Reviewing Monsters: The Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion, Part 1

A while back, we did a review-talk of all monsters in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, taking place in the frigid northlands of the continent of Tamriel. This time around, we're going to be covering the monsters and enemies of Skyrim's predecessor, Oblivion, a critically acclaimed game that takes place at the heart of Cyrodiil, the quasi-Roman province that is located at the center of Tamriel, and home to the Empire that rules over all of Tamriel... at least, prior to Oblivion. In the main storyline of Oblivion, the Emperor is assassinated by a cult that's hell-bent on causing the destruction of the entire mortal plane and bring about the invasion of the Daedra -- the setting's equivalent to demons.

Oblivion was released in 2006 and is considered to be one of the most revolutionary RPG games of the time. Not going to harp on too much about the game itself, as that would probably take up a fair amount of time, but here we go as I try and obsessively talk about every single creature in the game.

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Rat

As with what we did in Skyrim, I'm going to start by quickly listing off the "normal animals" found in any RPG setting. Rats and Mudcrabs are basically the 'critters' that die after a couple whacks of your sword and are about as threatening as a bucket. You do kind of need rats in any given RPG, even if Cyrodiil's rats are apparently a lot more cuter and pet-like than the nasty, mangy Skeevers of Skyrim.

Mud Crab

Mudcrabs (parsed as Mud Crabs in this game) are the other stock 'weak monster', and they are significantly different than the Mudcrabs in Skyrim! These don't hide and pretend to be rocks, and have far, far smaller claws and far more prominent and elongated legs as compared to their body. This actually makes them look more like some species of deep sea crabs in real life as opposed to mudcrabs. Like rats, though, the mudcrabs occupy a unique 'nuisance' tier of enemy that are basically just there for flavour. Unlike rats, though, when mudcrabs appear in, like, an Ayleid dungeon or a bandit camp, there tend to be far less justification, which is something I appreciate about Skyrim -- monsters only show up in thematically appropriate locations.

Dogs & Wolves

And, right on cue, here are the wolves and dogs of the game. Dogs (left) tend to be non-hostile and found among humans, although they're otherwise near-identical to wolves. Wolves are... well, they're wolves! Two main variants roam Cyrodiil, the buck-standard Wolf and the Timber Wolf. I think that they tend to hunt in packs, making them a wee bit more annoying compared to bears and boars. They're easily the weakest beasts in the game that aren't rats and crabs, though.

Bear

Bears! I don't really have much to say about here. Two variants exist, with the black bears being exactly half as weak compared to brown bears. Not much to say here. As in most RPG's, bears and wolves tend to occupy a niche of animals that feel like a threat since they are far more powerful than humans in real life, but aren't actually threatening once you start leveling up and challenging, like, demons and dragons and shit.

Boar

It's interesting that boars are portrayed as always-hostile in this game! Real-life boars tend to be about as irate and hostile to humans anyway. Not much to say here, it's neat to sell the 'generic Western RPG setting' feel of Cyrodiil, but I forgot that boars are even in this game until I looked up a list of monsters.

Mountain Lion

Basically the equivalent of Sabrecats in Skyrim, Mountain Lions are the fast but fragile predator to contrast the bear's slow but sturdy deal. They're... they're lions! Only female models are around in Cydoriil, because it's not a particularly important enemy that deserves multiple models, and Oblivion is a pretty old game. I do remember that these are the first enemy you fight in the Fighter's Guild storyline, in a fun subversion of a 'kill the rat' quest, you're instead supposed to protect a woman's rat pets from a starving mountain lion.

Slaughterfish

While the Slaughterfish in Skyrim are like this cross of piranhas with a crocodile-inspired mouth, the Slaughterfish of Cyrodiil are... they're just a long fish that's like a small pike or some shit, but with that row of nasty, stabby teeth. These come in many sizes, and move in a way similar to eels... but where Slaughterfish were far more annoying in Skyrim, in Oblivion your character can actually swing their sword underwater, making actual combat with these fishies a possibility. I do find that the fact that the Slaughterfish from Oblivion and Skyrim look so different is a neat bit of "sure, why not?" After all, we tend to use blanket terms to describe creatures in real-life anyway.

