I think three key things about the difference between now and then is:

1. Originality (as Shiny mentioned). Not just the 'Milking' of Everything, but just that 'Everything Has Already Been Done'. Which may or may not be true, but it is difficult to come up with something that is entirely new and actually get it made.

2. Japan. It would be difficult for even Final Fantasy Forum-goers to argue that Japan hasn't lost its place as the bulk of console video gaming market share. Not talking about quality at this point, but just the percentage of visible games. The bulk of the games we grew up loving were Japanese, and now they are being forced down by big budget, mass market games. Japan is where we would expect to see things that are original, but the ones that really get the most attention here are the ones that play it safe.

3. Perspective. What you see, or what you choose to see. Just like the folks that caused Bolivar to make this thread, they just didn't see/play the good games from '94. I also think that a lot of people today don't see the great, but smaller gems that get produced today. These mass market games are trying to take up your entire field of vision, and they will if you let them. Unfortunately it's not really possible a lot of the time for these small games to 'get your attention', you might have to go looking for them if you really care.

Another issue is that games are just plain harder to make these days. Tied with the Perspective issue, developers feel like if their game isn't the best and brightest thing out there it doesn't stand a chance. So they spend years and millions of dollars making games, where that time/cost factor wasn't nearly as huge back in the days before 3D.
So sure, you can name off 30 top quality games from 1994 and maybe not half that much for 2009, but comparing them year-over-year is not exactly fair because 'top quality' games take longer to make. And a lot of game companies from 1994 don't even exist now because they can't handle the cost of making new games.