The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Knights of the Nine Review

By Robert Purchese Published 27 November, 2006

Divine distraction.

Version tested: Xbox 360

Oblivion divided opinion. Released in March to rapturous applause, it seemed as though Bethesda had driven Western RPG standards to new heights. Presented with a seemingly overwhelming array of choices, dwarfed by an enormous land to explore, besotted by lavish detail and beauty - Oblivion appeared to be the Goliath we'd been waiting for. Critics opened their arms and welcomed what they saw as the first of the truly next-generation games.

Yet it seems one person's selling points were another's drawbacks. Overwhelming choice was narrowed to dull repetition, vast lands became laborious obstacles, and beauty was criticised for her performance. Apathy soon crept in, attentions turned elsewhere. Could it be that this pinnacle of gaming lacked the depth to engage, was it guilty of having no soul?

Last Wednesday heralded the release of Bethesda's largest downloadable content addition to the game so far. Umaril, an ancient Ayleid Sorcerer-King, seeks vengeance upon the Gods who banished him to the planes of Oblivion thousands of years ago. For 800 Microsoft points you must heed the call to help, seeking out lost relics of the Divine Crusader to help you vanquish this otherworldly evil for eternity. Just a normal day in Tamriel, then.

Heeding the heroes' call takes you to the ransacked Anvil Chapel, or more precisely a babbling prophet lingering on the street nearby. This outspoken fellow tells you of the ancient evil encroaching upon the world, threatening the very gods themselves. It's instantly familiar territory as your path is laid before you: a hand-drawn map leading you to Wayshrines spread across Cyrodiil, a pilgrimage you must undertake to prove your faith to the holy-powers-that-be, The Nine. Your reward is a spiritual tête-à-tête with Divine Crusader Pelinal Whitestrake. The shoes he wore, you will quest to fill, as he directs you to the first piece of the holy armour that allowed him to battle the Ayleid Sorcerer-King many moons ago.

'The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Knights of the Nine' Screenshot armour

The Divine Crusader's armour, complete with brown underpants.

Unsurprisingly it's back into a ruin you're headed. Here you'll find your first piece of equipment, and a corpse of a Knight of the Nine whose ring you shall plunder. Attain these items, then travel to the newly located Priory of the Nine in search of the Cuirass, and the bulk of your quest begins. In order to attain this chest-piece, you must show that you are a champion worthy of great responsibility; you'll do this by fighting, one-by-one, the spirits of the fallen Knights of the Nine. The armour is yours once the test is complete, and so is the allegiance and cooperation of your bested foes. It's the knowledge they impart that will lead you to tests for the other pieces of the Divine Crusader's set, the armour you must be wearing if you wish to complete the quest line and defeat Umaril.

Filling Pelinal Whitestrake's boots is a task bestowed upon both experienced adventurers, and those new to the game. While newer players might struggle with scripted encounters, arguably the rewards will benefit them more. There's a new enemy type in the Aurorans. These heavily-armoured, lightning-casting, axe-wielding fellows carry out Umaril's wicked bidding: and being part of Oblivion's levelled-enemy clientèle means that they'll pack a punch whatever your level. Allies inspired by your bravery will soon be pledging themselves to your cause, helping you to rebuild the Priory of the Nine and resurrect the Holy order. As your progress down the Divine Crusader's path continues, an inevitable final confrontation builds momentum; will your Knights of Nine now proceed where they failed once before?

'The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Knights of the Nine' Screenshot auroran

The Aurorans present a new, hardy challenge - be prepared!

A large criticism of the original game was the lack of new content a player could encounter once they'd passed level twenty - a benchmark that's not even half of the total levels achievable. We, like others, have spent upwards of another twenty or more levels facing the same enemies and receiving the same loot from what felt like replicated quests. This new content is at its best when it differentiates itself from the slew of tasks already available throughout Oblivion. Rebuilding a holy order appeals to our Dan Brown side, and although your fellow Knights will spring up rather quickly and over zealously, it's nice to feel as though you have something of a supporting cast. You will, perhaps obviously, soon forget encounters with the levelled undead that pad out familiar ruins - much more memorable are the tests you'll face to earn new pieces of equipment. Why a concept plainly useful for prolonging content, like gathering unique armour sets that grant abilities or spells, wasn't used to great effect in the first place is beyond us.

