OMG! Sorry, I'm pretty late to the argument here, but I just had to reply to this ridiculous statement.
Oblivion is like a cut-down Gothic lite for noobs. It's so empty and so devoid of C&C (choices & conseqences) it's not funny.
You must be young, I'm finding more and more it's the newer (younger) people, with little experience with "old-school" real RPG's that make statements like this. I'm guessing the OP is also a noob. Oblivion barely even qualifies as an RPG it's so bad, Gothic 1 & 2 + NotR are everything Oblivion (and FO3 for that matter) should have been.

I am sorry to break your idols, but Gothic's controls are bad, extremely bad. Especially in the first one (never seen an inventory so difficult to use ; even Bard's Tales I inventory was easier to understand). And I find combat dull, IA poor (who among you didn't resort to "I camp from an unreachable place and cover with arrows all the fauna" in Gothic and especially Gothic II with RofT).
Anyway, since I played Mount & Blade, I find all other RPG"s combat system unrealistic and flat (The Witcher's an exception). I dream of seing a game with M&B combat and Arx Fatalis magic.
I am not even speaking of the magic system.
Yet, even though controls, combats and generally spaking gameplay is terrible, Gothic I is still a great game and Gothic II still a good game. For its story (which is far less interesing in Gothic II, but got the "hey, look, it's exactly the same place than Gothic I... but orcs everywhere now" feeling.
As for saying "Oblivion barely even qualifies as an RPG", I call that an elitist comment "my RPGs are purer than yours". Oblivion is a good RPG as well, but it plays very differently and is more heroic fantasy than hard fantasy ( Gothic being the second).

First of all the exploration factor in Oblivion is incredible and the graphics on the highest setting are actually quite breathtaking. That said,...Gothic 2 is also an awesome game and all that stated that it is harder is correct. But I love it in a whole different way then Oblivion and can't stop playing. Now if only I could figure out the lockpicking.

Haha people saying Oblivion is a hard RPG almost brought tears to my eyes. God these little kids would cry if I made them play something like Ultima IV or V where you can get one shotted by a will-o-wisp. xD

Oblivion is fun for what it is. I would probably say its more of an action adventure game not an RPG i can think of one quest in the game which actually influences the game and thats the option one of closing the OB gates before heading into the main gate.
As for difficulty OB is a doddle and can easily be finished at level 1 if you dont rest.enemies at level one whilst your skills are still going up = way to easy gameplay.
The part i love about Gothic is the difficulty. its a cruel world and i start off in rags. something tells me that if i hit that boar with this stick i should get my ass handed to me.
But then i used to enjoyed old school online games where it could take a year or more to hit max level :P