I was pretty 'meh' about Oblivion when I played it (though my opinion was changed to an arousing "mmmMMMMmmm!" when I modded that thing up with more testosterone than a shark-wrestling bodybuilder tank-gunner), and in the case of Skyrim, I'm still pretty 'meh'. After playing Oblivion and Fallout 3, Bethesda has earned a reputation of 'meh' in my book. Their games aren't bad, but they're lacking. Oblivion was a very pretty game, it was fun decorating houses with items and clutter picked up in the game world, and it was a pleasant fantasy environment--but the story grew stale once you had to close a dozen Oblivion gates, it was annoying being a warrior and having melee companions who would always run themselves right into your axe blade or whatever, The quests were enjoyable, but the landscape felt very copy/pasted after a few hours...and there were bugs here and there, and NPCs walking around in rooms staring at walls...guards knowing every little thing you did, enemies knowing exactly where you were at any given instant...just, little things that plague the game, breaking immersion every five seconds.
Same with Fallout 3; though it was an improvement in several areas, it had that same Oblivion feel do it, and every time I felt myself getting immersed, something would come along and bugger it up.
So Skyrim looks like Fallout 3: an improvement, but still having that immersion-breaking feel. I don't know what it is yet, but I just know that somewhere in the game, there's gonna be something that draws me out of the experience, whether it's sliding down surfaces too steep to climb, running down a flight of stairs and going flying off into the distance because gravity wants to have nothing to do with me actually walking down the stairs themselves and considers them launching platforms...
But maybe there'll be a mod with camera bob, first-person body and shadow, a climbing-over-ledges ability, and some improvement to movement; less instantaneous momentum, and somewhat more of a 'gathering speed' effect. The changes to conversation look great though--being able to converse in real time will be a welcome addition.
Ooo, hope your physique changes depending on your strength level or whatnot too.