The Essential Literariness of Dungeons

Newer RPGs are often described as "cinematic". And GMs (and sometimes players) of these games are often encouraged to skip the boring bits and "cut" to the next scene. This is wise--you don't need to see Chewbacca stopping off to buy milk every other adventure.

If new RPGs are "cinematic", what are the old ones?

In addition to being "cinematic", newer RPGs do not necessarily include dungeons--I don't think this is a coincidence.

A dungeon is a lot like a novel: it's a place where the attempt to do anything, no matter how mundane, might be interesting. Joyce made Dublin a dungeon in Ulysses. Every inch a mystery, and you had to crawl it.