I picked up Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the Xbox 360 the other day and have been having fun working both the main quest, and a few side quests since then. So far, it’s a fun, enjoyable game. One of the things that I like about it is how “immersive” it is. The graphics are well done, the music is a good compliment to what’s happening, the characters don’t have too many repeating voices or phrases, and each town seems to have it’s own architectural style. In fact, the one glaring problem that I’ve seen with the game is that no one seems to go to the bathroom, or at least, in a bathroom. I’ve been all over the place and haven’t found one bathroom! (sort of like a season of “24″)

Like any complicated software it has its bugs, and I’ve encountered a few that take me “out of the experience” a few times:

First, while battling a ghost on a ship, the ghost was smart enough to hide behind a wall, but there was a clipping issue, and it’s arm came through the wall. Minor.

The second issue occurred while standing under a stable’s roof while it was raining outside; the rain came down through the roof. Again, minor.

The third issue, however, took me out of the game so much that I had to go and grab my camera and take a few pictures of it: I was wondering around a region with some lakes (looking for Nirnroot), and I encountered what was supposed to be stone pillars on the side of the lake. As you can see from the pics below, they seem to be magic floating pillars.

(sorry about the moire, but it’s a byproduct of the LCD screen being taken by a Nikon D70 and it’s anti-alias filter)

“Hmm, that’s an interesting formation.”

“Interesting, the bottom half seems to be invisible. That’s a neat trick.”

It’s East-North-East of the Fieldhouse Cave in Blackwood

Smack in the middle of Blackwood