I think you are trying to copy other games and add random design elements like crates or platforms in the hope that it will somehow capture the success of those games. However, the game design should stem from the details about the game, rather than the other way around.

So, basically, I would recommend saying:
1) Who, what, where and when (if applicable)?
2) What genre could fit into that criteria (or would be unusual)?
3) What kind of game elements could fit into that genre and details?

If there is a design element from a game that you want to use, it helps not to copy it outright. I noticed that Darksiders used Blue/Orange portals and it looks really stupid.

No More Heroes definitely qualifies, I think- Suda even throws in a lot of grindhouse elements in the presentation (film grain, over the top violence/sexual content). His next game Shadows of the Damned also seems to be going for a B-Movie feel, looks great.

Let me add Deadly Premonition to that list as well. BTW, I realized that God Hand and No More Heroes both have the same composer

I don't think there will be even less variety going forward though, because of prodecural generation and stuff.  There will be a lot of efforts to get realistic-looking trees that way, and middleware engines will become even more important.  Skyrim is making heavy use of procedural content for this reason.

Your explanation is a lot more enlightening than the pointless bickering. I definitely think that things will change once textures, trees, buildings, objects and generic gas-masked enemies can be procedurally generated. With this level of graphical detail, it's getting harder and harder to individually create everything in the world. It's the future!

Cave music sounds kind of Celtic to me, but it also reminds me of Super Metroid, even though the 2nd song sounds more similar to Metroid-style.

You have some serious skills... if only I could just think about a game and make... everything for it...  

I think we can already see some B-Movie games now- Earth Defense Force 2017 is the first one that comes to my mind. Something that evokes old arcade games the way that intentionally cheesy movies evoke older shlock, and maybe not as much emphasis on technical polish as making it enjoyable to play. I can't say for sure yet since I haven't played it, but Raw Danger looks like this kinda game too.

I think God Hand could qualify as one of these games. It has crap graphics but the game itself is incredible, and is focused on chaining crazy attack combos in a 100% unrealistic manner. The situations and plot of the game are just plain weird, in a good way. Also, Suda 51 games like No More Heroes.

Wanzer isn't a robot name, it's just Wandering Panzers.

It doesn't mean "wandering". Wanzer is an abbreviation of "Wanderung Panzer" (walking tank), and is pronounced "VAHN-ZER". Apparently Japanese devs love using cool-sounding German names.

I think this is basically "belts n' zippers syndrome", or "how can I put as much pretty stuff as possible on the clothes of one character?" The problem is that they look unique, but completely ridiculous. It's like the difference between a pimped out rice racer and a high-performance sports car - the latter is designed to be as efficient as possible while still looking cool.

Yep, it's Nier.

hand-drawn 2D designs were combined with 3D models to create a unique hybrid look.

Wow, I thought those were sprites. Seems similar to how they got the anime look in Tales of Vesperia and the like. Speaking of which...



Sexy graphics are sexy! 

Huh, interesting- I know Unlimited got ragged on because it relied a lot on random chance. I can't say for myself how it plays out, but I'd love to hear more about your experiences with it.

Unlimited Saga is a legitimately crappy game. The reel system apparently introduces so much randomness that it's just plain annoying and impossible to play. The soundtrack is incredible though, so it's probably more fun just to listen to that than to play though the game.

Count me in to the 'dislike scanlines' group. I'm too much of a young'un to appreciate them.   They just make me dizzy,  I think they only work with simple color graphics like VVVVV.

I found it insane how such a huge company like Gamestop has graphic art that looks like it was created by a room full of monkeys. I mean seriously guys, you have money to hire an actual artist!  

The Last Remnant did look pretty good. Some levels were just really lovely to see. The characters were usually nicely designed too, although they did repeat models a lot.

I had a whole folder of the last remnant screenshots I took while playing but can't find them. Only found this one:

also for a PC port, it was very well done. They did take great care in ensuring PC users got a better experience than the consoles. The list of differences between the two versions isn't anything to laugh at, they're quite substantial. Numerous balance changes and bug fixes, additional features, etc.

