What's One "Old Game" Mechanic That You Don't Miss?

[Toric]

Character creation.

Not that it’s necessarily an old game mechanic. Also, it can be done well. My major complaint when you build your character up from a blank canvas, your decisions usually aren’t (in my experience) important to the plot.

Like in Xenoblade Chronicles X. It feels your companion is actually the main character.

Or Fallout 3. Your character’s most defining trait is their father.

Or KOTOR. You actually have an awesome backstory, but that’s wiped clean by the time you actually make your character.

The more I think about it, it feels the more freedom a player is given, the worse the plot is.

That's something I hope will evolve over the next decade. Obsidian in particular seems to be toying with the approach of "Choose a background and/or starting weapon set, your starting skills are tied to that." Not as liberating as letting you pick your skills from scratch, but it grants unique dialogue choices and gives NPC's in the game proper something relevant to reference in making your character a part of the world.