To the OP: You gave it a 9.5 and you said Skyrim is not a rpg?

Ok so before I start let me preface this by telling a little about myself and my TES gaming experience. I've played Morrowind extensively ever since I got the game in 2003. I've clocked in over 2,000 hours in Morrowind. I used to play on the Xbox, before I got a nice computer, and I got a Nord Warrior to level 83 completely legit, without cheating at all. Doing so on the Xbox was a feat of great strength. I also had every artifact in the game, and I had over 1m gold. All legit, obviously, as I was on the console. I still play Morrowind to this day, playing with MGE and various texture replacer mods, Darknuts textures, etc.

Oblivion..well. I am not a fan of Oblivion. I'll just simply leave it at that. Lackluster gameplay, horrid textures, I mean even for an Xbox console game, the textures are atrocious. The NPC models look horrid, everyone looks like some bloated mesh of color and potatoes, the game is just bad to me. That's just my opinion, however. I did play the game though, pushed past the visual flaws and I found even more so lackluster gameplay. I just disliked it in general. The only redeeming qualities of Oblivion, in my opinion, were the quest, some of them were pretty great. The DB quest line was pretty amazing.

Now, onto Skyrim.

I've personally clocked in just over 120 hours overall, I have beaten the Main Quest and the Companions, as well as collected every Dragon Shout to the max, every Daedric Artifact, become Thane of every city, bought every house, and completed every major quest that can be gotten from the cities/as well as the majority of wilderness quest.

I got the game the day after release, as I couldn't attend the midnight release, to my dismay. I was forced to pick it up the following day and rushed home once it was in my grasp. This was the game I had been anticipating since Morrowind; 8 years have I wanted a game in Skyrim, ever since I played a Nord in Morrowind. The culture, the snow aspects, it just fits me. I was not displeased.

This honestly has the be one of the greatest free roaming video games ever created. Notice that I didn't say one of the greatest "RPG's" ever created, because there are a few things that this game lacks in order for it to claim said title. Let's discuss why.

Art Style:
Skyrims art style is very rustic, and to me that's very good. From the chilling winds blowing off tundras, to the weather beaten flags hanging from abandoned bandit ruins, this game pretty much nails what it means to be "realistic". The art style lends to this greatly. Being a long time Morrowind fan, and realizing that what made Morrowind so timeless was its art style, I had VERY high hopes and standards for the next installment of the TES series, and again, I was not disappointed. The art style in this game is phenomenal. The attention to detail, the way the world is just put together, it's all amazing. Very well done, and I am absurdly impressed.
Better than Morrowind? Tied
Better than Oblivion? Yes


Thoughts on the world in general:
I can say without a doubt in my mind that Skyrim is 100% for sure the most breathtaking video game world ever created. Every little thing that adds up to greatness; The textures on the ground, simulating fallen golden leaves mixed with dirt and rubble, from the swaying grass (with the surprisingly impressive draw distance on the console, mind you), to the snowy tundras billowing snow off like a tornado, rapping around tunnels and canyons, to the excellently hand crafted feel of it all, it's just amazing. Every single rock, every single waterfall, every single puddle of water that shimmers in the sunlight, the rocks glistening under the water like glass, it's just breathtaking. There is no game world that is as open and big as Skyrim that can even TOUCH how amazing this game is. Superb, well done Bethesda. Tenfold what I expected, and leaps and bounds above Oblivion.
Better than Morrowind? Yes
Better than Oblivion? Yes

NPC Animations:
The animations this time around are a vast improvement, except for when the game bugs out and sends people flying across the map for no reason. I can't tell you how many Sabre Cats and Mudcraps I've sent flying easily 100 feet at 90 miles an hour with the simple swing of my mace, for no reason whatsoever. It used to happen to ME when Giants hit me, but now I do it to others lol. /shrug
As far as combat goes, I think the animations are very good. The "kill shot" animations are a little jarring, sometimes they glitch and happen REALLY FAST (Two Handed Axe kill shots, anyone? What's with that?) but other than that, they're spot on. I thought it'd be a little too much at first, but they don't happen as frequently as I had feared. Walking animations are great, better than Oblivion, and ANYTHING is better than Morrowinds walking animations.
Better than Morrowind? Yes
Better than Oblivion? Yes

