After skyrim got boring, I decided to start OB again.

After playing skyrim, something just seems... missing.
I don't know if its the dragons or shouts, but something just doesn't feel right.

Don't get me wrong, OB is still a good game, but compared to skyrim its a little underwhelming.

I never noticed how bad the NPC models were, but wow some of them are horrid.
I've been playing for about 50hrs now. And by the gods I'm really tired of caves and ayleid ruins.

I'm trying to do the Fighters guild now, and it just feels like a chore. I enjoyed the companions, but the fighters guild just doesn't seem very fun.
The mages guild wasn't bad, neither was the DB, but compared to skyrim everything feels dated. Which it should.

Its still fun, but it just feels like a watered down verson of skyrim.

I started playing OB while waiting for the patch. I wanted to try a Dark Elf Battle Mage. I'm normally a Tank and I am having a ball while waiting. And I think I am gonna start the same type of Char in Skyrim when it's fixed, but this time I am gonna lean towards a little more Mage and less battle !!! But I will probebly be knee deep into Amalur this comming Tues. before the patch comes out, and then theres Mass Effect 3 in March. So I am thinkin Skyrim will just have to wait !!

Probably the thing that feels missing is all the detail. But for the time OB came out those were fabulous graphics.
For me, When you go Skyrim you never turn back.

I too just began playing Oblivion, after over two months of playing Skyrim non-stop. And I agree, reluctantly, with much of what you say. Right now I'm about 9 hours into my game and I'm a little surprised by the massive amount of things I miss from Skyrim. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Oblivion's atmosphere very much - the bucolic landscapes, the soothing music, the sound effects - but so far the game just isn't stimulating my imagination the way Skyrim did.

So far I'm finding the Cyrodiil to be a more static, more lifeless place than Skyrim. There was something happening on the roads all the time in Skyrim. In Cyrodiil I'm almost always the only one traveling the roads. NPCs actually talked to each other in Skyrim, whereas in Cyrodiil the things NPCs say to each other are jarringly generic and often have nothing to do with what the other person has just said. I overhear bandits in Ayleid ruins tell each other exactly the same things that upper class NPCs tell each other in the Imperial City.

The art design is, in my opinion, the best in the Elder Scrolls series. Cities spill out over the walls of cities: you pass farms, homes, businesses before you click on the door to enter a city. In Oblivion there was usually a stable, and that was about it. All seven cities use exactly the same wal statics (CastleWall01, CastleWallBend04, ect). If you didn't know where you were it would be almost impossible to tell which city you were looking at from a distance.

Everything in a city was hidden behind absurdly high, uniform walls, which themselves tends to look alike (the walls surrounding Bruma were identical the the walls surrounding Anvil, ect). Bethesda hand-crafted each city in Skyrim: they have their own style of wall and they're not all uniformly, absurdly high. I usually have the illusion that there's a real city just on the other inside of a wall in Skyrim and I usually have the illusion that the gameworld really is on the other side when I'm on the inside.

Dungeons feel more emptier and generic in Cyrodiil to me. I always hated it when people said Oblivion's dungeons were "generic" but I'll be darned if I don't find myself thinking the same thing, after experiencing Skyrim's meticulously hand-crafted dungeons. Ayleid ruins are a particular disappointment to me. They are beautiful but most of them feel depressingly empty to me. I long for a bit of Skyrim's clutter and "personality" and little stories that made each dungeon in that game feel unique. I've been through three Ayleid ruins so far and all have consisted of one large, empty room after another.

One of the things that is getting on my nerves fast is the way Oblivion's quests were obviously designed around fast travel. I joined the Fighter's Guild in Cheydinhal and did their one (1) quest. Now I'm on my way to to Anvil. I'm on foot, so this takes awhile. And I know from experience that they'll send me to another spot halfway across Cyrodiil after doing just two quests. This gets old real fast for me. Fortunately, in Skyrim quest-givers are located in one logical spot. For me it's much more enjoyable to do quests without fast travel in that game.

It's nice having the option to fight underwater in Oblivion (something that's missing in Skyrim) but, then again, there's practically nothing to do or to find underwater so there's little reason to go underwater in the first place.

These are just some of my impressions from my first nine hours of play. I may change my mind about some of these things after I've spent more time in the game.

