[SilverTalon]

I've had the game for just shy of a week now (Xbox 360 version) so I'll toss up some comments. Oblivion is not as big as Morrowind in terms of quests and things to do. However, I think in terms of gameplay it's a lot better.

For starters, combat is more visceral. Morrowind was basically you'd attack, and there was a "die roll" system that would sometimes result in the blade pretty clearly hitting the enemy, but "missing" the target. Now, a hit is a hit is a hit. Some attacks might do less damage because you're not as good with them or hit them on their armor, but they'll do SOMETHING. Blocking is also much more common sense now. I found the Arena to be a decent place to practice combat, since you get money and such from being a combatant.

Haven't fiddled much with magic, the lockpicking mini-game is much better than Morrowind though. Persuasion I've not done much with, but it seems to be more interesting than the old way.

Fast-Travel to any location you've visited before is a big boost. The quest system is much improved with the ability to mark on your map where you should be going for a certain quest. The leveled encounters (the game adjusts the difficulty based on where your character is in the game) is much better than Morrowind's, but it really does sometimes make the quests seem "too" easy since it's scaled to be a certain difficulty regardless. Nice for when you've got the uber-character at level 20+ (think 23 is the max level...not sure) that the game still has a few tricks up its sleeve, but somewhat un-immersive when you're one of the top assassins at Level 8.

Still there's something for everyone in the game. My best recommendation is that you forget absolutely everything you think you know about RPGs. If you're not familiar with Elder Scrolls, there are no rules and there is no XP...you level by skilling up your primary skills, which you in turn do via practice. If you want to break into someone's house, rob them blind and fence the goods, you can (and it's fun) with the caveat of the fences all being part of the Thieve's guild. If you want to go on a murderous rampage and kill people left and right, you can (though the guards will eventually kick your ass). If you want to wear heavy armor, use giant claymores and still throw fireballs around like they're candy, you can. It's how YOU want to play, and that freedom can paralyze a lot of people with TOO many options and make them run away.

The graphics are pretty damned impressive, and by and large the game is a lot of fun. My only annoyance is that my disc sometimes loses where it is and the game dies. Frequent saving, even on the PC version, is highly recommended.