1. Total War--I love this series. However, there are many issues that need improvement in this series that don't require new tech. The main one that irks me no end is the clipping that happens constantly when zooming into the battlefield. The sound is great, the graphics are as real as ever, and yet . . . every close up soldier breaks apart into squarish chunks when you get to close to them. I'm excited for Empire:TW, but I'm certain that despite all the new water effects and ship battles, you'll still see everything break apart upon closer inspection.
2. Oblivion/Fallout 3--Oblivion is a beautiful game and also pretty fun. But it is extremely annoying hearing the same voices over and over, or hearing one person use two different voices in one conversation. The plastic faces are unrealistic. The way people walk/run/swim/crouch/etc. is completely ridiculous looking, but here comes Fallout 3 with a shiny new setting and yet still retaining all of the problems of Oblivion. And you know that Elder Scrolls 5 will still feature the same nonsense.
1. I have no idea what you are talking about. Can you provide a screenshot of what you mean? Because it sounds like a problem on your end.
2. This isn't a result of constantly going for better graphics. It's quite the opposite, a phenomenon that's, sadly, just as widespread. They're abusing ancient engines, trying to graft prettier shaders onto them like some virtual Frankenstein. Of course Fallout 3 has crappy animations, and the same bugs Oblivion had - they're the same game with different art assets.
Just look at EA's C&C series: They started using the SAGE engine with Generals. At the time it was very efficient for it's hardware need, and had good graphics. That's because it was custom built for that time. But they didn't scrap it when it became clear that the engine was outdated. They're still trying to use it today, resulting it games that look horrible, have ludicrously high hardware needs and still carry the bugs of their ancestors. Like Fallout 3/Oblivion and a host of other games (yes, Total War-since-Rome too, although it's a pathfinding, AI lack in that series)
So why is it that games companies don't follow Stardock's example with GalCiv2? That is, constantly updating and improving the game with meaningful updates and expansions that do more than simply add content?
GalCiv 2 was graphically outdated by the time of it's release - which is something you can do in it's genre. But that already means a huge amount of work that goes into expansions and updates of more graphically up-to-date games is dropped. It's relatively easy to add content to what is, gameplay wise, best compared to a 2D RTS in complexity, especially in terms of pathfinding.