Off the top:
- You HAD to keep track of what happened. This was critical because remembering who NPCs were, and what they did, was vital in finding out who might know more on a given topic. Without that, you couldn't progress the game. This is already a layer of depth much beyond skyrim's quest giving polygons.
- You also had to figure out who might have new keywords unlocked based on the new information you found. Everything inter related, adding to your immersion.
- NPCs had to be much better characterized because of this. You had to remember their name somehow.
- There was no GPS tracker, hell, in serpent isle you had an inaccurate map, you needed to actually explore shit.
- Puzzles weren't just based on putting the right claw in the right spot
- The combat was tolerable, you could just equip your party and forget about it. Skyrim's shitty combat forces you to actually pay attention to it, because if it wasn't like that, you'd realize the game offered little.
(As an aside, I'm also convinced that there's less combat in the Black Gate than in Torment.... I love PS:T but it had A LOT of shitty fights, at least U7 knew it was lacking and had to pace itself)
- Magic was amazing, spells became absolutely insane once you got to 5th/6th circle.
- The interactivity didn't simply consist in putting a bucket on an NPC's head. There were quests based on it. (the love trial with the golem in the silver seed expansion is one of the best examples)
- Lots of good writing for the story fags.
- A few interesting dungeons to make up for the shitty combat
- You could change nappies! Seriously!
There's a lot more. The design philosophy is completely different. U7's interactivity was only a side effect of its care and attention to detail. It was about exploration and discovery, making sense of a world that is distantly familiar, yet, ever changing. It was also a game that used everything it had in order to convey its complex themes.
Let's look at how you come to acquire a spell book in Serpent Isle. You spend nearly half of the game without spells, a good chunk of which is being spent on finding a way to convince the wizard elite to allow you one. During that segment, there are many revelations about the strange land you're exploring and how the things you hold dear are considered blasphemous. Intrigues are being set up, characters introduced,..
Now compare that to skyrim or oblivion's mage guild... There's a serious lack of coherence. None of them have anything to say about anything. You could also compare any bit of U7 to Skyrim's main quest, guilds or side content and come up with the same answer.
The quests in Skyrim are just experiences, mediocre slices of plainness, intersected with a few hits of dopamine to keep you engaged.
The interactivity in U7's not a cheap marketing gimmick inherited by older titles.
U7's interactivity is part of an entirely different way to create games/RPGs. Every single thing in the game is made with the objective of creating a world for the player to explore a wide array of themes with. Many subjects are explored by the series, there's a distinct wish to innovate, for the player to take something away from their experience.
Skyrim's interactivity on the other hand does not serve any purpose, nor is it supported by any relevant gameplay, it is more of a toy to keep the ADD hamster occupied.