Still, the Knights of the Nine addition is an entertaining distraction to the continuing debate on Oblivion. It features some nice touches, and it's promising to see Bethesda keen to nourish and support its hugely popular title. There isn't much to object to here, but in the larger picture it's just a drop in the ocean. While appealing most to fans of the game, it's they that should be most cautious. £6.80 won't break many people's banks (clearly PC owners are paying more but get all the downloadable content to date), but it would if you paid for every quest line in Oblivion. But if more of the same is what you're after, you can't really argue with what Bethesda's served up for its hardcore fans.

8 / 10

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Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (65) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bonker #1 5 years ago

    First! :)

    Decent add-on then ...
    Edited by 1 at 27/11/06 @ 14:11

  • dbeamish #2 5 years ago

    how many mega watts of space does this consume?

  • dbeamish #3 5 years ago

    bonker.. you saddo.. positng first then editing it to add a comment..? jebus save me.

  • savant #4 5 years ago

    I believe PC owners get all the other downloadable content too.

  • Martin #5 5 years ago

    Time to get me an Xbox 360 it seems. :)

  • Yossarian #6 5 years ago

    still debating whether or not to get this. love the game, but I have poured 85 hours or so into it and still not finished it, so do I really need more?

  • Pike #7 5 years ago

    Could it be that this pinnacle of gaming lacked the depth to engage, was it guilty of having no soul?

    I guess the answer to that is a resounding yes.

    The shinyness, size and improved combat was entertaining for about 15 to 20 hours, then it became to apparent that Bethesda are incapable of infusing personality and life in their games.

  • ccfb #8 5 years ago

    This review seems quite spoilerific.

  • ecureuil #9 5 years ago

    What is it with Oblivion screenshots? They ALL have pictures of some guy standing just to the left or right of the picture.

    It looks very bizarre if it's in that many screenshots.

  • ZuluHero #10 5 years ago

    hmm.. just started playing oblivion again last night, still too much to do before i even get a chance to look at all these additions.

    Just a quick question, If there's a locked door and you have the key in your inv. how do you "use" it? Im an assassin, and i pick-pocketed a key off someone, which seemed the only way to be able to access the area i need to get to, but the game refuses to acknowledge that i even have it :S

    Am i missing something?

  • ccfb #11 5 years ago

    You should just be able to unlock the door with the action button, I thought.

  • Sid-Nice #12 5 years ago

    £6.80 that's well worth a Purchese.

  • Darren #13 5 years ago

    I completed this quest last night and really enjoyed it although it only took me around six hours to complete it. Can't grumble though as I still think it's good value considering the things you get at the end of it.

    *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

    There's some nice puzzles here and there and the battle at the end feels suitably climatic and exciting as you and eight other knights take on hordes of Aurorans (who can regenerate themselves!!!) and ultimately the bad-ass bad guy at the end.

    *END OF SPOILERS*

    Definitely a more exciting end to the quest than the main storyline in the game.

  • James_Lyon #14 5 years ago

    Nine: Nine? Nein!

    (Which would probably have been my attempt at a standfirst, readers.)

  • Nobuo #15 5 years ago

    ZuluHero, having the key will always open the door that it's for when you press the action button on it. So you've either got the wrong key or found a bug.

    Anyway, I can't imagine anyone finishing the whole of Oblivion then still wanting more of the same. I certainly wouldn't.

  • mkreku #16 5 years ago

    Too bad the original game was so linear, the characters so poorly written, the quests so unengaging and the equipment so horribly restricted.

    These are all problems that a simple patch can't fix. Don't think I'll be paying any more money for this product.

  • TessaTickle #17 5 years ago

    Still can't bring myself to play a game where the baddies level up with you. Talk about removing a vital facet to the gameplay. Maybe that's where Oblivion is the most soul-less ?

  • Nobuo #18 5 years ago

    "Still can't bring myself to play a game where the baddies level up with you."

    Actually, most RPGs since the PSX days have this feature in to some degree, but Oblivion definately took it too far. Though it's not as Enemy = Player as some people think.

    Does this expansion introduce any new voice actors? The tiny cast is my biggest peev with the original game. Along with the performance, but that's a given.

  • Yossarian #19 5 years ago

    the final Thieves Guild quest is still the game's undisputed highlight for me

  • newt #20 5 years ago

    Still can't bring myself to play a game where the baddies level up with you.

    This can be "fixed" through a simple mod. I know not everyone is patient enough to fine tune a game by installing fanmade plugins but with Oblivion, the possibilities to shape it to your liking are quite huge.

