That's fair, I played the originals very much at the time and knew every inch of them so it's an impossible for me to know if it would stand up to someone coming in cold 20 years later. I think you can run them on your phone now using a free third party app but I doubt the interface would work particularly well.
On the topic of Fallout, a team of modders have been working a completely new game using Fallout 4 called Fallout London. It's been 5 years in the making and should be released on St George's Day this year and the graphical uplift you were hoping for comes 2 days later.
BG3 is a great game, particularly the first act but I've noticed a few people who've been weaned on modern RPGs struggle to adjust to the mentality that you don't just kill anything that looks bad on sight. The games much more fun if play it more openly.
Elden Ring an Ghosts are souls-like, I played some Dark Souls or the other one when it came out and it was really interesting with some real attention to details like weapons bounding off of walls and stuff which made the combat feel more realistic. I just found the idea of running the same levels over and over again being punished for every lapse in concentration or just bad luck a bit boring. I've not touched a souls-like since especially as I have a young kid, I don't want to put myself in a position where I lose 45 minutes of progress getting killed because I've been asked for a hug.
Cyberpunk I've played 15 minutes here or there, it just doesn't seem to suck me in. I've never really been into games where I sit around talking for 5 minutes straight. I find I just skip all the chit chat but then I'm detached from the narrative when I finally get to doing something. I was the same with the Witcher games but eventually really enjoyed them.
Starfield I kind of sleep walked through, it's not bad it's just not really good. I've feared Bethesda had peaked for while, I was wrong about Skyrim which is one of the best games ever made but I wasn't in a minority that wasn't a huge fan of Fallout 4 and Starfield is a bit meh.
A massive enabler for me was getting a Steam Deck, it meant that when I'm supplanted by Mr Tumble or the Gruffalo I can sneak in some gaming time. Hit the power button and literally a second later I'm right where I left off mid-game.
Funny enough was looking at steam decks other day actually. Not sure I can justify it though mate. Rarely play, want to play, games on move, away from home or in bed... plus as you say, dont want it to turn into sunk cost fallacy thing, where I end up just using it for sake of it, when other stuff needs doing.
If I travelled more, away with work etc, I'd take the plunge. I have a switch, my first nintendo device (their cartoony games they develop never appealed). But now I can see the fuss. They're mainly fun to pickup and play, feel good, playability very satisfying and nice vibrant environments. Assume they have some secret pixie dust formula they apply to their games, thats rarely emulated/executed elsewhere to same quality. Wholesome appeal, thats good for young kids in particular.
I rarely use it though, neither does daughter. Only time it tends to get used is on our long haul flights. We tend to play coop games, such as kirby... good fun in nice vibrant world/setting.
Dont think I'e heard GoT described as soulslike before. Thought soulslike means very tough, and generally has some weird mechanics, as you outlined re dying and starting further back. Whereas GoT is pretty easy, as are most games these days tbh and you can just stroll through game almost on autopilot, rarely dying.
Many people who didnt like previous soulslike/fromsoft games, got into the genre after playing elden ring. Of course its tough, but as its open world, rather than linear, you can run away/avoid tough npc's, grind as much as you want, then come back at suitable level, or OP to beat tougher bosses. Good entry point to series apparently, Fromsoft seems to have very dedicated following, some absolutely love their games, despite toughness. Some who hated fromsoft games tried elden ring, finally got bug/used to mechanics, then worked through original souls games after.
