While I agree with the fact that it was bad to take out armor durability (they could've improved it greatly), I think that the rest of the cuts make skyrim all the much better for it.

Huh? Yes there are. Just last night I brewed up a Regenerate Health potion that also briefly damages my magicka. I don't remember what the ingredients were.

I know what your talking about and I do get it. I think the absence of this type of gameplay is intentional and to some degree technical, strictly speaking there has never been a game like you describe.. ever. the reason is that from a development perspective creating all that intereaction for one quest would take as long as creating 10 linear quests and at the end of the day players are only going to take 1 of the 6 possible paths so the result is 5 paths (scripts, intereactions.. coding, art etc..) that will be ignored. While it serves replayability, the complexity of stuff like that is really hard to implement and often results in more bugs than content.

There have been games however in the past that allowed more flexibility and interaction than Skyrim. Fallout series for example (pre fallout 3), Baulders Gate series to a point. Neverwinter Nights, in particular player created modules. The industry however has changed, and you might say for the better depending on your perspective. Effectively the industry is getting away from "pencil and paper RPGS" in computer form and more into "Interactive Novels" The reason is simple, you can focus the player, treat him to a visual feast, a great (albeit linear story) and push the envelope of presentation and mechanics. It works better and Skyrim is kind of the amplification of that process. We are going to start seeing it more and more in MMORPGs as well, because while people always talk about loving open game worlds, freedom.. aka do what I want. There are no MMOs out there that are successful to any noteabe degree that do this. Hell Eve Online is probobly the most successful example ever of a game like that and it hit 350,000 users after like 8 years? While World of Warcraft (the walk you through the thempark game) is toting 12 million ?

The basic thing is that players I think are starting to realize that gaming isn't some challenge posed to us, its not some kind of re-creation of past glories of their childhood in PC form, nore is it a request on demand system. Its entertainment and appriciation of the art form. Like going to the movies, you install Elder Scrolls and turn yourself over it to for a while and enjoy the developers work. If you approach Skyrim with this mentality, its a delightful sensation. If you focus on game mechanics, the balance of this vs. that, the gltichy interface or some imaginary wish list of features you think should be in the perfect game .. well you will always be disapointed.

Sit back, enjoy the ride. Think of it like reading a book where you get to play a small role in the descesion making and instead of imaging it you get it handed to you on a splended platter of advanced graphics. Its fun if you let it be, but its not fun if you are trying to find in it what you think should be in it.

All generalizations are false.

On a serious note: I do feel that a few aspects of the game lost a small amount of depth from Morrowind to Oblivion. More depth overall, but some aspects lost just a little. These things are so minor, though, I never would have even thought of them at all if you were to sit me down and interrogate me for hours on how the series lost depth from Oblivion to Skyrim.

Also, the thread title: "Bethesda removing all negative effects, limiting choice". You didn't mention any way that choice was limited in Skyrim. Skyrim has far more choice than Oblivion.

Skooma has no negative and only gives you stamina

Im a Morrowind fan. Its my favorite game ever (until possibly now with Skyrim)

I would say that.