  • BrokenSymmetry #21 5 years ago

    The automatic leveling up of all enemies in Oblivion destroyed the whole game for me. It basically forces you to power-level your character, focusing on combat-only skills, just to keep up with the leveling of your enemies. If you level up on non-combat skills you're screwed...

  • gallow #22 5 years ago

    The game interested for about a month but then I started to get bored with as it just ended up with me entering one dark hole in the ground after another. This just sounds like more of the same.

  • Jheronimus #23 5 years ago

    Will play this when I have the time for it. Still busy playing GoW, DR, Fifa07 and Viva Pinata is coming this week... Too many games, too little time!

  • ZuluHero #24 5 years ago

    thx for all the replies, i guess it must be bugged, seems odd that it wouldn't work otherwise.

    "A" is the action button on the 360, right?

  • Prehensile_Plant #25 5 years ago

    Bit misleading re PC owners, I think. You can go out and buy it in a shop now with all the other dowloads for £14.99. Or buy it for $9.99 off obliviondownloads.com on its own on December 4th.

    'Sup to you which you prefer. Many of the other official mods are.... not really worth it, but Mehrune's Razor and the house mods are lovely. So if you don't have those, The Plant recomends you buy the lot in a shop.

    PC owners needs to beware the DRM protection on downloads from the official site. I have to do some serious and unecessary fiddling to make mine work.

    And yes. KoTN is a nice DLC. More nice DLCs (and an upgraded construction set, and a MAX exporter) please Bethesda.

  • krudster #26 5 years ago

    Depends where you go - Game is charging £19.99 onlne, Play £14.99.

  • PearOfAnguish #27 5 years ago

    "PC owners needs to beware the DRM protection on downloads from the official site. I have to do some serious and unecessary fiddling to make mine work. "

    And yet you can download them all right now from the torrent site of your choice, without any unnecessary faffing about involving DRM. Well done, game programmer guys!

  • McGeeza #28 5 years ago

    Talk like Yoda, on purpose the reviewer during this piece was? Or just annoying and crap is he?

  • immateriaux #29 5 years ago

    The debate between which game is better, Morrowind or Oblivion is probably now worthy of some in depth study by a sociology of gaming type post-grad - I can't get over how some people have praised Morrowind on the basis that it offered experiences like walking back and forth for hours (real time) looking for a cave's entrance or some such. In it's time I enjoyed Morrowind but ultimately found it ponderously slow whereas Oblivion pushed along at a brisk enough pace. Okay, maybe it ran out of steam at around the 100 hour mark but it was 100 hours of enjoyment ... Comparing people's expectations and realisations of both games would probably illuminate a lot about the market for games currently.

    Anyway, since getting Oblivion, I've bought Neverwinter Nights 2 which, if anybody claims Oblivion is linear, try play that "experience" and get a real sense of strict arrow like linearity, the game "hand holds" in the extreme. Awful what Obsidian have done to the legacy of Baldur's gate...

    I've also bought Gothic 3 and Dark Messiah and can play neither due to big bugs.... so, overall, for RPG games (or, at least, RPG inspired games), Oblivion has easily been the best out this year in my experience.

  • smelly #30 5 years ago

    Im a big fan of rpg games, been playing them since ultima 4.

    Oblivion REALLY bored me. I personally thought it was terrible game.. But hey, horses for courses.

    Not really an rpg, but zelda is so far ace (35 hours in.. and loving every minute)

  • UncleLou #31 5 years ago

    Anyway, since getting Oblivion, I've bought Neverwinter Nights 2 which, if anybody claims Oblivion is linear, try play that "experience" and get a real sense of strict arrow like linearity, the game "hand holds" in the extreme. Awful what Obsidian have done to the legacy of Baldur's gate...

    It's linear, I agree, but Baldur's Gate 1+2 were linear, too. At least Obsidian's writing is up to scratch, compared to Bioware's last efforts like Kotor 1 or Neverwinter Nights 1. If anything, I'd say Obsidian rescued BG's legacy with NWN2 after it had been left rotting by Bioware. :)

    You raise an interesting point though. I preferred Oblivion to Morrowind, but in the end, have the same criticisms for both: the boring writing and the lifelessness of it all.

  • PearOfAnguish #32 5 years ago

    I preferred Morrowind, though I can't pin down exactly why. It did have fantastic art direction, easily one of the most oddly beautiful games ever made.
    Edited by 1 at 27/11/06 @ 18:29

  • UncleLou #33 5 years ago

    True, the art direction in Morrowind was great - it's a bit of a shame that they returned to a much more generic fanatsy look with the technically far superior Oblivion. I bet the giant mushrooms would have looked great. :)

    Maybe it had something to do with the procedural generation being more suited for "realistic" landscapes?

