level scaling was atrocious, leveling up in general (especially because you had to be very selective to get enough attribute point which made it a chore to train every level), clunky combat, clunky character models, clunky feel in general. Repetitive environments, very repetitive dungeons, many small bugs, glitches and quirks that removed from immersion and annoyed. Repairing stuff.
Skyrim fixed a lot of these issues. Not perfectly, but they really did address most of them. Leveling is more natural and enjoyable and scaling isn't going to screw you over as badly. Combat is better, new dual wielding and crafting a great addition (and change from repair). Dungeons are more unique, though still rather linear. Still lots of bugs and stuff though :-/
I suppose they can still improve on a lot of things. More crafting, a point to cooking (maybe lose the automatic health regeneration so that the food has a more fitting purpose that isn't topped by potions), more weapon variety (hey, why not spears, polearms, flails, throwing knives and other stuff?), bring back the magic creation ability to make own spells, fix some bugs, exploits and glitches, and so on.
but still the game just feel more fun to play then oblivion, and I think that is really the bottom line.
Not to say I hated oblivion, but skyrim is a much better game.
I do miss the fun exploration aspect that morrowind had though that neither the two following games seemed to get right. Maybe it was just the lack of a levitation spell and the occasional dungeon that was oh so satisfyingly broken because of having it at the right moment, but I miss feeling like I had done something clever like that. You don't get the same feeling abusing a horse to jump up a mountain as you do working back through a dungeon and hitting foes from behind because you played as a flying mage who found a shortcut. skyrim and oblivion just feel too linear in their dungeons I guess..
