I've been very vocal about the removal of spellmaking, and I still think it hurts the game, but after watching my brother play the game for several hours now, it seems the nature of magic is quite different than previous games. By this, I mean that magic is harder to get a hold of and its also used in different ways. Dual wielding magic is very important (partially because you can't make multiple effect spells since spellmaking no longer exists, and also partially because, for a squishy mage, its important to know when to switch to defensive/offensive, or offensive/offesnive, and other such combinations), and that leads to interesting magical scenarios. Fights in Skyrim are much shorter than in all previous games, and that makes magic have interesting combative properties, such as being able to take down multiple opponents at once with your Flames and Sparks spells.

So while I am still disappointed in the lack of spellmaking, I am rather interested in how magic plays out now and how differently it feels. It is somewhat refreshing to experience something different than the last 4 games have offered (but I'd still really like to have spellmaking back! ).

Just my thoughts on the subject.