An Oblivion horror story scared me off The Elder Scrolls 4 for nearly 20 years, but Oblivion Remastered finally proved there’s nothing to be afraid of

by

A long time ago, my friend encountered a frustrating situation in the game Oblivion where he got stuck due to a softlock. This happened when he entered a painting and found himself needing to fight a group of trolls. Regardless of his efforts, he couldn’t manage to defeat them, leaving him unable to exit the painting. Since he had auto-save disabled, he was stuck in a loop of constant troll battles that ultimately caused him to abandon his entire game progress.

For years, that heartbreaking story kept me away from Oblivion. The idea of getting stuck in another dimension by mistake, coupled with the upcoming release of Skyrim, made me feel I’d had enough. I didn’t think I needed to waste dozens of hours on The Elder Scrolls 4. However, with the launch of Oblivion Remastered, I felt it was high time to fill in this missing piece of my Bethesda gaming history – and correct the wrong done to my friend.

To those who are perceptive, you might identify this vividly painted cell as a crucial element of the A Brush With Death mission. In this escapade, the player assumes the role of a detective searching for a lost artist. It swiftly transpires that the artist has somehow found himself imprisoned within his own masterpiece. With a magical paintbrush passed down from the goddess Dibella, he could bring lifelike worlds to existence by walking into his artwork. However, misfortune befalls him when the brush is snatched away – a thief strikes him, forces him inside his painting, and leaps in, adding trolls to camouflage his crime scene. Without the brush, the artist remains trapped eternally, while six trolls stand sentinel over it, leaving no hope of escape.

Stepping into the artist’s artwork, he’ll confess that the thief has met his end – his skull crushed by the monstrous creatures he summoned for protection. Your task becomes retrieving the vital brush, without which neither of you can leave this world. The exit lies in eliminating all the ogres, and returning the brush to its owner.

Paint me a word quest

If this task appears as straightforward as typical sidequests in Oblivion, it’s because that’s exactly what it is. Essentially, your mission boils down to eliminating six creatures, each of which is scattered so far apart that you can handle them individually. The grueling troll battle I used to envision my friend enduring all those years ago could only unfold if you confronted all six of them simultaneously in the painted world. Frankly, I highly doubt he ever did that.

In a puzzled state, I went searching for solutions. “I conquered an incredibly simple quest from Oblivion Remastered today”, I shared with him. “Something about some trolls and a painting?” It didn’t take long for him to understand my predicament, but while I joked about his supposed incompetence, he pointed out that I had overlooked a crucial aspect of the narrative.

I thought my friend was significantly under-prepared for the challenge we faced. It seemed unlikely it was an issue with equipment since I managed to fight off the trolls easily using only hand-to-hand combat and some flimsy light armor. Perhaps he’d accidentally ventured into the Painted World prematurely? However, the truth turned out to be quite the opposite. My friend was advanced enough in the game that he had already transformed into a vampire. But instead of providing an edge in combat, his transformation ended up hindering him in this quest.

There will be blood

In the game Oblivion, becoming a vampire grants impressive enhancements to various abilities, but it comes with a catch: if you haven’t fed for some time, your character will suffer sunlight sensitivity. This means that while your power levels like strength, speed, stealth, and destructive magic could peak at full vampirism, every second spent in the sun will inflict eight points of damage on your character.

Generally speaking, such situations aren’t typically challenging. You can usually opt to stay inside, wait till evening, or even take a leisurely walk in Oblivion if you prefer shade. However, the artist has crafted this world as a bright, sunny day, devoid of cloudy days or starry nights, only offering a clear blue sky which could be potentially harmful to any careless vampire exposed to it. Unfortunately, my friend’s vampire character was reduced to ashes under the relentless sunlight before he could even navigate past the trolls. This meant either reloading an hour-old save or forfeiting the entire gameplay experience.

Twenty years ago, an Oblivion story from The Elder Scrolls series left a lasting impression on me, despite being one of the most challenging edge cases. This game, even as old as it seems today, showcases how powerful and impactful the RPG was back then. The series’ portrayal of vampirism usually balanced blessings with curses, but in this instance, the negatives outweighed the positives significantly. Although Oblivion may look dated in its remastered form, it still manages to convey the importance of consequences, and the freedom and depth of its world remain evident (albeit occasionally overwhelming). After initially dismissing this game as not suitable for me, I’ve discovered that my initial fears were unfounded, and there is more to explore here than I ever imagined.

Read More

2025-05-26 14:10