What I like in a game, my playing style, etc:
- I'm a big fan of exploration. I LOVE to explore. I love the satisfaction of discovering a sweet lookout spot, an epic ruin, a hidden sword/piece of armor, or a new city that I've never explored before.

Morrowind is propably better for you here. It got lots of interesting stuff, places, weapons, the cities are perhaps not hidden but they do not all look the same.

- Relating to the last point, I like a big map with lots of things to discover in it.

Hm... Morrowind′s map feels bigger. Because of mountains, I guess. So Morrowind would win here.

- I want to be afraid to explore somewhere.

Either Oblivion with OOO (Oscuros Oblivion Overhaul) or Morrowind can fit in there... However after a while you will get really powerful in Morrowind and you will be pretty owny. But that takes time and patience, I myself never got there.

- I'm not BIG on combat, but I still enjoy it. I prefer the player skill as apposed to the character skill.

Oblivion is more character-skill focused. But it is also more combat-focused, you need to fight whatever the quest is about (almost, Thieves Guild is the biggest exception). Both here.

- I enjoy playing thief/stealth classes as opposed to skillful warriors. I'd rather make money in alternate methods.

Oblivion got better and more exciting sneak. I never got the Morrowind sneak. In Morrowind it is "Go up the stairs and steal the diamonds (precious diamonds...) before the guard who follows you gets up the stairs too and sees you", in Oblivion it is more "Sneak past the guards patrolling the area and then unlock like 3 doors, keys doesnt exist, and then find the treasure, which is propably just a dagger with some fire enchantment". Biased view there.

- I like customization and being able to have a variety of different combinations of class, weapons, armors, skills, magic, etc.

Well... Both here.

- I want to be able to do my own thing. I don't want the game to tell me what to do or set out my character's story for me.

Both.

- Healthy amount of factions to choose from.

Oblivion got like... 4 bigs. Morrowind got like... 10+ bigs.

- I like mounts (Oblivion obviously has them where as Morrowind doesn't)

Oblivion got mounts, Morrowind doesnt.

- Not a big fan of reading, although I will obviously do it if it's important.

Morrowind is more lore-inclined which may need more reading. In Oblivion the emperor and an argonian does all the reading for ya.

- Graphics need to be good. As I said, when I explore, I also enjoy finding places that are visually appealing.

Oblivion got best graphics. But I still liked the Morrowind looks.

What I dislike:
- LINEAR GAMEPLAY. Just let me do what I want.

Both are good here.

- No reward in exploration.

Well... Morrowind got better rewards, but most times they are both good.

- Small maps

None of them are THAT small.

- Limited customization

Customization is what the Elder Scrolls series live by. Both here.

- Not feeling emotion when I play (such as fear, excitement, etc.)

Fear, excitement, depression, boredom? The 2 last are traits of Oblivion which comes to me sometimes. But then thats propably just me who is a little koko in the head. I dont really know. Long since I played Morrowind.

- "Go deliver this, go deliver this back, go deliver this back, OK - kill 5 of these things"

Kill 50 of those, take that and then get back. Quest done. Morrowind is better on this. Oblivion is worse.

- Generic RPG creatures, gameplay, quests, etc. (Don't like WoW).

Morrowind is best.

- I don't want to be forced to be a melee character because the magic class is weak.

Hm... Dont really know here. In Oblivion the mage isnt really "weak". Not with OOO. But I dont know about Morrowind.

- Not being able to sell stolen goods.

You need to fence it in Oblivion, in Morrowind it is easier. Just sell it to the merchant next doors.

- Poor graphics and views from high points on the map.

Morrowind got worse graphics.

Just to set things straight: I can still steal nice armor and weapons in oblivion right?

To your first question: No. Absolutely not. Quite the opposite, in fact. Oblivion is very much an open world game. It's more restrictive in terms of character development because there are fewer skills (one blade skill, as opposed to short blades and long blades in Morrowind, only light and heavy armor skills instead of light, medium and heavy), but for exploration, and the kind of "do what you want, go where you want" gameplay that the series is loved for, it's fantastic. And with mods, it only gets better.

To your second question: Yes.

Since you can't levitate in Oblivion. I just want to show:
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/9126/62982169.jpg

See more:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1086589-mge-screenshot-thread-no-6/

I would call it a tie for now. But not for too long.

Super Secret Project:
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/26348-2-1277994686.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/26348-3-1277994594.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/26348-4-1277994594.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/26348-1-1277994686.jpg

Shadows at last... Nothing will be the same again.

Shadows at last... Nothing will be the same again.

Bear with me, I'm going to go through point for point, but I think it will help you decide very well. I am a Morrowind fan, but Oblivion does have it's advantages, and I will make suggestions based only on your tastes and my experiance.


