I think this is a perfectly valid way to experience games, I cannot tell you otherwise.
However, I am almost the complete opposite of you. The thing that separates video games from other forms of art or entertainment is the nature of interaction. When I was growing, I would put a greater emphasis on characters and story because I was looking for some kind of emotional attachment.
At some point in my life, I became less involved in video games and more drawn to social experiences with people around me. I also sought to find deep, emotional relationships with people, music, books and film.
After having been away from video games since the N64 to the end of the PS360 era, I realized that the gaming landscape had changed significantly. There has been such an emphasis on immersion, open worlds and cinematic experiences, and I cannot get into it at all. I much prefer an emphasis on gameplay, and the less-is-more approach is more interesting to me.
I started playing TLOU on PS4 a few months ago. The opening scenes were interesting and the drama unfolds naturally. The voice acting is some of the best I have heard in a video game, but ultimately the game feels hollow to me. Granted, I do not like stealth mechanics very much, so the gameplay is uninteresting right out of the gate for me. I played several chapters and the story is painfully average (which means it is high quality for a video game, sadly).
Gaming is what you get from it. You know what you like, and I hope you are able to find more experiences like it. As for me, something like Demon's Souls is analogous to TLOU. I love the challenge, and I find honing your skills to be the ultimate reward in (most) video games.