Pezen

If I'm only going to focus on the term mindblowing, I think the thing that pops up for me are moments related to a sense of awe that is ofter intertwined with perceived complexity or mystery. I actually just recently realized I really liked this when I was relistening to old Bombcast episodes. Ryan was talking about Lost and how everyone speaks in ellipsies. One of the main appeals to me about Lost was that aspect, the constant digging of a rabbit hole with no end in sight. For games, it was this that pulled me into Assassin's Creed originally and why I was one of those weirdos that enjoyed when AC took it's story too seriously and really had a mindblowing experience when Minerva speaks through Ezio to Desmond. Because think about it man, it was a conversation that spanned space and time!

Similarly, Mass Effect and the nature of the reapers, talking about space and time scales. Mass Effect and games in general is another point I find interesting when it comes to stories. In a lot of mediums, the story arc has to be the strongest pillar. But games can use so many avenues to tell the complete story that it maybe becomes a sum of it's parts kind of deal. Because you get to immerse yourself into the world the story takes place in (and be an active participant), rather than just get a surface level pitch. There are plenty of great sci-fi but Mass Effect still sticks out to me as a much more memorable story because I could invest so much into it's world. And I think we sometimes try to judge game stories on other medium's way of telling them that we forget how much else is part of the experience.

But I also think there's a danger that one sometimes get lost in the activity and the story becomes background noise that you don't entirely pay attention to, even if you think you are. I think it's very likely that sometimes, people disregard game stories because they're not actually paying attention.

In general though, what appeals to me depends very much on the intent as well. Sometimes it's simply the characters, sometimes it's the main plot, sometimes it may be just my own head-cannon. I actually don't think I am very specific in what stories are better or worse for me as long as they're enaging. But as I said, if I am going to focus on the idea of something being mindblowing, it probably has to be a story that likes to be up it's own nonsense (well, it has to appeal to me first, but you get my point.)

@kemuri07:To my memory the discussions of consoles being or not being wasn't in a few cycles but much more around the corner. Also, as late as around 2008 Giant Bomb was laughing at the idea of how long the console cycle would last (back when console manufacturers were talking about 10 years) and how things will move on and new consoles will come after about 5 years as usual, which didn't turn out to be the case. That discussion, as that generation chugged on, turned into the grey zone in which questions on whether new consoles would even pop up and if they did if it would be the death knell for the concept. Yeah, the Wii sold well, but the Wii was an anamoly at the time due to it's wider than average appeal to groups of people that never even played games before making it a really poor example of consoles future relevance.

Fortine is an equally poor example, you can't predict a lighting in a bottle event so you can't make your business around that either way. I'm not arguing business always pick winners and they have all the answers to what will be successful, obviously they don't. Even business will fall for FOMO or FUD, to use their own lingo. But I object to the idea that enthusiasts looking in from the outside think they know the industry better than people within the industry. Can numbers predict everything? Of course not. But lack of numbers also means you lack a certain insight into why people make the decisions they do and it's also an assumption to make that business only look at numbers as a business variable.

But this all is whatever, my point is predicting the future is near impossible even for people who really know the industry.

@kemuri07: To be fair though, even places like Giant Bomb was talking about the potential downfall of the console market. Even asking if there was even going to be many more generations of consoles. And I doubt we would say Giant Bomb lacks understanding of the gaming industry. Business have to make risk/reward calculations and sometimes they probably act to us like they missed the boat but what we parhaps didn't see was that their calculations made it apparent that the potential reward wasn't big enough to subject themselves to the potential risk.

I probably say this every year but no matter what, the thing I want most isn't something specific but just a general sense of actually being surprised and excited about something new.

Depends on the price, doesn't it? I wouldn't say I have been price sensitive in the past, but the older I get the less I feel like full price (especially when we're getting to 70+) is a reasonabl asking price. At that point the cost to my perceived value goes out of whack and I simply don't buy it until it comes down to a more reasonable price.

Maybe because tech for tech's sake is fun? Bakalar doesn't have to build his own keyboard, but he does. I think there's just a growing DIY tech-interest that intersects with games. It's also much easier and affordable to build custom arcade setups or likewise. As games as a hobby expands, I don't think it's only going to be the games themselves that become varied, the method of delivery will equally find new ways to attract specific interests.

Also, there's really a big difference enjoying an arcade title on something that feels more like an arcade machine than sitting on your couch playing with a controller. Now, that's arcade machines and like you say they have their own appeal for various reasons. But I think fundamentally, we're probably in a time when people are trying to find new ways to distribute and consume games that isn't limited to 'the big 3 and PC'.

My only other wild guess is that mainstream games or gaming has turned stale for a lot of folks, so they're trying to figure out alternatives. They still like games but don't want to be stuck in the same echo system of ideas. So the enthusiasm for games turns to tech rather than titles, so to speak.

@warpr: Interesting, I also had a really hard time clicking with Dishonored 2 despite really enjoying the first one. I think my issue was that I simply didn't enjoy the level design in 2, for reasons I don't really remember now. Maybe some other reasons I have since forgotten. But I do remember running out of steam fairly quickly. I have this vague memory of feeling like the game was actively trying to keep me from enjoying it.

I don't actually remember most of them, but the one that stands out the most is probably buying the Xbox 360 because I had to play Oblivion. Bought some Oblivion bundle along with Dead Rising and Saint's Row. It might be because the 360 was the first console I bought with my own money by myself.

I tried to play the first two Witcher games but fell off them, it just didn't click. Then suddenly I, despite not clicking with the previous two, gave The Witcher 3 a shot and fell in love. What constantly was nagging in the back of my head though was how much the game reminded me of the Mass Effect trilogy. Not in setting, naturally, but something about it just constantly gave me that exact same feeling I had while playing Mass Effect. The best I could come up with was TW3 seemed, much like ME, to put so much emphasis on their characters being very established individuals within your party and surrounding cast being equally memorable. But also the way Geralt felt to move around in the world, which sounds like a dig at ME given how much people hated how Geralt handled initially (not saying people loved OG Mass Effect controls). Not to mention riding the horse.

Another example would be Sekiro, as much as I enjoyed Bloodborne the biggest reason I enjoyed Sekiro was how much it gave me a similar feeling to playing the original Tenchu back in the day. And I certainly had a slight taste of that in Ghost of Tsushima as well, but not to the same extent.

I'll second other folks in this thread that I have certainly lost a bit of the spark or urge to get one right now, for a variety of reasons. One certainly being the obvious lack of available units. In fact, being in the middle of a move and packing up a bunch of stuff I have instead reignited my urge to play my old games instead. Not sure if it's the move itself making me look over old stuff or a lack of new console urge that has my brain looking for alternatives. Though in some way it might be that I just can't afford to splurge on a new console even if it was available and I have been away from a lot of the games I have long enough for them to be interesting again.