Kreia mentions on Korriban that compared to the old masters (e.g. Tulak Hord) the current Jedi are mere children playing with toys - and that was 4,000 years before Sidious.
Hence Naga Sadow/Tulak Hord/Freedon Nadd/... > Revan/Exile/Bastila/... > Yoda/Mace Windu/Sidious/...
I am going to try The Secret World when it is out. I'm curious to see this product FunCom spent so much blood & sweat on instead of making TLJ 2 Dreamfall Chapters..
Shivering Isles >> Oblivion. Once I entered the 'mysterious door', I never returned to Cyrodiil.
Heh, Haskill & Sheogorath are the only memorable NPCs in the whole Elder Scrolls IV, which is pretty sad.
Keep looking, then... there are a lot of quests that are quite different from what you describe.
But yes, I'm done with Oblivion myself. I only fire it up if I want to mess around with Morroblivion a bit.
*Well, Shien gives +5 blaster deflection and combined with the Blaster Defense feats you'll rarely get hit by blaster fire.
*How can Kreia dual wield once she loses a hand? Is that a mod?
I usually let Mira dual-wield blasters the entire game - in the end she does more damage than with a double-bladed lightsaber with the best blasters & upgrades. Visas I train as single-bladed Jedi/Dark Jedi & Handmaiden I give a double-bladed lightsaber.
*What Galen Marek achieved is a bit over-the-top, really... or maybe Sidious & Vader just sucked. Both Jedi & Sith were stronger in the past. Compare Naga Sadow or Tulak Hord with Darth Sidious...
I have no idea whether luck influences random encounters. Of all characters I've played, I've only had the alien ship crashing once the first time I played the game and that character only had mediocre luck... I did meet Uncle Leo each time, though.
First time I played the game I promptly ran into a guy called Sam Warrick. Killed him which netted me leather armor + sniper rifle right out of the vault. Haven't seen that guy again in other playthroughs... it's of course possible that those guys get killed by wasteland critters.
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is a Fantasy FPS that use the Source engine and came out in the same year in Oblivion I believe. The combat & levels are great, the story is kind of a follow-up to the one of Heroes of Might & Magic V.
Gothic 3 is a open-world RPG like Oblivion. The game works with several factions one does quests for and there's a reputation system that determines how the factions react to you. I was playing it until a couple of weeks back, but I put it on hold since I got a bit bored with the quests which are all of the same 'fetch/kill' type (even the main quests).
*5 minutes before ending credits roll*
"So, Spectre...Do you want to die?"
- What?
- If that is what it takes, yes...
- Try me, you scum!
- [Charm] You look hot in that jumpsuit.
- [intimidate] Do you?