Dungeons:
The dungeons/caves in this game are just..I cannot even find words. The first cave I entered was..just that. It was a freaking cave. And by that, I mean I literally had to sneak to get by the nooks and crannies. It was a cave that had a stream in the bottom of it, and it literally had a four foot high ceiling that was dripping water with moss and vines coming down almost touching me. I was in heaven. The realism in this game as far as caves goes is just amazing to me. The ruins are also very unique. I have currently cleared 226 dungeons, and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM were unique, I mean yes, they are either a "ruin" or a "fort" or a "cave" etc, but every single one had turns I didn't expect. NO dungeons were the same. This was the BIGGEST setback of Oblivion. Once you had been in ONE ruin, you had been in ALL ruins. This is simply not the case in Skyrim.
Better than Morrowind? Yes
Better than Oblivion? HECK YES

Quest:
Ah, the quest. The "meat" of the TES series. This is the very reason that I say Skyrim is one of the greatest games in the world, and not one of the greatest RPG's in the world. Why? Because YOU DON'T LET ME CHOOSE ANYTHING. AT ALL.
There are absolutely no dialogue options in this game. Every single thing I can say essentially brings the same outcome. I can choose to simply "not" do a quest; but that's not an option, is it? There are no repercussions for choosing that route. There should ALWAYS be a repercussion for whatever I do.
On the plus side, Bethesda has stepped up their writing game. The Daedric Shrine quest are absurdly fun, and very well written. Most of the quest are very well written, and only a few left me going "...what?". Thank goodness. I thought that after essentially EVERY quest in Oblivion. Such horrid quest. Ugh.
As far as "choice" goes, there is none. If I accept a quest, that's that. If I don't, well, that's also that. No real repercussions. This is a flaw IMO. Skyrim doesn't feel like I'm given any choice, so what makes this any different from Halo? Ocarina of Time? World of Warcraft? These quest are simply...quest. There is no "choice". Just grinding.
Better than Morrowind? Yes
Better than Oblivion? Yes, but only polish. We still have no options

Guilds:
Very underwhelming. I completed the Companions the first day. From what I've read about the Mages guild and the Thieves guild, they are equally as short. While they may be jam packed with content, they are just TOO SHORT.
Better than Morrowind? No
Better than Oblivion? Yes

Voice Acting:
The voice acting in this game is AMAZING. Still to this day I'm hearing voices I have never heard, it doesn't happen often, but it does. This is LEAPS AND BOUNDS above Oblivions 2 voice actors for literally every single person in the game. Exaggerating, yes, but that's essentially how it played out. Th e SAME WOMAN played the voices of like 6 different races and their sixes. Ugh. I'm so glad they decided to spend more this time around.
Better than Morrowind? Yes
Better than Oblivion? HECK YES


Items:
I am absolutely loving the art style for the gear and weapons in this game. I am in love with the Dwemer set, as well as the new model for Daedric. Superb. Really good job. My hat goes off to whoever designed those sets. As far as that STATS goes..
I am really disappointed that Artifact are, once again, horrid pieces of loot. I should not be able to craft a better weapon than a Daedric God. That's just silly.
Better than Morrowind? Yes
Better than Oblivion? Yes, but once again, just the polish. Everything is prettier, but everything is also just as underwhelming end game. Random loot is better than this "UltraBBQBattleAxeofGod". That's silly.

