I think you are largely mistaken.
Games like Underrail, Age of Decadence, M&M:X, Legend of Grimrock, Paper Sorcerer, Blackguards, Heroine's Quest and D:OS and Wasteland 2 are there precisely because a bunch of angry cunts were still bitching about how modern RPGs suck and how they wanted a old-school experience. Tools became cheaper, crowd-funding happened and we backed the hell out of it. That's why every time you boot up Divinity:Original Sin you see "Thank you Kickstarter Backers, RPG Codex and RPG Watch."
Read the interviews from Larian and you'll see how the press was just "eh, no one cares for this anymore". How Swen had to taught players how to think again. How many publishers, journalist and gamers told him to go real-time 'cause turn-based "was a technological limitation". That's what your "mid-score" gamer wants, because he doesn't know any better. Legend of Grimrock used fantastic graphics to fool people into trying out a genre that "died" 20 years ago, FFS.
People that got tired of yet another TR00 RPG EXPERIENCE that is multi-platform. accessible and streamlined (but still 100% hardcore - we promise). They took matters in hands. Read their interviews or talk with then in forums an you'll see how it usually comes down to "there were no games like the ones I like to play available."
And I've done a hell of a lot of work to share my love. The
RPG Codex Top 70 RPGs is my work, I organized the voting, gathered the reviews and prepared the screenshots & box arts, all just so those really into RPGs could have a handy guide. Now I'm making a goddamn
free book on CPRG history, with guys like Chris Avellone, Scorpia, Ian Frazier and hordes from the Codex & Watch. We released a 100-page preview a couple of weeks ago and had more than 10k downloads without any media coverage.
But I will not praise Mass Effect as teh best shit ever just so I can grab the attention of those seeking validation of their limited knowledge. You have EA's PR department for that.