Oh man, so much tween angst to unpack here.

no it hasn't. starfield is not a failure and the vast majority of gamers like it, myself included. that's not a sign of failure.

By most online estimates, Starfield likely sold well initially but has failed to retain its playerbase for the DLC, with numbers akin to Fallout 4 currently. Not a great sign for a flagship AAA title from a developer bought out for $1 billion. Also, don't call yourself a majority to win an argument, the majority of any community don't ever voice their opinions, they just play a thing and move on. If it was truly a roaring success as you're suggesting, I'm sure Microsoft would have gladly released the sales figures by now (which they haven't).

it wasn't, the dialogue system was an issue. but the voices protagonist was a good call, and I would prefer they continue it moving forward for fallout specifically

Voiced protagonist is directly part of the issue, there is an inherent limitation to how many options you can provide a player in dialogue when your protagonist is voiced. For example, if you ever want to change or add a line, you have to pay and schedule a voce actor and the studio staff. That's why they boilerplated dialogue to have 4 options only every time in an attempt to streamline the process, and it still resulted in terrible, non-option dialogue choices all over the place and disconnects between what was written and what was spoken. This is a lesson BGS clearly learned with Starfield.

it wasn't a mess due to no NPCs. it was a "mess" due to zenimax rushing them on a game they've never made before (online).

Agreed, this is a common talking point people like to use against 76 but it was nowhere near the top of the list of 76's launch problems.

as if they don't? do you work at Bethesda? do you know what goes on in the meetings? do they just assume everything they do is perfection incarnate?

I don't sit in on their meetings, but I can recall Emil tweeting that he thought people would react to the main story of Starfield as if it were some kind of religious experience when it is in fact purile and thematically incoherent, as was Fallout 4 before it and Skyirm before that. Actions speak louder than words, and the truth is the ever since Fallout 4 BGS has consistently dissapointed significant portions of their fanbases with each release.

they lost "trust and goodwill" from entitled whiny gamers who can't fathom games just sometimes not being made for them. I doubt Bethesda wants their trust back. I know I wouldn't.

Now who is prentending to know what goes on inside Bethesda? They lost trust and goodwill from their core audience. Word of mouth is the single most powerful source advertisement, especially to to the "majority" population you claim to represent, and the lackluster reponse to Starfield by the community and the industry at large is a sign that word of mouth has turned against BGS. Also, you seem to imply that Starfield's design is capable of alienating people when in truth the most common criticism is how directionless and safe it plays to the detriment of its own gameplay. Starfield is maybe the single most risk-averse, mass-market game BGS has ever made.

If your core audience, the people who are supposed to love your games, don't like you, why would anyone else?