Lemming42
Arcane
Agreed on this point, a lot of older cRPGs are almost entirely (or actually entirely) combat focused, which frequently gets boring quickly - especially because the combat systems aren't as fun or complex in many older games as some Codexers would like to imagine. There's a clear shift towards developing settings, writing interesting stories and characters, and branching quests with choices in game made post-Fallout.
In other words, many RPGs from the Fallout era onwards make a clear attempt to emulate tabletop pnp RPGs, which it seems to me should be the obvious goal of the medium. The early Wizardry and M&M games are fun but you're essentially just walking around beating the shit out of everything, and as the numbers in your stat screen go up, you beat the shit out of everything a little quicker. On the other hand, Fallout almost feels like you're actually playing a great RPG campaign against a good DM - something a lot of its successors haven't quite recaptured in the same way.
Can't agree on the graphics though, I love a lot of shitty old 2D graphics. They age with charm in a way that early 3D games don't. I've never been a big fan of the Gold Box games but Pool of Radiance's weird looking character portraits and unending grey corridors really appeal to me for some reason.
