10 Gaming Facts Nobody Wants To Admit
1. Franchises Can't Always Be "For You"
And finally, perhaps the biggest unspoken, heartbreaking truth of being a gamer is that the franchises you once loved with every fiber of your being won't necessarily always be to your taste.
Take the mainline Final Fantasy games, which have increasingly alienated die-hard fans in the last few entries by shifting away from more traditional RPG mechanics towards something more "streamlined", culminating in the wildly casual-friendly Final Fantasy XVI.
And while you can lament what the series used to be and be angry at what Square Enix have done to it, it's simply part of the franchise's evolutionary process, as it figures out what it wants to be for a whole new generation of players.
That can certainly be disappointing to long-time fans, but as the years pass, it's unlikely that every franchise you love will maintain a direction you also love.
These things tend to happen in cycles. Maybe you'll drift away from it for a while and then return to it at a later date once it tries something else you vibe with more - or maybe not.
To expect a franchise to be specifically dialled in to your exact preferences and nobody else's forever more is downright unrealistic.