Oblivion with guns, of course I'll get it.

I agree with most of this, but I think the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout is a better setting than Oblivion.  More chances for interesting characters, interesting world design, etc.

From what I hear, the characters are improved, dialogue is still "meh" sometimes, but the stories are better apparently.

Yea, got the 360 version reserved and will pick up tomorrow on release.

- The story was very weak and you never felt like you should be hurried by it. In fact I hit level 20 before I ever even got to the first part of the main quest chain after leaving the dungeon.

-The combat system was far from realistic as well, when was the last time I could strafe around someone and hit them in the back 3 times before they turned around?

-You are right, it worked wonders for Deus Ex, except that Deus ex was a FPS more than it was an RPG.

-Wolves are not worse than random battles but they are worse than anything else, put some variety in there ffs.

-The evironment was pretty up until you walked up to it then all that magic was gone.

A couple of those implies you never played the earlier Elder Scrolls. Specifically #3, 4, 5, 6. I'm not saying that you can't hate the game because you haven't played the third. However, most people who despise the game do so because they have played and loved the 3rd Elder Scrolls and are dissapointed at what this game could have been.

My reasons for not liking Oblivion (me having played Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind)

-boring world environment: yea, same as rocketpig. Morrowind's island was a lot more interesting
-dumbing down of everything: They took a lot of spells, armor and weapon types and didn't add much
-fast travel system: Seems cheap and takes away from the immersion just so new age players can be lazy. Better to use normal public transportation system and spells like morrowind.
-less dialogue. Since everything is spoken, NPC's have less to say (budget). You gain something and loose something else.

There are some plus sides to Oblivion
-much better combat, and your arrows always hit if you aim them right.
-well spoken dialogue really adds to the immersion factor
-more original quests (consequentially, more interesting)
-better graphics, of course
-cool oblivion areas

But the thing that breaks the game is the difficulty adjustment system. Why is it fun to lvl up in RPG's? So we can feel powerful and beat up on the enemies that used to be stronger than us. But in Oblivion, If I am at lvl 24, suddenly I am fighting bandits with demonic armor, city guards that could beat the game themselves, and spawn of satan we will pwn you wolves. It just makes you think "wtf" while playing the game and reminds you it is a game because it does not feel real. Also, you can kill a vampire at lvl 3, when you should have to be lvl 20 or more. It just takes away from the immersion when you think "This enemy is strong only because I'm at lvl 21".

I try to like Oblivion. I even liked the Shivering Isles despite running on Oblivions engine. The game kills the fun every time.

note: It took me a while to post this....it looks like a few people (warning: cliche)  beat me to the punch.

OK true, possibly they should have had the player finishing the main story before plunging off on , well anything else. As for the combat, compared to turn baised systems i found it simplistic yet refreshingly it was that that sucked me in. anyway something rocketpig really hated will not be in fallout 3, scaling enemies. The one thing i didn't like about Oblivion

• I can't comment on the story too much because I never got into it.  All I can say is that it did absolutely nothing to compel you to even attempt to finish it and that there is a fail.
• Bland characters - There are characters besides yours!?
• The first person thing wasn't a big deal for me but I didn't really like it either.
• Ever heard the expression two wrong don't make a right?  Just because one game has a shitty thing why should that excuse other games from doing shitty things?
• Just because something is large and beautiful doesn't make it interesting.  Oblvion's envinronments were interesting for about 10 minutes and then you realized it all looked exactly the same and it was just boring.  Huge, yes.  Impressive, yes.  Interesting, no.
• There were fun dungeons?  Could have fooled me.  Weren't most of them random anyways?

twesterm
Odd, do you mean two rights dont make a right? I love deus ex, had it from release and still end up playing through it around once a year (when in those long summer months without a new good game in sight) and enjoy it every time.

I might buy it used, but I doubt it. Oblivion wasn't for me.