:tops:
The question is 'why not?'. Any RPG should be able to hold its own on mechanics alone.
Great graphics and bad story & mechanics make a terrible game; Great story, and bad mechanics & graphics, ruin the story, and make a terrible game; Great mechanics can make bad graphics and story tolerable; and can make even a lacking title into a decent game. ~The truly great games have two or more of these attributes [:P] set to a pretty high bar, but always, mechanics is one of them.
Planescape Torment. Mechanics were, at best, boring as hell. Way too easy to beat enemies, especially if you roll a mage. Graphics, well, let's just say I first picked that game up in 2007, so they were, for me, at that time, horrible.
But the STORY!!! Oh, I had never been so focused in a story before. I tried to make all the characters give me their back stories, and role playing was awesome in that game, so many choices... So I reject your point. Mechanics are not what makes a game, especially an RPG.
This is a flaw in the game, and not something to extrapolate from. Intelligence should be fixed (repaired); Its absurd that it only affects Magic.
And it should affect what? I already dislike THAT IT AFFECTS magic. My alchemy using warrior shouldn't have any increased magic ability just because he can cook herbs...
*** Attributes in RPG define the character. Those against them nearly always point out the physical and carefully leave out the intangibles. Graphics can show you a musclebound opponent, but they cant show you that she is brilliant unless she is has picked up spellcasting and uses it. By having that extra layer of depth to the game; magic can be derived from intelligence, but so can a host of other aspects and situational options, and dialog ~things that don't make sense to base purely from the PC's Magic level. A magician with more magic power than another mage, is not necessarily smarter than them; but that's how a lot appear to see it.
In addition to strength and appearance, attributes describe the intangible aspects that make a character unique. An RPG with decent attributes can allow for more than just Mc-Hero PCs that specialize in one weapon over another. They can allow for PCs that are eccentric, or exceptional in some way; or ones that are critically flawed in some way (These are the best kind of characters IMO).
The beauty of Black Isle's RPG's was that the attributes affected quite a lot in the game (as did the skills). All of their stat-specific redundancies made for an interesting game no matter how you built your PC.
First, this system allows for a greater specialization AS WELL as a big generalization of skills. The way skills contribute to the character's experience is made in such a way that you can easily level up your lower level skills without worrying that it contributes too much for your experience.
Second, your "I'm strong and agile, I should be able to use two handers after using one handers" argument is bogus. If you have the habit of only using one hand style, it's hard to use two hands unless you have previously practiced. Tennis comes to mind here.
And no, believe me, a big and strong guy with no combat skill won't do anything against someone with even a minimum amount of skill. I did taekwondo, I have amusing memories of this fact!