I don't see a lot to disagree with here. Then again I haven't played a lot on your list. I can't speak out too broadly against nonlinear games, since Minecraft has consumed nearly a decade of my life now. (With some healthy breaks mixed in.) The Sims had me going for a while but I got bored before too long.
I'll add this: boss battles are the worst part of any game. Ugh. Just when you're all excited for the next chapter of the story, you come up against something you've got to do again and again until you get sick of it and just watch a playthrough on Youtube.
Wait. Really? You dont like Boss battles? I freaking love Boss battles. Yea there are some bad bosses. but there are some amazing fights too. Most of the time they Exist as a Test of Skill which is absolutely needed in most games.
I might be a gaming lightweight. But... When I'm playing through a linear game, and it's good, and really drawing me into the story and making me identify with the character, and then I've gotta figure out what combination of buttons to press to kill some giant monster while stress-inducing music is pounding out of the speakers... It just ruins the sense of the narrative for me.
I know I could just watch a movie. But I do like the deeper immersion you get from a 12-20 hour game, and the way it makes you feel like you've got a stake in the characters.
Take Bioshock Infinite. I got to the final battle on the airship deck and tried getting through that over ten times. Each time it takes about fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes of seeing the same things happen again and again, and maybe getting a little bit farther, and then dying anyway. Two and a half hours of that crap. Yeah, I turned it down to the easiest settings. Like I said, I'm a lightweight. But the rest of the game wasn't nearly as hard, even on medium difficulty.
If you could save at will, it might be a little better. So I guess that's my other unpopular opinion. If a game doesn't let me save when I want, it better have checkpoints every two minutes or less. Otherwise I'm out.
Ok, yea, I can kinda see where you are coming from in a Story telling sense, but 90% of the time, a Game is Usually Gameplay first, I know there Exist games Like Bioshock Infinite that are more narrative focused and I agree that for the Games that are Super Narrative Focused Should tone down on Difficulty.
The Main appeal of bosses come from the satisfaction of dealing with a Large Obstacle, Thats why the Music is generally Stress-inducing , and why Boss Fights tend to be Difficult, Its Supposed to add to the satisfaction of Conquering a Challenge.
I agree with your stance on Save Points. Thats one of the reasons I prefer Portability over Graphics on consoles. Because If I am Called to do something I dont have to Quickly find a Save Point just to put the game down, For a Portable system I can just put the system in sleep mode and go back later.
So, the idea with Boss Battle Music gave me an Idea for my next blog here. so yea. thanks for the Idea.
You're welcome. And I may go off and write a post about Boss Battles. I love the way ideas feed of each other in Steemit!