Oblivion Dethroned? An XboxMessiah Q&A Exclusive

Is an Oblivion "killer" on the way? Looking more than promising, it appears that ArcaniA: A Gothic Tale might just have what it takes to dethrone the current king of the action/RPG genre.

[Unbiased1]

"The “AAA” title – which is slated for release TBA 2010 " - didn't know this game was already reviewed and got 9 + score!? Was i living under the rock or is this article pure speculative nonsense and wishful thinking?

[GameOn]

AAA is to do with budget, not scores.

[JsonHenry]

Everyone should play Divinity 2 if they want the next great single player RPG.

[Sexius Maximus]

That may be an issue for me...same with Demons Souls. Risen is right around the corner too. A lot of action RPG's on the way.

[Lightsaber]

For an open world game the graphics are VERY impressive. However I remember a couple of other games that like two worlds that were suppose to be an Oblivion Killer and every game that has tried that as flopped big time

[beavis4play]

uh, i think demon souls already "killed" oblivion. but these screens for "arcaniA" are looking good.

anyone know why the last A is capitalized?

[raztad]

I just read that from a recent review. The reviewer said something like: Demons Souls is what Oblivion WANTED to be.

I'm really glad DS is almost here. I liked Oblivion so I have big expectations for DS.

[roderick1210]

That's the way it is on the logo. Also, according to the PR guys at JoWooD it is no accident. I wondered the same thing at first.

[beavis4play]

and i'm with you raz...........DS is almost here! hey man, i told you i'd let you know what i thought about batman. it's pretty damn good. it has a couple of control issues but it's a fun game. (and playing as the joker is a riot!)

thanks roderick! man, that's kind of odd to me. i guess the cap "A" is their brand or something.

[raztad]

@beavis

I'll give Batman a try as soon as I can find a good chance. Right now I'm trying to beat some other games and I just bought Bioshock so I'll be pretty busy. When DS arrives it will suck me in forever till I beat it, or R&C is released. UC2 it's too close to DS so I'll get it later along with Gow collection. Wow thats a lot of gaming.

BTW, this is the first time I hear about this ArcaniA game. The screens look very promising. Lets keep an eye on it.

[beavis4play]

and the price will sure to be cheaper! i bought it because i haven't had a new game for awhile.(and it hasn't disappointed)
but like you, i can't wait to play DS. of course i'll put it down for a couple of weeks when UC2 hits so as to get a playthrough of that "cant' miss" game. then it's back to DS until ratchet hits. then more DS until the new jak and daxter game hits.

dang, all of this gaming; my professional demands; AND keeping my live-in girlfriend happy......where will i find the time?

[darx]

cause Demon's Souls is one big one, very difficult!

[beavis4play]

Froms old "kingsfield" series was hard as well. there was lots of ways to die quick. you really had to pay attention in those games. the only thing in the kingsfield series that was a "cheap" way to die was the booby traps. they were pretty much impossible to see. and if you walked into one.......you were dead.
i'm looking forward to the the DS challenge, i just hope there aren't "booby traps".

[Sangria]

Is it really necessary to "kill" Oblivion? Morrowind was better anyway.

[2FootYard]

I fully agree with Sangria. Morrowind is one of the greatest.

[DaCajun]

Morrowind was 10X better with 10X more objectives and side quests. The expansions were awesome. Oblivion was just too repetitive and watered down for the masses.

[Whitefox789]

Only thing that annoyed me in Morrowind was the lock picking system "lockpicked failed, lockpicked failed, lockpicked failed, lockpick succeeded (uhh finally)"

And I personally found the ending a bit anticlimatic smashed Dagoth Ur's Heart he dies, earthquake begins, then stops, waiting, waiting, okay now what?, well nothing else to do except use divine intervention

I was really expecting a CG cinematic or something.....

But enough nit picking PC version is the best especially with all of the great modders that are on the net I've even seen a mod that upgrades the character graphics of every character or give them something different to say

[NaiNaiNai]

the last time I heard something as big as that was.

>.>

two worlds.

XD

[NaiNaiNai]

WTF why am I getting negatives. I never said two worlds was good,

I was reminding people that the devs said it was supposed to be oblivion BUT BETTER.

T_T. god stupid stalkers.

[ShabzS]

duuude ... those screens look like ingame shots ... wow

[dkgshiz]

Just give me Elder Scrolls 5. I don't give a sh!t about fallout. Just give me my god damn Elder Scrolls 5.

