As much as everyone might complain about it, we live in the era of "Day 1 updates" and that is not likely to change in the near future and while gamers seem to pine for the simpler times, I think that is looking at the past with rose colored glasses. While I do believe that publishers take advantage of knowing that day 1 updates are an option, I do think its good for the industry. When a gamer states that developers during the time of the original Nintendo didn’t need updates after release I have to do a double take. There were many games that came out with bugs or not in line with the original vision of the dev. Also Nintendo games where on average 1MB , compare that to the 60GB+ size of a game like Assassin’s Creed Unity. While its fair to say that a large part of the game is due to the textures, its still more room for error.
Are you missing out on good games?
There are many games that come out in a state that might not be considered 100% complete or bug free, but the problem with writing those games off is that many times they are fixed and reviewers rarely update their reviews to signify the update. Even games that were considered very good when they released, like GTA V, are richer and fuller experiences now than they were when launched. The problem with this is that video games are a lot like movies at the theater, people who want to own them do so right away and game sales don't usually have long tails. Thus many games that were that are good or even great that are ignored are sort of lost to history. Little Sansom for the NES is a great example of this. I think its one of the top 5 games on the system, but people rarely talk about it due to it not being popular when it was released. Now it commonly sells for 500-1000 dollars.
Games are hard to make
I think that gamers way too often minimize the difficulty of making a game. They think that because a dev is using the Havok Engine all the dev needs to do is throw some assets in there and the game pops out. Nothing can be further from the truth. At its height AC: Unity had 10 studios working on it. Thousands of devs and artists were working on a piece of software, and it actually came out. Think of the complexities involved there. Since I am a programmer by profession I understand the difficult that is and I'm probably a little more understanding when a game comes out a little unpolished. I also understand that gamers are using their hard earn dollars to purchase games and their expectations should be met. Howerver, the reality is that publishers are often pressured to release a game by a certain for many different reasons. I say don't buy the game until its patched to your level of satisfaction.
Developers are supporting games longer
When I picked up Homefront the Revolution it was 9-10 months after release and I was surprised that it was still being supported by the developers. 3 DLC packs were released and 4K support for the premium systems was also pushed out. Most importantly many of the issues that reviewers complained about were addressed. This is the same with AC: Unity there were a few bugs that it had that received much negativity publicity. The devs continued to work on the game to resolve those issues and make both of these very good titles.
Support titles or genres you want to see more from
Supporting titles that you enjoy is very important, particularly if it is in a niche genre that doesn’t sell well. For example, I pre-ordered the new Secret of Mana because I am a huge fan of the series and want to show my support regardless of what reviewers say. Besides showing support, I know that I will like the game more than the average gamer due to my nostalgia. At the end of the day, everyone should play the games they love, but don't write off a game that you might like because a reviewer give it a bad mark. Happy gaming.