irax, purely this game deserves a high rating compared to COD MW3 which is the same shit as the older games/and that game menu is simplistic as hell/shitty outdated lol.
You get used to it.. I always press F5 every now and than to quick save.
Want to change your characters appearance? open up console ~ , and type "show racemenu" or "show race menu" whichever one it was. Though I don't remember if finishing changes will delete your stats (in oblivion, I would just make the changes, and instead of clicking done, id open up console than tab to menu, save, than load up that save, this avoids the stat delete while changing the character).
Wait til the modding community blows up, oblivion is still pretty cool after mods