[MajestieBeast]

Demons souls makes the sword play in oblivion look mediocre hated oblivion love demons souls.

[RockmanII7]

Fallout 3 killed Oblivion, and I'm expecting Dragon Age to kill Fallout.

[Elven6]

Fallout 3 wasn't even as deep as Oblivion, the shooting mechanics aren't very good unless in V.A.T.S., the horrendous tunnel system, the dumb A.I., etc. And how about the fact that you can't start rebuilding towns in Fallout 3 by hiring people and such to protect and populate them? You could do that in Oblivion afterall with the Mage's Tower, Pirate Cove, Castle, etc.

Oblivion wasn't great but it was better than Fallout 3 in my opinion.

[2FootYard]

I'm pretty sure Two Worlds sucked no matter what it was on. What you're on can help make Two Worlds good.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

This game looks very good. I need a new expansive action/rpg.

[Christopher]

- A game killer before it's even showing gameplay?

- Oblivion took the world by surprise even though it's an upgraded graphical successor to Morrowind, which won a ton more awards and acclaim from gaming reviewers?

- No contenders since Oblivion? The Witcher says "Hi!"

- A game made by a company with the biggest accolade being Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood from 2002?

Look, good job on getting a developer interview. It doesn't mean you need to throw around some fairly hyperactive and overly gracious comments about the game they're making.

[poindat]

They mentioned that once you leave a region you will not be able to come back... But of course there is (paid no doubt) DLC planned to allow you to return. What bullshit. Totally turned me off the game.

[Bigpappy]

Judging from the interview, this game does not come near to competing with Oblivion. Oblivion was no hand populated with trees, it used "speed tree" for that. Oblivion did not block off areas you covered before (only Gates which you have closed). This game is third person and therefore can not be as immerse as the big "O". The is sounding more like Two Worlds, which is fine with me.

[Becko]

Oblivion is my fav rpg of all time and I imported Demons Souls on past february and I can tell you that both games are different even if they share some basic mechanics , they both are two different things, one is an open world based games another is level based

[Campy da Camper]

Just read Raz and Bevis's posts and checked it out a litte online. Sounds good then sounds hohum. Help me out here. I threw my back out from laying on my couch for days playing Oblivion so much. Is this game that addictive?

I like a good challenge but some reviews are making it sound like, "take one step then die. Try again this time watch the pitfall then take a step then die from falling rock. Repeat."

Fallout was meh, Oblivion is hands down one of my top favorite games and that's putting it about FF.

Graphics? Controls? A.I.? Someone PM me with a heads up please. Much appreciated.

[kraze07]

Nothing will be able to dethrone Oblivion in my books. I've poured weeks of my life into that game. Hopefully another game comes by that can give me an equal or better experience, but nothing will be able to kill Oblivion. Oh, and for anyone that thinks so Fallout 3 did not kill Oblivion, but it was a nice try.

[Campy da Camper]

That is exaclty where I am at. But then some of it sounds good....damn.

[Top Cat]

Last time I heard JoWood ruined Gothic 3.
Oblivion and this suck.

[EpsilonTeam]

From what i've read this game has nothing to do with Oblivion. It's quite restricted in several ways.

[The_Zeitgeist]

While this game sounds very different from Oblivion it looks amazing. I had never even heard of it before this article. So thank you to whoever posted this article because I now have a new must have game.

[Ninjamonkey]

good.

Since bethsda said their not thinking about a new elder scrolls i want this game to wipe the floor with oblivion and show that if theyre not going to make elder scrolls games, then they can be forgotten since their are better experiences on offer.

[SuperSaiyaJinX]

Oblivion with all the graphical and gameplay mods would kill i mean killll this game in a heart beat, when elder scrolls 5 comes out next year it will be on pair or if not better than crysis or any other high quality game, really the only thing that held oblivion back graphically were the textures and maybe some of the character models well by todays standards but seeing how bethesda likes to strive for quality they'll most likely make there next elder scrolls game the tipping point in gamplay and graphics just like they did when oblivion came out and just like there going to do just remember ovlivion came out 2 years before crysis and very early if not actually in this current gen era, so basically this is there first current gen elder scrolls game yet look at what they were able to achieve..

[roderick1210]

Has anyone who has read the article noticed the question mark in the title? The outcome is left open, IMO.