Sure, there are dissenters. The proud few who played Morrowind, the Elder Scrolls game that preceded Oblivion, and actually liked the older game more. For those few, there is no question of which is the better game. It's glaringly obvious. And since I am one of them, I'm going to explain to you now why Morrowind is better than Oblivion, and why Skyrim probably won't be worth your time.
Even before you start comparing it to its predecessor, you've got to realize that Oblivion comes with some seriously fatal flaws. Most glaring is the leveling system: when you're level one, every enemy in the game is level one as well. When you're level 20, enemies are level 20, and so on. Furthermore, it's impossible to find powerful weapons and armor until you reach a high enough level, no matter how hard you search, and once you do reach that level, half the enemies you encounter will be outfitted in the best equipment available.
In Oblivion, you will never be more or less powerful than the world around you. It doesn't leave you feeling very special.
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