I guess, personally I would agree with him that working with the exact same elements as we have in LoG (that is, just having new tilesets, new monsters, new weapons and spells, but otherwise the exact same game mechanics), would not allow to repeat the success of LoG over too many sequels.
Ambiguous as expanding the gaming elements does not guarantee them to repeat the success they met.
The point was more that people will buy and play that type of game, good year, bad year. There will be iterations more or less inspired.
There is a demand for that kind of games relying on this set of gaming elements.
I really like LoG, but it's at heart a simple design, that would exhaust it's welcome on my hard drive eventually (while full RPGs have not dones so in many decades, and I don't expect them to).
ChienAboyer argues the opposite, so maybe there are many people who would love to play this formula indefinitely without major changes. Maybe that's true, I really don't know. But it seems in this thread at least the majority of replies argue for expanding the formula towards a more fully-fledged RPG like Lands of Lore.
Second time I have to correct that point:not many. Enough to support the developpment and sales of this kind of design over time.
It is definitively a niche game design. If ever the developpers grow too ambitious they will out grow their niche, not expanding their customers base and losing their core as the core consumers would not find the elements they wanted in.
Between what players say and what they buy, there seems to have a gap. Once again, the argument made in the OP is not cogent. The game design space is limited. It was exhausted in the past as suggested by the OP. So why old timers buy that LoG?
It cant be for graphics. It cant be for huge game universe etc… It is because there is a demand for this limited design.
Between what players say and what they buy, there is a gap and I wonder how many of them have never played a game like this one before. If you have played one or more in the past, the game, due to its limited design space, cant not feel original to you. Or it means that the design space is more fruitful than reported.
Expanding elements, wanting for more, it is quite good but ultimately, it might lead to their games selling less as there is a gap between what players say and what they buy.
Another point: story telling is constrained by the game design. Since telling stories was made a central point in gaming and not just decorum to magnify the gameplay, the studios have struggled to find the proper formula to convey efficiently the much wanted story.
They have spent some money on it though. No success. They have adapted the gaming structure to fit better narrative telling.
One element I add to the list that must be present: the future games must happen in close environment, underground, tunnels, sowers, towers, temples, dungeons, space ships etc… If they go for outdoors, they will find that their niche can not provide enough to match the efforts of others'studios.
And developping a narrative technique while being constrained to the limitations of corridor exploration meets limitations too. No developpers have found the right formula to tell a story in a game, despite spending so much on adapting the gaming structure, any studio relying on limited game desing wont make it either.