Well I'm not a game critic,
@guipit, so I don't really care if on paper, he's marginally better written. In game, he's a little shit. That's all I care about really.
The only reason I praise him for becoming a grey warden is because he finally gets off my sack, and it was thanks to me saving his life of course. Your welcome.
But him becoming a templar when his brother is a mage and his dead sister was too... kinda fucked up. Little shit. Though to give him credit, he does turn over in the end. Like all of the rest do.
EDIT:
As for art direction, The elder scrolls will always be my favorite. The Witcher is great and all, and while I do appreciate realism, I also appreciate creativity as well. The elder scrolls violates a good deal of realism rules, like some of their swords being impractical or what have you, but they don't go super wild with it like others do. They follow rule of cool sometimes but the lower level stuff looks more sensible and still unique. They have a good balance.
And they have a more sensible approach to creatures than other games do as well. Like where Dark Souls gets really exotic with the monsters, Skyrim's look more toned down and believable. I prefer that.
And of course, there's the land and environment itself. Oblivion's was rather bland, but Morrowind and Skyrim's were much better.