  • ZEUS_GB #34 5 years ago

    All in all it's not a bad expansion but i'm a little bit disappointed by amount of quests, there simply weren't enough of them. Having said that though the Knights of the Nine quest was really good fun.

    I think the expansion pack benefits lower levels characters more then my level 34 Mage Crusader. Having already got full Daedric armour I don't need the Divine Crusader's armour. I don't need spell tomes either as I can make spells myself.

    More quests needed in the next expansion pack!

  • smelly #35 5 years ago

    >the boring writing and the lifelessness of it all.

    *phew* for a moment there, i thought i was the only one who thought that, and for some reason i was "missing" something.

    Personally the only REALLY good thing i have to say about oblivion is that it looks stunning, everything else is either average or poor.

  • alpha-0ne #36 5 years ago

    ive played the game for about 40 hours and am still only 25% complete i dont think ill be buying the addons lol

  • newt #37 5 years ago

    True, the art direction in Morrowind was great - it's a bit of a shame that they returned to a much more generic fanatsy look

    +1, although I'm a fan of Oblivion and don't find it lifeless at all. Guess it's easier to get "into" the world if you're familiar with the Elder Scrolls lore.
    Edited by 1 at 27/11/06 @ 19:48

  • Veldaban #38 5 years ago

    "Maybe it had something to do with the procedural generation being more suited for "realistic" landscapes?"

    Possibly so, but I think they were trying (maybe a little too hard) to return to a setting more like Elder Scrolls 1 and 2 (the Morrowind province is after all intentionally exotic compared to the rest of the Elder Scrolls world).

  • lemonfist #39 5 years ago

    I'm quite surprised to find so many people expressing disappointment in the game at this point (not only on this site).

    It's like negative criticism of a hyped game is subdued during the time of its release only for it to be more legitimate later on (see also: Halo 2).

  • smelly #40 5 years ago

    Hey until recently I thought i was the only one who didnt think it was THAT great. You cant really judge a game this size at time of release, and unfortunately due to being released on a console - if you did try to say anything slightly negative about it, you'll be accused of being some sort of fanboy. Or other such nonsense.

    dont get me wrong, i dont think it's rubbish.. just not as great as everyone makes out it is.

    But then, one mans greatness is another mans not so greatness - thus why i never look at review scores but read the words.

    Thankfully zelda has more than lived up to its hype for me.. So at the moment i'm in gaming heaven.. :-)

    I *might* try going back to oblivion after zelda, and putting in some serious time with it to see if i can try to understand why people like it so much.

    Edited by 1 at 27/11/06 @ 20:34

  • PearOfAnguish #41 5 years ago

    People have been expressing disappointment since it first came out. You think we don't like it...try heading over to RPGCodex.

  • UncleLou #42 5 years ago

    smelly, many, many people have explicitly expressed their disappointment within days of the release. It's one of the fastest "de-hyped" games I can remember. What people (including me) objected to was your often repeated ranting how everybody who liked the game must be a shallow graphics whore. People don't like to be told why they or why they don't like a game, especially when you're pretty much saying "you must be stupid if you like it". Kind of kills any discussion before it even started. :)

    edit:

    Not today, I'd like to add, but in the past.

    edit No. 12:

    more spelling
    Edited by 3 at 27/11/06 @ 21:43

  • Agent_Llama #43 5 years ago

    Got back into Oblivion yesterday, thoroughly enjoyed myself but I hate the fact that as a bow-wielding agent I can't play it on average difficulty as it's too fricking hard. Enemies should not level up as you do. Tis silly.

    Overall Morrowind pips Oblivion in my rank of favourites - it has more charm and character. I love the rough-around-the-edgesness of it.

  • NegativeZero #44 5 years ago

    Oblivion pushed Sandbox RPGs to new heights. It didn't do anything for Western RPGs in general - the last landmark title as far as that goes was probably Neverwinter Nights.

    It does look very pretty, though.

  • Turrican #45 5 years ago

    Its a great game, but its not the best game ever either. Personally I've just come back to it after some months and I'm enjoying it again, but only because I read a load of guides, planned my character, and power-levelled properly to get ahead of the difficulty curve.

