I first want to say that, although I agree with most things you say on the forums, DArtagnan, I really disagree with much of what you have said in this thread, and find it hard to respect how you have said most of it.
Ultimately, there is no accounting for taste or preferences. On the topic of voiced dialogue versus text, some people are going to like one and some the other. I far prefer text. I find that it has many advantages over voiced dialogue, not the least of which are that:
- Bad voice acting is very immersion breaking. Improper intonation—because the voice actor read the lines out of context—takes me out of the game.
- I can read much more quickly than having to listen to someone "get through his lines".
- I can reread certain sections over, especially if there is a dialogue history.
- I can play the game without sound (when putting on headphones is a bother) and understand everything.
- There is generally more dialogue because it costs less to produce than voiced dialogue. Conversations can be more in-depth, player characters can have more to say, etc.
User interfaces have come a long way, and are one of the only developments that I truly appreciate about modern games. I tried to play Wizardry 6 the other day and it was, to put it lightly, infuriating. Having the names of everything abbreviated because there is not enough space for the text, having no maps, having such a massve HUD and small game screen, having no keyboard controls for anything (having to click to do ANYTHING) is incredibly time-consuming and RSI-inducing, etc. I am glad that games have evolved in this respect.
However, they have devolved in many other important ways due to the fact that developers have decided to focus on different areas due, in part, to an erroneously-perceived change in preference among gamers. Gamers have not changed. They do not have shorter attention spans. It only appears this way because they are only provided games that require short attention spans. Everything has to be action-packed now - there have to be lights, there has to be flash, there has to be noise. Whenever you push a button, something awesome had better happen. Interactivity with the environment, emotional connection to characters, self-edification through philosophical contemplation, a sense of accomplishment the mastering of complex game systems and just sheer game difficulty, gaining perspective on how our world works, and other important elements of the RPG genre are being seen with increasingly less frequency.
There have certainly been notable exceptions in recent years: The Witcher had a well told story, memorable characters, choices and consequences, character development, exploration (although quite "lite" in this department) and consequently replayability, all of which I consider mandatory for a good RPG. I personally prefer a greater ability to devise and utilize tactics in combat, but the combat was sufficiently enjoyable. Others include your Gothics, your Fallouts, etc. None of these provide the party-adventuring mechanics I really enjoy (followers in Fallout: New Vegas, for example, are really only useful for providing interesting banter), but they are certainly enjoyable RPGs in their own right.
What it comes down to is that RPGs, in the old-school sense of the term, take a lot of fucking time and manpower to make. This is the result of the biggest publishers constantly trying to one up each other in terms of cosmetic elements, which has driven costs sky high. Had publishers all gotten together and colluded to focus instead on game mechanics, storytelling, and depth, instead of trying to produce interactive Hollywood experiences, we would likely not be quite where we are now.
Of course, things are unlikely to change, and discussions such as these could go on ad nauseam. Just as with American politics, change will remain elusive as long as money remains such a big part of the process. With Kickstarter, I realy hope for a renaissance in innovation and a return to the satisfaction that games used to provide.
In the end, until we exercise restraint in buying shallow games, that is mostly all we will ever get.