These 'you old farts cannot deal with change' and 'change is good, stop being stuck in the past, the past sucks!' responses that I have seen in multiple threads here are really starting to bother me.
1) change, as a different state certain concepts and entities assume, has the capacity to influence the reality in a negative or positive manner. What you guys talk about all the time is progress or regress - both represent change. Think of mainstream music industry today; it has changed a great deal compared to the 90s and even early 2000. Would you call that change good?
2) speaking of the industry; the 'big companies' (yes, EA) want and need profit above all else. Therefore, they usually use the established, yet still fresh ideas of others to serve as their new revenue that they can milk dry. In the process, the abovementioned fresh ideas are spread and adjusted (changed - refer to point one here) to appeal to the widest possible audience. If this ring any bells, congrats, your brain is working.
3) while the leaps in graphical fidelity are unbelievable, graphics is just a tool through which the game world is presented and for setting the stage for the gameplay. To use an allegory; you meet a girl (a guy if you are a girl) that is wonderfully dressed and physically attractive. Cool! After you get to talk to her, she turns out to be unlikable, dull, and generally not the sharpest tool in the shed. The conversation was awkward and shallow, you ran out of topics after 47 seconds.
From my observations, most developers today value graphics as the most important aspect of their games.
4) older games (which are despised by many, as I have gathered) usually offer simple graphics (yet sometimes hand drawn, which makes it appealing). The reasons for that are: the technology did not allow them to create vibrant, colorful, vast world with dynamic shadows and shaders and whatnot, and the focus was mostly on gameplay and the fun it provides.
5) those older games usually offer surprising depth of the gameplay, which is unfortunately often missing from today's releases. Think Fallout 1 & 2, think Jagged Alliance (hands down the best tactical game ever made), original Xcoms, Heroes of Might and Magic (second and third installments), Realms of Arkania, Betrayal at Krondor etc. Check them. They are not looking pretty, most of the time, but what they offer in terms of gameplay exceeds anything that is done today. To use an allegory; you meet a girl (a guy if you are a girl) that wears old rags and her look isn't really pleasant to the eye. Not good, you think, I should stay away! But somehow, the two of you end up talking, and she turns to be a uncommonly deep, intelligent, funny beyond measure, warm and you could talk to her for eternity and it will never cease being interesting. She has soul.
Unfortunately, the two of you never talk, because you deem her ugly and go to the pretty one instead.
6) we old fats are a bit bitter, simply because DA:O gave us a glimpse of great gameplay that we usually find in those old games of ours. It restored hope. To see the series go the way it went stings a little.
7) Please kids, use your brain cells sometimes. It helps change life for the better.
Peace.
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