Unfortunately, they are niche publications writing about a niche market, and that dictates some incestuous relationships. Everybody knows everybody else, and there's nothing GamerGate or anyone else will ever do to change that. Part of the problem is that the revenue they need to survive comes from the industry they write about. They're never going to attract ad money outside of the industry.
Late to the party....
While it's popular to hate on Kotaku these days, they do have a point. Publishers do have a history of getting in a snit, taking their ball, and going home whenever anyone criticizes them, no matter how legitimate the criticism is.
Ubisoft (a mediocre publisher/developer if there ever was one) is particularly thin-skinned. Dan "Shoe" Hsu was unkind to the first AssCreed game (which had a pretty poor Metacritic score, and Ubisoft blacklisted 1UP/EGM. So they have a long history of this sort of thing. I am enjoying Fallout 4, but if Bethesda did something wrong they deserve to be pilloried for it. We have the industry we do now, with DRM, microtransactions, and pay-to-win, because nobody holds the publishers' feet to the fire.
But at the end of the day, this is a niche industry, and any publications related to it are dependent upon the goodwill of the content providers. They aren't going to attract broad advertising dollars from megacorps like Procter and Gamble, most of their ad money comes from the industry they write about.
Does Tifa from FFVII count?
Fallout: New Vegas and Yakuza 4 were right along with Valkyria Chronicles and Lunar: SSH on my list of 2010 must-plays. I had a good time gaming overall.
P.S. Sega has decided to revisit Valkyria Chronicles in the form of a PS4 remaster of the first game and Valkyria: Azure Revolution, which looks to be a traditional turn-based RPG (not a SRPG) prequel to the first game. Knowing Sega and their track record for localizations, the new game is kind of iffy for a US release, but I hope they'll make use of Atlus USA for a localization. We may have a decent enough chance of seeing the remaster of the first game since it's already localized and Sega was apparently pleased with the sales numbers of the Steam re-release.
I like non-Tolkien/TSR fantasy worlds myself (never was a fan of LOTR or D&D myself), but I think Japan more than has that pretty well covered, and in ways I enjoy. One fantasy world I think would make a great RPG is The Stand, by Stephen King. He did say that The Stand was his version of LOTR set in contemporary America. The Dark Tower universe would make a good game in the right hands.
As far as space goes, I'd like to see more efforts in that area that have no ties to either Star Wars or Star Trek, and not a MMO like EVE Online or Star Citizen (which is looking more and more like it's going to set a record as the most colossal Kickstarter failure in history, anyway), either. Just an open-universe space-exploration RPG along the lines of an EA PC game I played when I was young called Starflight, only with modern technology, with some aliens and combat thrown in.
Real world settings: How about visiting an area of the United States that isn't New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago? What about Texas? Arizona? Tennessee?
I'd also like to see an RPG set in the prehistoric era, with Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons fighting cave lions, mammoths and each other.
Yeah, all the way to the end. Phenomenal game. I even liked the battle system, honestly.
Bayonetta 2 is fucking awesome. The end.
And Wind Waker is still one of the best games ever made.
Liking Zestiria for sure.
If you dig Samurai Warriors, I'd suggest Dragon Quest Heroes, which is made by the same company in conjunction with Square Enix and Armor Project. That's the best game Omega Force has ever made IMHO.
Ni no Kuni is the one game that instantly that comes to mind for me. It's by no means the only good game I've played, but it sticks out above all others. Also Fallout: New Vegas came out within the past 5 years, so there's that. And Bayonetta 2.
Honestly, Fatal Frame isn't a bad deal. It's $50 for the full game (full games these days cost $60) so it is slightly cheaper than most of Nintendo's offerings. The launch wasn't handled great (though we're lucky to get it at all), but I think it's good for what it is.
