w9496 said:
-want to be a sneaky backstabber? do it
-want to be a one handed warrior? do it
-want to be a two handed beserker? do it
-want to pwn people from afar with bows? do it
-want to use magic to blast people to ash? do it
I'd say Skyrim was incredibly weighted to be played by a melee character.
Mage - Well, the fact almost any Mage guide starts out "Make 100% spell cost reducing gear" points out the obvious issue. You either use that trick, or get drowned by encounters that you lack the mana to handle with (or do inanely silly kiting tricks)
Thief : Play Dishonored (A generally similar game). Now go play a thief in Skyrim. Skyrim rarely (mostly on the thief guild missions) bothers to leave any sort of stealth paths in dungeons, leaving you with a ludicrous suspension of disbelief as to how your skill is working. Assorted pre-scripted detection encounters throw even that out the window. (I tried a thief challenge run upgrading only Stamina, and the results were not pretty when bosses that auto-detected you one-shot kill)
Tangent aside. I'd give it to Fallout. Not as expansive, but its more consistent and cohesive. Its alternate playstyles tend to work better as well, and the fact that some choices exclude other options adds to replayability.