derailing my own thread temporarily to rant about skyrim.
really loving the game atm but deeply saddened by the removal of weapon/armour degrading, spell making, acrobatics skill and to some extent attributes(200+ perks replace attributes). there is other streamlining too but only minor annoyances. that said its 10x better than oblivion, and some new gameplay improvements have kept me from getting bored like dual wielding, weapon/armor reinforcing and shouts. dungeons are very interesting when compared to oblivion.
my only fear is getting bored of it. morrowind, although i played for possibly 100+ hours, i got bored before completing the main quest but really enjoyed the game. oblivion i gave up after 25hours, only lasted that long because of my love for fp/rpgs. worst game in the genre. skyrim im not certain how long ive been playing, but all is well so far. the world is fascinating and is definately worthy of GOTY. quests are slightly more interesting too. very happy with my purchase but just cant stop wondering how awesome skyrim could be if they didnt streamline aswell as adding all this new stuff. they streamlined many awesome gameplay mechanics and added stuff like wood chopping and getting married!?

love the game but it COULD have been better in gameplay terms and story. still definately GOTY having so much fun.