After playing for a while I decided to try red dead 2 and can say that that game is so, so much better than skyrim imho.
But that's the game for interesting lore and world style. Skyrim is mostly a medieval world all over. Morrowind has places like:
Balmora, which looks more or less normal, but is already definitely something else, what with the giant insects used for transport: https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/es/wiki/Balmora?file=Balmora...
Vivec, made of huge, identical buildings: https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/es/wiki/Vivec_(ciudad)_(Morr...
Sadrith Mora, where wizards grow giant mushrooms to live in: https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/es/wiki/Distrito_Telvanni?fi...
Morrowind is the last game that gives the clear feeling of that it's happening in its own universe with its own weird culture.
And the main plot, which starts quite standard but by the end you're not sure if you're being fooled or not.
It's best played under OpenMW, and maybe a few mods to fix some of the rough edges.
What I think people usually like about it is the mix - magical world, graphics, decently weighty combat, big monsters, people to talk to or murder or steal from etc. It doesn't excel at any one of these, but there is also nothing else outside the series offering the same combination. Perhaps RDR2 does improve on every aspect, but the massive difference in setting will still mean that both have a place - especially for this type of exploration game.
> People will say, ah yes but the story, the lore! But if I wanted that I'd read a book.
That story and lore in the video game are exactly the reason I play video games i.e. video game can easily transport you into a world which you can see/hear/play-in instead of only imagining it in your mind. Books can never come anywhere close to that because of obvious restrictions of the medium and that was the reason, many (including me) were instantly captivated by the world of Skyrim. They successfully created a world full of atmosphere and lore along with the freedom of exploration and managed to do it excellently even compared to most of the games released now (and the thing is I also played Skyrim late in 2019, yet it is probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite game of all time).
It's unfortunate that you didn't like it, so have fun with RDR2 (which is an excellent game with arguably the best storyline and characters in any video game till date).
I did this with Oblivion, glad I did cuz I love that game
Skyrim is better in action gameplay, though it is still extremely simplistic and samey compared to BG 2. It's still much better in terms of feel and than Oblivion. But in terms of quests, Skyrim is much worse, with virtually all quests being simple "clear this cave of people who have wronged me", though there are a handful of exceptions.