Ach...my main complaints with F3 was due to the fact it was Besthesda. My standards were high from my experiance with Morrowind. I knew they could do better, story/depth-wize. If it had been LucasArts or EA who made this, I'd been much more impressed. So, it's their own fault from making a previous product too good.
Actully, I don't think Todd is like that. He wouldn't of made Morrowind/Oblivion so open if he liked shooters. Nor would he had made Morrowind's combat rather flat if fighting was this thing. I suspect this was more a 'what would prize teenagers from CoD for five minutes' descision.
OK, what I liked...
1) It is in the sprit of F1/2, much more than Oblivion is with Morrowind/Daggerfall.
2) You can get NPC's. Less of that 'one person vs the world' which you get in so many games today.
3) The eyecandy. Hey, it tastes good. It tastes even better when the depth and plot match it, though.
4) The radio. I don't like generic background music in this type of game anyway. You don't have a band following you, do you?
5) Weapon/armour wear and tear. Although on vanilla it is rather too quick for my liking. If they were all that fragile - how did they last that long in the first place?
Oblvion does have some serious issues with stroyline. Morrowind can de disregarded somewhat - Beth themselves said that they wanted a much more eastern feel to it. Daggerfall was more TOTR-inspired, but not as cribbed as Oblivion.
Several books (in game) makes refrences to the Imperial Province being humid and with definate wet/dry seasons. The Imperial City itself is too small - locations mentioned in books (such as building commision offices) and the imperial gardens simply don't exist. In population it is roughly equal to Vivec 'the largest city in the East' (Morrowind) but in services it is very small indeed.
The landscape is too empty. I mean, random travellers going city to city, farms, logging camps etc. There are no Legion garrisons or manned fortresses - I thought there would be at least one, somewhere.
What annoyed me was that they trimmed down the weapon/armour choices. By merging the skills, they made it less interesting, because your guy/gal had less skills and stuff to choose from. It did make it easier to play, but it also removed some of the depth that I enjoyed with Morrowind/Daggerfall.
What pissed me right off, however, was the auto-levelling system in place with enemies. Previously, if you were too weak to win a combat, you could go and raise your level a couple of times, then go back with better odds. No more! Your enemy would have levelled up too, along with their kit. By level 20+, every bandit now sports glass/daedric armour. Where they get it from, I wonder as no shop ever has them for sale. That's a shame too. I like to see the real high-end stuff for sale, right from the start. Gives you something to save up for/aim for.
It was still good enough for me to play all the way to the end - all the storylines. I think I also looted around 85% of the dungeons.