About animation quality.
As with other things, this is not simple or black/white.
I think it has to do with the focus of the developers and their strengths as a team.
People aren't bots educated to do everything, they have interests and passions - and things they care more about than others.
That's why you're not going to see Carmack working on a deep and complex CRPG - because his passion is to develop efficient and brilliant rendering engines. He obviously isn't about gameplay mechanics.
Troika and Obsidian, traditionally, have been about giving the player a strong and deep gameplay experience. They've likely focused on getting people with the same kind of passion, and even though I'm sure they can get technically skilled people like everyone else - that needs to fit well into their vision and budget concerns.
Good looking animations in the modern real-time 3D world is INCREDIBLY complex, and you either need godlike hand-animators ala Blizzard, or you need expensive motion-capture setups, and the resources to develop all those transition-based animations for the zillion states of movement and stops.
People can't just do that without having worked with that kind of technology for a long time, and if you're going to develop deep CRPGs, I doubt you'll attract too many technically brilliant people. Not unless, of course, you choose to focus on that specifically when hiring - and then you need to be able to pay them, and they'll likely get paid better somewhere else, like with Bioware or Bliz. Maybe not paid better, but they'll be where they've always wanted to be.
I guess it's like the people working with Avatar - and the resources poured into such a huge project. It's not just about money, it's about getting the right people who've worked at the forefront of technology. You can't expect such results from people working on smaller productions - no matter how many money you pay them. It's a symbiotic relationship between the people, their interests, and their assets.
Obsidian is most likely not focused on that at all, and as a result - they don't have people experienced with sophisticated 3D modelling and mo-cap equipment on the AAA level.
So no, it's not just skill - but it's a matter of overall focus and priorities. You need resources to pay the right kind of people, and if not - you'll end up with people who're not tailored for high-end AAA level animations. You can't put just anyone down in front of 3D studio and expect the best results.