Skyrim is definitely shallow and doesn't have nearly the number of interesting characters or quests that either Oblivion or FO3 has. The dungeons and the "wild" are spectacular, but for the most part the rest of the game is bland and not captivating. This game doesn't have what I think of as the usual Beth "magic" at work. That thing that they usually do with a few lines of dialogue to create memorable characters or the personality filled quests that they throw into a game that are still interesting enough to keep doing on multiple characters. This game doesn't have that. The quests are boring and meaningless and almost every NPC is forgettable. It's a friggin' shame I'm having fun in the dungeons with my sneaky archer character and I figure the game will last for me until I've memorized the map and the dungeons. This is very different than my experience in Oblivion and FO3 which I played for hundreds and hundreds of hours experimenting with all different kinds of characters long after I knew the map.