Well, that's the thing, I COULD give examples, but it's against the rules ...which makes me look like a wanker saying it. But my sample size is based on having a current watch list of 320, having played 94 games that got abandoned, 34 games that got completed, and having a further 77 games that I've partially played that have been completed (that aren't on my watch list). This means I have years worth of material to play, some of which might be shit, but I'll delete when I discover that.
I tend to give things a chance, and by looking at the number of abandond games I've played (some of them absolute gems better than the average released) I see that same stat on the site. There are WAY more RenPy games that get abandoned than finished (I almost only play RenPy games): on the site, 41.7% of RenPy games are abandoned, 28.1% completed and 29.1% are in active development, including games that haven't seen an update in a year. Is this because the renders make it appear less of a fantasy to the censors? Most likely. RenPy devs don't have a good average.
That implies my sample size is pretty large even if I'm only active in this thread - I mean, I have been here since 2018, like an absolute leech
What I've noticed is the biggest changes are usually finding the simplest ways around incest and school settings. ONe game got abandoned for non consensual sleep sex, it was a vague horror.
So what has Ocean done? He's made changes that mean the games that he's invested more than half a decade into aren't a negative statistic by reworking things that are problematic for the ongoing story. There are quite a few examples of this. Ocean has been the most dramatic in changing the fundamental direction of SG and starting from the ground up with WiaB.
The problem isn't the continuity of the story, but the continuity of our memories of what we played last. If you can divorce what you remember from what's in front of you, the continuity within the published form of the game really has one glaring issue, that that's the nature of Nika and Nami's past. That's Ocean's biggest omission. But that hasn't made sense from any version of the game. Most of the things that don't make sense (other than the bad writing of cat scratches, impossible timelines and cabin distances) are trying to reconcile our memories of the previous versions.
The canon isn't an ironclad plot, it is simply the officially published plot that the author has released. Steam isn't early access for SG, so therefore, we assume a finished season. The bad will Ocean would generate by changing season 1 would outweigh most benefits of the time wasted doing it. I won't put it past him, but it's less likely now it's behind him.
As far as grand statements though, changes to characters - Nia, Robin, Kate, Maja, Sasha, Sonja, Jeff, Trey, Zara, Vanessa, Amber, Nadia, Kate ...the vast majority have had no substatial changes to their continuity. Some of that is lack of content, but it is mostly Bella, Nami, Mila, Vic and Nika who have suffered. Bella hasn't changed but been toned down. Her story is essentially the same as it always has been, but it's lost a bit of impact. Nami is the one has suffered the most, and she is the one that is the biggest potential to cause Ocean issues. Mila ...her story hasn't changed at all. But who is Mila, I can't guess day to day what she'll look like. At least now I have a face that's relatively consistent (but not 100% ...lets pretend it's makeup or something). Vic has had the same problem as Mila, it's mostly cosmetics that have changed, but she's more consistent. Ayua, again, cosmetics, like Robin - their stories are still mostly the same, just expanded.
Nika, Nami and Noji are the real ones with the problems, as they have changed between versions in dramatic ways. We've debated how that's changed, and mostly it's because we remember the old versions and hold onto them.
If we talk WiaB, since the reboot - what continuity errors? Again it's our expectations based on the memories of the old versions that make us unhappy with what's in front of us. I've made a decision to try to keep a separation between the old, redundant canon of pre-rework in both games so I can try to see the games as someone who stumbles across it now for the first time. Of course I still reference the old versions about things I hope to see, like Donna and Elena's involvement in WiaB and how they become part of ZPR - because currently none of that material even exists, it's only hints.
Anyway, you've seen me write all this stuff before. It's just that tiresome point when people go, "hey NIka has green eyes and Leia has green eyes! Wow". We ALL know Ocean's on patreon, end of similarity right there.
I think I've addressed this, my hyperbole is about as dramatic as people making connections to abandoned content. I didn't even include a picture of Katie in my ted talk. It's time for more interesting things, like coffee
or an update
Edit: Actually, thinking more about the numbers here - of the games you are interested in, as opposed to discounted due to no interest - those 20 that were dropped were dropped because they changed right? The other 561 were just things you decided you didn't like. So of the things that interested you that are in current development, there are 89 threads, you dropped 20 of those due to changes and 15 more are likely to be dropped. 35/89 is roughly 2/5ths. 39% risk of changes that cause you to drop a game (that interests you) because it shifts too far from what attracted you are pretty significant odds. Even if we discount the 20, it's 1 in 5 games that are in development (that you're interested in) that have changes causing you to potentially drop them. Again, that's not insignificant.
