This is a game to play between games. It's immersive but somehow falls short.
Right from the opening the incredible atmosphere and innovative and amusing character creation sucks you in. I felt it was a vast improvement over Oblivion's system in that it was possible to create a character that wasn't utterly butt ugly - although beauty proved again to be elusive. At least it was easy on the eyes, certainly worth the acclaim that it has received to date.
The sheer open-ness of the game is breath taking. The ability to do anything and go anywhere you want from the beginning can be overwhelming, especially considering that several areas are death traps unless properly leveled and equipped.
Like I've said in the deck, its a great game to play while waiting for the next game to come along. There is so much stuff to distract from the main story line, that it is entirely possible to reach the level 20 cap before reaching the end of the story. This is a double edged sword. On one hand you don't need to complete everything to max out your character, the bad news is that my character still felt too much like a work in progress. Had I known I only had 20 levels I would have planned my upgrades much differently. I was expecting another 10-20 levels at least. While I could go back and replay the game with this knowledge in hand but because its just took so long to get to where I stopped I just didn't have it in me to go through all that again.
I may come back to the game later this summer when the number of releases slows to a trickle and I've got time to kill. But most likely not.
Its a fun game but may not be for everyone considering its length and depth.