I think the whole problem is that this site (and possibly others) have a very fixed percerption of what an rpg is or isn't. And to this site (and possibly others) Oblivion isn't an rpg simply because it doesn't adhere to a set of strict rules, there isn't any micromanagement (or much) going on. And the game let's you play as you choose.
And the roleplaying you do is done in your head, which means that you need to imagine that you're the player character running around Cyrodiil shooting everything, doing quests etc.
I also think that this site (and possibly other's) don't see Oblivion as an rpg, because it doesn't have a set story that the player must follow. The player can choose to do the main story or not etc. etc.
And this goes straight to the definition of an rpg:
Personally, I would say there are to types of rpgs:
There's the D&D type rpgs like NWN2 which has heavily focus on character interaction, story, dialoues, and choice & consequences. (this could be called a game, since it has set rules you need to follow). And then there's the (free-form) rpgs, like Oblivion, where the player is set free to do whatever he or she chooses to do with very little restrictions on what the player (or the player's character can do in say Oblivion). This sort of game should actually be labeled 'play', since play-time is
defined by you making up the rules etc. as you go along and being more free-form in its core.
I also think (sometimes at least) that there a bit of nostalgia going here on the codex, and that we all, even I, want games to be the same as they once were, just like the games we played in 1988 or 1998 or even 2003.
Personally, I don't understand why Oblivion is such a great sales hit...I mean, it is a good game (at least to me), but I don't think it did deserve to get
review scores like 96% or 98% or 9.5 or 9.2 and all these scores. It is not THAT great - after all.
One of my main critiques of the game, Oblivion, is that you have all these gates (from hell) opening up here. And the only thing people seem to care about is that they saw mudcrabs the other day(s).
--- good grief --- as someone from Peanuts would say.
As for the much hyped Radiant AI, Bethesda needed to done this down a notch or two, since it turned out that too mamy quest were broken this way and people, npcs, really could get killed, leaving the player left behind without a clue what to do.
As I understand many other games, including rpgs, deals with this happening i a way so that there always are backup quest givers?? - sadly Bethsoft decided to spent on time on hearing the grass grow literally than they did on this part of the game
.
The game looks nice,yes, it does. But to me, it does look a bit to glossy and polished. It is difficult to explain but it is like the commercials of women where you know they have been airbrushed to get the pictures of the women to look better than the women REALLY do. For me the glossyness of the graphics DO mean that it takes away some of the realims or connectedness (if that's a word?) with the game. I feel myself distanced from the world of Cyrdodiil, not immersed, like the potential meaning was and is, I believe.