Unrealized potential.

This. :rock:

Hmm... the characters look a little better, as do inside environments. The wilderness could look better, but since I'm on PS3 the blockiness and palette make me feel like I'm running around in Fallout 3. I'm constantly messing with the colors on my tv to find that perfect mix.

The mist/rain/thunder/lightning effects work quite well in adding to the atmosphere.

The combat is fine; all I really need for that is swing and block. It can sometimes be annoying that by the time you load up for a big power swing, your adversary moves out of the way and you end up with a big swing and a miss!

Control of objects by hand is still clunky.

I don't like the "yes or no" approach to quests. Give us more options next time, more grey areas that aren't so clearly defined.

and

It would be nice if carriages didn't fast travel.

The markers are a bit overdone. Don't worry if there's a crowd, a white marker will show you exactly who you need to see! And if you want to turn markers or the compass off, then EVERYTHING gets turned off with it.

I had impossibly high, seemingly unreachable expectations for Skyrim. Skyrim met all of them, and has done a little more.

This. I only regret not having MORE. Is the only real grip I find compared to Morrowind (As well as magic creation system, but I don't usually create mages).

My favortie part is how realistic and immersve the game is. I have never been this svcked into a game....ever.

Skyrim is...visually stunning. I played Oblivion...it was OK...but I was having trouble immersing...and after a couple of weeks had maxed myself out so well that I'd just swat anything that came near me. I'd deliberetely start a fight with whole towns just to find a little challenge...and yes I was playing at the hardest level...perhaps others had this problem with Oblivion. I played as each of the various types and then never played it again.

But, I'm 100 hours into Skyrim and so immersed that I'm actually preferring Skyrim to the real world. There's moments when the hunter moon is full and hovering above a mountain and the moonlight is filling the valley and a dragon is circling an outcropping. When that happens I'm riveted...it looks so realistic with the washed out colors and wisps of fog. I feel drawn to the outcropping to face the dragon and even with a follower who I've smithed up some good armor & found some excellent weapons it's still a challenge.

Oh...there's some bugs...not every programmer can be god-like, in fact I had my first crash to desktop tonight. I was in a dwemer ruin and could only pickup but not take an iron arrow lying on the floor. I figured perhaps it's because I already have the max iron arrows, so I gave half my arrows to my follower...and just the instant I pressed the ready/shieth key I was looking at my desktop and absolutely no evidence that I was running Skyrim other than the Steam client open to the side. But, I'm not going to start crying because it crashes once every 100 hours of gameplay.

I'm thinking that...finally...there's an RPG that I can play as often as I play Team Fortress 2 (I have 2,700+ hours with TF2) to get my RPG gaming fix. I'm still waiting for an RTS that can replace Battle For Middle Earth II for my Real Time Strategy fix, but thankfully I don't need to look further for an RPG...I suspect that Skyrim will last me for several years...the best value for a single player game that I've come across.