Quoted from Diospinball:

I'm not a tourney player myself, but I will say I enjoy getting replays on all the machines I play on. Not saying I get replays on all the machines. But, that is my goal as I think thats a nice measuring stick for if you had a good game or not.
And one thing that all EMs have is a real knocker. I think in the late 90s they started phasing out the real knockers as I know my MBr doesn't have a real knocker and that was made to the same specs as the original.
Any besides getting the really cool knocker sound, I do agree with you. You need to be well rounded and the games do behave different. But, I must admit I sometimes prefer the simple ruleset of classic games over the code of games such as GOT and Star Wars.
My real issue is you want to double up on the modes in both GOT and Star Wars and then get into a MB... For GOT the mb start shot is the same as the mode start shot... Which is a bit too easy. Once you get that start 2 modes at once and watch the points just add up on your screen. Not a lot of skill or strategy. And also it robs you of enjoying the modes, their animations, and their callouts, and what should make modes unique and rewarding to play through.
I know I'm going to use my Sinbad SS as an example of classic pinball rules(but it really is a nice example), but it has a nice risk reward aspect to its rules.
Basically its a build your bonus and collect bonus type of game. Easiest way to build bonus is to hit the drop targets. There are star rollovers that can advance bonus and a spinner that can advance bonus as well. Then you need to hit the drops in the right order to get your bonus x. You can have all but one drop target down and still be at 1x bonus. So its important to hit and complete the banks in order.
So that is what I try to do. Always getting 2x out of the way first(or trying to).
But, there is some strategy in how you go about it, and sometimes you might want to switch your order as you don't have the ball on the right flipper and it might not be the safe shot. And there are other things to consider. So while its a simple ruleset. There is still tons of strategy about the shots that you want to prioritize and on which flippers you should be taking them from.
I think these skills translate into newer pinball machines as well, and the older ones you really should and they do teach you to always be thinking and asking what you should be aiming for.
But, again please don't think I'm a good player. I'm not. I myself am still learning. But, that is the joy of playing pinball. Always learning and improving.