My saying is, companies are trying to do things cookie cutter, no risks involved anymore, sometimes the best games involved fresh new ideas, sometimes these were risky to take.
Stuff that's mainstream is the same regurgitated crap year in and year out, I've also noticed some games try to use their violence as a selling point, hello gameplay should be the focal point of a game, as well as some story and a good soundtrack, not how many guys I can blow the head off of with guns.
I miss the days when you had to beat a high score, or find your way through a level, or have a game be extremely tough (it can still be done, Ultimate Ghosts n Goblins PSP proved this, AND it had an awesome soundtrack and is quite recent, as well as it's even harder Japanese revision which did away with the fetch quests) and rewarding when you pass an area.
Everything to me feels bland lifeless now, and needs to be in HD to satisfy the kiddies out there. I miss the days of scanlines and lo res sprites (call me old fashioned if you want, I don't really give a shit). The problem to me I feel is we'll accept anything game companies throw out there these days, just throwing money away.
Also don't get me started on DLC, you make enough money from the game already, why do yu feel the need to put something on the disc and force people to pay to unlock, or in the case of EA, make every game from now on have microtransactions. Again I miss the day when a full game was put out, if you wanted something, you earned it via unlocking it. Sure the NES/SNES/Genesis days weren't perfect when a game was buggy when released as they couldn't patch it, but often times the glitches weren't really easy to do and you knew which companies would put out garbage games, and you learned to avoid their product.
As for MoF, sorry I haven't played it, it's on something I do not own.
On topic again: Something about the older games just continually draw me in, whether they are merciless beasts that show no remorse for lack of skills, level designs, soundtracks for each stage of each game (some old games cheated for cart space by reusing songs). I can't talk to any real life gamers even my age, they tell me I should move on and forget about the old games, I just call them sheep and they shut their mouths. I've been called an old fogie for not liking HD spritework because it looks like a cartoon or more lifelike, I didn't need that in my youth, my imagination was more than enough to help out. I know people younger than me that appreciate the types of games I play more than stuff now.
For me it's familiarity, nostalgia, and the fact that I still get a kick out of collecting a game I've tested in emulation to see how it was (helps avoid blind purchases ya know) and knowing it's now in my collection, ready at any moment for me to grab off a shelf, don't have to sit through 10,000 splash screens, with absolutely no loading, just jump in and play.
I've got buddies who want me to catch up to them so bad (one even purchased the PS3 for me that I own) in gaming eras, but I refuse to just jump in, I see too much trouble ahead and stuff that's not for me anymore. I also don't see anything that requires use of my imagination anymore (a must for me to enjoy a game), it's all too lifelike now, I want fantasy in my games, not a game that continues to keep me in the reality that I dire to escape from when I game. There's the Ys series I know which is still around, I watched someone Livestream it, it seems like Falcom didn't forget the formula for the series. It pretty much impopsed a fantasy feeling on you, you took the role of a courageous hero (I don't pretend to know it's story because I don't know it) out to rescue a kingdom, no shooting guns involved, no sports, just pure swordplay and magic. And it looks like it allows you to immerse yourself in it and lose yourself for awhile and forget your troubles.
My 2 cents, even if it was a tad overblown. And yes I'm old and old fashioned when it comes to music, TV, and games. Take it as you will, as I care not if someone likes it or not, it's my life. I'm an adult and have to do adult things and pay bills, I don't need a game with shitloads of realism to not let me forget such things.