Although it is a better game in almost every way the Morrowind, it really feels like it has been dumbed down and consolised. They have taken out a lot of the things that made Morrowind unique, such as the armour (left/right pauldrons & gloves) and ability to wear clothes and armour at the same time (you can?t wear a robe over the top of your armour like you could in Morrowind). Also the user interface is horrendous; granted I am playing on a 22? monitor, but my inventory list only 6 items at a time and the word ?Iron dagger? is about an inch high and 4 inches long. What ever happened to size 12 font?
Now don?t get me wrong, I love the game and I will probably play it more this year then the combined play time of all the other games that I own. But it really does have that whole childish console feel to it (not that consoles are childish, but it?s chunky like Duplo as opposed the sleekness of Lego/Mechano).
I sick of reading all the hype about how it?s a revolutionary game. Granted the AI, all though flawed (and a lot of people have complained about this), is still more realistic than any other game that I have seen. But there are so many things that just feel like a step backward from Morrowind.
When I played Morrowind, I liked the fact that every character had a set difficulty. If you went in to a cave at level 3 and fought a Rouge leader he?d wipe the floor with you. But if you came back at level 30 you would kick his arse. In Oblivion I have never been in a situation where I have thought to my self, ?Damn, my character just isn?t good enough to take on this opponent. I should train up and come back later.? It seems as if almost everyone you fight is equally as hard. There?s no discrepancy between as easy fight and a hard one.
Also although I think the new combat system is more interactive, at the same time it is still greatly simplified. Each weapon only has one damage, no more thrust/chop/slash. And they have simplified the weapon types way too much: now there is only blades and blunt weapons. Apparently there is no difference between using a claymore and a dagger; an axe is a blunt weapon (theres no axe class), and there is no spears either. I mean hell they?re only one step away from having a one size fits all combat skill!
Oh, and how the hell does a vendor know if an item is stolen. In Morrowind you could sell stolen items just like all other items, but if you tried selling it to the person you stole it from they would know it was theirs and report you. In oblivion you can only sell stuff to fences. If a legit and stolen iron dagger look exactly the same why won?t a shop keeper buy them both. How do they know the difference?
On the other hand, apart from the psychic guards, being a rouge has greatly improved, with the whole light base sneaking and stuff.
Oblivion is an awesome game, I just feel that when comparing it to Morrowind, every time they have improved a gameplay issue, they have taken a step backwards somewhere else.