Actually most people seem to play those games in third person, while The first person perspective is one of the things I totally enjoy in these games. I usually play my way through the main quest and then start working on all those side quests which is when both oblivion and skyrim really shine. There is so much to find and see and so many different shorter and longer stories.
I also really enjoyed the crazy world of oblivions shivering isles addon as well as the feeling of seeing the updated morrowind architectures in skyrims dragonborn addon, which isn't perfect but added some pretty cool new settings and quests.
I btw didn't enjoy oblivion for quite some time until I just played it for a couple of days nearly nonstop exploring different guilds and quests and everything.

As you error, I too do enjoy linear games with a strong story usually the most, which is why my absolute favorite games are heavy rain, Fahrenheit and penumbra, but Lately I also liked far cry 3 a lot, just focussing on the story.

Count me into that group. It is pretty cool to customize your character and see it running around in such a big world. You also have a better sense how you relate to space and you can see the wolves coming before they bite you

I see your point, but since neither game has a proper hitbox system, it is pretty useless to shoot a magic ball (or an arrow) to the head, stomach or.. to the knee

I think that is why Fallout 3 was so outstanding, even more than the Elder Scrolls games: it combined both worlds (3rd person and 1st person) very well by letting the player decide if he/she wants to shoot/fight in realtime or with V.A.T.S. --- I played it on the PS3 and it was a blast

I did a few steps in Oblivion. And the possibility to ride horses are great.

But I prefered Gothic. Even Gothic 3 was a bit buggy. I like a dirty world