Great the whole popular doesn’t mean good argument. The last stand of the erudite, the elite the first among equal.
Sorry, but the overlap between popular and quality is there, as long as it’s affordable and accessable. And with Epic giving steep discounts like they did during the last sale, I can see it happening more often that games are accessible and affordable (with the noted exception of Linux users. Sorry guys and girls).
Perhaps not 100%, but people like what they like.
As for clones, most indie original concepts are crap. It’s fun to be out there and make something unique, but right now, the best games I’ve played is Dominions 5. That’s 5, after 4 iterations. It’s a unique game, but it’s not breaking new grounds. There are cool 8 bit RPGs out there, trying something newish, but they are still basically RPGs. RTS games are having a mini resurgence with AoE DE, but that’s just an old gams, but brought up to modern standards.
Hell, we here at QT3 are constantly hyped by the idea of whether the next Fantasy Strategy game will recapture the magic of Master of Magic or Fantasy General.
So, don’t give me the argument about popularity or clones. That’s just elitism gone rampant. A snobby attitude that has no basis in reality, but just a shelter for people to feel Superior to others. Good games usually improve on old concepts, not strike out to something brand new, just like art or music.