Non-Hostile Animals

Oblivion doesn't really go all-in with making a whole ton of non-hostile animals like Skyrim does, but they do have a couple. Deer, sheep and horses are around, with the deer basically prancing around the wilds, sheep found in farms and horses... well, you buy horses and then ride them around, although the horses are significantly less useful than they are in Skyrim.

Goblins

That's all of the regular animals done, so let's get to the actual monsters! As with what I did with Skyrim, I'm leaving DLC enemies and the Daedra for a second part, so as not to make this article too long. The goblins are completely absent in Skyrim, but are everywhere in Cyrodiil, acting as some of the first enemies you meet. Unlike some franchises that feature intelligent goblins (World of Warcraft being the primary thing that comes to mind), the goblins of Oblivion are just bestial little shitbags that are always hostile and only screech at you and try to murder you.

Five main variants exist -- in order of the images here, these are the regular Goblin, the Goblin Skirmisher, the Goblin Berserker, the Goblin Shaman and the Goblin Warlord. The goblins tend to be straightforward in their attacks and just charge into battle, and while they tend to be able to deal decent amount of damage, all of their equipment are always pretty shit, or even unlootable... although I guess they are smaller than your character, so their armour might simply just not fit.

They're your archetypal angry, screeching goblin enemies. I do like the fact that some shamans carry around staves that are topped with the skull of another unfortunate goblin. Interestingly, and this is a mechanic that I genuinely wasn't aware of until it was pointed out, there are multiple goblin tribes in the game -- the Bloody Hand, the Bitterscale, the Rockbiter, the Three-Feather, et cetera... and they are based around their own settlements and caves. They don't really wander around too much since the NPC system isn't anywhere as intricate as Skyrim's, but if they meet, they will fight. Pretty neat!

Imp

I'm not sure what's up with Imps. They're pretty distinct from Scamps (which are counted as Daedra) and Goblins. They're just like these little, well, humanoid creatures with wings that fly around, and are pretty dang weak. And there really isn't much to say about them. I do like how they look, but as one of the weakest enemies in the game, you would tend to over-level the 'random enemy generator' that code for Imp enemies or whatever.

Trolls

Hey, it's Trolls! Trolls are basically the same as they were in Skyrim, three-eyed monstrous ape-like beasts that are always hostile, attack quickly, able to regenerate health, and are weak to fire spells. There aren't much to say about them, but I do notice that there are significantly more trolls in Cyrodiil than they are in Skyrim, with entire cave networks tending to be populated by trolls. There are a bunch of troll variants in the game to tie in with quests. Not much to say beyond that, since I've said all I had to say about this design in my Skyrim reviews.

Will-o-the-Wisp

Will-o-the-Wisps are always interesting creatures because they're one of the most weird and variable things that fantasy settings always do differently, due to the existence of comparable phenomenon in different folk tales of different cultures. Playing with Oblivion being more akin to a more Middle Ages setting, Will-o-the-Wisps are basically just glowing light entities that flicker in and out of sight that live in swamps or marshes, and are completely hostile. They will float near your character, and then use magical spells that will absorb your health and magicka. I do love how they are completely invisible and will flit in and out of existence. It's a bit primitive compared to modern games, but I do appreciate the thought given to this enemy.

Will-o-the-Wisps also operate by 'ghost rules', something that's kind of dropped in Skyrim. Ghosts and Will-o-the-Wisps are only able to be damaged by enchanted or silver weapons, and normal weapons and poisons have absolutely no effect on them. I also like the bizarreness of the Wisp corpses apparently being just a bunch of crystal-like shards, which... which aren't really explained. Do like this thing! It's a scary life-draining ball of light that's not undead, but somehow works on undead rules.

Minotaurs & Minotaur Lords

Humanoid mosnters are probably a bit easier for the designers to program, since they kind of work off of the same sort of movement skeleton as the actual humanoid NPC's in the game. Or maybe it's as hard to program these in. I don't really know, I'm not a game programmer. But Minotaurs populate the land of Cyrodiil as some of the stronger enemies, which... I guess fits in with the quasi-Greco-Roman theme that some parts of the Oblivion ruins seem to have?

