So, nostalgia

I have played games since I was small. There were many games that I played in those days, but only a few of them worthwhile. I have fond memories of several of them, both playing with friends and alone. Occasionally, I'll go hunting for those scenes long gone and try to relive them, download a game, emulator whatever and try to play it.

Needless to say, it almost never goes well.

And it's not necessarily because the games are bad. But they are indeed different than I remember them. And the time I spend playing them is different.
Back then, I'd boot up a game and play it for hours on end, blasting (the constantly same) music while playing and enjoying every second of the time (if the game was good obviously).
Nowadays I just can't do that unless the game captures all of my attention.

But the change didn't just happen overnight. I feel that if I didn't play so many games in the last few years, then I could maybe still replay those older games (or the likes of them rather) and enjoy them, but whenever I boot up a game today, I immediately start comparing it with other games I have played.
And weirdly, this is a good thing.

Many people give in to nostalgia. I have never understood this fully, but I think that it's simply settling for the easy thing. Acknowledging that you have changed and that you are thinking of things differently isn't easy. People like to imagine that they are the same people always, or on the other hand to imply a change in their lives to changed environment, not to a change in them.

I dislike such nostalgia. Looking into your own past almost always means that you will overlook the bad sections and focus on the good. In games this means that you'll remember game with crisp and clean graphics, with meaningful stories and fun gameplay (And maybe those games will always be like that until you turn them on again)
But I hate it because it also makes you judge your other current experiences. And judge them poorly. In other words, you'll be comparing an idealized, basically fictional, game to one that just came out. And that may cause you not enjoy a game (or other experience) as you would were this not to happen.

On the other hand, the change in playing games for me is a good thing, because it drives me to try and try better experiences. It drives all of us to try better experiences, forcing the market to try and produce the better experiences for us. As a result we should be enjoying our time more, both by comparison and by some objective rating.

What about you? Do you succumb to nostalgia? Is there a game you remember fondly but just know that trying to play it today would end badly?