What Bethesda has essentially done is eliminate redundancy. What you are asking for is that they add it back in and remove the things that enabled them to eliminate it in the first place. Well, they aren't going to do that. But, I do agree that sometimes there isn't a problem with redundancy and, in some cases, it can actually help (in this case, to aid in immersion for those who can't manage to get there without it). I can understand why they stripped it down (with the maps, markers, compass, fast travel, etc.), and I can also understand the counter argument. But, I actually like the game as is, personally.

the player says next to nothing now, as it always has been. atleast you could choose in Morrowind, in Skyrim nearly every choice gets one response >_>

The fact is Niamh can navigate round perfectly well with no quest markers at all, barring a fairly shoddily - (by her creator) - placed custom marker, without using the map and ONLY using advice given by NPCs. The information is there, you just have to listen, and maybe write it down.
It's kind of IRL, if you think about it.
I really - and I'm sorry all, but I just don't - see what the problem is.

I will admit to being disappointed to the lack of FO3 dialogue options. Stuff where my smithing prowess allows me entree to discuss this or that quest with, say, Balimund. Closing off the fire salts quest for Balimund till you are a 60 smith would have been nice. I also thought that maybe high speechcraft would allow us the player to get more insight on this or that character/quest. There are a few persuade/intimidate options, but not often enough to be interesting.

A lot of the dialogue seems to be specifically to get you doing quests, or pointing you to what 'they' consider to be interesting, and goes hand in hand with the bare bones approach to the journal. Two things that would be nice for the dlc : more chances to get some lore and stories from conversations rather than just books, and a few things that play out differently if you invest in speechcraft.
As for directions, I still maintain they could quite happily be confined to the journal, no need for hybrid text/speech or extra voice over work.

The player dialogue is very straight forward, and does not allow much variation. It honestly feels like they wrote our character to sound exactly like the default Nord dragonborn from all the previews.

It didn't for me. It just annoyed me.

indeed.

if fonv is possible, why is skyrim so damned shallow? I don't think there were quite so many factions in FONV as MW even, but even so Obsidian managed to make PC decisions matter.

^ This.

A lot of what some people apparently loved in the 80s/90s RPGs is the stuff I found annoying ... being the type who just wants to get on with the game.

Different strokes and different things sought from the game, I guess..

Priorities, really.
For one thing, Obsidian actually has writers. A whole team of them. To my knowledge, Skyrim's lead writer is a journalist/programmer, as in his writing experience is more factual rather than creative and ideally he's actually more of a designer than a writer. Another thing is they fully believe in the old school RPG genre. Josh Sawyer, the project director for New Vegas, recently said on his personal formspring that he got interested in firearms BECAUSE of New Vegas. He researched them so he could use the research to assign each gun realistic-yet-balanced damage in the game. Obsidian actively limits the characters and has you choose what they can and can't do and ATTEMPTS to balance them all.
Bethesda definitely focuses a lot more on world design, not so much on story or NPC interaction. Furthermore, Bethesda believes the player should have unlimited freedom. This goes against the old school RPG genre completely, because they set up speech or lockpicking to be based on a chance of a minigame. Lockpicking in New Vegas REQUIRES a skill level, THEN the minigame. Lockpicking in Skyrim, anyone can do. Speech checks in New Vegas REQUIRES a certain level of speech, whereas in Skyrim it's fully chance-based. The result is that technically, ANYONE can do anything in Skyrim, the limitations being fully imaginary.
The devs then spend 5 years making rocks extra shiny whereas Obsidian is more interested in simple balance, storylines and quests that tie it all together.

This is all true and we have all heard this a thousand times... get over it. There is nothing you can do now but wait for TES VI and hope they improve alot of things. Skyrim is a fantastic game and I think people focus more on the negatives than the positives.

but the brought back nudity comments are hilarious!

"Skyrim's dialogue options are a slap in the face to TES fans, shame on you."

Umm... Im a TES fan and I don't have a problem with the dialogue.

So where does that put me in your generalized statement?

That would make you "not" a TES fan. Clearly.
Just like me, I guess.

And me, apparently.

Go away.

OP is 100% correct. The first few times I had someone give me a fetch quest, with no directions or information whatsoever, I figured it was just the questgiver ... surely there was more to the game than simply brainlessly running at a floating arrow. Aha! I though ... I can turn the floating arrow and GPS/motion tracker off ... but, then Bethesda's flaccid dialogue really comes to the forefront. So few actual details are presented, that it's nearly impossible to play the game without following quest markers around (unless you know the game world by heart.)

It's just weak. Call it what you will - tight deadline, "streamlining" (aka dumbing-down) - in the end it's just sad.

This is one thing I'll never understand. How specifically do they implement this lack of 'focus' in the writing department. They love beautiful open worlds and they're good at it, so far so good. But why should this exclude good quality writing and rich dialogue options and npc portrayal I don't get it. Does Todd (and the suits) tell the writers "hey guys, we appreciate your skills and all, but don't focus too much on writing compelling stories because we're known for the open world factor and we don't want the writing to take the spotlight, thank you". Or maybe the writers are also responsible for other tasks like programming and animations so they have to prioritize?

Morrowind does not have "amazing" dialogue.

Skyrim has no less "choice" than Morrowind, in fact, it has more choice in questlines than Morrowind did.

In Morrowind, can I join the 6th House? No?

At least Skyrim gives me the option to side with the Blades or the Greybeards.

This thread is just full of fail.

Their writers are hit or miss, Shivering Isles was great, Lachance was great, most likely the same writers. They even get awards for the writing.

There is plenty of lore to get from conversation from NPC's.

This notion that there is no meaningful dialogue, and that lore is only found in books and not through conversation, is absolutely, 100% false. It is obvious that people are [censored]ing for the sole sake of [censored]ing and have absolutely no clue what they are talking about when threads like this pop up.

This post is full of terrible logic.

And I would much rather have the freedom to attempt whatever I want to do with the character, and not have the developers make games in the "old school" RPG mentality to hold my hand and tell me what I can and cannot do, because I decided I wanted to play a character that was outside of their vision of what I should play.

Bethesda > Obsidian

No, in the end it's just wrong.

As in, factually incorrect.

Actually play Skyrim before you make comments that have no basis in reality.

Well, u c, its cuz BERTHERSDA is DURMIN DUWN da game fer CAZUALS! MERRERWIND wuz da best11!

Jumping in and out of a lot of threads so excuse me if I already mentioned this in this one, but to my knowledge, the original writers of Elder Scrolls lore are basically all gone now with not a single one remaining in Bethesda. On the other hand, the current lead writer is a programmer/journalist, meaning his writing style is more fact-focused and not so much creative.
You're right though, why prioritize. My BEST guess is that since the Dark Brotherhood of Oblivion, that journalist/programmer has written for them. The DB was well-received and Fallout 3 also got a pass, so probably the company saw it as an opportunity to double-down on jobs and save money. So I'd honestly bet that the current "writers" are actually primarily designers and programmers.