UESP Forums

Skyrim was my first Elder Scrolls game and I spent a lot of time with it. I used mods and played through dozens of campaigns. I am now really interested in the Elder Scrolls lore, so I was wondering if Oblivion held up well? I'll be playing on PC

You'll find that on Oblivion gaming forums people tend to say it is the best game ever. I do not know what the millions of people not on the forums think. Are you sensitive to older graphics or ugly character faces? The general consensus is that the quests are much better in Oblivion than Skyrim. The leveling system is more complex and counter intuitive; people tend to complain and mod it away rather than learn it and adapt with the custom build option and/or strategic play.

Oblivion runs great on modern PCs. But mods that fix bugs are essential:

EngineBugFixes, Oblivion Display Tweaks, the 3 Unofficial Oblivion Patches, fix leveled items and spells with AULIAS, fix placing items with Decorator Assistant, fix not not getting anything when harvest ingredients with Full Harvest, fix unwanted shooting of arrows with DenockArrowToo, fix finding a needle in a keystack with Keychain, fix running out of hotkey slots with Improved Hotkeys, fix Guard behaviors with Reneer's Guard Overhaul, fix forgetting anything you want to remember with Journal Mod, fix jumpy music cuts with EMC2, fix playstation menus with DarNUI, fix looks with Qarls Texture PacK III and Bomret's Texture Pack, fix to have fast travel options and map icon options with Map Make Overhaul, flesh out alchemy with Alchemy Advanced, flesh out sneaking with SDR. And don't use re-master wannabes like Oblivion Reloaded or ENB. You can't remaster Oblivion with a patch.

In Oblivion you can make your own spells, and thieving seems more important. There is good loot that you can sell in many of the houses. Also, it seems that it is more easily moddable than Skyrim. There is a mod in which you can fly a dragon, midas magic brings incredible new animation and there is the new lands mods.

Oblivion is, in my opinion, more of a roleplaying experience than Skyrim, but Skyrim is pretty cool too.