Playing what you had, good or bad, is how it was back then. Everyone has that game which is terrible to most but we love because it's what we had available.
I've been watching and helping my daughter play through Kingdom Two Crowns (on peaceful mode) and once she feels ready we will try co-op on normal difficulty.
I've been playing through Gears of War 2 on the Xbox and it's been great fun. Haven't played it since original release and didn't go any further so after I'm done it's on to GoW3 and maybe more.
I'm not particularly a fan of either re-makes or full remastered but I'm a big fan or, for example, when Xbox upgraded the resolution and FPS or backwards compatible games.
I would love to see Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes again and have a similar service on Switch for GameCube games.
Wreckfest multiplayer is great. Getting in to 1st position makes me sweat just trying to survive the carnage! It normally ends badly but it's so much fun.
I tend to buy 1st party Nintendo games in physical form still but because of more PC gaming and having Xbox Gamepass for that last couple years I've moved mostly to digital.
It's easy to avoid the worst offenders. Also "live service" is a very broad term and covers a lot.
One aspect that I really don't like is when games just seem to hang on too long with updates and/or DLC. Be proud to finish the game and move on to something new (looking at you The Long Dark...)
The question can be asked for most things in life really so just do both options. Generally I'm a "value for money" gamer now but If something catches my eye I will make an effort to support it.
Playing what you had, good or bad, is how it was back then. Everyone has that game which is terrible to most but we love because it's what we had available.