@JDINCINERATOR I think the game design of Souls explains the world design. Like, they want a world where it makes sense that enemies and NPCs can stand around non-nonsensically if need be, where they don't have to respond in human-like ways to the player, and where levels can occur in a hub and spoke like flow without it having to make sense as a real world. In particular, the games can be filled with weird architecture and nowhere has to feel "populated". But maybe you meant that within the realm of foreboding, dying worlds, they still feel too same.

In contrast, I feel publisher's review restrictions are getting out of control. Anything specific after the 50% mark in a AAA game seems to be off limits these days.

Part of the problem is that it is surprisingly easy to talk about criticisms, no matter how much you love a game. This goes for everybody, not just reviewers.

Reviewers also aren't selective with their time and money in the same way a normal person would be. To a reviewer, a decent score means "good enough", but for a regular person a game being decent also means "relevant enough". The equivalent of a bad score isn't "bad game", it is "I simply don't care/not interested".

The big developers we're talking about are less worried about (or less capable of) making something revolutionary compared to, say, 2-3 generations ago. That's how I view it, at least. Big dollar signs pushed everyone into that direction even if they aren't all doing cross gen titles.

I'm looking forward to Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection, finally giving me a good opportunity to play the "modern" NG games.

Edge of Eternity is another one that raises some unique interest out of me. Watching footage, I think it is best summarized as "what an indie jrpg looks like in an era where FF15 and DQ11 are pushing ever more open worlds and detailed visuals". If you are used to most indie jrpgs being flat and pixelated then this one might impress you. The creators claim inspiration from "Final Fantasy, Lost Odyssey, Xenogears, and Shadow Hearts" and Yasunori Mitsuda contributed to the soundtrack.

A thread for examining the new games of June! Share your personal picks, interesting curios, and not quite there possibles...

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Did you discover some small game that not everyone knows about?
Share that and let us know what it is about!

Already know a thing or two that interests you?
Make a list of your interests and/or possibles!

Don't know what's so great about an upcoming game you keep hearing about?
Ask here!

Don't follow gaming news that closely and just want to passively see what BigGames™ people care about?
This is the place!

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Thread concept:

The basic idea is to list new games that you are interested in, as well as games you are potentially curious about or want to give wider attention to. You can briefly describe them or ask other people to help fill you in. The hope is that regular threads like these can act as a collective filter/discovery mechanism to help people decide what is worth checking out.

"New games" means any new title that is being released or ported this month in any capacity (not "backlogs/what you are playing this month"). The angle here is sharing your anticipation and promoting game discovery (as opposed to sharing comments about a first playthrough in progress - that belongs elsewhere).

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• If you want a handy list that covers most of the major upcoming games of the month, here's a couple text lists of upcoming games:
  • Giant Bomb
  • Game Informer
  • Wikipedia

Feel free to post other lists or list videos of upcoming releases that you find useful.

• Final request: If you are the first person to mention a game please provide (at minimum) a short sentence description. (If it is a very big AAA release though, then don't worry about it.) This is a good convention that makes the thread more useful as a discovery mechanism, and especially helps out anyone who doesn't follow the news as closely as you.

You know what? Shadows of the Empire deserves a remaster. I feel the game was highly regarded for a hot minute and then got relegated to being too old and janky (which it is). Give it some gameplay tweaks and better textures and it would be glorious again.

Weren't sidequests in Skyward Sword all primarily in Skyloft? If you had to get an item from the ground, this amiibo doesn't help you because returning to the Sky was always pretty quick. The convenience offered by the amiibo is being able to warp to the exact spot you left from. I see the use of this feature for when you want to buy items from the store and return to exploration.

I think the meta-answer is you need a subconscious motivation. When your dopamine is high, you'll throw yourself at any ridiculous gaming challenge and have fun doing it. My theory is that often you are only going to be dimly aware of the source of that motivation, which stems from some kind of socio-cultural context of why you are playing this game or why beating this game would be an impressive accomplishment. This does suggest someone could try "reminding" their subconscious by spending more time in certain communities where those games are relevant, or where such accomplishments are discussed explicitly.

• Less lying and/or obscuring the truth.
• Higher game-to-presentation ratios ("game-to-story ratios"), or else make this a more conscious part of how games are discussed, evaluated, and created.

I'm not sure how I feel about industry growth, mainstream gaming popularity, profitability, budget expansions, etc. I think in the long run (perhaps the "long, long run") more growth is good for everyone. But I sometimes think a less popular, less growing, smaller game-budget industry would make better games, and perhaps have better businesses.

I'm not going to touch the employee stuff. If I could wave a magic wand I would, but I would also do that for so many fields where people waste their lives/are taken advantage of/etc. If I didn't have a magic wand I wouldn't want to be the one responsible for fixing it, that's for sure.