I think what I read was actually about oblivion rather than Skyrim, but I'm not sure if that changes your questions or not. I agree that the Skyrim character did feel like a genetic dragonborn. The guild quests especially made it feel that way. (I'm the head wizard, but also chief fighter dude and captain of the thieves guild... What?)

I guess for the role play aspect I prefer games to more narrowly define the main character and tell the story from there rather than leave it up to me to decide who the character becomes. A Plague Tale is a great example of this type of story telling, but of course it isn't at all comparable to an open world game.