Gaming Tradition

I don't know how other people feel on this topic but I am quite saddened by the new generation of RPGs. I'm a huge traditional RPG fan who still finds enjoyment in playing/replaying older RPGs on the original Playstation. Stuff like, Legend of Dragoon, Legend of Legaia, Final Fantasy 7-9 (10 I suppose as well), "Tales" games (Symphonia and the like). The question I find myself asking is where on earth have those kinds of games gone? Have we just transitioned out of the structure that all those games revolved around?

It's not that people wouldn't play them, I mean we've been seeing large amounts of people expressing interest in a FFVII remake and that's a game we've already experienced as a gaming community. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way but I find that we've shortchanged the story in favor of "better" gameplay. We've effectively reduced our idea of an "epic" game to things like Mass Effect or Dragon Age, games that only require around 30 hours to thoroughly complete. Don't get me wrong, I love Mass Effect but it's a completely different type of RPG and we're getting the third installment of the franchise shortly but honestly, I'm somewhat certain that I put more time into a single Final Fantasy game than both ME1 and 2. That saddens me greatly, especially since we haven't seen a good Final Fantasy game since 9/10 (My Opinion). I feel like we're losing touch with a genre of games that put out some of the most influential titles of their times.

The gaming industry is very preoccupied with innovation and I often find myself enjoying their new and fancy additions to their games but I'd trade every nuance in the book in exchange for a story that really floored me. I'm not attracted to games by all their bells and whistles or their super awesome gameplay (sometimes), I just want a lengthy game that doesn't try to be anything but itself. The Elder Scrolls games are a great example of an "epic" that continued to evolve over the years and is now widely regarded as one of, if not the best, game of 2011. Why have no other games come through in such a big way? Nobody wants turn based combat anymore, I kinda get that but at the same time it was a model that worked for people for a very long time and honestly, it wasn't a big part of the game, the story was the main focus.

I suppose if I were to summarize this I would say that my wish would be for a game to come out that, while it may not have the best gameplay, has a phenomenal story and allowed me to really dig into it for much longer than most current generation games allow. I've logged over 100 hours into several games, Skyrim being the newest addition to that list. Things like Legaia, Dragoon, FFVII, Persona 3/4. They all have their flaws but there was something that kept me coming back.