Did you like Myst? That was the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
Title screen video gives a vague story. Game starts. No dialog. No text. Just ... clicking and discovering the rest of the story.
Title screen video gives a vague story. Game starts. No dialog. No text. Just ... clicking and discovering the rest of the story.
well, now you're just making things up
But also yes, I did enjoy Myst. It's also what I enjoyed about Minecraft when it first came out. You just had to figure your shit out or get killed by zombies.
Now if you're paying full price for a game you've at least had the ability to read reviews and you know it's going to be half price in a year but you want it now. You also have tens of thousands of other games to pick from in basically any genre you want, accessible more or less on demand.
Now, just click and buy. Done. No fun, no excitement. And the games are all focused on achievements and completion of inane fetch quests.
High quality? Hmmmm.
Also don't rose-colored-glasses older games either, there was a lot of absolute trash. Bargain bins existed for a reason. That said just because a game is bad doesn't mean it isn't still fun in some way, even if for its brokenness. There's an entire genre of games these days where the basic principle is "if you find a bug, but it's funny, it's now a feature".
This was true back then too. Computer Gaming World dates back to 81. Also the software stores that I (i.e., my parents) shopped at back then discounted older titles. This is why I got to play through the Castle of Dr. Brain after the Island of Dr. Brain was released.