@javalino: So you guys actually thought that selecting the same thing from a menu over and over for 40 hours, while only rarely being pushed to involve a slight bit of strategy, was compelling gameplay?

I played them too back then, but I always thought it was the characters, story, and style that carried them.

Well base-building has nothing to do with the missing features that purchasers were requesting, so the new strategy is probably to add things that might fool more Minecraft players into buying.

Honestly, if they even made the animals and plants more varied, and some ecosystems for them to participate in, I would still buy it on sale and play occasionally. If it really feel like you were finding a unique new planet each time, that would be enough to interest me. But from everything I hear even that basic premise of the game is only done v well enough to feel different for the first couple planets.

So you pay for the base game, then you pay monthly to actually play the game you already bought, then you actually have to pay even more for expansions.

I'm actually pretty sure I would like this game if I played it, but how can ANY game be worth what this one costs?

I have a bad feeling it's going to be their attempt at a VR gimmick game.

The only way I think I could be excited for it is if this was a first person Diablo game. Something along the lines of Elder Scrolls but with frantic, stupid, violent combat similar to the new Doom.

That or a Blackthorne FPS, as someone joked about below.

@wtf_666: This isn't even the silliest one that you've missed. There was one where a bunch of the female characters from FF X try to put on the ultimate dance pop concert or something, and they fight evil with the power of costume changes.

@PrpleTrtleBuBum: While it's true that it's just opinion whether fighting games are the same or worse in a very general sense, there are some aspects that are undeniably worse. For instance, in terms of being able to customize your own style of play, Capcom Vs. SNK 2 set the bar 15 years ago and nobody has even tried to come close since then. The newer games simply offer less options no matter what your opinion of the overall game is.

And for the record, I still like new fighting games, but I don't get excited over them like I did for that one.

@sakaixx: Cool, I didn't know that. That makes me much more excited for Ni No Kuni 2.

Too bad none of the old Japanese game series about world-rebuilding survived. Actraiser, Soulblazer, Terranigma, or Dark Cloud all would have been far more fitting for this type of game. Dragon Quest is cool, but it's just being shoehorned into a random genre here.

@nadsat-77: Me too, but I think that's my problem. I can't shake the feeling that this one will just feel like Ico with a giant Yorda instead of a completely different experience from the other two. Hopefully they'll surprise me. I wouldn't dislike it either way, I just wouldn't be amazed like I was discovering SotC.

@nadsat-77: I don't think originality is really the issue, it's just whether you like adventure/puzzle games or not.

Ueda has done this same style over a decade ago, and even Ico was a 3D update of the style popularized by games like the original Prince of Persia, Out of This World/Another World, and Flashback. AI companions that are puzzle solving tools are nothing new either.

I'm sure I will love this game, but I don't see how it would be anything groundbreaking. SotC is likely the closest this series will ever be to that.