Oblivion Remastered Keeps Dialogue Blooper From Original Game

A much-loved blooper from the original release of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion has made it into the remastered version of the game. While Oblivion is loved for its incredible story, landscape, music, and more, there’s also a certain level of jankiness that long-time fans hoped wouldn’t be left out of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered.

After plenty of rumors, Bethesda casually announced and then shadow-dropped The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered on April 22. Close to 20 years after the release of the original game, players are both revisiting Cyrodiil and discovering it for the first time. While some game remakes and remasters completely rework the elements that went into the original, Oblivion Remastered has kept its original voice work, and that includes one particular blooper.

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When Oblivion Remastered was just a rumor, fans openly hoped that a certain audio blooper would be kept in the new version of the game, and their wish has been granted. Those familiar with the title will likely recall the blooper, which belongs to a singular NPC in the Imperial City. Tandilwe, an Altmer Master Speechcraft trainer, has a line in the original game in which the voice actor delivers their line, stops, asks to redo it, and then delivers it again in another manner. The clip was mistakenly included in the original release of Oblivion, and rather than fixing it, it seems that the same audio was included for the character with Oblivion Remastered.

Tandilwe’s Audio Was Likely Kept Intentionally in Oblivion Remastered

Fans of the original Oblivion were amused to discover this particular blooper back in the day. Originally, it seems like it was included by complete accident, as Tandilwe notably doesn’t lipsync the second half of the audio line. In the remaster, though, Tandilwe is now animated to speak the second half of the line, though it’s possible that the lipsyncing is machine-generated and based off the audio. Regardless, it’s highly likely that it was included in the remaster on purpose.

Bethesda games are loved for a lot of reasons, and the odd moments in some of them are part of it. Also in Oblivion, NPCs have the strange tendency to dramatically switch between speaking styles when talking to players. During the reveal of Oblivion Remastered, the developers touched on how the limits of disc media back in the day meant that some characters shared voices, leading to some odd moments, like beggars randomly slipping into dignified, proper English that would normally be reserved for nobles, for example. While these accidents would never fly in a modern game, they’re one of the things that make Oblivion memorable for long-time fans, and Bethesda was well aware of that. While the game does feature some new voices, the goofiness of some of its audio was purposefully maintained, likely including this blooper.