Why Oblivion Sucks
Part 5 -Leveled Content
Leveled content is another one of those features that Bethesda added to "mainstream" The Elder Scrolls at the expense of gameplay and core Elder Scrolls fans. Leveled content is completely inappropriate for a game in the Elder Scroll Series, it breaks immersion and it turns everything into a giant single-player MMO that instances everything to your level.
1.Leveled content means less risk. No matter where you go, monsters and villains will always be at your characters level. Part of the fun in Morrowind was not knowing how strong or weak enemies would be.
2.Leveled content breaks lore. Everything from the shops to loot and what villains wear is leveled. So once you get a high enough level, everyone and their dog has Daedric armor and Daedric weapons.
3.Leveled content means no incentive to level up. Since everything is at your level already, why bother leveling up? In Morrowind, leveling up gave you access to new areas that had tougher enemies.
4.Leveled content means less unique items. Morrowind and all of it's expansions have hundreds of unique one of a kind artifacts plus many other uniquely placed items. Oblivion has less than 30.
5.Leveled content breaks immersion. If you don't level your character properly, the tougher enemies of the higher levels, the ones wearing Daedric Armor and using Daedric weapons, will run you to the ground. Which means that, instead of focusing on playing your character, you are focusing on your character's stat sheet. The fact that the same crappy character leveling system that was in Morrowind remains in Oblivion doesn't help. (e.g I must grind 5 levels of a skill with strength as the governing attribute so I can get that 5x strength multiplier).
6.Leveled stores are bad. There is no point to shopping around because every store has the same items. And leveled stores also give the impression that stores revolve around your character and that their stock revolves around your character as your characters level determines what is in a stores inventory.
7.Leveled thievery is bad. Every potential robbery target is the same. Manors which are populated by rich people have the same items to steal as a shack or more moderately sized house. What determines the items in the house to rob is, you guessed it, your character's level. If my thief character goes through the trouble of breaking into a manor, I would expect to see riches and valuable items, not the same crap that's in Thoronir's bedroom.