Okay, then let me rephrase.

I don't buy the "bland" reaction. I live in Washington state, in the middle of one of North America's last temperate rainforests, and in fact my state is a mirror image of Cyrodiil (lush forests to the west, arid highlands to the east). On any given day, I can look out my window and see similar images to those in Oblivion. But I was never once bored by the landscape when I played, because, and this is the crazy thing, I'm not so jaded as to complain about a breathtaking vista when it's presented to me just because it's not necessarily new to me. I love Cyrodiil, I love seeing deer hop across my path as I ride under the trees, I love climbing a hill and seeing gleaming white arches peeking up from the valley below, and I don't care that it's been done before because Bethesda still does it best. And I'm fascinated by Tudors England (particularly Henry VIII and Elizabeth I) so that choice for the architecture, clothing, etc. was even better. Cyrodiil was absolutely breathtaking from the moment I stepped out of the sewers, and I don't give a [censored] what some writer who didn't have to think about practical limitations said about it. See my earlier post, where I said it's the same as getting mad at Bethesda for Morrowind not matching its concept art.

It would have been nice to see more diverse personalities, but with time constraints and having to lobotomize Radiant AI so it wouldn't break players' games, I don't hold it against them (this is the same reason that the planned questline for warring factions and allowing the player to become Count of Sutch got cut). Those aren't artistic decisions, those are practical sacrifices that had to be made. That's what people don't seem to get-- not everything is a conscious effort by Bethesda to dumb down their series, sometimes life just isn't fair and you have to make a hard choice.

And jungles are hard, hard, HARD to do in an open-world setting. If Cyrodiil had matched the PGE, it would have been as jarring today as the Ascadian Isles' pathetic attempt at a forest.

I think you're forgetting Leyawiin and Bravil. Bravil was sort of that seedy, "you know you're in the gutter," type of city. Leyawiin on the other hand reminded me of Jamestown for some reason, mainly because it was in the swamps and much closer to the Black Marsh.

In contrast to Morrowind, with its mushroom and barnacle foliage, other strange plants, http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/8146/mgescreenshot63.jpg, swamp coast, etc... Oblivion's environment appeared more generic.

True Bravil did feel like a [censored]hole. The thing about leyawin is that it felt a little out of place where it was. The town seemed too rich and high class for a town right on the border of elswyr and black marsh. Now dont get me wrong leyawin was probably my favourite town in the game (next to skingrad), but it didnt seem right for a town with rival kahjiit and argonians.

Yeah you've got a good point about Leyawiin. It was unusual how you went further south from Bravil expecting things to get worse as you got deeper into the swamps, only for you to run into a much more civilized city with sturdy architecture.

Depends on what you define as artistic. Mood-setting and beautiful: Sure. Dramatically different from Earth? No.

I believe Todd said that Morrowind was a unique land compared to the others so Skyrim will be more like a traditional fantasy setting than the odd world of Morrowind. Granted, they have also said they are working to make Skyrim more unique and varied than Oblivion. So while it won't be as other worldly as Morrowind, the enviroments should have unique detail in them.