Hmm… I suppose they're not wrong seeing the most successful action franchise today—Devil May Cry—took the combo simulator route, which's not necessarily bad, just not in line with the design principles of the genre's best games: Devil May Cry 3, Bayonetta, and Ninja Gaiden 2.

We need the challenging/awesome action balance to come back, for sure.

Any action/fighting/shmup franchise because the stories are typically nonexistent/shit anyway:

1. Bayonetta: I recommend the original as a starting point for an authentic action experience, but Bayonetta 2 is more beginner-friendly.

2. Devil May Cry: either 3, or 5 will work—3 if you're after a challenging experience, and 5 if you're looking for an insane combo simulator. 1 could work as an entry point, but it's too old and will not appeal to everyone.

3. Ninja Gaiden: I recommend the original Ninja Gaiden 2 on XBOX (not Sigma) if you're after nonstop action, and Ninja Gaiden Black if you're more of a souls-like fan.

4. Crimzon Clover: World EXplosion is the superior game.

5. Under Night In-Birth: I recommend Sys:Celes because it's the only one with functional netcode.

6. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax because it's the only Persona Arena game, they just started at Persona 4, and the story has tie-ins for Persona 3 and 4.

7. Guilty Gear: start with XX Accent Core Plus R if you need the "the most Guilty Gear" because every character has the most moves they've ever had throughout the series. -STRIVE- for beginners, and Xrd if you find XX inaccessible. OG Guilty Gear is a broken artifact, maybe to be admired, but not taken seriously.

8. DoDonPachi: DaiOuJou: widely regarded as a shmup goat and the best DoDonPachi game. I recommend the Black Label release.

God, the cringe…

In case anyone forgot: this game was nominated for Best Fighting Game twice at the TGAs and still failed 😂 Both times ahead of far more deserving candidates—further evidence a good chunk of these awards is promotional crap.

You may wanna re-read my comment—I did not bring up cut scenes, or claim Naughty Dog games don't have enough gameplay sections.

My point was Naughty Dog's gameplay sections are uninspired, non innovative, and passable at best because they're more interested in telling a story than innovative gameplay.

Whether I like narrative-driven games or not is of no relevance.

Maybe not the length of the main campaign, but good luck 100%ing Cartherine, holy shit. Nevermind Full Body. There's like 8 endings combined + insane challenges and 64-stage game within the game. +100 hours easy, if not more.

Makes sense. Why they're not marketing more towards their growing Linux-based buyers is beyond me.

It's all relative. Mediocre is still better than garbage, but not necessarily interesting or innovative. It's just "fine" because the whole point of the gameplay in these games is to progress the narrative forward. Mastery is rarely, if ever, required and gameplay depth is of no interest to players or developers.

You ignore all of that and start comparing their catalog to Ubisoft pumping out generic trash for years (NGL that Prince of Persia game is sick though) and you get a much brighter picture that doesn't necessarily take all factors into account.

Personally, I play games for the hyper engagement they offer, which I expect from hobbies and cannot get from film or literature. Stories, on the other hand, I can find elsewhere, so I don't necessarily care for them that much in games.

Again, it's all relative.

I'm more excited about Kamiya's comeback and the Clovers drop. Noway Capcom let him do that without plans to revive Viewtiful Joe and God Hand.

In other words, Mikami comeback when.

I was gonna say "Yeah, they have a good track record making playable movies." But that's not fair to Jak and Crash.

Still, they haven't made anything with interesting gameplay since like 2004.

Hmm… I think it's definitely a spectrum. Even arcade games have stories. It's not what drives them, but they still do.

When you start considering something like Bandersnatch, the spectrum gets even wider.

I try them often, but haven't had much luck finding a favorite other than Crimzon Clover. Nex Machina and Furi got close, but not quite.

Some experiences were nice, but not replayable, which ruled them out as a favorite for me, like Hyper Light Drifter.

Some I had some fun with, but took issue with some of the design choices, like Dead Cells and Hollow Knight.

Some I outright did not enjoy at all like Hades or Stardew Valley.

Most recent indie game that got close for me was Kill Knight.

What are some of your favorite indies?

Oh, absolutely. It probably has a lot to do with falling out of favor with current design and monetization trends, I agree.

Some of the games I've been playing for years: Guilty Gear, Under Night In-Birth, Bayonetta, The Wonderful 101, Crimzon Clover, Smash TV, and Catherine.

Which games do you keep going back to?

I love that you're having a different experience! This is exactly why I posted about this: I have found that my taste in almost everything else has become broader as I aged, so I was wondering what's the deal with my uncharacteristically narrow taste in video games.

Sadly, I tried most of the games on your list, and found out they're not for me. I'll try the rest though! Thank you for taking the time to list them.

I'm mainly into fighting games (Guilty Gear, Under Night), action games (Bayonetta, God Gand), and shmups (Crimzon Clover, Ketsui)

I'll occasionally like an Atlus game (Catherine) or a Zachtronics game (Shenzhen I/O) but that's about it.

What are your favorites?

Ah, man, I feel the same. I like some indie titles, but haven't run into anything I could add to my favorites except Crimzon Clover World EXplosion. Nex Machina and Furi got really close too.

What are some of your favorites?

Not to rain on that particular advice—it may actually work for others, I obviously do not know—but I did try that at some point, and got bored really quickly.

For anyone who hasn't tried it, I recommend doing it just to find out if you feel or notice anything interesting.

I think I agree: it definitely has more to do with knowing what one likes than being jaded.

Hypothetically, if the market is full of games like Monster Hunter, or borrow a lot of ideas from it, would you still not be interested in most games?

That's so sweet bonding with your dad over that game. May you retain that memory forever ❤️

I'm with you. The concept of gaming as a disposable medium never really worked for me either. The idea of going through my wishlist like it's a watchlist—beating a game only to move on to the next was just never really for me.

If I don't think a game is built to be organically replayable, I'll probably just lose interest in buying it.

I mainly play fighting games, action games, and shmups. There's the occasional Atlus/Zachtronics game, but that's it.

I should probably have clarified in my post: I'm not bored of my favorite games. Part of the reason I love them is I find them infinitely replayable.

I just wonder why my taste in games is aggressively narrow, is all.