chiming in late here, but it looks like a substantial portion of the thread is about monetization of skins, and items.
that seems to be what video games have become.
I remember the days of tombraider and all the skins, and modding kits available.
this was grassroots stuff to begin with.
eventually the industry realized that server subscriptions were not enough, and commercialized the elements of the gameplay.
ive never purchased a console, and i think Torchlight [0] is the most recent game i have in the MAME machine.
the last 20 years of gaming is mostly gone in this direction and has little appeal, other than hacking around in a graciously received console from the closet, that was designated as {bookend} .
that seems to be what video games have become.
I remember the days of tombraider and all the skins, and modding kits available. this was grassroots stuff to begin with.
eventually the industry realized that server subscriptions were not enough, and commercialized the elements of the gameplay.
ive never purchased a console, and i think Torchlight [0] is the most recent game i have in the MAME machine.
the last 20 years of gaming is mostly gone in this direction and has little appeal, other than hacking around in a graciously received console from the closet, that was designated as {bookend} .
i think GOG is about as good as it gets now.
[0] https://gog-games.com/search/torchlight