I own and have played Oblivion for quite some time now. The game was always massive enough in scope, with nice graphics and a fair amount to do so as to hold my attention, but I could never help but feel it could have been a lot better with simple additions and fixes.

The environment: The game world was huge, yet wandering through the world town to town was never near as enjoyable as it could be. No oddities to be found, dead ends, hidden notes, etc, and worst off, the only animals you would ever encounter in the wild were wolves, deer, and maybe a mud crab or too. Way to empty for such a huge world. The addition of the quick travel between already visited locations made the game begin to feel like a grind after a while, because there was really no reason to NOT fast travel, and otherwise just enjoy the scenery/wildlife.

The NPCs and their actions seemed way to modular. You had to stare at them from the same annoying angle and their movements always seemed scripted and awkward most of the times, not to mention hearing the same voices used for different NPCs over and over.

Obvious automatic and randomized world creation made the uniqueness of the overall world grow old quick, as there was no unique features in certain areas.

Finally, the quest system inevitably led to a feel of grinding, and after the game ended, it never felt quite the same playing it afterwards without waiting for some time.

My hope for Skyrim lies in the fact that, according to the information about the game, the developers actually may have listened to the community.

After watching the game demo, I have concluded that it seems very likely that there will be many more monsters and creatures in the environment as there were in Oblivion. This is good news… The developers also stated how there were many more voice actors used for the NPCs and characters as a direct response to the communities complaints about this.

Talking to an NPC won't lock you into their face as your forced through the same familiar scenario time and time again, and they use natural mannerisms and are more expressive and free in their movement. This can be seen in the demonstration video of the game, and I was very pleased to find this out. The NPCs can also be found doing stuff like forging weaponry, working around the village, etc. This is a must for an immersive RPG game and has been featured in RPG games as far back as Ultima Underworld. I'm happy Bethesda game around with this.

The game world was actually designed by placing things, too a large extend, by hand and creating a realistic, changing environment, as stated by the developers and evident by watching the game play demo.

As with Oblivion at the time, the graphics look really great, which is always a plus so long as the entire game doesn't ride on this fact as it's only redeeming quality as so many games coming out now days seem to do.

A few things I still find disappointing and I believe should be changed:

ELIMINATE fast travel, or at least make an option when you start your journey to do so. If the environment is designed properly and there are sufficient things to do, you shouldn't have to tell your players: "You can fast travel between areas and skip the mundane boring world you've already traveled over so often." It seems like a lame, cheap feature to me, and a quick fix to keep people from getting bored with the game. Traveling the land and stumbling upon things should be a staple of any proper fantasy/role-playing game.

The leaked game manual has a section on thievery, which is similar to Oblivion. When you steal items, you can't sell them and you lose ALL your stolen items if you go to jail. This sort of takes away from the fun of being a thief just for the sake of being a thief. If I want to be a thief, I shouldn't feel as if I'm required to join the Thieves Guild just so I can sell my stolen wares. They should implement a system where it's POSSIBLE for NPCs to find out you are carrying stolen goods, but only under certain conditions, and even then, there should be many dishonest and otherwise greedy merchants who could care less whether or not you are carrying stolen goods (I believe there was only one such merchant in Oblivion without joining the Thieves Guild).

My final gripe, and my most severe complaint, is in regards to the UI. The game is still a fantasy, and one thing I love about games like Oblivion, Ultima, Gothic, etc, is the feeling of going through my inventory, chests, bags, etc, and feeling like I am actually doing so. The ultra-contemporary UI of Skyrim only detracts from the fantasy element and appears to be mismatched to the game, and even gives the impression of being a place-holder, or incomplete.

There are of course only my opinions, and I'm sure there will be MODs to come that fix/change these elements, but I still feel like they would help to push the game in the right direction.

So, what do you guys think?