I was including them as a general example of how games have become bigger and better as time has gone on.
Frankly I don't understand how you can debate this. Point me to one SNES game that's as big as anything made today. Point me to a PS1 or 2 game even.
DiscoElysium and Outter Worlds might both be RPGs that's true. But come on dude, you KNOW that an FPS-RPG is way way different insize and scope to a isometric CRPG. You wanna compare Outter Worlds to New Vegas, then fine.
Things have to be compared fairly.
And frankly, yes, there have been many many stumbles this generation, but there were stumbles in every generation.
Saying games are better because they're bigger than SNES games vs saying PS4 games are better because they're bigger than PS3 games are 2 completely different things. Hardware definitely limited games in those early gens. However, most PS4 games are not bigger in the right ways, where's the better AI, the better physics? We just have better looking games that play pretty much the same just with more copy-pasted content. It's much more likely to improve the game you're making by removing things vs adding things. Current games are full of kitchen-sink design and have game systems that only detract from the game. Shooters haven't improved this gen. Point me to any PS4 shooter that allows me to throw a grenade underhand, something I could do in MGS4/MGO2. Point me to a PS4 shooter that allows me to slide and lean (like MoH Warfighter). Point me towards a PS4 shooter with a better cover system than Ghost Recon Future Soldier.
The problem with The Outer Worlds is all the extra stuff that is there that isn't needed. Why is there so much FPS shooting when it's average at best? I could just play an actual shooter if I want good shooting gameplay. The Outer Worlds inspiration is obviously Firefly, but Firefly has very few action scenes in it. RPGs don't need combat and would be far better games without said combat. RPGs usually feature average-at-best combat combined with poor actual role-playing making them at best a jack-of-all-trades game and master-of-none. Just look at the fact that every skill (but a single upgrade) in Witcher 3 has to deal with combat when the strength of the game isn't combat. Disco Elysium completely outdoes The Outer Worlds exactly where it matters in an ROLE-PLAYING game, that's why they're comparable. The opening minutes of this
video explains how the dependence of combat in RPGs hurts the genre in many aspects including storytelling, questing, character diversity, etc. And, the video ends with the following line perfectly encapsulating the problem with modern RPGs.
"I want Disco Elysium to reclaim the term RPG to, once again, describe video games in which you actually role-play."
I think you are focusing too much on specifics upon a select few games. That's not the topic here, I am speaking as a generalization here.
Content is only one thing that makes today's games "bigger and better". There are many other things. Storytelling in general is better then ever. Gameplay mechanics are more in depth, more detailed and complex then ever before. Is Doom 2016 and Eternal not evolutions of the original game, are they not bigger and better? Graphics are better than ever, even games trying to emulation 2D pixel art are doing it better than ever before.
If you wanna nit-pick specific details in games fine, but you are missing the overall point.
I was generalizing, I posted how many different game series that definitely didn't have their best outings this gen (and that was just thinking of games over a few minutes)? Or how about all the shitty new IPs like Destiny, The Division, Anthem. Capcom seems to be like the only big publisher that released a better library of games this gen. Many devs output in just quantity of games is down like Naughty Dog, Bethesda, Bioware, Rocksteady, Rockstar.
I was listing specifics with Horizon because how different an open world game it is compared to its peers. I was, and no joke, literally shocked when I picked up my 1st metal flower and the pop-up said "1 of 30 found". What other open world game has 30 or less of its most abundant collectible? I knew at that point Horizon wasn't going to stuff its world full of low-quality checklist content. I listed Horizon's specifics as a proof to my generalization.
I guess storytelling is improving slightly every gen but the amount of actual good writing in the medium is still pretty damn low. Even something like TLOU2, I'll play because of the gameplay and if I get a good story, it's merely a bonus. I'm not going into a TLOU or Uncharted or "cinematic game" game expecting 7+/10 writing because that's a fool's errand.