What I like in a game, my playing style, etc:
- I'm a big fan of exploration. I LOVE to explore. I love the satisfaction of discovering a sweet lookout spot, an epic ruin, a hidden sword/piece of armor, or a new city that I've never explored before.
Oblivion has a BEAUTIFUL map, with a huge draw distance. That said, many of the environments are similar. The main cities are all different in appearance, but there are only a few small settlements that you will find easily. On the down side, ruins tend to be overly similar, many caves, forts, and Ayelid structures look almost identical on the inside. Morrowinds graphics are less impressive, and the fog prevents you from seeing in the distance (although MGE -Morrowind Graphics Extender- eliminates this) BUT the landscapes change drastically. The ruins in Morrowind are fantastic, unique in style and in build, each cave, dungeon, temple, and tomb are hand crafted and memorable. Also, items in Morrowind are hand placed. In Oblivion, the loot you find in caves depends on your level, and is random. In Morrowind, you get tempted to enter every single ruin you see because if there is a unique artifact there, it is nowhere else. You might find a few gold pieces and rusty armor, or you might find a fortune, or an ancient helmet or sword worth thousands


- Relating to the last point, I like a big map with lots of things to discover in it.
Oblivion is technically larger, but it does not feel so. In Morrowind, you must travel by foot or pay for fast travel in cities, or teleport everywhere. In addition to the main cities, Morrowind seems to have more fleshed out small towns and villages, and often a quest or two

- I want to be afraid to explore somewhere.
Oblivion is pretty good at creating a creepy atmosphere. However, everything is level scaled to your character. That means, that at Level 1, you can beat the main game because the "demons" invading are the weakest type. At higher levels, more dangerous animals and monsters appear. In Morrowind, there is some scaling, but at level 1 even a rat can kill you if you're not smart, and at level 10 walking into the wrong cave can get you squashed. Because of this, every tomb and ruin, even a jog in the countryside can be heart pounding. The tombs and daedric shrines still make me jump if I'm playing at night because of the sights, sounds, and monsters

- I'm not BIG on combat, but I still enjoy it. I prefer the player skill as apposed to the character skill
Here you will almost definitely enjoy Oblivion more, player skill in general is more important than in Morrowind, combat is more "kinetic." BUT here's the big difference: In MW, you miss 9 times out of 10 and hit once (at low levels) but can kill rats and such with that one hit. In OB, you hit 10 times out of 10, but it takes all 10 hits to kill anything but a rat. Because of level scaling, it can take even longer to kill something when you have reached a higher level, in MW your progress makes it so that it always gets easier and easier to kill things. Because of this I think archery is more fun in MW, in OB you have to enchant all your bows and arrows to do enough damage to kill stuff like bears with less than 20 shots.

- I enjoy playing thief/stealth classes as opposed to skillful warriors. I'd rather make money in alternate methods.
Oblivion has a GREAT stealth system, the Thieves Guild is okay and the Dark Brotherhood is often thought of as the best questline in the game. That said, Morrowind has better, more interesting things to steal wherever you go, and you can sell anything you steal to anyone, except the former owner, who may even mistake a different version of the same item for the one you stole. In Oblivion you must sell to fences, which is nice in theory but there's only a few of them around. I like Morrowinds Thieves Guild better, it seems more organized, and there are more quests to do for them. The Morag Tong is much like the Dark Brotherhood, but assassinations are legal executions, so it's less"evil." Google them if you can't find em, they are harder to find than the DB who knocks on your door.

- I like customization and being able to have a variety of different combinations of class, weapons, armors, skills, magic, etc.
Morrowind here, hands down. More Skills, weapons, armors, and spells. In Oblivion, you are somewhat able to do everything, no matter what skills you start with. In MW, if you pick Short Blade then try to use a longsword, you WILL miss. In OB, many armor pieces are stuck together (boots, gloves, pauldrons attached to cuirass) Overall there's maybe 5 armor slots? In MW there are 9. OB has Blades, Blunts, and Bows. MW has blades (two categories, long and short) blunt, axe, bow, crossbow, thrown weapons (daggers, darts, stars) and spears. Morrowind has more armors as well, and spells that were removed in OB because of gameplay (levitate)

- I want to be able to do my own thing. I don't want the game to tell me what to do or set out my character's story for me.
Morrowind. Oblivion tends to take you by the hand, especially with the main quest. In Morrowind, they kick you to the curb with a bus pass and half a sandwich. This confuses some people, but I love it, you feel free to do anything. You ARE the hero in both, and probably more so in MW, but it's easier to ignore that if you want. There's even a mod called "Never say Nerevar" or "Nerevar say Nerevar" (Nerevar is the name of the prophecied hero) where the Main Quest is "completed" by a computer character, and you don't have to feel bad for not saving the day

- Healthy amount of factions to choose from.
OB has Fighter's Guild, Mages Guild, Thieve's Guild, Dark Brotherhood, and some "side" factions like Knights of the Thorn and the Arena. Morrowind has the Big Three, minus the DB but plus the Morag Tong, the Imperial Legion, Imperial Cult, Dunmer Temple, 1 of 3 Dunmer Great Houses, and 1 of 3 Vampire Clans, and maybe one or two others. I've made whole separate characters to complete different guilds for that game.

