I wouldn't be surprised if
Skyrim becomes the definitive game of our generation, like
Ocarina of Time defined the 90's.
Like, it's sold over 20 million units (

). When you have that many people have one game as their first real RPG, they expect those qualities to be present in all games.
Skyrim's not without flaws, obviously, but it was so ambitious and large in scale when it was released. It's really not a stretch to say that
Skyrim has changed the landscape of western RPGs.
Almost every big RPG developed after
Skyrim has been influenced by it or compared to it.
Dragon Age: Inquisition owes a lot to
Skyrim, and
The Witcher 3 is directly appealing to the
Skyrim audience in promotional material.
Skyrim has flaws, and it can be overrated at times, but it's done a lot for RPGs and video games in general.
/end
Skyrim stan mode