I quite fully disagree with the statement that the golden era of gaming is over.
Gaming , as a entertainment medium has only existed in a profitable capacity for well under 30 years, compared to the development of movies , books , graphic novels , painting and music, gaming is still in its infancy, less than 10 years ago we were oohing over CPU's with 1.8 GHZ, nowadays our GPU's are pumping out like 5.5 GHZ, on medium range cards.
What I am trying to say is that the "Golden age of gaming" has not yet happened, and probably wont for another 20 years, the last 20 years we have been using 1 API , DX3D, only now are they developing things like Mantle Vulkan ect. That mindset is equivalent to an ancient storyteller protesting the invention of Linear B, "We have been passing stories down for generations, no need for your fancy writing"
Don't take this the wrong way, Battlefield 2 was a great game in it's time, probably one of the best. But there is not a single game play mechanic that BF2 has over any of the following BF games. Be it the Inclusion of the Titan mode in 2142(which was an awesome game back in its day, people QQ-ed for the same reason they qq about hardline, cause they cant live out their military paranoia fantasies). I find it odd that you would mention BFBC , a game that is universally hailed as the best entry in the franchise, by it's fans. BF3 Expanded on the formula and it was quite literally BF2 with an updated engine and new features. The controls were tighter, the maps more varied and interesting, the destruction engine opening a host of new game play scenarios.
BF4 Represented a real jump for the franchise and was in fact the first example of the good things that can come from corporate ownership of video game IP's. Ignoring the impressive technical architecture of the game, and the INSANE level of optimization(I know people who run bf4 on dual core CPU's), BF4 spearheaded the development of a new Graphic rendering SW(Mantle API), The involvement of EA allowed DICE to use resources that would otherwise be unavailable to them. An example of this would be that the soldier models are imported from Fifa's incredibly realistic live capture motion technology, leading to one of the most realistic and fluent character movements and animations we have EVER seen in a video game, and something that won't be topped for many many years to come.
Add the plethora of gaming modes , like carrier assault, a twist on your standard conquest, Chainlink, levolution that you can actually trigger to help your team overcome a hard spot..... ect, and you have a solid well rounded package that is well worth the 19.99 $ asking price at the moment.
I can understand that you may Prefer Battlefield 2( well I can't but , I understand that you feel that way), but that in no way warrants a statement that one of the most impressive and PC inovative titles in the industry is not deserving of the asking price..... Such a statement reeks of miss information and fact twisting.
I didn't need to google it, I know a thing or two....
P.S. The photo was a joke, and I still think the reply was quite gamergaty.....