been thinking on what keeps me coming back to skyrim rather than oblivion or morrowind, and i think its to do with the compulsion to explore and how you are rewarded for exploring
in morrowind, i never feel like exploring, because there is nothing worth my time in 99% of locations, maybe a dozen drakes total and if you're lucky an ebony weapon that you can sell for a tenth its value, i feel the same about oblivion, there is simply nothing worth my time and the harsh level scaling disencourages exploration due to the sponginess of enemies at higher levels making clearing any dungeon a gigantic time sink
in skyrim, i always feel like exploring, picking a direction and walking, and taking a detour to run a dungeon, i always find something worth my time, a word of a shout, an enchanted item, or simply an item worth a lot of gold such as a staff
skyrim's soundtrack does a lot of heavy lifting to make walking the world feel good, every track is tailored to specific weather and biome, each a unique atmosphere that cant be heard elsewhere, i particually like the trail between dawnstar and windhelm and the forests north-west of falkreath, having the most beautiful music, i feel positive emotions i cannot identify while listening to them