Yeah, I enjoyed Oblivion for the sidequests, forgot all about the main quest. I remember the pattern to doing oblivion gates was simple.
1) Cast invisibility spell
2) Run all the way to the sigil stone
Yeah, they were tedious and boring.
Edit: @Pat, yeah man, I've had back stories for both my characters. One was a true Nord bastard who's father was supposed to be a great warrior but he never knew him, who fought with Ulfric. Then after joining the Stormcloaks he became disillusioned with the war and the Nord ideals and fell out of love with Skyrim, siding with Parthunax and the dragons :P
My other character, R'Skarr Fireclaw, was a clan leader back in Elswyr until he had to flee when his tribe turned against him. He lives with the deep shame of being a coward and treats that with dubious and morally suspect behaviour :P
I'm having a lot of fun with the role playing stuff in this game and i'm not gonna lie, the fact that I've been reading a lot of George R. R. Martin probably has a lot to do with that.