Good points Dhruin; I agree. There's not much variety in how to solve any of the quests!!
I disagree - I thought there was more variety than in most other games, g3 and nwn2 included. I thought the 'murder the dinner guests' type quests were fantastic. There were plenty of investigation and evidence gathering ones which weren't just a case of fighting your way through somewhere and getting an item, you have to go and follow people unseen etc.
I agree that there wasn't much
world-wide reaction to your actions except as they applied to the main quest, however the RAI did provide good
local reaction to completion of local quests. I don't know about other critics, but when
I say I enjoy roleplaying in Oblivion, I mean I really enjoy taking the role and living the life of an imaginary character, and I feel I have the most freedom to do that in Oblivion - certainly more than NWN2 and still more than G3 in several aspects.
So yeah, ignore the main plot stuff, I think that was a bit naff, but on the microscale it was much better. Solely IMO of course. But every Elderscolls game has been a bit like that, just as every Gothic game has had such reliance on combat, or every Bioware/IE/OE game has had such reliance on fed-ex. None of them are perfect, but all are very enjoyable and I don't feel the need to try and find fault with them.