I got excited and then I saw the new art style. I'm afraid I prefer the original art style - glorious isometric loveliness. The new one would be fine if the old one wasn't so gorgeous.
I've been finishing off Assassin's Creed: Odyssey on my Xbox One X. I mostly enjoyed it but many of the RPG mechanics were quite tiresome. I hear Valhalla is even longer, which doesn't bode well. Odyssey was already hitting the upper limit for me and the mechanics were starting to grow stale.
Still, the world was fairly pretty and it had a surprising amount of comedy in it. The fighting mechanics were mostly fun, although the lack of hidden blades and stupid auto-leveling content rather worked against the demi-god power fantasy.
I should probably get my Steam Deck RMA'd so I can play something else, but that requires more mental effort than I can handle right now.
As someone from Britain, I never got the educational vibe. I mostly got "is this a reference to something?" as various characters showed up. My knowledge of American history starts in the 1920s, mostly.
If we reword the question as "Is Elder Scrolls 6 doomed to be a mediocre experience?" then my money would be on "yes". Bethesda generally seem to aim to make games just as good as they need to be to make money. Capitalism over creative expression.
If the game is good enough to get people to buy it and consider buying the next one, that's all the effort it's worth putting in (as far as publishers are concerned). It's not a new approach, they've just had a lot more practice at it than game developers/publishers had in the '90s.
Temper your expectations as unless you're willing to buy a few million copies yourself, they can't justify the cost of caring what you think.
...and no, I do not approve of this system one jot. It's gross and antithetical to creativity. I'm glad we have a lot more independent developers who aren't as beholden to neoliberal capitalism these days.
I found it very relaxing and enjoyable. Excellent escapism. I don't particularly care for the RPG mechanics but I put up with them for the rest of the experience.