Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year: Prima Official Game Guide

I just got this book a few weeks ago. I've had Oblivion since I bought my 360 and this is one of they best RPG games of all time. The game is a must own. The game is massive, The biggest game world i've ever seen before. So of course if the game is massive your going to need a book that has easy to read conetnt, Lots of Maps,detailed information on the weapons, items, spells, potions, monsters ETC. This is the book!!!!!!! It has everything you need to know about playingt Oblivion. It even helps you make your character. Kind of like when you make your character in Dungeons and Dragons. It tells you how to maximize your character to the fullest even before you start your adventure. The overall walkthrough is amazing!!!! The book even tells you where to get started on your quest. Who to talk to if your doing a freedom quests or how to join the drak brotherhood and it even suggests who to kill so you don't mess up your game later on. It's a must have if you love this game. It will not just get you through that rough spot but it opens up all the possibilities that the game offers you. It opens up all the doors in this game. I don't think I would be able to know everything about this game if it wasn't for this book! I'm planning on getting the Shivering Isles and the Knights of The Nine one day. It has everything about them as well. All the maps are in the back and there are a lot of great maps. It even had all the downloadable content that you can get for the game. This book is priceless if you love this game. Buy this book! You won't be sorry. I've been playing games for over 13 years and this the best book i've owned for a game. Prima has done it again!!!!!! I don't know why it got bad reviews. The maps are in the back of the book and it has pages and pages of them.

First let me say that the omissions noted by the other reviewers are correct. A detailed index to the quests would be helpful. I've have had to thumb through the various quests within a general category to find the side quest I'm solving. Once you are on a major category, like the Mages Guild stuff, the manual trundles right along, quest after quest, and you can follow them in order as you proceed, with no need for an index, just a book marker. The trick is to stay off random side quests that someone in the game requests. Just say no. Stick to the main categorical quests and the manual can be your best friend. If you get duped into a solving a random quest while solving individual quests under a general category, there is plenty of online help for locating random quests; one site provides a detailed world map. My old friend google helped me find them. So, why buy this laboriously-written manual? First of all, it's beautifully illustrated, well-written, and almost devilishly detailed. To locate a random quest - I should have said `no' to the bugger -- I go to a website which is nicely indexed, and follow the walk-through. Usually, the Prima version when I find it is more complete and helpful than the on-line walk-through. The world map the game itself provides (Play Station 3) is helpful, as well as its individual maps. The game provides pointers on the map to follow and also on its compass when your role-playing hombre is trudging through hill and dale. From my experience, I have found the manual well-worth purchasing. I recommend buying it, and am giving it five stars. Someone put tons of work into this manual, a work of love, and should be financially compensated, this at the very least.

Generally, when it comes to strategy guides I don't really use them because part of what makes a game fun is the gamers beating it by themselves. Then again I've never played a game as epic as Oblivion and I got lost in the game. So I decided to pick up this official strategy guide and I was blown away by how complete and detailed the guide covered its information. It has full maps of every town and dungeons with treasures all listed. It has all the handy tables and charts like weapons, armors, spells, ingredients, and the lowdown on every creature in the game and more. It also has a section on creating a character that best fits your style of play as well as info on the game's mechanics. It also has all the quests covered and you'll be amaze at how easy it is to follow all the tips and notes the author has written. THere's just WAY too much to list here. You will have to get it. It's the one complete guide and only guide you will ever need. The guide is 496 pages long in full color and covers all expansions and downloadable content.

I was hesitant to buy the Prima guide as all thier other ones suck. I was hoping for a guide like The Morrowind Prophecies and was disappointed to hear that Prima was doing the guide for Oblivion. Then I noticed that the guide is written by Peter Olafson, the same guy that did The Morrowind Prophecies. What a relief! So I bought the guide and sure enough, it's exactly like The Morrowind Prophecies, only for Oblivion. This is an Awesome guide and worth more than the retail price. Trust me, if Oblivion is anything like Morrowind (an I expect it is) you will need this guide at some point. Enjoy the game! If you get stuck, open this guide and you will find your answer!

Oblivion is a HUGE game. If you are like me, you want to try to do as much as possible without help. Explore the world, attempt quests and learn the ins-and-outs of the game on your own. But sometimes, you get stuck, and in a PC RPG this big, a well written Strategy Guide is a welcome relief for the times you get stuck. This guide helps create characters, defining the attribute scores for the different races and skill types and even giving suggestions on how to make characters with your own customized skill set. It gives detailed listings on items, weapons, armor, spells, equipment and inventory throughout the game. The first half of the book outlines all the steps needed for the main quest. Then, the second half of the book covers the Guild quests, village quests, skill quests (for your specific character type) and all the other side quests. Since the game is so new, I can't guarantee it covers ALL the quests in the game, but there are maps for all the caves, ruins, mines, towns, and places that you might need to visit. This book is big because the game is big. There is so much to see and do in this game, it takes a well written and well designed strategy guide to help you through the hard parts. I do not plan to use this for every quest because it would take away from the fun of the game (and trust me, the game is fun). However, I am glad to know it is there when I need it. The bottom line is this--buy the game. If you get stuck, you should know that this great strategy guide is here to help you, and you will probably need it. Not just to learn about the quest you are stuck on, but to find out some of the other cool things you could be doing in the game world. I highly recommend Prima's Strategy guide for Oblivion.