I can understand that. I very, very rarely feel excited about new games these days so it's easy to hold off. It's my way of avoiding bug ridden state of so many releases and feeling butthurt if something doesn't live up to the hype. Waiting a while helps to ensure you have a complete game. Plus I like mods, playing something a while after it comes out often lets me have those available from the get go too. That said on the rare occasion something does appear I'll jump on board. I've pony'd up for the NWN:EE deluxe pre-release 'cash grab' for example - am perfectly happy with that.
Interesting, because the last game I bought was NWN:EE as well. Full price. Siege of Dragonspear, too. Will probably grab a second copy of NWN:EE to give away soon.
As for Gothic, it's not really a "this is average vs. this is high quality" thing. To me, Gothic 1 & 2 deliver a style of game that isn't done today (other than ELEX and other PB games.) The combination of:
1. Handcrafted, detailed "open-world" to explore with no level scaling.
2. Slow, meaningful character progression in a system that has "locks" in place to keep you from either killing enemies too quickly or becoming too powerful, too soon.
3. Choice of factions that each have their own quirks, quests, lore and story.
4. Gameplay Choice & Consequence as well as Story C&C, in that you have to choose your playstyle and develop it carefully.
5. In the case of Gothic 1, an excellent, unparalleled setting that was realized to a very high degree (G2 is good, too, but G1 is one of the best ever, IMO.)
6. "Low excitement" type of experience, you aren't fighting dragons at level 1 nor throwing giant fireballs of death at the start of the game (fighting a dragon is a "big deal", and finally being able to successfully cast a fireball is a great achievement.)
7. That sort of reward for your effort counts for every aspect of the game. As you level up, small increments actually make a very noticeable difference (a new tier of magic is rewarding to unlock, feels awesome when you finally reach destinations rather than being rewarded like a Skinner Box every 10 seconds. Or pressing a button and Something Awesome happening, i.e. instant gratification. Gothic lacks this on purpose.)
8. Quirky and funny characters and humor. The Nameless Hero from Gothic was hilariously snarky. Risen guy was, eh, forgettable. ELEX Dude is cool, but I digress.
9. And just generally good story and gameplay for my money.
That said, many of their principles, i.e. the Gothic Formula, aren't really done in RPGs nowadays, and certainly not in the package that PB puts together. Most open-worlds feature level-scaling, or some form of system that lets you "go anywhere, do anything" at any level. At least ELEX and recent PB games have areas you simply can't go until you're stronger, giving another strong sense of progression and reward for your time as you progress.
So that's why I strongly support PB for the past years since I've learned of them. Played Gothic 1 in 2013-ish, loved it, and recently finished G2. G3 is cool but a different (yet still great) experience. G4 is not worth mentioning and not a PB game, either.
Not sure why you'd call that stuff lame when it's a niche that isn't being served in other RPGs. It's like complaining that your local mom and pop, no-money-making no-name record shop only has rare jazz records and no metal or pop music. Go to a different store then, simple.
But if you want to rage against games or game devs I'd focus on the ones that set the trends and only focus on money-making in the industry now, which PB is clearly NOT doing (who else would make ELEX like they did in 2017? They easily could have abandoned their principles and done a Witcher 3, but they didn't.)
Yeehaw. Just had a cup of coffee and felt like sharing. Now *%$# off.
