10 Video Games That Punish You For Being Smart

Oblivion's main quest ramps up relatively slowly across the early hours of the game - that is, as long as you tackle it inside those early hours and don't put it off. As is Bethesda's way, this Elder Scrolls title allows players to adventure across a huge open world almost as quickly as they make their character. So, while you can take the early objective to travel to Kvatch and help liberate the town from a demonic Oblivion gate, you don't have to.

In fact, the smart move (you'd think), would be to actually build up to this fight. After all, you've just escaped prison with little more than a rusty sword, you're gonna need more supplies and experience points to take on the demons and creatures waiting for you. Right?

This is a sound idea on paper, and in any other game levelling up in preparation for a big fight will make said fight easier. Oblivion, however, is not any other game.

See, the scaling system in this RPG means that the higher level you are, the more enemies are spawned at your level, evening out the difficulty. This spreads across all missions, meaning if you approach this early story mission at a higher level, you're only stacking the odds against you.

As a result, Kvatch becomes a truly difficult fight if you over-prepare. Just check the plentiful forum threads full of players who made this same mistake.