Why do they need to be reminded of this? Some of my favourite games growing up were essentially interactive story books, it's not a new trend. The voice acting and graphical fidelity are new or improved but that's about it. There's something different about being in a world that is trying to tell a story, it is why people wank over TLOU - the gameplay is good but the delivery of the story and the world is amazing.
We've transcended surely from what games should or should not be. My favourite games over the last few years have been Mario Kart 8, Dark Souls 3, The Witcher 3 and The Last of Us, all markedly different games who cater to different people. It's all horses for courses I guess, I've never really managed to get into GTA though the original 2D one was absolutely fantastic.
I think the God of War/Last of Us comparisons miss the mark a bit, God of War always had story and cinematic elements - they've just made him more human and less like a chaotic hero type. I think the original had really run it's course and Santa Monica blew about $120mil of Sony's money on their failed project.
Na, not for me. Story driven games are great and all, but you play them once, then tend not to go back. That's how I feel about most of them, and I include the Mass Effect Trilogy in that, which for me was the pinnacle and still a benchmark. The thing is, at least in ME you had 'options' of how to interact and what to do next, even actions you took were optional. That's a game. Games where Story takes precedence over everything, just feels like a rollercoaster where you fairy your character from one section to the other in order to progress to the next cutscene. I don't mind that, but it's as I say, its a one off experience and it's not something I ever feel like going back to after I'm done with it. Even games like Resident Evil that had story elements there still felt more like a game because of the location and the amount of puzzle solving and backtracking involved. That's the reason why I went back to the HD remake of it, and I felt it still held up.
It's as you say regarding the different types of games, but some games are more of a "game" than others, or at least have more pure game elements in it, rather than it having just nice cinematics. Games, as good as they've gotten, and as advanced as the technology has came, still won't get near a well made film or a TV show, or book, in terms of actually telling a story.
TLoU was a great game, though. I just think it's overrated for what it was, but what stood out most when I played it was the world building details. The best thing about that game was actually its multiplayer, which sadly just seemed to get neglected.
GoW does look great. Not sure about its gameplay, but I love the look of it with all its mythological creatures and stuff.
