@SipahSalar Absolutely right, which is why I said I hope the answer is somewhere in the middle. There's only so much eye candy but no substance one can take as well. The problem is that publishers are very slow to react to a changing market. They've been going bigger and bigger but still demanding (or their shareholders are demanding) the same level of profits they've always had - or more. There are some different ways to do that.

1) Increase the price of games to counter the rising cost of development, marketing, etc

2) Lower the production values so that profit is sustainable (such as with mobile games)

3) Find more streams of revenue such as DLC, in game purchases, etc

4) Compromise on the profit vs production to find the sweet spot where you're not scaring off your customers with the cost but still making money (or some derivative of this, such as kickstarter 'tiers')

Right now, publishers are going after #2 and 3#, though it would not surprise me if #1 happens with the new generation consoles. And heck, there are probably a lot of other options out there, but corporations are not known for being nimble or risk takers. They like to play it safe, which is why you're seeing so many games with tacked on MP with passes, in game purchases, and mobile games. These are all ways to increase profits without much additional effort.

What I find irritating about this is that from the perspective of number of copies sold, each of these games has been very successful. The whole thing feels like a kid who gets a toy for his birthday and throws a tantrum because the toy wasn't bigger.

I know that part of this is that the publishers are held to a certain (potentially unreasonable) expectation from their share holders and that the market is extremely volatile in that any hint that a company might not be as profitable as they'd like means millions or billions of dollars. Combine that with gamers demanding better and better graphics, fewer bugs despite greater complexity, and greater anger at "profit recovery" measures such as microtransactions, low-effort-high-profit DLC, online passes, etc. and publishers aren't in a good place. However, something's gotta give.

Indie devs and crowd funding have hopefully shown that there is a desire for games that aren't controlled by huge corporations putting out cookie cutter crap and don't demand the latest and greatest in graphics technology but instead are focused on actual gameplay. I love big games like Mass Effect, and little ones like Braid. Hopefully there's room somewhere in the middle without big publishers wildly overreacting and spewing out nothing but the latest mobile junk supported by in app transactions.

@captaindam - it might depend where you bought it from, but most places I've been to say once it's been opened, it can't be returned anymore. I know GameStop lets you return used games within 7 days or something like that, but not new ones, afaik.

Part 2: 3) The non-lethal takedown can be one of your primary attacks, and is far preferable over the tranq gun for isolated enemies. Since the final battery recharges, this attack takes a while to recharge, but doesn't require ammo. If you're careful and stealthy, you should rarely need to take out more than one enemy within a short time period. Take your time clearing a room and save your ammo! 4) The tranq rifle is awesome, but should only be used on enemies that are far away or difficult to approach stealthily. It should NOT be your sole weapon (takedowns are more efficient). A couple tips here - remember that the dart arcs, it travels slowly compared to bullets (moving enemies should be led slightly), and a head shot is an instant non-lethal takedown. 5) If using cloak to take down an enemy, make sure you have fully charged batteries. Cloak, run out, takedown, duck and cover (and hide the body). Generally, this method shouldn't take more than a few seconds, but level 2 cloak and an extra battery upgrade helps a lot. I've only had to use this tactic a couple of times, but it's a life saver.

@johndmes - Sounds like you're not a fan of the tranq rifle as a gun in the beginning, but when used sparingly, it's much better than the stun gun (which is easily procured, whereas the tranq gun is fairly rare). I've never run out of ammo for the tranq gun and I'm now about halfway through the game. Tips (so far) for the pacifist achievement: 1) You don't have to take down every enemy. Many can be completely avoided. Watch enemy patrol patterns, since they don't vary. There's almost always a way to get through a room without taking anyone out (it's just sometimes very hard). 2) Your final battery never stays drained. Once fully drained, it recharges after about 10-15 seconds. This means you don't have to use up protein bars every time you're low. Save them for when you need to do a double takedown, or a long cloaked sprint. Otherwise, don't use them.