i played a whole bunch of this last year and earlier this year, primarily with the intention of finally trying the shivering isles dlc... and then failing to quite get there. at present i'm just a few levels short of the requirement to enter it, but i figure i'll pick this up again at some point and get sucked in once more.

anyway, i think that oblivion is a fine rpg with some careful modding, given what's available these days. first and foremost, get rid of those splotchy potato faces. throw in a nice water mod, better interior lighting, protective armor for women, perhaps some northern lights for bruma (since it borders skyrim), and louder nirnroots because i just love the sound they make and they're already hard enough to find... and, well, yeah, plenty of issues remain, but even just that makes it considerably better than the game was out of the box in 2006. really, its most glaring issue is the radiant ai system, which produces the most surreally stupid, awkward, often goofy as hell interactions between npcs. give me the grumbles and sighs of morrowind over that nonsense any day. there are other problems, like the level scaling eventually leading to basic thieves wearing full glass armor—though there are mods to prevent this (and overhaul the leveling system entirely) as well. and, yes, the oblivion gates do become tedious, though they're also worth it if you just rush through and savescum before leaving to get the enchantments you want. personally, i like stacking strength so i can carry tons of shit and haul ass.

what i really love about oblivion is the quests. many of them are quite good, and far more involving than just fast-traveling somewhere to find an item or kill someone. they can be even more fun to play through than many of morrowind's quests, even when the writing isn't quite as interesting (really just because cyrodiil itself is just so much blander than vvardenfell). the thieves' guild is a must... and, well, the dark brotherhood questline is sick as hell. and i mean sick as hell. shit's downright fucked and disturbing! the wonderful thing about this, i feel, is the complete dissonance it creates when you also partake in the main quest. you're the ultimate interloper, charged with an imperial task of the utmost importance by the emperor himself, who claims to have seen you in his dreams just before his demise... and you're an opportunist with a thirst for blood and subterfuge. i struggle to think of any other rpg with such freedom to play both sides at once. i mean, morrowind is subtler about it, but here it's fucking wild that you're getting away with such exploitation. absolute chaos god shenanigans, and you're just some asshole who happened to be in the wrong prison cell. it rules.