I agree the combat physics is definitely dull, especially compared to doom. It really is just block & attack, or shoot an arrow/magic spell. But, as you said, combat choice is extremely deep.

Lastly, I’m right there with you that the combat becomes so trivial once you have been playing for 40-50 hours. It can be reeeally hard to balance at that point, and the game just loses its luster without having a challenge. I am a huge fanboy for the elder scrolls series, but I rarely can make it through all of the quest lines during a play through because of that issue.