    Having tried it, I really think the enemy-levelling up thing is too extreme. The oblivion gameworld has a definite center, so surely they could have increased the enemy difficulty the further away from the center you got. As it is, being able to complete the game as a level 1 character is just...wrong.

  • space_ace #46 5 years ago

    knights of ni?
    *cackles*

  • Dizzy #47 5 years ago

    "It's like negative criticism of a hyped game is subdued during the time of its release only for it to be more legitimate later on (see also: Halo 2). "

    Quite the opposite. Amazing games always get haters after a while because "it is cool to be a rebel".

  • Xerx3s #48 5 years ago

    still debating whether or not to get this. love the game, but I have poured 85 hours or so into it and still not finished it, so do I really need more?

    Only 85 hours? That's a tiny amount for a ES game.

  • RM2KMaster #49 5 years ago

    This add on is pretty average in my opinion. It's still the same old gameplay, hacking and slashing away.

  • smelly #50 5 years ago

    You know something, i think that's what i really like about the new zelda.. gameplay keeps changing to stop you getting bored.

    Just did an ace snowboardy bit :-)


    (sorry off topic)

  • ave #51 5 years ago

    Dizzy: people were pointing out issues like recycled voice overs, no dialog from npc's, boring art direction(especially compared to MW) and levelled NPC's from pretty much the outset.

  • PearOfAnguish #52 5 years ago

    Luckily the mod community has fixed many problems, everyone should use Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul: [link url=http://www.tescreens.be/oblivionmo dwiki/index.php/Oscuro%27s_Oblivion_Overhaul
    ]http://ww w.tescreens.be/oblivionmodwiki/...[/link]

  • MrChuckles #53 5 years ago

    The best Elder Scrolls Game?

    Daggerfall, by a country mile!

    The only RPG that actually used to scare me when i heard a door open... Awesome..

  • Skooch #54 5 years ago

    "Still can't bring myself to play a game where the baddies level up with you. Talk about removing a vital facet to the gameplay. Maybe that's where Oblivion is the most soul-less ?"

    Do what I did, as I increased my level I steadily turned down the difficulty - works just as well! :)

  • Skooch #55 5 years ago

    I thought Oblivion was absolutely fantastic for the first 10 hours, great for the following 10 hours, then it plateaued (spelling?) and I thought it was just pretty good, after 10 more hours of the same it just feels extremely repetitive. Go there, kill him, loot the cave, sell off the loot, buy something better, speak to the next person, go there, steal from them, loot, sell off the loot.... etc. etc.

    I do mean to go back to it but I think I need to leave it for about a year and let my interest re-kindle slowly...

  • PearOfAnguish #56 5 years ago

    One great thing about Oblivion was the dungeons, some of them were huge. Although they didn't make enough use of the traps, all those preview vids they showed with traps were from the first dungeon, rip-off. If I knew how to mod it I'd go through and build new traps into them. I wish the combat was more like Dark Messiah too.

  • jonnyreb #57 5 years ago

    " Luckily the mod community has fixed many problems, everyone should use Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul: http://ww w.tescreens.be/oblivionmodwiki/...

    Doesn't help the 360 version though, does it?

  • PearOfAnguish #58 5 years ago

    Doesn't help the 360 version though, does it?

    That's why you should play the PC version.

  • jonnyreb #59 5 years ago

    Thanks for that - can you help me with my tax return too?

    :)

    Seriously though....it's a shame the principle game improvements have to come from the community and not the developer.

  • Errol #60 5 years ago

    Morrowind was much, much better.

  • immateriaux #61 5 years ago

    ... well that finally settles that argument ....

  • Veldaban #62 5 years ago

    "Daggerfall, by a country mile!

    The only RPG that actually used to scare me when i heard a door open... Awesome.."

    That sound effect, I'm sure they must have used some standard sound effects library... most creaking doors in movies make that EXACT sound and I always think of the dungeons of Daggerfall. :)

  • jonnyreb #63 5 years ago

    Anyone know when this is out in Sweden?

  • Masarin #64 5 years ago

    Eurogamer!!! Help us please. We still haven't got the Knights of Nine on the XBOX Live in Scandinavia. Some people have contacted Microsoft and they blame Bethesda while others have contacted Bethesda and they blame Micorosft. Pleassssse Eurogamer.... could you ask them, kindly of course, why they don't want us Nords to play the expansion?

    Please...?

  • jonnyreb #65 5 years ago

    @Masarin

    It's on Live in Scandinavia now I believe