I was mildly annoyed when I played Oblivion for the first time and learned that the parts of Tamriel other than Vvardenfell have generic woodland and fantasy creatures instead of the acid trip fever dream shit they came up with for Morrowind.
I was also pissed off when I found out they removed levitation.
Oblivion was developed during mid 2000s during/after LOTR mania. I loved the art direction but it was definitely chosen for mass market appeal over anything else