You also have to keep in mind... happy people are a lot quieter than unhappy ones, especially when a game series takes a new direction.
Even games that have been largely panned (like SwSh) have had the zeitgeist opinions of them soften over time, as the people who disliked the game focused on other things. Gen V were shit on left and right when it was their time, now people praise them like it's the best ever. It's not because the games have changed, and it's not even necessarily that the people have drastically changed their minds, but the people who didn't like them have moved on, and the people who did like them seem louder by comparison.
That depends. Gen 5 is mostly appreciated for being the entry that took the most risks and ambition with its plot and characters...then the series never seemed to take too many risks with its plot and characters since, which is disappointing because technical limitations cant even be used as an excuse. Also, gen 5 had amazing post game content, especially B/W 2 like the pokemon world tournament, bringing back TONS of previous gym leaders, elite four members and champions (Red included) and the fact that all gens after this seem content with just giving us bare bones post game, even in Gen 3 remakes lacking the Battle Frontier (which again, technical limitations are not an excuse at this point). Gen 5 wasnt perfect but it had stuff that the following gens SHOULD have followed and built upon.
SwSh is a different beast to me, their problems go beyond the realm of a barren post game content and plot, it goes right down to shit that even previous gens didnt dare to lack, like a complete Pokedex (and to any motherfuckers say that they will complete it through DLC like thats a good thing, fuck you, you are part of the problem) and the fact the game DOESNT look like a Switch game. SwSh was expected to be the Breath of The Wild of Pokemon games and yet we got a remastered 3DS game that shamelessly reuses animations and then the devs have the guts to claim that it was all due to memory...when they are now on a stronger hardware...MEMORY!
It oozes of corporate greed and that shit aint going to be seen in a better light in a few years' time. Gen 5's flaws were subjective, while Gen 8's flaws are objective.
I don't know why people were so hard on the Arkham games post City but to be fair City was definitely the best one.
If I had to give my opinion I think its because City just felt like the Batman experience people wanted for DECADES. Asylum was great but City truly felt like the true batman open world experience. The atmosphere, plot, characters, setting. It all dripped with batman, rewarding those that were veterans for the most part. It felt a game made by Batman fans to Batman fans.
And I think City may have spoiled us a little bit because Knight had the difficult task of improving that experience somehow and I think it did well for the most part, its just people just expected a jump akin from going from Asylum to City was. Surpassing the awe you felt when you were unleashed on Arkham City would be impossible to replicate honestly. Besides, the whole setup for Gotham being empty so quickly because of a Scarecrow threat kind of felt a rushed excuse to get rid of citizens and just leave criminals. Not that I disagree with that course of action, leaving citizens walking around would make things a tad difficult to work around and to avoid batman from hurting (because players would obviously try to hurt innocents sooner or later). Its too much to consider so it felt better just empty Gotham city up. Besides, Knight just made the whole "Batman doesnt kill" become just utterly insane, especially with things like the batmobile and vehicle driven enemies.
Like, if batman causes them to crash their car, they will always be fine, either standing on their feet like nothing happened or just "knocked out"...lets just face it, thats just to avoid discussions on if that would count as Batman breaking his one rule if they died or not (even tho it was their fault).
In city, there were no vehicles and I think that helped maintain a healthy level of suspension of disbelief that these morons couldnt get killed by Batman. When you add vehicles into the mix, both from them and Batman, it adds a whole new can of worms.
Still, Knight is fine as it is, maybe a bit forced on some parts (dont get me started on how they HAD to force the joker in this because Mark Hamill is a joy to listen) but this is long enough as it is.
I feel like this is the result of there being such huge gaps in between releases. The fanbase is so segmented it might as well be different fanbases with how die hard many of them are over which game is *the best* and the weird justifications behind it.
If Other M had released in 2017 instead of 2010 I bet there would be people claiming it's the best because of how cinematic it is and shit all over the other ones.
Im a rare breed that likes Metroid but doesnt drool over Super Metroid and its rabbid fans piss me the hell off. I hate when I get lost, I gotta go into "well, gotta backtrack until I find that one hidden entrance I can now access"...its done great in other metroidvanias but I just didnt felt it in Super Metroid and everyone says that its spetacular and all...Super Metroid is just an exausting game to play to me. Fusion feels way better in my eyes.
And if Other M came to today, it would get hated upon because it has an attractive woman in a blue skin tight suit that weeps and needs a man to save her. And beautiful women are a no no in the western gaming market...aparently. Personally I prefer Samus when she is a space amazon, she would be at least 7 ft tall with a some visible muscle under the Zero Suit...the type of person that you could see wearing that armor and that you wouldnt want to get on the bad side of. The Other M design feels like it doesnt do Samus Aran justice, she is too short and slim, I cant see her taking on space dragons.