When I played Oblivion, I was blown away. It is the first game I played where I felt that I was "in" the game, so I role played and built up to the main quest. I held on the the Amulet of Kings for a long time. Matter of fact I played Oblivion for about 6 months before starting the main quest, looking back I wish I had not started even then. The main quest was a little dissapointing. The ending was pretty good, but the journey did not live up to the world of Oblivion itself. After the main quest I printed out a blank map (one with just the major cities) of Oblivion then when through and marked all the locations that I visitied. That made the game for me about discovery. I also had a sense of accomplishment after seeing my map marked up.

So my plan for Skyrim is going to be much the same. Print a map, mark locations, mark landmarks, etc...May not start the main quest until ..well for a long time.

Anyone else mark their own map? Start the main quest late in teh game?

There appears to be a small typo in the thread title.

I like that idea with the map. I definitely thought the main quest in oblivion was weaker than the thieves guild and dark brotherhood quests.

The dark brotherhood quests were written by a pro writer that's why

The main quest was fine, up to the point where you had to actually go into the realm of Oblivion. That was the WORST designed part of ANY game I've played. The Realm of Oblivion was boring, monotonous and just plain awful.

I won't start the main quest right off the bat, but I also won't wait 6 months to start it. I'll play it a couple of days before starting the main quest just to get a handle on the game mechanics and to do some side quests and exploring to make sure I'm outfitted and ready to start the main quest properly.

I seriously roleplay and design several different characters with way different perspectives, races, classes etc. I tolerate the main quest and play through it once then make characters that will experience the world and ignore or use a mod that disables or delays the main quest. I did pretty much the same for Morrowind, I played the main Questt fully just once but played dozens of characters for more hours than I can count. After we've had the game 5 years my wife has played countless hours and over a dozen characters and NEVER done the main quest but she's had a ball.

I take it slow and experience the world through my characters eyes and compartmentalize away in out of game knowledge. I play multple characters at once and cycle between them to keep things fresh.

Most of it was fine.
The first time going into Oblivion was amazing. And when they began to crop up around the world it felt like a real problem.

But a couple things lessened the impact.

First; The daedra didn't flow out and wander around. I never encountered a spider daedra fighting anything, they only pop out when you literally walk right in front of the gate. That's not an invasion. That's an idle encampment.

The second problem is, some of the generated interiors are just really damn annoying to navigate. One of them had you hopping in and out of caves but it just got confusing.
The third, which is related to the second, is that after I take down a couple it just becomes a chore. And the main quest actually forces you to do about six of them if Martin has any hope of surviving at the end.

What would have made it better? Have the daedra wander the area, have guards battle them. There should have been barricades around every popup, Kvatch-style. At higher levels you'll have to help because a few guards may not be able to take on a Xivilai and Daedroth. And that would be fine. You saved them, they can heal up in time, and you can be about your day. Nothing will be forcing you to actually enter the the gate and it's annoying-ass maze-like interior to shut it down. I'd be content just saving the few guards (or watching them die and looting their bodies for some other character concepts).

These kinds of games are about choice, and the Oblivion gates were only majestic the first time. After that, I felt forced.