saying that it isn't true is mostly an opinion. And a lot of it can just depend largely on your perspective. Personally I agree with the OP in that a lot of this whole "dumbing down" nonsense is really them just removing what they believe to be superfluous elements that they deem either unnecessary, redundant, or too restrictive. A lot of what they do is actually done with the intention to give the player more freedom. But I mean like, for classes and such, even in older games there is nothing stopping you from leveling up whatever you want. It might not go towards your overall level, but you can still do it. Nothing is preventing you from also being a great mage even if you are technically a warrior class. And nothing is stopping you from committing to one specific build in Skyrim. This is just one of many examples.