniquely
38:00
oblivion. And it's, it's so is there in
38:03
the in the silliness, in the voice work, in those silly
38:07
random moments that can happen. There's, there's a brilliance in
38:12
that and I would like to see more of that from Bethesda
38:17
again, because I feel like we've moved away from that a little
38:20
bit. But that brilliance, that random
38:23
nature and that quirkiness is what made these games special.
38:29
And that's why it's a diamond in the wrath and not polishing a
38:33
turd. Fair.
38:34
That's yeah, I get that. What?
38:37
Word. Do you have?
38:38
Surprising IA. Surprising word or a?
38:43
Surprising word, tulips No, the word I'm going to use is
38:47
surprising. I am.
38:50
I wasn't even bothered about picking this game up, to be
38:52
honest. I.
38:53
Think you surprised me to be quite honest.
38:55
Yeah, I wasn't. I wasn't really interested.
38:58
I watched a few people talking about it on YouTube.
39:01
I thought, actually, you know what, I'll give it a go.
39:03
So I said, I thought to myself, oh, I enjoy The Elder Scrolls
39:07
games. I love Skyrim and I don't.
39:11
I don't hate Oblivion, I just don't.
39:13
I didn't like how badly it had aged when I last played it.
39:17
So really, this this new release should clear that issue up if
39:24
it's been done well. And I was surprised at how much
39:27
I enjoyed it. It's one of those games that I'm
39:30
probably going to dip in and out of here and there quite like a
39:34
lot of other games I play these days.
39:36
I'm not really one for consistently playing stuff
39:38
anymore, but I I enjoyed it. It was a surprise and that is
39:44
why I'm using the word surprising because I was
39:46
surprised. Fair.
39:50
So question of the week then. There are rumours that because
39:57
Oblivion Remastered has performed so well that Bethesda
40:03
are looking to remaster some of their other older games and I
40:07
feel that. You get to a certain point where
40:10
some games are so old you can't really remaster them.
40:12
Like Morrowind, as much as I love it, that is a completely
40:16
different kettle of fish compared to Oblivion because
40:19
that game is primarily text based.
40:21
It would have to be a remake, wouldn't?
40:22
It it would like from the ground up.
40:24
You can't remaster that game. I I actually watched it a few
40:28
people doing playthroughs of Morrowind that had never played
40:30
it before but it only played Skyrim and they really enjoyed
40:33
it but like it was tough. To get in, I found it.
40:37
I found it tough to get into, yeah.
40:41
It just seems to throw a lot more.
40:44
It doesn't have the creature comforts that.
40:46
No it's very much of if you want to keep track of this then get a
40:50
notepad and pen and write it down.
40:52
Otherwise you're not going to progress.
40:55
So there is a cut off to what I think Bethesda can remaster, and
40:59
obviously they're currently working on The Elder Scrolls 6
41:02
and there's been trickles of information about that.
41:05
But one of the games that is very highly tipped to be
41:08
remastered, and might even make an appearance at the latter
41:12
stages of next year, is Fallout 3.
41:16
Yeah, that was the one that came to my mind.
41:18
Yeah. What are your thoughts on the
41:20
remastering Fallout 3? Because it's not a game that
41:22
we've played for the podcast. We obviously played New Vegas as
41:25
one of my options in the 15 after the top 100.
41:28
Yeah, I think you had mixed thoughts on it, but I know that
41:31
you've played Fallout 3, So what are your thoughts on them doing
41:34
a similar remaster to this to Fallout 3?
41:37
I think, I think it'd be a game that would really benefit from
41:41
that. It's a game that's from that
41:44
sort of uncanny period that's similar to. 2008 Fallout 3 came
41:49
out. Yeah.
41:50
So having that coat of paint would really boost it.
41:54
And again, it's got some quirks in the gameplay that I think
41:58
could be smoothed out with a remaster.
42:02
I also really like some bits of Fallout 3, and I haven't played
42:06
that game for a very long time. So it'd be one that if it were
42:10
to happen and we played it, I think I'd get a good playthrough
42:14
out of it. And then it's got a decent
42:19
story. It's got all those iconic
42:20
moments like Blowing Up or Not, Megaton and the pint sized
42:25
slasher that's everyone's favourite.
42:27
I know. Your favourite game character?
42:29
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Apart from Mr Blobby, obviously.
42:32
Yeah, pint sized Blobby. That's right, pint size blobby.
42:37
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what everyone needs.
42:41
So yeah, I think I think it'd be that was the one that came to my
42:45
mind as the one that I think would benefit from a boost and
42:50
uplift the most. What do you think?
42:55
I think I would like to see a remaster of Fallout 3.
