what is the best action game u have ever played?

I loved Oblivion, and can't really say that either one is better, both games are great, but there's one thing on my mind when comparing those two:

dragons > oblivion gates :)

Thanks, guys. I'm sold. I'll try to test out Oblivion.

^ Agreed.

The most impressive aspect about Skyrim (and in retrospect it's downfall) is the vast landscape, It's by no stretch of the imagination a massive game, but all it brought was a wasted amount of resources that should've gone into Characters, Quests, Lore and RPG elements and fundamental engine tweaks. I've heard Skyrim being summarized as "It's about the size of an ocean, but with the depth of a puddle" and I agree completely with that statement, Completing quests barely alters the world in any shape or form, the most noteworthy in this matter; (SPOILER; The end-game where you kill the big bad Alduin, and upon return the game treats you as if nothing has happened/SPOILER), Quests consists of generic cave fetching routines familiar to that of a MMO, there are a few interesting quests here and there but they're hopelessly outnumbered by filler quests , The lore barely fleshes out during the course of the game and just exists upon the already established lore. If you compare the amount of new established lore it measures about 1/4 of that of TES: Morrowind.
Most of the RPG elements where dumbed down and the user-interface was clearly designed for consoles, scroll-lists for inventory management, really? Game also severely lacks varied enemy types and the A.I. is dumbfoundedly dull (previous games suffers from this too), they also removed Crossbows, Spears from the arsenal, Lack of voice actors, and three-dimensional characters. Granted lack of voice actors has been a consistent problem in the Elder Scrolls series (Oblivion I'm looking at you). Skyrim introduced some new neat functions and scrapped that awfully dated "Gamebyro" engine.. for another in-house engine based.. on the same code (this engine can't handle ladders either) ... for every step forward, they took two steps back. Perhaps it was a business decision, to try to appeal to the larger masses by casualizing the experience, RPG games, especially older titles had steep learning curves and mastering those took great amount of patience and dedication (which undoubtedly put off alot of people) but the pay-off was it added so many layers of complexity and depth that you truly became immersed in the experience.

Let's have a look at the equipment management;
In Skyrim a fully equipped character is wearing a total of 6 items/EQ (Chest, Arms, Feet, Shield/Sword, Necklace, Ring.
In Morrowind a fully equipped character is wearing a total of 9 items/EQ.
Not only is Skyrim's equipment managment inferior to it's predecessors, the armor peices are aestheticly speaking less appealing, especially when combined with different sets.
Combat is more fluid and more visceral granted, it's the best in the series, but it's as the poster above wrote, consists of a simple formula "hack+slash.", again lacking in any depth, previous games unfortunately suffers more or less of the same fate. Shouts are a nice welcome!
Two other negative points off the top of my head would be, removal of stats distribution, and level scaling.

Skyrim is to RPG's what Call of Duty is to shooters. --A step backward. It's a blockbuster movie with glorified death cams, and fancy set pieces.

If I'd have to categorize the TES games I'd place them in this order; Morrowind > Daggerfall > Oblivion > Skyrim > Arena.

The games has become alarmingly streamlined to the point I fear the next TES game will consists of two buttons, forward and attack.
IMO:
Make the next game smaller, focus on what made the previous games so great, the amount of detail in lore, local culture and political intrigue, give the player more freedom, allow more flexible inventory system and more customization, skip the filler quests and focus on a smaller, living, breathing game world with personal quests and noticeable changes in the culture and world based on your decisions, And transfer all the improvements made in Skyrim and perhaps extend them, the combat, smooth animations, crafting, dialogue system, and the graphical fidelity.

--Of course these are my personal opinions since it's a very subjective matter, If you don't agree that's perfectly fine, I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, just giving my 2 cents.