So what I conclude from this thread is that none of you like traditional RPGs (well, almost none of you). Modern simply are not role-playing games. I don't have a role to play; I watch a character play their role, which is NOT the same. There is certainly a place for Vaan and Balthier and Basch and their story, but there is ALSO a place for exploration-based and combat-based games. Unfortunately, most people are like you guys; they want to watch a very long movie that they get to waltz through.

I don't want that. I want to explore and make meaningful decisions. I want to play the Gothic series and the Dragon Quest series and the old-school games like Breath of Fire (early series) where there is a "hero" but he has no personality, just a mission. His story is whatever I imagine it to be. The PC RPG genre rewards me to some degree (especially Gothic, but also things like Fallout and to a lesser degree the directly D&D-based games), but I miss it in the console genre. And this comes from one of the biggest Xenosaga fans you will ever see, so it's not like I don't also appreciate console movies. It's just that they are different genres, and the RPG genre has been replaced by the movie genre but had its name stolen and sullied.

The things I think need to be removed from games are this? Probably nothing. There just needs to be a division between genres so that the new age "RPG" players don't get mad at the difficulty and complexity of actual RPGs and so that the old-school RPG players don't get frustrated by the simplicity and linearity of modern games.

Actually, I'll add that the lack of world-map like areas to explore is what needs to "go." I miss exploring. Dragon Quest (the first) is a massive exploration, essentially. So is Final Fantasy (the first). What happened to things like this? Now I frequently can't even go back to towns once I've passed through them for their tiny story portion!