Wow, so much decline from one poster I can't even.
This I feel is the same error people repeat in basically every type of art that ages. Films age. Videogames age. Wizardry is fine and dandy, but the SNES version is an improvement in basically every way and form. It is precisely the SNES version that shows Wizardry was such a good game back in the day that it is still enjoyable today, over 30 years after its release, and playing a version that is almost 20 years old.
No, masterpieces don't age. Tell me which painting from these has "aged" -
Everything from different ages of humanity. What "ages" is technology, but we must not conflate the two. Game design, artistic representation/mimesis and philosophical justification don't age. It's very wrong to take an evolutionary stance on art for a variety of reasons. They are simply different and must be understood differently.
With that out of the way: who is to say what the Citizen Kane of videogames is? People are more than free to think BioWare videogames or Bethesda videogames are. I haven't played ME, but I have played Skyrim, and it's by far the game I enjoyed the most playing. It is not a masterpiece, but at the end of the day, I'd rather stick with the dumbed down Skyrim than the "masterpiece" Fallout or Planescape: Torment. Skyrim is just the more enjoyable game, and I will kill myself before saying "yeah, I'd rather watch Battleship Potemkin over Transformers, such a masterpiece of cinema!". Because I actually have to watch Potemkin for an exam due in a couple of weeks, and it would certainly be much easier for me to just turn on Transformers and enjoy.
There is no "Citizen Kane" of videogames, just like there is no Citizen Kane of music or painting. I just don't know how to respond to this profane verbiage. It's
your problem that you enjoy dumbed down shit like Transformers and Skyrim, not the other games' or films'. You have to climb up and reach masterpieces, not have them be dumbed down for you, that's easy and commonplace. This is literally how it works, masterpieces won't magically become easier to consume or understand just because you aren't willing to put in the effort. If that is too much work for you, then, again, it's your problem that you can't do this, art doesn't become irrelevant just because
you (general you) prefer to eat shit because it's easier.
Videogames, just like films, are a form of entertainment. If you don't prioritize fun and enjoyment, you are a fucking idiot. Masterpieces are works that show us just how far we can go at any given time, but like in any medium that ages, when taken out of context, they just aren't anywhere near as powerful. I wouldn't call Fallout a masterpiece if it was made today.
There are different categories. Unterhaltungskunst, which is art for entertainment and mostly mindless; Volkskunst which is folk art and it simply exists; and Ernstkunst, serious art which is made for the intellectual and cultural growth of humanity. And, again, it is your duty to understand and immerse yourself in the context of works to appreciate and enjoy older masterpieces. That context isn't "old" or "irrelevant", or "wrong". The only thing you are right about is that some pieces won't be considered masterpieces if they came out today. Mozart's Requiem won't be a masterpiece today because it wouldn't take into account the historical relevancy of its musical language. That musical language has already been done and copying it won't have the same impact. Fallout is a great game even without its historical context.
I might come off as aggressive, but that sort of thinking triggers me because it tries, and fails, to justify the consumption of mass produced garbage thrown in the troughs. It tries to justify your own decline and degeneracy as a person, as well as allowing yourself to be exploited by AAA companies, just because it's "easy". It's lazy and gross, along with being easy.