Like its parent game, Shivering Isles represents some of the most detailed and consistently beautiful (or haunting) graphics on the console. The overall theme of insanity prevalent in the expansion, however, is more than enough to set it apart from Oblivion. Even major characters such as the Prince are entertaining, but shallow. Many of the characters found within are more interesting than those of Cyrodiil, yet their eccentricities represent the extent of their development. Even the inhabitants of the Isles play off this duality, although the player may find little difference between the personalities of citizens from one aspect or the other. The continent itself is split in two, with colorful, flamboyant landscapes on the side of Mania, and dark, depressing ones in Dementia. The Isles, which are really just one continent, combine the two major aspects of madness: mania and dementia. While the plot of Shivering Isles is just another rendition of saving the world, the setting is more unique and engaging than anything found in Oblivion. Awaiting him or her beyond is the Prince of Madness, Sheogorath, who requests a champion come forth to save his realm from all that is orderly. Of course, the player can’t resist the beckoning maw of the strange portal to the Shivering Isles, a land of utter madness. A mysterious door has appeared in the heart of one of Cyrodiil’s rivers, and those that enter return in a state of mental rot. The result is a trip worth taking, but only if the player can tolerate another thirty hours of those frequent vexations.Īfter installing the expansion, the player is greeted with a quest 24 hours later (in realtime). With Shivering Isles, Bethesda brings an entirely new continent of content to the television screen, but they fail to fix Oblivion’s numerous issues. Expecting anything more out of an expansion would probably be asking too much. That normally refers to new content in the form of additional quests, locations, characters, and items.
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Typically, one expects a video game expansion to accomplish one thing: expansion.