I almost liked your post
I totally agree with the first part! Sadly, there are still people that put the classics on a pedestal and flame anyone who dares to suggest any kind of change...
As for the second part, I know that ME's plot isn't a masterpiece, but being the Sci-Fi fan I am and being under the illusion that my choices mattered (haha, I'm looking at you ME3 ), it was a great experience for me. As for the looting, may I remind you of the rags in P:T? One of my main gripes with RPGs in general is that I never know what the hell I should take along and what I should just throw away. My perfect RPG would have a merchant at every corner :D
And I can't really judge how BW are now in comparison to earlier and it'll still be some time till I can I can only hope they can win some of their former fans back with the new games they're going to bring out the next few years =)
In my opinion, an RPG should be a big game (if that's what you meant with scope). Although I wonder how a bigger series with episodic content would do. That would be more or less perfect for people who don't have that much time to invest in a game, but of course, even that depends on the mechanics and execution.
For me personally, the only difficulties I ever have are either fights or puzzles. I'm not really that big of a tactician - nor do I want to really "waste" time to figure out how to kill a specific monster, because I just want to get it on with the story. At the same time, I do know that many people get a sense of accomplishment by doing just that, so it's cool. That's why it's important to me that a game lets you change the challenge fights pose to the player.
Puzzles...sometimes they're fun and interesting, sometimes they're just frustrating and in the way. But many people like them, so I don't expect them to be taken out completely
Another problem people (might) have with games with such a scope is of course remembering the plot points etc. That's why a journal is good to have, I guess. Started The Witcher a year ago I guess (finished the 1st chapter) and I forgot a lot about the plot. That's one of the more extreme cases of taking a hiatus, of course, but that's how it is.
What I hate most in games are time limits though, especially in RPGs. That's why I'm anxious to see how a certain element in this game will turn out (is this a spoiler?) and I can't wait to see what I'll think of Fallout or NVWN2:MofTB.
It's almost as if I had written this posting, since we're on the same wavelength here...