I hope you don't mind me posting my current impressions in your thread, Maylander, because my views are very similar to your own. After some time with the game, it started to wear down on me, and I found myself becoming less impressed.
Starting off, the game was wonderful. Exploring the tundra outside of Whiterun was especially satisfying. I began gathering as many quests as I could, then immediately plunged the depths of caves and dungeons. None of them "feel" the same or repetitive, but the drawback lies in what you actually find in there (which is nothing for the most part). I do agree that exploration isn't too varied, but I suppose it's "the frozen north", so that's what I can expect.
I have not yet completed the main quest, but it has been enjoyable. I have concentrated my efforts more toward the guilds. So far, I've only completed the Thieves Guild. Starting out was rather bland, but I found it more exciting as it drew closer to the conclusion. I am, however, disappointed by how short it was. If I recall correctly, you're given two tasks involving stealing and/or sneaking into someone's home to plant something, then leads to the real plot of the questline. I won't spoil anything, but the introduction to Karliah was where it started to really light up for me. I think she specifically will become one of the more memorable (read: favorite) characters to me. I only wished I could have had her as a companion and they made more use of her. I haven't done much in the way of the Dark Brotherhood or the College of Winterhold yet (I'm holding off on Dark Brotherhood to prevent killing any potential quest givers).
One of the problems I have with the game is the scale of mountains. They take up so much space on the map, and as a result, I feel as if there's much less space to explore. Frequently I'll be heading to an undiscovered location on the map, only to end up saying "Oops, there's a mountain in the way, I have to go around.". It's not so much that there's something in the way, it's the consistency of something being in the way.
As with the Elder Scrolls games starting with Oblivion, there's a lack of any real C&C. More of that is involved with the Stormcloaks/Legion from what I gather, but it's fairly limited. As side quests are completed, you'll accumulate gold very fast, and you'll have more than you need a large percentage of the time.
As for shouts, I found a handful of them really useful. Ice Form comes to mind as it freezes oncoming enemies in their tracks (not including dragons, giants, or anything too big). The other shouts that force animals to attack/retreat and such haven't been used at all. From what I've noticed, however, the damaging shouts such as Fire/Ice Breath seem to increase your Destruction skill a bit (though I need to have someone else confirm that), but not enough to level it due to cooldown times.
I know it's not much, but those are my current impressions with the game. As time goes on, I'll highlight more strong and weak points in Skyrim.