While I agree that the magic is lame, some conjuration spells, or summoning weapons for you is kinda fun. You can also lay traps (=runes), summon other creatures, raise dead etc. Ofcourse this is nowhere near D&D, but if you mix the occasional magic with some archery or one/twohanded fighting it can be fun on high difficulties. The one thing that still leaves a sour taste in my mouth is the blandness, or rather, everything is the fucking same in Skyrim. NPC dont have personalities, every dungeon is the same and so on. If not for this, the game could've been a lot better.
These days I start it up each odd day or so, spend an hour or two fighting a bit, try out some mod or so, then I won't touch it again for some days, rinse and repeat. If you approach the game like that it's ok IMO.