Better:
-Graphics

Worst:
-The rest.


Not a bad game though, just less shinier in the videogaming landscape.

Better job doing a clean, unrestricted start. Was almost perfect.

Better:

Graphics, far better character models less bulgey.

Music

Spells, no more 1000 types of thrown fireball

Dungeons I guess they do feel more unique then most of the ones of the same type (ie. all Ayelid ruins where more or less the same, with bits tacked on)

Worse:

Graphics, harvestable plants blend in too much, maybe not really a bad thing but can be irratating when you think you see Jazbay and it's moss again.

Spells, They didn't take the implementation of the design far enough and with so many spells missing over the game effects feel restrictive, When you have 100 destruction and cast flames, you don't feel like a master casting a fire spell but a master casting a novice spell.

Dungeons, they aren't as varied as some make out, burrow=claw=door puzzle= wall = boss dragur, theres a dire lack of care in placement of items, dungeons are overflowing with loot making it all feel "bleh, this again", it loses its value fast.

Music, maybe it's my game or a glitch but it largely feels implemented in a worse way, large gaps of silence, the chant for leveling, never get to here to epic intro in game, never feels like the orchestra is playing for me as I see that huge mountain, bard song choices are limited (not that oblivion had bards but the general implementation of music)

Skills, the difference between 1 and 100 is tiny, thanks to perks skills have become mearly checkpoints to be able to buy perks, no bonus for reaching a rank thanks for perks again.

Adding perks was a worse format of oblivions system period. From the lack of creativity and variety to balance and usefulness, if they wanted to add perks to customise your character they should have done just that.

Quests, more does not mean better, nor is having more an excuse for having the bulk be so shallow. If they wanted unending radiant quests how about when a guard asks if you'd enchant thier weapon you can.

Guild lines, short, no journey, no earning that position, lack of variety and fun that you could have in oblivion (naked tea party will always be better then a black screen for a night I can't remember)

Details, little tie ins thoughtout the game, you do the DB and get to visit your old prison mate again, find out more about him, in this people vanish, people don't care about things they should, or react to something they should (a not signed by them for your head)

Cities, they felt more alive, I feel theres a complete lack of homes, like they could only put in ones for major quest related people, at the same time theres vary few outsiders in any city vistors that come and go, the balance between no of homes and no of npcs seems way off and way too low to begin with. So many homes in the imperial city, many belonging to dead people but in Skyrim it seems to be a tradition to dismantle the buildings when they leave the city walls.

Somebody who tells you his life story for the fifth time you walk past him that day as he has done the last 30 days make me miss mudcrab discussions between npc pretty hard.
Some bandits talk however they talk even if alone something sounds pretty weird most of the time.

Better in Skyrim was definately the dungeons, which were more more unique, bigger and more epic (the dwemer ruins are the most impressive dungeons, I have yet seen).
The leveling of the world seems better and more natural (maybe it's just that things like bandit equipment are not leveled).
I prefere the perk system to the oblivion (and morrowind) leveling with attribute. While it might not be perfect (some perks are useless, and it seems wrong that at lvl62 my character is technically not better at lockpicking than when he started).
The world seems larger and more diverse and has no (ultra generic places like the oblivion planes)

In Oblivion the UI was better and the journal was better (in Morrowind it was much better), I hate the Skyrim journal system, where you are completely handheld, but at the same time often don't know what you are doing, because the entries are so short.

But Skyrim is better and after 97hours at lvl 37 I still want to play a lot, while I grew tired of Oblivion much before that.

What, Bethesda improved the look if the game since 2006? You don't say.......

Oblivion was 2006 so Skyrim should be better graphically in every way and also they know the console hardware much better but for a 2011 game, it's quality is disappointing, especially for the PC it looks like something from 2007.

Good thing in Skyrim:
Environment, both outdoor and indoor, dungeons are amazing.
Graphic, music animations are better.
characters love the Khajiit.
Random encounters are fun,
Smithing and enchanting are good.
Good enemies and good balance.
character development, love the perks,

Major downsides:
Magic system with fewer spell and no spell making.
Npc who tell their one liner every time you pass them get annoying in the city you live in, you start avoiding people.
Quest log, this is pretty hopeless, six word description of an quest is way to little, I can accept it on random go to x and kill y radiant quests, but not on longer story based ones, you loose connection to quests, more so as many are auto accept on contact and you come back to them days later.
GUI, especially dialogue and weapon selection is poor, managed to select the wrong dialogue selection five times in a row as the game would not let me accept the second last with mouse or keyboard and the highlight for selected item is to weak.
And yes it should be possible to sort in chests. Found it was faster to craft a new set of elven boots than find them in the armor chest, why not alphabetic?

Minor downsides,
Alchemy feel a step backward, miss the poisons in Oblivion, the ones in Skyrim is to weak. 100 in damage versus 30* 30 second, however love to find out new effects.
Armor, miss tops and bottoms don't like the high end armors much, luckily you can improve the low end ones a lot.
Quests, feel more bland than Oblivion, yes it might have to do with the poor quest log detaching you from the quest, not talking about radiant quests, they are genial as fillers however this should leave more time making the other ones better.

Hmm... most of Skyrim is a vast improvement but there are three things I really wish were retained.

First thing I miss was being able to assign items/powers to the directional d-pad as that was a much faster and usefull way to access the abilites and equipment I use compared to scrolling through a list.

Second is the agility stat... would of made more sense to preserve that and merge stamina/health

Third is being able to cast with the right hand while using a shield