Not sure. I've only played Morrowind and beyond so I don't know. Although each of the three games I've played had fantasy elements and worlds created completely from imagination (Oblivion gates, Shivering Isles, etc), they don't have that over the top fantasy land feel like other games have. I haven't played Dark Souls so I don't know what they're like and if they resemble what I'm talking about.

I believe you arithmetic processor needs a revision, cause Skyrim has more creatures/monsters than Oblivion.

Oh god, not the roly poly. I hate that in games that make me do it. It looks so goofy.

Hmm. Looking at the UESP it appears Oblivion has a slight edge in the number of different creatures . . . but it is fairly close.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Creatures

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Creatures

No, it's really not. There's very little difference between Dark Souls and, say, Rage, both of which are actioners, with some RPG and adventure elements. Yes, I absolutely know what an action/RPG is, and Dark Souls isn't even anywhere close to being an RPG, no matter how you want to bill it. ME2, action RPG, but only barely, same as DAII, DA:O was the closest of the BioWare titles to RPG. Witcher, Witcher 2, Risen, Risen 2, Gothic 3, Gothic 4, action/RPGs. Dark Souls is an action game, maybe requiring a little more in the cerbral-fighting department than your typical button-masher, but still an action title.

I played it on Xbox and no, it does NOT save all of the time, only at bonfires (and waypoints maybe? or was that Dungeon Siege III?), not whenever/wherever you want to save. So, oh yes, I turn it off and there I am, back where I was "last" save, NOT where I left off, ever. Maybe PC has this? Xbox definitely did not.

If you quit out of the game via the quit game menu, instead of just turning it off it should have left you standing exactly where you were at when you quit. I honestly see Skyrim and Dark Souls both as being at their very core, dungeon crawlers. Skyrim may have additional distractions dressing it up, and Dark Souls may have more technical aspects to combat, but both are still mostly dungeon crawlers in my opinion.

Ha! for a lot of us those "distractions" as you call them are what the game is all about. Dark Souls does not seem to have any "distractions," hence it is a pure action game.

I always thought Dark Souls was an action rpg. There are different types of rpgs aren't there? Like skyrim is considered sandbox or some term like that.

Skyrim was unable to keep me coming back to it when I realized how obvious the distractions were. Going out into the empty wilderness, or slogging through a Draugr crypt 80 times because every quest sends you to one did not endear me to the disingenuous nature of its "large amount of content".

It is an action rpg, and there are different RPG sub genres. The people who say otherwise are obviously wrong.

that dragon looks like a ripoff of the queen in aliens.

Yeah, just to clarify, Dark Souls is an RPG.

I largely agree with this, but I do also want more of the fantastical stuff. I do want wraiths and spirits, chimeras and harpies, cyclopses and minotaurs, but I want them in addition to what we have in Skyrim. The realistic animals are fine, but they shouldn't be pretty much the only enemies you find in the overworld besides humanoids. I know there are other creatures, but they're few and far between really.

I also want giants to have more focus in the future. I want to learn about them and their ways. It'd be great if you could learn their language and actually speak with them (though I doubt that will happen because it will annoy people who hate subtitles).

Please note how the page for Oblivion lists the 2 kinds of wolves, 2 kinds of bears, the +-10 kinds of globlins or skeletons, when it's really only 1 creature each, with different levels.
On the page for skyrim however, you only see the generic wolf, bear, draugr, etc.

Hehe, yeah, right. RPG is about roleplaying, by definition. Having stats and wardrobe changes does not make a game an RPG. Those are only traditional elements of RPGs that have been incorporated into action and adventure titles to create "subgenres". If there's no actual roleplaying (and in Dark Souls there is not ANY roleplaying) I fail to see how it can be classified as any sort of RPG at all.

What makes a game an RPG by your definition?

Choice? You do have choice in Dark Souls.

Side Quests? There are a bunch of character based side quests in Dark Souls.

Leveling? Theirs leveling(though if you're skilled its not necessary)

Story? There's story its just subtle, and more natural.

Are you going to tell me that Dungeon Crawlers aren't RPG's?

Also nothing at all is stopping you from roleplaying in Dark Souls. Your character had a life before he/she died their first death. You can choose your characters goals. You wanna link the bonfires? Sure. You wanna plunge the world into darkness? Sure.

You wanna be a bounty hunter/assassin(Dark Moon Blade covenent)? Sure.

You wanna be a dragon? Sure.

Yeah. I need to know your definitions of what an RPG is.

What do you mean by there's no roleplaying? You take the role of a fated undead and then you take it from there. I roleplay my undead how I see fit. That's just me though.

If you dismiss the repeated creatures of different levels for Oblivion (which Skyrim also has more of such as Dragur Scourge and Wright, Skyrim has more. Skyrim also has more static items and clothing.

I mean, playing a role is not roleplaying. In Dark Souls, you're (at best) playing a role. The game itself plays more like Doom/Quake/Unreal/Rage than an RPG. Hence, not an RPG. Being able to change weapons/skills/armor. Being able to go on missions, no, those things are not roleplaying. But, they are stock parts of roleplaying games.

Does Dark Souls have dialog selection?

I don't get it. How are you not playing a role? Your character is literally a blank slate.

You can choose their class which is basically their origin, their gender, their appearance, their name, their starting items. Some of which is added specifically for roleplaying(Pendent).

The only real roleplaying difference is that your character is basically Gordon Freeman, and by that I mean mute.