The Imperial City in Oblivion is still the best hub Bethesda's ever made

[EbonyWarrior]

I've been replaying Oblivion for the first time since like 2012 and I forgot how much the Imperial City just works as a central location. Skyrim's Solitude is fine but it feels like a regular hold that happens to be bigger. The Imperial City actually feels like the capital of an empire, you know? All the different districts, the actual sense that you're moving through a real city instead of just walking around one big courtyard.

And the way it connects to the Mages Guild, the Thieves Guild hideout, the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary - it doesn't feel forced. You're naturally drawn there for multiple reasons. In Skyrim you kind of just... show up in Solitude for the main quest and then leave.

Does anyone else think a proper remaster of Oblivion would need to keep the city design philosophy from the original? I'm worried if we ever get a remake they'd streamline it into something more like Skyrim's layout and honestly that would be a downgrade.

 

[ScrollsOfTamriel]

I get what you're saying about the district layout, but I think you might be giving the Imperial City a bit too much credit for "feeling real." Like, yeah, it's got more distinct zones than Solitude, but they're still pretty small and disconnected from each other - you're basically fast-traveling between tiny instanced areas. The actual geography doesn't make sense if you think about it too hard.

That said, you're right that it feels more like a capital because it has that sense of scale and purpose. Solitude is just... the Jarl's house and some shops. There's way less going on architecturally and functionally. But I'd push back on the idea that Skyrim doesn't draw you there naturally - the Civil War questline, the College of Winterhold stuff, the Thieves Guild questline, all of that routes through Solitude eventually. It's just less obvious than Oblivion because Skyrim's quest design is messier overall.

The real difference is that Oblivion made the Imperial City the center of everything - every major guild, the main quest, the political intrigue. Skyrim spread its content around more (Winterhold has the College, Riften has the Thieves Guild, etc). Whether that's a downgrade depends on what you want, I guess. I don't think a remake would necessarily streamline it - if anything, modern game design would probably let them make the districts actually connected and explorable without loading screens, which would be a huge upgrade.