- I like mounts (Oblivion obviously has them where as Morrowind doesn't)
True. BUT there's no combat from mounts, which frustrates me to no end. There is a mod for this, but there are also mods for mounts and combat in MW, but I've heard they are clunky. Oblivion does get the upper hand with mounts.

- Not a big fan of reading, although I will obviously do it if it's important.
All the dialogue in Oblivion is spoken, (with subtitles) so it seems you'd prefer that. However, you can only skip it one sentence at a time. In Morrowind, it's all written, but it's in big blocks you can skim and skip at your leisure. Some dialogue is voiced, and it's much, much better in Morrowind. The voices are unique for each race, in OB some of them are shared, all the Elves for instance sound the same, and it's ANNOYING.

- Graphics need to be good. As I said, when I explore, I also enjoy finding places that are visually appealing.
Oblivion, obviously it came out later. But youtube MW with MGE and other graphics mods, some of them bring it up to speed a bit

What I dislike:
- LINEAR GAMEPLAY. Just let me do what I want. MW is better for that, for all the above reasons
- No reward in exploration. Many dungeons look the same and the loot is random and common
- Small maps OB is slightly bigger but many people think the opposite when playing
- Limited customization TES in general is better at this than any other game, picking race, gender, and making your own class from literally thousands of possibilities. MW gits a slight tip because of numbers of skills, weapons, factions, etc
- Not feeling emotion when I play (such as fear, excitement, etc.) Both games are great for this. MW is maybe more exciting because it's harder?
- "Go deliver this, go deliver this back, go deliver this back, OK - kill 5 of these things" Both games have this. Some think Oblivion quests have more, but it always feels staged to me. In MW, there are often other ways to complete a quest, such as by lying to the quest giver, but neither are perfect
- Generic RPG creatures, gameplay, quests, etc. (Don't like WoW). Both are generic in many ways, an unique in others, it's real time not turn based, no XP just skills used and gained. MW has more unique monsters and culture by far though
- I don't want to be forced to be a melee character because the magic class is weak. It's easier to be a Mage in Oblivion at low levels, you can actually fail spells in Morrowind, but it's also easier to be a warrior because you don't miss. Mages in both games become the most Uber of all at high levels
- Not being able to sell stolen goods. In OB you need a fence, of which there are only a couple in the game. In Morrowind if you try to sell a spoon to a merchant you stole a spoon from, he'll think it's his even if it's not, but anyone will buy anything, except skooma and moonsugar, and some people will buy those
- Poor graphics and views from high points on the map. Morrowind loses without mods

I know you could just say "decide for your self, idiot", but I plead that you hold off on those comments and help me decide which game to start playing. I've never tried Oblivion and I've only played a bit of Morrowind.

Thanks for your help.

Go for Oblivion, with mods. Morrowind may trump Oblivion in vanilla, but Cyrodiil, mods that add the rest of Tamriel's worldspace and a few other little changes and addons will drop your jaw.

Morrowind is hard to mod and therefore a lack in notable material- excluding the graphic enchancer.

Very nice screens. Thanks for sharing. I especially liked the Bloodmoon one.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/26348-2-1278457583.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/26348-5-1278457584.jpg ,sun is on right, it is ministry of truth
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/26348-3-1278457655.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/26348-5-1278457655.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/26348-4-1278457584.jpg

This project is not mine, I am stealing the pictures from a super secret project. I will try to contribute with http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi3iZplFOTs.

Is that the next version of MGE? If so, amazing and I can't wait for it.

...
As for getting your fix for medieval combat:

I strongly recommend just getting yourself Mount and Blade and skipping Oblivion. I'm not saying Oblivion isn't worth it, per se, but Mount and Blade's combat is almost identical to Oblivion's combat, PLUS:
-mounted combat
-many more types of weapons skills including crossbows and spears
-horse archery
-castle sieges
-commanding a party
-a bigger world with more cities and non-linear quests

And I would add Dark Messiah of Might&Magic for great examples of melee combat, traps and magic. It is a linear game though.(but I see no reason not to have it in TES if it can be skill based instead of perk based.)