I have noticed that in game like this most improvements can be roughly split in 2 categories:

--- big changes to AI , combat mechanics , new leveling , balancing and such ...

and

--- small changes like making your character run slower when going backwards ...

What i hate is that the small changes which can be easily implemented ( usually just a few lines of code ) are coming so slowly , did we really need to wait for 5 generation of elder scrolls for Bethesda to figure out that a character cant run backwards at the same speed as forward ?!!!! ( and why are they listing it as a big feature when most other games had it for decades)

just try to compare any fps shooter from the last few years and notice how odd and clumsy oblivion plays in comparison ( and yes i now Oblivion is not a FPS , but that is not an excuse)

they don't even need to invent things , just copy them from others

((and just to make thing clear . i LOOOOOOOOOOOVE elder scrolls games but they are so frustrating sometines))

So what exactly would you have them do? NOT make these improvements because others have had them for a long time? That would be silly. Fact is that a TES game requires a LOT more work than a generic COD type game, and any kind of small change prolly affects how the rest of the wolrd is designed in some form.

didn't say don't improve , just don't be 10 years behind most other games in some elements

1. Can I play as a woman, and choose the hairstyle and the size of the nose?
2. Can I pick up every apple, cup, and item of clothing?
3. Can the game be viably played in 1st and 3rd person?
If the answer to any of these is no, then the game doesn't do things TES can do, so an unfavourable comparison, focusing on what TES does not do, is unfair.

i made a specific example here , the backward ruining speed , and there is just to way to justify not implementing it sooner ,

( i am not trying to bash on oblivion or Bethesda but sometimes they do drop the ball consistently even after the fans of a game and the common sense demanded it for years )

I understand where you are coming from, it's just that comparing different genres isn't always productive. If there were open world rpgs that were doing things better then Bethesda's, then I would see a real cause for concern, but in my humble opinion, they are at the top of that particular tree.

Do you even realize the sheer amount of details these games actually encompass? Sometimes things like this get overlooked because they're not of a higher priority.

And no it's not just toss a little code in here. When you implement a new feature you have to make sure it works well, and that it fits with the way the game is put together.

overlooked ....... morowind had been played by millions of people and and if only a tiny fraction of them complained about it Bethesda got tens of thousand of complains and still they didn't fix it .

This right and wrong.
The problem with Bethesda is it fails handling priorities.
They obviously wasted tons of hours on the absolutely crappy character customization, when much more interesting and simple features like balancing game like arows firing slower with more damage and running backward is slower than forward so you can t exploit it. Another example, and not even the gods know why it wasn t in OB, ennemy randomly following you through doors. Those simple things have a huge positive impact on the game, way more than the face distortion they ve put in OB, or imbecile radiant AI.

Lets see what useless feature they ve wasted time with will be in Skyrim and what simple and more interesting things modders will come around in 1 or 2 days of single men work.
I find a bit normal that companies suffer from Miopy, but Beth shouldn t suffer that much with TES, there s SO much ways to see what the public want, like surveying mods, reaction to them etc. So yes i think the OP is right, Beth is not that bright in game evolution when you take in account the tools they have in their hands.
Thats doesnt mean the games are bad (OB being the exception being really bad compared to the rest, but not a bad game compared to the rest of the market).
And yes, i expect a fair parts of excremental ideas and/or amoeba IQ like implementations in Skyrim. I just hope the game won t feel much dumb or taste like waterred melon juice due to cheap mainstreaming to attend not-so-bright but cry me a river people.
Also expect a fair share of FO3 series implementation in TES, i may end having a certain taste of FO3 without crappy Very Annoying Tard System.
Its sad but with Bethesda its seems as someone quoted in another forum:
The problem with common sense (With Bethesda) its the fact that it ain t that common.

OMG I can run backwards as fast as forwards. It's so immersion breaking I couldn't get through 5 minutes !

Um, what? I'm sorry I'm either way too tired, or you guys just aren't typing coherently.

thank you , finally someone who understood what i was trying to say

Running backwards while shooting at the person coming towards you was typical behavior for archers and mages in previous games. Slower backwards speed isn't just a small change they could throw in and call it done; they have to make sure ranged characters are still balanced and you can survive in other ways. That change probably goes along with the higher arrow damage and some of the changes to magic, like slowing and continuous spells.