42:59
I feel that Fallout 3 since its release gets quite a lot of it
43:08
does get a lot of stick. And I mean one of my one of my
43:12
favourite YouTube channels that used to do a lot of gameplay
43:16
stuff but doesn't anymore. It's more kind of topical stuff
43:18
is H Bomber guy and one of his favourite games is Fallout New
43:22
Vegas and he really doesn't like Fallout 3.
43:24
And I watched his video on it and I get a lot of where he's
43:28
coming from in that video. But at the same time I I don't.
43:33
And I think one of the big criticisms with Fallout 3 is
43:38
that it gets compared very heavily to Fallout 1 and Fallout
43:41
2, which never played them. But there are symmetric RPGs and
43:47
it is very much everything is your choice, whereas Fallout 3,
43:50
it says everything's your choice.
43:53
Whereas as soon as you escape the vault, you've got to kill
43:56
Officer Mack and you have no choice of that.
43:58
You can't talk things through. So I think a lot of fans of the
44:03
old Fallout games feel very railroaded by Fallout 3, as well
44:08
as the fact it doesn't really feel like you're the main
44:09
character in that game. The story of Fallout 3 is about
44:12
your dad, Liam Neeson. Obviously his name isn't Liam
44:18
Neeson in the game, of course, he's just dad James, I believe
44:21
is his name. So I'd be interested to see how
44:28
the game is kind of reviewed and discussed, you know, almost 20
44:36
years later and if the same kind of.
44:40
I think there's a flip side to the Fallout Three.
44:44
Storey in the that game is iconic.
44:49
There are moments in that game that anyone who knows about
44:52
gaming knows about. It's kind of reached that level,
44:57
and when and when you get to that level, you're no longer the
45:01
underdog and you're kind of open to scrutiny.
45:05
I would also say that Fallout 3 probably opened up the Fallout
45:09
series to a whole new bunch of gamers that never played any of
45:15
the older Fallout games. People that have maybe played
45:18
Oblivion like me. So I I'd never played a Fallout
45:23
game and I was hyped before Fallout 3 came out and jumped
45:27
straight into it and I became a fan of the Fallout series.
45:31
I also think the popularity that was gained with Fallout 3 is
45:39
probably why we have ATV show now for Fallout.
45:42
So there's a flip side to it, but obviously if it ever came to
45:48
doing an episode on that, we'd kind of delve into the pros and
45:50
cons of the game. Yeah, I'd be interested to see
45:56
if they do do it and how they'd handle it.
45:59
But I'll be honest, seeing like a feral ghoul in in Unreal
46:03
Engine five, I think it would be horrific.
46:06
But yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm keen to to see how that develops.
46:11
I suppose. So, yes.
46:13
So that is all for Oblivion. We didn't talk too much about
46:20
the the visuals in the audio because there isn't too much to
46:24
say. It is a game from 2006 that's
46:27
been completely remastered from the ground up in Unreal Engine
46:30
5. So it does look like a game that
46:33
was made in the the 20 twenties. It looks so much better than
46:38
what your memory of it is, or it might even be the case that it
46:40
now looks like what your memory of it was from 2006.
46:45
And it it is some of the graphics and this is stunning.
46:48
And one of the moments that stays with you the most is the
46:49
first time that you go through that first Oblivion gate at at
46:54
Cavach. It is aesthetically stunning.
47:00
So I'd, I'd recommend giving this game a, a look, a lookout
47:06
and just seeing what you think of it, especially if you've not
47:08
played it before. Because if you're a fan of
47:10
Skyrim and you've not played Oblivion and he thinks he's oh,
47:13
OK. Like it's a long time until
47:16
Elder Scrolls 6 comes out in 2303 or whenever it's coming
47:20
out. But I would say that it's worth
47:24
a look in if you're a fan of Skyrim and you haven't played
47:27
Oblivion before and you're curious.
47:30
So yeah. Do you want to hear my silly
47:32
story playing Oblivion Remastered?
47:34
Yes. So there's a part in the main
47:39
quest where you go into an undead tomb and unbeknownst to
47:45
me, I was bitten by a vampire. In the.
47:49
Undead Tomb. So that was fantastic and I
47:55
because to be quite honest, I was playing quickly.
47:58
I hadn't clocked this, so I kind of missed the time to heal
48:02
myself. And then I went to sleep and
48:06
then I had the the iconic message of oh, you see a vampire
48:11
in your dreams. Oh, you realise it's it's you,
48:14
just you looking at. Yourself, you feel a bit poorly.
48:17
Yeah, So I woke up and I was like, oh God's sake, Vampire.
48:22
So I reloaded the game and I never slept again.
48:26
Because if you don't go to sleep, you don't.
