Can it get any better than this?
I'm a vivid admirer of 1st person RPGs from day one with games like Ultima Underworld 1&2, Shadowcaster, Lands of Lore aso. I was never a real fan of 3rd person games like Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Diablo, Dungeon Keeper aso though I played these a lot too and had a lot of fun-filled hours with them.
I really don't understand why other people value 3rd over 1st person for if you play Skyrim on a fast enough computer and large enough monitor you feel like you're actually there which is impossible with a 3rd person view. It's like a movie in which you actually participate and to a certain degree it is a simulation of real life only in an imaginary world of which you're not constantly aware while playing, on the contrary, it's so immersive you almost forget it's not real. That may sound pathetic but that's the strength of TES and ultimately the goal of the developers.
I spent literary 100s of hours exploring TES' landscapes until the whole map is revealed, just out of curiosity. That's what I do in real life too when I'm on holidays: exploring, seeing places, experiencing new cultures and some of that feeling I find in TES and it only gets better with every new installment. The interaction with people is also getting better though there are limitations within a game, the objects have to drag along a lot of data to create the resemblance of a memory in order to react appropriately but the guys at Bethesda are doing a great job at that.
I hope they keep this line up and don't lose themselves in MMO's just because that shoves more money temporarily; that would be a big mistake. They have built a lot of credit from TES lovers that could easily be ruined by sideways like this. According to me TES-lovers are not people that specifically like MMO's, on the contrary. Bethesda could be building TES: VI instead of wasting their time on online versions. But then, maybe they are at that, secretively, or that's just wishful thinking. The same goes for the Fallout series that are almost as good as TES. It's been a while since I heard any rumors about that too. Something that is successful inevitably succumbs under differences of opinion; everyone wanting a bigger piece of the pie etc. So sad really. It may be just me but are there already cracks in the foundation? That would be irreversible.