There is also the very important matter of the expected number of copies sold. An AAA game with an entire marketing machine behind it and distribution deals everywhere will be looking at millions, tens of millions, while something made by a couple of people and just put up on a store or two, with no ad campaigns or anything else behind it, will need to try to cover those development costs by selling a number of copies that's orders of magnitude lower.

It's understandable, but it still bothers me a lot, because it incentivizes developers to focus on smaller and cheaper projects, and incentivizes people to buy smaller and simpler games because they simply cost less. More and more developers will choose to take that path, going forward, and a lot of people will be ok with that. I'm not one of them. I want ambitious games to succeed, and ambitious games cost more to make. If their price-tag punishes them against indie stuff, then who's gonna take those risks anymore? How can I expect more games like Kingdom Come Deliverance if there's unfair competition coming from stuff like Dead Cells or Shovel Knight?

Here's two more unpopular opinions.

Mobile games are actually great if you know where to look. I said that last bit because Google Play and the Apple Appstore won't show you apps that are either fully free or single-time purchase (as in, no in-app purchases and no ads). They're instead focused on showing you all the F2P stuff, the very stuff that gives mobile games this reputation of being a crap market of games. Had the games focused on less of that crap and more so premium products with premium treatment, things would be a little better, but then again, we're in an era where premium AAA console and PC games are quite literally just F2P games with a "membership registration" fee. The AAA guys have doubled down on what makes these premium games bad even worse on mobile.

I also believe emulation on mobile devices to be a gold mine of enjoyment for anyone willing to delve deep and explore. Apart from a couple problematic emulators that are available in paid only (unless you go for the free but terrible choices) like the PS1 and NDS ones, there are loads supporting the playing of classic games straight off your Android phone with touchscreen controls. If you don't like touchscreen controls (which is even more understandable in this case as the emulated games were designed to work with a gamepad), bluetooth gamepads are available that mitigate this issue. For one, I know that recently I played the first Crash Bandicoot on my phone with my controller; the game is just as frustrating as I remember but still just as charming and "special" compared to the next two games in the series.

TL;DR - mobile games have their potential and reputation trampled on by AAA devs and I think they're better than how it is generally thought of.

I'm very much fine with lower-budget games. I mean, depends what's skipped for that. You can likely save a lot by not having voice acting and toning down the graphics, and definitely by not having all that marketing, which will bring you much higher revenue in the end but does greatly increase costs too, so if the point is low costs and you accept lower sales as a result, that'd be the idea. And then there's development time. You want to make something faster, ship it at a certain time, you'll need more people. Ship it when it's done and you'll need less.

But I'm rather confused. You say price should reflect costs, so indies cost less and/or AAA cost more, but then also that you don't like that people are incentivized to purchase indies because they're cheaper and more expensive titles are priced out. Uh, wouldn't your idea make the situation even worse from this point of view?

RDR2 isn´t a good open world game, it´s more like a rail shooter with an extensive long hold button to listen to dialogues and a perfect game where play with the smartphone when you´re traveling.

God of War (PS4) takes too often the controls away from the player to be enjoyable.

Onimusha: Warlods is still a good game, even with no memories back from the original release.

Witcher 3 is the weakest Witcher game because it feels more like any other Open-World-Game.

Could you recommend some? I'm particularly interested in RPGs, maybe even "visual novels" (Western ones).

Games made with rpg maker can actually be good.

2D is better than 3D. This applies to videogames, too.

I hate multiplayer. Apparently millions of gamers disagree with me, but they're wrong. Nothing re-asserts my distrust of humanity than pure examples of itself in action. Games are creations of individual imagination and should only be illustrations of thus. Anything else is simply mockery of intent.

Put that in your loot box and smoke it, sons a bitches.

I don't particularly care for multiplayer, especially the way it is these days, but this is simply wrong. How can a game intended for multiplayer being a multiplayer game be a "mockery of intent"? What does that even mean? Multiplayer is about as old a feature as gaming itself. There's nothing inerently wrong with multiplayer. Sure, shoving multiplayer/social elements into a game that is obviously meant to be a single-player experience is sheer idiocy, but that's another matter.

Look who you're talking to! XD

Command & Conquer: Generals is bad.

I have a bit of a soft spot for Heroes of Might & Magic IV.

MechWarrior 3 > MechWarrior 4.

99% of games made after 2008 are trash.

Your hope in humanity clearly surpasses mine.

For free strategy games, I recommend Antiyoy. It's simplistic, but that's what makes playing it for hours on end look like a prospect. Underhand seems like a good card game, also fully free. For visual novels, there's plenty on Android but don't expect to find stuff like the whole Higurashi series, and Western even less. For solitaire card games, Simple Solitaire Collection will suffice, also open-source.

For paid stuff, Reigns is a good card game where you select between two choices, either of which can lead you to success or failure. The Lifeline series is nice, and while there are lots of waiting times before you can lead your characters in the series, they're there to add to the suspenseful feeling of the game and not to extort cash from you. Geometry Dash is pretty much a runner game with 21 or 22 official levels and so many custom levels to choose from and build your own. I haven't played that one, but Pocket City is pretty much SimCity without EA's greed all over it. Mini Metro is a good and simple simulation of building metro stations, including failure.

Of RPGs, I have only played the Final Fantasy ones but they're solid unless you have issue with V's and VI's graphics. You can also just emulate them with NES/SNES/PS1 emulators (RetroArch is a good start if you want all three). Sorry I couldn't be more precise in the areas you were most interested in.

I'd go as far as to call it the best Heroes of Might & Magic game I played. That includes 1 to 5 (and very small bits of 7).

By the way, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 has the least appealing soundtrack and aesthetics of the series.