PixlBit

It's definitely Animal Crossing

Nice picks. Mine go to Last of Us, Rayman Legends, and Super Mario 3D World.

I don't think the problem is the place, the problem is the writing and execution. Cage has the vision, I'll give him that, but he needs guidance to realize it. Heavy Rain was still a very flawed game, but it's ambition made it easy to overlook many of it's flaws. Beyond has nothing we haven't really seen before. Without that, it's a lot easier to see the flaws, which are also much more numerous.

Well then skip Beyond is all I have to say.

I still have yet to find an interactive novel with a health bar. PW just has a few too many gamey things for me to see it as anything other than a game even if it has the same draw that an interactive novel does.

Yeah, I wasn't a huge fan of Journey. Felt mostly like an interactive screensaver to me.

I'm not a fan of the anime artstyle, but the amount of expressions it's allowed does add a lot even if they do repeat a little too often.

Well I actually did acknowledge that a game could remain engaging with the illusion of challenge (and never hinted that it couldn't be a game without it). Uncharted for example does a fantastic job presenting the illusion of risk as Nathan Drake will lose his grip on an object or something will come crumbling down. Is it challenging? Absolutely not. But without these little bits Uncharted would be worse as it would only make you focus on how basic it is. 

Beyond just does nothing to hide that there is no challenge or risk. It makes it clear early on that even if you fail the outcome will remain the same. Heavy Rain bypassed the story goes on conundrum very well by having the character stay dead. Beyond, no matter what you fail at the story remains largely the same, there's next to nothing that keeps it a game.

Persona 4 is an exception however. Yet it made social links engaging thanks to sharp writing and knowing to balance seriousness and lightheartedness. Beyond lacks both of these without anything compelling to make up for it.

Challenge never got in the way for me on hard mode. Wasn't the toughest game, but I'm regularly losing 4-5 Skylanders per level and am excited to try crushing. Gotta disagree on the variety too, I think it's one of the biggest strengths, but I did get some good deals on Swap figures so I've been able to do most of the bonus levels. It's really a game where you get out as much as you put in so I understand why other people don't want to spend so much, but by being frugal with getting figures, you can get a great amount of content without spending too much.

It looks a lot better than 3, but that game just killed the series for me. Don't think I'll ever touch any AC except 2 in the future.