1. I've completely fallen out of love with FromSoftware's baby, the Souls and Souls-like genre. Don't get me wrong, I think FromSoftware makes great games (and I've played them since King's Field), but -- even though I enjoy high-difficulty games -- I no longer enjoy venturing into a solo hellscape of cyclic death and re-birth into more and more and more punishing torment. Yes, at one time this gaming torture was a "real gamer" badge (in some circle), but now -- especially after realizing Miyazaki's stories are very similar to JJ Abrams' "mystery box" stories (with no real, defined meaning) -- I just feel it's a lonely, alienating journey that I'm not interested in continuing... but that's just me.

2. Dragon's Dogma II is a great fantasy exploration game -- and my favorite game of 2024 -- but it's a clunky reboot of Dragon's Dogma and overall an underwhelming sequel experience. While I'm enjoying my time fighting monsters, an expanded pawn system, and exploration of a giant map, the story isn't told in nearly as engaging a manner as the original (if you can believe that!), the combat has a strange imprecision, and neither Vermund nor Battahl have the same, strong sense of place / identity / atmosphere as Gransys. Instead Dragon's Dogma II has an oddly generic world with a story moreso centered around power dynamics than what it means to be human (as in the original). In fact Dragon's Dogma II has gotten me to look at the project bringing Dragon's Dogma Online back to life (and translated!).

3. I still don't understand anime / manga style. Yes, I grew up on Starblazers and G-Force: Guardians of Space, but when I try to play Granblue Fantasy Relink or Tales of Arise, I just can't relate. I enjoy the art style as artwork, but I just can't become engaged in the characters or story(s)... and I've tried! The only somewhat similar games I have been able to get beyond this aversion were the games of Vanillaware. Yes, Vanillaware's characters are "insane," but the painterly worlds are amazing and I get sucked in the storybook atmosphere immediately.

4. I can't quit Steam. I'd love to dump Steam for GOG exclusivity, but Easy Red 2, Valheim, For the King, and Enshrouded keep me returning to the platform. C'mon GOG, help me out here! ;)

5. 2024 (and now 2025) game file sizes suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did I say 2024 (and now 2025) game files sizes suck? If I didn't, 2024 (and now 2025) game file sizes suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From bottle-necked internet bandwidth to the eternal search for more HD storage, they suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is driving me toward a greater appreciation of physical media (if that's even possible!).

6. Lastly, regarding GOG... I'm dismayed that so many quality games get lost in the dusty, forgotten aisles of GOG's catalogue almost never to be discounted or even mentioned. Banner Saga series... Kingdom Under Fires series... Eador series... Realms of Arkania remake series... They release and then just fade away. GOG, maybe get them on sale once in awhile?

Overall -- after a long drought -- Dragon's Dogma II reminded me of the feeling of getting lost in a game world, but that experience is getting harder and harder to achieve. Part of this is my age and the sheer amount of great experiences I already have rattling in my brain (competition) while another part is IMO both the middling quality of most current experiences and their adherence to aspects other than fun. Maybe I'm just old and cranky? Strangely, this has got me circling physical gaming again (in college I played a lot of Magic The Gathering). From Dungeon! to Gloomhaven to Hero Quest, I'm starting to entertain the idea of sitting around a table with people again (eegads!). No video screen!?!?!

Not to believe anything coming out of the mouth of a left-wing socialist libtard pol's mouth during an election year. Lying sacks of sh*t, every last one of them.

4. Right, me neither. Steam just has a better organized forum and a great client. And yes - some games just never comes to GOG. That's just the sad reality. Would've loved to have Satisfactory, Lichenvale, Subnautica, C&C Remaster, among others. I mean there's many on Steam that would fit right into GOG's bosoms.

5. Optimization and innovation is "dead", both in terms of size and graphics. In fact, while size has just grown to insane proportions, graphics hasn't really gotten much better the last decade and sometimes just worse. 2024 was the year I lost all hope when "everyone" got hooked on Unreal Engine, an engine which has had major problems since around v4.0, and it won't get any better either. And don't get me started on motion blur and other fake filters being showcased as "optimizations".

Kebu said it best - from limitation comes creativity. I've yet to see anything that rivals the scene when it comes to size and optimizing the software to push the hardware to the limit like then rather than wasting it. It's honestly fascinating to listen to programmers story on how they solved a particular problem in the 90's and yearly 00's.