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Is it to be assumed that each and every Oblivion Gate "Zone" is mapped in a way that makes the central tower/the tower with the stone thing in it reachable? I was in a huge Oblivion zone and it just kept going on but there was never a clear and visible way up to the tower... I had to tcl my way up. I loathe having to do that. I was very thorough, so I cannot imagine I'd have missed any portals or obvious pathways.

Yes, every "zone" is viable to complete, from the pre-assigned gates to the seven randomly chosen planes. Yes, some may be more difficult than others.. Either due to map/dungeon layout, indirect routes, or just cause the actual entrance/route is so easily overlooked.. (Woe the times I have spent looking for a door in a tower when all along it was in front of me)

Oh, and of course players sometimes making things much harder for them purely due to a short sighted objective. Don't believe me? How much easier would it be to just travel around a mountain than try to climb it? Same thing applies, all too often I've been guilty of trying to find shortcuts thru the lava pools >_> ya, sometimes I found extra loot but more often than not.. I got my ass burnt...

I can't remember ever finding an Oblivion Zone that wasn't completable one way or another.

There is at least one (like the Anvil gate I think) that does require finding a specific doorway to progress to the final tower. And these doorways sometimes blend in pretty well with their surroundings and are difficult to spot even if you know where to look for them.

edit: yeah I just had a quick look at my notes: one of the zones has the main tower on top of a rocky hill with the initial path going clockwise all the way around the hill base with no obvious way to head upwards.
If that sounds familiar then...

Yeah, sometimes those cave entrances are hard to find.

I have a vague memory about using the map a lot to find these doorways, because that little icon appears over them - making them easier to spot.

(Or I could be thinking of a completely different game...)

I remember that one. I probly did spend hours trying to find a way up, jumping against the seams of the rocks. In the random zones, there is usually an option between a cave route and overland, and I preferred the latter after dozens of those. So, I may have initially seen the door and passed it off thinking the tower entrance was further up the path.