Games aren't just games anymore... they've evolved into something better... they've evolved past Pac-Man and Mario, they've become epic journeys through detailed worlds, fun quests, missions, items, and much, much more! But as graphics went up.. content went down... and a good example is the elder scrolls series... as in arena's case, it was huge! then Daggerfall, bigger, but then Morrowind. it was smaller, and there was more graphics, but it was a twilight of graphics and content, the perfect game, with just a few flaws. then, oblivion. oblivion is extremely detailed compared to other elder scrolls.. but it is extremely small in content compared to the others, too.
Are games getting better, or worse?

Indeed, and every time you post I get confused, because at first I think you're Uruk actually talking about games, rather than about killing paladins and converting other GOG users into his undead army. Then I check the name ;-)

Hey, I thought I was the only one that had that problem.

ROFL. I love you.

I think I greeted his first post with "... wait, you're not uruk".

See, that's why the market produces shorter games now. From my earlier post: "People want to win at the games they play, they don't want to spend all their time doing it."
That is the opposite of the philosophy of older RPGs. They weren't about the end or the path there, they were about the experience on that path. Some games let you play on past the ending, in order to explore more or what have you. Because, in a fully open game, it is possible to discover the "ending" rather quickly. (though in the case of Might & Magic, finding out what Varn means can come as a bit of a shock)
I would be fully willing to play a game with 100+ hours of actual content, just not artificial filler quests that are made solely to take up time, JRPGs are a good example of filler content, lots of useless blabbering that you get to watch that has nothing to do with anything.
Indeed you did, at least it was one of my first, I have a bad time with chronology.

Big name commercial games from the big publishers and studios are not necessarily getting worse, but they are losing (or have lost) all originality and creativity in favor of "safe" assembly line-style sequel production. The indie market, on the other hand, is absolutely blossoming with originality and creativity. Games like Torchlight, Trine, the previously mentioned Mount and Blade and many others are where good original gaming is at now.

Don't get me wrong, I like Torchlight (except that I quit playing when I got to Ordrak, talk about a difficulty spike), but I fail to see how you can call it original. They might as well have called it Diablo 2.5, except that the storyline is wholly inferior to the one from Diablo II. It's well made, it's polished and it's got nice graphics, but it is not original.

That's only because Torchlight is in the same genre as games like Diablo II. I'm sure you could say similar things about other games in the action RPG genre, but the fact is, Torchlight is still an original game with some interesting tweaks on the standard action RPG formula that never would have even been considered by any of the major publishers because it isn't an established IP.

What are these tweaks? :p
Don't get me wrong, I love Torchlight. But that is about as blatant a diablo-clone as it gets.
Let's remember the music "fans". Just because something is mainstream does not mean it is bad. And just because something is "indie" does not mean it is good.

I can see how you would think I'm speaking shit, but let me explain. A game to me is something that doesn't have to make sense and be made for a mainstream crowd, but something that you can play over and over and think...'Wow, that was epic.'
Don't Look Back is a great game in my opinion because it draws themes from classic mythology and simplistic 8-bit (16-bit? I forget) graphics to make a compelling game with a story that makes you guess all the way until the end. (Seriously, I did NOT see the ending coming.)
Onto the idea I have of some big publisher games not even being comparable...I love a game with a story, and seeing how a lot of games nowadays use cookie-cutter by-the-book stories that have been used since the dawn of time, well, it's fucking annoying. I new what was going to happen in Modern Warfare 2, and I didn't even play the other games! And honestly, after playing x amount of shooters, you can't tell me everyone one of them has been completely different in terms of gameplay.
While I do enjoy some newer games, older games have always been more appealing to me (I still play my Dreamcast, SNES, and N64). Also, I am very crazy.
P.S. Alcoholism is a disease too IMO. And I know you don't mean to be rude....or do you? I can't tell I'm very tired from my shifts.

No, it's because it copies Diablo II down to the smallest detail. Even the entire GUI is an almost perfect copy of Diablo II, and it sounds like they ripped some of the sound effects directly from there as well. The only game I've seen with more blatant plagiarism (discounting casual games) is Limbo Of The Lost. Torchlight has exactly two original elements. One is the pet (hardly original I know, but the way it is implemented is) and the other is the fishing thing. Of the two, I wish they'd skipped the fishing.
Again, I liked Torchlight very much, but that is because I love Diablo II.

Personally I'm not inclined to see the vast swathes of crap that used to be produced as superior to what we have now, just because there were a few gems in there. Unfortunately there are just as few gems today. It's just that the overall quality has risen considerably.
However, like AndrewC, I too feel that developers are catering far too much for the single digit IQ crowd these days.

Speaking of Torchlight, how about that Fate?

True I suppose, I just wish they would produce games on the level of some older RPGs, that were challenging to complete, and required time AND thought. (if it was just time, recent Final Fantasy games could fit the description)

You could say the GUI is an almost perfect copy of Sacred as well, it's just a common design to most, if not all action RPGs. Diablo did perfect that element, but using something similar to it is no more a copy than FPS games having a targeting reticle on the screen, just like earlier FPS games. Besides, is it really a rip or plagiarism when some of the original team from Diablo actually made Torchlight? In fact, the guy responsible for the music and sound design in Torchlight is the same guy who did it on Diablo, so it really shouldn't be surprising that some of it is reminiscent of Diablo.