Skills/Perks:
Ah...the skills and perks. Well, this is where I fall in love with Skyrim. I am absolutely thrilled they went the way of perks. It evolves your character into something it NEVER could have been in ANY other TES game to date. This adds a layer of customization and complexity that no TES game has ever had. Heck, I've even been half tempted to make ANOTHER Warrior, and go the Orc Dual Wield route. It would lead me to an extremely different playstyle. You can not do that in any other TES game. Very pleased.
Better than Morrowind? Yes
Better than Oblivion? Yes

UI:
I read threads on this board about how people are so upset with the UI; I could not disagree more. I am in love with this UI. I think the inventory UI is extremely easy to handle, it's very easy to navigate, and it shifts pages fluidly and neatly. As far as the skill perk UI goes, I'm very pleased. I love the whole "constellation" aspect they went for, since, that is after all what the skills are meant to represent. Very nicely done IMO. But, I hate to say, I love Morrowinds UI the best. Not being able to see my character in the item screen is a HUGE setback too. Very silly to remove.
Better than Morrowind? No
Better than Oblivion? Yes

Difficulty:
I'm very pleased that Bethesda decided to go the "let's make it tiers of difficulty" instead of that ATROCIOUS slider they used to have. UGH. That thing was so irritating. Making it so that the game has "Halo" style levels of difficulty is an idea I had for the series since I played Halo: Combat Evolved. It just makes things more simple. And simple is good.
I am, however, a bit perplexed as to how I am getting one shot on Master at level 45 with 360 HP by lightning spells. That needs to be tweaked just a bit. That's a little silly. I have cleared out entire bandit caves with 3+ enemies on me, never falling below 60% HP, and then all of the sudden LOLSUP one shot by a single lightning shock from a mage a mile away. Wut. Very irritating.
Better than Morrowind? Yes
Better than Oblivion? Yes

Final Thoughts:
Overall, I'd give this game a solid 9.5 out of 10. Not a pure 10 based on these facts:
-This game is not an RPG, it is me playing the role of someone who has absolutely no choice in what happens, I am playing a script.
-Guilds are absurdly underwhelmingly short
-Todd Howard blatantly lied about various aspects of this game. The "Radiant AI" is not nearly as "radiant" as we were led to believe. Quest givers do NOT take over dead quest givers tasks; only one does, and that's the first quest you get, for the Golden Claw. No other quest will do this. You can also not sabotage anything and effect the economy WHATsoever.
-Daedric Artifacts are again pointless

I'm very pleased with this game, and I daresay that it is indeed the first true TES game since Morrowind. I am in love with this game, and will probably play it for many years to come, until TES:VI comes out.

Cheers.

Better than Morrowind? ......yes.
Better than Oblivion? This game is everything Oblivion was NOT. So yes, this game blows Oblivion to..Oblivion.

You say the UI isn't bad? Have you ever opened a chest? You can't even sort the items by their type. You have to scroll through a whole bunch of crap just to find that one item you were looking for (I'm talking about when you open up the chest in your player owned house).

And you can't change the way the items are ordered (by default, it's alphabetically ordered). It would be nice to be able to order them by weight and value and stuff.

And have you tried storing items in a chest/container? Try storing a weapon. Ok, that was easy. Now try storing a consumable item the same way you just stored that mighty fine battle axe of yours. Woops! you drank the potion when you were trying to store it! Why the hell did they program it like that? Oh, it's the key bindings. Too bad you can't change the key bindings.

Really, this is simple stuff that should have been fixed way before it was released.

The UI in Morrowind was junk. How you think that it is better then Skyrim's is beyond me.

Great detailed review there. Enjoyed reading it and respect the outcome.
+Rep to OP.

Also managed to read "Baronaatista"'s reply and I think , that would be very hard and utopic making the game like that. Since we are talking about multiple scripts and multipe endings that can affect the whole storyline of elder scrolls games.
Very hard work it needs and hard to balance. It's even very hard work as it is now.
Very smart,creative and talented lads working behind the scenes already. But respect your opinion and that for sure would be the greatest game ever made in history.

Short to say for me, Skyrim is very good and enjoying every minute of it .Also TES storyline is very good as well.