Many fans of The Elder Scrolls series were not fond of Oblivion having a very "generic fantasy" look, despite Morrowind's more alien surroundings and the descriptions of Cyrodiil in previous games. Bethesda's Todd Howard was asked about whether this will change in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in an interview with Edge Magazine and replied:

I think some people, when they go to explore the world, want to be surprised more. I don't know that I'd categorise it as weird per se, but more culturally different. Skyrim has a much more unique sense of culture to it than we did in Oblivion, where one was relatively the same as another, whereas here they're vastly different. If you've seen the trailer, that first city shot, that big stone city is actually an ancient dwarven ruin carved into this mountain. It's one of the main five cities. We wanted Morrowind to feel alien, like you were a stranger in a strange land. Whereas this we want to feel instantly familiar but that it does have it's own unique culture. We kind of walk that line in between the two games, if that makes sense.

What do you think? Are you excited to see more "otherness" in your Elder Scrolls? To be fair, the developers listening to the fans might not always be the best thing.

Source: Edge