This thread, even though I didn't read it, highlights what I hate about this forum.
Why is KotOR a worse game than Dragon Warrior? I will talk about Dragon Warrior 3 since I have played it the most.
Let's like up the RP statistics. Who wins in each category:
"Moral" Choices: Kotor
Character customization: Kotor
Least Linear: Kotor
Party options: Tied
NPC Interactions: Kotor
Story line: Kotor (FFS, who did you turn out to be!?)
Exploration: Dragonwarrior
Here is a list of non-RPG specific stuff:
Combat: Kotor
Usability: Kotor
Humor: Kotor
I mean really think about it. Some old games are classics, like Contra, and we love them for it. But overall, contra was a pretty lame game. It was nothing special other than it was first.
Lots of RPGs fall into this category. Dragon Warrior 3 is a great example. It was a classic, I spent hours on it, I cried when my save was lost! But every party member had their own inventory? If you ordered one of your guys to attack a monster that was already dead, they lost their turn? You had to go through every equipment slot to select a new piece to equip?
Not only that, but you claim people are in this huge grind with little rewards now, what the hell do you think 1992 was? At least now while we are grinding we get flashy visuals. If you think DW was less of a grind then KOTOR you are crazy! You would randomly get attacked walking around outside. It was a grind to get anywhere!
The one place I will agree with you is that games today are easier and offer much more hand holding. But do you really want this? I am sure King’s Quest were great games, but without a guide book I would have never known where to walk in the desert. WTF is that? Guess and fail over and over? Walk off in a random direction and hope for victory? I don’t want to play a game like that. After dying 5 times I shut the game off.
This forum really needs to stop looking at games like Dragon Warrior and saying “They were perfect and pretty graphics are stupid!” There are a lot of good games out there. Don’t let the fact that we will probably never have an X-com again taint your perception.