Eh, while I love the hell outta Oblivion, i guess I'll just chock it up to the developers being drunk lore-wise with that being the only reason they did that.
When Redguard came out, it was a completely different way of playing the Elder Scrolls. Having recently made getting through Redguard and Daggerfall a piece-meal hobby of mine, I must say that playing Daggerfall is much better experience than the linear storyline of Redguard.
Morrowind seemed to fix that problem, and while it did not get us back to the scale of Daggerfall, TES III did allow much more player choice on character development.
Oblivion sent us backwards. While there are still some flavors from Morrowind and Daggerfall found in TES IV, there is basically no comparison. Oblivion's only claim to supremacy over what came before it is in the graphics, and I would readily trade said graphics for a return to the original characteristic that set TES games above all the others, namely nonlinear storylines, freeform character development, and a large scale world in which to foster such development.
Although many disagree with Mortazo on some of his views, I will admit to agreeing that a return to a "less bugged out version of Daggerfall" type playing style would be greatly appreciated.
Okay, that's my rant for today. And...umm......hill[consored].
___TWM