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> Results: The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion - Knights of the Nine
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by Michael Anderson
January 26, 2007
Instead of Micropayments for MicroContent, now we get a real price for ... a little bit more of the same.
Reviewed for PC.
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Scroll down for our Kid Factor.
What GamerDad says about the ESRB Content Descriptors:
Blood and Gore: GamerDad saw plenty of blood and gore throughout.
Language: Certainly not 'GTA-scale', but there is a very adult theme to the world.
Sexual Themes: nothing new is added in this regard, just some more scantily clad females.
Use of Alcohol: GamerDad saw the usual bands of drunks in the same taverns as the original game.
Violence: pretty much every quest in this add-on involves killing people or monsters.
My review of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion talked about a great many things both positive and negative about the game. The main problems related to the level-scaling that dampened any challenge, the item-scaling that makes most items found in dungeons completely worthless, and the lack of really meaningful choices and consequences throughout the game. Since the game came out, Bethesda has released a steady stream of 'downloadable content' - these are not expansions but rather modules that add something extra to the original game. They can be added at any point in the game, resulting in a pop-up note alerting you to the new quest. This can be quite disconcerting - especially when you start a new game with the modules installed and read how you've discovered something in a place you haven't visited. The latest download is called Knights of the Nine, and it is the largest and most expensive add-on to date, weighing in at 155MB and costing $10. It has been released in a retail package that also includes all of the previously released downloadable content for ~$20. I will explore the complete package of all current official modules for the game.
Here are the modules, taken piece by piece:
- Horse Armor: Armor. For horses. That you have to pay for with actual money. How nice. There was a great swell of internet outrage over this (OK, what *doesn't* cause a great swell of internet outrage?), and it was well deserved. Sure you can choose to buy it or not, but the very thought of it is insulting. I went and bought a horse, put some armor on her, and proceeded to leave her at the stable so I could run around the world in order to increase my skills and discover areas. This reminds me of paying more at an in-game shop to get better looking armor with exactly the same properties as what I'm currently wearing - only this costs actual money. This is easy to either use or ignore in-game, but I would advise against buying this as a separate item.
- Orrery: This is a small quest involving gathering up parts to reactivate a gadget that awards you new skills based on the phase of the moon. It is essentially a two-stage fetch quest - you find one item and a note describing the location of the remaining items. Gather them up and you're pretty well done - head to the Arcane University and reap your rewards. Again, when purchased as part of the package it simply adds another side-quest to the game, but is not of sufficient independent value to warrant a purchase.
- Wizard's Tower: The Knights of the Nine package contains three 'house' modules that provide you a nicely upgradeable residence, based largely upon the type of character you are playing. Of course, like everything in Oblivion, there are no restrictions - so you can become a 'Paladin Pirate' if you choose. This really cool looking tower in the frozen mountains is visually impressive and looks like a huge stronghold appropriate for a wizard. You can purchase a number of upgrades that allow you to make better use of your house, which is highly recommended because with all of the upgrades this becomes a major center for storage, enchantment and alchemy. You can already buy houses in the game, and they require the completion of quests, but none provides the bonuses of these add-ons. Since everything is class-specific you would need to buy all three to gain bonuses for the various character types - definitely not a very good value unless bought as part of this package.
- The Thieves Den: This is also a 'house', this time for thieves. The great thing here is that unlocking every upgrade gives you a few pirates who will go out and pillage at your request, and you can simply visit weekly and collect the booty.
- The Vile Lair: The final 'house', for evil characters. It is also the easiest to complete - you follow the pointer on your compass and then follow the instructions. There are a number of nice bonus items available, but overall not much to offer in terms of depth.
- Mehrune's Razor: Now *this* is a quest! A huge dungeon full of atmosphere and interesting areas and loads of enemies. Unfortunately it is also littered with every other problem that plagues Oblivion - scaled enemies, scaled drops and scaled chests. It is a sort of cognitive dissonance - you are working your way through a nicely designed and atmospheric dungeon that is mostly empty and contains a bunch of enemies that are easily defeated. All of this for a single excellent weapon and a decent armor set that you will probably just sell since you already have something better. I was very disappointed with this module - such a great dungeon full of possibilities left unrealized in a sea of scaled blandness. Had it presented an actual challenge and more than a minor reward it would have been worth purchasing by itself.
- Spell Tomes: This was the cheapest of the released modules, and with good reason - it is a bunch of spells you can find randomly around the world. As usual, they are random and are mixed in with the junk you'll find elsewhere at a low percentage. It reminds me of finding random high-level items in chests in other role-playing games. Interestingly I found this module pretty much useless despite playing a 'pure' mage.
- Knights of the Nine: The namesake of the collection, this is a meaty quest that is the closest thing to something that requires you to play a 'good aligned' character. Of course, you don't really have to be good - that would fall under 'choices with consequences' which are absent from Oblivion, but you need to have your infamy points cleansed by completing a Pilgrimage to start the quest. I was reminded of Gothic 3 as I was handed an inexact map which didn't trigger locations on my compass - for a little while it was like true exploration. That didn't last, and the remainder of the long quest consisted of being guided through task after task to purge a very evil being and restore the Knights of the Nine and allow them to finally find peace. And, of course, to get a whopping set of bonuses that make the quest worth doing regardless of what character type you are playing. Despite the continued annoying presence of scaled enemies and items, and the loss of any feeling of open exploration after the Pilgrimage quest, this remains one of the more enjoyable quests I encountered in all of my time playing Oblivion simply because it catered directly to a good-aligned character archetype.
In order to experience these modules to the fullest I started a new game without any third-party modules installed. It is no secret that the Emperor dies in the opening scene of the game, but instead of working my way through the opening sequence gradually as I did the first time I played I got a constant stream of pop-up dialogues telling me about new quests. Once I got past that annoyance, I continued on with the game. My goals in this were simple - get enough skills to be able to complete the entirety of the add-on, and do a couple of things I missed before. The total time I spent was just over 20 hours, which is not very long considering that I also became the Arch-Mage, Grand Champion of the Arena, freed Kvatch, and completed several other side-quests along the way. There is an inherent issue I have with paying for a side-quest, even if there is some reward involved. Looking at the package in general, there are two useless add-ons, three 'strongholds', and a small, medium and large side-quest. I can easily envision how some of the available third-party mods could make Mehrune's Razor and the main Knights of the Nine quests truly great - there are some wonderful dungeons you need to traverse - but that would only apply to PC gamers, and it was really up to Bethesda to deal with the limiting issues present in the main game. As a result I can only conditionally recommend these - if you truly loved the original game and had no issues with the leveling of enemies and loot, and particularly if you can obtain the whole package at the $10 sale price that was advertised multiple times after release, then it is worth trying. If you have uninstalled the original game and have no interest in starting up again, this is not the enticement you are looking for - there are better and more rewarding quests in the game, and the limited sense of honor bestowed by the completing the Knights of the Nine is not enough to make you think you're playing a Paladin.
As I noted in my original review of Oblivion, there is plenty of material that makes this game worthy of an M rating and Adult GamerDad Age Seal. Each of these modules simply plugs into the original game world, and nothing new is added that would change the original Adult Age Seal.
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