Do you like the older RPG systems better than the newer ones?

[Willie the Duck]

Do you like the older RPG systems better than the newer ones?

If you look at TTRPGs as a whole, rather than specific ones, with some specific caveats, there just aren't that many grand differences between old and new. There were incredibly crunchy games and very play-it-by-ear games back in the day and in modern times. There are games from the new millennium on with a whole bunch of character creation time (3e D&D as an example), but no more than Aftermath, and certainly the GURPS/Hero System/ Shadowrun 1 of the chronological messy middle fit that bill. Likewise, oD&D and T&T are very much 'can be playing within 5 minutes.' Skill based systems are old and new equally. There really aren't a lot of distinct common threads amongst old games or new games, such that you would know that one was one, and the other the other.

Edit: Oh yes, I forgot to mention the specific caveats! Storygaming mechanisms! Say what you will about Forge theory (and there's a lot not to like), but it was fruitful for the TTRPG culture to put some thought into 'does the game I have support the playstyle I want?' That's a development that I can point to that happened since I had adult distractions from gaming (and thus my personal new-old divide).

However, that leads into a further point. There are a lot of things that have been tried with TTRPGs, be it generic universal (multi-genre) rule systems, character creation minigame (Max, if you find this thread, do not flip your lid), narrative metacurrencies, universal resolution mechanics, etc. etc. etc. Plenty of them are very useful and I like plenty of them... some of the time, but none of them have invalidated something that I liked that came before. There are occasionally an old school game that absolutely did not work for what it was trying to do (Ralph Bakshi's Wizards needed to be a narrative game, not a D&D-alike, for example). However, in general, I've already passed those games by. Old games that do work usually still do work... for their intended purposes... as well as or better than supposed new innovations.

D&D is a great example. OD&D (the version that was intended to exist and shared from person to person, we can all agree that the published product has issues) is honestly a very different game from later incarnations (or even late-edition expressions of OD&D. I always say that the biggest change in D&D was not between TSR and WotC or anything like that, but between OD&D and OD&D plus the supplements). It is perfectly well adapted to the intended type of gaming, in a way that later versions don't necessarily enhance. It isn't AD&D or 3e or 5e, and they do what they are intended to do better, but they don't do what oD&D was intending to do better than it does.