Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"All it's cracked up to be"

I'm personally not the kind of gamer who could possibly play a game long enough to get bored and need an expansion of the same game. In fact, Oblivion still has this clutch over me, because there are so many corners untouched and so many quests to finish. When I discovered Knights of the Nine I was kind of hesitant. I figured that if I already had so much to do in Oblivion, why would I want more? Well, it was only fair to try it anyway and I have to say that after finishing Knights of the Nine, I'm impressed. It's not the greatest thing ever, but considering it's a mini expansion that comes with all the other expansions that came before it, it's hard to find anything to complain about. If you're paying for the expansion, it's because you already enjoyed Oblivion, and therefore, KotN doesn't disappoint.

The main attraction of the expansion is this great epic quest that starts off as The Pilgrimage. You're not even alerted of the addition of this quest, but you'll start hearing rumors of stuff going down in Anvil. When you finally check out what's happening, you find blood and guts spewed in the church and a crazy guy rambling on about prophecies and banishing an evil god… you know, standard fantasy stuff. The problem I had with this quest is how tedious it is to begin and how boring it is as well. You're given a map and told to pray at eight way shrines spread across the entire province. The point being so your slate can be wiped clean and you'll be worthy of utilizing the holy relics, and becoming an epic crusader. The rest of the quest is an unraveling of events that will take you through tombs and underground caverns finding these relics in order to hunt down and destroy an evil demon named Umaril.

Personally I didn't really enjoy all that. Not because it wasn't fun, but because it completely went against what my character was all about. My assassin is evil, likes to steal and kill and is probably guilty of more than two of the seven deadly sins, yet he was worthy of such a holy task. No, what I truly enjoyed were all the other mini expansions that were included in the set. You're given an abandoned clandestine cave that can be transformed into a headquarters for pirates; a giant magical tower for a home, complete with alchemy apparatuses that temporarily increase your ability, an indoor garden where you'll find every plant found in Cyrodiil and Oblivion (yes, that includes the bloodgrass) and a secret haven with multiple chests for dividing all the loot conceivable (you know I've done it); an awesome hideout for vampires that comes with your own servant and a comatose prisoner for all your bloodsucking needs.

All of these things of course cost money to construct, but if you were like me, you probably already ran out of reasons to even use money in Oblivion, so you'll burn through the payments quickly. Another little add-on I really enjoyed was the horse armor (I recommend giving it to Shadowmare because he can't die, but of course that's only if you played through The Dark Brotherhood quests).

I guess one could really say that the biggest flaw this expansion has is that the main quest it adds to the game is rather short. You can probably finish it in about 5 to 10 hours, but when you weigh it against the price you're paying for the content, it's really worth it. So, if you enjoyed Oblivion and for some inexplicable reason you find yourself craving more, this probably won't fill that void because it just doesn't match the standards of this game, but it is a nice distraction and it's worth a go.