It's not that it has a bad story or no story, but the story isn't really focus of the game, considering you can complete thousands of side quests then be like, "Uhh... what was I supposed to be doing with the main quest again?"

IMO, Oblivion (like Morrowind) is more about completing goals - it's more of a strategy game in RPG form than it is a pure RPG - your goals are to become the big badazz in the different factions.

Regarding the story, I really enjoy the open-endedness of both Morrowind and Oblivion, and I find it fascinating to pick up on the total world story in bits and pieces through the faction and side quests and random exploring - it feels more like I'm discovering the world (as would be appropriate for an outlander prisoner dumped in the middle of it) rather than having the story of what's going on fed to me, as in most RPGs.

It's more realistic, imho - you wouldn't have a narrator or some random person with a convenient monologue telling you what's going on if you suddenly found yourself in the middle of some fantasy world locked in a struggle for power - you'd have to learn the ropes yourself, and struggle your way through it, choosing your own path to the top.

It's a good and funny game...but not the best one I've seen.
Sometimes it's slow and boring and it has some AI problems...
but I love graphic effects and those beautiful horses!!
Oblivion needed rules like NeverwinterNights (D&D)...

Please don't touch Diablo...it's a great part of the RPG history.

I have it, but I can't play it 'cos it's too shiny and my computer is old :(

I like oblivion. Good graphics. Goodish story. AI aren't that advanced mostly stupid. If you follow them around they do nothing. Other then that..Great game. Much Better then morrowind.

Oblivion was a pretty nice game, but so incredibly booooring. I mean, there were the caves, the ruins and the dungeons and this other world (which was called Oblivion, if I remember that right). Period. Nothing else. You just wander from cave to cave, dungeon to dungeon and so on and so on, without ever seeing something else.

They should've focussed less on the flash graphics and more on a bit diversity. 4 dungeon types (3 after you closed the Oblivion gates) gets boring very, very quick.

And yes, there were many quests, but they were all somehow the same. Go there for the quest, then kill that one or get that item, and go back or somewhere else.

But besides these, I had a good time. Just had zero replay value. I mean, there probably was a lot I haven't seen, yet, but I didn't really felt like going through all the boring dungeons again.

I got a new comp three days ago and since then I've been playing Oblivion. That's great game. :)

EDIT: Especially on maximum difficulty, when rats and dogs can kill you with 1-2 blows.