Psymon, would you be willing to make a list of the specific weaknesses you noticed? I've been wanting to collate a list of mods that shore up the weaknesses in Oblivion but haven't been able to play Skyrim much to see for myself (that 3rd person camera, argh!)

I tried the GOTY version of PS3, but couldn't stand it because of constant lag, unresponsive anolog controls, floaty 3rd person controls, terrible character models (and the fact that there were only few voice actors), ridiculously bad AI, and senseless leveling system. In short, it was the worst RPG i've played with any modern console. The only positive thing was a large world, which was beautiful if you just stay still to avoid the lagging.

I don′t think you should compare Skyrim and Oblivion just because they share the "Elder Scrolls" signature. Even if you′ve played Oblivion before try to think of them as two independent games standing on completely different grounds.
This can be a problem for Oblivion gamers coming to Morrowind too unfortunately, but it can be overcome if you just let it

You haven't stated whether you're using a PC version yet, but if you are, definitely try mods. There are some fantastic, elaborate quest systems that really make you think, out there, and a few companions that have more depth than anything you've seen in Skyrim. Oscuro's will redo dungeons and areas so that monsters each have their own turfs, and you're never sure what level you'll encounter until you find one. Mart's adds a huge range of enemy encounters with plenty of new foes, and with foes who dislike one another, too.

For starters, take a look at http://knol.google.com/k/toql-the-oblivion-quest-list#. It's about a year or more out of date, since the maintainer's had added an infant mod to his reallife family, but really has great depth. And you can always go check out the mods for plenty of images and comments on TES Nexus. As for companions, try http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=28977, http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=15200, and http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=17743.

For faces, there are plenty of retexturing mods out there. I use Maiboroshi Daikon's, but there are many more, including some that completely redo the faces to be more distinctive. http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=16843 comes to mind. Plenty of mods that add weapons and armors, too, like http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=18417, with over a thousand weapons, alone.

With mods, Oblivion to me is just as good as Skyrim. However, the level of detail is probably going to turn me off whenever I play it again. The only thing I miss from Oblivion is the varied environments, but that was because it took place in the capital of Tamriel, so I assume every part represented a certain province. Also, if you've played Skyrim and then went to Oblivion, you will be bored, and that's completely understandable. I trust Morrowind was an amazing game, but I simply couldn't make it past the beginning on the Xbox (perhaps with mods I could have enjoyed it).

Well I haven't played Skyrim yet but I know what you mean. The first Bethsda game I ever played was FO3. I completed it and spent 2 years playing Oblivion on/off. I completed Oblivions MQ in December and started playing FO3 again and you really do notice the improvements. Just loads of little improvements in every department that I didn't notice or appreciate the first time i played it. But after playing Oblivion so long I did notice.
I know you shouldn't compare the games but it's difficult not to.

This is exactly how I approached Skyrim. I didn't want it to disappoint me, so I told myself to expect something totally fresh, and not just 'oblivion-with-new-features'. And it worked for me. I can come back to Oblivion and not feel like I'm missing out on anything. If I want to see a dragon or do some new quests, I go and play on Skyrim, since I've barely scraqed the surface of it yet, and I've had years with Oblivion.

Oblivion is home, and Skyrim is the holiday apartment. I expect one day Skyrim will feel like home as well, when I've had as long with it.

this! I finally got to THIS point myself. They are different games. Like me playing SIM city 4 then off to play the Sims 3. WOAH, just different.
I LOVE skyrim. I'm off playing it again after a 3 week absence. I love Oblivion and Morrowind. I can love all them, just like I love all my children and grandchildren. Each different, but each did something to my heart.

Oblivion was my first game from Elder Scrolls, it brought me into that beautiful world, and thus remains as very dear game to me despite the flaws.
Skyrim on the other hand, is good but I am bored with nord settings in many other games so Oblivion is my favourite.

Heh, this is how I feel about Oblivion and Morrowind! I like the latter but the former is where I feel like I belong

will always believe that Morrowind is my home.
It's a long story of how I arrived in Morrowind. Probably boring to most.
I will defend Morrowind to my death.

Oblivion just grew on me.

Skyrim is growing on me also. They are TES games, I will feel loyal to them all.
*and I loved Fallout3* FVNV was good but not as enthralling to me.

Keep us posted, Pseron! I would love to see how your impressions change over time (if they do).