There are two variants with distinctly different forms, with regular Minotaurs having shorter horns compared to the Minotaur Lords, who have far, far curvier horns. Both of the pictures show minotaurs with hammers, but some of them spawn without them and just run around headbutting you. It's... it's a pretty neat depiction of a minotaur, honestly, even if the colouration does admittedly make it look more like a dude wearing a bull's head for a mask. Not much to say... it's a standard minotaur enemy, but sometimes you just need to have some standards thrown in there.

Spriggan

While the Spriggans of Skyrim are badass-looking women made literally out of branches and ivy, the Spriggans in Oblivion are more akin to fairy women with Poison Ivy style plant clothes. And very, very long fingers. Spriggans in Oblivion are a whole lot weaker than their Skyrim counterpart, lacking some of the more frustrating abilities that the Skyrim Spriggans are able to do. They are still able to make your life hell, though, able to summon bears and cast curses that damage your health. And as with any self-respecting nature spirit, Spriggans are weak to fire.

While Spriggans are still basically just treated as nature spirits and doesn't quite receive as much focus or dedicated dungeons as their Skyrim counterparts, I do like the random detail that Spriggans are programmed to not be able to approach bodies of water. It doesn't really matter for gameplay purposes, and the Spriggans aren't involved in any of Oblivion's storylines, but it's a neat little detail that fits into the whole fae theme that this Spriggan has going on.

Ogres

Sort of the equivalent to Giants in Skyrim, the Ogres are... they're just big humanoids with giant bellies and arms, doing absolutely nothing beyond physical punches and just being kind of slow and bulky. Also, a weakness to poison, which isn't something that's particularly intuitive, but okay. Ogres are one of the few enemies to continue to level up with your player character, making them almost always a threat to you, and probably why ogres are the bosses of a fair amount of quests. It's a pretty neat looking, if not particularly innovative, ogre. I don't really have many comments about this design, but also not a lot of complaints. I guess that's what I feel about a vast majority of Oblivion's enemies. They're just... classic designs that are done right, but aren't particularly exciting or innovative.

Land Dreugh

...other than this dude! The Land Dreugh is apparently a variation of an enemy in Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, simply called Dreughs and are basically monster-mermaids with octopus tentacles. With a whole lot less focus on aquatic combat, though, and the Slaughterfish being practically the only underwater enemy in Oblivion, the Dreugh is updated as a land monster, being this gigantic crab-lobster man that walks around with four crustacean legs, two that poke out of his shoulders, and reptilian claws. That disturbingly humanoid torso makes the Dreugh far more uncomfortable looking than if it was just a giant crab mutant. Later lore in subsequent games would tell us that apparently the Land Dreugh and the Water Dreugh are the same species in different stages of its life cycle, and apparently the Dreughs are aquatic creatures that transform into this crab-spider form to go on land to reproduce. Cool!

For some bizarre reason, the dreughs do shock damage, which... I'm not even going to try to think about too much. It's also got magical resistance, which probably makes a bit more sense. Dreughs appear relatively late into the game, when you've reached a certain level threshold, and can basically spawn anywhere in the world. Pretty badass stuff.

Anyway, easily and by far my favourite thing on this page.

Unicorn

The Unicorn is a unique creature that appears exactly once, as the target of Hircine's Daedric Quest -- to those that are unfamiliar with Elder Scrolls lore, there are many, many Daedric Princes, sort of like the gods/demons of the setting, and they all have their quests scattered all over any given Elder Scrolls game that tended to be themed around the Daedric Prince's sphere of influence, and always rewards a unique and powerful item. Hircine, previously an antagonist in a Morrowind expansion, is the Prince of the Hunt, and basically sends you off to hunt a unicorn.

It's basically a horse with a horn, but it is neat to have this fun lore behind it where apparently you just hunted down and killed the final Unicorn just to appease a god and get a set of armour. I also love the fact that the Unicorn is an extremely aggressive beast that will attack everything on sight, not just the player, and is apparently accompanied by three Minotaurs that specifically are identified as its bodyguards.

