On your point, KOTOR II comes to mind. Taking Lucas' Black/White morality of The Force and turning it more Grey.
It's just a burden of the games of today. And that it was a lot easier to write out text in older Bioware games for possible branches and outcomes. As that was the main way to tell the story and what players expected.
Versus recording dialogue, creating cutscenes, etc that modern games tell their stories though.
edit: the constraints of modern asset creation being fairly clear with the ending of the last Mass Effect game. A series that was toted for its story and depth. Where your choices 'mattered' but were reduced to the same end cutscene with different hues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vjHXchR8pw
For an A-list game this is probably true, but there are very many indie/small games being developed which use 'archaic' game mechanics/stylistics.
I'm actually surprised to see the visual and mechanical simplicity of many games that have flared up in popularity among my students. Certainly, the processing limits of mobile phones play a role - but that doesn't stop these small games from passing through the student body like wildfire (and then burning out equally quickly).
It's just a burden of the games of today. And that it was a lot easier to write out text in older Bioware games for possible branches and outcomes. As that was the main way to tell the story and what players expected.
Versus recording dialogue, creating cutscenes, etc that modern games tell their stories though.
edit: the constraints of modern asset creation being fairly clear with the ending of the last Mass Effect game. A series that was toted for its story and depth. Where your choices 'mattered' but were reduced to the same end cutscene with different hues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vjHXchR8pw