Hehe, both Oblivion and Skyrim are my homes, Skyrim gives me more freedom for Rping, and Jericho is in Oblivion

I've returned to Oblivion tonight with almost a fervor. EradiKate's game had lost steam a few months ago after she decided to not kill her DB guildmates. I wasn't sure what Kate would wind up doing next. but the truth is just being a full-scale vampire with a huge bounty gives me PLENTY of roleplay material. I'm having lots of fun with this!

None of the stuff mentioned in your OP bothers me. Im easy to please I guess.

To me, both games (Skyrim and Oblivion, as well as earlier TES Games I'm sure) are not just games, they're works of art. I can appreciate both TES: IV and TES: V for what they are.

Thank you. *sits down

The biggest problem with Oblivion is just the weight of the game. I kind of miss that feeling of weight in your character that Skyrim has. My character turns with a nice weighty feeling, he jumps with weight, and so on. Oblivion makes me feel like I'm on ice all the time. The colors are also overly saturated as well, which is something I hate. Overall I'm finding it to be a waste of my money. Once I beat Morrowind I'll probably end up playing through Oblivion (as I never beat it despite playing for over 100 hours).

The one thing I'm finding is that I get svcked into different TES games. I go from Skyrim, to Morrowind, to Oblivion a lot. As a side I had to laugh as I never played the DLC outside of shivering isles. The version I got off Steam has most (probably all) of the DLC and as I was walking out of the sewers I kept getting new quests starting with "I received a letter stating that I was given an estate" which only made me laugh because I was in a flipping sewer escaping from my jail cell. How would a courier find, and why would he look for me in a sewer.

I Love all games. Just look at each one objectivly and play them for what they are... with mods, of course... lol

I prefer playing in Cyrodiil rather than in the province of Skyrim. Skyrim is a harsh, cold, snowy, and bleak land -- and this is conveyed very well by the graphics. After a while, it starts to get me down. Cyrodiil, by contrast, is full of greens and warm browns and bright blue skies -- broken up with harsh and exciting thunderstorms and dark nights. I really love the contrast in Oblivion's visuals.

On a game-play-level, I feel that Oblivion has many more ways to approach customizing my character and how I play the game. Skyrim feels very narrow in terms of real choice, whereas in Oblivion I feel like there are many more ways I can actually choose to accomplish things. Magic is much more varied in Oblivion, and we can create custom spells. Skyrim has a narrower list of spells and no ability to create spells. I actually prefer archery in Oblivion because we have to allow for the arch of an arrow's flight. That's why it's called archery, of course, but in Skyrim it's like you're holding a rifle and you just point and shoot. I don't like that, since it takes player skill out of the mix.

I recognize both as important, great games. However, at the end of the day, I think Oblivion is the better rpg and the more fun game, at least for the sort of game player that I am.

Dude,we all know by now that you are a "hater" and all of your posts berate the PS3 version of the game,I have Oblivion GOTY on PS3 and I don't have any lag problems at all,I also have it on PC and totally enjoy both platforms so if you are so displeased with the game...SELL IT and move on to something you DO like and quit wasting space on the board complaining....

He's got a right to express his opinion, even if it's wrong.

Wise words!
Considering that Oblivion's lag is hardly recognizable..... xD
I still prefer Skyrim over Oblivion though, but Oblivion as my first TES has a special place in my heart and I will always go back to it.

Well for me I'm kind of jumping around with the Elder Scroll Games. I started with Morrowind, and then I got Skyrim. Do to the PS3 Problems with Skyrim have shelved it for now. So I went and got Oblivion Game of the Year edition. Just to see what I missed with this one. So I have been playing Oblivion for about 4 to 5 weeks now. For the life of me I don’t see what you all are saying about Oblivion. I'm having way more fun playing Oblivion than Skyrim, but that might be just do to all the PS3 problems with Skyrim. Will know more if they fix PS3 Skyrim.
For me this is what I see:
Skyrim
Graphics: A
Other Quests Background/Story: C
Main Quest Background/Story: D
Equipment/Upgrade/Build: B
NPC interaction: D
Replay Value: C

Oblivion
Graphics: C
Other Quests Background/Story: B
Main Quest Background/Story: A
Equipment/Upgrade: C
NPC interaction: B
Replay Value: B