Man you should of turned this into your own post hahaha, i fully agree with what you're saying about being able to draw parallels between the past and the present, that's why when i review graphics specifically i try draw connections between the different aspects of the graphics, such as fluidity, flow, transitions and aesthetic appeal.
The Witcher 3 was a perfect example of that where pushing it past the ultra settings(with mods) could give you a too realistic experience that detracted from the game, however a lot of reviews i see of Witcher 3 never went past "It's the best looking game ever" even though it's kinda true it doesn't really add anything more to say, putting a bunch of screenshots up and calling it a day.
Thank's a lot for the comment though my dude, i'm happy to see that other people have the same perspective that I do when to gaming and reviewing, the mainstream gaming "journalism" has always pissed me off because people eat it up but I think slowly, people are starting to getting a taste for better material.