RPG imagination

Dragon Quest provided a means of imagining intense RPG battles in first person, allowing the sound and screen shaking to convey a hit, perhaps with the hero bleeding, barely able to stand up with a few HP left, ready to give the all or nothing strike to kill the enemy with a glorious killing blow.  Now that RPGs have detailed graphics, the "stand and attack" gameplay looks stupid, because it maintains the abstraction of RPG combat.  Only now do the graphics attempt to catch up to imagination.  What are some things that modern graphics miss in their attempt to capture the cinematic quality of battles that once took place only in the imagination?

It's not the first person per se, but the use of text instead of graphics, just as pen and paper D&D relies on descriptive details while a PC game can only show you details as they are without use of your imagination.  Also the difference between a MUD that describes the area and a MMORPG where you have everything spelled out graphically.