Its an interesting article, and like Vivi22, I was a bit annoyed he didn't explore the reasoning behind "Why a game is timeless?" and instead just kind of left it like some cosmic rhetorical question.

I can agree with the idea of certain mechanics getting better with games, I personally love Twilight Princess more than Ocarina of Time, mostly cause TP doesn't play like a paraplegic trying to swim out of a tar pit, but that's what a decade of better controller mechanics will do for you. I feel RPGs generally age better than most game genres cause they are usually not as hampered by technology. ATB has not really had any drastic changes since FFV, VII introduced a movie camera in battle to take advantage of the visuals but overall it still works the same as it does in older games, and X-2 basically just redid FFIV's system but sped it up.

While VII has not aged well in some regards (amusingly its graphics), I feel its held up much better than some of the series more recent entries. Hell, I still feel that FFV has the best gameplay/customization in the series and its almost 20 years old now.

MGS1 is sadly a game that is really beginning to show its age, while it has graphically lost its edge long before the PS1 was retired, the gameplay itself has pretty much been relegated to archaic after MGS2 hit the scene. I honestly feel that Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (16-bit MSX) plays better than MGS1, but I still love MGS1 cause its story and characters have held up nicely.

I think there are multiple factors that contribute to the timelessness of a game but for older games, I would reckon its the simplicity behind game mechanics. Tetris is still an addictive game that will consume hours of your time if not your soul, but it honestly has only a few simple rules and mechanics. The same could be said of the early Mario and Sonic games.