Why does everyone think Oblivion's graphics are so "bad". They seem to forget that the game was released 5 years ago....
I actually never thought they were good...Oblivion was one of the first "next gen" games I was exposed to and even then saw how lackluster the character models and animations were. The landscape looked awesome as long as you didn't look more than 30 feet in front of you when everything turned into mud. Mods did a lot to help the games landscape and weapons, but ultimately the character models and "mushy" looking metal turned me away. Skyrim however actually looks awesome, doesn't have the highest resolution textures out there, but the style is much, MUCH better than Oblivions for it's time.