I should reinstall it, I never did get to finish it.

Nice. It was kinda part of the batch of rpgs that kinda just got forgotten, wasn't it? I thought it had some strong visual design and a neat premise.

The squad-based battles in TLR were maligned by some, but in my opinion truly awesome. There needs to be another game that explores that concept further... maybe an indie game? (hint hint ). Unfortunately, the game suffered from problems that detracted from the awesomeness of its graphics, sound and battles, namely the mentally-damaged protagonist, phoned-in plot, ridiculous scaled leveling and slowness of navigating areas. You should still beat it though, the final boss battle is friggin' epic!

Speaking of under the radar RPGs...




The graphics may not be perfect but the art design's awesome.

While the original face does have some problems this plastic surgery suffers from a pretty severe Triple-A-concept-artist-has-weird-ideas-about-what-a-woman-looks-like syndrome. 

Ok, yeah, at second glance the proportions on my face are a bit freaky. I think the new concept art has a good balance. And is significantly more badass.

Darned chain-smoking robots... always disturbing the peace!    

On topic:
The Last Remnant

IMO, pay-to-play wouldn't work unless people got a good dose of the core gameplay and want more. So, buy the game, fight 10 bosses and have to buy new, harder ones = OK, but having to buy each boss one by one = not OK.

[Rhythm game + Flower]

Rhythm game + Flower

You are a member of the New Earth Army and are trying to stop the soldiers from firing their guns. Tap along with the new age music to turn the bullets into flowers! Make the soldiers on both sides feel the power of love! End the war and ensure peace on Earth! (But don't screw up or you will be riddled full of holes)

Anything inspired by any one of those games you mentioned is awesome in my book and this looks like it will be no exception. I don't have one of them new-fangled eye-phones so I will have to wait.

Dude, you totally defeated the purpose of the spoiler tags! And, she DOES die, it's just not the canon ending! 

I hate silent protagonists in general. That's probably because I am the type of gamer who "guides" the character rather than "inhabiting" them. For me, it feels like an unrealistic shortcut that inhibits game narrative by making characters talk to themselves. In fact, I also dislike protagonists who aren't silent, but aren't voiced when everyone is. Unless they make up for it in bad-assery.

The idea of an evil silent protagonist has actually been done. Wander from Shadow of the Colossus kills innocent monsters to save his girlfriend.

The problem I'm having is that as characters become faster and faster the time between turns shrinks which makes it somewhat difficult to model because I'd hate to have a grinded character have its turn 20 times before a monster even has the chance to attack.

This seems like a terrible idea - attacking 20 times without a counter attack. Same thing about an attack every 10 seconds - it's excruciatingly slow. I think you need to revisit the speed leveling and come up with another way to scale that's NOT 100% speed-based.

It's actually not much of a problem. Once you are at a high enough level that this is the case, you should be able to steamroll those weak enemies far more quickly - as long as all the stats level equally. They would be dead far before the 20 turns have expended.

I think you have it wrong. Her death is actually what happens if you do nothing (which is what I did), and you have to bring the rope in order to save her. That is the only way you can reach the true ending of Running Hell. Maybe you did it by accident? Regardless, basically nothing happens if she dies so you're safe.

Please try to stay civil, I don't want to see the thread ending in bitter tears

Can someone please explain how "making people cry" is some sort of benchmark? It's kind of a consumerist quality to media - Soaps are great at making people cry. Great for making money, but games hardly need any help financially.

I think that it's an uncommon emotion in games as opposed to other media. You could say that games spark other emotions such as anger, but this might be simply out of frustration. The ludonarrative dissonance kind of prevents the same type of emotional attachment that would cause such a reaction. Of course, there is also melodrama, which should probably be avoided. But, in general, my view is that the less extraneous game-like elements there are, the more potential the game has to be emotionally affecting because your mind is focused on the world.