Do you really want to know?
Ye gods! I liked the game (although #2 that I got for 6 euros on the Christmas sale is significantly better imo). Clever, entertaining, they both needed to be a lot more challenging (may have lost their broad appeal though) but seriously…
Wtf? Why are we even wasting time on those lists!
As much as I love Skyrim, I don't get why people think it is fundamentally different than Oblivion. Scaling is less blatant and the world is more interesting, but that is simply evolutionary from Oblivion. And yet Oblivion is scorned by most…
I somewhat agree with that. And yet I managed to put about 35 hours in Oblivion and finishing it felt like a chore, while 120 probably represent only my first go through Skyrim…
Is it a mystery? not really. There are a couple of factors to consider here (Note that I am speaking in how I perceive why I feel so different about the two games):
1) The psychological: Oblivion followed Morrowind and based on expectations created by that game the blatant scaling, over streamlining of several elements and generic fantasy blandness of the world (and art direction) shocked a lot of people. Also the backlash created by the unbelievably positive initial reviews and the trend that followed it (bash Oblivion, you can!) probably have something to do… Its different with Skyrim, it only had to improve in several key factors in regards to its derided predecessor and it did! Also most of us had already made peace with the fact that a deep and meaningful RPG (either in writing or mechanics) is not something that Bethesda is interested in producing anymore which brings us to number:
2) Practically speaking Oblivion kinda sucked for the kind of game that Bethesda is trying to make (a huge, interesting, immersive open world that sustains the illusion of life enough to keep you playing, ignoring the repetitiveness of its content). It did so because the world was boring, flat, I've seen it all a hundred times, and the in your face scaling and blatantly cookie cutter reused content was so obvious that it destroyed the suspension of disbelief in mere hours. Why would I want to keep playing in that world if it felt so stilted and dead? wasn't for the RPG or the content…
In the end it comes down to an individual's levels of tolerance. In Skyrim the important elements for this kind of game (interesting world and location design and layout, art direction and all the little enviromental touches in the cities and the wild that promote atmosphere and immersion) were very significantly improved.While the worst offenders that made the predecessor less interesting were alleviated in a sufficient degree that they don't break immersion and make the gameplay much more engaging and fun. So as this specific type of game Skyrim succeeds were Oblivion failed, imo.
It goes without saying that all the improvements would not hit other people's requirements or priorities or it is fundamentally a different kind of game they like. Those will of course hate S as much as O and should already be aware that they need to look elsewhere for their RPG experience…
Wow that was wordy
apologies…
P.S yeah lets do the game of all time discussion in a decade or so shall we. Much as I like it though I cannot see it entering my top ten then too…