It's almost created this double underdog scenario for CDPR. First, they released Witcher 2 and then 3, where their game quality jumped incredibly drastically from the first game.
Then they brought their reputation crashing down to earth on Cyberpunk's release, but fixed the game well enough that it now feels like an underdog overcoming odds in the public memory. They've basically fully recovered their public image, which I'm unsure if they deserve. People can like how it turned out now, but they shouldn't forget.
Dark Souls, and other from soft souls likes (except Sekiro and Bloodborne).
You are encouraged to play cautiously and intently, otherwise you'll get slapped by concealed enemies, mobs with unexpected movesets, and being over aggressive and "greedy" during boss fights will end many an attempt. I love these games for that.
I'm a little behind, but I completed AC Odyssey and that was just buy it and that's it. They had a cash shop for armor sets but it was completely unnecessary and I never even looked at it much less bought anything from it. So provided the releases after that are the same it's a "there is an MTX shop but the game is balanced without it" situation
You are correct in some ways, such as dedicating all your senses while giving you less on average to engage them, but are also over generalizing by saying it's always terrible voice acting, which just isn't true, it can be anime hammy, but I happen to really love well done over the top anime voice acting, which is a whole different style compared to something extremely realistic like The Last of Us. And if you don't like that style, that's okay, but it's not terrible.
I feel like biggest representatives could go to things like Danganronpa, Phoenix Wright, or Persona, which all feature choice and gameplay, and I'd say Danganronpa and Persona have good voice acting, with Persona's as excellent. I feel like generalizing that fans of the genre don't care about choice is just not correct for all fans, I personally dislike most of the choiceless VNs because they then rely extremely hard on story, for example I disliked House in Fata Morgana because that's a "reading a linear book" style of VN with no voice acting, and it's really long, and the soundtrack was not super amazing (compared to Phoenix Wright, Danganronpa, and Persona, which have OUT FUCKING STANDING soundtracks, and with a manga you're not getting a soundtrack that emotionally engages you and brings you back to listen to them long after completing the games as I have with those series.
It depends on the VN and its implementation. The existence of things like Slay the Princess, 999, Raging Loop, Phoenix Wright, AI: The Somnium Files, these are all inextricably linked with player participation and choice, as well as very dense narrative.
Then you have ones like Steins;Gate that don't have very much choice at all, that's a lot closer to a book in most respects, but as a blanket VNs are, more often than not, absolutely games.
As a counter I find the fact that VNs sidestep having to describe all sorts of setting and character related things by just showing you them instead with beautiful art work and at times voice acting.
To me that actually increases the pace instead of slows it down, if you think about what you're not having to read. I do also dislike reading VNs at a computer, though, so I'll only get them on portable systems unless it's REALLY good, like Slay the Princess, and that game would simply not be the same if it were a book, it's extremely reliant on choice.
Yeah, you would need to play it at least a couple "rounds" for it to really kick into full effect. It's a choice heavy game where most choices alter your route in ways that sort of become more and more unique the further you get, until it kicks you back to the start allowing you to make different choices, and the culmination of a few rounds results in a unique true end game.
The ways or fact that this is happening are not clear until you've gone through enough to start to see how what you do manipulates the world state, and the true story and meaning behind it all sort of slowly unfolds and even after completion requires some wonder and unpacking on the part of the player to fully enjoy.
I do find it a shame you didn't get hooked into it, it might just be one of those things where you have to come to it in just the right mood for it to really have full effect.
It's not super common, but it's been around in an essentially free form through Garry's Mod for a very very long time, so most people have had their fill of it there or in modes within other games. Roblox also has one, even Call of Duty Cold War had a prop hunt mode, so it's a lot harder for paid standalone games to make a dent, but this one does a lot more than just strict prop hunt, I think it deserves more population
Oh I saw a video of this game and it looks really fun! It's basically Gmod Prop Hunt with added modes and mechanics, this genre is a little saturated which is probably why it's not got a lot of players for how cool it is. Hopefully that changes
So if it's worse for the consumer for valve to allow class action lawsuits, then should the consumer see all the other companies who force arbitration as the better outcome?
That's a good example. You simply can't grasp optimal choices or know possible events and outcomes before going through it a great deal of times, and it's likely that you'll get killed too fast to experience much if you start on normal. You definitely end up switching to normal as you improve, learn, and unlock, but it really benefits and smoothens the learning curve to start easier.