I guarantee the guards were more memorable to players after Paul Ganus said some weird shit with a German accent into a microphone instead of players hearing 800,000 unremarkable lines of smalltalk and generic backstories.

I'd argue people still like Skyrim because it's finite and limited.

The map has borders which means players can navigate and learn it.

The NPCs have janky prewritten dialogue which become familiar and even memes.

Modders have a finite platform to build on which allows them to exercise creatively

Totoro 5e is a hilarious concept. Well, not even really a concept, it's 2 existing things smushed together, like a Bluey first person shooter.