In general, plotlines for fantasy stories too frequently revolve around the opposition of a dictatorship, with the protagonist being a lowly serf or equally low-ranking member of a caste-driven society. But even if the end of the game brings about the promotion of the hero to kingly status, it's merely replacing one figurehead for another. There is little to no social change to be found in these stories. You can never have a story in which a team of peasants overthrows a king by sheer force of arms -- the social organization doesn't permit it. At best, that group would then put their own king in place, but the monarchy would still exist, and someone would still have to be a serf.

The modern urban setting, on the other hand, offers a vast wealth of options for resolution. Rather than a setting wherein a character's range of freedom is limited by his cultural status, a modern hero can belong to any group and enjoy any level of social standing, both imposed from without and contained within. Modern society makes it significantly more easy on the individual to grasp the reins of power than ever before in history. When one isn't bound by the strictures of caste, then one is free to move about with relative impunity, having adventures equal only to their degree of comfort with taking risks.

You might use the fantasy genre as an excuse to be able to have monsters as opponents in your game. But there never have been monsters in history, so that doesn't work as a valid reason for their inclusion. There's absolutely no reason we can't use monsters in the modern setting; it's just a matter of writing a semi-plausible origin. In fact, there is nothing keeping us from having any of the traditionally fantasy-defining tropes in a modern game setting. Swords are still around. Magic is nothing but technology you don't understand. Caste-based organizations are alive and well. What's left to fantasy that requires its use?

The only benefit to placing your story in a fantasy world is to take advantage of its innocent purity. The philosophical nature of the medieval time was suspended in very simple views of reality. Light and darkness were fairly polarized, or we're led to believe that they were, which is the draw to this atmosphere. Good and Evil were more clearly delineated, which makes for easily understood gameplay. There are no mental adjustments necessary on the part of the character who wants to go into the world and have adventures; there is no justification necessary to convince someone that it's a good idea to take up a sword, venture into the woods to kill monsters and steal their gold. There are no political overtones to consider when playing as Frodo other than Good must overcome Evil.

Yet even that is merely a matter of massaging the values to fit our conception of how these things fit within our society. It may take a little more work, a little more cleverness to find ways to make motivations believable in the complex world of 20xx, but the reward is that much richer for having thought it all through.I'd be happy to never see another fantasy game ever again. There's no reason to keep making them, so let's stop.