I recently took a break from Skyrim, and bought Oblivion to try. I'm really liking all the quirky quests, but after closing half a dozen or so Oblivion Gates, I'm starting to find them tedious! It seems like every time I turn around to go explore something, there's another dang gate that I need to deal with!

I'm about half way through the allys for Bruma quest, and I'm wondering if I dare take a break from all these gates, and go do some dungeon crawling? I'm assuming, that whatever fate might befall Bruma, Martin, and the rest of the gang will be on hold until I return?

I guess it speaks to how much I get into the role playing, that I'm getting this rushed feeling like I have to save the world NOW by completing the main quest line. Unfortunately, it's starting to detract from the fun of the rest of the game! I just have this sinking feeling, that if I go play in the wilderness, I'll finally return to the temple and find disaster has struck because I took too long!

http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/14250/? may or may not help. It basically lets you immediately travel to all possible gate locations in Oblivion, as well as let you track which ones you've closed.

Only reason I say it might help is basically allowing you to close them all at once without having to manually fast-travel all of Cyrodiil; basically, lets you get the chore done faster.

Also, they tell you that they're purposefully shutting down every gate that pops up until Martin and the Blades are ready to grab the Great Sigil Stone.

Yes, this is a criticism that has been leveled against Oblivion almost literally from day one. Many players have felt that Bethesda tried too hard to inject immediacy into the main quest. That feeling of "Do it! Do it now! Do it! Do it! DO IT!!!!" can feel oppressive after awhile, especially to those of us who are at all sensitive to roleplaying and would like to incorporate other quests besides the main quest into our characters' stories.

You don't say whether you are on PC but, since Marss linked to a mod, I will link to the mod I use to fix this problem. It is called http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/33533/? The title is a little misleading: it actually allows you to configure how many gates will be open at any given time. You can have as few or as many gates open as you would like, it's up to you.

It is my hope that when Bethesda makes TES VI they return to the more relaxed storytelling we saw in Morrowind. I am getting a little tired of their attempts to creat a false sense of urgency in their main quests. In my opinion, it violates the spirit of the "go anywhere, do anything" philosophy that is the heart of the Elder Scrolls series.

Agreed. I've felt it too in both Oblivion and in Skyrim, even if Skyrim do have somewhat Morrowind atmosphere in-game e.g Ancient Nordic Ruins, Bethesda doesn't come close to how Morrowind felt every time I finish the MQ in Morrowind.

I am on PC, so I'll definitely check out the mods! Thanks!

Out of curiosity, what happens if I just ignore the gates for a while, do they just keep opening until there is literally a gate around every corner? For that matter, does having open gates everywhere really hurt anything, other than the local danger from the scamps and other creatures?