Am i the only one who thinks all this talk about limiting yourself from doing stuff or "self nerfing" is something we should not have to be doing to keep this game from beign too easy? This is still a great game even if in my opinion the developers messed up the crafting in this. I mean when i play legend of zelda i dont have to limit myself by not picking up extra heart pieces. Or when i play Final Fantasy i wont use any summons. In most of the classic rpg games i have played id have to put in many many hours at it so that the game rewards me with its most epic grear or skills.
Couple thoughts:
1) Unless you're one of those "I must be the best / I must use the most efficient, doing anything else gives me hives" people, then you don't need to "self nerf".... you just play the game. (Of course, even if you do feel like reducing your power, since you're not a "max power" player, doing so doesn't
bother you either.)
2.a ) Those other games you list have much less freedom to do things - this makes them easier to balance. (i.e, even with all the optional sidequests, your average Final Fantasy game is pretty linear and constrained.)
..... and, remembering back, in those Final Fantasy games, if you did all the sidequests, ground out all the extra levels, and found all the Ultimate Weapons, you tended to steamroller the opposition just as much as you can min/maxing in Skyrim.
2.b ) Even in those "more balanced" games, there are still people who decide they're "too easy" and embark on self-limited playthroughs. ("Naked" Diablo 2 runs, for instance.) And they also typically brag about it, not complain. Because they're demonstrating How Awesome They Are?. ("I'm so cool, I can play
with one hand tied behind my back!")
In the end, the TES games aren't great for min/max powerplayers (or at least the ones who get depressed when they succeed) - Bethesda would rather give you lots of options (including the option to overpower yourself) than carefully pen you in so that you will be guaranteed "challenge" no matter what you do.