I never actually beat Oblivion... I did pretty much everything and all the DLC, just not the main story. After the third or fourth tower, I was like "wtf, this was a game prior to the DLC? How'd anyone bear it?".
I logged more hours gameplay pimping out my house with collected gear, piles of skulls, books and random other stuff and using 100% chameleon to troll NPCs than I did actually playing the story.
I really detested the towers as well. They just all kinda felt the same in an almost procedurally generated sorta way.
I have a weird habit of waiting until an elder scrolls game is around 10 years old before finally playing it, but I very much enjoy them all. I’m currently playing through vanilla Skyrim on my PS4 for the second time right now. I haven’t even gone to the Greybeards yet.
My favorite is Morrowind, then Skyrim, then Oblivion. I’ve never played daggerfall. The combat in the games is obviously not the shining point so it’s all about writing and ‘vibe’. Oblivion was a great game but for me, it had the most cookie-cutter fantasy vibe, if that makes sense. Maybe the Lord of the Rings movies rubbed off a bit too much in regards to the world design? Oblivion’s character models and writing were quirky and had lots of personality but the world itself was a bit lacking IMO, especially when compared to something as immersive as Morrowind.
