Old Consoles Were Better, and It's Not Just Nostalgia

Video games have made massive leaps forward in the last couple of decades. From the humble beginnings of Pong, to the massively immersive open world of Grand Theft Auto V, things changed a lot. But, were these changes completely for the better?
I had just bought the brand new Call of Duty, and I was excited. I had not bought one of these games since the original Black ops, and had heard great things about it. I get it out, put it in my PlayStation4, and begin to... wait? the game, that I had a solid copy of, had to also be downloaded onto my hard drive, all 60+ gb. So, I now had to wait a fair chunk of time to play a game that I had bought. That's fine, as it had become expected from these new consoles. It finally downloads, and I go to play the Campaign. The campaign is fun, I enjoy it, but then it ends. After roughly 3 hours of play, I was completed with the campaign. I remembered these campaigns taking hours to complete, and was left disappointed with how quickly the campaign had come and gone.
I also still own my PS2 from back in the day, and play it every once in awhile. one thing I have realized from playing it was that single player aspects of games were MASSIVELY better than the modern games. Not only that, but all I had to do was insert the disc and I could begin playing the game (imagine that!). The campaigns are challenging, and take days in order to complete. this seems to be due to the increasing connectivity between people all across the world. Back when the PlayStation2 had come out, there was very limited online gaming with consoles. They had to actually make the games enjoyable for just one person to play, and could not rely on flashy DLC packs and online gameplay and always-on connectivity to the server. The original draw of video games has gone to the wayside to make way for character aesthetics, for player vs player, for talking with your friends who could be 100 miles away. This new connectivity is great, but it does not reflect as such with the quality of games that are being produced. granted, there is outliers as their are in everything, but a majority of video games no longer feel nearly as satisfying as they once did. you almost begin to feel like you are simply playing to level up with new games, instead of playing to actually enjoy the video game itself. Not to mention the overall quality of the build of the console when comparing a PlayStation2 to the likes of a PlayStation4.
the old games we played were simply better games. They were more engaging, you did not need an internet connection to play, and they came with a sense of reward that seems lost on games that are made today. the old consoles were better, despite the graphics, the story and games themselves were better, and always will be.