Skeletons

Undead enemies now! One of the most common enemies in dungeons are the undead, and that's true because a lot of the villains are necromancers -- including basically every single villain in the Mage's Guild storyline. The land of Cyrodiil is also dotted with Ayleid ruins, which are the ruins of an ancient elf race, the wild elves. Because the appearance of the Ayleid is still meant to be a mystery, all that remains of them are their reanimated bones and corpses.

One of the most classic undead enemies is the humble skeleton, and it's... well, it's a skeleton. Comes in three variants -- the Skeleton, the Skeleton Guardian, the Skeleton Hero and the Skeleton Champion, and the player can summon one of their own. The Skeleton Champion can even summon its own Skeleton minion! Not much to say here. They're neat bony enemies.

Zombies

Slightly stronger than their Skeleton equivalents, the Zombies tend to be able to tank more hits than their Skeleton equivalent, and often deal extra damage thanks to their ability to inflict diseases. Zombies are also extra-weak to fire, but immune to poison and resists most forms of magic. Unlike the "zombies" in Skyrim that are just reanimated NPC's, the Zombies in Oblivion have a far cooler looking model with exposed bone and muscles!

The three Zombie variants are the regular Zombie, which is just a corpse, the Headless Zombie, which, well, doesn't have a head (and also an extra arm), and the Dread Zombie, who's missing an arm but glows green and is a goddamn pain to bring down. Definitely love the fact that the variants actually do end up having different models as opposed to just swapping out weaponry.

Ghosts

We've hinted at the uniqueness of Ghosts in this game when I talked about Will-o-Wisps, but to recap... they are immune to normal, unenchanted weapons, as well as poison and frost damage. Only magical weapons, spells and silver weaponry can damage them, meaning that they are extremely deadly to a novice character since all you can do is to use the shitty spells you have to try and damage the ghosts. Hilariously, though, due to an oversight, your fists apparently count as enchanted weapons. Whoops!

Two variants of the Ghosts are available, the regular Ghost and the Ancient Ghost, and they are basically the upper half of an old person's body that just hover around trailing clouds of mists. A lot, lot cooler and more unique than the silly "NPC run through a transparent filter" bullshit that Skyrim has for their ghosts. Anyway, they're not particularly threatening, but pretty dang cool.

Wraiths

After a while, though, the Ghosts are replaced by Wraiths, which have the most annoying sound ever, but do have a pretty cool design. They behave similarly to ghosts, but have a different model that are clearly cloaked, and they wield swords and are particularly powerful casters that love to shoot out debilitating spells to fuck you up. The most annoying ones can drain endurance, or silence you. I'm pretty sure 99% of the times that my character in Oblivion has to go to a temple to pray away permanent stat damage was thanks to wraiths.

Three variants exist -- the Faded Wraith, the regular Wraith and the Gloom Wraith -- and I absolutely love how each progressively more powerful version of the Wraith seem to be more and more materialized, gaining more colour and more vivid detail compared to their weaker counterparts. Pretty damn awesome attention to detail in a game that tended to just shrug and adjust stats for different enemy variations. Wraiths have the same amount of 'ghost rules' as Ghosts, and if they didn't have such an annoying voice I'd love them more.

Liches

The most powerful of all undead monsters, and the ones that tend to be the bosses in a dungeon, are the Liches. They appear in two forms, the half-invisible Nether Lich, and the fully corporeal Lich. They cast spells with staves from afar, which tend to be insanely destructive, and are themselves armed with spells of their own if you somehow cause them to run out of charges for their spells. Liches are also able to summon other undead, and are able to absorb spells and are immune to both poison and frost.

Other than a couple specific bosses (one at the end of a particularly notable haunted house mission, for example), they don't quite any lore beyond being powerful undead sorcerers, though, which is a shame. Presumably they work on the same sort of lich logic that any D&D-inspired setting is, but unlike the Dragon Priests of Skyrim, there is absolutely nothing that makes any given lich more interesting than any given gloom wraith. Still, a pretty neat design for an undead sorcerer, in any case.