48:29
You don't become a vampire. So for about half the game,
48:34
maybe a bit less, I didn't sleep and I was probably levelling 3
48:38
when I finished the game. Brilliant.
48:42
So that's my story, that was my unique experience.
48:47
Do you have any any random stories that you'd like to share
48:50
with the listener in such a vein?
48:55
I don't think I do I I've. Always got these silly things
48:58
that happened to me. Yeah, I think I had a pretty
49:01
normal playthrough to be honest with you.
49:03
I mean, I did somewhat lose my patience with Martin and
49:07
Geoffrey on the travel over to Sky Cloud Temple to meet the
49:13
Blades because they kept getting stuck like between rocks and it
49:17
was really doing my head in. But other than that.
49:20
Did you just fast travel? Yeah, I did, but they for some
49:24
reason they didn't know how to do it.
49:25
Idiots mugging me off. So yeah.
49:33
And they did, I did take them into, you know, the the Umbra
49:36
Knight. Yeah, I did take them into the
49:41
the place where the Umbra Knight is to, to fight her for her
49:44
armour. And then she just basically did
49:48
one of the traps on the way out and fell down a pit and landed
49:50
on some spikes. So that was nice and easy for
49:52
me. It was much appreciated.
49:55
But yeah, So what have we got? Coming up next time, please.
50:00
So next time, given that the Switch to launch is just around
50:05
the corner and the big game that goes alongside the Switch to
50:07
launch is Super Mario Kart World, we've got a Mario Kart
50:14
game on the list. We might have a couple of Mario
50:16
Kart games on the list, but the one that we have chosen to do is
50:20
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the original Nintendo Switch.
50:26
So it just feels like the right time to visit that game for
50:29
something a bit lighter, a bit fluffier.
50:32
That's probably really insulting to it.
50:33
But yeah, a bit lighter, a bit lighter on our schedules as
50:37
well. So yes, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
50:41
Indeed, it should be an interesting one.
50:43
We've, I think we've probably mentioned Mario Kart a couple of
50:46
times in the past on the podcast, but we've we've not
50:48
delved into 1 yet and it's been a while since I've played Mario.
50:51
Surprising. So yes, that will be, I imagine
50:56
in a a week or two maybe, but it won't be a a big gap like this
51:00
has been because it's a lot shorter while we work on
51:02
something else in the background a.
51:04
Final thought for you and the listener.
51:06
I was up in Scotland a couple of couple of weeks, probably about
51:11
3 weeks ago. And for fans of Mr Blobby, there
51:15
is a, there is a bakery up there.
51:17
I do encourage you to visit it because it is a good bakery.
51:19
It's a, it's a chain, but it's sort of like a higher end Greg's
51:24
and it's called Baines. And in Baines they have the
51:30
iconic Mr Blobby biscuits. They're like gingerbread
51:34
biscuits, but they're Mr Blobby. So of course I had to get a
51:38
photo of these and I sent you that photo you did randomly of
51:41
Mr Blobby Biscuits, you know, if you're in Scotland.
51:45
Go to Bain's Bakery. And have blobby biscuits.
51:48
You know, it actually unlocked a memory for me.
51:51
I, I I'm from Worcester and I, I lived in Droitwich for a while
51:57
when I was a teenager, and there used to be a bakery in the
52:01
middle of Droitwich Town. I can't remember the name of it
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now, but they used to do. They're like jam doughnuts, but
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shaped like gingerbread man. And they were Mr Blobby jam
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doughnuts with like, jam in the middle.
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Yeah, they're pretty damn good. Pretty special, a blobby
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doughnut. Blobby jam doughnut.
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So if you know of any blobby culinary did not delights, we'd
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like to hear. We'd like.
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To hear from you so we can. Blobby.
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Pizza. Blobby pizza.
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That's that's right. It's.
52:34
And consequently I got my whole team in work talking about Mr
52:38
Blobby and someone posted in the chat the the iconic hit, the
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Christmas number one from was it 1993?
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Yeah. By Mr Blobby.
52:47
Yeah. So I remember that song.
52:49
I used to have it on tape because I'm I'm, I'm at that age
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now where I grew up having tapes which probably anyone under the
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age of. And tapes twist blobby at that.
52:59
Yeah, anyone under the age of 20 probably doesn't know what a
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tape is. And in our never ending quest to
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re popularise and bring back to our screens, Mr Blobby, This Is
53:11
Us signing off. It is indeed.
53:14
As always, you can find us on social media, or you can e-mail
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us at the Long and Shorts at podcast@hotmail.com.
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But we will see you in a couple of weeks for Mario Kart 8.
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And in the meantime, take care. Sure, yeah.
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See you on the next one.