I never modded it so I never got the 'amusement park' feeling, but I never felt that it was a short ride from A to B. As for your thoughts on the topography and all that - Oblivion was, for me, one of the most boring landscapes ever. Sure, it had hills and whatnot, but I could travel for a very long time and still feel like I was in the same place. It suffered more then FFXIV 1.0 for having long zones where you can travel from one end to the other and have nothing change.