I played both Oblivion and Fallout 3. Skyrim, from what I've seen and heard, just combined elements from these 2 games into 1 game, added the new dual wielding, then dumbed it down by removing features that older Elder Scrolls games had. OK, that could be a fun game, but is it worth $60 when I could just play an older Bethesda game? With more features?
"I bought it for the modding community."
Oblivion and Morrowind still have active modding communities. Just play those and save $60.
This is the company that introduced the plague of DLC (horse armor, just $2!). I like them less and less with every new release.