I'm curious what one would consider "dumbed down" in current RPGs. And there is no doubt that Mass Effect, Fallout 3, and Dragon Age: Origins are reference points that had a massive effect on the genre.
BG1&2 and IWD felt like improvements over the Gold Box Games
NWN1 & 2 and Temple of Elemental Evil felt like improvements over BG1&2 and IWD
This feels like an improvement over NWN 1&2
The 2000s RPGs are dumbed down considering how good writing was in late 90s both in BG2 and Planescape Torment as well as better RPG mechanics and attention to detail. And these 2 titles had beatiful art. To this date the still remain as a gold-standard. Fallout 3, DAO are very shallow compared to this game.
There are exceptions such Disco Elysium and Witcher 3 that are really new masterpieces, but in general RPGs have been dumbed down.
