The biggest, best DLC for the award winning game OBLIVION, the shivering isles is the topic of my second review. Enter the land of the daedric prince Sheogorath, and defeat his fellow daedric god Jyggalag in an attempt to keep the isles safe from the threat of order forever.
Story
There is a fairly complicated but well thought out story for this DLC.
The story is that, hundreds of era's ago, Jyggalag was the most powerful daedra to ever have lived. He had invaded several smaller realms, corrupting them with strict rules and opening obelisks to let his armies walk upon the land. The other fifteen princes grew worried that Jyggalag would one day invade their home-realms, thus putting an end to their power and increasing his tenfold. The fifteen princes, for the first time since.... like forever, worked together to place a curse on Jyggalag, to turn him into the pure incarnation of what he hated most, madness, creating the daedra we know as Sheogorath. Sheogorath created his own realm, named the Shivering Isles, where he summoned golden saints and dark seducers to serve him. He then created a chamberlain named Haskill, who aided him in his duties. the other princes granted Jyggalag his true form every era, which was named the greymarch, an event in which the obelisks would activate, and Jyggalag himself would destroy the isles completely, and when he returned to his Sheogorath form, would have to rebuild. This happened hundreds and hundreds of times, until you, the champion of Cyrodil, would enter his realm, slay his gatekeeper, and assist him in fighting Jyggalag, once and for all.
To me this is a detailed interesting story, which interested me immediately. I rate the story ten out of ten.
Weapons and Armor
This DLC adds numerous new sets of armor and weapons.
Some look rather intimidating, and some make you look like a giant bee.
Lets ( LETS!!!!!) look at some armour sets added by this DLC.
The armour design is very good, and you can tell by someones personality depending on what armor their wearing. Kinda. Armor get's a 9 from me!!!
Now, let's (LETS!!!!!!!!!!) look at some new weapons.
The weapons added are seriously cool, and deserve the 10 I rate them.
Enemies
Now, the enemies in the isles are..... abnormal. Ranging from walking trees to fat, walking, humanoid frog things, you need to see them before you understand how weird they are.
All of these enemies are (in at east one way) highly weird. Discarding this, they are interesting, annoying and very well designed. i rate enemies in SI a 10.
Bosses
The SI expansion adds a number of bosses to your game, including priests of order, you (yes, you), and Jyggalag himself. The priests of order are not technically bosses, but are rather rare so I will count them as one.
Bosses are well designed, some face-slappingly powerful. Not much else to say, and I rate the bosses a 9.
Factions
The SI adds only (disappointingly) one join able faction, the court of madness. This greatly disappointed me, so I rate the factions a mere 5.
Environments and Dungeons
The SI DLC is filled with jaw-dropping landscapes, from the colourful mania to the dingy dementia.
Both are different and interesting, have different enemies and dungeon styles. Ah, yes, dungeons. let's talk about those.
The dungeons in the isles are different depending on which half of the realm you are on. If you are in mania, the brick style will be more elaborate, and bright plants may grow inside. In dementia, you may find blood-stained floors and corpses hanging from the ceiling.
Both kinds are interesting (and gory) and each have different inhabitants.
Overall, I rate the SI environments and dungeons a 9.
Cities & NPC's
The capital city of the isles, is in in both halves of the isles, half in mania, the other half in dementia. The layout of this city is quite
interesting. The palace is in the center, in which Sheogorath, Thadon, and Syl reside. The cities of Crucible and Bliss are on either side of the palace. The seducers reign in Crucible, while the Saints guard Bliss.
now, onto the interesting bit, the NPC's.
Depending on which side the person in question lives, they will have striking personalities.
if the person in question is a resident of bliss, they will most likely talk absolute nonsense, having lost their grip on reality.
Most crucible residents will either be Suicidal or Homicidal, asking you to push them off a cliff or telling you to leave, or have your throat slit.
I rate the cities and NPC's a 10.
Overall, the Shivering Isles Expansion is worth whatever small amount of money it will cost. It contains at least two weeks worth of entertainment,
and you can unlock new achievements and powers.
That concludes my second review. BYE!!!!!